miike - Slashdot User

Submission + - Asteroid sickens villagers

Submitted by

mcgrew (sm62704)

on Tuesday September 18, 2007 @08:47AM

mcgrew (sm62704) writes: "The AFP (Via Yahoo! News) reports that a meteorite struck southeastern Peru near the Bolivian border last night, leaving a 100 foot wide (30m) crater and sickening both residents, and policemen who were sent to the scene.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.
The report quotes local official Marco Limache as saying ""Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned.""

Submission + - India decides to vote "No" for OOXML. (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by Indian on Thursday August 23, 2007 @10:34PM

Indian writes: India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents. In a tense meeting at Delhi's Manak Bhawan, the 21-member technical committee decided that India will vote a 'no' against Microsoft's Open Office Extensible Mark Up Language (OOXML) standard at the International Standards Organisation (ISO) in Geneva on September 2.

Submission + - India shows thumbs-down to Microsoft's OOXML (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by

kdrlx

on Thursday August 23, 2007 @10:05PM

kdrlx writes: "India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents. "We unanimously agree on the disapproval of OOXML with comments. The same will be submitted to ISO," National Informatics Centre head and BIS technical committee chairperson Nita Verma said after a marathon meeting that lasted over six hours.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/War_of_formats _India_shows_thumbs-down_to_Microsoft/articleshow/ 2305780.cms"

Submission + - Hands-on Spore 1

Submitted by Dr. Eggman on Thursday August 23, 2007 @01:08AM

Dr. Eggman writes: 1up.com has the exciting news, Spore is content finalized and moving into to tweak and polish phase! What's more, they were able to give a hands-on preview; the first of its kind outside of EA. Sam Kennedy was allowed to evolve his cellular creature up into the top of the ocean before finally flopping onto land. From there, he continued to evolve his creature to the point of simple communication, before his time was up.

Submission + - Leaked iPod Nano pictures confirmed to be real

Submitted by thefickler on Thursday August 23, 2007 @12:20AM

thefickler writes: Remember those leaked pictures of the soon to be released new iPod Nano you might've seen? Well it turns out that they're real, and Apple's not too happy about it. Apple Legal recently contacted 9 to 5 Mac, where the pictures originated on the web, and asked the Mac blog take them down.

Submission + - People buy small cars though they can be deadly (usatoday.com)

Submitted by proud american on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @08:17AM

proud american writes: Americans are buying more small cars to cut fuel costs, and that might kill them.

As a group, occupants of small cars are more likely to die in crashes than those in bigger, heavier vehicles are, according to data from the government, the insurance industry and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

"People are looking for ways to save fuel, and they need to know that if they decide to buy a much smaller vehicle, they are putting themselves and their families at risk," says Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. IIHS, supported by auto insurance companies, follows traffic deaths closely.

Personally, I've lived this before, driving with kids in a compact car and rear-ended by a truck. I no longer have compact cars. The delta cost of the increased fuel is relatively insignificant.

Submission + - Wal-Mart "DRM-Free" MP3 Site: Windows-Only

Submitted by Skavoovie5 on Tuesday August 21, 2007 @06:29PM

Skavoovie5 writes: Despite all the raving about the new DRM-Free MP3 Download section of Wal-Mart, it would appear that Wal-Mart still expects its customers to chain themselves to a sub-standard OS. No Linux, no OS X.

Isn't the entire purpose of DRM-Free music to enable the purchaser the freedom to use the music on the platform and method they see fit? Apparently only as long as you're willing to run Windows, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player. No thanks!

When attempting to access Wal-Marts MP3 download section of their website via Linux, the user is presented with the following error message:

"We're sorry, your operating system is incompatible. To provide the best download experience, we can no longer support Windows 98, ME or NT. Please visit again after you upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP. Visit our Help section for complete system requirements information."

Following the "Help section" link leads to a page listing the minimum system requirements:

What are the system requirements for using Wal-Mart Music Downloads?

* Windows 2000 or XP (sorry, no Macintosh or Linux) ...
* Internet Explorer version 6.0 or higher
* Windows Media Player version 9 or later

Submission + - SCO Shares Plummet to 40 Cents 1

Submitted by jma05 on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @11:14PM

jma05 writes: From the article — "SCO's stock dropped more than 70 percent in the days following the ruling. It traded at US$1.56 Friday and opened at $0.40 Tuesday morning". Is it time for de-listing SCO again? SCOX

Submission + - Don't Kill The Trolls, But Feed Them (seorefugee.com) 2

Submitted by

Henk van Ess

on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @03:41AM

Henk van Ess writes: "Voelspriet.nl has initiated an idea to rid communities (be it forums, blogs, whatever) of trolls. Not get rid of them by banning them or nuking their posts, no, by accepting their trolly messages and keeping them at ease. The smart thing is that this anti-troll plug-in only shows the trolly stuff to the troll itself. That way, the other community members need not suffer. The idea was presented today on Dutch radio in Radio Online. A free beta plug-in for Wordpress will be available soon."

Submission + - AMD previews new processor extensions

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @10:06PM

An anonymous reader writes: It has been all over the news today. AMD announced its "x86 extensions for parallelism", a series of x86 extensions to make parallel programming easier. The first extension are the so called lightweight profiling extensions [that] would give software access to information about cache misses and retired instructions so they can optimize data structures for better performance. The specification is here and it has much wider applicability that parallel programming. It can be used to accelerate Java, .Net and dynamic optimizers.

Submission + - Nokia batteries to be drawn back (nokia.com)

Submitted by

iarefinnish

on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @07:07AM

iarefinnish writes: "Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the affected batteries could potentially experience over heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge. Nokia is working closely with relevant local authorities to investigate this situation. Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries that have collectively produced more than 300 million BL-5C batteries. This advisory applies only to the 46 million batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. There have been approximately 100 incidents of over heating reported globally. No serious injuries or property damage have been reported."

Submission + - Nokia recalls up to 46 million batteries

Submitted by JavaBear on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @06:33AM

JavaBear writes: Now it's Nokia's turn to recall batteries, up to 46 million of them. It's the Nokia batteries branded BL-5C produced between December 2005 and November 2006, they shipped with these phones:
Nokia 1100, 1100c, 1101, 1108, 1110, 1112, 1255, 1315, 1600, 2112, 2118, 2255, 2272, 2275, 2300, 2300c, 2310, 2355, 2600, 2610, 2610b, 2626, 3100, 3105, 3120, 3125, 6030, 6085, 6086, 6108, 6175i, 6178i, 6230, 6230i, 6270, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6631, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 6820, 6822, 7610, N70, N71, N72, N91, E50, E60
You can check if your battery needs to be replaced by visiting this advisory: http://www.nokia.com/batteryreplacement/en/

Submission + - Top 500 World Universities of 2007

Submitted by

mernil

on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @06:33AM

mernil writes: "The people at the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University is now finished with the Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2007. And the winner is Harvard University, followed by Stanford University, and with University of California @ Berkley on third place. Congratulations!"

Submission + - ATT + NSA = Busted? (msn.com)

Submitted by

DynaSoar

on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @06:26AM

DynaSoar writes: ""In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of e-mails and other online traffic from one of the largest Internet hubs in the United States, the former employee says in court filings." The article elaborates on the nature of the system in San Francisco (and others elsewhere) and the whistleblower's part in things. The Justice Department wants the case dismissed because it claims it can't defend itself without revealing state secrets. It also claims that the real issue is whether this was done in accordance with the constitution. Sadly, that may be true."

Submission + - Government: iPhone and US cell service is unfair (blorge.com)

Submitted by

fdmendez

on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @05:57AM

fdmendez writes: "Lawmakers in Washington believe the Federal Government needs to regulate the cell service industry in order to create a better experience for consumers. Other countries provide examples for the US to follow.

Recently, Amp'd Mobile shut down leaving 175,000 customers suddenly out of cell service. Sprint canceled the accounts of about 1,000 customers last month for complaining too much. Verizon is always behind the rest of the world when it comes to phone selection and phone technology, and don't get me started on AT&T's reception and call quality. Basically, America isn't satisfied with its cell service.

The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Internet thinks it might be a bad idea for wireless companies to be regulated at the state utility level rather than the federal level."

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