Sir Patrick Stewart 324
david.emery was one of a few folks who noted that Patrick Stewart can now be referred to as Sir Captain as he will be knighted by the Queen. This should bring balance to any future X-Men movies.
Submission + - 'Anti-social Networking' Site For FB Users a Scam? (yahoo.com)
sean_nestor writes: "Impress your friends, disconnect yourself," is the slogan on www.seppukoo.com, a site that aims to subvert Facebook by offering its millions of users a glorious end and a memorial page to match.
It offers ritual suicide for Facebook users in five easy steps. Willing victims must first log in to seppukoo.com by typing in the same information they use to go on to their Facebook profile. They then choose one of several memorial RIP page templates before writing their last words, which the site promises to send to all their Facebook friends when they have taken the final step. Once the user has made that fatal final click, his or her Facebook profile is deactivated.
If you realise that leaving Facebook was a mistake, all you have to do is log back on again and your profile is instantly restored.
It offers ritual suicide for Facebook users in five easy steps. Willing victims must first log in to seppukoo.com by typing in the same information they use to go on to their Facebook profile. They then choose one of several memorial RIP page templates before writing their last words, which the site promises to send to all their Facebook friends when they have taken the final step. Once the user has made that fatal final click, his or her Facebook profile is deactivated.
If you realise that leaving Facebook was a mistake, all you have to do is log back on again and your profile is instantly restored.
Comment StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com (Score 3, Informative) 316
Fan site about the special...worth checking out for more details on the subject.
The Voynich Manuscript May Have Been Decoded 320
MBCook sends word on a possible solution to the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript, which we last visited nearly 6 years ago. "The Voynich Manuscript has confounded attempts to decode it for nearly 100 years. A person named Edith Sherwood, who has previously suggested a possible link to DaVinci, has a new idea: perhaps the text is simply anagrams of Italian words. There are three pages of examples from the herb section of the book, showing the original text, the plaintext Italian words, and the English equivalents. Has someone cracked the code?"
Telcos Want Big Subsidies, Not Line-Sharing 340
It seems that a recent survey of global broadband practices by Harvard's Berkman Center at the behest of the FCC has stirred the telecommunications hornet's nest. Both AT&T and Verizon are up in arms about some of the conclusions (except the ones that suggest offering large direct public subsidies). "Harvard's Berkman Center study of global broadband practices, produced at the FCC's request, is an 'embarrassingly slanted econometric analysis that violates professional statistical standards and is insufficiently reliable to provide meaningful guidance,' declares AT&T. The study does nothing but promote the lead author's 'own extreme views,' warns a response from Verizon Wireless. Most importantly, it 'should not be relied upon by the FCC in formulating a National Broadband Plan,' concludes the United States Telecom Association. Reviewing the slew of criticisms, Berkman's blog wryly notes that the report seems to have been 'a mini stimulus act for telecommunications lawyers and consultants.'"
Apple Patents "Enforceable" Ad Viewing On Devices 439
Rexdude writes "Apple has filed a patent that forces users to interact with an ad. FTFA: 'Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn't simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.'" We've been
following this story for awhile now but it seems to have broken into the mainstream.
New Dating Sites Match People Through DNA Tests 278
The Installer writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report:
"A couple of genetic testing companies are promising to match couples based on DNA testing, touting the benefits of biological compatibility. The companies claim that a better biological match will mean better sex, less cheating, longer-lasting love and perhaps even healthier children. 'How many dating services can you think of where they can suggest you might have better children?' said Eric Holzle, founder of ScientificMatch.com, one of the first online dating sites to use DNA. ... The idea is that people tend to be attracted to those who have immune system genes that are dissimilar from their own. Biologists say the HLA genes of the immune system — which are responsible for recognizing and marking foreign cells such as viruses so other parts of the immune system can attack them — also determine body odor 'fingerprints.' And people tend to be attracted to the natural body odors of those who have different HLA genes from their own."
Software Piracy At the Workplace? 1006
An anonymous reader writes "What does one do when a good portion of the application software at your workplace is pirated? Bringing this up did not endear me at all to the president of the company. I was given a flat 'We don't pirate software,' and 'We must have paid for it at some point.' Given that I was only able to find one burnt copy of Office Pro with a Google-able CD-Key, and that version of Office is on at least 20 computers, I'm not convinced. Some of the legit software in the company has been installed on more than one computer, such as Adobe Acrobat. Nevertheless I have been called on to install dubious software on multiple occasions. As for shareware, what strategies do you use to convince management to allow the purchase of commonly used utilities? If an installation of WinZip reports thousands of uses, I think the software developer deserves a bit o' coin for it. When I told management that WinZip has a timeout counter that counts off one second per file previously opened, they tried to implement a policy of wait for it, do something else, and come back later, rather than spend the money. Also, some software is free for home and educational use only, like AVG Free. What do you when management ignores this?"
"Breathtakingly Stupid" EU Cookie Law Passes 447
Reader whencanistop writes with some details on an upcoming EU law that slipped under the radar as it was part of the package containing the "three strikes" provision, which attracted all the attention and criticism. "A couple of weeks ago we discussed the EU cookie proposal, which has now been passed into law. While the original story broke on the Out-law blog from a law perspective ('so breathtakingly stupid that the normally law-abiding business may be tempted to bend the rules to breaking point'), there has now been followup from a couple of industry insiders. Aurelie Pols of the Web Analytics Association has blogged on how this will affect websites that want to monitor what people are looking at on their sites, while eConsultancy has blogged on how this will impact the affiliate industry. In all of this the general public is being ignored — the people who, if the law is actually implemented, will have to proceed through ridiculous screens of text every time they access a website. I know most of you guys hate cookies in general, but they are vital for websites to know how people are accessing the sites so they can work out how to improve the experience for the user."
Comment Re:Moral Hazard (Score 1) 932
Imagine a mechanic telling his brother-in-law "pay me for parts and labor, or just take it to the dealership". I can't imagine this. At the very best, I can imagine the mechanic saying "XYZ is probably wrong, I don't have the time to fix it, take it to RST and tell them ABC. They should be able to fix it for $HIJ"
It doesn't have to be a moral hazard. Chances are, you will charge your family less than what they would pay at a shop. You probably also have better availability, and more liability (since I'm assuming if you do a bad job, you'll suffer a lot more than a stranger at a shop would).
I know many people would argue that its immoral to charge family for tech services, given that they've probably helped you, y'know, grow up safely and possibly even helped you develop those skills. But these are intangible things that shouldn't be measured or compared in the first place.
What seems evident about the original poster is that his family doesn't seem to value the work he does, since they proceed right ahead into undoing it immediately after he fixes it. If I were a mechanic who fixed cars for my family members at a discounted rate, I would probably be within my moral rights to threaten ceasing the discounts if it became apparent that they were abusing the car I was fixing and then bringing it right back to me. Clearly, they aren't being considerate of my time and skills, and asking them to consider compensating me financially can be a polite way of enlightening them on this matter.
Comment Simple economics: (Score 1, Interesting) 932
Stop doing it for free. Either charge them for your time, or tell them to get it repaired at the store. I think you might be amazed how interested they become in browsing the net safely and taking care of their PC when they have a financial motivation to do so.
I know a lot of people have a hard time mustering up the courage to tell their folks to pay up, but take my advise - you're doing them a favor in the end (not to mention giving them a lesson the value of what you do).
Easing the Job of Family Tech Support? 932
DarkDevil writes "Ever since I was introduced to computers at a very young age, I've been the resident tech support for a household of 7 users. I've been in a cycle for the last ~8 years where something happens to my parents' computer, I spend a week or two trying to non-destructively fix the problem (and try to explain to the users what caused it and how to avoid it), and then if it's not easily fixed I'll reformat and start from scratch. Most often, the level of infection warrants a reformat, which usually ends up taking even more time to get the computer back to how my parents know how to use it. 4-8 months later, it happens again. Recently, I found ~380 instances of malware and 6 viruses. I only realized something was wrong with their computer after it slowed down the entire network whenever anyone used it. My question for Slashdot is: are there any resources out there that explain computer viruses, malware, adware, and general safe computer practices to non-technical people in an easy-to-digest format? The security flaws in my house are 9, 26, and ~50 years old, with no technical background aside from surfing the internet. Something in video format would be ideal as they are perfectly happy with our current arrangement and so it'll be hard to get them reading pages and pages of technical papers."
Submission + - ARPANET Co-Founder Warns of Cyberwar
An anonymous reader writes: Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts, one of the Internet's creators, is working with the federal government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Internet security, something which Roberts says he dropped the ball on when creating the Internet. "The task that DARPA has put on Lockheed and ourselves, and Microsoft and the team working on it, is to authenticate the end-user by the network and make sure we know with substantial security who that is," said Roberts in an Internet radio interview. "We need to work very quickly on it before nation states can attack other nation states in a way that's particularly more dangerous than war."
Apple's Mini DisplayPort Officially Adopted By VESA 160
DJRumpy writes "The Video Electronics Standard Association officially issued its Mini DisplayPort standard Tuesday, based on the technology licensed from Apple. VESA said that all devices using the Mini DisplayPort connector must meet the specifications required by the DisplayPort 1.1a standard, and cables that support the standard must also meet specific electrical specifications. It's a formal confirmation of the news from earlier this year, when VESA announced the Mini DisplayPort connector would be included in the forthcoming DisplayPort 1.2 specification."
Multi-Button OpenOfficeMouse At OOoCon 2009 265
An anonymous reader writes "WarMouse has announced their new multi-button OpenOfficeMouse for OpenOffice.org at the 2009 OOoCon in Orvieto, Italy. The mouse, which features 18 buttons, a scroll wheel, and an analog joystick, has double-click functionality on every button and stores up to 63 application and game profiles in its 512k of flash memory. The OpenOfficeMouse runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X; its customization software will be released as free and open source software." We couldn't decide if this was a protest against Apple's new magic mouse, an elaborate practical joke, or just plain insanity run amok. In any case, it is hard to imagine a world in which so many tiny buttons on a mouse make sense.
