karrde - Slashdot User

Submission + - Robotic Bar Tenders Mix It Up In Vienna

Submitted by

evanwired

on Thursday December 07, 2006 @05:06PM

evanwired writes: "El Espanol Borracho is a machine that spews both fire and cocktails. It's one of several avante garde bar tending robots on display this week at the Roboexotica Festival, an annual expo founded by a group of Viennese techno-artists called Shifz. John Borland has filed a report and photo gallery of the event for Wired News. From the article: "The liquid concoctions being poured probably won't win any bartending awards, but another type of mixology is on tap here: The advent of small, powerful batteries for cell phones and laptops, along with continued advances in microcircuitry, is revving up garage robotics.""

Submission + - Mail server appliances for personal use

Submitted by on Thursday December 07, 2006 @04:56PM

An anonymous reader writes: I currently use Outlook to retrieve all my e-mail, and store it in a single PST file on a dedicated drive, which is backed up nightly to a DVD. I am interested in creating some sort of (virtual) linux based 'e-mail appliance', so I can apply better spam control methods, and provide a web interface to the mail services. I want it to be able to get the e-mail from multiple pop accounts (since my ISP blocks SMTP), and store it locally on the appliance. I also would like to import my existing e-mail which currently resides in a PST file.

I assume I have to glue several solutions together, so I am hoping the Slashdot community can tell me what kind of setup they have, or point me into the right direction. Eventually, I want it to be a virtual appliance, so I don't have to waste a dedicated machine for this project (I would shut it down at night, allowing me to back up the virtual appliance).

Submission + - Security People Use Firefox

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @11:16AM

An anonymous reader writes: A look at the Hack Report's web stats confirms two things that I've suspected for a long time a) Security (conscious?) people use Firefox (64%) instead of IE (26%) and b) Firefox users are much faster when it comes to upgrade to a newer version. My guess is that a lot of this will change rather quickly once Vista installations pick up.
http://hackreport.net/2006/12/05/security-people-u se-firefox/

Submission + - Millimeter Wave Weapon Certified for Use in Iraq

Submitted by jdray on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @11:10AM

jdray writes: Wired is carrying a story on the certification of the Active Denial System (ADS) for use in Iraq. The ADS is a millimeter wave weapon that uses a reportedly non-lethal energy beam to inflict short term pain on its targets, encouraging them to leave an area, what experimenters call the "Goodbye effect." Some crunchy bits from the article:
The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves -- 94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven.
...while subjects may feel like they have sustained serious burns, the documents claim effects are not long-lasting. At most, "some volunteers who tolerate the heat may experience prolonged redness or even small blisters," ...
There has been no independent checking of the military's claims.

I can see using this in a wartime situation, but how long before we see these things mounted to the top of S.W.A.T. vans for domestic crowd control? And, is that a bad idea? I can't really tell from where I sit.

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