Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Adobe Flash Update Installs McAfee Security Scan Plus Crapware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: If you get an update notification for Adobe Flash you will also be installing McAfee Security Scan Plus. This mornings update did open an Adobe webpage but did not give the option of unticking a box to prevent installation of McAfee crapware like previous updates have had. To uninstall — Start, McAfee Security Scan Plus, Uninstall, restart, cross your fingers nothing gets borked.

Submission + - Apple might lose Siri's core tech to Samsung 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We all know Apple bought Siri in 2010, but what many didn't know is its core technology is owned by Nuance, maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Well, it seems Samsung is looking to buy Nuance, and if it does, what are the chances it will cut off the Nuance core from Apple? About as likely as the sun rising in the east.

Submission + - Munich Council say talk of LiMux demise is greatly exaggerated (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Submitted by ndogg
ndogg writes: The rumors of Munich city going back to Microsoft seem to have been greatly exaggerated. There was a review of the city's IT systems that was called for by the mayor, but it wasn't solely just to decide on whether to move back to Microsoft. And while there have been complaints about LiMux, they mostly seem to concern compatibility with OpenOffice.org, which may well be resolved by switching to LibreOffice.

Comment Re:How the Patent System Destroys Innovation (Score 5, Insightful) 97

by lord_rob the only on (#47710657) Attached to: How Patent Trolls Destroy Innovation

Well yes and no, patent protects innovation because you have a monopoly on your idea. Then up to you to make other researches on new products with the money gained.
But if you use a patent, you're forced to reveal your idea and prepare your competitor to use it later. You're never forced to patent your idea tho (see Coca-Cola, never patented, receipt never given).
 

Submission + - Beijing Doctors Implant World's First 3D-Printed Vertebra into 12 Year-Old Boy (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: Doctors from the Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH) in Beijing, China, have become the first in the world to use 3D-printing in complex spinal cord surgery, after replacing a section of cancerous vertebra in a boy's neck with a piece created on a 3D printer.

The procedure to remove this form of cancer is so complex that only five hospitals in China are equipped to perform the surgery. The tumour affects the top of the spinal cord in the neck, but also the internal and external carotid arteries, and the patient's windpipe.

Submission + - PJ rides again (groklaw.net) 2

Submitted by thorpie
thorpie writes: There is a new headline link on Groklaw, from July 22 2014 — U.K. Cabinet Office Adopts ODF as Exclusive Standard for Sharable Documents.
Is she back? or is it a one off?

Submission + - An Envy-Free Algorithm (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: If you want to find a way of dividing up some indivisible items between entities then here is a way to do it that eliminates envy as the outcome. The suggestion is that this could be a good way to divide up possessions during a divorce — algorithms get into everything. A new paper (http://www.ams.org/notices/201402/rnoti-p130.pdf) by New York University’s Steven Brams, Wilfrid Laurier University’s D. Marc Kilgour, and the University of Graz’s Christian Klamler and published this month in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, outlines how to do it so that both parties are happy in a maximal sort of way — i.e it assigns as many items in the pool of things to be divided and only holds back those that if allocated would cause envy.
As long as the players assign true rankings to the items then the more algorithm will find the maximal envy-free assignment and as the number of items increases, the probability of a complete envy-free assignment approaches one.
The bad news is that you can cheat.
If you lie about your ranking you can end up with an assignment that, when you true ranking is revealed, provokes envy. However, as the authors note the danger is that you won't work things out perfectly, because it depends on the ranking of the other player and you could end up worse off. The best strategy is to play fair and end up with an envy free allocation.
So the next time you file for divorce, remember to hire a programmer as well as a lawyer.

Slashdot Top Deals

Love may laugh at locksmiths, but he has a profound respect for money bags. -- Sidney Paternoster, "The Folly of the Wise"

Close