Comment Just give me my cyberdeck. (Score 1) 262
I'll take one of these and a jack behind my eye please!
Comment Hey, if they can read blackened stuff... (Score 1) 132
Could this mean that any well-preserved (but still indefatigably destroyed) texts from the fabled library at Alexandria could be recovered?
Comment F-Zero eh? (Score 2, Funny) 254
Today it's fuel cells, tomorrow it becomes hovercars, then next thing we know we're racing down a magnetic track against aliens and clones of ourselves.
The future is now!
Submission + - Sparring Begins Over High-Def Movie Hacks
narramissic writes: "A string of attacks on the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), which is used on both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, is proof positive that hackers are hard at work trying to ensure that the copy-protection system on next-generation DVDs goes the way of the CSS (content scrambling system) — that is, the eventual widespread availability of software that can copy next-gen DVDs. While the 'architects of AACS learned from the mistakes of CSS and built into the system several different types of keys and the ability to change keys whenever attacks were successful,' the motivation of the hacking public is not to be underestimated. A community of people is already 'spending vast amounts of time pulling out various keys from high-definition movie discs and anticipating the next move of AACSLA and how they might get around it.'"
Submission + - Help requested:finding a sunlight-readable display
max3000 writes: "I'm currently building an embedded device that will be used outdoors. The technology is pretty much nailed down at this point, except the display. Quite honestly, I'm confused and lost in all the display technologies out there: LCD (TFT, passive/active, etc.), ChLCD, OLED, FED, AMLCD, EL, electrophoretic, ePaper like eInk, etc. (some of these may overlap.) Can you help a fellow (and confused) slashdotter?
What I need is (apparently) fairly complicated:
. outdoor-, sunlight-readable (i.e. "at-a-glance readable", not "squint-your-eyes readable)
. diagonal size: 4"-6"
. vga/svga (or a fraction, e.g. 1/8 vga or 1/4 vga)
. at least 16-levels of grayscale (4-bit). More grayscale or color is even better. However, it should be a technology with a roadmap to color in 2-3 years time.
. If not driveable directly from a PC, the display should come with a development kit that is.
I thought it would be a joke finding a display with these characteristics but it's turning in a very long process...
Thanks!"
Feed RNA Splicing Factor Implicated In Ovarian Tumor Cell Growth (sciencedaily.com)
An RNA-binding protein that is overproduced in ovarian cancer may present a new target for diagnosis or treatment of ovarian and other cancers, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Feed Laptop thefts expose 40,000 Chicago teachers (theregister.com)
Identity crisis
A thief walked into the headquarters of Chicage Public Schools (CPS) on Friday, April 6 and grabbed two laptops containing the names and social security numbers of 40,000 teachers. The CPS has released an image of the suspect captured by CCTV and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief or recovery of the data.
Submission + - Utah Bans Keyword Advertising
Eric Goldman writes: "Last month, Utah passed a law banning keyword advertising. Rep. Dan Eastman, the Utah legislator who sponsored the law, believes competitive keyword advertising is the equivalent of corporate identity theft, causing searchers to be (in his words) "carjacked" and "shanghaied" by advertisers. He also takes a swipe at the EFF, dismissing its critique of the law as "criticism from the fringes." I have posted a response to Rep. Eastman."
Submission + - UNIX Kernel Overview
ComtributingWhimp writes: Since it was okay to frontpage a "How Processes Work" article figured I woudl submit this from a friend of mine: What is a Kernel is one of many (of varying length and quality) articles that can be found at Systhread.net. Unlike some kinda sorta writers; this one didn't stop after getting quasi-pseudo famous.
Feed Principal sues ex-students over MySpace profiles (com.com)
Administrator claims four students who allegedly posted parody profiles to the social-networking site bruised his reputation.
Feed Studios Continue To Ignore Just How Badly They Hamstring Legal Download Sites (techdirt.com)
It's been clear since the outset that the movie download sites supported by Hollywood studios have been far too clunky and user-unfriendly to attract many users, and they've made only marginal improvements over the years. They provide the perfect insight into how the movie industry puts its stupid fears about piracy above everything else -- including creating a product that consumers will actually want to pay for. While it's been blindingly obvious to many of us, Jeff writes in to point out that BusinessWeek is highlighting, for Hollywood's benefit, the fact that these sites will never be successful when copy protection is the top priority. It's often easy to marginalize complaints that an overemphasis on DRM and copy protection are hurting big content's business as the whining of a tiny group of geeky consumers, but articles like this one in mainstream publications make it clear that isn't the case, and that only when services like these are usable and useful do they stand a chance of succeeding. Still, the movie studios must not read BusinessWeek, since it was almost a year ago that another article in the magazine pointed out that the movie studios couldn't find a buyer for Movielink, the download site they own, because all the potential buyers realized that it will never succeed as long as the studios insist on locking down their content so rigidly.
Submission + - Presidential ID Theft Task Force Fails
JeremyDuffy writes: "The President's Identity Theft Task Force released some interim suggestions for curbing the problem including the most effective anti-ID theft tool in existance, but the language was stripped out by the time it went to press.
Now know for sure that neither the FTC or the President are actually interested in curbing Identity Theft."
Submission + - SPAM: Wal-Mart engineer firing is backfiring
alphadogg writes: "The ugly story of a Wal-Mart firing of an engineer and the story he has to tell about the big retailer's questionable security practices.
[spam URL stripped]a rt-surveillance-employees.html"
Feed Oops! Yahoo Japan erases 4.5 million e-mails (com.com)
Blog: Yahoo Japan accidentally erased nearly 4.5 million e-mails after the system incorrectly labeled them as spam messages, according...
Feed Galaxy's 'wunderkind' stars may actually be old pro's (pheedo.com)
The 'baby' stars that appear to have been born impossibly close to the Milky Way's black hole could instead be ancient interlopers with a youthful glow
