Nemetroid - Slashdot User

Submission + - Improvements to the Download Process

Submitted by ant_tmwx on Saturday February 24, 2007 @05:55PM

ant_tmwx writes: Metalinks collect information about files in an XML format used by programs that download. The information includes mirror lists, ways to retrieve the file on P2P networks, checksums for verifying and correcting downloads, operating system, language, and other details. Using Metalinks details the Free Software programs you can use to download them with. There are also clients on Mac and Windows. With a list of multiple ways to download a file, programs can switch to another method if one goes down. Or a file can be downloaded from multiple mirrors at once, usually making the download go much faster. Downloads can be repaired during transfer to guarantee no errors. All this makes things automatic which are usually not possible or at least difficult, and increases efficiency, availability, and reliability over regular download links. OpenOffice.org, openSUSE, and other Linux/BSD distributions use them for large downloads.

Submission + - The next net billionaires

Submitted by

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @04:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: A year ago Business 2.0 Magazine tagged a startup named YouTube as a young company to watch. Here are the 25 startups to keep an eye on in 2007. Broken into 5 categories of 5 each: Social media, video, mobile, advertising, and enterprise.

Software Missing From Vista's "Official Apps" 288

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @04:27PM from the big-holes dept.

PetManimal writes "Microsoft has just released a list of 800 applications it says are 'officially supported' on Windows Vista. What's special about this list, however, are the programs that are not included: 'Popular Windows software that is conspicuously missing from Microsoft's list includes Adobe Systems Inc.'s entire line of graphics and multimedia software, Symantec Corp.'s security products, as well as the Mozilla Foundation's open-source Firefox Web browser, Skype Ltd.'s free voice-over-IP software and the OpenOffice.org alternative to Microsoft Office.' Another area in which Vista has found to be lacking is gaming, as discussed earlier on Slashdot."

Submission + - Living in underwater complex

Submitted by Hucko on Thursday February 22, 2007 @04:22PM

Hucko writes: A lot of Sci-fi stories concerning the near future (21st and 22nd centuries) have had some reference to living underwater in some form: evil villain's lab, cities etc. Why aren't we hearing about various stations being built in the vast areas oceans? Are people working on it? Surely there are numerous commercial ventures that could be viable and have profitable gains (the tourist industry would be the first idea, no doubt there are better ideas to be discussed). With all the frontier talk being about going to the moon/mars, I'd almost be just as excited about permanent habitation in an underwater complex.

Ohio University Leads U.S. Colleges in File Sharing 135

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:57PM from the go-buckeyes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Ohio University leads the nation in illegal music download notifications, having received 1,287 RIAA complaints since September, with between ten and 15 notices arriving daily. The University is attempting to deflect criticism with a PR piece, saying open networks required for academic freedom make it difficult to stop illegal file sharing. They also point out that the University's architecture makes it much easier to determine who is actually sharing the files. This makes a complaint more likely, as the RIAA knows who to target. "

Submission + - Leaving Vista for Ubuntu

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:18PM

An anonymous reader writes: Tanker Bob blogs over at MobileTechReview.com about his increasing frustrations with Windows, DRM and the like. So he details how he jumped ship to Linux (Ubuntu with KDE). It's got a blow-by-blow that's technical yet useful for newbies thinking of making the switch. The article is here: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showfla t.php?Cat=&Board=tankerbobblog&Number=26899&page=0 &view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Submission + - Google screws over Owner of popular OSS project

Submitted by buhatkj on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:16PM

buhatkj writes: The guy who runs the popular OSS 3d engine project Irrlicht just got banned from Google AdSense, after an accusation of click fraud!
From the Blog Post:

"Maybe you've noticed, for the last few days some google ads appeared on this blog, but they have disappeared now again. That's because I just got banned from google adsense for life time (as it seems), although I didn't do anything wrong."

Not only that, but they are witholding monies already earned by his ads prior to the accusation.

"In that mail, they did not even tell me any information about their problem with my ads, only "invalid clicks or page impressions". No IP adresses, no channel ID, no website, no time or date, no amount of clicks, nothing. No way for me to find out what was wrong. There was the possibility to contradict, and I tried to explain some possible causes like the sudden increased amount of traffic, but they ignored me. The interesting thing: They now even won't pay out the money I already earned before the occurance of their 'invalid clicks' assert. "

Check out the full story HERE

Submission + - The Pirate Bay to stay in Sweden

Submitted by paulraps on Thursday February 22, 2007 @02:15PM

paulraps writes: The Pirate Bay has ditched plans to buy its own nation so as to avoid international copyright laws. One of the founders says that the operation is now less vulnerable to police raids in Sweden now that it has spread its servers around different locations. Amusingly, they may still buy an island, but for more modest reasons: "We have 20,000 to 25,000 dollars to spend. Really we just want somewhere we can name The Pirate Bay, so we can look on Google Maps and find ourselves there," said Tobias Andersson, who, despite running the most poopular site in Scandinavia, still works as an electrician.

Submission + - Conservapedia replaces Wikipedia with anti-science

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:03AM

An anonymous reader writes: Some conservatives have launched an alternative to Wikipedia due to bias: http://www.conservapedia.com/Examples_of_Bias_in_W ikipedia

The new resource is still small (only about 3200 articles, many weak and with gaps in coverage such as having an entry for mathematical "crisp sets" but not for "sets"), and understandably endorses religious and conservative points of view. But the encyclopedia also undercuts the search for knowledge with statements such as "But historical facts, or their absence, are irrelevant since we all know He existed. Historical sources and scientific facts are unnecessary," in the entry for Jesus (http://www.conservapedia.com/Christ), and bizarre anti-science entries (http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/02/conserva pedia_and_math_1.php).

Submission + - the largest non-commercial rocket launch in Europe

Submitted by jaweekes on Thursday February 22, 2007 @09:34AM

jaweekes writes: The TV program "Top Gear" recently launched the "largest non-commercial rocket launch in European history" in the form of a rocket-propelled Reliant Robin. From the article http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/production_notes /shuttle.shtml "What could possibly be so difficult about building a space shuttle? Quite a lot, as it turns out. This was easily Top Gear's most ambitious film and, while everything didn't go quite according to plan, we're still very proud of the results. Here are just a few of the things that happened when we tried to put an ageing three-wheeler into space."

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