adrenalinekick - Slashdot User

Submission + - Dell Polls PC Users on Favorite Linux Varieties

Submitted by

narramissic

on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @01:44PM

narramissic writes: "In response to overwhelming user demand for Linux, Dell has posted a survey on its company blog that asks 'PC users to choose between Linux flavors such as Fedora and Ubuntu, and to pick more general choices such as notebooks versus desktops, high-end models versus value models and telephone-based support versus community-based support.' Votes will be collected through March 23, and Dell plans to use the feedback to begin selling Linux-based consumer PCs. How's that for getting what you asked for?"

Submission + - American Express attempts to track people w/ RFID

Submitted by

JeremyDuffy

on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @09:49AM

JeremyDuffy writes: "(originally posted here) Thanks to the good work of the people over at Spychips.com, a plot by American Express to patent technology that would "identify people, track their movements, and observe their behavior" has been exposed. According to their article:

That patent application, titled "Method and System for Facilitating a Shopping Experience," describes a Minority Report style blueprint for monitoring consumers through RFID-enabled objects, like the American Express Blue Card
The funny part is that when American Express top brass learned that they'd been discovered, they scrambled into damage control mode and met with the leaders of Caspian promising to "ensure that any people-tracking plans be accompanied by language requiring consumer notice and consent". They also promised to make a spychip-free version of the card if a customer, but only if the customer asks for it. Sounds to me like they're making token gestures to appease the privacy experts while merrily continue to do everything they planned to in the first place."

Submission + - Wanna be great surgeon? Start playing video games

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Monday February 19, 2007 @05:56PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Surgeons with video game skill appear to perform better than non-gamers, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Training curricula that include video games may help thin the technical interface between surgeons and screen-mediated applications, such as laparoscopic surgery," the authors conclude. "Video games may be a practical teaching tool to help train surgeons.""

Submission + - Hollywood training swedish police in Anti-Piracy

Submitted by

Oxygen

on Monday February 19, 2007 @05:54PM

Oxygen writes: "IDG.se reports on it's online newssite that representatives from the MPAA, FBI and the Swedish lobbyorganisation Antipiratbyrån have held seminars for swedish police officers (Swedish only) that are being trained in fighting piracy and copyright violations. From the article: "According to Bertil Ramsell, responsible for the course, the purpose of the visit was to give the invited speakers a chance to explain to the students what their organsation's purpose was. But in a report from the IIPA, the pupose was to educate students in anti-piracy." Educating is one thing, but the acronym MPAA doesn't really spell "objective" or "no hidden agenda" to me."

XM And SIRIUS Radio Merging 301

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 19, 2007 @05:07PM from the monopoly-is-such-a-fun-game dept.

lenny6998 writes to tell us Yahoo! News is reporting that XM and Sirius Radio, the only two major players in the relatively new market of subscription satellite radio have announced a merger. "The two companies said in a statement that Mel Karmazin, the CEO of Sirius, would become chief executive of the new company while Gary Parsons, the chairman of XM, would remain in that role."

Submission + - SSH Security Primer: Client Security

Submitted by nitsudima on Monday February 19, 2007 @04:51PM

nitsudima writes: John Tränkenschuh provides a quick survey of SSH client security issues and suggested configurations for the reference SSH distribution, OpenSSH.

Submission + - Pre-Installed Linux tops Dell customer requests

Submitted by

dhart

on Monday February 19, 2007 @04:26PM

dhart writes: "Within only a few days of opening a new customer feedback website, Dell has discovered the feature most requested (by a wide margin!) as an option on all new Dell PCs: Pre-installed Linux. I believe they'll have a harder time now with the tired old mantra "there's no customer demand for Linux"."

Submission + - Ballmer hints at Xbox 360 price cuts

Submitted by thefickler on Monday February 19, 2007 @03:47PM

thefickler writes: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has strongly hinted that the company will look at cutting the price of its Xbox 360 in a recent financial analyst briefing in New York. Ballmer said that the company would review the price of the Xbox 360 to ensure that it remains competitive as well as profitable:

Submission + - Anti-DRM Petition Response From Downing Street

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @03:15PM

An anonymous reader writes: Downing Street have released a statement in response to a petition on their website.
It states that all products with DRM should be labelled on how the product can be used or not used.

It is clear though that the needs and rights of consumers must also be carefully safeguarded. It is reasonable for consumers to be informed what is actually being offered for sale, for example, and how and where the purchaser will be able to use the product, and any restrictions applied.

It also references the Gowers Report [PDF warning] published December 2006 and the recommendations proposed in the report.

Recommendations include introducing a limited private copying exception by 2008 for format shifting for works published after the date that the law comes into effect. There should be no accompanying levies for consumers. Also making it easier for users to file notice of complaints procedures relating to Digital Rights Management tools by providing an accessible web interface on the Patent Office website by 2008 and that DTI should investigate the possibility of providing consumer guidance on DRM systems through a labelling convention without imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens

Submission + - Study Indicates Autism is Mostly Genetic

Submitted by Old Man Kensey on Monday February 19, 2007 @02:28PM

Old Man Kensey writes: A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the nonprofit foundation Autism Speaks has found multiple verifiable genetic links to the development of autism, including a gene involved in glutamate metabolism, a process implicated in other childhood neurological disorders like epilepsy. One researcher went so far as to say the findings indicate that autism may be as much as 90% genetic.

Submission + - Google developing AI

Submitted by

chonny69

on Monday February 19, 2007 @01:16PM

chonny69 writes: "Developers at search engine giant Google "are really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale," Google co-founder Larry Page said at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference Saturday. "It's not as far off as people think," he said. Page also said that in the programming language of humans the brain's algorithms weren't all that complicated and could be approximated, eventually, with a lot of computational power."

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