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

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission Summary: 0 pending, 25 declined, 6 accepted (31 total, 19.35% accepted)

×

Submission + - TN crime to share Rhapsody p/w with your child (wbbjtv.com)

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "As widely reported, it is now illegal in Tennessee to "share passwords". Specifically, SB 1659, signed by the governor on May 30, turns a violation of terms of service from a civil matter into a crime (and a felony for values over $500). Now the popular press keeps citing Netflix as the prime example, but when it comes to family matters Netflix has some common sense terms of use. Netflix say you "shouldn't" share your password, but that if you do share it with members of your household, you're responsible for their use of it. The terms of use for Rhapsody, the other service cited in the popular press for this story, however, are not as well thought out when it comes to family matters. It says, "Only you may access the Services using your user name and password", meaning, presumably, that you as a parent must manually click on every song you want your minor child to listen to. The only way around it would be to set up a co-signed credit card in your minor child's name, and have your child create his/her own Rhapsody account. To have your six-year-old access Rhapsody otherwise is now a crime in Tennessee."

Submission + - Groupthink vs. no cultural idioms

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "When I showed my 7-year-old daughter the opening to Laverne & Shirley, she got a kick out of it and said, "wow, does momma know about this?" I had to explain, "of course, everyone watched the same TV shows because there were only three channels". A CNN story notes a similar thought in There will never be another Oprah with "because her program premiered in pre-Internet and largely pre-cable times. So there wasn't a whole lot else to watch." Having personally railed the past two decades against the negative effects of television, especially groupthink, I am wondering whether we are giving something up, namely cultural idioms. What better way is there for one geek to communicate to another about the other's misguided sense of risk and payoff for a proposed course of action that with "I find your lack of faith disturbing"? Overall, the negative effects of television outweigh the positive, but where is the balance point? And, more importantly, is there some way in the post-television era to both gain the benefits of cultural idioms that in some way enhance our language while avoiding groupthink?"

Submission + - Warren Miller non-compete expired; still no films

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "As most ski buffs with an interest in intellectual property know, Warren Miller, who made ski films annually from 1950, sold his company, Warren Miller Entertainment, in the late 1980's, has not been involved at all in the films that bear his name for the past six years or so, and is not pleased with the most recent films. He's been getting involved in the ski film industry again, which he thought he could do since his non-compete expired in 1999. However, an arbitration panel decided based on trademark issues surrounding the name "Warren Miller" that Warren Miller is barred from the ski film industry for life."
Science

Submission + - Not transparent aluminum, but conductive plastic (bnl.gov)

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: ""Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory have fabricated transparent thin films capable of absorbing light and generating electric charge over a relatively large area. The material, described in the journal Chemistry of Materials, could be used to develop transparent solar panels or even windows that absorb solar energy to generate electricity. The material consists of a semiconducting polymer doped with carbon-rich fullerenes.""
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Onerous New Law to Phase Out Wi-Fi

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "In perhaps his most informative article this millenium, Dvorak lays down the implications of a bill just passed by Congress (with Ron Paul in the House and Ted Kennedy in the Senate being the only dissenting votes) that will, if Bush signs it as expected, auction off the 2.3-GHz to 2.9-GHz WiFi spectrum by 2012. It is expected that private entities such as Comcast will buy it up to allow WiFi to continue, but with subscriber fees of course."
Communications

Submission + - HOA: Mandatory and exclusive ISP for 20 years

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "5-10 years ago when buying a house, the concern was whether or not it was close enough to the telphone company's central office for DSL. Now you have to check the fine print of the Homeowners Association. Residents in Southern Walk in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, are up in arms over being required to pay $149/month for triple-play (whether they want the service or not) from an exclusive provider, OpenBand, designated by the builder, Van Metre, who by covenant will hold onto a majority of the HOA board for the next 20 years. That's right — the residents are forbidden from purchasing a traditional analog landline from Verizon."
United States

Submission + - U.S. has lost ability to build its own roads

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "The land famous for its love of the automobile and construction of Interstates and other highways, with high-elevation tunnels, viaducts snaking through canyons, and water crossings of up to 20 miles is now outsourcing design and construction of its roads to Asia — not because it's cheaper, but because the U.S. has lost the expertise. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer regarding the newly opened span across the Tacoma Narrows, "the American steel industry had imploded, while steel-making — and the expertise needed to build suspension bridges — had moved to Asia" and "the detailed engineering and fieldwork and all the spinning and cable-wrapping equipment ... were provided by ... Japanese construction giants""
Networking

Submission + - Sensor-ladened, interconnected snowplow fleet

Submitted by
michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: "The Denver Post is running a story on the area's fleet of high-tech snowplows that sport GPS, downward-facing infrared sensors, and touchscreen computers linked to a central computer receiving up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and road conditon information from pucks embedded in the pavement. The idea is to deploy the right equipment and chemicals at the right time and in the right amount. This Blizzard of '06, though, overwhelmed the system. (An article earlier this week noted that Denver has one of the lowest snowplow-per-annual-inch-per-lane-mile ratios — I guess they just like to rely on the strong sun and low humidity to their work for them, which admittedly has been effective at 6 inches per day at melting the 2-3 feet of snow we got Wed-Fri). The technology seems like a cache — it makes for efficient use of resources under normal load, but offers no assistance when put under firehose conditions. Still, the technology is interesting, and not something I would have expected from lumbering snowplows. On the other hand, maybe low-tech is better — that earlier article said other cities like New York cope by being able to slap on blades to their garbage trucks."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Ninety percent of baseball is half mental." -- Yogi Berra

Close