InsurgentGeek - Slashdot User

Comment Re:In case you have no clue what they're talking a (Score 1) 135

by InsurgentGeek on Sunday February 10, 2008 @10:28PM (#22375338) Attached to: Semantic Web Getting Real

Ummh, I think that's the point. The concept - first advocated by Tim Berners Lee - has been around for a long time. The technology to make it real has not. This is a big step in that direction. It's not the whole answer - but services like this will help overcome one of the key constraining factors: ubiquitous metadata tagging of content.

Submission + - Defense Contractor Halliburton Moving HQ to Dubai

Submitted by

theodp

on Monday March 12, 2007 @03:33AM

theodp writes: "Much-maligned defense contractor Halliburton is moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's friendly tax laws will add to Halliburton's bottom line. Last year, it earned $2.3B in profits. Sen. Patrick Leahy called the company's move 'corporate greed at its worst.' Halliburton, once headed by VP Dick Cheney, has received contracts valued at an estimated $25.7B for its work in Iraq."

Submission + - Cool interface technology

Submitted by Tom on Monday March 12, 2007 @02:40AM

Tom writes: Defense Tech and SFGate.com have a video demonstrating use of "Perceptive Pixel"'s interface technology. They don't want you to call it "The Minority Report" tech, but that's probably the easiest way to describe it to mainstream users. Either that or "a touchscreen that doesn't suck". Looks like a cool way to organize your photos. (Or it would be, without the 6-figure price tag.)

Feed Now, When You’re on Hold, You Can Choose the Music (nytimes.com)

From feed by nytfeed on Sunday March 11, 2007 @11:32PM

Most music phones so far have been an amalgam of two disparate technologies, but the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic may be on the verge of getting it right.

Submission + - Are email disclaimers legally binding?

Submitted by

Bifurcati

on Thursday March 08, 2007 @08:16PM

Bifurcati writes: "Half the emails I receive have email disclaimers at the end, warning me of the dire consequences that would follow if I am the unwitting recipient of juicy details which I then divulge, or perhaps even read. IANAL, and I know most of /. aren't either, but I'm interested in knowing the legal status of such disclaimers. Slate says they're mostly useless, except perhaps for trade secrets. Surely, though, if a Coca Cola exec emails me their recipe by mistake, they have no legal protection? (Their "reasonable steps" at security are no more?) What if I discovered my friend's spouse was having an affair — would I be prohibited from informing my friend? Aside from secrets, what else can they protect against?"

Submission + - S Korea works on ethical code for robots

Submitted by jonkster on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @08:11PM

jonkster writes: reported by ABC in Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s18660 01.htm

From Story:

South Korea is drawing up a code of ethics to stop humans misusing robots or vice versa, officials say.

The Government plans this year to issue a "Robot Ethics Charter" for manufacturers and users, which will also cover ethical standards to be programmed into robots, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy says.

A five-member task force including experts, futurists and a science fiction writer began work last November.

"The Government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to develop strong intelligence in the near future," the Ministry said in a statement.

Submission + - Computer foul-up breaks Canadian tax filing system

Submitted by

CokeJunky

on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @07:58PM

CokeJunky writes: "During a weekend maintenance window, the Canada Revenue Agency (Fills the same role as the IRS south of the border) experienced data corruption issues in the tax databases. As a precaution, they have disabled all electronic filling services, and paper based returns will be stacking up in the mail room, as returns cannot be filed at all until the problem is fixed. Articles: The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Canada Revenue Agency. Apparently on Monday they discovered tax fillings submitted electronically where the Social Insurance Number, and the Date of Birth were swapped."

Submission + - How hard is it to get a tech job in California?

Submitted by on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @06:25PM

An anonymous reader writes: I have recently moved from the UK to San Francisco and am trying to get a tech job here. My experience has been difficult. I've had some interviews, but I find that getting feedback just does not happen. One of the companies is a (well known company) that told me they would get back in a week. I heard nothing for a month. Emailing them has produced no response. I assume I did not get the job, but is this typical of how companies treat candidates?

I have also applied to lots positions and got no response at all. This has been direct through comany websites and through job sites.

I was wondering if others can provide some insight into what I am doing wrong?

To give a bit of background I've worked for 10yrs in IT in programming and application support/operations. I also have a degree in Comp Sci.

Submission + - Shimmering holograms to check anticancer drugs

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @01:41PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Physicists at Purdue University have developed a new digital holographic imaging system. This device permits to watch in 3-D how anticancer drugs fight tumors. It uses a laser which does not harm living tissues and a common microchip used in your digital cameras to see inside tumor cells. The real innovation of this system is that the holograms generated are not permanently recorded. These shimmering holograms recorded on holographic film "change in time, tracking and adjusting to changes in the image intensity and phase," according to one of the researchers. Of course, this device can have other applications in drug development and medical imaging. Read more for additional details showing how the researchers are working on their digital holographic imaging system."

Submission + - "Best" 20 Firefox extensions missing a big

Submitted by

PetManimal

on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @01:20PM

PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has an extensive list of the "best" Firefox extensions. It's pretty developer-friedly — including things like Greasemonkey and Firebug — but there are a lot of standard extensions that almost anyone can use that help the browsing experience, like Cooliris Previews. Someone noticed AdBlock didn't make the list, though."

Submission + - Microsoft's OneCare Finishes Last in Antivirus Tes

Submitted by

angrykeyboarder

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @07:12PM

angrykeyboarder writes: "A story from PC Magazine's website details results of a recent study putting Microsoft's OneOcae at the bottom of the iist in AntiVirus software test results."

Submission + - Including security codes in battery packs

Submitted by

Alan Smith, Sr.

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @06:32PM

Alan Smith, Sr. writes: ""Battery packs are just one common consumer application that's making use of highly sophisticated hashing algorithms to validate their use." Thats a quote from the 3/5 EDN Is there really a reason to put a security system in a 9V battery? Com'on...lets be serious. Or..are they?"

Submission + - Google Phone: Fact Or Fiction?

Submitted by on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @05:15PM

An anonymous reader writes: As if it wasn't frustrating enough to wait for the iPhone, now Google are apparently at it too. The Google phone will feature a large colour touchscreen, access to online applications and a built-in GPS receiver. Is this for real or is this a real case of vaporware? "So the game continues and we play second fiddle to the brave men and women who actually manage to sneak out real photos of prototype products. As for the Photoshoppers, who knows? Maybe it's your stuff that ends up inspiring companies to make those products, so even though it pains me when you're wrong, keep it coming."

Submission + - A look at Thunderbird 2.0 beta

Submitted by

lisah

on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @03:40PM

lisah writes: "Linux.com has reviewed Mozilla's first beta release of the Thunderbird 2.0 email client and says that, while it 'won't knock your socks off,' there are plenty of reasons to try it out or upgrade from previous versions. The new Thunderbird does away with the limitations of labels and instead allows users to tag emails to their heart's content, in the same vein as Google's GMail. Developers also tossed in a bunch of other useful features like customizable pop-up notification of new email, better search capabilities, and a neat way to navigate through the history of recently read emails. Mozilla developers didn't get everything right, however, since the account setup continues to be something of a headache."

Submission + - A 'nano' cancer monitor implant

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @02:04PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "It is very difficult for doctors to measure the evolution of tumors and if chemotherapy is actually working on cancer patients. This is why MIT researchers have developed a minuscule device that can be implanted directly into a tumor and containing nanoparticles designed to test for different substances associated with tumor growth. As the implant can stay inside the patient for a long time, it will help doctors to see if a treatment is working. This could avoid repetitive MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exams. But the implant has to go through extensive preclinical testing before being approved. Read more for additional details and several images showing how these nanoparticles will be used."

Slashdot Top Deals