Comment Re:Nikon pro cameras with fast lenses work great! (Score 1) 200
Actually, there'd be 0 teenagers (in the US) as the legal drinking age is 21.
Comment Re:Obama's no longer using his Blackberry? (Score 1) 79
Check the date on that picture... it's almost 3 years old.
Submission + - Is Siri competitor, Vlingo, a DHS spy app? 1
chihowa writes: This morning I finally decided to give Vlingo, a competitor of Apple's Siri, a try on my iPhone 3GS. When I hit the "Listen" button, though, the app attempted to connect to system32.dhs.gov. I blocked this connection (using Firewall iP) and the app no longer works, complaining "Oops... Can't connect to server."
Is Vlingo some sort of spy app collecting voices of citizens or something? Can anyone else confirm this?
Is Vlingo some sort of spy app collecting voices of citizens or something? Can anyone else confirm this?
Submission + - A rethinking of files (microsoft.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Two recent papers, one from Microsoft Research (above link) and one from University of Wisconsin (http://sigops.org/sosp/sosp11/current/2011-Cascais/printable/06-harter.pdf) are providing a refreshing take on rethinking "what a file is". This could have major implications for the next-gen file system design, and will probably cause a stir among Slashdotters, given that it will affect the programmatic interface. The first paper has some hints as to what went wrong with the previous WinFS approach.
Citing the first paper: "For over 40 years the notion of the file, as devised by pioneers in the field of computing, has proved robust and has remained unchallenged. Yet this concept is not a given, but serves as a boundary object between users and engineers. In the current landscape, this boundary is showing signs of slippage, and we propose the boundary object be reconstituted. New abstractions of file are needed, which reflect what users seek to do with their digital data, and which allow engineers to solve the networking, storage and data management problems that ensue when files move from the PC on to the networked world of today. We suggest that one aspect of this adaptation is to encompass metadata within a file abstraction; another has to do what such a shift would mean for enduring user actions such as ‘copy’ and ‘delete’ applicable to the deriving file types. We finish by arguing that there is an especial need to support the notion of ‘ownership’ that adequately serves both users and engineers as they engage with the world of networked sociality. "
Citing the first paper: "For over 40 years the notion of the file, as devised by pioneers in the field of computing, has proved robust and has remained unchallenged. Yet this concept is not a given, but serves as a boundary object between users and engineers. In the current landscape, this boundary is showing signs of slippage, and we propose the boundary object be reconstituted. New abstractions of file are needed, which reflect what users seek to do with their digital data, and which allow engineers to solve the networking, storage and data management problems that ensue when files move from the PC on to the networked world of today. We suggest that one aspect of this adaptation is to encompass metadata within a file abstraction; another has to do what such a shift would mean for enduring user actions such as ‘copy’ and ‘delete’ applicable to the deriving file types. We finish by arguing that there is an especial need to support the notion of ‘ownership’ that adequately serves both users and engineers as they engage with the world of networked sociality. "
Submission + - Who Did Halloween Better - Bing or Google?
theodp writes: GeekWire is doing a Halloween post-mortem, asking readers to vote on which search engine had the best Halloween decorations this year. One might assume that Google's 2011 Halloween Doodle, an elaborate time-lapse video of the Google Doodle team and friends carving a bunch of gigantic pumpkins in the form of the company's logo (Google also released a making-of-the-doodle video), would be tough to beat, but the leader in the early voting is underdog Microsoft Bing's picture of the day — a dark and striking time-lapse composed of photographs showing a lightning storm flashing across a menacing gargoyle. So, which company better captured the spirit of Halloween? Any other sites deserve special mention?
Submission + - Prominent female dev harassed out of tech (itwire.com)
mvdwege writes: "Alex Bayley, until recently known as Kirrily Robert, and in tech circles better known as 'Skud', has decided to quit all her Open Source work and move into a different career because of persistent gender-based harassment.
Matthew Garret wonders if a persistent unwillingness to speak out against sexist trolling and outright harassment isn't a worse problem than the trolling itself."
Matthew Garret wonders if a persistent unwillingness to speak out against sexist trolling and outright harassment isn't a worse problem than the trolling itself."
Submission + - Tearing up the vacuum of space (telegraph.co.uk) 3
flergum writes: "Do extra dimensions exist? Can we slow down ghost particles long enough to detect them. Can the European Commission really afford to spend £1 billion when their banks teeter on economic ruin? They are going to try anywat"
Submission + - NASA wants to make 'tractor beams' a reality (physorg.com) 1
intellitech writes: Tractor beams — the ability to trap and move objects using light — are the stuff of science fiction, but a team of NASA scientists has won funding to study the concept for remotely capturing planetary or atmospheric particles and delivering them to a robotic rover or orbiting spacecraft for analysis.
Comment Re:Can Slashdot OP's cut the snark? (Score 1) 258
Editorializing would be to say that they'll probably release a security app next week. OP said that they released a security app last week. That's not an opinion - that's a fact.
Comment Re:Nice and open platform... right? (Score 1) 262
Now while we're at it, can I can a 'connect phone, run program, press button and you're done' solution for rooting my HTC Wildfire?
Actually, you can: http://unrevoked.com/#wildfire
Comment Re:Integrated v Fragmented (Score 1) 827
Why can't all this functionality be available through one integrated program instead of being fragmented over many sources?! The end user will get confused!
I see what you did there... and I love it!
Comment Re:got spyware? (Score 1) 761
People like you make responsible gun owners look bad. Execution because someone's touching your vehicle? Ya, better to shoot him than to go talk to him and see what's going on. Talk about an overreaction...
Comment Re:To perfect this hack... (Score 1) 201
it's "rogue". try playing a rogue in WoW for any amount of time and this misspelling will irritate you to no end.
Comment Re:Criminals use ICQ... (Score 1) 319
Half the criminals that I know aren't even SMART enough to use ICQ without an IT guy to hold their freaking hands.
