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Communications

Submission + - SC considers wireless net as public service

Submitted by
jeffery_donahue
jeffery_donahue writes: "According to The Lancaster News, the legislature of South Carolina is considering offering municipal wireless internet throughout the state. "The state House recently passed a resolution creating the S.C. Wireless Technology and Communications Commission, which will study the feasibility of creating a statewide wireless broadband network using existing ETV towers." Also among the topics of debate is the matter of a virtual classroom."
Security

Submission + - Microsoft OneCare Can Eat Your Email

Submitted by
writertype
writertype writes: "Neil Rubenking has posted a report on PC Magazine's AppScout blog, warning that Microsoft's dodgy OneCare antivirus software will quarantine your entire email store if it detects a virus. And, of course, since OneCare finished dead last in a recent A/V roundup, the problem is even more serious. As the reputation of OneCare disintegrates, it looks like Microsoft has some work to do in developing OneCare 2.0 before the company brings it to market."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Verizon Fails 3rd Grade Math - Over and Over

Submitted by
stdio9
stdio9 writes: "One man's struggle to re-educate Verizon employees about 3rd grade mathematics fails, with recorded audio. Hey Verizon: If the customer service manager is making $100k a year, you have a great opportunity here. Rather than paying $0.01335 a second, try paying 0.01335 cents a second. Imagine the cost savings you will turn over for all the phone reps that don't understand the difference. (Assumes a 2080 work hour year, with paid vacation and holidays.)"
Media

Submission + - Who needs iTunes? Indie-friendly video stores

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Adams Media Research predicts that by 2011, the online video market will be worth $5.8 billion, and bucking today's trend, the majority of that revenue will be generated through selling downloads not ad-supported content. It's perhaps no surprise then, to see a number of paid-for download services pop up over the last 18 months — with Apple's iTunes being the market leader. However, in the eyes of many of these stores, not all producers are created equal. For example, if you're an independent and you want to get your work into iTunes, you're out of luck. The same goes for Google Video's paid-for download option. As ZDNet reports, a number of indie-friendly paid-for download services have stepped up to fill the void.
Space

Submission + - Travel Back in Time Not Possible

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Time travel has long been one of those "theoretically possible" things that makes Sci-Fi thrive. But while going forward in time is still perhaps possible, going back has been all but ruled out, according to an article (and accompanying videos) at LiveScience. Chiming in are four scientists who think about this a lot: Brian Greene, Charles Liu, Michio Kaku and J. Richard Gott. Liu flatly states: "It is not possible for you and me to travel backward in time."
Robotics

Submission + - Automatic Beer Launching Fridge

Submitted by
gondarlinux
gondarlinux writes: "From this site:
Have you ever gotten up off the couch to get a beer for the umpteenth time and thought, "What if instead of ME going to get the BEER, the BEER came to ME???" Well, that was how I first conceived of the beer launching fridge. About 3 months and several hundred dollars later I have a fully automated, remote controlled, catapulting, man-pit approved, beer launching mini-fridge. It holds 10 beers in its magazine with 14 more in reserve to store a full case. It is controlled by a keyless entry system. Pressing unlock will start the catapult rotating and when it is aiming at your target, pressing unlock again will stop it. Then the lock button can be pressed to launch a beer in the selected direction." Here's the video:"
Microsoft

Microsoft WGA Phones Home Even When Told No 403

Posted by CmdrTaco from the huge-shocker-here dept.
Aviran writes "When you start WGA setup and get to the license agreement page but decided NOT to install the highly controversial WGA component and cancel the installation, the setup program will send information stored in your registry and the fact that you choose not to install WGA back to Microsoft's servers."
Businesses

Apple Care Efficiency When Macs Break? 232

Posted by Cliff from the what-has-been-your-experience dept.
cyber-dragon.net asks: "I have long been a staunch supporter of Apple and Macs, however my recent experience with trying to bring them into my department, at work, has been disappointing. We had a Mac Pro (the big quad processor monster) die after four days. Of course, this kind of stuff happens, and everything else has worked flawlessly. I even dealt with the inevitable teasing about the shiny new Mac being a lemon. Almost four hours dealing with Apple Care, three hours dropping off and picking up my computer at different stores, as per their instructions, trying to get this done quickly — I am beginning to wonder if Apple really wants business customers to rely on these machines. Much as I may dislike Dell, when my Linux box died it was fixed in four hours, and I spent maybe 20 minutes of my time setting up the repair. I have spent seven hours of my time so far on this Mac, and it still will not power up. Is this just me or have other people lost critical business machines to the depths of Apple Care inefficiency and lack of business level support?"

Feed 104 Grand for This Old Rag? (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
Among the Bond dinner jackets, Mel Gibson kilts and outfits from Evita that are auctioned off is the moth-eaten cloak worn by Alec Guinness in his portrayal Obi-Wan Kenobi. It fetches $104,000. Not bad. By the Associated Press.


Data Storage

Submission + - TrueDisc Error Correction for Disc Burning

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Macintouch site http://www.macintouch.com/ has a link to a new piece of software — TrueDisc http://www.truedisc.com/ — which claims to make data burned to recordable discs more reliable. More specifically it uses interleaved redundant cells to rebuild data should part of the disc be scratched. On the developer's blog http://blog.truedisc.com/?p=4 they say they plan to create an open-source implementation of the TrueDisc system, now that it is not going to be included in the Blu-ray/HD-DVD standards. Have any Slashdot readers experience with the software, and what alternatives are already available?

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"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight

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