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Hugh Pickens writes: "Researchers in the Netherlands have created an improved aerodynamic shape for truck trailers by mounting sideskirts that can lead to a cut in fuel consumption and emissions of up to 15%. Sideskirts are plates that are mounted on the sides of trailers to reduce the air currents alongside and under the trailer reducing the air resistance. The sideskirts can be fitted to approximately half the trucks currently in use in the Netherlands and it is expected that the cost of fitting aerodynamically-shaped sideskirts will be recouped within two years. Road tests are also underway on boat tails mounted on the rear of trailers to produce a reduction in the wake, the vacuum and air currents that arise when the trailer is moving. In theory, a boat tail could also mean a cut in air resistance of 30%, with a fuel reduction of 10 — 15%."
Mike writes: "Ever wonder what the CIA really thinks of Microsoft's Internet Explorer? How about just viewing the source of some of their javascript programs. When defining variables to define the browser the client uses, the CIA is very specific. Just look at the javascript source for the program found here: https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/games/break-the-code/code-1.html and you will see the CIA is telling the kiddies of the world that Microsoft's Internet Explorer is: bugRiddenCrashPronePieceOfJunk.
Here is the sample code: var bugRiddenCrashPronePieceOfJunk=(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE 5')!=-1&&navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mac')!=-1)
Nice. At the very least, you see how the CIA views the browser."
devjj writes: "Ars Technica is reporting that Congress is considering two bills that will remove the exemption terrestrial radio broadcasters currently enjoy that allows them to broadcast music without compensating the artists or labels for it. Songwriters are paid, but that is it. The National Association of Broadcasters is furious at the RIAA, a vocal supporter of repealing the exemptions, and has responded by agreeing that artists need better compensation. As a result, it is pointing its collective finger at the labels, asking Congress to investigate modern recording contracts.
What do you think? With the NAB up against the RIAA, what do consumers stand to gain or lose?"
traycerb writes: A Portuguese company, named Microsoft Lda, and unrelated to the Balmer/Gates/et al institution,
is selling the Portugese rights to the Microsoft name on ebay. As the article says:
"The company registered its title locally in back in 1981, long before Microsoft Corp penetrated the Portuguese market. Since the Beast of Redmond is accordingly not allowed to call itself Microsoft in the land of fado and pasteis de nata, it lurks behind the MSFT moniker."
"MSFT?" How is that even pronounced?
SuperUberGeek writes: "GoDaddy Lets Their SSL Certificate Expire
Of all the biggest blunders you do not want to do, GoDaddy.com has let their security certificate expire and is now taken offline. As of 4:10 PST, Dec 19, 2007 Godaddy.com has ceased to exist. This is a major blooper for a company that prides itself in reselling SSL Certificates, and in providing web based tools to manage your domain names, websites, and auctions for domain names. All three which can expire in the time godaddy is down, presenting a huge problem for anyone who has a domain name expiring tonight, or who needs to manage something for a client using the tools at godaddy."
Ian Lamont writes: "Computerworld has written about CNBC and its storage infrastructure. Instead of relying on bigger vendors like NetApp or EMC for its primary storage, the cable news channel turned to an Apple Xsan. It's one of the few Apple SANs that the writer has seen in a data center of this size: 'Most corporations simply don't trust Apple — primarily because their infrastructure is Windows and Unix — to put it in their data center, much less to use it for their primary network storage,' he writes. Part of the reason why CNBC chose Apple is the CNBC graphics team uses Macs for a lot of their work, but cost and scalability figured into their choice, as well. There's a brief video interview accompanying the story, featuring CNBC's graphics engineer explaining the Xsan setup."
sterlingda writes: "Toshiba has developed a new class of nuclear reactor 100 times smaller than a standard reactor. These micro sized nuclear reactors could be used to power large houses, apartment blocks or some city blocks. The new 200 kilowatt reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. The new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction, but uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy. Toshiba expects to install the first reactor in Japan in 2008 and to begin marketing the new system in Europe and America in 2009."
John Bokma writes: "Today, "thanks" to a comment spam I received, I discovered that one can just post comments on linux.com containing JavaScript. The programmer who allowed for such a security hole should be very, very ashamed. At first I couldn't believe my eyes, but a very simple test showed me that it was indeed the case: anybody can post JavaScript on Linux.com via their comment system."
palegray.net writes: "The subject could just as easily be stated "Does Ubuntu understand its own trademark policy?" or alternately "Does Ubuntu really want community support and involvement?" I thought so a week ago. If you're interested in the full write-up of the whole affair, check this page. It contains copies of all the emails I sent to Ubuntu's "trademarks" email address regarding this matter, along with copies of the replies I received.
First, a little bit of background on myself and how this situation started. I'm a pretty big nerd, and I mean that in more than just your general "loves computers and programming Linux applications" sense. I also happen to enjoy puzzles of all types, word games, and kite building. Yes, kite building, especially miniature kites that can be flown in very light winds (or even indoors, in some cases).
I decided it might be a good idea to offer some small kites for sale that were decorated with various open source and Linux themed logos. Given the amount of support the Ubuntu project gives to education, especially considering their focus on education through the Edubuntu project, I thought their logo would look nice on small kites designed for Linux enthusiasts and school-age children. The way I see it, the more kids are exposed to operating systems like Ubuntu, and the less they're forced to use Microsoft products, the better off we all are in the long run. Who knows, maybe a simple kite might spark some kid's curiosity...
So I decided to do the right and proper thing by asking for permission to use the Ubuntu logo on small kites. After a few email exchanges with the folks at Ubuntu, my request was flatly denied with no commentary on my stated interpretation of their trademark policy and the procedure one should use for requesting licensed use of their logos.
What does the Slashdot community think of this? I offered to contribute a percentage of any revenue generated from the kites to the Ubuntu (or Edubuntu, whichever they prefer) project, but received no acknowledgment of that offer. What gives?"
sofar writes: "Intel has just announced and released source code for their Open-FCoE project, which creates a transport that allows native Fibre Channel frames to travel over ordinary ethernet cables to any Linux system. This is an extremely interesting development where datacenters can reduce cost and maintenance by reducing the amount of Fibre Channel equipment and cabling while still enjoying the benefits and performance of Fibre Channel equipment. The new standard for channelling fibre channel frames over ethernet is backed by Cisco, Sun, IBM, EMC, Emulex and a variety of others working in the storage field. The timing of this announce makes sense with 10 Gigabit Ethernet becoming more widespread in the datacenter."
coondoggie writes: "Some users have gone to great lengths to dispose of their mainframe but few have gone this far. On November 21, 2007, the University of Manitoba said goodbye to its beloved 47-year-old IBM 650 mainframe Betelgeuse by holding a New Orleans style jazz funeral. In case you were wondering what an IBM 650's specifications were, according to this Columbia University site, the 650's CPU was 5ft by 3ft by 6ft and weighed 1,966 lbs, and rented for $3200 per month. The power unit was 5x3x6 and weighed 2,972 pounds. The card reader/punch weighed 1,295 pounds and rented for $550/month. The memory was a rotating magnetic drum with 2000 word (10 digits and sign) capacity and random access time of 2.496 ms. For an additional $1,500/month you could add magnetic core memory of 60 words with access time of.096ms. Big Blue sold some 2,000 of the mainframes making it one of the first successfully mass-produced computers.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23123"
Bergkamp10 writes: Researchers at Google and the Georgia Institute of technology are studying a new virtually undetectable form of attack that exploits 'open recursive' DNS servers, which are used to tell computers how to find each other on the Internet by translating domain names like google.com into numerical Internet Protocol addresses. Some 17 million open-recursive DNS servers are on the Internet, and unlike other DNS servers they answer all DNS lookup requests from any computer on the net, making them the perfect target for would be hackers and attackers. Criminals are apparently using these servers in tandem with new attack techniques to develop a generation 2.0 of phishing.
Here's how an attack would work. A victim would visit a Web site or open a malicious attachment that would exploit a bug in his computer's software. Attackers would then change just one file in the Windows registry settings, telling the PC to go to the criminal's server for all DNS information. If the initial exploit code was not stopped by antivirus software, the attack would give attackers virtually undetectable control over the computer. Once they'd changed the Windows settings, the criminals could take victims to the correct Web sites most of the time, but then suddenly redirect them to phishing sites whenever they wanted — during an online banking session, for example. Because the attack is happening at the DNS level, anti-phishing software would not flag the phoney sites.
An anonymous reader writes: I have a problem and I am hoping/. group therapy is the cure, so get on with the +5 comments, post haste!
I am downright embarrassed by the quality of my work; specifically, my code. It is buggy, slow, fragile, and a nightmare to maintain. Documentation, requirements, automated tests? Does not exist.
Do you feel the same way? If so, then what is holding you back from realizing your full potential? More importantly, what if anything are you planning to do about it?
This picture, which many of you have already seen, captures several project failure modes. It would be humorous if it weren't so depressingly true.
I enjoy programming and have from a young age (cut my teeth on BASIC on an Apple IIe). I have worked for companies large and small in a variety of languages and platforms. Sadly the one constant in my career is that I am assigned to projects that drift, seemingly aimlessly, from inception to a point where the client runs out of funding and the project is abandoned.
Like many young and idealistic university graduates I hoped to spend my life programming passionately, but ten years later I look in the mirror and see a whore. I'm just doing it for the money.
Have any developers here successfully lobbied their company to stop or cut back on 'cowboy coding' and adopt best practices? I'm not talking about the methodology-of-the-week, I'm referring to good old fashioned advice like keeping SQL out of the UI layer. For the big prize: has anyone convinced their superiors that the customer isn't always right and saying no once in awhile is the best course of action?
Thanks in advance for your helpful advice.