wronzki - Slashdot User

Yellowstone Supervolcano Larger Than First Thought 451

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 15, 2009 @11:50AM from the even-superer dept.

drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."

Comment Re:pager? (Score 1) 236

by wronzki on Wednesday August 05, 2009 @02:37PM (#28961087) Attached to: Twitter Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Probably around the same time you realize the abstract is irrelevant and only the claims in the patent matter. The abstract will always be general and sound like something that exists. The specific implementation claimed in the patent may or may not actually be novel, and Twitter may or may not actually be infringing on it. Those are the questions that will be decided in court. It may be that no interpretation of the claims is both expansive enough to include what Twitter does and narrow enough to exclude prior art, but you can't tell that from the abstract.

Comment Incredibly stupid headline (Score 2, Interesting) 229

by wronzki on Saturday February 23, 2008 @12:12PM (#22527124) Attached to: Toshiba Paid Off To Drop HD-DVD?

Sony supposedly paid off Toshiba by making Toshiba pay $835 million for production facilities that Sony would still be able to use (as part of the joint venture)? I sure hope Sony never tries to pay me off for anything. Oh, and the deal was made in October (just the price was made public now). And TFA (yes, I read it) never even suggested there was a tie between this and the death of HD-DVD. It mentioned it to provide some context for the companies' current positions but never implied that there was a link.

Submission + - Are keyboards dishwasher safe?

Submitted by i_like_spam on Friday June 15, 2007 @07:25PM

i_like_spam writes: Computer keyboards are a breeding ground for bacteria. Studies have shown that keyboards often contain more bacteria than toilet seats. Common cleaning methods, such as pressurized-air canisters and damp rags, help remove some of the dirt, but they also leave behind plenty of grime. National Public Radio describes a recent experiment by a reporter who used a dishwasher to clean her keyboard. Following the advice on Plastic Bugs, she placed her keyboard in the top rack, didn't use the heated dry cycle, and air dried the keyboard for a week afterwards. Her keyboard is now squeaky clean and functions perfectly. Has anyone else tried this or any other alternate keyboards cleaning methods? For those not willing to air dry for a week, dishwasher-safe keyboards are now available.

Submission + - First ever scramjet reaches Mach 10

Submitted by stjobe on Friday June 15, 2007 @07:01PM

stjobe writes: Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Australian and US scientists successfully launched a supersonic scramjet engine at an Outback test range Friday, as they work on a device that could revolutionise air travel.
The researchers said a rocket carrying the scramjet reached speeds of mach 10 — ten times the speed of sound — after blasting off at the Woomera range in South Australia Friday.
They said it reached an altitude of 530 kilometres (330 miles) before the scramjet was successfully deployed following re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere.
Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) said it was believed to be the first time a scramjet had been ignited within the Earth's atmosphere.

Google news has many other sources as well.

Submission + - New Targeted E-mail Attack Hits Business Execs (pcworld.com)

Submitted by

Erik Larkin, PC World

on Friday June 15, 2007 @06:55PM

Erik Larkin, PC World writes: "The same scammers who have been sending out the faked but highly convincing BBB and IRS e-mails are now targeting named victims with a new variety of e-mail that looks like a business invoice. Our editor-in-chief was sent one here at PC World."

Submission + - The sun revolves around the earth?!? (wordpress.com)

Submitted by

lantastik

on Friday June 15, 2007 @06:16PM

lantastik writes: "I have always considered myself a Christian. One who thinks that both God and science have their place in the universe. It is when I read items like this that I am embarassed to be associated with other members of the Christian community. According to the story, physicists have it all wrong, the Earth does not revolve around the sun, using quoted passages that are taken out of context as proof. Apparently some people take the stories and passages in the bible a little too literally."

Submission + - The End of Broadcast TV as We Know It? (popularmechanics.com)

Submitted by mattnyc99 on Friday June 15, 2007 @06:12PM

mattnyc99 writes: The DVR revolution is nothing that new—and neither is the Neilsen ratings company's adaptation to it. But Glenn Derene at Popular Mechanics argues that users have officially pushed us into a new era of television, wherein viewers now shape the way that networks make money, which means we'll start to see users control the way the networks choose programming. From the article: "The systemic use of ad ratings as one of the standard metrics for assessing viewership is a sea change, and it's perhaps the sign that as an industry, broadcasters and advertisers are sailing into uncharted waters."

Submission + - Pfizer Worker Exposes Company Data with P2P (idm.net.au)

Submitted by

ColinPL

on Friday June 15, 2007 @05:47PM

ColinPL writes: "A worker from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in the US has inadvertently exposed the personal details of up to 17,000 company employees after a mishap with a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program."

Submission + - Kaspersky labs confirms Google can lock out users

Submitted by thefickler on Friday June 15, 2007 @05:17PM

thefickler writes: There have been reports floating around the Internet that people have been getting blocked or having their IP addresses banned on Google. Some did not believe this was happening,though Kaspersky Labs has confirmed this problem exists.

The problem exists for all possible connection types, static IP, dynamic IP or even connecting through a proxy which is probably the worst situation. If the proxy gets blocked, all users connecting through that proxy are redirected to a captcha Google page

If your IP address is dynamic and ends up getting blocked you will be unblocked when it is renewed but whoever was given your old IP address will be redirected to the same captcha page.

Submission + - Spacex has flight review of Falcon I (spacex.com)

Submitted by WindBourne on Friday June 15, 2007 @05:06PM

WindBourne writes: Spacex has finally come up with a flight review of the last falcon flight (pdf — sorry). Apparently, 8 anomalies were uncovered, with none requiring a major re-design. The question remains of will the next launch be on-schedule or be slipped?

Submission + - Apple Unable to Find iPhone Partner in Europe? (vnunet.com)

Submitted by

pete314

on Friday June 15, 2007 @04:55PM

pete314 writes: "A Vnunet.com article claims that European mobile operators are unwilling to concede to Apple iPhone partnership demands. Several operators went as far as to say they "will never offer the iPhone." In the US Verizon has reportedly passed on the device, and AT&T is rumored to have engaged in a revenue sharing deal that includes monthly payments to Cupertino."

Submission + - Personal Data Backup

Submitted by Machitis on Friday June 15, 2007 @04:31PM

Machitis writes: I along with a group of close friends are considering ways to backup all of our important data, including all the normal small files, but also many gigabytes of pictures, home video, etc. We all have a lot of data and not a lot of money, so we've been considering sharing some sort of online backup solution. We would like not only to automatically backup designated files but also to have access to them from anywhere on the internet if the need arises. We've looked into some companies that offer online backup, but the ones we've looked into were either too expensive or didn't offer the features we would like to have. We've started to consider the possibility of a do-it-yourself approach, with a primary server sitting at my apartment and a secondary at another person's place that would synchronize with the primary for good data safety. Does Slashdot have any recommendations on implementation, software, services — DIY or otherwise?

Submission + - NDAs... are they really worth it?

Submitted by Vijay on Friday June 15, 2007 @03:39PM

Vijay writes: Maybe I've been drinking too much FOSS Kool Aid, but I do ponder the relevance of NDAs. With situations like The Consumerist being told that some pretty straightforward items described were proprietary secrets and the Fantastic Four reviewer losing his job, is it seriously worth it for these companies to be so aggressive with their legal departments? If the legal departments were looking to pursue NDA violations for non-obvious things, that is one situation... but for issues such as telling consumers that they need to search and compare for deals on the Dell site, or to tell potential movie-goers that the Fantastic Four may not live up to its hype... c'mon — gimme a break! The backlash from consumers against these businesses is going to be much worse than any harm that was done by the purported NDA violators.
What do fellow slashdotters think?
Full Disclosure: I recently lost my job for discussing with a client an obvious flaw in my employer's software which the client has repeatedly asked about.

YouTube to Host Presidential Debate 180

Posted by Zonk on Friday June 15, 2007 @03:23PM from the bringing-dancing-cats-to-the-world-of-politics dept.

skotte writes "Wired is reporting that July 23 at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, Anderson Cooper will host presidential debates in which debaters are asked 20-30 questions culled from a specially designated section of YouTube, where the voting populace can post questions directly. You and I (assuming you're American, probably) can ask questions ourselves, not just a reporter in a crowd. Candidates won't know which questions they are being asked, and the video selection process will remain a complete secret. Interesting, but also the slightest bit scary."

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