Comment Re:Clean out the '\Flash Player' folder (Score 3, Interesting) 133
For Linux users you want to (after rm'ing) symlink ~/.adobe and ~/.macromedia to /dev/null.
Comment 64-bit and 32-bit binaries (Score 5, Informative) 387
For most people there is nothing to hold you back from running 64-bit Linux.
Lack of 64-bit {Java,Flash,Wine} doesn't hold you back from 64-bit Linux. A decent Linux distro can handle both 64-bit and 32-bit binaries.
Linux On Brazilian Voting Machines, the Video 252
Augusto writes "Just 10 days ago, 130M Brazilian voters were turned into users of one of the largest Linux deployments worldwide: the 400,000 electoral sections in all of the 5,563 Brazilian municipalities were running electronic voting machines, and the Linux kernel was running in all of them. These voting machines have been used in Brazil since 1996, and are rugged, self-contained, low-spec PCs. We've discussed the technical details of this Linux deployment and implementation elsewhere, but I thought it would be interesting to show some pictures (and a movie) of Linux booting on these voting machines. So I asked for official permission and thus was helped by a technician while I took some quick pictures and made a small movie showing the boot process, where you can actually read the kernel messages."
Flash Cookies, a Little-Known Privacy Threat 225
Wiini recommends a blog posting exploring Flash cookies, a little-known threat to privacy, and how you can get control of them. 98% of browsers have Macromedia Flash Player installed, and the cookies it enables have some interesting properties. They have no expiration date; they store 100 KB of data by default, with an unlimited maximum; they can't be deleted by your browser; and they send previous visit information and history, by default, without your permission. I was amazed at some of the sites, not visited in a year or more, that still had Flash cookies on my machine. Here's the user-unfriendly GUI for deleting them, one at a time, each one requiring confirmation.
Submission + - Free game to practice japanese hiragana, Play whil (learn-hiragana-katakana.com)
angelmartin writes: "http://www.learn-hiragana-katakana.com/index.php?p age=review-play-hiragana-game
An online english japanese language website. You can play and learn hiragana and katakana using their games."
Submission + - Microsoft Sees Stronger XP Sales in FY08 (pcworld.com) 1
Rude Awakening writes: Microsoft Corp. Thursday said that it expects Windows XP, the operating system supposedly made moot by Windows Vista, to make up a significantly larger part of sales in the coming year.
I thought this was a misprint and they really meant Vista sales would be stronger in '08 instead of XP, but it is no misprint. Is Vista bad enough to breathe new life into XP sales, or is this part of an insidious plot by Microsoft to sell two OS licenses for each new PC shipped?
I thought this was a misprint and they really meant Vista sales would be stronger in '08 instead of XP, but it is no misprint. Is Vista bad enough to breathe new life into XP sales, or is this part of an insidious plot by Microsoft to sell two OS licenses for each new PC shipped?
Submission + - Commodore back from the grave!
An anonymous reader writes: For everyone with fond memories of the VIC-20, the C64 and of course the classic Amiga, you'll be glad to know that Commodore's new PC based machines are a reality. Here's a full review of a high end Commodore gaming box that costs over $5000! The specs and the performance look good, and if I were Alienware or Voodoo, I'd start to worry about now! http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2007/07/2 0/Commodore-XX-Gaming-PC/p1
Submission + - open source ontology cash prize (ontologyportal.org)
Adam Pease writes: "Following the success of last year's competition, and the award of the SUMO prize to Robin Sharp of the Technical University of Denmark, we are announcing the second annual SUMO prize for the best open source ontology extension of SUMO.
The Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO) (www.ontologyportal.org) is a large, open source, formal ontology with application to the semantic web, natural language understanding and logical reasoning. It has been mapped by hand to the entire WordNet English lexicon, and linked to many other human languages as well. It includes the Sigma knowledge engineering system (sigmakee.sourceforge.net) for ontology development, extension and reasoning.
The SUMO prize is for US$3000.00 will be awarded to the best open source project that extends SUMO. Entries will be due electronically to Adam Pease (apease [at] articulatesoftware [dot] com) by December 1, 2007. Awards will be made December 31, 2007. Entries should be SUO-KIF files that extend SUMO and its domain ontologies, and conform to them.
In addition to the logical soundness of the ontology with respect to the SUMO ontologies, entries will be judged on several criteria:
* Degree of formalization — is the ontology fully specified with rules or just a taxonomy or collection of basic relational statements?
* Scope and coverage of the ontology — is it just a few terms, or hundreds?
* Does the ontology cover a coherent new topic or domain?
* Actual utility of the ontology in an application
Further details are available at http://www.ontologyportal.org/prize.html"
The Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO) (www.ontologyportal.org) is a large, open source, formal ontology with application to the semantic web, natural language understanding and logical reasoning. It has been mapped by hand to the entire WordNet English lexicon, and linked to many other human languages as well. It includes the Sigma knowledge engineering system (sigmakee.sourceforge.net) for ontology development, extension and reasoning.
The SUMO prize is for US$3000.00 will be awarded to the best open source project that extends SUMO. Entries will be due electronically to Adam Pease (apease [at] articulatesoftware [dot] com) by December 1, 2007. Awards will be made December 31, 2007. Entries should be SUO-KIF files that extend SUMO and its domain ontologies, and conform to them.
In addition to the logical soundness of the ontology with respect to the SUMO ontologies, entries will be judged on several criteria:
* Degree of formalization — is the ontology fully specified with rules or just a taxonomy or collection of basic relational statements?
* Scope and coverage of the ontology — is it just a few terms, or hundreds?
* Does the ontology cover a coherent new topic or domain?
* Actual utility of the ontology in an application
Further details are available at http://www.ontologyportal.org/prize.html"
Submission + - HP lying about Mac OS X support (blogspot.com)
znerd writes: "After struggling for months to get the HP Business Inkjet 2800dtn working properly with Mac OS X 10.4, I contacted HP support. I told them the printer is extremely slow and fails to properly print moderately complex images. Result: They told me they know the 2800 does not work well with Mac OS X. Switch to Windows or get your money back. I'm baffled. I explicitly checked for Mac-compatibility when I bought the printer.
However, the HP website still states that the printer is supported. Do HP consider Mac OS X users relevant? And isn't this sort of thing illegal anyway, proclaiming something you know you can't/won't offer?"
However, the HP website still states that the printer is supported. Do HP consider Mac OS X users relevant? And isn't this sort of thing illegal anyway, proclaiming something you know you can't/won't offer?"
Submission + - Microsoft profits up 11% (bbc.co.uk)
I'llDoItLater writes: Microsoft's profits for the last quarter have risen 11% to $3.03bn, reports the BBC. Demand for Vista is said to be a major reason for this increase, which comes despite the bill of over $1bn faced by Microsoft over faulty Xbox 360s.
Submission + - The stalker in your pocket (computerworld.com)
kashif.ahsan writes: "From the article "Camera phones contain all the necessary ingredients for completely invasive stalking: a microphone, camera, personal data on the user, location information, a chat and call history — you name it. And victims carry them everywhere they go.All that's missing is the software that lets stalkers take control. This new software, called snoopware, does just that. Snoopware — both legal and illegal — enables stalkers to secretly seize control of a phone's electronics to listen, watch and spy on their victims."
Although this case might be a bit extreme but in a few years most of us will have some sort of issues like this."
Submission + - Spware with a badge: meet Policeware (arstechnica.com)
kashif.ahsan writes: "From the article,"A fascinating CNET survey of top anti spyware vendors found that of 13 software companies, all of them stated that it is currently their policy to detect police spyware. When asked if they had ever received a court order to stop detecting police spyware, nine of the companies denied having received such a request. Computer Associates said they were not sure, and both Microsoft and McAfee declined to comment on the question".
I'd say that there are lot of stories like that here on Slashdot,but i had to post it here.Just wanted to add the last lines from the movie "Enemy of the State" which goes like, "Our intelligence communities presently monitor our phones,computers, financial transactions,medical histories...all this and more. Some of you may say, "Fine. I'm not a criminal and I have nothing to hide." Well God forbid we ever edge to tyranny. God forbid George Orwell's version of America becomes a reality. We are that close."
I wish George Orwell was alive or we could have some novel like 2084. Peace."
Submission + - Ubuntu plus Dell equals better support for devices (blogspot.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Dell has released device drivers for conexant based win-modems which are bundled with some of its machine. This article ponders as to why the coming together of two big enterprises — Ubuntu and Dell is good for the propagation of Linux as it means better hardware support.
Submission + - Harry Potter Leak is Authentic! (No Spoilers Here)
CantSleepBusyReading writes: "Well, It seems that the leaked Harry Potter Pictures/Book is authentic! The New York Times (Which acquired an early copy legally) has compared the potential fake release with the book itself. The verdict? Its a keeper — the widely available and greatly discouraged leaked copy is not a fake.
Its good to know that I didn't just waste 8 hours reading it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/arts/20bpott.htm l"
Its good to know that I didn't just waste 8 hours reading it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/arts/20bpott.ht
Journal SPAM: Dollar Slumps to Record Low Versus Euro on Bear Stearns Loss 1
By David McIntyre and Stanley White
July 18 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell to a record low against the euro after Bear Stearns Cos. reported hedge fund losses, fueling speculation the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to support the economy.
