narramissic - Slashdot User

Submission + - SPAM: Poll: Future of US Innovation Uncertain

Submitted by

narramissic

on Monday June 08, 2009 @05:29PM

narramissic writes: "According to a Zogby International poll, released Monday, about 7 in 10 U.S. residents believe the next great technology entrepreneur will come from outside the U.S. But 67 percent of respondents also said that they believe the economic, educational and societal conditions still exist in the U.S. for another Bill Gates to emerge — despite U.S. lawmakers' lack of understanding of technology. Asked whether the average 10-year-old or a member of Congress knew more about the Internet, 83 percent went with the 10-year-old."
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Submission + - SPAM: Apple's New Handheld Gaming System?

Submitted by

narramissic

on Friday June 05, 2009 @09:54AM

narramissic writes: "'For years pundits have suggested Apple might be working on a handheld gaming system, and maybe the iPhone is it,' writes blogger Peter Smith. 'If a post at gaming site Kotaku is to be believed, the much-rumored new iteration of the iPhone will have a 3D graphics chip inside, and will support external keyboards and game controllers. Additionally (says Kotaku) Apple has hired internal game developers....In the meantime, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is bouncing around a name reportedly found on AT&T's support website: the iPhone Video.'"
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Submission + - SPAM: Boxee For Windows Alpha Coming June 23

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday June 04, 2009 @03:32PM

narramissic writes: "'Users just want freedom in their living room,' Boxee founder Avner Ronen said at the Connections digital entertainment conference. And on June 23, Windows users will be able to enjoy the freedom of entertainment that is Boxee. At that point, anyone will be able to download the alpha, which currently is being distributed by invitation only. Boxee is a free application that lets users access a wide variety of multimedia content in one interface and watch it on their TVs. Users can choose among videos from YouTube, Hulu and other sources, as well as other content such as music and Flickr photos."
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Submission + - SPAM: Arrington's Web Tablet Nearly Ready For Launch?

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday June 04, 2009 @11:10AM

narramissic writes: "The 'dead simple and dirt cheap' touchscreen Web tablet that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch set out to build last July seems to be nearing completion, writes blogger Peter Smith. 'The CrunchPad is a Linux-based touchscreen tablet using a browser-based UI. When you turn the unit on, it boots right into the webkit-based browser. There's a pop-up virtual keyboard for entering URLs and such (you wouldn't want to do any significant typing on it) and scrolling is via swiping the screen. When Arrington first visualized the project he was shooting for a $200 price point, then discovered that a $299 price was more realistic.'"
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Submission + - SPAM: Pixel Qi Unveils A New Breed of LCD

Submitted by

narramissic

on Friday May 29, 2009 @02:26PM

narramissic writes: "The first screen product from start-up Pixel Qi is a 10.1-inch netbook screen designed to work in three modes: a black-and-white e-ink mode for reading text documents and e-books, and two color modes, designed for use indoors or in bright sunlight, that are more suitable for Web surfing and video playback. 'A lot of people thought it was impossible to get this kind of performance out of an LCD', says Pixel Qi co-founder Mary Lou Jepsen, 'And so when they see it they get really excited and join with the effort.' The company is now looking for customers and will show off engineering samples at Computex Taipei 2009 next week."
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Submission + - SPAM: 'Rigged' Product Demo in SAP Suit Goes Missing

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday May 28, 2009 @05:30PM

narramissic writes: "Waste Management sued SAP in March 2008 over a failed ERP project. Now, well into the pre-trial discovery process, a presale product demonstration software package that Waste Management says was a key element of the 'false representations' SAP made to 'induce Waste Management into entering a software licensing and implementation agreement' has gone missing. Naturally, both sides say the other has it. And SAP, for its part, says it has 'searched extensively' for the system and wants it 'as much or more' as Waste Management, since it 'will help SAP disprove WM's fraud claim.'"
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Submission + - SPAM: Unix Tip: Password Complexity for Users

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday May 28, 2009 @10:37AM

narramissic writes: "Solaris 10 offers a suite of settings that provide a lot more control over users' password choices than the MAXWEEKS, MINWEEKS, and PASSLENGTH of yore (although those are still there. Take the 'new and interesting' setting called HISTORY. 'This setting allows you to prevent the user from repeating passwords,' notes Unix blogger Sandra Henry Stocker. 'You set a depth, say 8, which would mean that the system would 'remember' the user's last eight passwords and would not allow a new password to be a repeat of any in this set. The passwords themselves are kept in hash form in a file called /etc/security/passhistory. It might look something like this:
[spam URL stripped] [spam URL stripped]:
"
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Submission + - SPAM: Does Your Disaster Recovery Work?

Submitted by

narramissic

on Wednesday May 27, 2009 @10:26AM

narramissic writes: "Just as you know you're supposed to routinely check your smoke detectors (and probably don't), you also know you should (and probably don't) test that your backup is backing up, that the replicated data is there, and that you can bring that data back to life, says blogger Dan Blacharski. Sure, you'll get a report that the backup was done, but what about the disaster recovery component? 'Since it's never really put to the test, how do we know that the recovery mechanism is going to do what it needs to do?' asks Blacharski. C'mon, fess up. Do you really test your disaster recovery?"
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Submission + - SPAM: Red Hat Sues Swiss Gov't Over Microsoft Contract

Submitted by

narramissic

on Tuesday May 26, 2009 @12:33PM

narramissic writes: "According to an article on ITworld, Red Hat has filed suit with the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, asking it to cancel a three-year, $39 million contract for desktop software and services that a government agency awarded to Microsoft without calling for competitive bids. For its part, the agency said it acted lawfully in awarding the contract directly to Microsoft because no other bidder could meet the requirement, and there was no adequate alternative available. Red Hat, however, contends that there are alternatives to Microsoft's software and services. And the fact that other government bodies are already using them bears this out. Sixteen other companies have also joined the action, Red Hat said."
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Submission + - SPAM: Investigators Replicate Nokia 1100 Banking Hack

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday May 21, 2009 @04:43PM

narramissic writes: "Last month, a Dutch fraud investigator reported that hackers have been offering up to $32,000 for certain old Nokia 1100 phones that contain software from 2002 that is vulnerable to tampering and can be reprogrammed to use someone else's phone number. Now, Ultrascan investigators have replicated the Nokia 1100 hack. "We've done it once," said Max Becker, CTO of Ultrascan Knowledge Process Outsourcing. "It looks like we know how to do it." Nokia, for its part, still maintains that the phone's software isn't flawed."
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Submission + - SPAM: Modular Computer System Fits Together Like Legos 1

Submitted by

narramissic

on Thursday May 21, 2009 @10:11AM

narramissic writes: "At 'The Soul of the New Machine' conference earlier this month, Human Rights Watch was in attendance trying to get funding for a project that would outfit the group with the BUG, a modular computer that would allow them to do things like measure the use of chemicals in global conflicts. At the base of the bug system is a Linux computer with an MX processor and 120 megabytes of RAM. From there a user can add on different modules, including a camera, GPS, phone, and LCD touchscreen. BUG Labs CEO Peter Semmelhack was on hand at the conference to demo the system."
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Submission + - SPAM: Yahoo, Alibaba Relationship Frays Under Bartz

Submitted by

narramissic

on Tuesday May 19, 2009 @01:18PM

narramissic writes: "According to a source close to Yahoo and Alibaba, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has 'done all she can to sour the relationship.' During a meeting in March, Bartz told Alibaba CEO Jack Ma that she wanted Yahoo's brand in China back, presumably because a sale of Yahoo would be less valuable without its China properties, the source said. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's recent meetings with Ma have driven speculation over a Yahoo acquisition."
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Submission + - SPAM: Why Programming Rituals Work

Submitted by

narramissic

on Monday May 18, 2009 @12:27PM

narramissic writes: "Programmers may not think that their rituals are unusual, but if you swear that your code is less buggy if you recite it aloud or you prepare for coding by listening to certain music, don't be surprised if you get a couple sideways glances. In a recent ITworld article, Issac Kelly, Lead Developer at Servee.com, explains his routine and why it works: 'To me, programming is really the 'last mile' to getting something done. When I do the planning and specifications, I go on lots of walks, take lots of time with my wife, and really do as little work in front of the computer as possible. The more I plan (in my head, on paper, on a whiteboard) the less I program; and all of my rituals are to that end.' His ritual goes like this: 'Before sitting down to a coding session, he gets a big glass of water, takes everything off of his desk, and closes out all programs and e-mail, keeping open only his code editor. The office door is shut, and some sort of music is playing ('typically an instrumental only, like my 'Explosions in the Sky' pandora station,' says Kelly).'"
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Submission + - SPAM: Macs with 3G: More Connectivity, More Problems

Submitted by

narramissic

on Friday May 08, 2009 @10:00PM

narramissic writes: "In a recent blog post, Josh Fruhlinger muses on the possibility of 3G radio receivers turning up in future Mac notebooks (as foretold by Apple job postings and the mention of WWAN hardware in Snow Leopard beta releases). 'At first glance,' says Fruhlinger, 'this seems like a reasonably awesome idea.' But will the target market be willing to take on the additional telecom charge? 'And, more to the point,' says Fruhlinger, 'most of us have gotten accustomed to the idea of one Internet connection per household, shared with a wireless router. The latter idea could be covered by a router that connects to the Internet over a 3G connection — something like the MiFi hotspot. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple had such a thing in the pipeline, an Airport station (Airport Mobility?) that didn't need to be plugged into the wall. That would explain the search for 3G experts, anyway.'"
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Submission + - SPAM: Microsoft Bans VoIP, Rival Stores at Mobile Market

Submitted by

narramissic

on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @10:03PM

narramissic writes: "Microsoft has identified 12 application types that won't be accepted at the MarketPlace for Mobile store. Among them: VoIP apps, programs that are larger than 10MB, and programs that change the default browser on a device. Overly restrictive? Maybe. But perhaps the clear set of rules will prevent the confusion over Apple's policy for approving or rejecting applications from the App Store."
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