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Comment Wipe out XP first (Score 1) 742

by NotesSensei (#34369744) Attached to: What To Load On a 4-Year-Old's Netbook?
use a Netbook Linux version. There's plenty in e.g. Edubuntu and the Game repository that points towards early math and early reading. Sugar as UI might be worth a try. And yes - be certain on the websites you allow. Less so about seeing people like god made them, but more about things people do to each other not covered by the 10 commandments (there's nothing in there prohibiting looking at a paradise suit, but a lot against violence).
Linux

Submission + - FOSS introduction for a primary school audience? 1

Submitted by
NotesSensei
NotesSensei writes: "I had a chat with the IT teacher of my kids primary school and he was open to the idea to introduce FOSS and GNU/Linux to his students. The first start would be a 4h parent/student event (there is a regular program for such events for all sorts of topics) on a Saturday. Now I'm tasked to propose an agenda/set of activities to market the event and conduct it successfully. I'm planning to find a sponsor (most likely my current employer) to give away memory sticks (or if short of funding: DVDs) with a bootable Linux version (Edubuntu being the most likely choice) as door gift. In the beginning of the session I probably would give a short introduction what FOSS is about including the introduction of Stallmann's fredoms 0-3 as well as "what can a school kid do with FOSS". I can have access to school computers, so some hands-on activities for participants would be nice. This is where I need ideas from the /. readers. What would you do? Besides creating a general interest in FOSS an ideal outcome would be students and parents asking for more... as in a co-curriculum course.

Ideas ladies and gentlemen?"

Submission + - Get rid of all that paper - good scan archive?

Submitted by
NotesSensei
NotesSensei writes: "Over the years I've collected tons of materials from seminar hand-outs to invoices or warranty cards. I want to get rid of the paper and keep the stuff in scanned format. I got a feed scanner and have settled on PDF-A as open standard format. Now I'm looking for a good way to be able to add meta data (preferable addable from OCR) and search. What system would one use if it needs to be accessible from Mac and Linux or Windows"
The Internet

Submission + - Scientist Fears Fiber Optic Cable Capacity Limits (ispreview.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Not long ago many people probably thought that the idea of sending light signals down a piece of cable (fiber optic) would be future proof, only limited by the technology used to prepare the signal itself. However David J. Richardson, a scientist working at the UK based University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), has warned that current fiber optic cable technology is fast approaching its ultimate capacity limits. Richardson claims that solving the problem will require a radical innovation in the physical network infrastructure, such as in the properties of transmission fibers and the optical amplifiers. Failing to do this could result in a "capacity crunch", or world governments being forced to actually spend money on new infrastructure. Perish the thought.
Politics

Submission + - Colossus elected in D.C.

Submitted by wjousts
wjousts writes: Time magazine has an article on how Colossus was elected in a test of an online voting system for overseas voters in Washington, D.C. after the system was easily hacked by University of Michigan researchers.

Washington's newly elected U.S. Representative went by the name of Colossus. A villainous computer from science-fiction lore captured the city-council chairmanship. And 15 seconds after voters cast their ballots, they were serenaded by the University of Michigan fight song. The system had been hacked.

Submission + - Home Network with Parential Control

Submitted by
NotesSensei
NotesSensei writes: "We have a zoo of devices in our little home network... from OLPC to Win7, Mac to Linux, Wii to PSP. Now SWMBO has demanded to curb the total online time for specific areas of the internet (game sites, uTube). I'm not looking at blocking sides (I can buy that from my ISP if I want that), but to have flexible accounts. Time spend on e.g Khanacademy or OpenTextbook would never be curbed (but eventually logged), while the game sites have a counter. Since the kids can use any device that monitoring needs to happen on the network level. Ideally using their credentials from the OS level to authenticate. How would one setup this?"
NASA

Submission + - Controversial Air Force Space Drone lost and found (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: It was lost earlier in the week and now its found, satellite watcher Greg Roberts sighted the secret mini-shuttle flying over Cape Town, South Africa, on Oct 12th. An analysis of the sighting by satellite expert Ted Molczan suggests that the X-37B has maneuvered into an orbit 54 km lower than before. This is at very least the second time the orbit has changed.
Music

Submission + - Study: Downloading benefits musician

Submitted by lhuiz
lhuiz writes: A study by two students of the Norwegian School of Management BI in Oslo have found that on average the income of musicians has increased by 66% sinds 1999, despite the musicians claiming to feel the negative effects of downloading in their wallets as well as falling CD sales. The only losers the study could identify was the record industry.

http://www.espen.com/archives/2010/10/record_companies_lose_artists_gain.html
NASA

Submission + - NASA, Harvard beam up virtual software lab (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: NASA has teamed with Harvard University to set up a virtual lab where software programmers can compete with each other to create NASA system applications.
According to NASA, the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) will let software developers compete to create a winning application, as measured by internal code quality, performance against benchmarks, and the ability to be integrated into NASA systems.
Power

Submission + - Glass Roof Tiles Let the Sunshine In (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Swedish company, Soltech Energy, recently received the gold medal for this year’s hottest new material at the Nordbygg 2010 trade fair in Stockholm, Sweden. The award was fitting because it was for the company’s home heating system that features roof tiles made out of glass. The tiles, which are made from ordinary glass, weigh about the same as the clay roof tiles they replace but allow the sun to heat air that is then used to heat the house and cut energy bills.
Government

Submission + - Western governments will use botnets in cyber wars (techeye.net)

Submitted by bossanovalithium
bossanovalithium writes: Cameron has announced Whitehall will spend £1 billion on "cyber defence". A Home Security spokesman in the US has said that it needs to wise up the cyber threat. We've been talking to some cyber security experts, anonymous and with either direct access to, or access to those with direct access to, top level government agencies in both the United States and the UK. Guess what? Defence don't mean defence.

Meetings have been going on and continue about the possibilities of using cyber attacks as weapons. We're not just talking Stuxnet, which is believed by many to have come from Israel, China or the US to sabotage Iranian and/or Indian infrastructure, but botnets too. "Defence" agents don't just want to know how to neutralise a threat, but how to gain access to and control the world's largest botnets to point at who they need to.

"You would be a fool," one source suggested to us this week, "to think that governments are not considering the applications for cyber warfare."
Earlier on in the week someone else close to the matter, who also wished to be anonymous — you'd be mad not to remain anonymous — told us that attacks on hospitals and power grids are "likely". In fact attacks on hospitals are happening already. All of this must be kept under wraps — if attackers know they're causing trouble that's cause for celebr

Submission + - Average teen sends 3,339 texts per month (cnn.com)

Submitted by SpuriousLogic
SpuriousLogic writes: If you needed more proof that texting is on the rise, here's a stat for you: the average teenager sends over 3,000 texts per month. That's more than six texts per waking hour.

According to a new study from Nielsen, our society has gone mad with texting, data usage and app downloads. Nielsen analyzed the mobile data habits of over 60,000 mobile subscribers and surveyed over 3,000 teens during April, May and June of this year. The numbers they came up with are astounding.

The number of texts being sent is on the rise, especially among teenagers age 13 to 17. According to Nielsen, the average teenager now sends 3,339 texts per month.

There's more, though: teen females send an incredible 4,050 text per month, while teen males send an average of 2,539 texts. Teens are sending 8 percent more texts than they were this time last year.

Other age groups don't even come close, either; the average 18 to 24-year-old sends "only" 1,630 texts per month. The average only drops with other age groups. However, in every age bracket, the number of texts sent has increased when compared to last year. Texting is a more important means of communication than ever.
Security

Submission + - Exploit Hub-iTunes for Exploits-Goes Live Monday (threatpost.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: It's been tried before, but NSS Labs founder Rick Moy says his company's new Exploit Hub — a store front for exploit code — can work.The site will open its doors on Monday and, in an interview with Threatpost.com, Moy explains why the current market for exploits doesn't work for the good guys, and why selling zero day exploits won't help anyone.
NASA

Submission + - How to Deflect an Asteroid with Today's Technology

Submitted by Matt_dk
Matt_dk writes: Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart is among an international group of people championing the need for the human race to prepare for what will certainly happen one day: an asteroid threat to Earth. Schweickart said the technology is available today to send a mission to an asteroid in an attempt to move it, or change its orbit so that an asteroid that threatens to hit Earth will pass by harmlessly. What would such a mission entail?

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