Grieviant - Slashdot User

Open source and the National Security Agency, together again-> 0

Submitted by

jmwci1

on Monday May 28, @07:15PM

jmwci1 writes "The Open Source Software Institute, a non-profit group that supports open-source adoption and the National Security Agency (NSA), the organization in charge of all out of country eavesdropping, will co-host an Open Source Software Industry Day on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. The unclassified, one-day event will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Kossiakoff Conference Center near Fort Meade, MD, which is where the NSA is based. Alas, pre-registration is already over."
Link to Original Source

US CIO/CTO: Idea of Hiring COBOL Coders Laughable 0

Submitted by theodp on Saturday May 26, @11:38AM

theodp writes "If you're a COBOL programmer, you're apparently persona non grata in the eyes of the nation's Chief Information and Chief Technical Officers. Discussing new government technology initiatives at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel quipped, "I'm recruiting COBOL developers, any out there?," sending Federal CTO Todd Park into fits of laughter (video). Lest anyone think he was serious about hiring the old fogies, VanRoekel added: "Trust me, we still have it in the Federal government, which is quite, quite scary." So what are VanRoekel and Park looking for? 'Bad ass innovators — the baddest ass of the bad asses out there' Park explained, 'to design, create, and kick ass for America.' Within 24 hours of VanRoekel's and Park's announcement, 600 bad asses had applied to be Presidential Innovation Fellows."

When a Fake AV Scammer takes control of your machine-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 26, @01:41PM

An anonymous reader writes "Ever wondered what would happen if you agreed to let one of those fake AV scammers who cold call you take control of your machine through LogMeIn. Noah Magram, principal software engineer at security vendor Sourcefire did, and decided to allow them access. What he didn't tell the guy on the other end of the phone was that they were just accessing a virtual machine and that he was recording a video of the whole process.

It's quite eye opening the lengths they go to in order to panic the user and get them to part with some cash."
Link to Original Source

Teacher Earns $700K Selling Lesson Plans Online-> 1

Submitted by stevegee58 on Saturday May 26, @01:23PM

stevegee58 writes "Teaching isn't known to be the highest-paying profession. However at least one teacher made $700K selling her lesson plans through teacherspayteachers.com.

Through this new e-commerce site some 700,000 subscribers can buy and sell lesson plans, typically for $5 — $10 though some are free. Teachers Pay Teachers makes money by taking a commission on each sale.

If sites like this take off it begs the question if it's truly good for education, or merely for lining the pockets of a few teachers willing to sell."
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BitTorrent Traffic Falls In The U.S.-> 0

Submitted by CAKAS on Thursday May 24, @11:08PM

CAKAS writes "After legal actions taken by several industry outfits, BitTorrent traffic has fallen in the United States to the all time low of 12.7 percent of internet traffic. However, this trend seems to be unique to the U.S. — In other parts of the world, like Europe and Asia, BitTorrent traffic continues to rise. "According to Sandvine, the absence of legal alternatives is one of the reasons for these high P2P traffic shares". In the U.S. legal content delivery has flourished and provided customers easy access to content. This seems to suggest that due to these alternatives, people are less willing to pirate and pay the publishers for entertainment."
Link to Original Source

Court ruling shuts down Australian cloud TV recorders-> 0

Submitted by joshgnosis on Friday May 25, @12:02AM

joshgnosis writes "In the wake of an Australian Federal Court ruling last month that free-to-air TV recording app Optus TV Now was infringing on the copyright of some of the country's biggest sports broadcasts, two other services — Beem and MyTVR have also been forced to suspend their services.

Beem lashed out at the ruling, telling customers that their rights had been "diminished' by the judgment and rights owners were "scared" of cloud-based TV recording services in the same way they once were of VCRs."
Link to Original Source

SpaceX launch To ISS Aborted-> 0

Submitted by megla on Saturday May 19, @05:13AM

megla writes "News is only just starting to come in, but according to the BBC SpaceX's milestone launch to the ISS was aborted at the last second due to a pressure abnormality in one of Falcon's nine engines.

The next launch opportunity is Tuesday."
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Annual Family Healthcare Costs Surge Past $20,000-> 0

Submitted by

lambourne

on Saturday May 19, @02:38AM

lambourne writes "The annual Milliman Medical Index (MMI) measures the total cost of healthcare for a typical family of four covered by a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan. The 2012 MMI cost is $20,728, an increase of $1,335, or 6.9% over 2011. The rate of increase is not as high as in the past, but the total dollar increase was still a record. This is the first year the average cost of healthcare for the typical American family of four has surpassed $20,000. Even so, as a family of four, you’re basically buying this baby every year – with a 12 month payment schedule. By 2022, each family of four will have paid the cost equivalent of this model in each of the 10 color choices (over $200,000) – just for healthcare."
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Comment: Patent office should be held responsible (Score 5, Insightful) 200

by Grieviant on Friday May 18, @09:06PM (#40048035) Attached to: Microsoft Wins US Import Ban On Motorola's Android Devices

Generating meeting requests? Seriously, how the fuck is that an innovation that someone skilled in the art would not be able to come up with? It's time the patent office was held responsible for enabling patent trolling by lowering the bar to the ground. How about a system where any patent that ends up being overturned requires the patent office to pay the associated legal fees? You'd need a 3rd party to conduct the reexaminations to avoid conflict of interest, but it might do something to stem the tide of handing out junk patents like penny candy.

Comment: Bell labs? (Score 1) 138

by Grieviant on Monday May 14, @06:53PM (#40000457) Attached to: LightSquared Files For Bankruptcy

".... but it would be interesting to see what the old Bell Labs could do with the technology."

This is a strange question. What 'technology' did LightSquared invent? Bell Labs came up with many of the fundamental ideas that are still used in wireless communications today, so it's difficult to see what they could learn from LightSquared.