Kurt Wall - Slashdot User

Microsoft's Open XML hitting government roadblocks

Submitted by HexaByte on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:58PM

HexaByte writes "Various states and foreign governments are passing laws about open standards for document formats — and Microsoft's Open XML doesn't cut it. Story here: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2091329,00.as p?kc=EWINFEMNL020707EOAD"

New York To Ban iPods While Crossing Street? 487

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:58PM
from the he-wants-us-to-think-for-ourselves dept.

An anonymous reader writes to mention Reuters is reporting that New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens. "Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes. 'I'm not trying to intrude on that,' Kruger said. 'But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem.'"

The Engineering Behind Lexus' Self Park System

Submitted by killabrew on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:54PM

killabrew writes "Read about the engineering and technology behind the Lexus LS 460's self assist parking system. Also see a video demostration on how the new sensor-based systems enable vehicles to steer themselves into parking spaces. Read the story and watch the video here: http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6414506.html"

Securing the Hardware Management Console

Submitted by

BlueVoodoo

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:41PM

BlueVoodoo writes "Get step-by-step instructions for things you should do during installation of the Hardware Management Console (HMC), measures you can take after installation, and maintenance guidelines to ensure that a secure system stays secure."

US Senator to support iPod ban

Submitted by

CautionaryX

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:28PM

CautionaryX writes "A New York state senator, Sen. Carl Kruger, will " propose a bill that would ban using an iPod — and any other electronic device that is a distraction — while crossing traffic, he told FOX News on Wednesday." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250644,00.html "The bill would levy a $100 fine against those who use iPods, cell phones and BlackBerrys while in a crosswalk in all of New York's major cities."

The senator says that the legislation is mainly to create public awareness of the growing problem of using your iPod while walking across busy intersections. Here's the really funny part: "If you want to listen to your iPod, sit down and listen to it," Kruger told WCBS-TV. "You want to walk in the park, enjoy it. You want to jog around a jogging path, all the more power to you, but you should be crossing streets and endangering yourself and the lives of others." (emphasis added) Is the public really in danger of pedestrians using iPods?"

PCIe Cabling Spec Allows External Graphics Cards

Submitted by writertype on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:22PM

writertype writes "The PCI Express SIG released its Cabling 1.0 spec on Wednesday, which translates the PCI Express protocols found within motherboards into a cable that takes PCI Express outside the box, ExtremeTech reports. PCI SIG executives specifically mention that the spec was designed to allow external PC graphics solutions, making things like SLI cooling all that much easier. An important step forward for the PC, I think."

Nay on DRM: The Economist agrees with Jobs

Submitted by redelm on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:18PM

redelm writes "The Economist, arguably the world leading business newspaper/magazine has picked up on Steve Jobs Appleblog for DRM-free Music. Also as discussed on /. This article agrees with Jobs and gives him much broader exposure beyond the technical community. Perhaps to influence some lego/politico decision makers who have no idea what DRM is!"

DVD jon on Job's "give up DRM if I could"

Submitted by

Whiney Mac Fanboy

on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:16PM

Whiney Mac Fanboy writes ""Dvd" Jon Johansen has posted several sceptical blog entries reacting to Steve Job's blog posting about DRM. One post questions Job's misuse of statistics that attempts to prove consumers aren't tied to iPods through ITMS.

Many iPod owners have never bought anything from the iTunes Store. Some have bought hundreds of songs. Some have bought thousands. At the 2004 Macworld Expo, Steve revealed that one customer had bought $29,500 worth of music.
The other question's the DRM-free in a heartbeat claim. There are apparantly, many Indie artists who would love to sell DRM-free music on iTunes, but Apple will not allow them.

It should not take Apple's iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM. This could be done in a completely transparent way and would not be confusing to the users.
"

ISP Tracking Legislation Hits the House 332

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday February 07 2007, @05:15PM
from the someone-is-always-watching-in-your-hotel dept.

cnet-declan writes "CNET News.com reports that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives announced yesterday legislation to force ISPs to keep track of what their users are doing. It's part of the Republicans 'law and order agenda,' with other components devoted to the death penalty, gangs, and terrorists. Attorney General Gonzales would be permitted to force Internet providers to keep logs of Web browsing, instant message exchanges, and e-mail conversations indefinitely. The draft bill is available online, and it also includes mandatory Web labeling for sexually explicit pages. The idea enjoys bipartisan support: a Colorado Democrat has been the most ardent supporter in the entire Congress."

DNS Attack only a warning shot?

Submitted by ancientribe on Wednesday February 07 2007, @04:47PM

ancientribe writes "The attack on the Internet infrastructure yesterday may signal a hint of bigger things to come: the distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack on the Domain Name System (DNS) root servers was likely a test-run for a potentially larger and more disruptive attack.

It was the latest in a series of DDOS attacks on DNS servers that began late last year with attacks on EveryDNS and EasyDNS. Experts had predicted it was only a matter of time before botnet operators hit a bigger and higher-profile DNS target, and that's just what happened yesterday, according to this article in Dark Reading.

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=116 685&WT.svl=news1_1"