Lurgen - Slashdot User

Vonage Ordered to Pay Verizon $58M

Submitted by on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:25PM

An anonymous reader writes "A jury ordered Internet phone provider Vonage Holdings Corporation to pay $58 million for infringing on three patents owned by Verizon Communications Inc. Thursday. The eight-member federal jury also said Vonage must pay a 5.5 percent royalty rate on Vonage sales going forward. Jurors concluded that Vonage infringed on two patents covering technology to connect Internet calls to the traditional phone system and also infringed on a third patent involving wireless Internet phone calls.

U.S. Judge Claude Hilton set a March 23 hearing on whether he should issue an injunction barring Vonage's use of the technologies covered by the patents."

How can I connect safely over the Internet?

Submitted by

crayiii

on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:20PM

crayiii writes "Okay, so I've got computers with files and resources, I've got servers with files, PocketPC phones, work computers, laptops with EVDO... All of these connected to the Internet. Now, how do I safely get this all connected into some kind of usable resource pool? I run linux at home and would love to be able to map the space I have on http://www.dreamhost.com/ to use as file storage and offsite backups. I would like to be able to use that same space from windows and my PocketPC phone (Sprint PPC-6700). I have Cisco VPN access for work through a terminal server and a RSA SecureID fob. The problem is I have to log on through a web browser and install an activeX cisco client. Is there something that will work on Linux? How about PocketPC? At work I run air dispersion modeling software and sometimes I need another box to (RE)run a portion or I need to run one for a coworker/counterpart. I have nice Linux boxes at home that I would love to be able to assign some of this work to. How can I safely remote control these machines? VNC? FreeNX? When I'm on the road with my laptop, how can I utilize the resources I have at home and at Dreamhost? I'm looking for a way to converge all of these resources into an easy to use, useful, pool."

New Super Mario Galaxy Screens->

by Netjive8 on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:16PM

Link to Original Source

Geothermal Energy Trumps all Others

Submitted by

guetenburg

on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:03PM

guetenburg writes "This story in MIT News and attached paper about the opportunities for Geothermal Grid Energy are significant and game changing. According to the Authors, we have the capability and resources in the USA to produce ten times our current energy needs using existing technology in geothermal. In my opinion, the country should be focusing on Geothermal Energy and Electric Vehicles. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/geothermal.html "

Epic Threatens over Custom Gears of War Figure

Submitted by

on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:02PM

An anonymous reader writes "It shouldn't always be Sony making stupid PR mistakes ... today the award goes to Epic Games for sending a 'cease and desist' letter to Emilio Lopez for creating a nice little Gears of War Munny as Christmas present for his cousin. Note that only one was made, and it has never been offered for sale or made any profit of it. All the logos etc that were used on the box were taken from the fan site pack Epic gave out. Even if they maybe have a valid legal standpoint it's just 'not done' to bug your fans like this if you ask me, certainly not after hyping the game like they did with fan packs and what not."

Robotic satellite to repair and refuel spacecraft

Submitted by

airshowfan

on Thursday March 08 2007, @07:01PM

airshowfan writes "When a geosynchronous satellite is launched into space, no human ever gets to touch it again. This means that, other than for minor software issues, there is no way to fix it if it breaks, so it has to work perfectly, almost autonomously, for 20 years non-stop. There is also no way to refuel it once it's out of thruster fuel, the reason why it can't last more than 20 years even if it gets to that mark working very well, with batteries and solar cells still going, which is often the case. If only there were a robotic spacecraft in geostationary orbit that could change broken satellite components and refuel those older satellites, then satellites would be a lot less risky and would last a lot longer. Does this robotic "spacecraft mechanic" sound like science fiction? It launches tonight."

Orbital Express launches tonight

Submitted by

airshowfan

on Thursday March 08 2007, @06:56PM

airshowfan writes "When a geosynchronous satellite is launched into space, no human ever gets to touch it again. This means that, other than for minor software issues, there is no way to fix it if it breaks, so it has to work perfectly, almost autonomously, for 20 years non-stop. There is also no way to refuel it once it's out of thruster fuel, the reason why it can't last more than 20 years even if it gets to that mark working very well, with batteries and solar cells still going, which is often the case. If only there were a robotic spacecraft in geostationary orbit that could change broken satellite components and refuel those older satellites, then satellites would be a lot less risky and would last a lot longer. Does this robotic spacecraft mechanic sound like science fiction? It launches tonight."

The Beer Tossing Fridge 223

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 08 2007, @06:56PM
from the second-only-to-the-wheel dept.

cmacdona101 writes "CNN is reporting on a recent Duke grad that's engineered a remote controlled Fridge that tosses him a beer at the touch of a button. The fridge can launch the beer up to 20 feet, far enough to get to his couch. The video shows the fridge using a "beer magazine clip" and a remote firing system that let you determine angles and ballistics to get the beer to your friends anywhere in the room."

Vista Validation Totally Cracked

Submitted by

Brian Gordon

on Thursday March 08 2007, @06:51PM

Brian Gordon writes "The Inquirer reports that cracking group PARADOX has cracked Vista's activation model. The new crack results in an installation virtually identical to that of a legitimately activated license key, which means that cracked installs are eligible for Windows Updates and will pass WGA validation.

From the readme: Microsoft allows large hardware manufacturers (e.g. ASUS, HP, Dell) to ship their products containing a Windows Vista installation that does NOT require any kind of product activation as this might be considered an unnecessary inconvenience for the end-user. The basic concept of the tool at hand is to present any given BIOS ACPI_SLIC information to Windows Vista's licensing mechanism by means of a device driver. In combination with a matching product key and OEM certificate this allows for rendering any system practically indistinguishable from a legit pre-activated system shipped by the respective OEM."

Petaflop, exaflop and zettaflop Computing

Submitted by

nanotrends

on Thursday March 08 2007, @06:50PM

nanotrends writes "A look at several papers on the limits of computing and paths to getting to a zettaflop of computing power.

1 Zettaflop = a billion teraflops = a million petaflops = a thousand exaflops.

This is a 2006 paper that examines paths to getting to a zettaflop

The paper looks at conventional silicon approaches to a zettaflop system. (such a sytem would need an exabyte of memory at a minimum). They look at Quantum dot Cellular automata (QCA) zettaflop systems. They examine reversible computing and suggest 5 year, 2010-2015, and 2015-2025 plans.

There is some examination of Japan's plans for 10 petaflops through exaflop systems and what would be applications that would need that much computing power."