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Comment: Re:Why? (Score 1) 766

by multisync (#46397339) Attached to: The Next Keurig Will Make Your Coffee With a Dash of "DRM"

Downside : a normal coffee brew process generates 6-12 cups of Joe.

I guess we could all switch to a press ... but that's a bit messy and requires a stand alone heating method (I've not the space to keep a proper tea kettle on my office desk)

I've been using single cup coffee makers like this Black & Decker Brew 'n Go for years. No mess, no fuss, just pour a cup full of fresh water from your cup in to the reservoir, add a couple scoops of fresh ground coffee to the filter basket and hit the go button.

You get a fresh cup of coffee without the waste of those empty "pods," and no DRM to boot.

Medicine

A Corporate War Against a Scientist, and How He Fought Back 253

Posted by timothy
from the tools-at-his-disposal dept.
AthanasiusKircher writes "Environmental and health concerns about atrazine — one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. — have been voiced for years, leading to an EU ban and multiple investigations by the EPA. Tyrone Hayes, a Berkeley professor who has spearheaded research on the topic, began to display signs of apparent paranoia over a decade ago. He noticed strangers following him to conferences around the world, taking notes and asking questions aimed to make him look foolish. He worried that someone was reading his email, and attacks against his reputation seemed to be everywhere; search engines even displayed ad hits like 'Tyrone Hayes Not Credible' when his name was searched for. But he wasn't paranoid: documents released after a lawsuit from Midwestern towns against Syngenta, the manufacturer of atrazine, showed a coordinated smear campaign. Syngenta's public relations team had a list of ways to defend its product, topped by 'discredit Hayes.' Its internal list of methods: 'have his work audited by 3rd party,' 'ask journals to retract,' 'set trap to entice him to sue,' 'investigate funding,' 'investigate wife,' etc. A recent New Yorker article chronicles this war against Hayes, but also his decision to go on the offensive and strike back. He took on the role of activist against atrazine, giving over 50 public talks on the subject each year, and even taunting Syngenta with profanity-laced emails, often delivered in a rapping 'gangsta' style. The story brings up important questions for science and its public persona: How do scientists fight a PR war against corporations with unlimited pockets? How far should they go?"

+ - SPAM: Looming Slashdot changes

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Please post this to new articles if it hasn't been posted yet. (Copy-paste the html from here so links don't get mangled!)

On February 5, 2014, Slashdot announced through a javascript popup that they are starting to "move in to" the new Slashdot Beta design. Slashdot Beta is a trend-following attempt to give Slashdot a fresh look, an approach that has led to less space for text and an abandonment of the traditional Slashdot look. Much worse than that, Slashdot Beta fundamentally breaks the classic Slashdot discussion and moderation system.

If you haven't seen Slashdot Beta already, open this in a new tab. After seeing that, click here to return to classic Slashdot.

We should boycott stories and only discuss the abomination that is Slashdot Beta until Dice abandons the project.
We should boycott slashdot entirely during the week of Feb 10 to Feb 17 as part of the wider slashcott

Moderators — only spend mod points on comments that discuss Beta
Commentors — only discuss Beta
[spam URL stripped] — Vote up the Fuck Beta stories

Keep this up for a few days and we may finally get the PHBs attention. -----=====##### LINKS #####=====-----

Discussion of Beta: [spam URL stripped]
Discussion of where to go if Beta goes live: [spam URL stripped]
Alternative Slashdot: [spam URL stripped] (thanks Okian Warrior (537106))

Join IRC Freenode ##altslashdot"

Comment: Summary? (Score 4, Interesting) 2219

by lymond01 (#46181733) Attached to: Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds!

With all the "fuck beta" posts leading all the other comment sections, it was interesting to hear from various folks who provided constructive feedback in this post. From the "fuck beta" posts, I thought the problem was Microsoft shilling, user data collection, invasion of privacy, and a host of other matters that would antagonize the Slashdot base.

It seems that the actual issues are more practical:
- Comment section doesn't have most of the features
- Javascript is a problem for some people

It seems like both of these just require more coding time. For my two cents, the site has a little too much white space. I realize clean looks with lots of white space is the going design, but I think there's not the right balance currently and it makes the site difficult to take in. Slightly smaller font, slightly less line spacing. Everywhere. Make it tighter.

The stories all seem normal enough: black holes, at least one Apple story a day, freedom of communication, etc etc. Users are correct in saying Slashdot is not a news site, it's a debate site. The most important content on the site are the comments. I feel that's just a matter of time.

I also feel like no one is going to read my 6 page post which would only be half a page without the idea that someone is supposed to write with a red pen between above each line of my words. And after previewing, it looks like I have 10 line breaks between paragraphs...hopefully submission fixes that.

Comment: Re:Reducing spin to make game more interesting (Score 1) 64

by lymond01 (#46091443) Attached to: Smart Racquets Could Transform Tennis

Players are always pushing the limits of the equipment. They string their racquets loosely, fewer crosses, with string that grips the ball more. The extra spin generated is used to generate 100 MPH forehand shots, and balls that rotate at over 3000 RPMs, generating crazy kicks upwards, outwards, etc. Players could just use the new racquet designs to make points last longer and they often do -- but that extra control they get from the spin factor allows them to do things with their bodies and ball older racquets could never do. I'm not sure it's a more athletic game than of old, but it's definitely more acrobatic.

Comment: Re:Oh (Score 1) 474

With the general definition of the PC market being something you can install Windows/DOS on or WinTel compatible

Where did you get that idea? A personal computer is just that, a small, affordable computer that is operated directly by the end user. Neither Windows or an Intel processor are required.

+ - Sniffing and decoding NRF24L01+ and Bluetooth LE packets for under $30->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "I was able to decode NRF24L01+ and Bluetooth Low Energy protocols using RTL-SDR.
As far as I can see, this is the first time the NRF24L01+ is being decoded, especially considering the low entry price for the hardware. Given the extreme popularity of this transceiver, we are likely to see a wave of hackers attacking the security of many wireless gadgets, and they are likely to succeed as security is usually the last priority for hardware designers of such cheap gadgets.

A lot of work have been done to decode bluetooth using dedicated hardware and I am sure this software can be adapted to output the right format as input to the existing Bluetooth decoders such as Wireshark.
As far as I can see, this is also the first time BTLE can be decoded using a very cheap generic device."
Link to Original Source

+ - Tweets And Threats: Gangs Find New Home On The Net->

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes "Associated Press reports, "Social media has exploded among street gangs ... They're turning to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to flaunt guns and wads of cash, threaten rivals, intimidate informants ... sell weapons, drugs — even plot murder. "What's taking place online is what's taking place in the streets," says David Pyrooz, an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University ... "The Internet does more for a gang's brand or a gang member's identity than word-of-mouth could ever do. It really gives the gang a wide platform to promote their reputations. ... On the crime-fighting side ... this activity ... is transforming how police and prosecutors pursue gangs. Along with traditional investigative techniques, police monitor gangs online ... a Cincinnati police officer who trains other law enforcement about social media, says by the time gang members appear in court, authorities have a dossier of their words and videos online that challenge how they want to portray themselves. "If a guy goes in and says, `I'm a good person. I've never held a gun,' we can say, `Look at what he puts out about himself on social media. Here he is with a gun.' ..." ... police say monitoring social media is time-consuming and frustrating.""
Link to Original Source

+ - How Chris Christie Could Use the NSA Playbook to Defend Himself over Bridgegate

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Conor Friedersdorf has written a tongue-in-cheek article in The Atlantic advising New Jersey Governor Chris Christie how he can use the NSA playbook to successfully defend himself of the charges that a senior member of his staff was involved in shutting down George Washington Bridge traffic, a stunt meant to punish the mayor of an affected town for opposing his reelection. Christie's NSA-inspired explanation would include the following points: There are almost 9 million people in New Jersey, and only one was targeted for retribution, an impressively tiny error rate lower than .001 percent; The bridge closure was vital to national security because [redacted]; Since the George Washington Bridge is a potential terrorist target, everything that may or may not have happened near it is a state secret; Going after a political rival is wrong but it's important to put this event in context; Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was the only target of non-compliant behavior. No other Fort Lee resident was ever targeted for retribution, and any delays that any Fort Lee resident experienced were totally inadvertent and incidental; Finally a panel will be formed to figure out how to restore the public's faith in Chris Christie. "To some readers, these talking points may seem absurd or deliberately misleading," concludes Friedersdorf, "but there isn't any denying that so far they're working okay for the NSA.""

+ - New class of "hypervelocity stars" discovered escaping the galaxy->

Submitted by Science_afficionado
Science_afficionado writes "Astronomers have discovered a surprising new class of “hypervelocity stars” that are moving at more than a million miles per hour, fast enough to escape the gravitational grasp of the Milky Way galaxy. The 20 hyper stars are about the same size as the sun and, other than their extreme speed, have the same composition as the stars in the galactic disk. The big surprise is that they don't seem to come from the galaxy's center. The generally accepted mechanism for producing hypervelocity stars relies on the extreme gravitational field of the supermassive black hole that resides in the galaxy's core. So the discovery means that astrophysicists must come up with an entirely new method for speeding stars to hypervelocities."
Link to Original Source

In the future, you're going to get computers as prizes in breakfast cereals. You'll throw them out because your house will be littered with them.

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