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+ - KDE 4 Wallpaper Contest Results Announced...But...->

Submitted by Pregnant Chad
Pregnant Chad writes "The winners of the KDE 4 desktop wallpaper contest were announced today. The only problem is, the judges that decided the winning entries (David Vignoni, Nuno Pinheiro, Kenneth Wimer and Riccardo Iaconelli) largely chose their own work. Infact, all but one of the judges (Nuno Pinheiro) ended up having winning entries, some even having several winning entries. Of the 15 images chosen, 5 of them came from judges. In their defense, Iaconelli has stated, "We voted in a way so that we didn't know who was the author of a certain wallpaper, the votes were secret, and we couldn't vote for our wallpaper. (...) So nothing to worry about, we've studied a voting system, we voted, and we took up the results, always trying to make them in the most impartial way possible."..However, I think many would agree the fairest "voting system" would have been an open one, versus a small, closed group of judges voting for their own collective work. The vote tally for the other contest submissions are conspicuously absent from the announcement page. Artistic integrity, anyone?"
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Desktops (Apple)

+ - How can Apple do better? Put Windows on Macs

Submitted by frdmfghtr
frdmfghtr writes "At ZDNet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes about a way for Apple to improve in sales and profits: Sell Windows-based Macs. FTA:

OK, but let's get back to the original question — What could/should Apple do to take sales and profits to the next level? Simple. Release an Apple branded Windows-based PC. I know, I know, this kind of talk is bound to upset the hardened Apple fanatic, but it makes perfect sense. One of the things that's undoubtedly helped boost Mac sales is Boot Camp. Now there's no punishment for switching platforms because you can take your old platform with you, but just as some people got tired of paying the Microsoft tax when they wanted a PC to run Linux on it, people who want Apple hardware in order to run Windows on it will eventually see the Mac OS as an Apple tax. Why doesn't Jobs and the crew at Cupertino just skip that whole Apple tax step and offer customers a choice of operating systems. Since Windows is the dominant OS at present, that's a good place to start, but if Apple really wants to offer the customer real choice, Linux would also be great.
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The Internet

+ - Pirate Bay earns 20,000 Euros a day-> 2

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "controverisal pro-piracy website the piratebay likes to portray itself as an innocent hobby site that provides a free index without censorship, but recent facts show that the site is earning up to 20,000 Euros per day from its advertising. Taking in money on this scale puts a different slant on the motives behind the Swedish filesharing site, and could open up the runners of the site to prosecution for profiting from copyright infringement."
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Security

+ - DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING ON YOUR NETWORK? EVE

Submitted by
toya79
toya79 writes "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING ON YOUR NETWORK? EVE DOES.

Whitedust Labs and cDc's Ninja Strike Force release software that allows administrators to visualize network traffic in real-time 3D.

http://www.cultdeadcow.com/archives/2007/05/do_you _know_what_is_.php3

Whitedust Labs and cDc's Ninja Strike Force release software that allows administrators to visualize network traffic in real-time 3D.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM May 9, 2007 — Whitedust Labs and cDc's Ninja Strike Force announce the release of Eve (http://www.whitedust.net/eve/), a software suite designed to model real-time network traffic in a 3D format. Designed to produce stunning real-time visualizations of traffic flow, Eve provides an in-sight into networks never before possible.

"Eve is the newest breed of network intelligence. Solutions to monitor and watch your network up till now have sufficed, just about," said Mark Anderson, Whitedust.net Director and Eve lead developer, "Eve makes them redundant though — pie charts and bar graphs just don't cut it. We are all very excited about this break-through product, but also of our Active Participation program".

Software development typically happens behind closed doors, the Eve Active Participation program ensures that anyone who purchases a full copy of the software is granted a voice and a vote in future Eve development. This is a highly novel approach to application development — harnessing 'groupthink' to give users a real position of power to shape the future of the product.

The concept behind Eve was to produce a stand-alone solution capable of generating real-time visualisations of network traffic. Human pattern matching far surpasses any man-made attempt at intuition. By allowing admins to visually inspect network traffic they will quickly become accustomed to typical network activity, notice flow patterns and spot bottlenecks and trouble spots.

"Eve allows admins to really harness their own intuition," said Allen Zimmerman, a network administrator with over 10 years experience and a beta tester for the Eve software. "Network intelligence has never been this intelligent."

Whitedust researchers have been producing the Eve prototype internally for almost a year but recently noticed that NetQos had been producing a similar piece of software called Netcosm. While NetQos have no plans at the moment to release Netcosm, it's announcement spurred Whitedust to complete the Eve prototype and release it.

###

ABOUT WHITEDUST.NET
Whitedust.net is the leading source of security news and content — widely praised as the only source of independant and unbiased security news available online. Visit us at http://www.whitedust.net/

If you'd like more information, or to schedule an interview, please call Mark Hinge at +44 (0)07908 871091 or e-mail Mark at mark.hinge@whitedust.net

ABOUT THE NINJA STRIKE FORCE
The Ninja Strike Force (NSF) is an international group of artists, programmers, and activists operating under the aegis of CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc). NSF members are the best of the best in their chosen fields.

ABOUT CULT OF THE DEAD COW
Founded in Lubbock, TX, CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc) is the most influential computer underground group in the world. The cDc alumni list reads like a Who's Who of hacking and includes a former Presidential advisor on Internet security, among others. The group is further distinguished by publishing the longest running e-zine on the Internet (est. 1984), stretching the limits of the First Amendment, and fighting anyone or any government that aspires to limit free speech.

URLs:
http://www.whitedust.net/eve/
http://www.whitedust.net/
http://www.ninjastrikeforce.com/
http://www.cultdeadcow.com/"
Democrats

+ - Good Citizen's Alphabet by Bertrand Russell

Submitted by
William Drenttel
William Drenttel writes "In 1953, the British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an alphabet book for children called The Good Citizen's Alphabet.

It's quirky and philosophical, but easy to read and surprisingly relevant today. In these political times, so polarized with heated rhetoric, Russell had the wisdom to realize that certain words require proper definition to be used correctly in political and social discourse; words such as, "asinine," "erroneous," even "nincompoop."

The complete book as slideshow with Bertrand Russell text is online at Design Observer: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/021820.html "

In the long run, every program becomes rococco, and then rubble. -- Alan Perlis

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