sslo - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:Just for some perspective... (Score 1) 209

by stupido on Friday January 29 2010, @04:15PM (#30955178) Attached to: x86 Assembler JWASM Hits Stable Release

In the past, I preferred NASM for x86 cross platform development, meaning Win32 and Linux. It had decent support for the latest sets of instructions. The Microsoft syntax is something I prefer to avoid, so NASM was actually a plus in that respect, although some coworkers disagreed. There's a brief, but up-to-date comparison of x86 assemblers in Fog Agner's book. He says that YASM is better than NASM these days, and uses the same syntax. The Wikipedia page on Open Watcom Assembler also has book reference that seemingly compares MASM vs. NASM vs. TASM vs. WASM, but it's from 2005.

Maryland Scraps Diebold Voting System 209

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 21 2008, @04:42PM
from the long-overdue dept.

beadfulthings writes "After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."

New Plastic Strong as Steel 0

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Friday October 05 2007, @12:51PM

Hugh Pickens writes "Individual nano-size building blocks such as nanotubes, nanosheets and nanorods are ultrastrong but scientists have had difficulty transferring the strength of individual nanosheets to the entire material. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have created a new composite plastic made of layers of clay nanosheets and a water-soluble polymer with a machine they developed that builds materials layer by layer like mother of pearl, one of the toughest natural mineral-based materials. The layers are stacked like bricks, in an alternating pattern. "When you have a brick-and-mortar structure, any cracks are blunted by each interface," explained Nicholas Kotov adding that further development could lead to lighter, stronger armor for soldiers or police and their vehicles and could also be used in microelectromechanical devices, microfluidics, biomedical sensors and valves and unmanned aircraft."

Transparent aluminum made real-> 0

Submitted by

requeth

on Thursday October 04 2007, @11:07PM

requeth writes "The University of Michigan has created a nanotube based plastic stronger then steel and transparent. Bring back memories of Star Trek's transparent aluminum?"
Link to Original Source

Wal-Mart's Faltering RFID Initiative 130

Posted by Zonk on Thursday October 04 2007, @04:43PM
from the under-chipped dept.

itphobe writes "Baseline magazine has up an in-depth look at Wal-Mart's years-old RFID initiative. Things apparently haven't gone so well for the retail giant. 'The lack of any obvious concrete gains has raised questions as to whether Wal-Mart should delay or freeze its RFID plans. For now, however, Wal-Mart says it will stay the course ... By January 2006 the company hoped to have as many as 12 of its roughly 130 distribution centers fully outfitted with RFID. That effort stalled at just five distribution centers. Instead, the company is now focusing on implementing RFID in stores fed by those five distribution centers so it can gain a bigger window into its supply chain.' Overall the article focuses on the original intentions of the RFID project vs. their implementation. It also discusses several of the technical elements required to adapt RFID for the US juggernaut."

Transparent Aluminium -- Is it finally here?-> 0

Submitted by

CFD339

on Thursday October 04 2007, @04:39PM

CFD339 writes "New Material is extremely strong — and Transparent

The stuff is really strong, really stiff, and lasts a long time. It isn't porn though, it is a polymer.

From TFA: "Science Daily — By mimicking a brick-and-mortar molecular structure found in seashells, University of Michigan researchers created a composite plastic that's as strong as steel but lighter and transparent."

TFA: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071004143114.htm"
Link to Original Source

The top 10 reasons Web sites get hacked-> 0

Submitted by

Big Papi

on Thursday October 04 2007, @12:26PM

Big Papi writes "Web security is at the top of customers' minds after many well-publicized personal data breaches, but the people who actually build Web applications aren't paying much attention to security, experts say. Web applications are simply littered with vulnerabilities that can be exposed by hackers. Here are the top ten reasons Web sites get hacked: 1. Cross site scripting 2. Injection flaws 3. Malicious file execution 4. Insecure direct object reference 5. Cross site request forgery 6. Information leakage and improper error handling 7. Broken authentication and session management 8. Insecure cryptographic storage 9. Insecure communications 10. Failure to restrict URL access"
Link to Original Source

Interview with Sputnik's constructor-> 0

Submitted by

Bruno van Wayenburg

on Thursday October 04 2007, @03:14AM

Bruno van Wayenburg writes "Today fifty years ago, the first satellite Sputnik was launched, shocking the world and sparking off the space race, all amid great Soviet secrecy. Here, veteran engineer Oleg Ivanovsky, who oversaw Sputnik's building, testing and launch, tells about blunders, indifferent politicians, hostile generals, crazy deadlines, and -hand it to them- astounding successes of the early Soviet space program."
Link to Original Source

ARM to develop open mobile Linux platform-> 0

Submitted by thefickler on Wednesday October 03 2007, @03:41PM

thefickler writes "UK-based ARM has announced that it and six companies will work together to develop a Linux-based open source platform for next-generation mobile applications. The collaboration, which includes Marvell, MontaVista, Movial, Mozilla, Samsung, and Texas Instruments, will focus on the development of an open source platform based on Linux, Gnome Mobile and Mozilla Firefox that runs on ARM Partners' advanced systems on chip (SoCs)."
Link to Original Source

Burma Shuts Down Internet 3

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Wednesday October 03 2007, @03:41PM

Hugh Pickens writes "MIT Technology Review reports that in the aftermath of pro-democracy protests, Burma's military rulers have physically disconnected their country from the internet:

Last week — after images of the beatings of Buddhist monks and the killing of a Japanese photographer leaked out via the Internet — Burma's military rulers took the ultimate step, apparently physically disconnecting primary telecommunications cables in two major cities, in a drastic effort to stop the flow of information from Burma to the rest of the world. It didn't completely work: some bloggers apparently used satellite links or cellular phone services to get information outside the country.
One Burmese blogger reported last week that "Myanmar main ISP has been shut down by so-called "maintenance reasons" and most of the telecommunication services have been cut off or tapped. ""