Comment Resemblace to Linux users is purely coincidental (Score -1, Flamebait) 321
Why do his customers sound too much like Linux desktop users to me?
and yeah it is a flame bait and yeah it is unfortunately true as well
Comment First ? (Score 1) 901
This is scary. The story has been up for quite some time and no flame wars have started yet ?
Either Linux fans have resigned to their fate (not likely) or I am the only living being on the planet left that is able to access Slashdot
Submission + - Openleaks Founder Sabotaged Wikileaks (huffingtonpost.com)
SETIGuy writes: Former Wikileaks programmer Daniel Domscheit-Berg admits in his book that he sabotaged Wikileaks in a manner that threatens the anonymity of leakers. Since leaving Wikileaks, Domschiet-Berg has become one of the cofounders of Openleaks. This raises the question, if you had material to leak, would you trust it to someone who has already jeopardized the anonymity of leakers at a site where he worked?
Submission + - Houston we have a problem (spacelog.org)
thanosk writes: NASA has started releasing the transcripts from the early NASA missions and started with releasing the transcripts of the Apollo 13 mission and the famous "Houston we have a problem" quote
Submission + - Doctor marries Doctor's daughter, exploding TARDIS (bbcamerica.com)
techmuse writes: In a veritable Who's Who of Doctor Who, 10th Doctor David Tennant is marrying Georgia Moffett, the daughter of 5th Doctor Peter Davison, who played the Doctor's daughter in an episode of Doctor Who. Except that the Doctor's daughter was a clone of the Doctor, which meant that she really was Who. So a newer Doctor is marrying an older Doctor's daughter, who is a clone of the newer doctor, but only has half the DNA of the older Doctor.
Submission + - EU to grant USA nearly unlimited access to all EU (blogactiv.eu)
An anonymous reader writes: EU Council on Monday will give full access to SWIFT banking data to US intelligence services, despite a unanimous call by the European Parliament not to so.
http://brusselsblogger.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/26/swift-eu-to-grant-usa-nearly-unlimited-access-to-all-eu-banking-data/
http://brusselsblogger.blogactiv.eu/2009/11/26/swift-eu-to-grant-usa-nearly-unlimited-access-to-all-eu-banking-data/
Submission + - Scientist 100% confident of finding Higgs boson (cnet.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: CNet has interviewed a particle physicist based at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN who gives some insight into what it's like to work there. The place smells of gamers and there's no chance of black holes wiping us out or time travel, plus he's convinced they will find the Higgs boson. All the scientist use Macs too, while computers in the control room are Linux-based.
Submission + - Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed 1
pickens writes: Pickens writes:
Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries. Although nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years their large size has limited their general usage but now a research team at the University of Missouri team has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. "The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor," says Jae Wan Kwon. "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem." The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions. "People hear the word 'nuclear' and think of something very dangerous," says Kwon. "However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites and underwater systems."
Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries. Although nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years their large size has limited their general usage but now a research team at the University of Missouri team has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. "The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor," says Jae Wan Kwon. "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem." The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions. "People hear the word 'nuclear' and think of something very dangerous," says Kwon. "However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites and underwater systems."
Submission + - Judge Overturns 2007 Unix Copyright Decision (networkworld.com) 2
snydeq writes: "A federal appeals court has overturned a 2007 decision that Novell owns the Unix code, clearing the way for SCO to pursue a $1 billion copyright infringement case against IBM. In a 54-page decision, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reversing the 2007 summary judgment decision by Judge Dale Kimball of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, which found that Novell was the owner of Unix and UnixWare copyrights. SCO CEO Darl McBride called the decision a "huge validation for SCO.""
Submission + - SPAM: Air Force, NASA fire off green rocket
coondoggie writes: "NASA and Air Force said today they had successfully launched a 9ft rocket 1,300 feet into the sky powered by aluminum powder and water ice. Aluminum powder and water ice, or ALICE, has the potential to replace some liquid or solid propellants and is being developed by Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University to possibly replace liquid or solid rocket propellants. Aside from the environmental impact ALICE could be manufactured in distant places like the moon or Mars, instead of being transported to distant locations at high cost, researchers said.
[spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - 1,000 London CCTV cameras 'solve one crime' (bbc.co.uk)
SpuriousLogic writes: Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed.
The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.
In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.
David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: "It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent." He added: "CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness.
"It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.
"The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV."
Submission + - Why the Google Phone Isn't Taking Off 2
Hugh Pickens writes: "Farhad Manjoo writes in Slate that while the iPhone commands nearly 14 percent of smartphone sales and BlackBerry about 21 percent. Android has only 3 percent and that even though it's far friendlier to developers, Android has failed to attract anywhere near the number of apps now clogging the iPhone. Manjoo writes that Google went wrong by giving handset manufacturers and carriers a great deal of control over the design and marketing of Android phones so there is no idealized "Google phone"--instead, Android devices get names like the T-Mobile G1 or the myTouch 3G, and each is marketed separately and comes with its own distinct capabilities and shortcomings. "Outside handset manufacturers lack ambition--none of them even seems to be trying to match the capabilities of the iPhone, let alone to knock us down with features that far surpass those of Apple's device," writes Manjoo. "A smart handset manufacturer could build a top-of-the-line Android device that outshines Apple's phone in at least a few areas--better battery life, a much better Web browser, a brighter or bigger screen, faster or more functional controls ... something that might help Android inspire gadget lust. But so far, that's not happening." John Gruber adds that the goal should be to make a phone that is better than the iPhone. "Carefully select a handful of areas where you can beat the iPhone, and then promote the hell out of these features," writes Gruber. "If your hope is to gain a strong foothold in the market with a sub-par device, you are mistaken. If Apple is BMW, you can be Porsche.""
Submission + - dot Communism is already here (wired.com)
Submission + - Understanding Addiction-Based Game Design (ign.com)
spidweb writes: "Everyone knows games like World of Warcraft are addictive. But what are the exact qualities that make it so? Are there specific elements of the design that can be pulled out, distilled, and used at will to give a game druglike properties? And is it wrong to do so? A new article at IGN RPG Vault attempts to isolates the exact qualities that go into making an addiction-based design. From the article, "If a game uses rewards of any sort to entice you to experience highly repetitive content, you should see what it's trying to do and which of your buttons it's trying to press. If you don't mind, that's cool, but you should understand it."
The article is at
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/986/986323p1.html"
The article is at
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/986/986323p1.html"
Submission + - Asus slaps Linux in the face (techgeist.net) 2
vigmeister writes: "Techgeist has an article about an 'It's better with Windows' website from Asus and MS. I think the article should've been title 'Asus stabs Linux in the back'.
"Linux just got a major slap in the face today from Asus. One of the highlights of Linux going mainstream was the wildly popular Asus Eee PC preinstalled with a customized Linux distro geared towards web applications. While I personally never got what the big deal was, I was still happy for all the Linux people out there waiting for this day, but it looks like the cause for celebration won't be lasting much longer.
Asus and Microsoft have teamed up and have made a site called It's Better With Windows. The page touts how easy it is to get up and ready with Windows on an Asus Eee PC, while slyly stating that you won't have to deal with an "unfamiliar environment" and "major compatibility issues." While it is silly to state such a thing since Asus built the Linux distribution specifically for the Eee PC, I give Microsoft two points for snarky comments.""
