Comment: Just drop two (Score 1) 612
Drop two of the smaller bombs. Better yet, drop 3 or 4.
Homeless student is Intel Talent Search semifinali->
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Samantha Garvey, a senior as Brentwood High School has managed to become one of the remaining 300 semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search this year. Her research focused on mussels and her discovery that they change the thickness of their shells if a predator such as crabs are introduced.
Why is Garvey’s achievement so impressive? Because she, and her entire family, are homeless and rely on a local homeless shelter. Such a situation would stop many students from being able to focus on studying, let alone a research project, but Garvey has instead used her situation as motivation. In her own words she wants, “a better lifea home.”"
Link to Original Source
Why is Garvey’s achievement so impressive? Because she, and her entire family, are homeless and rely on a local homeless shelter. Such a situation would stop many students from being able to focus on studying, let alone a research project, but Garvey has instead used her situation as motivation. In her own words she wants, “a better lifea home.”"
Link to Original Source
Do Be Evil->
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "At some point I will tire of the Google stories about how they've illegally presenting their business as something it isn't, but until then I can but help to expose their hipocrisy."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Comment: design document vs. documenting source code? (Score 3, Interesting) 545
I've found two camps at my company. Both camps document their code with comments and meaningful commentary. It is more a matter of the "design document" that describes the product or project that is a problem. The document that is perhaps supposed to guide the overall architecture of the product, and thus, the architecture of the classes, methods, interfaces, etc., aka. "the code".
The first camp of developers just wants to get in and start coding. They often say "I need to code to figure it out." The actual web site works well, but new developers have a tough time maintaining that same site. The original developers are pretty much the only ones that can change the critical aspects of the site, and even then, as time goes by, that becomes difficult. But, they got the site up and live in the time allotted. And they wrote a 2 page "design document" when they were done - the doc was useless.
The second camp of developers writes a 50 page design, then starts coding. The actual web site works well, but the overall time to get the site up and live took 5 times longer (that includes the time to document.) The documentation evolved with the changes that were made along the way. Maintaining this same site went well at first, since the documentation was great. But, the docs slowly get neglected, and in a couple years, this site is difficult to maintain.
In the end, perhaps there is a happy medium. A "good enough" design document, and get started coding relatively soon. I used to lean toward the second camp, but now I lean toward the first camp :)
The first camp of developers just wants to get in and start coding. They often say "I need to code to figure it out." The actual web site works well, but new developers have a tough time maintaining that same site. The original developers are pretty much the only ones that can change the critical aspects of the site, and even then, as time goes by, that becomes difficult. But, they got the site up and live in the time allotted. And they wrote a 2 page "design document" when they were done - the doc was useless.
The second camp of developers writes a 50 page design, then starts coding. The actual web site works well, but the overall time to get the site up and live took 5 times longer (that includes the time to document.) The documentation evolved with the changes that were made along the way. Maintaining this same site went well at first, since the documentation was great. But, the docs slowly get neglected, and in a couple years, this site is difficult to maintain.
In the end, perhaps there is a happy medium. A "good enough" design document, and get started coding relatively soon. I used to lean toward the second camp, but now I lean toward the first camp
10 Years: Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Initia->
Submitted
by
Orome1
Orome1 writes "This week, Microsoft is celebrating 10 years of its Trustworthy Computing Initiative. One of the most well-known outcomes of Trustworthy Computing is the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), which also incorporates privacy development practices. Embracing industry best practices and lessons learned from Microsoft's earlier security push, the SDL was instituted as a company-wide, mandatory policy. Companies including Adobe and Cisco have adopted security development lifecycles modeled after Microsoft's SDL. Regarded by many as a significant security push, information security veterans voiced their opinion on the first 10 years of the Trustworthy Computing Initiative."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Privacy expert adds "Do Not Track" to Chrome->
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Google might not want to join the Do Not Track privacy party, but a Stanford University graduate student has built a Chrome extension that could protect end users from being followed around the web by behavioural advertisers. The system is by no means fool proof, but is a step in the right direction."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Researcher's Tool Maps Malware In Elegant 3D Model->
Submitted
by
Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the Shmoocon security conference later this month, Danny Quist plans to demo a new three-dimensional version of a tool he’s created called Visualization of Executables for Reversing and Analysis, or VERA, that maps viruses’ and worms’ code into intuitively visible models. Quist, who teaches government and corporate students the art of reverse engineering at Los Alamos National Labs, says he hopes VERA will make the process of taking apart and understanding malware’s functionality far easier. VERA observes malware running in a virtual sandbox and identifies the basic blocks of commands it executes. Then those chunks of instructions are colorcoded by their function and linked by the order of the malware’s operations, like a giant, 3D flow chart. Quist provides a sample video showing a model of a section of the Koobface worm."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Comment: sometimes (Score 1) 848
>> is it wise to hold majority opinion so high that it slows down progress?
Sometimes.
Sometimes.
Comment: Fact or fiction (Score 1) 336
One person's fact is another person's fiction. Information can be used in many ways to come to various conclusions. The right and the left can often see something completely different, and yet they both had the same "facts".
What would the Fact Agency have concluded when Mr. Clinton stated that he did not have "sexual relations with that woman." Was he factually correct?
What would the Fact Agency have concluded when Mr. Clinton stated that he did not have "sexual relations with that woman." Was he factually correct?
Comment: Social bubble needs to burst (Score 1) 80
Great. Send a friend a soda. When will the social networking hoopla simply die?