nasteric asks: "Myself and 5 co-workers assume a number of responsibilities at my current job, including monitoring our tape backup jobs that run nightly. We do a good job of keeping non work related items (mp3's, wav files, etc.) off our servers, but our users keep eating up disk space very quickly. File storage, along with the fact that we have numerous projects 'going live' that each require one or more servers means more investment in our backup solutions. Fortunately, we have the capital to expand our backup solution (media, drives, autoloaders, software, etc.) but my boss cringes when I suggest hiring a full-time person to handle the backups. Ensuring the integrity of our nightly backups is critical, but my teammates are being spread thin due to the rapid expansion of our company. We really feel the best solution would be dedicated backup person. We currently backup approximately 3.5 terabytes of data and our enterprise expands to over 4 states. Does anybody have any suggestions as to when data backup becomes a full-time position? Are there any resources that specify when a full-time person dedicated to data backup should be hired? It would be nice to have some resources to refer to when proving my point to my boss."

4/3PI*R^3 asks: "CNN is reporting that Latin is experiencing a revival in schools. The reason - Latin is used in the sciences and technology is based on science. Latin is also useful for registering .US domain names :). How many Slashdot readers have learned Latin and how has it helped you in your life/career? 'non impediti ratione cogitatonis'"

An anonymous reader asks: "Microsoft is going to be giving a lecture on Palladium for my Computer and Network Security class at MIT this Thursday. We're told that it's going to be the most technically detailed lecture publically given to date, and that we should be armed with questions as a result. Any suggestions from the Slashdot crowd? What technical details have you been dying to know about Palladium?" It would be interesting to hear back from someone who is planning on attending this. For those who wish they were, but can't for one reason or another, what would you have asked by proxy?

Marcel Turcotte asks: "I am buying equipments for a new lab. Last year, when we applied for funding, we included an Itanium based server in our budget. Now that the money has arrived, I am not so sure that Itanium is the way to go. Although there are great machines, such as the HP rx5670 running Linux, people don't seem enthusiast about the chip. I am wondering how the acceptance of the IA-64 compares with the acceptance of other chips."

DrStrangeLoop asks: "I am in the progress of getting into coding for Mac OS X, and I am wondering which GUI framework/language i should focus on. Apparantly, there are at least three options: the Cocoa Objective-C API [I don't want to learn Objective-c, but it seems that's how Apple wants me to code], the Cocoa Java API [gets compiled to PPC binaries, lots of APIs available [think Google], but absolutely no decent documentation to be found] and Swing Java classes [look 'n feel of Cocoa, but portable]. However, the most important feature for me is a clean and easy IPC with BSD layer processes. I figure sockets will work with all options, but what about the other mechanisms? Any suggestions?" Update: 10/13 22:08 GMT by C :For those curious about the Cocoa/Carbon debate, you can find an article that discusses this very issue, here. Thanks to the folks over at Freenode's #macdev for providing the link.

MrMrBen asks: "I've been seeing ads for Zipcar on the subway in NY. I didn't realize that it's actually out there and working. Apparently, you make a reservation on their web site, show up at the car, wave your membership card over the windshield and it unlocks for you. Does anyone know what kind of wireless network they use? Can they track the car while you're driving it? Have people been using zipcars, and what have their impression been? Is this the future of cars for city dwellers?"

lexus99 asks: "Recently, while attending college and wanting to take tests in order to avoid taking basic computer courses, I have signed up for a few SAM (Skills Assessment Manager) tests. What really surprised me is that these tests are entirely based upon Microsoft products (Windows XP and Office XP). Note that this course is -required- before taking any any of the more advanced courses. Is this not a clear cut case of U.S. Colleges forcing its students to exclusively use Microsoft's software? Does Microsoft pay for this 'privledge', or do the schools get some type of M$ discounts? I don't believe that I will have any problem passing these tests, as I frequently use M$ software in my workplace, but I cannot help but feel insulted that I have to take them in order to take more advanced UNIX courses." This issue is a lot more complex than it sounds. Many colleges fall into Microsoft's software because they do get decent volume discounts and Microsoft provides them with decent service, so why change what works? However, with the new licensing schemes that Microsoft is beginning to push, maybe we'll see some change in this area in the near future. Have any of you seen evidence of Microsoft worming it's way into your college courses?

An anonymous reader writes: "I have been called upon to conduct some science workshops for children of various ages, and I'm looking for some good demos. In particular, I've found that demos are most effective at getting students to think when they give a surprising or unexpected result, such as the classic two-slit experiment (or, for the extreme crowd, demonstrating the Leidenfrost effect by sticking one's hand into a vat of molten lead [PDF]). I'd like the Slashdot crowd's suggestions." Please don't do the lead one.

Silas asks: "I run a small website development and hosting company. We're trying to develop creative, fair, but standard policies in limiting the bandwidth of our individual hosting accounts. I seek the opinions of Slashdot readers who have experience as hosting providers or hosting users. More details below. We're running Apache, and have pretty much decided on using mod_throttle as our bandwidth limiting technology. I know it's not everyone's favorite, but it looks great for us. We have less than 200 domains being hosted, all with varying degrees of bandwidth requirements. As you might suspect, we've got our own ideas and have done our own research about the answers to these, but now I'm interested in yours."

GregAllen asks: "We live in a world where technology provides us global communication and instant gratification. The internet has made the world a much smaller place, and news travels at the speed of electrons. However, it's still pretty easy to hide. There is an epidemic in the U.S. -- the government estimates that there are 350,000 family kidnapping per year. You never think it will happen to you, but it did happen to me -- my ex-wife kidnapped our daughter and has been missing for almost 6 months. She's wanted by the FBI, but she hasn't been found. See the Find Sabrina website -- there's a $10K reward. When you are confronted with this situation, the world is an overwhelmingly large place. How would the alpha geeks at Slashdot use technology to locate someone that doesn't want to be found?" While putting up a website to assist in the search helps, are there other digital methods one can employ to assist in the search?

Horizon_99 asks: "This is more of an ask John Carmack type question but since he already did this I would like to ask the community what is in your opinion *the* reference book to 3d engine design? And I don't mean a directx for dummies type book but something more along the lines of the physics related to 3d environments and such. Where should I invest my hard earned money for this part-time hobby of mine?"

Hanno asks: "There are US companies selling Japanese gadgets not available in the US to local customers. But what about buying American hardware in Europe? I'm thinking about buying a US laptop that is not sold in Germany and the import, payment and warranty issues are giving me a headache. Has anyone else done this and what was your experience?"

This hasn't been a good year for music lovers since the RIAA has removed the kid gloves. In the past 3 months they have declared war on their own customers, silenced Internet Radio, and are targeting 3 other P2P networks for shutdown. At about this time last year, they wanted unprecedented access to your personal property, but fortunately saner heads prevailed here. It has been 4 years since Slashdot posted it's first story containing the phrase "RIAA", and in that time the RIAA has waged war on the Internet rather than try and use the technology for the benefit of their artists. Now there are people willing to play by the rules, but the RIAA is unresponsive, and their web site seems to provide more questions than clear answers. Who do you need to contact? What forms need to be filled? What agreements need to be signed? By whom? What do you have to pay? How is this value determined? If you are planning on offering the RIAA's music, what do you really have to do to play their music legally?

Graham Moore asks: "I am getting really concerned about where my personal information goes nowadays. In the last two weeks I have read two news articles here in the UK that talk about call centers and other agencies being set up in India that will transparently deal with customers from the UK (see the this article from The Register). On the UK mainland we have the Data Protection Act to fall back on if we believe the data is knowingly being misused or we wish to see what is stored about us. I suspect that once off of the UK mainland our details can be used or abused unhindered. I have contacted my MP, Melanie Johnson, who is also the Minister for Consumer Affairs, and have not yet had a response. Am I worrying about this unnecessarily or should we all start to get very concerned?"

Saqib Ali asks: "These days, most of the Linux Documentation is created using DocBook DTD. I was wondering if it will be useful for a large Enterprise to create Internal IT documents using DocBook DTD. Any success stories where a large enterprise converted all of its internal IT documentation to DocBook, with management's support? Any other things/issues to keep in mind before embarking on such a mission?"

MooseGuy529 writes "About two years ago, for Christmas of 2000, Cybiko, a Russian company (IIRC) created the Cybiko, a handheld wireless device for teens/"tweens." They later created the CybikoXtreme, a sweeter-looking model with voice chat/recording and a nicer keyboard. Unfortunately the wireless didn't go that far (150-300 ft max) and Cybiko went on to UK markets and then to making games for cell phones. However, I have seen several cool uses of Cybiko, including Using the Cybiko for APRS over Ham Radio and using MiaChat to connect the Cybiko to AIM. People have suggested things such as using them in schools for wireless roll-call or such things. My question for Slashdot is does anyone know of or have ideas for any interesting uses of Cybiko?" For the curious, Ask Slashdot last did a story on the Cybiko back in February of 2001.

MoonFacedAssassin asks: "I woke up this morning to find that my computer had a Windows messaging pop-up window with an advertisement about getting diplomas and degrees. I was quite shocked to find that my Bellsouth DSL IP address had been spammed. Has this happened to anyone else? Other than closing off the port which this can come through, are there any other ways to block this spam? And, how responsible is Bellsouth (or any ISP for that matter) in handling issues like this?"

mjpalm21 asks: "A friend of mine recently sent me this story on a new universal power technology that charges devices through your desk. This is a cool idea, but it seems complex. I have long wondered why there isn't a universal power bus (UPB) along the lines of universal serial bus (USB). UPB would work like this: You would buy a n port UPB hub for your desk, and then all of your electronic devices (cell phone, PDA, computer speakers, modem, phone, hubs etc.) would plug into the hub via a standard UPB cable. I would think that the device manufacturers would be all over this as it would reduce their product cost (no need to bundle a power brick), reduce their packaging cost (smaller box), increase customer satisfaction (I know I would be happier), and give them another device to sell (the UPB hub and all those cables)! Why hasn't this happened yet and what would prevent it from happening?"

Fished asks: "Lately, I'm finding that I need to do a lot of research in Libraries -- remember those? I'm tired of feeding dimes to the copiers, and would like to buy some kind of portable scanner to go with my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one that will work. Back in the eighties, this were as common as dirt: they were small, four inch wide scanners that you could run over the page. Also, while I've found three portable scanners for PC's (from Antec and Pentax) even if I could somehow get them to work with Mac OS X, they are sheet-fed, which is useless for scanning pages out of books. Does anyone still make the old-fashioned Hand Scanners, and do they make them for Macs?"

Giggles Of Doom asks: "I am a long time Windows user who is getting ready to make the plunge and move to Linux. Microsoft is just getting on my nerves. Anyway, I have made a little list of things I do in Windows that I will still need to be able to do in Linux. A BIG one of those is syncing the data from my PDA with my main computer's mail program. The mail program will probably be KMail, unless others can suggest a better one and give reasons why, and my PDA is a Audiovox Maestro, which is really a rebranded Toshiba 'PDA-1032' running Pocket PC 2002. It has a USB cradle. What Linux solutions are there for this task? I would hate to have everything else work great, but have to boot to Windows or load VMware just to sync my contact info. Remember, I am a Windows user trying to convert, but any solution would have to be pretty user friendly."