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United States

Submission + - Beware the "Do not Call" list

Submitted by SubliminalVortex
SubliminalVortex writes: After wondering how I was contacted by some telemarketer, by recorded telephone message, after being put on the "Do Not Call" list, I wondered whether or not it was all a farce. After going to the site which harbors the "Do Not Call" list, I find the following:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/al t129.htm
—
32. What's my liability if my company inadvertently calls a number on the registry?
The TSR has a "safe harbor" for inadvertent mistakes. If a seller or telemarketer can show that, as part of its routine business practice, it meets all the requirements of the safe harbor, it will not be subject to civil penalties or sanctions for mistakenly calling a consumer who has asked for no more calls, or for calling a person on the registry. To meet the safe harbor requirements, the seller or telemarketer must demonstrate that: it has written procedures to comply with the do not call requirements it trains its personnel in those procedures it monitors and enforces compliance with these procedures it maintains a company-specific list of telephone numbers that it may not call it accesses the national registry no more than 31 days (starting January 1, 2005) before calling any consumer, and maintains records documenting this process any call made in violation of the do not call rules was the result of an error.er agreement:
—
I have to wonder if the company that called me this weekend had "safe harbor", especially when they were trying to sell me on a cruise and make sure my passport was up-to-date. By the way "safe harbor" turns up nothing more on that page than in the paragraph it's mentioned. Just exactly what is considered "safe harbor" when it comes to being 'intrusive'?
Databases

Submission + - MySQL paper on Port25

Submitted by
einhverfr
einhverfr writes: "Microsoft's has recently published a primer for MySQL on Windows. Although the title suggest that it is mostly an installation guide, it does cover table types, and common gotchas. It is nice to see more coverage of open source software from Microsoft, but it does raise the question of where the organization is going regarding open source. What do people think?"
Biotech

Submission + - CPR not as effective as chest compressions alone

Submitted by
patiwat
patiwat writes: "A Japanese study has found that people suffering from cardiac arrest were more likely to recover without brain damage if rescuers focused on chest compressions rather than on rescue breaths, and some experts advised dropping the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR altogether. Interrupting chest compression to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation might do more harm than good if blood flow to the heart was not properly re-established, a researcher from Tokyo's Surugadai Nihon University Hospital said. Also, people could be too squeamish to lock lips with a stranger, whereas more might be prepared to attempt hands-only resuscitation, noted the study published in the current issue of The Lancet. Dr Gordon Ewy, the chief of cardiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, wrote in the same journal that the results "should lead to a prompt interim revision of the guidelines for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest." More than 300,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest each year. Roughly 9 out of 10 cardiac arrest victims die before they get to a hospital — partly because they do not get CPR."

Archive.org Sued By Colorado Woman 797

Posted by CowboyNeal from the legally-binding-http-requests dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Internet Archive is being sued by a Colorado woman for spidering her site. Suzanne Shell posted a notice on her site saying she wasn't allowing it to be crawled. When it was, she sued for civil theft, breach of contract, and violations of the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations act and the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. A court ruling last month granted the Internet Archive's motion to dismiss the charges, except for the breach of contract claim. If Shell prevails on that count, sites like Google will have to get online publishers to 'opt in' before they can be crawled, radically changing the nature of Web search."
Security

Submission + - A Lesson in Security:The Student vs Hacker Rematch

Submitted by monkeyboy44
monkeyboy44 writes: After last years entertaining hacker vs. student showdown, InformIT.com once again covered the annual Mid-Atlantic Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition where college students are put to the test. During the three day event, small teams from eight of the areas colleges are handed insecure networks that they have to lockdown and keep running — all while a team of hackers attempt to gain access any way they can. To keep it interesting, the teams also had to perform various tasks, such as program web applications, install IDS systems and more — and if hacked, the US Secret Service was on hand to determine if their was enough data to start an investigation. Once again, the hackers dominated — but not without a few surprises.
Security

Submission + - Dutch e-voting manufacturer blackmailed government

Submitted by vvpt
vvpt writes: After the Dutch group 'We don't trust voting computers' showed how easy the Nedap voting computers can be manipulated the company is under heavy fire. An independent commission is investigating how the future of Dutch voting should look like (the outcome is expected by October but everyone knows it is going to be very different from now). Nedap knows they are toast unless they can lure the government into buying their stock. So company executive Jan Groenendaal told a Dutch minister: Buy my company or we will withdraw all our services for the next elections. Not an empty threat: 99% of all votes are cast on their equipment. Dutch elections are impossible without the help of Nedap. The blackmail is now revealed by 'We don't trust voting computers' after obtaining letters and e-mails between the government and Groenendaal through a successful FOIA request.
Biotech

Submission + - Coke and Pepsi Cook Your Liver?

Submitted by beartenor1
beartenor1 writes: Science Daily is reporting that a team from the University of Barcelona (UB) has recently published a study in the journal Hepatology which provides clues to the molecular mechanism through which the fructose in beverages may alter lipid energy metabolism and cause fatty liver and metabolic syndrome. Is it time to ban high-fructose corn syrup?
Biotech

Nanotechnology Reveals Hidden Fingerprints 26

Posted by CowboyNeal from the new-csi-devices dept.
valiko75 writes "Hidden fingerprints can now be revealed quickly and reliably thanks to two developments in nanotechnology. The thing is that they have invented an easier way to reveal hidden fingerprints, but the explanation is rather vague. The main point is that the experiments are not very stable at the moment, but with its development this technology will probably help in discovering many criminal mysteries."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Rice bill would make R.I. first state to go WIFI

Submitted by
roscoetoon
roscoetoon writes: "http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/News/pr1.asp?prid=389 1

"(public) access to the Internet, particularly broadband internet access, has become a necessity in today's world," said Representative Rice (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown, Newport),"The ultimate goal of this legislation is to make Rhode Island the first state to utilize a complete Wi-Fi network. The Electronic Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Act would open the door to a very promising and exciting opportunity for our state, and through this measure, I hope that Rhode Island will become a national leader in information technology.", but, it still seems a ways off,"the innovation center must issue a public report on its study by July 1, 2008"."
Unix

Journal Journal: SCO says GNU doesn't have a license

Journal by Ritchie70

I was browsing SCO's website trying to figure out development tool options for SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 (I know, I know) and stumbled across this.

It describes one of the three options for OpenServer 5.0.7 as:
Input Devices

Submission + - Play video games with your brain, eyes and muscles

Submitted by jmke
jmke writes: At Cebit there was a device being demoed at the OCZ Booth which tracks movement of your eyes, monitors brain waves and picks up facial muscle movements, it uses these recorded signals to link them to input commands on the computer, allowing you to play Tetris or even a first person shooter like UT2004. Here is a live demo and more technical details on how this works. Will this technology change the way you interact with your PC?
Mars

Caves on Mars? 99

Posted by CowboyNeal from the little-green-cavemen dept.
RockDoctor writes "The BBC is reporting that the photo-surveying of Mars has revealed seven suspected cave entrances in the Arsia Mons volcanic area. This has been hinted at before — long sinuous channels in the same region have been interpreted as collapsed 'lava tube' caves — but the scale of the suggested entrances (sheer drops of 80 to 130m from the surrounding surface) makes my troglodytic hands twitch for my abseiling gear."
Quake

Submission + - Open RT project Ray-tracing algorithms available

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ray-tracing is a technique that allowed Peter Jackson to make special effects look convincing in the Lord of the Rings. Now, Daniel Pohl, has used the new algorithms [develped by Professor Philipp Slusallek and co-workers from the University of Saarland] to produce ray-traced versions of the Quake 3 and 4 video games. "It gives much higher image quality in shadows and reflections," said Mr Pohl. "You can even do reflections on reflections on reflections." This is something that would be impossible with traditional rendering techniques. The algorithms are being made available to anyone to use via the Open RT project. Graphics in computer games are typically rendered via a technique known as rasterisation which involves drawing all the elements of a scene using polygons. The scientists have shown that their series of ray-tracing algorithms can run on a high-end PC graphics card.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Kwort 2.2 released

Submitted by
JulioCP
JulioCP writes: "Check this announce: "I'm proud to announce that Kwort 2.2 final version has been released after a very long time (more than a year). The system is very stable and very usable.

The core system is based on Slackware and provides a rock solid system, and it's also a great place to start making a full featured and usable desktop environment using Xfce.
Kpkg is now the official package manager, providing an easy way to remove and install local and mirrored packages. It allows the user to keep their system up to date with the new "upgrade" functionality. So now, Slackware's package tools were removed except of makepkg that's included in kpkg.

My favorite highlights in this version:

        * Kpkg: A simple way to remove, retrieve packages and upgrade the system.
        * Kwort Network Manager: A simple network manager that works as a console standalone network configurator and as Xfce plugin.
        * A customized Xfce 4.4.0: Desktop, which continues from Kwort 1.5 and 2.0, with more applications, a new file manager and a new archiver beside other things.
        * Kernel 2.6.19 with new udev: this upgrade allow me to remove discovery, so the system is quite faster at boot time.
        * New logo: This new logo is very nice. ;)

As in older versions, users know that I like to say the bad things as the good ones, so now the things that I look forward to improving:

        * A way to do things hal does but without it, as hal is very buggy and unstable (and of course, an integration with the rest of the desktop).
        * Stable gaim: Gaim 2.0.0 included in Kwort is beta6, which is very stable, but not stable as I would like it to be.
        * Newer amule: This 2.1.3 version doesn't include UPnP.

People who I would like to thank: Andreas Schipplock for making and maintaining the new site, mirroring the iso and for testing; Julio Cesar Pugpinos for doing such a great testing; Stijn Seger for testing the new kernel at last moment, Fabricio Caizza for the new logo. As usual, I would to thank all the mirror providers: Ricardo Brisighelli for the mirror in the UNR, Alberto Ferrer for the mirror in emanon-linux. I would like to thank Patrick Volkerding for Slackware Linux. I hope I didn't forget anyone.

As usual, if you need support, feel like talking about Kwort (or anything else), or you just want to meet the people who is behind Kwort, you can join IRC: irc.oftc.net/Kwort. More info in: www.kwort.org. David B. (nomius) Cortarello""

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