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Biotech

Attractive Women Make Men Temporarily Stupid 652

Ponca City, We love you writes "The Telegraph reports that men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive. This leads to speculation that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks. Psychologists at Radboud University in The Netherlands carried out the study after one of them was so struck on impressing an attractive woman he had never met before, that he could not remember his address when she asked him where he lived. Researchers recruited 40 male heterosexual students and had each one perform a standard memory test. The volunteers then spent seven minutes chatting to male or female members of the research team before repeating the test. The results showed that men were slower and less accurate after trying to impress the women. The more they fancied them, the worse their score."
Government

Alan Turing Apology Campaign Grows 653

chrb writes "Several British news sources have recently reported on the growing campaign that calls for an apology to Alan Turing for his persecution by the British government. The petition to the Prime Minister was started by John Graham-Cumming, who has also written to the Queen requesting a Knighthood for Turing, but admits that a pardon is 'unlikely,' saying, 'The most important thing to me is that people hear about Alan Turing and realize his incredible impact on the modern world, and how terrible the impact of prejudice was on him.'"
Censorship

Submission + - RSA keys factored, DMCA takedowns issued (sunshinepress.org) 2

An anonymous reader writes: A month ago, ticalc.org reported smart factoring of the 512-bit RSA key used by TI to sign their TI-83+ OS, which opens the door to seamless installation of open-source third-party OS on TI-83+ calculators. Since then, two other keys found in other TI calculators have been factored by a distributed effort. Several days ago, TI sent DMCA takedown notices to several sites mentioning the keys and their factors. All three keys factored so far have been posted to Wikileaks, and the effort to factor the remaining ones is going on.

Comment WTF (Score 1) 2

So let me get this straight ... i download a 4.4Gb File ... and it magically becomes a 4.6gb file in finder.

And if i dont know this i just assume that it wont fit in a 4.4 DVD unless they include special glasses which make the 4.4 in the dvd read as 4.6....
Data Storage

Submission + - Apple kicks HDD marketing debate into high gear 2

quacking duck writes: With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard," Apple has updated a support document describing how their new operating system reports capacities of hard drives and other media. It has sided with hard drive makers who for years have advertised capacities as "1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes" instead of the traditional computer science definition, and in so doing has kicked the debate between marketing and computer science into high gear.

Binary prefixes for binary units (e.g. GiB for "gibibyte") have been promoted by the International Electrotechnical Commission and endorsed by IEEE and other standards organizations, but to date there's been limited acceptance (though manufacturers have wholeheartedly accepted the "new" definitions for GB and TB). Is Apple's move the first major step in forcing computer science to adopt the more awkward binary prefixes, breaking decades of accepted (if technically inaccurate) usage of SI prefixes?

Comment Re:$50 + Pay 2 Play = No thanks! (Score 1) 147

<quote>Heck, I'd be willing to pay $20 a month for a WoW-quality game that only allowed you to play if you were over 21 and had a full-time job...</quote>

That would be awesome... an adult-filled MMORPG (not necesarily adult-themed) ... where you play with people that have a life and can't be 20hrs a day online leveling... and can actually type a full sentence.

Sweet...
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone apps that are spying on you...

0th3lo writes: "An example is the iPhone application "Aussie Rules LIVE" currently listed at number 23 on the AppStore Top 25. This application sends your iPhone ID, model, O.S Version, if your phone is jail broken, if the app is cracked and even your current latitude & longitude to a 3rd party. All this without your knowledge or consent. Worse still, this seems to be the norm for many, paid, full applications from the Apple AppStore. More information is on the main page of the blog at i-phone-home.blogspot.com , which is dedicated to iPhone applications that "phone-home"."

Comment Yoga and bars (Score 1) 10

I wouldn't know about dancing lessons as I suck at dancing and look like a headless chicken (you'd know if you ever saw one) ... but i'd say try yoga, its good for you and usually there are more women than men. If your physical state is better than deplorable you could try attending spinning classes.

If you have friends, or work-friends at least, try to start going out with them to bars or clubs, as much as you can. Try to overcome your shyness, seriously what's the worst that could happen. If you're not comfortable just be silent, but WITH A SMILE. Its ok to be quiet and watching, but don't be serious or look bored, you must make an effort, in time it will become effortless ... and in time you'll start enjoying yourself. If you have confidence in your friends just be honest go to them, or just one and tell him/her how you feel something like "Look, you know i am blah blah blah, and frankly I don't want to be like this anymore and I would really appreciate your support"

If you don't have any friends, nor work-friends, start by making some. There is no fool-proof way to make friends obviously but your co-workers are the easiest as you'll have loads of things in common ... the easiest way to make friends is to LISTEN, really listen to what they say not thinking about anything else (replies, possible replies, etc...) then make tactful comments or suggestions, if appropiate, and REMEMBER what you heard then ask about it (eg: if they say their daughter has a dance recital, ask about it the day after) ... so remember those dates or write them down afterwards discreetly or in code, you dont want to be too eager. After a while of listening you'll start to remember automatically...

I don't know how old you are, but try to find an interest outside tech, or the tech aspect of a social thing ... like you could learn to DJ, yeah it sounds weird but it worked for me, i worked weekends 2 years in a club and it changed my life.

Look at it this way ... having the guts to post this on Slash was more than enough to try any of things i read so far.
Social Networks

Submission + - Where does a geek find a social life? 10

JustShootMe writes: "So I have a question for my fellow slashdotters, and yes, I realize I am throwing myself into the lion's den covered with tasty meat flavored sauce. I have never been a very social person, preferring to throw myself into technology, therefore I've been spectacularly unsuccessful in developing any meaningful interpersonal relationships. Lately I have begun to feel that this situation is not tenable, and I would like to fix it. But I really don't know how and haven't the faintest idea where to start. I know that I am in the minority and there are many different kinds of slashdot readers, most of whom have vastly more experience in this realm than I do. So, fellow slashdotters, please tell me. How, and more importantly, where, do you meet fellow geeks, preferably including some of the opposite gender, in meatspace?"
Google

Submission + - SPAM: Google Voice grabs 1 million phone numbers

alphadogg writes: Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service. The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones. Sources could not say when the 1 million numbers may be assigned. Level 3 has been supplying Google with phone numbers since the introduction of Google Voice, so the 1 million numbers are an indication Google is close to adding a significant amount of users. A public launch has been anticipated since Google said in March the service would be "open to new users soon." "I've only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it's completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate, just in general," said Kevin Dando, director of digital and education communications for PBS. "When it goes public, I think the rush to grab Google Voice numbers is going to be stunning. I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it."
Link to Original Source
Patents

Submission + - Microsoft Patenting Avoiding Bad Neighborhoods

theodp writes: "When a white friend told comedian Chris Rock that he was on a street called Martin Luther King and asked what he should do, Rock answered, 'Run!' Such predicaments are addressed by the six inventors of Microsoft's patent-pending Pedestrian Route Production technology, which covers the production of direction sets for the purpose of 'avoiding unsafe neighborhoods.'"
AMD

Submission + - SLI on Life Support on the AMD Platform (pcper.com) 2

JoshMST writes: "For years AMD and NVIDIA were like peas and carrots, and their SNAP partnership proved to be quite successful for both companies. Things changed dramatically when AMD bought up ATI, and now it seems like NVIDIA is pulling the plug on SLI support for the AMD platform. While the chipset division at AMD may be a bitter rival to NVIDIA, the CPU guys there have had a long and prosperous relationship with the Green Machine. While declining chipset margins on the AMD side was attributed to AMD's lackluster processor offerings for the past several years, the Phenom II chips have reawakened interest in the platform and they have found a place in enthusiasts' hearts again. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, they are seemingly missing out on a significant revenue stream by not offering new chipsets to go with these processors. They have also curtailed SLI adoption on the AMD platform as well, which couldn't be happening at a worse time."
Bug

Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix 418

jaroslav writes "The University of Wisconsin is attempting to update a payroll system they have had in place since 1975, but spent $28.4 million in a 2004 attempt with no results, and now is experiencing new overruns in cost and time after 'not hav[ing] the full picture of how complex this project would be.' The current estimate of the redesign is $12 million and years of further work on top of the money already spent."

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