165131
submission
Gabriel Landau writes:
I've been trying to download Skype all weekend to talk to my friend in Prague from my home Verizon DSL connection. Every time I went to http://www.skype.com/download, the page took nearly forever to load, and the connection timed out before it loaded completely. Assuming their server was under heavy load all weekend, I came into work this morning and checked the site again; it loaded very quickly through my office T1 (non-Verizon). I just checked my home computer again, and the page still times out.
Is Verizon intentionally throttling all traffic to Skype servers to force customers to use their own for-pay services? Is this behavior illegal and anti-competitive?
164993
submission
doug141 writes:
A British scientist has shown that wearing a bicycle helmet actually exposes cyclists to further risk. Drivers passed an average of 8.5 cm (3 1/3 inches) closer with the helmet than without. The researcher was struck by both a bus and a truck in the course of the experiment. Will bicycle helmet laws suffer a backlash? How much should legislators weigh science?
164983
submission
SlashSquatch writes:
My sister is getting screened for a programming position with a financial firm. I was alarmed to hear she'll be getting fingerprinted at the sheriff's office as part of the screening process. Instantly I conjure up scenes of frame-ups and corporate scandals. I want to know, should this raise a flag? Would you submit to fingerprinting, blood tests and who knows what else (genetic code screening etc), for a programming position?
