Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Courts

Submission + - Atheists not allowed to adopt children (time.com) 4

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "From Time, After six years of childless marriage, John and Cynthia Burke of Newark decided to adopt a baby boy through a state agency ( http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877155,00.html ) . John Burke, an atheist, and his wife, a pantheist, left the line for religious affiliation blank on the forms. Superior Court Judge William Camarata raised the religious issue. Inestimable Privilege. In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes' right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes' "high moral and ethical standards," he said, the New Jersey state constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience." Despite Eleanor Katherine's tender years, he continued, "the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being." Two weeks ago, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Burkes appealed directly to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. If they fail in their appeal, Eleanor Katherine may have to leave the only family she has ever known and await adoption by another couple whose religious convictions satisfy the State of New Jersey."
Television

Submission + - Tiger Team Pilot Episode Streaming on Court TV

Submitted by ChazeFroy
ChazeFroy writes: The pilot episode of Tiger Team is now available on Court TV's website in streaming flash format. Tiger Team (previously mentioned on Slashdot here) follows a group of penetration testers as they attempt to defeat the security of organizations through social engineering, wired and wireless penetration testing, and physically exploiting security weaknesses in an organization's infrastructure. The pilot episode involves testing an exotic car dealership in California that sells Lotuses, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Rolls Royces. You don't have to think too hard about how this episode ends up. It's also great to see Court TV take proactive steps to support new shows by making them available to the masses for free.
Patents

Submission + - Patent "Enforcing" Ad Playback. Guess who

Submitted by
Lord Custos
Lord Custos writes: "So, Slashdot...what do you feel about " Enforced Playback of Adverts" in your downloaded Media?

Well, a patent for "Enforcing Advertising Playback For Downloaded Media Content" is now officially in play. Now, anyone want to take a wild guess whose idea this was?

Russell Shaw at ZDnet has THIS ("http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=2916") to say about Patent 20070294772.

Here's the text of the patent: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20070294772.PGNR.&OS=DN/20070294772RS=DN/20070294772
THIS POST SPONSORED BY MEGALOMART. OUR MOTTO IS "SCREW YOU. GIMME YER MONEY!" "
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - Christmas Lights - 2007 (slashdot.org)

Submitted by martyb
martyb writes: It's that time of year when people go all out trying to put up the most spectacular Christmas light displays. Those that use computerized controllers to synchronize music to the light display can be very impressive, indeed! Slashdot has posted several stories in the past but I could find nothing for this year. What's the best display you've found for 2007? Here's a chance to submit links to your OWN display, too!
Internet Explorer

Submission + - IE8 now passes ACID2 - with caveats. 2

Submitted by
Sander
Sander writes: "Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of the Internet Explorer team, just announced that "IE8 now renders the "Acid2 Face" correctly in IE8 standards mode."
He does however not specify what this "IE8 standards mode" entails exactly, and most importantly, he doesn't specify how it is triggered. Given a remark such as "We must deliver improved standards support and backwards compatibility so that IE8 (1) continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7", it's unfortunately a likely possibility that no pages currently existing on the internet will be able to benefit of this new rendering mode out of the box, but that all will need some sort of "trigger" to gain access to this new mode."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - "Oops!" Those dumb mistakes we've all mad 9

Submitted by theotherbastard
theotherbastard writes: I've recently made the step up from Desktop Support to Systems Administration and in my first month on the job I made a change to a server that knocked one of our customer call centers offline for nearly 4 hours. It was the simple mistake of changing the duplex settings on 2 NIC's on 1 server. Needless to say I've learned my lesson on when and how to make even the smallest change to our sensitive systems. Another thing I've learned is that everyone on my team has a story about their first days supporting servers and the disastrous mistakes they've made. I'm curious what stories some fellow /.er's have.
Security

Submission + - NIST Opens Competition for New Hash Algorithm

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has opened a competition to develop a new cryptographic "hash" algorithm (pdf), a tool that converts a file, message or block of data to a short "fingerprint" for use in digital signatures, message authentication and other computer security applications. In recent years, several non-NIST approved cryptographic hash functions have been successfully attacked, and serious attacks have been published against SHA-1. In response, NIST held two public workshops to assess the status of its approved hash functions and has now decided to develop additional hash functions through a public competition. NIST is open to submissions of hash functions that differ from the traditional Merkle-Damgard model, using other structures, chaining modes, and possibly additional inputs. Entries for the competition must be received by Oct. 31, 2008."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Your worst IT workshop?

Submitted by suntory
suntory writes: I am a lecturer at a Spanish university. This week had to attend a workshop on "Advanced HTML and CSS" for the university staff. Some of the ideas that the presenter (a fellow lecturer) shared with us:
  • IE is the only browser that follows standards. You can see it clearly because it works for all sites, whereas Firefox and other browsers have problems displaying some of them.
  • Frames and tables are the best way to organize your website.
  • You can view the source for most CSS, Javascript and HTML files, so you can freely copy and paste what you feel like — the Internet is so free, you know.
  • Same applies for images. If you can see them in Google Images Search, then you can use them for your projects.
Of course, the workshop turned out to be a complete disaster and a waste of time. So I was wondering what other similar experiences you have had, and what was your worst IT workshop...
Power

Submission + - Toshiba Builds Household Nuclear Reactor (peswiki.com)

Submitted by
sterlingda
sterlingda writes: "Toshiba has developed a new class of nuclear reactor 100 times smaller than a standard reactor. These micro sized nuclear reactors could be used to power large houses, apartment blocks or some city blocks. The new 200 kilowatt reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. The new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction, but uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy. Toshiba expects to install the first reactor in Japan in 2008 and to begin marketing the new system in Europe and America in 2009."
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - The Science of Gift Wrapping (alphagalileo.org)

Submitted by
IZ Reloaded
IZ Reloaded writes: "A mathematician working with a leading shopping centre in the UK has come up with a formula for the perfect method of gift-wrapping. The mathematical solution which will hopefully put an end to unnecessary paper wastage: A1 = 2(ab+ac+bc+c2)**. The length of the wrapping paper should be as long as the perimeter of the side of the gift, with no more than 2cm allowed for an overlap. The width should be just a little over the sum of the width and the depth of the gift. There's also a formula to wrap unusual shaped gift: h/(p-2)***. The equation will help consumers decide whether they should roll the paper around the gift or wrap the paper over the top of it to ensure they reduce their gift-wrapping footprint."
The Courts

Submission + - Judge allows RIAA expert to testify (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Judge David G. Trager has ruled that Dr. Doug Jacobson can testify as an expert in UMG v. Lindor even though Dr. Jacobson had conceded at his deposition that his method satisfied none of the "reliability factors" enunciated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U. S. 579 (1993) and that he had no reason to think MediaSentry's materials — upon which Jacobson's testimony was based — could satisfy them either. The Daubert factors are "(1) whether a theory or technique "can be and has been tested," (2) whether the theory or technique has been subjected to peer review and publication, (3) a technique's known or potential rate of error, and the existence and maintenance of standards controlling the technique's operation, and (4) whether a particular technique or theory has gained general acceptance in the relevant scientific community". Judge Trager dismissed these as mere "suggestions" by the high court, but could point to no cases where any other judge had allowed expert testimony where not a single Daubert reliability factor had been satisfied."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA pursuing infringements by a 13 year old

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "I have just learned of a case in Columbus, Georgia, where the RIAA is pressing a suit against a 17-year-old, now 18 years old, based on copyright infringements — the downloading of 48 song files — which took place when she was 13 and 14 years old. The RIAA made a motion for summary judgment against the defendant, Sarah McDowell. The judge granted an injunction, but denied summary judgment on the damages question, saying that there were factual issues as to whether she would qualify for a defense of innocent infringement. Accordingly, the case will now have to go to trial."
Space

Submission + - Strange new space weather phenomen discovered (physorg.com) 1

Submitted by
kfz versicherung
kfz versicherung writes: "Something strange is happening in the atmosphere above Africa and researchers have converged on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the phenomenon. Researchers liken the plumes to smoke billowing out of a factory smokestack — except instead of ordinary ash and dust, ion plumes are made of electrified gas floating so high above ground they come in contact with space itself. "The plumes appear during geomagnetic storms and they can interfere with satellite transmissions, airline navigation and radio communications," says Fuller-Rowell. Indeed, it is their effect on GPS signals that led to the discovery of plumes over North America just a few years ago."
Privacy

Submission + - Greek cellphone system hacked

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to the IEEE spectrum the Greek cellphone system provided by Vodaphone was seriously hacked.
Rogue software was installed in the switch that activated the law enforcement access provisions and
allowed others to effectively tap the phones of the Prime Minister and other Greek government officials.
The full story is at: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul07/5280

Slashdot Top Deals

It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.

Close