Comment Re:Code in high-level (Score 1) 249
Wow. Have you tried not being an ass?
Submission + - How Goggle Has Adapted PageRank for Twitter (technologyreview.com)
TechRev_AL writes: Amit Singhal, who developed Google's real time search service, gives Technology Review some info on how it selects the Tweets that get shown prominently in search results. Singhal explains that this involved adapting PageRank to the social web: Instead of simply showing the latest few tweets featuring a certain keyword or phrase, or focusing only on those from the most followed users, the adapted algorithm takes into account the popularity of people in each users' extended social network. So, even if you only have a few followers, providing you, or your friends, are followed by some influential twitter users, your tweets are more likely to appear in Google's results. Singhal also touches on some of the other problems involved with mining the web for real-time information such as blog posts and news reports.
Submission + - Robotics prof fears rise of military robots (silicon.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Interesting video interview on silicon.com with Sheffield University's Noel Sharkey, professor of AI & robotics. The white-haired prof talks state-of-the-robot-nation — discussing the most impressive robots currently clanking about on two-legs (hello Asimo) and who's doing the most interesting things in UK robotics research (something involving crickets apparently). He also voices concerns about military use of robots — suggesting it won't be long before armies are sending out fully autonomous killing machines. Sounds like a job for the Governator.
Submission + - Minority Report Technology Surfaces at 2010 CES (amctv.com)
cneuman71 writes: This year's tech expo in Las Vegas featured touchless interfaces a la Minority Report, 3D moviegoing like Back to the Future's Jaws 19 and The Prisoner's transparent OLEDs.
Submission + - Helping quake relief efforts
pfunes writes: I see the news coming from Haiti and I wonder if my skills are good for something. Years ago when the Mexican quake happened I helped the embassy people setting up databases, getting donations of computers, etc. Do slashdotters have any suggestions on what can IT professionals do to help in a catastrophe situation like the one currently unfolding in Haiti?
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Are software time bombs ethical?
marlobello writes: I opened up Intuit Quicken 2007 the other day to do my weekly finances and received a notice that an update was available for the program. As I usually do, I agreed to install the update trusting that Intuit was looking out for me and my purchased software. I was also given a notice that as of 30 April, 2010 Quicken 2007 would no longer be able to download transactions from any financial institutions, because Intuit only supports the current version and two previous version (which is now 2010, 2009, and 2008). It advised me to update to Quicken 2010.
I know for a fact that not EVERY financial institution in the world is making a change on 30 April, and it soon dawned on my that the latest Quicken update installed a malicious time bomb which will hobble the software on that date. Downloading transactions is arguably THE primary function of the Quicken software (it certainly is for me). I equate it with if Microsoft were to update Office 2000 so that it could read, but not write office documents.
Now then, I know that technology moves forward and things change (such as Inuit abandoning the QIF file format for the newer and better QFX format — which prompted my move from Quicken 2005 to Quicken 2007). But it seems wrong to me that seemingly without warning a software company can maliciously disable the primary function a piece of working, legally purchased software for the SOLE purpose of boosting the sales of a newer version.
So the questions are: Is it ethical (I think already know the answer to that)? Is it legal? If it isn't legal, what can be done to correct this injustice (for me and all Quicken 2007 users) and set a precedent in the software industry?
The saddest part of it all is that I have been toying with the idea of moving to Mint.com for sometime, but since Intuit has purchased Mint, I'd still be conforming to Intuits will, because they will begin receiving ad revenue from my move off from Quicken 2007.
I know for a fact that not EVERY financial institution in the world is making a change on 30 April, and it soon dawned on my that the latest Quicken update installed a malicious time bomb which will hobble the software on that date. Downloading transactions is arguably THE primary function of the Quicken software (it certainly is for me). I equate it with if Microsoft were to update Office 2000 so that it could read, but not write office documents.
Now then, I know that technology moves forward and things change (such as Inuit abandoning the QIF file format for the newer and better QFX format — which prompted my move from Quicken 2005 to Quicken 2007). But it seems wrong to me that seemingly without warning a software company can maliciously disable the primary function a piece of working, legally purchased software for the SOLE purpose of boosting the sales of a newer version.
So the questions are: Is it ethical (I think already know the answer to that)? Is it legal? If it isn't legal, what can be done to correct this injustice (for me and all Quicken 2007 users) and set a precedent in the software industry?
The saddest part of it all is that I have been toying with the idea of moving to Mint.com for sometime, but since Intuit has purchased Mint, I'd still be conforming to Intuits will, because they will begin receiving ad revenue from my move off from Quicken 2007.
Submission + - Can Facebook get any more creepy? 2
whipnet writes: OK, I am not sure where to start with this. I am thoroughly creeped out right now. I figured Slashdot would be a good place to ask though.
First off, I do NOT have a Facebook account in any shape or fashion. I have avoided it like the plague since the beginning. Every one else I know is on it, but not me.
I'll try to explain this the best I can and try not to sound confused, but I am confused, so I can't promise anything.
It started today when I got an friend request from my uncle in my email. My uncle does not live in the same state as me, never has and knows none of my friends. As most know when you get one of these emails, there are suggestions of people you might know. I do understand how they make connections using their massive database and data mining algorithms, but the list they sent me was so exact and the fact that the people listed have no clue of one another has really gotten my stomach twisted.
I have everything from ex pot dealers to ex wives listed on it... none of them personally knowing each other.
I understand that my sister and wife may know some of my friends, but they have never met or even know of the others. There is no way anyone on that list or even that I know in the real world could have a connection to a pot dealer I used in college (20 years ago).
There are also business associates listed that don't even live in this country and have never met anyone else I know.
How did they make this connection? (Again, I have NO account or NO fake facebook friends)
Thanks for any input you can provide.
First off, I do NOT have a Facebook account in any shape or fashion. I have avoided it like the plague since the beginning. Every one else I know is on it, but not me.
I'll try to explain this the best I can and try not to sound confused, but I am confused, so I can't promise anything.
It started today when I got an friend request from my uncle in my email. My uncle does not live in the same state as me, never has and knows none of my friends. As most know when you get one of these emails, there are suggestions of people you might know. I do understand how they make connections using their massive database and data mining algorithms, but the list they sent me was so exact and the fact that the people listed have no clue of one another has really gotten my stomach twisted.
I have everything from ex pot dealers to ex wives listed on it... none of them personally knowing each other.
I understand that my sister and wife may know some of my friends, but they have never met or even know of the others. There is no way anyone on that list or even that I know in the real world could have a connection to a pot dealer I used in college (20 years ago).
There are also business associates listed that don't even live in this country and have never met anyone else I know.
How did they make this connection? (Again, I have NO account or NO fake facebook friends)
Thanks for any input you can provide.
Submission + - Powerful Linux ISP Router Distribution?
fibrewire writes: I'm building a Wireless ISP using commercial grade, low cost equipment. My main stumbling block is that I cannot find a decent open source ISP class routing distribution. Closest thing to even a decent tool is Ubiquiti's AIRControl — but even it doesn't play well with other network monitoring software. I've used Mikrotik's RouterOS for 5 years, but it just isn't built for what i need. I don't mind paying licensing fees, but $300K for a Cisco Universal Broadband Router is out of my budget. Has anyone seen any good open-source/cheap hardware/software systems that will scale to several thousand users?
Submission + - China Emphasizes Laws as Google Defies Censorship (pcworld.com)
Lomegor writes: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday that all companies are welcome to operate in China but that they must do so under local laws. Although not explicitly, this is in some way a response to Google threat to leave the country. China also stated that they strict cyber laws and that the it forbids any kind of "hacking attack"; when asked if those laws apply to the government as well it was quickly avoided.
"It is still hard to say whether Google will quit China or not. Nobody knows," the official in the State Council Information Office was quoted as saying.
"It is still hard to say whether Google will quit China or not. Nobody knows," the official in the State Council Information Office was quoted as saying.
Submission + - Norway Time Hole “Leak” Plunges Northe (daily.pk) 3
fredrik70 writes: Russian scientists are reporting to Prime Minister Putin today that the high-energy beam fired into the upper heavens from the United States High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) radar facility in Ramfjordmoen, Norway this past month has resulted in a “catastrophic puncturing” of our Plant’s thermosphere thus allowing into the troposphere an “unimpeded thermal inversion” of the exosphere, which is the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
Submission + - Location-aware search with Apache Lucene and Solr
IndioMan writes: Recently, however, the popular open source search library, Apache Lucene, and the powerful Lucene-powered search server, Apache Solr, have added spatial capabilities. Lucene and Solr committer Grant Ingersoll walks you through the basics of spatial search and shows you how to leverage its capabilities to power your next location-aware application.
Submission + - Twitter Hackers Take Down Baidu (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: The group that took down Twitter last month has apparently claimed another victim: China's largest search engine Baidu.com. Offline late Monday, Baidu.com at one point displayed an image saying "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army," according to a report in the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party and other Web sites. The Iranian Cyber Army first gained notoriety with its Dec. 18 Twitter attack. Baidu's domain name records were the focus of the hack. On Monday, the company was using domain name servers belonging to HostGator, a Florida ISP, instead of the Baidu.com nameservers the company normally uses.
Submission + - Drew S Levin on TV.com (tv.com)
drewslevintmc writes: Drew S. Levin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TMC Entertainment is an entertainment industry veteran and company leader
Submission + - Google Faces Deluge of Nexus One Complaints (pcworld.com)
wkurzius writes: It seems Google is going through some growing pains as far as customer service is concerned. Since their new phone, the Nexus One, can be bought unlocked, many people are turning to Google themselves for help, but not getting what they're used to from traditional mobile carriers. T-Mobile and HTC are also getting hammered, with many customers being bounced back and forth between the two companies service lines.
Submission + - Nvidia Showcases Tablets & Tegra 2 Platform
adeelarshad82 writes: At a press conference at CES 2010, Nvidia introduced five new tablets and their latest Tegra 2 platform, running on a slew of them. According to hands on with the tablets, at least two of the tablets ran Android and all had a capacitive touch display. Nvidia wants these tablets to have the performance of a PC, but have the energy efficiency of a cell phone. This is where the next generation of Nvidia's Tegra 2 comes in. It features a dual-core Cortex A9 processor, part of its eight independent processors, which also include a Geforce GPU. Nvidia claims Tegra 2 will have 10 times the performance of a smartphone, operating at only 500 milliwatts. So battery life will be far better than products based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon or Intel's Atom chips.
