SeanTobin - Slashdot User

Submission + - Easier Ajax with Ruby on Rails

Submitted by IndioMan on Sunday December 17, 2006 @12:37PM

IndioMan writes: One great thing about the Rails approach, is that it uses run-time code generation and custom tags, which insulates you from the complexities of JavaScript. This article walks through a couple of simple Ruby on Rails — Ajax examples and, along the way, shows you what makes the Ruby/Ajax combination so successful.

Submission + - Zprexa side effects played down for sales

Submitted by

MrCrassic

on Sunday December 17, 2006 @12:29PM

MrCrassic writes: "From the article:

The drug maker Eli Lilly has engaged in a decade-long effort to play down the health risks of Zyprexa, its best-selling medication for schizophrenia, according to hundreds of internal Lilly documents and e-mail messages among top company managers...Lilly's own published data, which it told its sales representatives to play down in conversations with doctors, has shown that 30 percent of patients taking Zyprexa gain 22 pounds or more after a year on the drug, and some patients have reported gaining 100 pounds or more. But Lilly was concerned that Zyprexa's sales would be hurt if the company was more forthright about the fact that the drug might cause unmanageable weight gain or diabetes, according to the documents, which cover the period 1995 to 2004.
"

Submission + - Readerless RFID: Berkeley's Mesh Network

Submitted by

donzo

on Saturday November 04, 2006 @03:30PM

donzo writes: "eWEEK has an article about advances in RFID: "UC/Berkeley researchers have created tiny wireless 'motes' (aka network sensors) that use radio signals to communicate where they are located in physical space. The end goal: an RFID network that could revolutionize the industry with its ability to locate tagged items without the aid of readers... 'What we showed in the university was that you could network together a lot of sensors,' said Kristofer Pister, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC/Berkeley who made a name for himself with his 1997 development of technology called Smart Dust — a self-organizing network of tiny wireless 'motes.'... Intended to be about the size of a grain of sand or a piece of dust — the motes from Dust Networks are currently about the size of a quarter — the motes contain sensors, computing circuits, bi-directional wireless technology, and an antenna and very low-battery power supply that are external to the chip. The motes can detect light, temperature or vibrations."

Submission + - "Softwarepatents are Evil" says the BSA

Submitted by

Paul Cobbaut

on Saturday November 04, 2006 @03:27PM

Paul Cobbaut writes: ""Patent trolling activities essentially hold inventors and tech companies hostage and clog up the patent system with injunctions and excessive litigation." This sounds like a Slashdot comment, but it is written by the BSA on their webpage. Who ever thought the BSA would become so insightful ?"

Submission + - Child's Play begins for this year

Submitted by DJLuc1d on Saturday November 04, 2006 @03:20PM

DJLuc1d writes: Penny-Arcade's succesful charity, Child's Play is begining its drive for this year. For those who are unfamiliar with Child's Play, its goal is to help hospitals around the world by providing sick kids with not only video games, but consoles, books, movies, and other entertainment while they are in the hospital.

Submission + - Internet Webcams installed on Texas/Mexico Border

Submitted by Anonymous Immigrant on Saturday November 04, 2006 @01:34PM

Anonymous Immigrant writes: Texas recently installed Internet viewable surveillance cameras on the Mexican border as a part of their Border Watch program. They have provided this "to stress the system by providing public access to numerous surveillance cameras. Thank you for helping test this important capability." So I figured Slashdot might be able to help out. Login is required — try borderwatch@gmail.com/X9kn2M4c — and they require Internet Exploder, plus a plug-in from E-Watch.

After all that, you get a screen with thumbnails from nine webcams that you can then click on to get live footage — update rate appears to be a couple of frames/second. They go on to say "If you should notice any suspicious activity while viewing the camera images please notify the State by selecting the "Report Suspicious Activity" button under the camera view."

I watched for a while, but it was about as exciting as watching grass grow. Will this be an effective tool in "securing the border for the people of Texas?"

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