Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Brazilian hackers helping make e-ballots safer (globo.com)

Submitted by Caue
Caue writes: Starting today, 38 brazilian hackers will attempt to hack in electronic ballots that will be used on the incoming presidential elections in 2010. Organized by the brazilian elections responsibles, the tests are a way the govt. found to direct their efforts at making the ballots safer (there has been no comproved break-in since these ballots were introduced, back in 1998) The try-outs go until friday, when a prize will be awarded to the most sucessful groups. The goal is to manipulate the results, by changing the votes directly, erasing data, fabricating votes, etc. Simply obtaining access to the list of who-voted-for-who will be considered a win. They are divided in 5 isles, and the 3 best methods will be awarded R$5,000 , R$3,000 and R$2,000. (US$ 1.00 ~ R$ 1.75). Tempering the flash drives, using magnetic waves, malicious software, everything goes. One of the main complaints of the hackers was about the rule that made mandatory working with proprietary software (much unlikely for any cracker); the rule was abolished so the test could bring a less biased result. The Information System Security Association (ISSA) and other members of OEA are watching over so this really nice project doesn't turn into a fake propaganda stunt. Some of the hackers are students and IT workers; some work for the brazilian Feds. Their expertise range from networks and computing, eletric and eletronic engineers, police investigators and security advisors. Let the games begin. (original in portuguese)
Earth

Submission + - Progress on $555 Billion Sahara Solar Energy Belt (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by MikeChino
MikeChino writes: A big step has been made in what will be the world’s largest renewable energy project. While previously just a grand vision for the production of clean energy in the Saharan desert, the project now has a core group of backers and a signed agreement between 12 companies ready to move forward with the $555 billion solar energy belt. The DESERTEC Foundation vision is to install 100 GW of solar power throughout Northern Africa, with the goal of supplying 15% of Europe’s energy demand with clean renewable power.

Comment Re:IBM's hardware vendor mind is taking over (Score 1) 863

by jwhitener (#29826661) Attached to: IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux

I don't know if it has gotten better, but I tried wine with many games and Macromedia products (fireworks, dreamweaver, etc..) and none of it worked well.

Relying on the wine developers keeping pace with products designed for windows, and keeping pace with Microsoft api/quirks isn't a winning strategy for Linux adoption.
Science

Submission + - Element 114 Verified (physicstoday.org)

Submitted by
ExRex
ExRex writes: "A team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has confirmed the results of researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, who first reported producing the superheavy element 114 in 1999. Such independent verification is important, particularly given evidence of fabricated results for other superheavy elements.
If you're a subscriber to Physical Review Letters you can download the full article."
Math

12M Digit Prime Number Sets Record, Nets $100,000 232

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-a-lotta-bits dept.
coondoggie writes "A 12-million-digit prime number, the largest such number ever discovered, has landed a voluntary math research group a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The number, known as a Mersenne prime, is the 45th known Mersenne prime, written shorthand as 2 to the power of 43,112,609, minus 1 . A Mersenne number is a positive integer that is one less than a power of two, the group stated. The computing project called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) made the discovery on a computer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Mathematics Department."

Comment Re:Slow news day (Score 1) 554

by TRRosen (#29732383) Attached to: Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads

Unemployment is administered by the states but is a federal program. Rules are the same everywhere. The rules however are really really screwed up. the system can't handle non traditional income. If she was working 4 hours a week at a deli making that money there would have been no problem. She would recieve her benefits minus her income.

Submission + - Bullet train for California (google.com)

Submitted by marquinhocb
marquinhocb writes: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requested $4.7 billion in federal stimulus money Friday to help build an 800-mile bullet train system from San Diego to San Francisco.
      "We're traveling on our trains at the same speed as 100 years ago," the governor said. "That is inexcusable. America must catch up."
      Planners said the train would be able to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours and 40 minutes, traveling at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour.

About damned time! There comes a point when "let's add another lane" is no longer a viable option!
Hardware

Submission + - Columbian Computer Maker Builds Dual-Atom Netbook (infoworld.com)

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: Colombian computer maker Haleron has designed a netbook that combines Atom processors in an effort to provide the performance of a standard laptop at a price more affordable to Latin Americans. The Swordfish Net N102 includes two Atom N270 processors running at 1.6GHz. Haleron worked for six months to modify Intel's 945 chipset to run the two processors. The processors divide the workload, much like a dual-core processor does, the company said. The netbook, which begs the question, when does a netbook stop being a netbook, comes with Windows XP Home Edition. 'We found that it works best on the Windows XP operating system. Both Windows Vista and the new Windows 7 performed below Windows XP in the load sharing department,' the company said.
Idle

Submission + - Ex-cop fights $194 speeding ticket costing $15,000

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Roger Rude, a retired Sonoma County sheriff's lieutenant, is still fighting a speeding ticket his step-son, Shaun Malone, received in 2007. Shaun Malone was allegedly going 62 mph in a 45-mph zone, according to a Petaluma police officer. To the officer's surprise, Malone was using a GPS tracking device which reported his speed to an online database every 30 seconds. At the time of stop, the GPS reported Malone's speed at 45 mph. Rude has been helping Malone fight the speeding ticket for over two years. The Petaluma Police Department has spent $15,000 in the prosecution of this case. The case is now in the hands of the Commissioner according to the Pressdemocrat
Portables

Submission + - Asus Plans Dual-Display E-Reader (gearlog.com)

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: Yet more confirmation has emerged that Asus plans its own e-book reader. An Asus representative in the U.K. appears to have confirmed this, with the additional details that there may be a value-priced as well as a premium version. Unlike current ebook readers, which take the form of a single flat screen, the Asus device has a hinged spine, like a printed book. This, in theory, enables its owner to read an ebook much like a normal book, using the touchscreen to "turn" the pages from one screen to the next.

Slashdot Top Deals

Say "twenty-three-skiddoo" to logout.

Close