Submission + - Mapping the future of robotics (smh.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists are blurring the line between biology and technology and creating a new generation of robot "helpers" more in tune with human needs.
Submission + - SPAM: EA Sports FIFA 10 Virtual Pro Gaming Guide
investortrip writes: EA Sports introduced a new game mode in FIFA 10 called Virtual Pro for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP. Basically, it's an extension of Be a Pro that allows you to fully customize your player, compete in various online matches and tournaments, and experience a more realistic football/soccer gaming experience.
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - Samsung Sponsors The Development Of Enlightenment (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Enlightenment window manager project has shared on its website that it now has the backing of a major tier-five electronics manufacturer that will be actively sponsoring the project and using Enlightenment on its devices. No manufacturer was named, but Phoronix has dug deeper and found out that Samsung is sponsoring Enlightenment. Phoronix provides independent confirmation along with citing a new Enlightenment program that Samsung sponsored and then released under the LGPL-3. They also have videos of some of the new work to this window manager that Samsung funded. Are good times ahead for this window manager?
Submission + - SPAM: Smartphones on Wi-Fi vulnerable to security attack
alphadogg writes: A new report from a mobile security vendor details how the most popular smartphones, including the iPhone, are very vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, carried out via public Wi-Fi connections. According to the report by SMobile Systems, smartphone users connecting to unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspots can be easily compromised by knowledgeable attackers using an array of existing tools. The authors of the study [spam URL stripped] used those tools to intercept username/password combinations sent from several different smartphones. The tests used a laptop with software tools to intercept communications between smartphones connecting to a Wi-Fi access point, and then to bypass SSL. That information was then used to access a variety of e-mail accounts. The same information could be used to access an online banking account or other information.
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - SPAM: Broadband delay provokes outrage in Italy
itwbennett writes: Rome wasn't wired in a day, and now that the Italian government has decided to postpone a US$1.2 billion investment in broadband infrastructure the rest of the country won't be either. In an announcement on Nov. 4, Gianni Letta, an undersecretary in the prime minister's office, said that the funds would only be released once it was clear they would not be needed to counter the social impact of the current financial crisis. The decision has sparked a bipartisan uprising online. And the economic development minister, Claudio Scajola, has come out against the decision, saying 'It's an important anti-cyclical measure because it involves the creation of a lot of small construction sites, more than 30,000, which could provide work in a very short time for 50,000 to 60,000 people.... Without broadband there is no future. It would be as though in 1960 we hadn't built the Autostrada del Sole (the motorway that runs down the backbone of Italy).' But in addition to being unfair, it may also be in violation of the Italian constitution not to provide equal access to online government services. According to Guido Scorza, president of the Institute for Innovation Policies, 'as long as 8 million citizens, or 13 percent of the population, are excluded from an adequate broadband connection to Internet, it is discriminatory to continue developing online public services.'
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - Man in the middle attack on DSL (computerworld.co.nz)
An anonymous reader writes: The attack mimics a user’s ISP, forcing them to pass all traffic through an inspection tool running on a portable server platform.
This is all possible using “off the shelf” equipment that can be assembled for around $1000, less than the cost of an average laptop computer.
This is all possible using “off the shelf” equipment that can be assembled for around $1000, less than the cost of an average laptop computer.
Submission + - Firefox 3.6 locks out rogue add-ons (computerworld.com)
CWmike writes: Mozilla will add a new lockdown feature to Firefox 3.6 that will prevent developers from sneaking add-ons into the program, the company said. Dubbed "component directory lockdown," the feature will bar access to Firefox's "components" directory, where most of the browser's own code is stored. Mozilla has billed the move as a way to boost the stability of its browser. "We're doing this for stability and user control [reasons]," said Johnathan Nightingale, manager of the Firefox front-end development team. "Dropping raw components in this way was never an officially supported way of doing things, which means it lacks things like a way to specify compatibility. When a new version of Firefox comes out that these components aren't compatible with, the result can be a real pain for our shared users ... Now that those components will be packaged like regular add-ons, they will specify the versions they are compatible with, and Firefox can disable any that it knows are likely to cause problems."
Submission + - The Fiftieth Anniversary of the IBM 1401 (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: The IBM 1401 — the most popular computer of the 1960s — just turned 50. The Reg takes a look back at the plugboard-less, stored-program system, which was known as the SPACE machine while under development. It was the age of Sputnik
Comment Re:Maybe the 15 year old is a momma's boy (Score 5, Insightful) 404
Are there a place for anonymous comments? Yes, defitely, to fight a system mostly. For bullying or harrassment? No.
Who decides what is "bullying" or "harrassment?" One person's "harrassment" might be someone else's "fighting the system." Who decides this? You? Me? Well, me, of course.
Comment Re:girlfriends (Score 1) 139
They don't know how.
(from http://www.slate.com/id/2234600/) BEIJING—The first time Hu Jing tried to have sex with her college boyfriend, there was a technical difficulty. "We knew we had to use a condom," she said. "But we didn't know how."
Faced with this conundrum, Hu and her boyfriend went looking for answers—he from his more experienced friends, she from the university library, where she combed through Dream of the Red Chamber, a literary classic from the Qing Dynasty.
The following week, they reconvened for a second try. This time, they managed to roll on the condom but then well, where was the penis supposed to go? It took another week of research before they succeeded in doing the deed. [/i]
Submission + - Danish anti-piracy agency throw in the towel (freeform101.org)
ChristianVillum writes: Just now it has been announced in the press by the official Danish Anti-Piracy agency, Antipiratgruppen, that they are throwing in the towel and will seize their operations completely; to find and prosecute music copyright offenders. Here is a translation of the article from todays Danish press.
Submission + - Microsoft Borrows GPL Code for Windows 7 Utility (withinwindows.com)
Goatbert writes: "Rafael Rivera over at WithinWindows.com has found evidence that Microsoft has potentially stolen code from an open source/GPL'd project (ImageMaster for a utility made available on the Microsoft Store to allow download customers to copy the Windows 7 setup files to a DVD or USB Flash Drive. If Rivera's evidence holds up, this could be some serious egg in the face for Microsoft at a time when they're getting mostly good press from the tech media."
Submission + - Exam brute-forced by world's worst test taker (koreaherald.co.kr)
unixan writes: What can you do with $4,200, and a lot of time on your hands? Why not brute force a written exam, the old fashion way?
The exam consisted of 50 multi-choice questions, and required a 60 percent score to pass. The would-be student, now a likely nominee for an Iggy, required 950 attempts to raise a score that started in the 30 percent range.
How about it, Slashdotters: assuming 50 questions with 5 choices each, could you program a brute force script (with learning capability based on final score) and beat the worlds worst test taker?
The exam consisted of 50 multi-choice questions, and required a 60 percent score to pass. The would-be student, now a likely nominee for an Iggy, required 950 attempts to raise a score that started in the 30 percent range.
How about it, Slashdotters: assuming 50 questions with 5 choices each, could you program a brute force script (with learning capability based on final score) and beat the worlds worst test taker?
Comment Thank you, RIAA... (Score 0, Flamebait) 208
...Thank you for allowing ever single music-oriented organization in the world to believe, accurately or not, that they have rights, imagined or not, upon every and anything that they produce and that compensation, in some manner, should be expected and demanded.
Submission + - Mandriva Linux 2010.0 is out (pcauthority.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Mandriva announced the release of Mandriva Linux 2010.0 this morning. Codenamed "Amelie", Mandriva 2010.0 is this year's autumn release of the popular Red Hat based Linux distribution. Mandriva, which is headquartered in France and also has offices in Brazil and the US, hasn't updated its main website to reflect this new release yet, but there's a 2010.0 Tour available, as well as Release Notes to pore over.
