Stormlight - Slashdot User

Submission + - Social Media Signals Death of the Postcard (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by

DavidGilbert99

on Monday August 13, 2012 @05:44AM

DavidGilbert99 writes: "According to a survey of 2,000 people, social media and smartphones have signed the death warrant of postcard.

According to the survey, one in ten didn't send postcards because they didn't want postmen snooping on what they were doing while 45 percent claimed they have never sent a postcard."

Submission + - Number of 'Distracted Walking' Injuries Quadruples

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @01:21AM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The LA Times reports that the number of people who have landed in US emergency rooms thanks to injuries incurred while they were walking and texting, tweeting, playing video games, talking on the phone, or listening to music on headphones, has more than quadrupled in the past seven years with 1,152 people treated in 2011 for distracted walking, a number that is likely a gross underestimate since many doctors or nurses may not have asked whether the patient was using a mobile device at the time of the accident. "We are where we were with cellphone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn't have the data," says Jonathan Atkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. Philadelphia officials are drafting a safety campaign that will be aimed in part at pedestrians who are looking at their devices instead of where they're going. "One of the messages will certainly be 'pick your head up' — I want to say 'nitwit,' but I probably shouldn't call them names," says Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities. Psychological studies that show most people can't focus on two things at once. Rather, their attention shifts rapidly back and forth between tasks, and performance suffers. But like a lot of drivers who use cellphones behind the wheel, pedestrians often think they're in control and that it's all the other fools on their phones who aren't watching what they're doing. "People really need to be aware that they are impacting their safety by texting or talking on the cellphone" while walking, says Eric Lamberg, author of a study of young people walking and using their cell phones. "I think the risk is there.""

Submission + - Microsoft Patenting Excel-Based Social Networking 1

Submitted by theodp on Monday July 30, 2012 @10:13PM

theodp writes: Q. What do you get when you cross Facebook and Microsoft Excel? A. Faceworkbook! Before Steve Ballmer declared it Yammertime, Microsoft explored a number of social networking options. GeekWire reports that Microsoft even entertained the idea of Excel-centric social networking, plans for which are laid out in a just-published patent application for the Representation of People in a Spreadsheet. 'For example,' Microsoft explains, 'social networking posts may be included within a spreadsheet, a user may post to a social network from the spreadsheet, and the like.'

Submission + - Report Highlights 10 Sites Unfairly Blocked by UK Mobile Internet Censorship (ispreview.co.uk)

Submitted by

Mark.JUK

on Monday May 14, 2012 @10:26AM

Mark.JUK writes: "The Open Rights Group (ORG), which works to raise awareness of digital rights and civil liberties issues, has published a new report that examines the impact of internet censorship on UK mobile networks and lists an example of 10 legitimate websites that often get unfairly blocked by adult content filters (over-blocking). The study is important because similar measures could soon be forced upon fixed line broadband ISP subscribers by the government. Some of the allegedly unfair blocks include censorship of the 'Tor' system, a privacy tool used by activists and campaigners across the globe, and the website of French ‘digital rights’ advocacy group 'La Quadrature du Net'."

Submission + - It's Good To Have a King (wsj.com)

Submitted by

hessian

on Monday May 14, 2012 @10:21AM

hessian writes: "Why did hereditary rulers independently arise in so many cultures? Perhaps because lineage is a sensible basis for selecting leaders."

Submission + - Apple's next iPhone to feature brand new design according to leak (bgr.com)

Submitted by redkemper on Monday May 14, 2012 @10:07AM

redkemper writes: After the flurry of rumors that swept blogs and the media ahead of Apple’s iPhone 4S unveiling last year, reports have slowed significantly as the world awaits Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone launch. The pace is likely to pick up as production nears, however, and a leaked part said to be destined for inclusion in Apple’s next-generation iPhone again points to a redesign..

Submission + - Digital life after death: expensive & full of ads (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14, 2012 @07:45AM

An anonymous reader writes: If you count yourself as a geek, then you’ve no doubt thought about technology progressing to the point where uploading your brain to a computer is possible. Tom Scott has taken that idea one stage further and produced a video called “Welcome to Life.” It shows one view of what a digital afterlife might be like, but more specifically, what that first after death interaction will consist of. And I have to admit it acts as a bit of a reality check.

Any life after death in digital form will inevitably cost money, and it will be up to the individual who died to have the money to fund that second life. And just like today where we select the online services we want to use, what level of service we want, and what content we are willing to pay for, Tom has tweaked that for actual life.

One day, we may all have the opportunity of life after death inside a computer, but then it may also be a life controlled by companies like Google and Facebook.

Comment Re:And in other news (Score 3, Funny) 166

by Stormlight on Thursday May 03, 2012 @05:34AM (#39876803) Attached to: German Science Minister Faces Plagiarism Scandal

Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.

Kimono

Submission + - European commissioner calls for Open Web (lepoint.fr)

Submitted by Kupfernigk on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @08:04AM

Kupfernigk writes: Last Thursday at the WWW2012 conference in Lyon, Neelie Kroes called for an end to onerous DRM, which she described as "Digital handcuffs", displaying a pair of real handcuffs sent to her by Richard Stallman. She also called for the prevention of Internet blocking and said that regulations were being considered to prevent the export of Internet control tools to oppressive regimes.

Submission + - Australia's largest police force accused of widespread piracy (abc.net.au)

Submitted by beaverdownunder on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @07:50AM

beaverdownunder writes: UK software giant Micro Focus is demanding at least $10 million dollars in damages from the New South Wales police for widespread use of unlicensed copies of its ViewNow software it is alleged were used by members to access the COPS criminal intelligence database.

Although other government organisations also alleged to have mis-used the software have settled with Micro Focus, the NSW police refuse to do so, instead seeking to fight out a battle in Federal court.

Submission + - Canonical names next Ubuntu OS "Quantal Quetzal" (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by

nk497

on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @07:50AM

nk497 writes: "Mark Shuttleworth has revealed the name for Ubuntu 12.10: Quantal Quetzal. Canonical picks a animal for every version of the open source OS, with recent releases dubbed Oneiric Ocelot and Precise Pangolin. A quetzal is (apparently) a large colourful bird, and saw off competition from a "quokka", a small marsupial. "One man’s favourite furball is another’s mangy marsupial," he explained.

Set to arrive in October, 12.10 will feature an refreshed interface, make use of the Ubuntu cloud, and may include versions for multiple form factors, Shuttleworth hinted. He also praised 12.04, due for release this week, saying: "The effort we put into polishing Unity and the rest of the platform in 12.04 seem to have paid off handsomely, with many quondam quarrelsome suddenly quiescent in the face of a surge in support for the work," he added, clearly with a thesaurus to hand."

Submission + - Windows 8 Release Preview scheduled for the first week of June (pureinfotech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @07:47AM

An anonymous reader writes: Confirmed! Windows 8 Release Preview is scheduled to be released the first week of June.

Submission + - Dutch Pirate Party ordered to stop encouragement to circumvent URL filters (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Craefter on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @05:01AM

Craefter writes: Brein, the Dutch sock puppet for the entertainment industry, was quick to react to yesterday's fall of the Dutch government by applying for a court order which demands that the Dutch Pirate Party must refrain from encouraging the public to circumvent Internet URL filtering. This would severely hamper the election campaign of the PP for the elections later this year.
What we see here is that the entertainment industry is trying to stifle democratic options in an election campaign. How could we end up in a situation where a couple of companies which only produce movies and music have such an influence on law and democratic processes?

Submission + - Plunder Downunder: How To Read Australia's iiTrial Piracy Verdict (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by aesoteric on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @04:48AM

aesoteric writes: A lot has been said about the three-year, multi-million dollar legal battle between Hollywood studios and Australian ISP iiNet that finally exhausted all legal options last week. The court's decision brings relief and clarity for the internet industry on issues of liability in the digital age. But the victory is tempered by the over-confidence the decision affords ISPs and by the scale of the film industry's legal losses. Buoyed by its clean sweep, iiNet has made no secret it would prefer to walk away from attempts to create an industry scheme to address internet piracy. The High Court suggests legislative reform is the answer, though the Government has shown little appetite for it. And in the meantime, the studios' have been dealt a death blow on the quality of infringement notices sent to ISPs — they have to be of an interlocutory evidentiary standard before they could even be considered actionable. The key takeout from five of Australia's top IP law experts? Something's gotta give.

Submission + - Telcos Oppose Bill To Respect 4th Amendment (techdirt.com) 1

Submitted by

Fluffeh

on Monday April 23, 2012 @06:21PM

Fluffeh writes: "A story that is breaking on a number of sites is that CTIA (The mobile operators' industry association) is opposing a Californian law being proposed that a court order is required prior to disclosing personal information. The law seems to be in opposition to the federal governments attempts to wash away the last requirements to get at any information about citizens, but CTIA claims (PDF) "... the wireless industry opposes SB 1434 as it could create greater confusion for wireless providers when responding to legitimate law enforcement requests " The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California have been arguing strongly for the bill which is to be voted on shortly."

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