Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Transportation

Denver Airport Overrun by Car-Eating Rabbits 278

Posted by samzenpus from the night-of-the-lepus dept.
It turns out the soy-based wire covering on cars built after 2002 is irresistible to rodents. Nobody knows this better than those unlucky enough to park at DIA's Pikes Peak lot. The rabbits surrounding the area have been using the lot as an all-you-can-eat wiring buffet. Looks like it's time to break out The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Comment Re:Earthquakes (Score 1) 239

by JustABlitheringIdiot (#33793510) Attached to: West Virginia Is Geothermically Active

If they are setting off earthquakes they would be releasing tension which would have only amounted to a larger earthquake at a later date.

Yes some energy will be dissipated in the process of fracturing the rock but it breaks the equilibrium and creates a new stress point elsewhere which could trigger the "main" fault (discovered or not).
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft IE browser share dips below 50% (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which has dominated the Web browser market since blowing by Netscape in the late 1990s, last month fell below the 50% market share level for the first time in years.

IE’s share of the worldwide market fell to 49.87% in September, down from 51.3% in August and 58.4% a year ago. It is followed by Firefox, which increased its share slightly from 30.09% to 31.5% and Google Chrome, which grabbed 11.54% share, more than triple its September 2009 share, according to market watcher StatCounter.

"This is certainly a milestone in the Internet browser wars," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter, in a statement. "Just two years ago IE dominated the worldwide market with 67%."
Back in 2002, IE had more than a 90% share in the wake of operating system/Web browser bundling that got the Department of Justice’s attention in the form of an antitrust lawsuit.

Submission + - Copyright fee on digital media (tripple.net)

Submitted by tdashton
tdashton writes: In Austria as of the first of Oktober you have to pay up to 36 Euros extra for hard drives which you purchase — to compensate the media creators and artists for piracy which may occur or digital copies that you may make in the future on this media. These fees have already been in effect for CD / DVD media, USB sticks, MP3 players and any other digital media...Guilty until proven innocent?? Original text in German.
Government

Submission + - China Becoming Intellectual Property Powerhouse (chosun.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: A lot of Westerners view China as little more than the world's factory manufacturing anything with little regard to patents, copyrights and trademarks. But it seems as far as patents go, China is moving on up. According to the WIPO, the company that applied for the most patents in 2008 was not an American or Japanese company but China's Huawei Technologies. And China has made astonishing ground recently moving up to third place with 203,257 patent applications behind Japan (500,000) and the United States (390,000). It remains to be seen if these patents applications will come to fruition for China but it is evident that they are focusing on a new image as a leader in research and development. The Korean article concentrates on 2008 but you can find 2009 statistics at the WIPO's report on China along with some statistics breaking down applications by industry.
Security

Submission + - Cryptome Hacked; All Files Deleted (computerworld.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Over the weekend, the whistle blowing site Cryptome was hacked and vandalized this weekend resulting in all 54,000 files being deleted and two days worth of submissions lost. Cryptome reported that it's EarthLink e-mail account was compromised in ways unknown and once the attacker was inside there, they were able to request a new password from the administration console for Cryptome at their hosting provider, Network Solutions (NSI). Once the attacker had that password, they deleted the ~7 GB of data that Cryptome hosted in around 54,000 files. Cryptome was able to eventually restore the site as they keep backups ready for cases like this and stated that they 'do not trust our ISP, email provider and officials to tell the truth or protect us.'
Debian

Submission + - Can Debian offer a Constantly Usable Testing distr (raphaelhertzog.com)

Submitted by ggarron
ggarron writes: Debian’s “testing” distribution is where Debian developers prepare the next stable distribution. While this is still its main purpose, many users have adopted this version of Debian because it offers them a good trade-off between stability and freshness. But there are downsides to using this distribution and the “Constantly Usable Testing” (CUT) project aims to resolve those. This article will present the project and the challenges involved to make it happen.

Submission + - Laptops can (pcpro.co.uk) 1

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Resting a laptop on your lap for too long can lead to "toasted" skin, a condition once found in bakers and glass-blowers, according to Swiss researchers. While many people will have had their thighs warmed by an over active laptop, using it in such a way for several hours over the course of several months can discolour the skin, researchers said. “Computer-induced lesions are typically found on only one leg because the optical drives of laptops are located on the left side,” the researchers said. “The computer placed on a lap may completely or partially occlude the ventilation-fan exhaust.”
Patents

Red Hat Settles Patent Case 76

Posted by Soulskill from the making-it-go-away dept.
darthcamaro writes "Red Hat has settled another patent case with patent holding firm Acacia. This time the patent is US Patent #6,163,776, 'System and method for exchanging data and commands between an object oriented system and relational system.' While it's great that Red Hat has ended this particular patent threat, it's not yet clear how they've settled this case. The last time Red Hat tangled with Acacia they won in an Texas jury trial. 'Red Hat routinely addresses attempts to impede the innovative forces of open source via allegations of patent infringement,' Red Hat said in a statement. 'We can confirm that Red Hat, Inc and Software Tree LLC have settled patent litigation that was pending in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.'"

Comment Re:Not news (Score 1) 484

by JustABlitheringIdiot (#33784216) Attached to: 'The Laws Are Written By Lobbyists,' Says Google's Schmidt

Besides, if you want Congress to (e.g.) redesign the health care system, do you think they would actually do a better job if doctors, hospitals, and drug companies weren't consulted at all? I don't. I think they'd end up with legislation that was even more clueless. Just because lobbyists are arguing for a particular group doesn't mean they're always wrong.

No I don't expect them to write it themselves because as you noted they do not have the expertise in the subject to come up with anything that makes sense. However I do expect them to consult with well known experts in the field being legislated and develop something with them. This does not include a lobbyist at all because all you get with them is a mish mash of opposing ideas from both sides that get pushed into the same bill and do nothing but muddle the works. Just like when they are reviewing a new net neutrality law, who do we want providing guidance? We don't want the big corporations overwhelming everybody because they can afford to. We want people from the field the everyday foot soldiers like you and me providing the guidance. Why? Because we know what the reality is and what is possible without respect to what is best for Mr. CEO's purse.

Slashdot Top Deals

The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the `social sciences' is: some do, some don't. -- Ernest Rutherford

Close