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Data Storage

Submission + - How are you backing up your data? 3

Submitted by jollyreaper
jollyreaper writes: Technology moves quickly and what was conventional wisdom last year can be folly this year. But the one thing that's remained constant is hard drives are far too large to backup via conventional means. Tape is expensive and can be unreliable, though it certainly has its proponents. DVD's are just too small. There are prosumer devices like the Drobo but it's still just a giant box of hard drives, basically RAID. And as we've all had drilled into our heads "RAID is not backup." When last this topic came up on Slashdot, the consensus was that hard drives were the best way to backup hard drives. Backup your internal HDD to an external one, and if your data is really important, have two externals and swap one offsite once a week. Is there any better advice these days?
Security

Submission + - What to do with a pwned router? 2

Submitted by Headbonk
Headbonk writes: So say that theoretically you live in a big apartment building where lots of people have wireless networks... When scanning for networks you find like 10 different network names. Lets say that one day you notice a new unsecured network that still has the default network name set from the wifi router manufacturer. Say you also discovered this router still had the default administrator password set for the config pages? Assume that there are enough people and networks in the building that you can't figure out who the unsecured router belongs to.

What is the correct thing to do here? From a security standpoint and or an ethics point of view? You could turn on encryption, but that would just make the outer stop working for the people whose network it is. It would be a pain in the ass for them and there's nothing preventing them from just reseting the router or buying a new one thus going back to the same situation as before. Is it right to get involved at all? Does it even matter since the default settings of wifi routers include a firewall and the unsecured wireless just makes them vulnerable to their neighbors (like you)? Is there a right "good citizen" thing to do here to help protect the people who connect to that network?
Handhelds

Submission + - Nanowires boost laptop battery life to 20 hours

Submitted by brianmed
brianmed writes: Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, cell phones, MP3 players and other portable devices. The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces up to 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion batteries.
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA's Sherman Attacks NewYorkCountryLawyer 4

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "When questioned by a journalist on the viability of the RIAA's "making available" theory of copyright law, Cary Sherman, the organization's Chairman and CEO, responded by saying "It basically comes down to, who ya gonna believe, Ray Beckerman, or the Register of Copyrights?". Beckerman (alias NewYorkCountryLawyer on Slashdot) replied on his blog "I'm sure my readers know what the correct answer to the question is. Question: Who are you going to believe, Ray Beckerman, or the Register of Copyrights? Answer: Neither. I'm going to read the statute and believe what the statute says"."
Software

Submission + - Your Computer Dreams While You Sleep (electricsheep.org)

Submitted by
Veritas1980
Veritas1980 writes: ""Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of people all over the world. It can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool."

I Like this idea and would be willing to bet a ton of you Slashdot Readers do as well. I can scarcely wait to see what sort of freakish thing my cobbled-together monstrosity creates."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Complaint Dismissed as "Boilerplate"

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The decision many lawyers had been expecting — that the RIAA's "boilerplate" complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act — has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case, Elektra v. Barker, for guidance, a case in which amicus briefs had been submitted by various industry groups and the US Department of Justice (see case file, and from Warner v. Cassin, a similar motion in the same Court's Westchester division, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California, in a decision denying a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that "Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation. The complaint is simply a boilerplate listing of the elements of copyright infringement without any facts pertaining specifically to the instant Defendant. The Court therefore finds that the complaint fails to sufficiently state a claim upon which relief can be granted and entry of default judgment is not warranted.""
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Our ATM is broken, so you go to jail? (myway.com)

Submitted by Actually, I do RTFA
Actually, I do RTFA writes: A short while ago, slashdot featured an article about possible criminal prosecution for people who took advantage of faulty slot machine software. At the time, many people drew an analogy to an ATM that dispensed too much money. Well, apparently, that too may result in criminal charges. Interestingly, although they suspect that someone may have tampered with the ATM, they are considering charging anyone who withdrew money from the ATM.

This also provides an interesting rejoinder to 'if they can build a secure ATM, why cannot Diebold build a secure electronic voting machine.'

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Thus spake the master programmer: "Time for you to leave." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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