starbirdman - Slashdot User

Submission + - "why the lucky stiff" missing

Submitted by BrokenSegue on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @02:18PM

BrokenSegue writes: Famous ruby hacker why the lucky stiff has deleted many of his popular websites including his artsy guide to ruby Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby and many of his code repositories. _why was known for emphasizing the idea of code as art. It is unclear why he did this or whether he will back. One of his last posts to twitter was "programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unable to run at all in a few more." His contribution to the ruby community was great and it will be missed if he does not return.

Submission + - LyricWiki API killed by the music industry 2

Submitted by

Sazzer

on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @04:14AM

Sazzer writes: "Just seen on Amarok as lyrics for a song: "Unfortunately, due to licensing restrictions from some of the major music publishers we can no longer return lyrics through the LyricWiki API (where this application gets some or all of its lyrics).
(Please note: this is not the fault of the developer who created this application, but is a restriction imposed by the music publishers themselves.)"

And from the LyricWiki page itself: "Unfortunately, licensing agreements with the biggest publishers in the music industry require us to no longer offer the ability for programmatic access to LyricWiki's collection of lyrics.
We tried to arrange some way to let API Developers license through us, but this was not possible.
While this is not something we are happy about, it is a necessity in order to finally secure licensing for LyricWiki from the major publishers which will allow the project to survive indefinitely.
For more info, please see the letter to API Developers""

Submission + - Network Adapter Keeps Talking While A PC is Asleep (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by

Al

on Tuesday August 18, 2009 @12:28PM

Al writes: "Researchers at Microsoft and the University of California, San Diego have developed a network adapter that lets a computer enter sleep mode without disrupting the network connection. The adapter, dubbed Somniloquy (meaning to talk in one's sleep), consists of a gumstix running embedded Linux, 64MB of RAM and a 2G SD memory card, connected via USB. The adapter keeps the network connection going and the researchers have also developed a simplified IM client and bittorrent client that carry out more complicated tasks autonomously, only waking the computer if, for example, an actualy IM is received or a download is completed."

Submission + - Microsoft apt-get? (stevesmithblog.com)

Submitted by Santosh Sampath on Monday August 17, 2009 @12:19PM

Santosh Sampath writes: Introducing MSDN subscription installer!

Instead of hunting around in 15 different places online and on your various CDs or DVDs to install your basic dev platform tools (web server, frameworks, SDKs, etc.), you just check a few boxes in the installer and it downloads and installs everything for you without the need for further interaction. It's even smart enough to start installing some apps while it's still downloading others, and it front-loads all of the configuration questions it's going to have so it doesn't have to stop in the middle to keep asking you to accept a License or specify a location to install something to.

Do you think this would be a good idea? Do you have some ideas for how it could be an even better idea? Is it the stupidest thing you've ever heard of? Leave a comment or twitter about it so your voice is heard. PS: Submission title has to be taken strictly in good humor.

Submission + - Supercharged solar cells span the visible spectrum (blogspot.com) 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14, 2009 @12:07PM

An anonymous reader writes: Solar cells can be tuned to work great on sunny days, or great on cloudy days, by tuning them to either the red end or blue end of the visible spectrum. By combining materials for absorbing both, supercharged solar cells could revolutionize solar collectors. The researchers combined the materials in such as way that they may also be useful for ultraviolet lasers, wide-spectrum solid-state lighting and in new types of piezoelectric devices.

Submission + - ABL Completes 1st Airborne Test Against Missile

Submitted by

fructose

on Friday August 14, 2009 @11:25AM

fructose writes: "The Airborne Laser managed to acquire, track, and illuminate a test missile yesterday. According to the press release, the Boeing team...

"used its infrared sensors to find a target missile launched from San Nicolas Island, Calif...issued engagement and target location instructions to the beam control/fire control system...fired its two solid-state illuminator lasers to track the target and...fired a surrogate high-energy laser at the target, simulating a missile intercept."

The sensors on board the missile confirmed the 'hit.' The next steps will be to test the high power laser at full power in flight and do a complete system test later this year. Looks like the Real Genius fans out there are finally living the dream."

Submission + - Microsoft sponsors NSS reports: IE8 is most secure

Submitted by Mikey on Thursday August 13, 2009 @03:13PM

Mikey writes: Microsoft has sponsored two reports by NSS Labs that test web browser security. Unsurprisingly, Internet Explorer 8 comes out on top in both sets of tests. Very thorough write up, good discussion: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-sponsors-two-nss-reports-ie8-is-the-most-secure.ars

Submission + - Ice-Core Researchers Need to Chill Out

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:38AM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Ice cores, containing tiny bubbles of trapped air allowing scientists to measure the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from hundreds of thousands of years ago, are one of the most useful research tools for studying climatic parameters such as air temperature, precipitation rate, and solar radiation so that scientists can identify the natural cycles in global warming and cooling. Now Nature reports that the cores, drilled at multi-million-dollar expense from polar and glacial ice, are in danger of losing some of their value because of a lack of proper storage facilities. Oxygen in the cores is gradually lost when cores are stored at -20 to -30 degrees C, the standard temperature of current cold-storage facilities in the United States and Europe resulting in higher ratios of nitrogen to oxygen that can distort the conclusions scientists draw from them. In 2005, Japanese researchers showed that colder storage temperatures could mitigate this gas loss and the ice-core storage facility at the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo was subsequently upgraded with technology used to maintain cold stores for high-grade tuna at -50 degrees C. Now US researchers are seeking roughly $5 million to rebuild cold-storage facilities at the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire, which would also have its storage capacity increased by about 25%. In the interim, Jeffrey Severinghaus, an IPICS steering-committee member from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography says some institutions like his are building smaller units to keep parts of cores at -50 degrees C. These units can be created for about $15,000, but the necessary freezer adaptations void warranties and there are concerns that keeping sections of ice cores in many different locations may hamper researchers' access."

Submission + - $18M Contract For Transparency Website Blacked Out (propublica.org) 2

Submitted by

zokuga

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:25AM

zokuga writes: "The U.S. government recently approved an $18 million contract for Smartronix to build a website where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money, as part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet.

However, the contract, which was released only through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, is itself heavily blacked out. ProPublica reports:
After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the Government Services Agency released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.

In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out.

Sections that were heavily or entirely redacted dealt with subjects such as site navigation, user experience, and everything in the pricing table.

The entire contract, in all its blacked-out glory, is here"

Submission + - SPAM: Humans lose $21 billion to computer traders

Submitted by

destinyland

on Monday August 10, 2009 @02:11PM

destinyland writes: ""We are just mice dancing" between the supercomputers of Wall Street giants, complains one trading executive, and an investment manager notes computers are making 73% of all stock trades on U.S. exchanges. One former NYSE chairman admitted "This is where all the money is getting made." (Between April and June, Goldman Sachs earned $100 million in one day — on 46 different days.) High-speed algorithms use 30-millisecond trades to probe market conditions, and can buy and sell with a nearly omniscient knowledge of every other investor's price point. The New York Times notes that already these algorithms "execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously...""
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Schneier on Self-Enforcing Protocols 1

Submitted by Hollow Being on Monday August 10, 2009 @01:20PM

Hollow Being writes: In an essay posted to Threatpost, Bruce Schneier makes the argument that self-enforcing protocols are better suited to security and problem-solving. From the article: "Self-enforcing protocols are safer than other types because participants don't gain an advantage from cheating. Modern voting systems are rife with the potential for cheating, but an open show of hands in a room — one that everyone in the room can count for himself — is self-enforcing. On the other hand, there's no secret ballot, late voters are potentially subjected to coercion, and it doesn't scale well to large elections. But there are mathematical election protocols that have self-enforcing properties, and some cryptographers have suggested their use in elections."

Submission + - Gaiman's The Graveyard Book wins Hugo (keepingthedoor.com)

Submitted by daria42 on Monday August 10, 2009 @07:00AM

daria42 writes: Neil Gaiman's children's fantasy book The Graveyard Book has won the coveted Hugo Award for best novel released in 2008; beating off a strong challenge during the voting by Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. "Fuck! It won!" said Gaiman on Twitter today. "Also the Hugo is really heavy this year. Also fuck!" Joss Whedon's Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog also won an award.

Submission + - Astronaut's Toolbag Vaporizes (gearlog.com)

Submitted by

Dr_Ken

on Thursday August 06, 2009 @03:33PM

Dr_Ken writes: "From Gear Log.com —
"Last November, [ a space shuttle] astronaut accidentally lost the tool bag during a spacewalk. At the time, it slowly drifted away from the International Space Station, forever out of reach. Ever since, the tool bag has been orbiting earth--and monitored by the U.S. Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center, which tracks over 19,000 other pieces of space junk in orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the report said.

The tool bag weighed about 30 pounds and contained a scraper tool, grease guns, and trash bags. It was about the size of a small backpack, according to the article. This would have been a perfect video clip for YouTube, if someone could have, well, orbited the Earth and filmed it before burning up with the bag. Guess that wouldn't have worked out." From Gear Log.

Various *high tech solutions* such as a shoulder chord, a tether line or Velcro patches were not employed for some reason. Go figure?"

Submission + - Chrome Threatens Safari's Rank, Firefox Falters (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

CWmike

on Monday August 03, 2009 @01:32PM

CWmike writes: "Google's Chrome browser is closing in on Apple's Safari for the third spot in browser market share, says Net Applications, which introduced a new methodology that weights browser usage share by the estimated size of each country's Internet population. The bottom line: This new methodology throws a monkey wrench into earlier browser rankings. Safari took the biggest hit, falling from a May "old-method" share of 8.4% to the new July share of just 4.1%. (Net Applications applied the new methodology retroactively to its browser numbers so that, in the revised data, Safari's May share was just 3.7%.) Net Applications also revealed an impressive, although incomplete, conversion of Firefox 3.0 users to the new Firefox 3.5. During July, the former dropped 3.8 percentage points, while Firefox 3.5 climbed 4.1 points. Mozilla has yet to formally offer the upgrade to Firefox 3.0 users, although those who have initiated an update have been allowed to migrate to the faster Version 3.5. Overall, however, Firefox is down 1.4 percentage points in the last three months from its high of 23.8% in April."

Submission + - Astronomer Photographs Meteor Thru Telescope (mikesastrophotos.com) 1

Submitted by

Matt Rogers

on Tuesday July 21, 2009 @02:07PM

Matt Rogers writes: "Amateur astronomer Mike Hankey may be the first person on earth to take a picture of a fireball meteor thru a telescope. The picture has been confirmed authentic by numerous professional astronomers and asteroid hunters. This picture could possibly be the first of its kind. Taking a picture of a meteor is a very difficult thing to do, taking a picture of a meteor thru a telescope is near impossible. The hunt is on in southern PA for the meteorites that broke away from this space rock. Using Hankey's picture as well as security tape meteorite hunters have been able to narrow down the crash site to a smaller area. Even with the trajectory roughly determined, professional meteorite hunters think finding these meteorites may be near impossible. However if they are found they will be immensely valuable and could be very large."

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