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Biotech

Submission + - MIT Chemists Create Fluorescent Bomb Sensor

Submitted by SoyChemist
SoyChemist writes: An MIT graduate student and her adviser have designed a simple test for RDX, the principal ingredient of C-4 explosives. When dissolved in the common solvent acetonitrile and blasted with ultraviolet radiation, the chemical will give off a blue glow if the high explosive is present. In the early 1980s, Army scientists studied how anaerobic bacteria from sewage can destroy RDX. Wired reports that the old Army study was an inspiration for this new sensor. The bacteria in that study used NADH, a coenzyme that is found everywhere in nature, to break down the explosives. The chemical sensor is a VERY distant relative of NADH that reacts with RDX and becomes highly fluorescent. A cool picture of vials filled with the glowing blue liquid appears in the MIT Technology Review.
Math

The Fallacy of Hard Tests 404

Posted by kdawson from the do-the-math dept.
Al Feldzamen writes in with a blog post on the fallacious math behind many specialist examinations. "'The test was very hard,' the medical specialist said. 'Only 35 percent passed.' 'How did they grade it?' I asked. 'Multiple choice,' he said. 'They count the number right.' As a former mathematician, I immediately knew the test results were meaningless. It was typical of the very hard test, like bar exams or medical license exams, where very often the well-qualified and knowledgeable fail the exam. But that's because the exam itself is a fraud."
Google

Submission + - Is Google's Power a Myth?

Submitted by Henry V .009
Henry V .009 writes: The Times Online reports that Google's power is 'less than thought.' Google boosts of taking on Microsoft with its free web applications and comes second to none in customer loyalty. But is its vaunted online advertising presence a myth? According to the article, doubts are beginning to take hold as eBay begins its Google boycott: "Before I pulled the data, I was expecting a bigger drop given the drastic removal of sponsored listing ads by eBay," [Bill Tancer] said. He added that that the impact of eBay's advertising withdrawal was reduced by the fact that 25 per cent of users visiting the internet auctioneer from Google do so after searching for eBay, rather than by clicking on one of the "sponsored links" that appear next to other search results.
Nintendo

Submission + - SEGA Has Reservations Over Wii's Future

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for SEGA of America, has raised concerns over the future of Nintendo's Wii console, warning the system will look "dated" in just a few years time. "I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool", Steinberg told Reuters this week. "I'm not sure if they will top out in 2008 or 2007." Steinberg observed that developers are likely to focus their efforts into rival machines as time moves on, turning their attention away from the Wii. "The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3""
Software

Submission + - Website wants to regroup divergent RPM versions

Submitted by lisah
lisah writes: RPM Package Manager maintainer Jeff Johnson has relaunched rpm5.org in an attempt to reassemble the scattered RPM developer community under one roof. After a period of dormancy during which several RPM-based distros wandered off on their own, Johnson would like to see future development of the project unified.
Security

Submission + - Eight Security Vulnerabilities You May Have Missed (darkreading.com)

Submitted by
talkinsecurity
talkinsecurity writes: "You hear about the big worms and viruses, but there are lots of less-publicized threats that may actually be more dangerous in the long run. Here's a look at eight of them, with some discussion of how they work and what can be done about them. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=126 560&WT.svl=news1_1"
The Courts

Submission + - Student Blogger Loses Small Claims Defamation Case

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Yaman Salahi, a UC Berkeley student and blogger, lost a lawsuit brought against him by Lee Kaplan, a journalist for FrontPageMag.com. Kaplan had sued Salahi for tortious business interference and libel in a California small claims court suit in response to a blog Salahi had set-up about him called "Lee Kaplan Watch." Judge Marshall Whitley presided over the appeal on June 8, 2007, and entered his ruling on June 13, 2007 in favor of the plaintiff, asking that Salahi pay him $7,500 (the maximum in small claims court) plus court fees. No written opinion was offered with the decision, though all other court filings are available here. From Salahi's update on the blog:

"...because [Kaplan] sued me in small claims court, I did not have the protections of the anti-SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Policy] statute. I initially did not have the protection of a lawyer, nor did I have the assurances that the trial would be conducted with consistency and integrity, ensuring me my due process rights, because the standards for acceptable evidence are much lower and more informal for small claims court than they are for real courts. Furthermore, I will never know why I lost the initial hearing, or why I lost the appeal, because small claims judges are not obligated to release written opinions with their rulings.... I will never have the opportunity to take this to a real appellate court where my first amendment rights might be protected."
What does this mean for bloggers' rights, in general? Should defamation cases be heard before small claims court in the first place? What are bloggers with little or no available resources to do when they are targeted for their political slant?
United States

Submission + - Why Certainty About Global Warming May Not Matter

Submitted by
Gastrobot
Gastrobot writes: "There's an interesting argument for action against global climate change without getting into the issue of whether or not we really are destroying our environment. It has elements of Pascal's Gambit to it. Dealing with worst case scenarios the poster of the video ignores that economic ruin comes as a result of adjusting our lifestyles whether or not human beings are causing global warming, but other than that it's pretty good without consideration of his premises, which are designed to bypass the controversy of the subject."
Handhelds

Submission + - Bluetooth vs IR for Remote Controls

Submitted by StToast
StToast writes: Why haven't manufacturers adopted Bluetooth for home electronics remote controls? Aside from the backward compatibility/universal remote issues, how does Bluetooth measure up to IR for things like battery life and range? Obviously, Bluetooth performs better in regards to line of sight issues (my cat loves to lay in front of the DVD player, blocking the IR eye).
Handhelds

Submission + - Blackberry break and switch tactic

Submitted by dynomitejj
dynomitejj writes: My organization uses 4 Blackberry devices. We forward the users mail to those devices. After working fine for a year, all of the sudden, we're getting postfix error messages from Blackberry's server. When talking to Blackberry tech support, they suggested that we use the Blackberry Enterprise Server. If we had 50 devices, this might make sense, but we only have 4 devices and we're forwarding about 40 emails per day to each of those devices. Now, after a week of not being able to forward mail, I'm getting no response at all from Blackberry Tech Support. Have any other Slashdot readers had similar experiences with Blackberry ? Basically I feel like I'm being snubbed because I don't want to buy Blackberry Enterprise Server. There are several reasons for this. Cost is not the main factor. I don't want to be locked into Blackberry Software. I like using Postfix and just forwarding the email to the users Blackberry address. I can relay mail through my ISP to get around this issue, but that's not a good long term solution either.
Printer

Submission + - Will I Be Able To Print From The iPhone? (fixyourthinking.com)

Submitted by
Rus
Rus writes: "Since taking a job with AT&T (specifically focusing on iPhone support) the most repeated question I have received other than, "Can I get on a reserve list?" is; "Can I print from the iPhone?" I say there is a good possibility that the iPhone will be able to print via Bluetooth. If Apple advertises this as "this isn't the watered down version of the internet" — I say the internet is printable. If they advertise "a phone like no other" — I say the average smartphone is VERY difficult to learn how to print from — if you can print from it at all. This is one thing I loved about the Newton. If you bought an Apple Stylewriter inkjet printer — boom — you were printing with little to no effort. I'm interested in what informed Slashdot readers have to say about this."
Sony

Sony Looks to 'Refine' PS3 Price 182

Posted by Zonk from the that's-corpspeak-for-price-cut dept.
Via GameDaily a Financial Times interview with with Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's CEO, gives fans the first hope that price cuts may be coming soon. Lauding the Wii's performance in last month's NPD numbers, Stringer says that Sony is looking to 'refine' the PS3's pricepoint. "'Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours . . . because it's cheaper,' Mr Stringer said in a video interview. 'That [price cuts] is what we are studying at the moment. That's what we are trying to refine.' Sir Howard said he expected 'energy [in PS3 sales] by Christmas, and then you will begin to see break-out games'. Sony is launching a virtual-world game called Home this year, and up to 30 other games."

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Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl. -- Mike Adams

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