Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Stealing ATM PINs with a cheap infrared camera (youtube.com) 1

cccc828 writes: German tech news website heise.de reports about a video by Mark Rober. It shows how to use a $300 infrared camera for the iPhone to read the residual heat signatures of an ATM. The residual heat signatures allow an attacker to reconstruct the PIN around 80% of the time. While this attack vector is not new, IR cameras used to be both rare and expensive. The best defense against the attack is to simply touch all the keypads keys after making a payment.

Submission + - Porn viewing habits by operating system (pornhub.com)

cccc828 writes: The porn network PornHub released interesting statistics (beside the URL, safe for work). According to their data Windows dominates the desktop porn market (85.5% compared to 10.9 for OS X and 1.7 for Linux), Android dominates smart phones (48.34% to 40.60% for iOS) and iOS dominates the tablet market (77.38% to 21.50% for Android). They also take a look at game consoles and even list each OS' favorite porn star and search terms. It is interesting to note that Linux seems to be particularly popular with Indian users.

Comment A photo of the prototype (Score 1) 186

(...) During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to Toyotas ultimate car, the Hovercar, a flying Prius with enough power to fly almost 100 miles.

Here is an exclusive photograph of the prototype: http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080316031428/starwars/images/5/54/X34-landspeeder.jpg

*This is not the Toyota you are looking for*

Comment Re:Validity? (Score 5, Insightful) 370

While it is no problem for the slashdot crowd, less tech-savvy users have huge problem with even the smallest change.

Here is one example:
I have a friend in his 50ties who just started to use computers and the internet. He barely known what a search engine is, and often has problems reading the small font of tool tips etc. He used IE8 and was used to type into the "Google Box" to search. Along comes the change to IE 9 and all of a sudden he has to use the URL bar to search. He has problems with that. This is not what he learned and how he expects things to work.

He also had problems when his mail client changed the Icon to write e-mails from "Mail" to "Compose".

A Hammer is a hammer is a hammer. In the real world tools do not change how they are operated.
Even cars did not change their UI in the past 100 years. And the elements that did change, are often not used by everyone. How many people do you know who do not know how to set their clock correctly? Who do not use their GPS? VCRs are/were known hard to use, because each and every one has a different way to program a recording.

While *I* love new UIs and shiny things in general, there are lots of people out there who cannot abstract computers and are lost when small things change.

Comment Learn to say no (Score 4, Insightful) 304

I have no idea if you work in development or system administration, but generally improving the situation depends on two things:
1) Do what you agree to do on time and within budget
2) Say no to anything else

There are lots of books on the subject of time management, project management or the software development processes and they all boil down to these two rules. If you work in a company that does not allow you to say no, read one of those books and then explain to management why working with $method would greatly improve everything (including the coffee). As soon as you get them to agree to $method you can use $method to say no (i.e. $feature is not in our sprint, $task is on the KanBan board and blocked by $actually_important_task, etc).

If you have no support from management, consider updating you resume.
Here are three books that I found worth reading:
Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Busines by David J. Anderson
Time Management for System Administrators by Thomas A. Limoncelli
Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle (Author)

The most interesting part are the case studies and how the authors manage to say "no" in a management-compatible way.
Patents

Submission + - Apple forbidden to sell iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPad with UMTS in Germany (heise.de)

cccc828 writes: German news site heise reports that Motorola won an injunction against Apple for violating EU patent 0847654. In this injunction the court in Mannheim forbids Apple to sell iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPad with UMTS via their online store. The products can still be bought in brick and mortar stores and from other online retailers.
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Phone 8 detailed, uses Windows 8 kernel (extremetech.com)

MrSeb writes: "Thanks to a leaked video — a video that Microsoft made for Nokia — we now have almost complete details of Windows Phone 8 (WP8). From deep Windows 8, Skype, and SkyDrive integration, through to the addition of NFC “wallet” payments and BitLocker encryption, it sounds like Windows Phone 8 will be close to iOS and Android in terms of features. The exciting stuff is under the hood, though: WP8 will have the Windows 8 kernel instead of the Windows CE kernel of its predecessors. Through the Win 8 kernel, WP8 will support native code and multi-core processors. It will also have the same network stack, security, and multimedia support as Windows 8. While Win 8 apps won't be directly compatible with Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore says developers will be able to 'reuse — by far — most of their code.'"

Comment "Green Computing" (Score 5, Insightful) 190

As long as rain forests are stubbed for easier access to copper mines
As long as local people are poisoned by the toxic byproducts of metal refinement
As long as people in Africa or Eastern Europe dissable old computers without any protective clothing
As long as children assemble computers for $1/hour in Asia

I refuse to equal "green computing" and enviromental friendly.

In truth it is just another catchy phrase to sell you yet a new computer. Buying a new computer does nature more harm than just keeping your old computer.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Science versus Religion (faithdebate.net)

mariobronx writes: "Dear all, I've found a website that made me laugh to tears, even if in some parts of it it seems a bit harsh to me. This website is run by a bunch of atheists that are chasing people over internet to proove the existence of God, or of a deity. The one that will make it will win a one million euro prize, paid with a check during a congress that will be summoned at the United Nations general headquarters in New York. Regards and have a nice day. Andrea."
Graphics

Submission + - Predator-Style Helmets Allow Pillots to See Throug (fliiby.com)

nitroy2k writes: When I look at this, I have to say that the fellows from Daily Mail.com were right. It is only the neck and shoulders that prove there is a human being in there somewhere. And this isn't any Star Trek or Final Fantasy kind of trick, but the next generation of RAF fighter pilots' look, which kinda makes you wish you were in the army. Since I went hiding under my bed when seeing this, mostly because of the piercing green eyes staring out from behind the visor, I guess there is nothing more I can say about the design of these way-to-cool accessories. http://blog.fliiby.com/archives/2007/11/11/predator-style-helmets-allow-pillots-to-see-through-planes/

Slashdot Top Deals

For God's sake, stop researching for a while and begin to think!

Working...