Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Build a Windows Home Server (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
ThinSkin
ThinSkin writes: "While our important digital information is dangling at the mercy of our local hard drives, protecting that data with a home server isn't such a bad idea. For roughly $800, computer users can build a low-power, 1 terabyte Windows Home Server to ensure that our data doesn't go bump in the night. ExtremeTech has a primer on building this server, outlining which parts to buy, and also taking readers through each installation step. The cost is about the same as the HP MediaSmart Server EX475, though building a system allows PC users more flexibility and full access to the operating system."
Security

Submission + - Researchers: Beware the IE Cache on a Public Termi (eweek.com)

Submitted by
eweekhickins
eweekhickins writes: "If you use IE to access Gmail on public terminals, you may be leaving a lot of sensitive information exposed in the browser's cache. Web application security specialist Cenzic issued an alert for what it argues are vulnerabilities in Gmail and IE that could "severely impact e-mail systems and user privacy." Microsoft has downplayed the risk, insisting this is "not a product vulnerability." Of course it isn't, and the fact that it affects a Google application isn't a concern either."
Businesses

Submission + - In DRM world, customers have no rights (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
iweditor
iweditor writes: "Currently in the U.S., the only laws pertaining to Digital Rights Management (DRM) prohibit attempts to tamper with it. No constraints or responsibilities are placed on copyright holders for making sure their DRM doesn't unfairly deprive legitimate customers of their rights. Warning: this product contains DRM. InfoWorld contributor Ed Foster takes up the cause: Instead of vendors and the politicians who serve them telling us not to touch the DRM, we need to send them a warning of our own — those companies that use DRM do so at their peril."
Windows

Submission + - Review of XP as an upgrade from Vista

Submitted by shewfig
shewfig writes: In a clever review at http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx the benefits of upgrading from Vista to XP (speed, stability) are weighed against the "discontinued" features.

Highlights of the review include:
"I notice that the Reliability Report is also gone, again a sore loss, I really enjoyed charting the downward spiral of my Vista reliability"

"I mentioned how much quicker you could start using programs from a boot in XP; I must admit that, appealing though that feature is, you won't actually find it that useful. XP almost never appears to require a reboot [when compared to Vista], so you hardly ever take advantage of a wonderful improvement like that, which otherwise would save you at least 15-20 minutes a day."

"To be honest there is only one conclusion to be made; Microsoft has really outdone themselves in delivering a brand new operating system that really excels in all the areas where Vista was sub-optimal. From my testing, discussions with friends and colleagues, and a review of the material out there on the web there seems to be no doubt whatsoever that that upgrade to XP is well worth the money."
Google

Submission + - Google develops Wikipedia rival (news.com)

Submitted by
eswarjj
eswarjj writes: "Search and advertising giant Google is developing a user-generated online encyclopedia that could rival Wikipedia. Google has named the encyclopedia the "knol project," a knol being a "unit of knowledge," according to a blog post by Google engineering vice president Udi Manber. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html"
Privacy

Submission + - No passport for Britons refusing mass-surveillance

Submitted by
UpnAtom
UpnAtom writes: "From the And you thought Sweden was bad dept:

People who refuse to give up their bank records, tax records & details of any benefits they've claimed and the records of their car movements for the last year, or refuse to submit to an interrogation on whether they are the same person that this mountain of data belongs to will be denied passports from March 26th.

The Blair Govt has already admitted that this and other data will be cross-linked so that the Home Office and other officials can spy on the everyday lives of innocent Britons.

Britons were already the most spied upon nation in Western Europe. Data-mining through this unprecedented level of mass-surveillance allows any future British govt to leapfrog even countries like China and North Korea."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Political preferences and free software

Submitted by
00_NOP
00_NOP writes: "HateMyTory is the world's first political rating site and occasionally gets blasted or promoted by British bloggers on either side of the political spectrum. But here's something even more intriguing ... when the right come visiting they hate the site but they are disproportionally likely to be users of free software, whether that is just Firefox on top of their Windows box, or all the way with some Linux distro. But when the left rally to the cause they are more likely than not to be proprietary software users, albeit with a big bias towards Apple. If Microsoft's defenders think free software is the road to socialism, why don't the left seem to agree? As a leftie, and a free software advocate, I find this pretty puzzling."
United States

Submission + - FBI abused Patriot act powers

Submitted by devnulljapan
devnulljapan writes: Well, we all knew this, but here's the scoop from the Guardian and the BBC and CNN even Faux News is covering it, albeit with a spin that it's all Robert Mueller's fault:
The FBI abused its powers under the PATRIOT act to obtain information about US citizens, according to a justice department report published yesterday. The Justice department's inspector-general, Glenn Fine, said the FBI had been illegally using its powers in some cases, was under-reporting the frequency with which it forced firms to hand over customer information, and obtained phone records other than for emergencies.
Why is this not front page news in the US? If only the acronym was ANNA-NICOLE-SMITH...

Slashdot Top Deals

Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.

Close