Comment Thanks (Score 1) 1582
This is a terrible terrible idea. I will spend even more time on Slashdot now! Thanks!
Submission + - Mac, BSD prone to decade old attacks 7
BSDer writes: An Israeli security researcher published a paper few hours ago, detailing attacks against Mac, OpenBSD and other BSD-style operating systems. The attacks, says Amit Klein from Trusteer enable DNS cache poisoning, IP level traffic analysis, host detection, O/S fingerprinting and in some cases even TCP blind data injection.
The irony is that OpenBSD boasted their protection mechanism against those exact attacks when a similar attack against the BIND DNS server was disclosed by the same researcher mid 2007. It seems now that OpenBSD may need to revisit their code and their statements.
According to the researcher, another affected party, Apple, refused to commit to any fix timelines. It would be interesting to see their reaction now that this paper is public.
Submission + - Pirate Bay earns 20,000 Euros a day (rixstep.com) 2
An anonymous reader writes: controverisal pro-piracy website the piratebay likes to portray itself as an innocent hobby site that provides a free index without censorship, but recent facts show that the site is earning up to 20,000 Euros per day from its advertising. Taking in money on this scale puts a different slant on the motives behind the Swedish filesharing site, and could open up the runners of the site to prosecution for profiting from copyright infringement.
Submission + - Nintendo DS online games not region-free after all
stuart writes: "So you thought that Nintendo DS games were not region-locked? It turns out that the cumbersome Friend Codes needed for online play are actually region-specific, and that Friend Codes from one region are rejected by games from other regions.
This is much worse than the standard practise of region-locking the games themselves, because at least in that case if you have a game that will play on your console you can play online with opponents all over the world. With this misconceived system, it's simply not possible to play against opponents from a different geographical region... woe betide the European with American friends (or vice-versa) who has the temerity to, you know, want to actually play an online game online.
... perhaps the most important question, though, is whether the Wii is likewise damaged goods? If Microsoft implemented the same scheme for Xbox LIVE (or even Sony on the PS3) then we'd never hear the end of it — so why has this remained out of the public gaze for so long?"
This is much worse than the standard practise of region-locking the games themselves, because at least in that case if you have a game that will play on your console you can play online with opponents all over the world. With this misconceived system, it's simply not possible to play against opponents from a different geographical region... woe betide the European with American friends (or vice-versa) who has the temerity to, you know, want to actually play an online game online.
... perhaps the most important question, though, is whether the Wii is likewise damaged goods? If Microsoft implemented the same scheme for Xbox LIVE (or even Sony on the PS3) then we'd never hear the end of it — so why has this remained out of the public gaze for so long?"
Submission + - The Big -N- Strikes again!
mrneutron2004 writes: Nintendo ends the fiscal year with sales way ahead of analysts expectations. $300 million ahead of analyst expectations, closing their fiscal year with $8.1 billion in revenue. http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/the-big-n-s trikes-again.html?Itemid=60
Submission + - Live for Windows priced identically to Live on 360
Xisiqomelir writes: Game Informer reports that Microsoft, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, has unveiled its pricing scheme for the upcoming Live for Windows....as identical to Live on Xbox 360. Are PC owners, who have historically had free online multiplayer, going to embrace a $50 yearly subscription for access to that feature?
Submission + - ICANN rides to the rescue in Registerfly meltdown
Sorthum writes: "The Register has a story on ICANN's abrubt change in stance regarding the Registerfly meltdown. Maybe now we'll actually see some resolution for those poor souls still trapped on the floundering registrar?"
Submission + - Nukes set off in Second Life PC MMO game
Tom Fronczak writes: "Veteran players are upset over the way newcomers are playing the game. They decided to take drastic actions in hopes of gaining the attention of Linden Labs. You can read all about it here on my Web site:
http://www.thelastboss.com/post.phtml?pk=2284"
Submission + - "Cyberbullying" laws raise free speech que
Chad_DeVoss writes: States across the country are working on laws to rein in cyberbullying, claiming that electronic harassment has led even to the suicides of some children. But what about the First Amendment? Surely schools can't control what kids say to one another? It's an easy argument to make, but the reality is more complicated. From the article: "The issue is further complicated by questions about whether cyberbullying takes place on school property or not. School officials do not generally have control over what students do outside of school, but, as the First Amendment Center reports, even this issue is complicated. Students who threaten or harass other students using school equipment or during school time can most likely be sanctioned, but even students who do such things from home face the possibility of school discipline under the 'substantial disruption of the educational environment' ruling from the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case from 1969."
Submission + - MS takes a page from the open-source playboook
linumax writes: "Officelabs is a new internal start-up that is attempting to use some of the methodologies of open-source software development to invigorate the company and generate excitement about new Microsoft products. Specifically, the people behind officelabs want to adopt the release early, release often approach that has worked well for open-source projects such as Linux and Firefox. The move echoes the announcements of Office Live and Windows Live, which both attempt to release lots of software on the web as often as possible."
Submission + - Windows Vista vs. Windows XP vs. Ubuntu Linux
An anonymous reader writes: There's a new OS in town, but can it compare to our comfy slippers, or even the diamond in the rough? MS Windows XP Professional is still a very viable OS, and apparently, outperforms or maintains pace with Vista in almost every test we have run with current hardware in place. Vista has the advantage of utilizing the performance a newer setup offers, XP is falling behind in that it is not as efficient with multiple processors or large amounts of memory. Other then the new hardware advantages, does Vista bring that much over XP?
http://www.viperlair.com/articles/editorials/vista /versus/
Submission + - The Lure of the Straight Razor
DingleBerryMcGee writes: "It seems that the most common getup amongst the tech savvy is a black polo shirt accompanied with a pair of wrinkled khakis overloaded with PDAs, and phones at the waist. Another common theme is a semi-smooth shave accentuating a pallor only five consecutive days in an unlit room playing World of Warcraft can provide. The Montreal Gazette goes into some detail highlighting the growing trend of Straight Razor shaving. The author discusses the necessary equipment, as well as his own experience learning an art so contrarian to technological progress.
Some of the major benefits to a straight razor over modern 'pull and cut' cartridge razors or electric shavers are: decreased ingrown hairs, razor burn and acne, smoother shaves, and the "what are you crazy?" expression on people's faces when they find out you shave with a straight."
Some of the major benefits to a straight razor over modern 'pull and cut' cartridge razors or electric shavers are: decreased ingrown hairs, razor burn and acne, smoother shaves, and the "what are you crazy?" expression on people's faces when they find out you shave with a straight."
Submission + - AMD's showcases Quad-Core Barcelona CPU
Gr8Apes writes: AMD has showcased their new 65nm Barcelona quad-core CPU. It is labeled a quad-core Opteron, but according to Infoworld's Tom Yeager, is really a redefinition of x86.
Each core has a new vector math processing unit (SSE128), separate integer and floating point schedulers, and new nested paging tables (to vastly improve hardware virtualization). According to AMD, the new vector math units alone should improve floating point operation by 80%. Some analysts are skeptical, waiting for benchmarks. Will AMD dethrone Intel again? Only time will tell.
Submission + - Microsoft refuses to assist police w/hot xbox 360
Karzz1 writes: "Microsoft refused New Zealand police demands for information regarding a stolen Xbox360. Apparently the hot Xbox was registered with Microsoft with details the police sought to apprehend the thief. According to Microsoft, "The privacy and safety of customer information was a "huge issue" for the company and the details could not be handed out.". Is Microsoft being truly altruistic or is there possibly something else at play here?"
Submission + - Wikipedia founder's Open Source collaboration tips
destinyland writes: "In a new interview Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales acknowledges his debt to Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation and discusses his new open source search project. He applauds the way Open Source developers work around their ideological differences, acknowledges that he's an Ayn Rand objectivist who's skeptical of the wisdom of crowds, and blames Slashdot for his grandstanding comment that Wikipedia would bury Encyclopedia Brittanica within five years."
