Emerssso - Slashdot User

Submission + - Vista Menu (with Logo) for GNOME

Submitted by

SMOKEING

on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @06:58AM

SMOKEING writes: "A recent entry on gnomefiles.org offers users of GNOME a "Vista-like Start Menu". Given the overwhelming diversity of UI customizations, GTK and KDE themes, and the like sporting various degrees of likeness to Aero or Aqua, with whole Windows-esque distros like Linspire still finding their raison d'être, the project in question does ultimately touch to the quick.

In light of occasional growl of discontent voiced about GNOME's "interoperability" policies, including OOXML non-rejection, and Linus's heart-felt "Just tell people to use KDE", and even despite the fact that the author himself is probably not affiliated with GNOME at all, this development begs the question: How far a never-standardized UI on the Linux desktop can go courting proprietary interface designs?"

Submission + - The UK Fastest Machine (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by

bmsleight

on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @05:25AM

bmsleight writes: "The Guardian has a story on the HECToR, The largest supercomputer in the UK — around five times more powerful than its predecessor, HPCx, which is also at the University of Edinburgh. It measures up well internationally, sitting at 17 in the top500.org list of the most powerful computers in the world."

Submission + - Human species 'may split in two' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:21AM

An anonymous reader writes: Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge. The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said — before a decline due to dependence on technology. People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added. The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

Submission + - Terrorists use Google Earth to target missiles (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by

arikb

on Thursday October 25, 2007 @05:24AM

arikb writes: "Seems like terrorists are using Google Earth to target their missiles more accurately at civilian targets. "We obtain the details from Google Earth and check them against our maps of the city centre and sensitive areas," Khaled Jaabari, the group's commander in Gaza who is known as Abu Walid, told the Guardian""

Submission + - Anti file-sharing laws consider in the UK

Submitted by Phil Ware on Thursday October 25, 2007 @05:22AM

Phil Ware writes: The UK government could legislate to crack down on illegal file-sharers, a senior politician has told the BBC's iPM programme.

Lord Triesman, the parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said intellectual property theft would not be tolerated. "If we can't get voluntary arrangements we will legislate," he said.

The comments could prove controversial with privacy advocates and internet service providers.
Lord Triesman called on internet service providers to take a "more activist role" in the problem of illegal file-sharing.
Get the news here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7059881.stm

So, what happens when you use https instead of http???

Submission + - South Africa adopts ODF as a government standard (tectonic.co.za)

Submitted by ais523 on Thursday October 25, 2007 @05:20AM

ais523 writes: As reported by Tectonic, South Africa's new Mininimum Interoperability Standards for Information Systems in government (MIOS) explain the new rules for which data formats will be used by the government; according to that document, all people working for the South African government must be able to read OpenDocument Format documents by March, and the government aims to use one of its three approved document formats (UTF-8 or ASCII plain text, CSV, or ODF) for all its published documents by the end of 2008. A definition of 'open standard' is also included that appears to rule out OOXML at present (requiring 'multiple implementations', among other things that may also rule it out).

Submission + - Drugs That can Crush the Defenses of Tuberculosis

Submitted by PennySillin on Thursday October 25, 2007 @04:55AM

PennySillin writes: One of the reasons that tuberculosis is hard to defeat because it produces an enzyme that can destroy many antibiotics. To solve that problem, some doctors have turned to drugs that gum up the protective molecule — leaving the deadly bacterium defenseless. Several of these medications are already on the market to treat other infections, but until now, it was not clear how they work or which ones are best. Using an instrument called a mass spectrometer, researchers showed that the FDA-approved medication clavulanate becomes permanently bonded to BlaC, an enzyme that chops up antibiotics from the penicillin family. Enzyme kinetics experiments, tests that measure how quickly a protein does work and how effectively chemicals can bring it to a halt, showed that two other drugs, sulbactam and tazobactam, only have temporary effects.

Submission + - IBM Backpedals on No-Business-Method-Patent Pledge

Submitted by

theodp

on Thursday October 25, 2007 @02:54AM

theodp writes: "IBM positioned itself as quite the patent reformer as it dropped a pure-PR-poison claim for a US patent on offshoring US jobs. But the AP reports that Big Blue has no intention of giving up its claim for a patent on profiting from patents. An IBM spokesman acknowledged that 'Extracting Value From a Portfolio of Assets' does indeed describe a business method patent, which Big Blue publicly professes to loathe, but argued that it passes IBM's significant technical merit smell-test for patents. Take a whiff and judge for yourself!"

Submission + - Vista vs. the Gibbon 4

Submitted by ricegf on Monday October 22, 2007 @12:04AM

ricegf writes: If you had 7 computers running various versions of Windows and Linux, on which machine would you choose to do most of your work? Rupert Goodwins describes his experience thus: 'So here's the funny thing. I've used Windows since 1.0. I've lived through the bad times of Windows/386 and ME, and the good times of NT 3.51 and 2K. I know XP if not backwards, then with a degree of familiarity that only middle-aged co-dependents can afford each other. Then how come I'm so much more at home with Ubuntu than Vista?'

Submission + - Canadians blocked from comedycentral.com (digg.com) 1

Submitted by Syn on Sunday October 21, 2007 @11:33PM

Syn writes: Any Canadian attempting to access Comedy Central's website will be redirected to The Comedy Network's site, the Canadian equivalent of Comedy Central, and vice versa. The only way to bypass the block is through a proxy. Since both website hosts many videos of their shows, they might have been forced to establish the block because of airing rights to US and Canadian viewers. I have long shunned conventional TV for the freedom of choice the internet offers, but is the liberty we enjoy now destined to disappear?

Submission + - The sixty-five dollar click (nytimes.com) 2

Submitted by PessimisticLitigator on Sunday October 21, 2007 @09:29PM

PessimisticLitigator writes: Adam Liptak wrote a great article, in the New York Times, on how competition in the legal field is driving the cost per click of Google ad to remarkable levels Phrases such as "Oakland personal injury lawyer," "Asbestos attorney," and "mesothelioma attorney Texas" are bringing in between $58 and $66 per click. Is this an example of commonsense left at the door, or is it a brilliant use of technology? It seems like the prior to me.

There is an interesting side note where the article calls Google a middle aged technology, and it cites the historically slow adaptation of technology by attorneys as evidence.

Submission + - Music Industry Brain Damage - The 1

Submitted by mrneutron2003 on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @05:44AM

mrneutron2003 writes: Just when you thought stupid ideas had become an endangered species, the RIAA presses forward and shows us how naive we were. The RIAA has officially backed a move by the recording industry to reintroduce the CD single. Populated with two songs and a "ringtone", this brilliantly clueless idea is to be marketed as a "ringle", complete with an even more clueless retail price of $6-7 per CD. Apart from the fact the industry hasn't agreed on how the ringtone is to be redeemed (Sony BMG, the initial proponent of the idea...is this any suprise....is the exception here), the pricing puts it way out of the league of legitimate digital music downloads. http://www.fastsilicon.com/off-the-wall/music-industry-brain-damage-the-ringle.html?Itemid=60

Submission + - Radio Frequencies Release Hyrdogen in Salt Water (sfgate.com) 2

Submitted by SuperMallen on Monday September 10, 2007 @07:11PM

SuperMallen writes: According to this AP article, a cancer researcher in Erie, PN has made a discovery whereby firing certain radio frequencies into salt water causes the salt water gives up its hydrogen, which can then be burned. Considering that salt water is the most abundant resource on the planet, the long-term fuel implications are vast.

Submission + - German ISP blocks online pornography (heise.de)

Submitted by huha on Monday September 10, 2007 @06:54PM

huha writes: German ISP Arcor has recently begun blocking access to foreign online pornography pages. According to the German IT news portal Heise, this is a voluntary action taken due to legal actions from a German porn site operator. The blocks will be in effect until the legal dispute is settled. The dispute concerns having the ISP block sites not meeting German standards for age verification for viewing certain content, e.g. online pornography.

Submission + - Buzz Aldrin says Lisa Nowak should be admired

Submitted by

mcgrew (sm62704)

on Monday September 10, 2007 @04:15PM

mcgrew (sm62704) writes: "The AP is reporting that Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the moon, says that astronaut Lisa Nowak, arrested at Orlando International Airport on charges of attempted kidnapping, battery, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, and destruction of evidence should be admired, "but not excused".

They quote him as saying "I think Nowak should be admired for traveling across the country at night and not getting out of her car to put in gas or go to the restroom. It is not excusable, but it is understandable for an achiever to fall into a trap."

I'm glad I'm not an achiever..."

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