theStorminMormon - Slashdot User

Submission + - Facebook Group Glamorizes Sexual Assault of Minor

Submitted by AccioBrain on Wednesday July 18, 2007 @10:59AM

AccioBrain writes: On July 15th a group titled 'SUPPORTERS OF SPENCER BLOWING HIS LOAD ON [NAME WITHHELD]'S FACE!' appeared on Facebook. Some members of the group have since denied the event occurred, even denied that underage drinking was involved, although it has been admitted that the girl was passed out for some reason and that she is a high school student. The group has subsequently been taken down, but this blog captured most of the celebration and a few reactions from people outside the event. An updated blog even includes screen shots of the group before it was taken down. Some Facebook members have notified local authorities and school officials.

Submission + - The Ebb and Flow of Social Networks

Submitted by jg21 on Tuesday July 17, 2007 @09:05AM

jg21 writes: People hungry for social interaction on the web currently have a near boundless choice for their communal appetites, which is why – according to this article – it is increasingly difficult to launch a new one and achieve any real traction. The article chooses Virb as an example of one that's waned after a momentary spike, while Facebook continues its meteoric rise, causing recent speculation that it may even replace email. What makes FB a potential killer app and Virb an also-ran: is there an agreed secret sauce yet to a globally successful social network?

NASA Can't Pay for Killer Asteroid Hunt 398

Posted by Hemos on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:11PM from the anyone-raid-the-coffee-fund-money dept.

CGISecurity.com writes "NASA officials say the space agency is capable of finding nearly all the asteroids that might pose a devastating hit to Earth, but there isn't enough money to pay for the task so it won't get done. 'We know what to do, we just don't have the money,' said Simon 'Pete' Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center." But hey, it's just the potential end of the world, so nothing much to worry about there.

Submission + - Big Radio Settles Payola Charges

Submitted by

vivaoporto

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:08PM

vivaoporto writes: "As seen on Forbes, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, the four broadcast conglomerates (Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting), which together own more than 1,500 stations, have agreed to pay hefty fines and to provide air time for local artists and independent record labels. as a settlement with the FCC. The radio chains, which didn't admit wrongdoing, are to pay a collective $12.5 million in fines and dedicate a total of 8,400 half-hour segments to independent music over the next three years. (Indie labels, for purposes of the settlement, are those not owned or controlled by one of the nation's four dominant music labels — Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and EMI Group)"

Submission + - Is Google making a cell phone?

Submitted by Kuan Yew on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:44AM

Kuan Yew writes: Two months ago Engadget posted pictures of a device they dubbed the Google Switch, a device that was allegedly co-designed by Google and Samsung. Recently, a technologist-turned-entrepreneur called Simeon Simeonov continued the story by suggesting that Google's acquisition of mobile services like Reqwireless and Skia were further hints of a Google phone in development. The question remains, however, is Google really developing a cell phone or is this all part of the great Google hype machine?

Submission + - U.S. DOT ban on Vista

Submitted by Fozzyuw on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:34AM

Fozzyuw writes: My company has just sent out a memo stating that no computers are allowed to be purchased or upgraded to Windows Vista, Office 2007, or Internet Explorer. While being my companies web developer, I've upgraded to IE7 some time ago, but only after Multiple IE allowed me to easily install IE6.

This policy memo was initialed due to the recent action by the U.S. Department of Transpertation placing a ban on these new Microsoft Products stating...

"there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft software products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific reasons not to upgrade."

I think it makes sense for my company to do this. As the old saying goes "If it's not broke, don't fix it". So, are there other companies out there that are enacting a similar kind of policy?

Submission + - Volunteers to build RPG.

Submitted by MrShaggy on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:30AM

MrShaggy writes: According to an article over on the bbc, Acclaim, is making an RPG. However this RPG is going t be written by volunteers. '"I want it to be a title they own and feel excited about," said Mr Perry, a 24-year veteran of the games industry.' They already have 20,000 people ready to go. This is the link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6422333 .stm

Submission + - Thousands to Help Build Online Game

Submitted by

eldavojohn

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:30AM

eldavojohn writes: "Dave Perry has signed up with Acclaim to create an online game ... with the help of the community. Mr. Perry has discussed it in an interview and said "Actually we don't want any programming (at the moment), we have a programming team ready to go, though custom tools might be needed later. But programmers are still welcome as they come up with cool design ideas. The design (like before) will be based on voting, with the cream rising to the top. If you need to work on something semi-privately, you can ask the moderator to carve some space for you. So a small group can bang away on an idea and present their results. If I like an idea, I'll make it happen." This is possibly a step further than what Second Life has done — in Second Life, the users create in game content on the fly but Dave Perry is interested in voting through everything including the game mechanics & artwork."

Submission + - Skype Reads BIOS, Motherboard Serial no.

Submitted by pfp on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:58PM

pfp writes: Myria at pagetable.com, among others, noticed that Skype reads the machine's BIOS code on startup. This probably would've gone unnoticed if the operation didn't fail on 64-bit windows. From the post: "It's dumping your system BIOS, which usually includes your motherboard's serial number, and pipes it to the Skype application. I have no idea what they're using it for, or whether they send anything to their servers, but I bet whatever they're doing is no good given their track record. [...] If they hadn't been ignorant of Win64's lack of NTVDM, nobody would've noticed this happening."

Submission + - music "artist" Keith Urban sues artist Kei

Submitted by someone reading cnn on Tuesday February 06, 2007 @08:55PM

someone reading cnn writes: The country singer Keith Urban has decided it best to sue Keith Urban the oil painter. Apparently music artist Keith Urban is offended that another soul with his name would dare try to sell his work online with the cleverly named website keithurban.com. From the Article: "Keith Urban, the country singer, has filed a lawsuit against Keith Urban, the painter from New Jersey, claiming the painter's Web site violates federal trademark laws. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, says Keith D. Urban of Wayne, New Jersey, is using his keithurban.com domain in a deceptive manner and for commercial purposes."

Submission + - Ubuntu Studio revealed

Submitted by

lukeknipe

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @09:56PM

lukeknipe writes: "Ubuntu announces the April release of the Ubuntu Studio. An exceptionally ambitious project, it is described by Ubuntu as a "multimedia editing flavor of Ubuntu for the Linux audio, video, and graphic enthusiast or professional who is already familiar with the Ubuntu-Gnome environment.""

Submission + - China making own PCs with own CPU and Linux

Submitted by on Saturday January 20, 2007 @09:07PM

An anonymous reader writes: A Chinese company, Lemote, is about launch a computer running a Chinese processor and Linux, according to Gareth Powell of TECH.BLORGE.com. Lemote hopes to get a 1000 PCs to market before the Chinese New Year. It's expected the PC will cost around $200.

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