All_One_Mind - Slashdot User

Journal SPAM: Linus fires latest shot in GNOME Wars 4

Journal by stoolpigeon on Friday February 16, 2007 @06:03PM

Linux.com is running a story about the continuing feud between Linus and some GNOME folks.Some bad blood between Linus Torvalds and GNOME developers is flaring up again. Previously, Torvalds has said that Linux users should switch to KDE instead of GNOME because of the GNOME team's "users are idiots" mentality. Now he has "put his money where his mouth is" by submitting patches to GNOME in orde

Submission + - X.Org 7.2 Ready for Primetime

Submitted by

F-3582

on Friday February 16, 2007 @05:53AM

F-3582 writes: "After three months of getting behind the schedule the X.Org Foundation has announced the release of a new X.
From the Press Release: "X11R7.2 [...] incorporates significant stability and correctness fixes, including improved autoconfiguration heuristics, enhanced support for GL-based compositing managers such as Compiz and Beryl, and improved support for PCI systems with multiple domains. It also incorporates the new, more extensible XACE security policy framework.""

Journal Journal: PGP cracked ?

Journal by rosydreams on Friday February 16, 2007 @05:39AM

Guys, I cannot believe that: it seems that russian hackers were able to http://software.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=239052crack PGP !!! I'm using this program (PGP of course, not this cracker!) for years (from very old DOS version) and trusted it, so that shocked me to death :((( I'm not a crypro guru but as I understand they're using the distributed network (probably from KGB?

Google Launches Summer of Code 2007 74

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday February 16, 2007 @05:05AM from the back-once-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like Google has announced that it will be doing Summer of Code again this year. The program looks pretty much the same this year but they have built time into the program schedule for students to get up to speed before they start coding. Nice job, Google."

Journal Journal: New Protein Super-family Discovered

Journal by stemceller on Friday February 16, 2007 @02:47AM

Biologists have discovered a new super-family of developmental proteins that are critical for cell growth and differentiation and whose further study is expected to benefit research on cancer and the nerve-cell repair. The protein super-family, which existed before the emergence of animals about 850 million years ago, is of major importance for understanding how life evolved in primordial times.

Submission + - Microsoft Hiring Student Propagandists

Submitted by

Ed

on Friday February 16, 2007 @02:40AM

Ed writes: "It seems Microsoft is looking to hire students for "word of mouth advertising" on college campuses. The marketing service's code of ethics stresses the importance of honesty, but somehow I doubt they'd be willing to pay me to give my honest opinions..."

Water Logic Gates Built at MIT 239

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday February 16, 2007 @01:54AM from the flood-gates-opened dept.

ndogg writes "This story is all wet. Paulo Blikstein at MIT has created a water computer. The one boolean logic gate he created functions as a half-adder (i.e. both XOR and AND). He then proceeded to create a four bit adder."

Teacher Avoids Getting Sent to Siberia For Piracy 252

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday February 16, 2007 @12:29AM from the off-the-hook dept.

Piracy Support Line writes "Russian principal Alexander Ponosov will not be visiting Siberia any time soon, at least not for the allegedly illegal Microsoft software that were preloaded on the computers they bought and Microsoft supported the reseller's story. Although Bill Gates rejected Mikhail Gorbachev's personal appeal for mercy on behalf of the teacher, the judge was kinder. Judge Elvira Mosheva decided to dismiss the case because 'Microsoft's financial damage is too insignificant for a criminal investigation.'"

Camera Phones Read Hidden Messages in Print 126

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 15, 2007 @10:57PM from the go-go-gadget-decoder dept.

pikine writes "As reported by BBC News, Fujitsu has developed a technology that encodes 12-bytes of information in a printed picture by skewing yellow hue, which is difficult to discern by human eye but fairly easy for camera phones to decode using software written in Java." The first target uses are promotional contests and competitions, not entirely unlike those game pieces that need to be viewed through a colored filter.

Submission + - First quantum computer demoed, plays sudoku

Submitted by

prostoalex

on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:46AM

prostoalex writes: "Canadian company D-Wave Systems is getting some technology press buzz after successfully demonstrating their quantum computer that the company plans to rent out. Scientific American has more of technical description of how the quantum computer works as well as possible areas of application: "The quantum computer was given three problems to solve: searching for molecular structures that match a target molecule, creating a complicated seating plan, and filling in Sudoku puzzles." There are also some videos from the demo."

Truth in Ratings Act Reintroduced 302

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:44AM from the think-of-the-children dept.

dropgoal writes "Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas (and GOP presidential candidate) has reintroduced the Truth in Ratings Act. Like the previous version that failed to pass last year, Sen. Brownback's bill would make the FTC responsible for overseeing the video game ratings system and possibly result in a unified ratings system for games, movies, and TV. The ESRB would also have to review all game footage before issuing a rating. Currently, the ESRB hands out ratings after viewing a reel with representative content prepared by the developers. Sen. Brownback thinks that's not enough. 'Video game reviewers should be required to review the entire content of a game to ensure the accuracy of the rating. The current video game ratings system is not as accurate as it could be because reviewers do not see the full content of games and do not even play the games they rate', he said."

Submission + - Microsoft Outlaws 3rd Party IM Clients

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @11:14PM

An anonymous reader writes: With the latest update to the MSN Instant Messenger client, now called Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft has required all users to sign a new contract which among other things forbids the use of 3rd party instant messenger clients to connect to the MSN messenger service, such as the AJAX Meebo client, Gaim, and Trillian among others. Worth noting, they do provide a list of authorized 3rd party clients, such as Yahoo Messenger, that are allowed access to the service.

Excerpt: "In using the service, you may not use any unauthorized third party software or service to access the Microsoft instant messaging network currently known as the .NET Messenger service."

Submission + - Master Boot Record Guided Tour

Submitted by IdaAshley on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @07:26PM

IdaAshley writes: This article explores the Linux boot process from the initial bootstrap to the start of the first user-space application. Along the way, learn about other boot-related topics such as the boot loaders, kernel decompression, and the initial RAM disk. Also take a look at a scheduled chat about the Linux desktop and how it is evolving, including improvements in application interoperability, and desktop graphics.

VeriChip Implants 222 People With RFID 306

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @11:43AM from the i-trust-my-ass-chip-to-linux dept.

cnet-declan writes "Anyone remember VeriChip, a company that came up with the idea of implanting chips in humans for tracking them? They've been behind ideas like RFID tagging immigrant and guest workers at the border, and they've persuaded a former Bush Health Secretary to get himself chipped. In this CNET News.com article, we offer an update on how successful the idea has been. It turns out that, according to IPO documents, 222 people have been implanted, with sales revenue of $100,000."

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