gseidman - Slashdot User

Submission + - Scientists build the world's first anti-laser (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by beschra on Thursday February 17, 2011 @03:08PM

beschra writes: Physicists have built the world's first device that can cancel out a laser beam — a so-called anti-laser.

The device, created by a team from Yale University, is capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely.

But this is not intended as a defence against high-power laser weapons, the researchers said.

Instead they think it could be used in next-generation supercomputers which will be built with components that use light rather than electrons.

Submission + - Google v Oracle - progress at last? (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk on Thursday February 17, 2011 @03:04PM

mikejuk writes: In case you were wondering what was happening in the attempt by Oracle to destroy the Android platform by copyright, we can report that the action in the US District Court is having to take a back seat as the judge has better things to do. Surprisingly this might actually make things happen all the sooner. Google have has sent a three-page letter to Judge William Alsup, asking leave to file a motion for summary judgment on Count VIII of Oracle's Amended Complaint in Oracle v. Google — i.e. the important one about copyright.Google's position, translated by Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110216210828960) into non-legalese boils down to:

"What we did isn't actionable, being covered by fair use or the files are so few their use is de minimis or they are not copyrightable."

Submission + - New MacBook Air With Sandy Bridge Chips Arriving I (brightsideofnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 11, 2011 @01:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: If you've been planning on buying a Mac notebook, especially their thinnest Air model, maybe you should wait until summer when Apple is rumored to summon the next-generation MacBook Air. Apple is readying a new MacBook Air model and plans to launch it in June, possibly at its high-profile annual developers conference in San Francisco. According to the rumor mill, the $999 ultrathin notebook is up for a Sandy Bridge overhaul, which would mark a major break and step up in performance from three-year old Intel Core 2 Duo processors being utilized in current MacBook Air models.

Submission + - Hosni Mubarak steps down. 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 11, 2011 @12:49PM

An anonymous reader writes: BBC news reports that Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has stepped down and the Army council is taking temporary control.

Submission + - Subtle Cyber Attacks Could Tilt Global Economies (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey on Friday February 11, 2011 @12:47PM

wiredmikey writes: A subtle, yet powerfully destructive force of electronic attacks may be working slowly and silently to disrupt elements of the world’s market-based economies.

Recent cyber-attacks on the European Emissions Trading Scheme shut down that exchange’s carbon market just a few weeks ago.

Along with the fear of lights-out DDoS attacks that has traditionally stalked electronic markets, and logically still does, new types of attacks by subtle manipulation could slowly turn electronic markets on their heads by corrupting their very legitimacy.

What’s worse? Attacking someone’s borders, or slowly disrupting and degrading confidence in their entire national economic well-being?

Submission + - Plasmons carry light through a blocked hole (newscientist.com)

Submitted by techbeat on Friday February 11, 2011 @12:33PM

techbeat writes: How would you react if a tiny hole in a piece of foil let through more light after you had covered it or dyed it a different colour? With the same surprise as the physicists who discovered that this is just what happens with very small holes and certain materials. Both findings could lead to light-based components for high-speed optical computers. The physicists suspect that plasmons from the gold disc blocking the hole are leaping up, grabbing the photons stuck on the other side and dragging them through. The photons then gush around the edges of the disc. In the case of the dyed foil, plasmons that can't interact with some wavelengths of light directly interact with the dye first, which then interacts with these photons — allowing more photons through the hole.

Submission + - Nokia workers walk out in protest (geek.com) 2

Submitted by Mr. McGibby on Friday February 11, 2011 @12:29PM

Mr. McGibby writes: "After the announcement of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft this morning workers voiced their concern with the deal by walking out of Nokia facilities. It is believed that as many as a thousand workers marched out today (or took the day off using flex time) so that the company would know that they don’t believe the partnership is in their best interest, even after CEO’ Stephen Elop’s startlingly frank “burning platform” memo earlier this week."

Submission + - Microsoft storage: a litany of failure (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497 on Friday February 11, 2011 @11:51AM

nk497 writes: Following the demise of Windows Home Server's Drive Extender, Jon Honeyball looks back on Microsoft's long, long list of storage disasters, from the dodgy DriveSpace to the Cairo Object File System, and on to the debacle that was WinFS. Will Microsoft ever be able to get it right?

Submission + - SUV Shouldn't Have Testified Against Driver (forbes.com)

Submitted by nonprofiteer on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:08PM

nonprofiteer writes: An appeals court reversed a California man's drunk-driving manslaughter conviction because police failed to get a warrant before downloading speed and braking information from his Yukon's sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) (a.k.a. event data recorder).

Submission + - Using War Games to Make Organizations More Secure (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:34PM

wiredmikey writes: Along with budget constraints and disconnect between IT and executive management surrounding information security, results of a recent survey show that a major problem is outright lack of understanding of threats.

We all know the best way to get that budget increased, is to get hacked. Unfortunately, that could also result in you losing your job.

Some companies, however, are taking creative approaches to both raise awareness and identify potential vulnerabilities. A manager with a large financial services group, for example, says that his company addresses security vulnerabilities by staging a series of what it calls "war games," in which a user or group of users is tasked with trying to compromise a system, while another user or group of users is tasked with preventing the break-in.

Management needs to understand the security threat and its impact to business, and these "war games" are an innovative and creative way for IT departments to convince executive management on security needs.

Submission + - First underground cave photographed on the moon (wired.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Lanxon on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:55PM

Lanxon writes: High-resolution images have confirmed for the first time the presence of an underground cave on the moon's surface. Images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera reveal that what previously appeared to be a lunar pit in the Marius Hills region is in fact the entrance to a lava tube, with the cave floor visible through a collapsed ceiling, or "skylight".

Submission + - MPAA Wants Google Off The Internet (techspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:09PM

An anonymous reader writes: Over the last few months, Google has received more than 100 copyright infringement warnings from MPAA-affiliated movies studios: most are directed at users of Google's public Wi-Fi service but others are meant for Google employees. The MPAA is thus warning the search giant that it might get disconnected from the Internet. A few of the notices sent to Google are on behalf of Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures for sharing The Fighter and The Green Hornet, respectively.

Submission + - DADT Repeal wont Require any Major Policy Changes (militaryringinfo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @09:08AM

An anonymous reader writes: February 8, 2011 posted by OldWarriorcomments (0) Now this is no surprise to me and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone else. The only people who see this as a big deal are the gay liberals who want to score a propaganda victory. Everyone who has ever served in the armed forces of the United States knows that gay men and women have always served.

Yes troops couldn’t openly declare that they were gay but as long as they didn’t admit it there was no punishmnent which could be levied on them. Commanders wouldn’t get rid of good soldiers who were gay because commanders know that they need good soldiers. Troops were rarely persecuted for their sexual orientation unless they were caught in a sexual act. This is no big deal at all to our custom military ring customers who serve in various duty stations around the world.

The military is not some sort of proving ground for liberals to use as their place for social experimentation. I hope those who have pushed so hard for this repeal understand that they really haven’t done anything. There is no reason to implement any new rules or policies because things really haven’t changed.

The only forseeable problem that I can discern is thet we need to get a handle on the term “serving openly.” What exactly will it entail? We need a detailed definition before we can go forward. I guarantee thae as soon as DADT is repealed someone will push the envelope. Clothing rules and rules of conduct need to be clarified.

Submission + - Atos Origin scraps all email (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by DMandPenfold on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @08:59AM

DMandPenfold writes: IT services firm Atos Origin aims to become a "zero email company" within three years to help tackle what it calls "information pollution" bogging down management.

Speaking at an innovation press conference this week, Atos Origin chief executive Thierry Breton said he would stop all emails between Atos Origin employees by instead using new collaboration and social media tools.

Submission + - Did vikings use the same compass as birds and bees (brightsideofnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @08:56AM

An anonymous reader writes: If you've been wondering how Vikings found their way from Scandinavia to America, polarizing light birds and bees use as a season-and-latitude-independent compass calibration reference may be the answer.

In the case of the Vikings, they possibly used one of two crystals, cordierite, also called lolite, of Norway, or calcite of Iceland.

By holding a polarizing crystal up to the sky and rotating it, you can determine the direction of the Sun. Summer, when sailors far north ventured upon the seas, they were confronted with nearly perpetual daylight, preventing them from using the stars to navigate. Light consists of electromagnetic waves that oscillate perpendicular to the direction of the light's travel. When the oscillations all point in the same direction, the light is polarized.

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