darkrowan - Slashdot User

Submission + - Penalizing for Poor Health 2

Submitted by

theodp

on Sunday August 05, 2007 @03:34PM

theodp writes: "Perhaps laying the groundwork for Sicko II, Clarian Health announced that starting in 2009, it will fine employees $10 per paycheck if their body mass index is over 30. Even slim-and-trim employees have to worry about their cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels — they'll be dinged $5 for each standard they don't meet. Smokers get a sneak preview of the policy starting next year, when they'll find $5 less in each check. Clarian credited new government HIPPAA rules that became effective July 1st for giving it the courage to follow its penalize-for-poor-health convictions."

Submission + - HP to Researchers: Our Printers Are Safe (hp.com)

Submitted by

Sidepocket_Pro

on Friday August 03, 2007 @01:24PM

Sidepocket_Pro writes: "Based on our own testing, HP knows that many variables can affect the outcome of tests for ultrafine particle emissions. Although HP is not aware of all of the specific methodologies used in the Queensland study, based on what we've seen in the report — as well as our own work in this area — we do not believe there is a link between printer emissions and any public health risk. Specifically, HP does not see an association between printer use by customers and negative health effects for volatile organic compounds, ozone or dust. While we recognize ultrafine, fine, and coarse particles are emitted from printing systems, these levels are consistently below recognized occupational exposure limits."

Submission + - Bad bosses take the elevator...

Submitted by mritunjai on Friday August 03, 2007 @11:40AM

mritunjai writes: A new study validates what we've always suspected to be true. Promotions and career growth seem to be directly proportional to how much you can make your subordinates' life miserable.

Submission + - Using AI to filter RSS feeds

Submitted by

holden

on Tuesday July 24, 2007 @04:12PM

holden writes: "According to a blog post AideRSS has moved from closed to open beta. I've been using AideRSS over the past few weeks to filter my RSS feeds (including slashdot & reddit) and I've been quite impressed. They talk a bit about how the filtering system works, which apparently tracks a mixture of things, from pick up in other blogs, to some clustering technology."

Submission + - GOATSE Picture Shown In YouTube Debate

Submitted by

Penguinshit

on Tuesday July 24, 2007 @02:15PM

Penguinshit writes: "What makes the Internet so great, beyond showing a glimpse of a confusing world to millions of mouth-breathers? The answer, of course, is GOATSE (relax, this isn't THAT link...). One of those lame YouTube questions featured a split-second image of the horrible anus. As of this time, it is unclear as to how many Americans witnessed the outrage, but there are reports of as many as 200,000 phone calls made to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reporting the obscenity. CNN has yet to make an official statement regarding the matter, but a top spokesman was reportedly overheard denouncing the incident as "despicable."

The story is being reported in several aggregators and blogs."

Submission + - Internet Tax Imminent?

Submitted by

jhigh

on Sunday June 03, 2007 @09:46PM

jhigh writes: "Proposals to tax the Internet are gaining steam as state legislators see a giant pot of money just waiting to be dipped into. "At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they're hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year.""

Submission + - Quantum cryptography keys set distance record (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Sunday June 03, 2007 @09:01PM

coondoggie writes: "Quantum cryptography is one of those security breakthroughs that may hold the key to future networks. Researchers today said they have sent particles of light serving as "quantum keys over a record-setting 200-kilometer fiber-optic link. The experiment, using mostly standard components and transmitting at telecommunications frequencies, offers an approach for making practical inter-city terrestrial quantum communications networks as well as long-range wireless systems using communication satellites. Stanford University, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the NTT in Japan were involved in the test. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1582 2"

Submission + - Simulated mouse-brain running at 1/10 speed

Submitted by

Waylon

on Thursday April 26, 2007 @06:44PM

Waylon writes: "IBM researchers have modeled a mouse's brain at 10 percent speed — and what can be done at 10 percent speed today can be done at 1000 percent in a couple cycles of Moore's Law. (Let me be the first to say that I, for one, welcome our Super-intelligent virtual mice overlords!) From the article: "We deployed the simulator on a 4096-processor BlueGene/L supercomputer with 256 MB per CPU. We were able to represent 8,000,000 neurons (80% excitatory) and 6,300 synapses per neuron in the 1 TB main memory of the system. Using a synthetic pattern of neuronal interconnections, at a 1 ms resolution and an average firing rate of 1 Hz, we were able to run 1s of model time in 10s of real time...""

Submission + - Net Gambling Ban Lift propsed by Democrat

Submitted by

famousstamps.org

on Thursday April 26, 2007 @06:20PM

famousstamps.org writes: "Following last year's online gambling ban (and following poker fallout), which many considered to be absolutely absurd, people are finally rallying some support. Barney Frank is trying to introduce a bill to bypass this law: Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, on Thursday introduced a bill that would replace the current broad prohibition with strict regulations, including criminal background checks and financial disclosure, imposed on companies that seek to offer legal Internet gambling. "The existing legislation is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans and this interference should be undone," Frank said. His bill is called the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (PDF). "

Submission + - Stephen Hawking Goes ZeroG in NASA's Vomit Comet

Submitted by

NewsCloud

on Thursday April 26, 2007 @05:04PM

NewsCloud writes: "The trip Slashdot described last month is complete. MSNBC reports that Cosmologist Stephen Hawking has experienced zero gravity: "Zero Gravity co-founder and chief executive officer Peter Diamandis, signaled with his fingers that the world-famous physicist went weightless eight times." Before the flight, Hawking said, "I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades, and the chance to float free in zero-G will be wonderful,". The article describes special precautions were taken to ensure his well-being. I thought it might kill him but I'm inspired by his accomplishment."

Submission + - Amiga Inc. Announces New Hardware

Submitted by

boarder8925

on Thursday April 26, 2007 @12:13AM

boarder8925 writes: "Ars Technica just recently posted an article announcing the return of Amiga hardware. "Amiga Inc. ...[has announced] a new line of PowerPC-based computers that will run Amiga OS. The first machine will be a 'consumer-level' system that will run at around $500, to be followed up with a more powerful system for $1,500.""

Submission + - Carbon Credit Fraud

Submitted by

WED Fan

on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @11:38PM

WED Fan writes: "As mentioned, the carbon credit industry is quickly falling into disrepute. The Financial Times conducted an investigation and found some very disturbing things.

Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on "carbon credit" projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.
A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.

This is a shell game that will kill the environmental movement with the general public if the movement doesn't clean themselves up, quickly."

Submission + - High-Capacity Bandwidth Testing Software

Submitted by on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @11:33PM

An anonymous reader writes: I work for an ISP which specializes in high bandwidth (100+ megabit) fiber-based delivery solutions. As with any other ISP we sometimes have to perform troubleshooting with customers whom are reporting slow throughput. We currently have a home-grown bandwidth testing server in order to point-to-point test the throughput across our own network. Unfortunately (fortunately), customers have begun purchasing amounts of bandwidth that are capable of exceeding our testing capacity. Given a multi-gigabit network infrastructure and an on-net server with a gigabit Ethernet port, what software packages are available which can reliably test throughput approaching one gigabit? Cross-browser compatibility and 'click-here-to-test' usability should be considerations.

Submission + - Going Travelling, Any Suggestions?

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward (feel free to mock)

on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @11:20PM

Anonymous Coward (feel free to mock) writes: "I'm in a bit of a sticky situation; I'm going travelling soon and I'm still in school. Unfortunately, this means that I'm going to be missing quite a bit of the school year. My teachers have been understanding and have suggested that I simply check on their individual websites for the class lectures and assignments. Now, currently I do own a laptop but it's simply to bulky to travel around with for any amount of time — especially to places that it can be easily stolen. I was reviewing the idea of getting a PDA, such as a blackberry, but I don't know if that's the best piece of technology that's out there. I need something that has some type of word processing program, the capability to download photos or even just store photos from a digital camera and hopefully, if possible, some way to connect to the internet. Any suggestions? Or am I just kidding myself and should start preparing myself for carrying coins for Internet Cafes?"

Submission + - Sony Updates PSP, PS3 Firmware, adds rumble?

Submitted by

Guppy06

on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @08:43PM

Guppy06 writes: "Sony released new firmware for both the PSP and the PlayStation 3 today. The releases focuses on support for PlayStation games downloaded from the PlayStation Store, allowing the PS3 to play these games directly without having to transfer them to the PSP, as well as apparently allowing save data for these games to be transferred between the two. Most interesting, though, is that PS3 owners "can now use the vibration function of accessories that are for use with Playstation and Playstation 2 format software." With no USB or Bluetooth accessories for the original PlayStation (at least), this seems to suggest that new hardware is on the horizon for the PS3, but whether it's a new controller or a new adapter to connect PS2 and PS controllers hasn't been announced."

Slashdot Top Deals