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Software

Submission + - UK government rejects software patents

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes: The governments new epetition system has received a response from the prime minister with regard to their current stand on software patents in the UK....

"The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software."

Another response on a petition of open source software use in the government was also released which explains the governments stance on open standards.
The Internet

Submission + - CGI Webserver ported to 8052 Microcontroller

Submitted by Marvin TPA
Marvin TPA writes: Adam Dunkels' astonishing open-source uIP v0.9 TCP/IP stack has recently been ported to run on the tiny 8-bit 8052 microcontroller. Murray R. Van Luyn's implementation runs the full CGI Webserver application on an SOIC microcontroller chip no larger than a postage stamp! Using just over 1200 bytes of RAM the port delivers SLIP protocol connectivity, and when combined with a Realtek RTL8019AS network interface card it connects directly to the web via Ethernet.
The Matrix

Submission + - Do we need to make voting mandatory?

Submitted by
gd23ka
gd23ka writes: "Australia and Belgium force their electorate to the ballot boxes. Disaffected in Australia and don't want to get out of bed on election day? Pay a fine or go to jail or at least explain why you couldn't come. With these laws on their books both countries enjoy a high percentage of participation in their elections. Proponents say that forced participation in the elections strengthens democracy. What are your thoughts on the matter? You can read Slate's opinion piece first or tell me right away: Is mandatory voting a good idea for America?"
Security

Submission + - Trojan that Harnesses Webmail

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new trojan pretending to be a video postcard is able to inject messages directly into your outgoing email as you send it if you use webmail from Tiscali, Earthlink, Comcast, Bellsouth, Gmail, Rambler, FastMail, Care2, mail.com, Hotmail, Yahoo, Lycos, AOL, or mail.ru. In addition, it is able to inject text into postings posted to bulletin boards like vBulletin and phpBB and also IM messages.
Microsoft

Submission + - Open-source vs. Microsoft in Australian University

Submitted by
AlexGr
AlexGr writes: "ZDNet Australia, By David Braue Organizations considering a change of productivity suites may do well to follow the example of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which has taken a cautious approach to Microsoft Office 2007 and instead focused on sprucing up its back-end messaging environment. The university, which has more than 40,000 students in a variety of disciplines, began revisiting its messaging environment — a concatenation of standalone best-of-breed products that were poorly integrated — after a Gartner review suggested it encourage collaboration by embracing unified messaging. http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Despi te_open_source_ideology_QUT_embraces_Microsoft_int egration/0,139023769,339273682,00.htm"
Google

Submission + - Google: Don't blame heat for disk drive failures

Submitted by
BobB
BobB writes: "Temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit may not be damaging to disk drives, according to new research by Google engineers which casts doubt on previous findings linking heat to elevated failure rates. After studying five years worth of monitoring statistics from Google's massive data centers, researchers say they could find no consistent pattern linking failure rates to high temperatures or high utilization levels. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/022607-googl e-disk-drives.html"
Security

Submission + - Note to new Linux users: No antivirus

Submitted by
Cope57
Cope57 writes: "Linux.com | Note to new Linux users: No antivirus
By: Joe Barr"


Savvy Windows users have to watch their virus checkers as closely as the head nurse in the ICU keeps an eye on patient monitors. Often, the buzz in the Windows security world is about which protection-for-profit firm was the first to discover and offer protection for the malware du jour — or should I say malware de l'heure? The only thing better than having backed the winning Super Bowl team come Monday morning at the office coffeepot is having the virus checker you use be the one winning the malware sweepstakes that weekend.

If a rogue program finds a crack in your Windows armor, paying $200 per infection to have your machine scrubbed and sanitized by the local goon^H^H^H^H geek squad not only helps to reinforce the notion that you have to have malware protection, but that it has to be the right protection, too. The malware firms are aware of this, and all of their advertising plays upon the insecurity fears of Windows users and the paranoia that results. Chronic exposure and vulnerability to malware has conditioned Windows users to accept this security tax.

It's no wonder, then, that when Windows users are finally able to break their chains and experience freedom on a Linux desktop, they stare at me in disbelief when I tell them to lay that burden down. They are reluctant to stop totin' that load. They have come to expect to pay a toll for a modicum of security.

I try to explain that permissions on Linux make such tribute unnecessary. Without quibbling over the definitions of viruses and trojans, I tell them that neither can execute on your machine unless you explicitly give them permission to do so.

Permissions on Linux are universal. They cover three things you can do with files: read, write, and execute. Not only that, they come in three levels: for the root user, for the individual user who is signed in, and for the rest of the world. Typically, software that can impact the system as a whole requires root privileges to run.

Microsoft designed Windows to enable outsiders to execute software on your system. The company justifies that design by saying it enriches the user experience if a Web site can do "cool" things on your desktop. It should be clear by now that the only people being enriched by that design decision are those who make a buck providing additional security or repairing the damage to systems caused by it.

Malware in Windows Land is usually spread by email clients, browser bits, or IM clients, which graciously accept the poisoned fruit from others, then neatly deposit it on their masters' systems, where malware authors know it will likely be executed and do their bidding — without ever asking permission.

Some malware programs require that you open an attachment. Others don't even require that user error. By hook or by crook, malware on Windows often gets executed, infecting the local system first, then spreading itself to others. What a terrible neighborhood. I'm glad I don't live there.

On Linux, there is built-in protection against such craft. Newly deposited files from your email client or Web browser are not given execute privileges. Cleverly renaming executable files as something else doesn't matter, because Linux and its applications don't depend on file extensions to identify the properties of a file, so they won't mistakenly execute malware as they interact with it.

Whether newcomers grok permissions or not, I try to explain the bottom line to them: that because they have chosen Linux, they are now free of having to pay either a security tax up front to protect themselves from malware, or one after the fact to have their systems sterilized after having been infected.

So Linux is bulletproof? No. Bulletproof is one of the last stages of drunkenness, not a state of security. Linux users, like users on every operating system, must always be aware of security issues. They must act intelligently to keep their systems safe and secure. They should not run programs with root privileges when they are not required, and they should apply security patches regularly.

Misleading claims and false advertising by virus protection rackets to the contrary, you simply don't need antivirus products to keep your Linux box free of malware.

"Original post at Linux.com"
Communications

T-Mobile Bans Others' Apps On Their Phones 349

Posted by kdawson from the get-less dept.
cshamis writes "T-Mobile has recently changed their policies and now tell their customers with appropriate data plans and with Java-Micro-App-capable T-Mobile phones: no third-party network applications. You can, of course, still use their incredibly clunky and crippled built-in WAP browsers, but GoogleMaps and OperaMini are left high and dry. Would anyone care to speculate if this move is likely to retain or repel customers?"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Using free wireless at library described as theft

Submitted by
Robert Carter
Robert Carter writes: "According to the Anchorage Daily News (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8667098p-855 9268c.html) a Man's laptop was taken for using free wireless outside of a library in Palmer. What does this say about the liability of free or municipal hotspots for informing that unauthorized use is prohibited?"
Businesses

Submission + - Violation of Consumer Protection Laws and Comcast?

Submitted by
spotdog14
spotdog14 writes: "Recently in the East Lansing, MI market Comcast has upgraded their billing system. Before this "upgrade" subscribers to Basic/extended services could rent an HD cable box and receive what HD channels that were offered from their existing service (ie: if you got ESPN, you could get ESPN HD). Now Comcast alleges that the way it is now is the way it has always been, where in order to get ESPN HD you must subscribe to "Digital Classics" package on top of your basic/extended package. Comcast has gone as far as accusing myself of stealing cable because i got channels 202-209 (in the local EL market) even though i pay over $142 a month for cable/internet service. Is this a violation of my consumer protection rights? It seems to be, when calling tech support i get a different answer each time i call, not to mention being accused of stealing. I have the brochure when i first signed up for my HD service that clearly states that "High Definition TV channels are available to specific service level" and that means that if you subscribe to what ever channels, that if they are available in HD, then you would get them. The new brochure states that "A subscription to Digital Classics is required to receive ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, INHD, INHD 2." Can they change service requirements without informing those who subscribe to them? Follow the topic over at the AVS Forums here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=98 84760&&#post9884760 Let me know what i should do?"
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - "Ode to the Extra Life", a must-read for g

Submitted by
Mike Ferry
Mike Ferry writes: "(Taken from http://www.destructoid.com/ode-to-the-extra-life-3 0050.phtml)
—

Oh, extra life, how we adore thee. You're always there to pick us back up when we have fallen. You're always there to heal our every wound up good as new. You are a stalwart companion and an indispensible element in fighting the good fight even when the chips are down. Oh, extra life, how could we ever have lived (again) without you?

We couldn't. Could you imagine if the "extra life" was never realized? Everybody deserves a second (or third) chance, don'tcha think? That is one of the founding principles behind the extra life. Retrospectively, the extra life was born from a few other defining factors.

Origins of the Extra Life

For starters, the thought of giving players extra chances after failing was primarily found in pinball machines before anything else. The idea of giving three balls, instead of just one, prolonged the experience and also gave the player a sense of comfort in the beginning and a sense of urgency when their last ball was in play.

From there on, "extended play" was soon adopted by the arcade industry to entice players to spend more money and continue playing. Many arcade games of the 1980's offered rewards of an extra life for achieveing certain milestones in their point scores. For example, Namco's Galaga gave the player an extra life after reaching 20,000 points. In this way, the player's ability is being acknowledged and thus creating a feeling of worth for the actions that he/she is doing. This, in turn, creates a feeling of gratification that makes the overall experience that much more enjoyable. As we all know, people will go out of their way and spend large sums of money for any sort of gratification. Arcade games were no different.

Evolution of the Extra Life

Over the years, the extra life has taken on many forms, shapes, and sizes. The iconic "1up Mushroom" from Super Mario Bros. is surely a welcome sight to any gamer. However, the fasion in which it is obtained greatly differs from the old days of simply scoring enough points. Rather, they were hidden within the levels, waiting to be found by thorough players. As you can see, the fundamental idea of rewarding players with extra lives has not changed, but the methods in which they are awarded has. Today, this is now a fairly common practice among most games that have some sort of "lives" based system. The extra life is as much a fixture in gaming as water is a fixture in life.

Another evolution of this basic principal is found in games with "respawning." Though there are no set amount of "lives" per se, there is, however, a system in which play is continued even after a loss or failure to complete a certain task has occured. Respawning may be completely different from the classic way of continuing play, but it was certainly influenced by it.

Living the Extra Life... and taking it for granted.

You know, it sure is great to be living in a world where you're given extra chances, no matter how bad you screw up. But what if the extra life was never implemented? What if you only had a single chance to beat an entire game, and no way to increase those chances? Needless to say that games would have definitely become far too difficult for most to pick up. Perhaps the arcade craze of the 1980's would never even have happened because people would be too frustrated to pump any more money into the machine after losing so quickly and so often. It's a stretch, but if this would have happened, then our favorite past-time may not have come as far as it is now. Kinda makes you rethink about the importance of that "1up" you just scored by getting 20,000 points.

Indeed, we may have taken the extra life for granted. But rest assured, the extra life does not take us for granted. Because without the players, it holds no value. Just remember that the next time you get an extra life, a mushroom, respawn, or whatever keeps you going after you would've been long gone, that it holds a special place in the history of gaming and should be respected as such."
Wii

Submission + - The 12 Awesomest Games of 2010

Submitted by ipsofacto
ipsofacto writes: Get in line now! These games will be flying off the shelves in just a few years. Wii games, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC games that you have to see to believe.
Linux Business

Submission + - Dell takes small steps toward Linux

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Dell has acknowledged that 83,000 users have urged it to sell PCs with Linux pre-installed, but it has fallen short of accepting their suggestion. The requests were made through a new user forum, Dell IdeaStorm, which was launched by Dell 10 days ago, shortly after Michael Dell regained the chief executive's seat. Dell IdeaStorm gives users the chance to tell the PC vendor what kind of systems it should offer.
The Courts

Bloggers Immune From Suits Against Commenters 142

Posted by kdawson from the common-carrier dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Suppose a commenter posts a libelous comment here at Slashdot. Can Slashdot and its owners be sued for defamation? A federal appeals court just held that no, they cannot. The court noted that a federal law was designed to ensure that 'within broad limits, message board operators would not be held responsible for the postings made by others on that board,' adding that, were the law otherwise, it would have an 'obvious chilling effect' on blogger speech."

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