BluePeppers - Slashdot User

Submission + - Apple, Google reportedly shared agreement (appleinsider.com)

Submitted by

carpenter37

on Monday August 10, 2009 @03:51PM

carpenter37 writes: "While the agreement was not written, it was considered protocol in Google's recruitment division, sources told TechCrunch. The alleged agreement between the two companies may have sparked an antitrust investigation from the U.S. Justice Department."

Submission + - Comcast Hijacking DNS w/Microsoft's Help? 2

Submitted by

Brian Olson

on Sunday August 09, 2009 @08:20PM

Brian Olson writes: "I read the article a few days ago and tested my Comcast connection for DNS hijacking and all was well. Just a little while ago I mis-typed a URL and new thing I know I'm at a Comcast search engine page. I immediately called to complain about what Comcast described as a "service" and they supposedly removed me from the list if victims. My first thought was to spam www.stophijackingmydnsqueries_comcast.com for a few days and see if that got their attention, but I'll wait to see if this "service" is actually removed.

Here's where it gets really interesting. So while capturing the traffic to get the above dns query packet, I couldn't help but lookup the response IP (208.68.139.38). I was shocked to discover that it was not a Comcast IP, since I was redirected to a Comcast search page (http://search2.comcast.com/)...but low and behold, an IP for "FAST Search & Transfer Inc." Who? Well, the organization doesn't have a webpage, nor any useful information in Google searches. Hmmmm...the only information I see is the netblock information:

RTechHandle: JHH10-ARIN
RTechName: Hutchinson, James Henry
RTechPhone: +1-781-433-8999
RTechEmail: james.hutchinson@microsoft.com

Really? Did Microsoft make some sort of backdoor deal with Comcast? I don't know...but it surely seems so to me! There's the info...maybe someone can do more with it than I."

Submission + - 42 Hot Free Linux Games (Part 1 of 3)

Submitted by Stussy on Sunday August 09, 2009 @05:25AM

Stussy writes: The myths persist, however, when it comes to Linux. In the eyes of many computer users, Linux is perceived as largely functional, mostly restricted to running servers, office tasks and web browsing.

However, there is a wide and ever growing range of native Linux games available, but given the range, it can be hard to identify which ones are worth a spin. We hope this article will unite gamers with some really exciting titles.

This article is the first in a three part series entitled 42 Hot Free Linux Games. Parts 2 and 3 will be available shortly.

Read more

Submission + - Facebook, Twitter DDOS Linked To Georgian Blogger (eweekeurope.co.uk) 1

Submitted by

hardsix

on Friday August 07, 2009 @04:35AM

hardsix writes: "Facebook has has confirmed that it also suffered a DDOS attack on Thursday and has pointed the finger at the account of one Georgian blogger — known as Cyxymu — who appears have been the target of the denial of service attack. "It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard," said Max Kelly, chief security officer at Facebook. Security researchers have pointed out that the attack appears to conicide with the anniversary of the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Georgia last year in South Ossetia. But also pointed out how fragile Twitter appears to be if an attack on one user could bring it down. "This raises the astonishing thought that a vendetta against a single user caused Twitter to crumble, forcing us to ask serious questions about the site's fragility," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security software specialist Sophos."

Submission + - Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM delayed?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07, 2009 @03:14AM

An anonymous reader writes: Most readers will know Windows 7 was made available for download yesterday to MSDN/Technet subscribers. Windows Server 2008 R2 was supposedly due for release too. It wasn't there yesterday and still isn't this morning. Yesterday morning I could have downloaded a Release Candidate, but now even that is missing. Can any conspiracy theorists help explain this?

Submission + - FDA Warning on E-cigarettes is dishonest 1

Submitted by Pessimist+Cynic on Friday August 07, 2009 @03:01AM

Pessimist+Cynic writes: ...according to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health. The FDA had first issued a warning saying that e-cigarettes are just as evil as their (what they're now being called) analog counterparts, the tobacco cigarettes. People that have already quit smoking with the help of e-cigarettes could not believe how the FDA came to the conclusion that propylene glycol + nicotine could be as harmful as the 4700 chemical compounds that can be found in cigarettes. Well, apparently neither can Dr. Whelan believe that, given the editorial she wrote for the Washington Times. Is the FDA afraid they won't be able to tax vaporizing devices as heavily as tobacco cigarettes?

Submission + - LyricWiki API killed by music publishers

Submitted by zBrain on Tuesday August 04, 2009 @05:14PM

zBrain writes: In a letter to API developers, LyricWiki has informed us that the API can no longer serve lyrics. This effectively makes many applications worthless, and removes some interesting features from many others. The question remains, what is there to gain if they allow the lyrics to be served on the web but not via an API?

Submission + - Teen dies in chinese gaming rehab camp

Submitted by on Tuesday August 04, 2009 @03:03PM

An anonymous reader writes: "A teen, who was sent to a rehabilitation camp in China to cure his internet addiction was beaten to death by his trainers. While this is considered a cure for Internet addiction, it was not what the parents of Deng Senshan, 16, had in mind when they sent him to the camp. The three supervisors who allegedly beat him to death have been arrested." Seen on: http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14916/1/

Comment So they won (Score 5, Insightful) 62

by BluePeppers on Thursday July 30, 2009 @12:21PM (#28883499) Attached to: TSA Seizes Disney World Toys

We've got to hand it to the terrorists... They're good at what they do. They set out to affect our lives in a detrimental way, and we let them do it, doing their work for them most of the time, with "anti-terror" measures and "national security" legislation.

Submission + - emacs 23 has been released (blogspot.com)

Submitted by djcb on Thursday July 30, 2009 @05:38AM

djcb writes: After only 2 years since the previous version, now emacs 23 (.1) is available. It brings many new features, of which the support for anti-aliased fonts on X may be the most visible. Also, there is support for starting emacs in the background, so you can pop up new emacs windows in the blink of an eye. There are many other bigger and smaller improvements, including support for D-Bus, Xembed, and viewing PDFs inside emacs. And not to forget, M-x butterfly. You can get emacs 23 from ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/ or one of its mirrors; alternatively, there are binary packages available, for example from Ubuntu PPA.

Submission + - HSBC drops Firefox & Safari support (ebrahim.org)

Submitted by

aliebrah

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @04:23AM

aliebrah writes: "HSBC appears to have dropped support for non-IE browsers for their Verified by Visa service. The official line taken by HSBC is that their entire online platform is "built for Internet Explorer". Other browsers such as Firefox and Safari are unsupported. When asked what Mac users should do, the reply: "use Internet Explorer". How many customers is HSBC going to alienate by this move? By many metrics, Internet Explorer's market share is now below 80% worldwide. That leaves a gaping hole for the remaining 20%+ users who aren't on IE but want to shop online."

Submission + - * Debian decides to adopt time-based release (debian.org)

Submitted by

zsau

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @04:11AM

zsau writes: "Debian, well known amongst GNU/Linux distributions as having a long and inconsistent release cycle, has just decided to adopt a two-yearly freeze cycle in the December of every odd year. Although this doesn't mean releases happen every two years or that software will be more up-to-date, it could allow some form of co-ordination with software releasers and other distributions, in addition to improving the release and upgrade process for the Debian Project and their users."

Submission + - 'Battlestar Galactica' Leads to UN Charter Change (myspace.com)

Submitted by

Jim Hutto

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @02:46AM

Jim Hutto writes: "Olmos: 'Battlestar Galactica' Prompts United Nations To Change Charter.

http://www.airlockalpha.com/node/6569

"Battlestar Galactica" has been influential in the lives of millions of fans, but probably never like this.

Becoming the first television show ever invited to speak at the United Nations last March would be enough for some people. But not series star Edward James Olmos. Instead, he was out to change the very core of the United Nations itself. And he succeeded.

"The United Nations changed their charter three weeks ago after 'Battlestar' went and spoke at the UN," Olmos told G4's "Attack of the Show." "They changed the entire understanding of their charter that was written in 1947 so that they would never use the word 'race' as a cultural determinate again. There is only one race, and that is the human race."

The news of the charter change has not been made public until that announcement, Olmos said. A search for press releases over the past seven months on the United Nations Web site produced no results for "race" and "charter," and there are no other reports that such a change has been made.

"Nobody knows that the charter has been changed," Olmos said. "It's one of the hardest things that happened to me, and it would've never happened but if it weren't for 'Battlestar.' Did they invite 'The Sopranos?' Did they invite 'The West Wing?'

"'Battlestar and its writers decided to take on what was happening now. The reconciliation between the Cylon and the human being. How did that happen? How could it happen? If the Palestinian and the Jew could only see 'Battlestar,' they would understand how to reconcile."

Olmos did not explain how he was allowed to be the first to break the news, and why it seems that nothing about the charter change was made available through the United Nations. In fact, the charter that is still published on the UN's official site still uses the word "race" as part of its cultural determinant, so it's unclear why such changes have not been reflected in official documents.

The charter was not signed in 1947, but rather on June 26, 1945, and was put into full force in October of that year. Among its purposes listed for the United Nations in Article I, it continues to state that "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction to race, sex, language, or religion."

The power to amend or modify the charter is listed in Chapter XVIII has to take place after approval by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly as well as by a vote of nine members of the Security Council. Any alterations would have to be ratified by two-thirds of the members, including all the permanent members of the Security Council.

It is not clear if such a move was made, and if so, how such a massive undertaking was not previously reported in the media.

An attempt late Monday to reach the United Nations by e-mail is pending return, as is a message to G4 asking if they had verified the statement made by Olmos during the interview."

Submission + - Everything Linux shopfront to open in Australia

Submitted by sewalg on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @02:21AM

sewalg writes: CRN reports that Babel Com has picked up the remnants of Everything Linux and plans to open a shopfront in Sydney, Australia.

From the article:

"We've picked up the remnants of the business and have turned it into an outlet for Linux. This includes notebooks (with Linux preinstalled), netbooks, hardware, books, certifications, CDs/DVDs on Linux, but also looking at Red Hat."

Submission + - @sshole Drivers Reduce Traffic Jams (physicscentral.com) 3

Submitted by

BuzzSkyline

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @01:20AM

BuzzSkyline writes: "Traffic jams are minimized if a significant fraction of drivers break the rules by doing things like passing on the wrong side or changing lanes too close to an intersection. The insight comes from a cellular automata study published this month in the journal Physical Review E. In effect, people who disregard the rules help to break up the groups that form as rule-followers clump together. The risk of jamming is lower if all people obey the rules than if they all disobey them, according to the analysis, but jamming risk is lowest when about 40 percent of people drive like jerks."

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