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Mozilla

20 Must-have Firefox Extensions 341

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-it-comes-to-this-then-does-it dept.
An anonymous reader noted that Computerworld is running a story on the 20 must have Firefox extensions. Several of my favorites are in there so I'm looking forward to playing with the ones I haven't heard of.
The Internet

Looking Inside the Second Life Data Centers 103

Posted by CmdrTaco from the lookit-all-them-wires-in-there dept.
An anonymous reader writes "InformationWeek looks inside the data centers that power the game Second Life. Tidbits from the article: The software architecture is an extension of the virtual world metaphor of Second Life. At any time, it's possible to walk into one of Second Life's two data centers, pat one of the rack-mounted servers, and say that particular server is running virtual New York, or San Francisco, or ancient Rome, and imagine itty-bitty people and buildings inside the 1U rack-mounted servers. Linden Lab, which develops and maintains Second Life, runs 2,000 Intel- and AMD-based servers in two co-location facilities in San Francisco and Dallas. And, contrary to widespread belief among Second Life users, Linden Lab has not decided whether to open-source the Second Life server software."
Windows

Prescription Meds For Vista Sleep Disorder 144

Posted by kdawson from the you-will-sleep-now-and-when-you-wake dept.
Arnold O'Connor writes "NeoSmart Technologies has compiled a list of hotfixes and patches provided by Microsoft for Windows Vista that address a large number of issues related to waking/resuming a Vista PC (both x86 and x64) from sleep or hibernation. Sleep-related disorders have plagued Vista since its release, though they were not present in earlier betas. Most of these fixes are due to be included in Windows Vista SP1 — codenamed Fiji."
Internet Explorer

Submission + - Firefox closing in on Explorer in SMB market

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Mozilla's Firefox browser is closing in on Internet Explorer's market leading position in the small-to-medium business (SMB) market, according to a survey by Toronto-based online time tracking and billing provider, FreshBooks, of 140,000 of its SMB customers. Firefox's browser market share was up by 1.35 percent in February 2007 to 38.95 percent while Internet Explorer's share dropped by 0.73 percent to 56.95 percent
Utilities (Apple)

The Best Mac OS X Software Tools 213

Posted by kdawson from the steroids dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Mac advocate John C. Welch weighs in with his list of the top 20 Mac OS X products (except Welch manages to list 22). The collection of software tools ranges from the obvious, such as Boot Camp, to the obscure but perhaps more useful — little-known apps like Peter Borg's Lingon, for creating launchd configuration files. What's on your personal list of indispensable Mac productivity aids and programming tools? Also, do you think Welch gives too much air time to built-in OS X tools at the expense of third-party products such as NetworkLocation?"
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPods helping conservation

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Sunday Star Times is reporting that the New Zealand Department of Conservation is using iPods to help resettle moved birds. The problem is that the rare Kakapo's call is localised (just as accents differ), so moving them to safer, predator-free, areas presents quite a challenge. DoC decided on using iPods to help 'anchor' the Kakapo into their new environment — and seems to be working. The Department is looking at using similar techniques for the native whitehead.
Power

Journal Journal: Freetricity? Small-scale wind & solar generator 1

Journal by zmef420

OK, so a while back now I was working on a business plan and stumbled across the website of a startup company offering a very intriguing product, a small wind and solar generator system. The product is about the size of a digital satellite dish and the basic unit is claimed to produce 300 watts and includes a 700 watt inverter. Being the impulse buyer that I am, I quickly purchased some of these units but sadly they still haven't arrived. I'm starting to worry that I've been duped. My questio
Privacy

Subliminal Messages Might Actually Work 172

Posted by kdawson from the buy-popcorn-now dept.
GrumpySimon writes "New research indicates that subliminal messages may actually work. In a paper titled Attentional Load Modulates Responses of Human Primary Visual Cortex to Invisible Stimuli, Bahrani et al. demonstrate that even though stimuli may not be available to consciousness, they are processed by the visual cortex. While I'm sure that marketing agencies all over the world are rubbing their hands in glee at this news, the authors report that there's no evidence that this can make people buy things against their will. So with any luck the use of subliminal messages in advertising will remain an urban legend."

Feed No Show: U.S. Bioterror Defenses (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The Centers for Disease Control can't show how the $5 billion given to public health departments after Sept. 11 has prepared the country for a bioterrorism attack or flu pandemic. By the Associated Press.


GNU is Not Unix

Political Leaning and Free Software 629

Posted by kdawson from the free-as-in-markets dept.
00_NOP writes "HateMyTory is the world's first political rating site and occasionally gets blasted or promoted by British bloggers on either side of the political spectrum. But here's something even more intriguing: when the right come visiting they hate the site but they are disproportionately likely to be users of free software, whether that is just Firefox on top of their Windows box, or all the way with some Linux distro. But when the left rally to the cause they are more likely than not to be proprietary software users, albeit with a big bias towards Apple. If Microsoft's defenders think free software is the road to socialism, why don't the left seem to agree? As a leftie, and a free software advocate, I find this pretty puzzling."
Education

Submission + - Is the exinction crisis real? Debate rages

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Two respected scientists say the extinction crisis is overblown in a paper published in Biotopica, launching a heated debate in conservation science circles. Their "rosy outlook" shows species extinction reaching 16-35% in tropical Africa and 21-24% in Indo-Malaya by 2030. Critics say their findings may "encourage complacency in the face of adversity" and undermine conservation efforts. The debate is largely based around computer models forecasting future forest cover.
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - UK gamers charged more for inferior PS3

Submitted by
twofish
twofish writes: "According to the Daily Telegraph Sony has said today that the European version of PlayStation 3 will play fewer PlayStation 2 games when it launches on March 23 compared with models launched earlier in Japan and America. "The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesman said. Like Microsoft, Sony seems to not have a working currency converter either and the PS3 will also be £100 more than the US version."
Security

Submission + - eBay hacker keeps busting through site's back door

Submitted by pacopico
pacopico writes: A hacker specializing in eBay cracks has once again managed to masquerade as a company official on the site's message boards, according to this story on The Register. A company spokesman denies that "Vladuz's" repeated assaults on eBay point to a larger problem with the site's security. Of course, eBay two days ago claimed to have found a way to block Vladuz altogether, only to see him pop up again. Is eBay Vladuz the online version of the Exxon Valdez?
Robotics

Submission + - Superbots Cooperate for Many Feats

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Wei-Min Shen at USC has taken a Lego approach to robots and tossed in some intelligence to create "superbots." While each autonomous module is no more talented than a Roomba or even the iDog, one piece can find another and self-assemble. Combined, they can form a wheel, climb a rope, or walk like a human. The videos show various combinations and feats.
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Blizzard Sues Bot Creator; Seeks Customer Info

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: After filing a prayer for relief to continue the selling of his WoWGlider, an automation bot for Blizzard's fanatical World of Warcraft, Michael Donnelly has again found himself in some deep water: Blizzard has retorted demanding WoWGlider be shut down, his URL, and financial compensation, but more interestingly they want all of WoWGlider's sales records. Presumably, Blizzard will cross-reference this with their current user database and ban anyone who bought the program. Furthermore, Blizzard claims that WoWGlider violates copyrights by accessing the game client's RAM space, a process which is also done by every anti-virus program. So why is there no Blizzard vs. Symantec?

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