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United Kingdom

Submission + - British ISPs Favour Well-Connected Customers (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by scurtis
scurtis writes: An insider has told eWEEK Europe that some Internet service providers in the UK only sign-up customers who can be guaranteed a good service, in order to improve average speed claims. The revelation comes after the regulator Ofcom criticised broadband service providers earlier this week for not delivering the speeds promised to consumers. Meanwhile, TalkTalk’s chairman Charles Dunstone has argued that Ofcom could be doing a lot more to push BT — as the operator of the copper infrastructure — to improve maintenance of the lines and its communication with fellow service providers.
Idle

Submission + - Supermarket Backs Squirrel Meat Sales Amid Protest

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "BBC reports that the owner of a supermarket in Crouch End, North London defends selling squirrel meat as a sustainable way of feeding people, says it has a "lovely" taste, and predicts that more people will eat squirrel in the future. "I think it's lovely. It's a bit like rabbit. I think there will be a lot of fuss about this now, but in a few years it will become accepted practice that we eat squirrels. People don't bat an eyelid now about eating rabbit," says Andrew Thornton owner of a Budgens supermarket adding that squirrel meat is more sustainable than beef and that the squirrels will be culled anyway. "It takes about 15 tonnes of grain to produce one tonne of beef, which is not sustainable." But not everyone is happy with the sale of squirrel meat and the animal welfare group Viva accuses Budgens of profiting from a wildlife massacre. "If this store is attempting to stand out from the crowd by selling squirrel, the only message they are giving out is that they are happy to have the blood of a beautiful wild animal on their hands for the sake of a few quid," says Viva founder and director, Juliet Gellatley."
Earth

Submission + - Global warming 'undeniable,' report says (www.cbc.ca) 1

Submitted by BergZ
BergZ writes: Scientists from around the world are providing even more evidence of global warming.
"A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record," the annual State of the Climate report declares.
Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, including Canada, the report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its analysis of 10 indicators that are "clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable."
Books

Submission + - A New Book About Classic Graphic Adventure Games (blogoscoped.com)

Submitted by j_philipp
j_philipp writes: As a fan of the genre, I've compiled and edited a book called "Graphic Adventures: Being a Mostly Correct History of the Adventure Game Classics By Lucasfilm, Sierra and Others, from the Pages of Wikipedia". As the title says, it's collected from the pages of Wikipedia, with slight or heavy editing as well as additional material — depending on what was needed to make it work in book form — and with many additional creator interviews I conducted with people like Al Lowe (Leisure Suit Larry) or David Fox (Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken...). There's also many screenshots from the games. If you liked to play Loom, Monkey Island, Space Quest, Myst and many others, perhaps this is something of interest... and because the book is GNU-licensed, you can grab the free download if you like.

Submission + - How shape-shifting dinosaurs deceived us

Submitted by eagledck
eagledck writes: DINOSAURS were shape-shifters. Their skulls underwent extreme changes throughout their lives, growing larger, sprouting horns then reabsorbing them, and changing shape so radically that different stages look to us like different species.This discovery comes from a study of the iconic dinosaur triceratops and its close relative torosaurus. Their skulls are markedly different but are actually from the very same species, argue John Scannella and Jack Horner at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
Security

Submission + - Study: Hackers Aren't Exploiting Software Bugs (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: In its annual report on data breaches, Verizon found in 2009, there was not a 'single confirmed intrusion that exploited a patchable vulnerability.' The finding has caused Verizon to question how businesses should approach patching: 'We've observed companies that were hell-bent on getting patch x deployed by week's end but hadn't even glanced at their log files in months,' the report said. 'This kind of balance isn't healthy. Therefore, we continue to maintain that patching strategies should focus on coverage and consistency rather than raw speed.'

Submission + - Ex-BT Futurologist : Sentient Entities By 2015 (itproportal.com)

Submitted by siliconbits
siliconbits writes: Fujitsu asked BT's former Futurologist, Ian Pearson, to write a report on how technology is influencing our lives. He still believes, like Kurzweil, that the day when machines will become sentient is not far. Indeed he says that the so called technological singularity will happen as early as 2015.
Open Source

Submission + - Could open source render Facebook the next AOL? (computerworld.com)

Submitted by joabj
joabj writes: Now that Facebook has amassed more than 500 million users, a growing number of open source social networking developers are wondering if Facebook's photo sharing, status updates and other features wouldn't work better as Internet-wide standardized services. At the OSCON conference last week, the head of Identi.ca, an open source Twitter-like microblogging service, likened today's social networking services to the enormously proprietary online services of the early 1990s, like AOL or Prodigy. He suggested that just like SMTP and Sendmail standardized what were previously propriety e-mail services, so too could open source social networking stacks, like OStatus, render walled garden services like Facebook obsolete.

Comment OMG! Whatever shall we do? (Score 4, Insightful) 294

by Nitewing98 (#32935330) Attached to: Motorola Says eFuse Doesn't Permanently Brick Phones
If this was the iPhone they were talking about, there would be front page stories in all the major newspapers and websites saying what a crappy company Apple is for locking down their device. Kind of funny when the shoe's on the other foot, isn't it? As Jobs pointed out today, the iPhone 4 has only been out 22 days and the news media was having a conniption making the antenna issue "major news." (hint: "Major news" is the war in Afghanistan and the Gulf of Mexico mess). In fact, since the whole point of Android was to be open-source (as opposed to Apple's "Death grip" on developers), it's kind of funny that Motorola feels also that there are limits to what you should be able to do with your phone.

Comment Re:Sense of humor = 0 (Score 1) 139

by Nitewing98 (#32408278) Attached to: Iron Baby
No, you're right, it's not about RANDOM video clips. This, however, involves both comics (a known geek-related item) and some high-tech wizardry (also within geek purview). This isn't "Aunt Linda drops the potato salad." There are relevant aspects to this post that speak for themselves. Seriously, not sure what prompted such a backlash. It's not like /. is going to become YouTube.

Comment Sense of humor = 0 (Score 2, Interesting) 139

by Nitewing98 (#32377114) Attached to: Iron Baby
Geez, you guys are grumpy in the morning. Get a cup of coffee (or stop drinking coffee). This is funny. Anyone that can't see that is suffering from a severe lack of humanity. Hey, IRON BABY! You're welcome to come to my house and take care of that stupid dog next door any time. Rock on!

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