DoraLives - Slashdot User

Submission + - flaw in way firefox updates extensions

Submitted by

Rishabh Singla

on Saturday February 10, 2007 @07:19PM

Rishabh Singla writes: "mozilla firefox has a flaw in the way it tries to update extensions when there is no active internet connection. instead of simply telling the user that there is no internet connection available, firefox throws up an incorrect error message as well as removes all the available updates from the list. this could be irksome and maybe harmful to some.
check out the details here
http://rishabhsingla.blogspot.com/2007/02/mozilla- firefoxs-way-of-updating.html"

Submission + - Have You Heard The Good News

Submitted by

fishdan

on Saturday February 10, 2007 @06:55PM

fishdan writes: "This Sunday, many Christians of varying denominations will be doing something that will surprise many /. readers. They will hold special services celebrating Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Their purpose? Refuting creationism, which claims the biblical account of creation is literally true, and which is increasingly being promoted under the guise of "intelligent design".

"For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science," says Michael Zimmerman, founder of Evolution Sunday and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis. In the Clergy Letters, Zimmerman goes on to state: "Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts."

I'm not Christian, but I think I might attend one of the services (listed on the first link) near my house to show my support for rational religion."

Submission + - Vista followup already?

Submitted by DesertBlade on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:38PM

DesertBlade writes: Looks like Microsoft is planning it's next version of windows. Okay that is not suprising, BUT it is may be released by the end of 2009! Could Vista truly be the next Windows ME?

Feed MIT Cracks Fiber-Optics Conundrum (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:12PM

Researchers say they've created a nifty optics-on-a-chip device that overcomes a major obstacle in harnessing the full power and speed of light waves. By the Associated Press.

Submission + - Beginning Lua Programming

Submitted by

Simon P. Chappell

on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:08PM

Simon P. Chappell writes: "These days, Portugal is no longer just on the map for it's fine flannel cloth. They have a few other reasons and one of them is called Lua. Lua is an open-source scripting language that was originally designed for small size and excellent portability to support it's use in embedded systems. Like anything good, it didn't take long for it to be discovered by others looking for a small and efficient scripting language.

This is definitely a book targeted at those new to Lua. But, while it begins gently, it picks up speed quite quickly and takes it's reader through a full range of Lua usage. This book is unusual, for the more mass-market beginner books, in that it does not treat the reader like an idiot. I found the tone to be very respectful of the reader's intelligence. This aspect alone, makes the book stand out in a crowded beginners market.

This book is also a very good introduction to Lua for programmers experienced with one or more other programming languages. I found it very easy to pick up the concepts with my previous programming experience.

The first chapter of most books like this, will typically cover getting setup with the language. This book delivers well, with not only explaining how to install the binary version, but also covers compilation under Unix-styled operating systems and a number of development environments for Microsoft Windows. Guidelines are given for building Lua on Windows using Visual C++, Tiny C and MinGW.

Chapter two is called "First Steps" and is a walkthrough of all of the core language. This is well done and there are plenty of examples where a Lua command is typed and the resulting display from the Lua environment is shown. Chapter three is dedicated to the art of the Lua function. Functions are first class values and have enough power and complexity that they deserve their own chapter. Did you know that Lua automatically recognises tail recursion and handles it appropriately? It does. So if your looking to experiment with some of the trendy functional techniques that tend to swamp Reddit these days, Lua would be a good place to try it.

Chapter four explores Lua's only data structure, the table. What's a table, you ask? My best description, as far as I've managed to get my head around it, would be that it's a Swiss-Army Knife style Hash Table with multiple personalities, alternatively thinking that it's an array, a list, an Erlang-style tuple or a tree structure. However you decide to use it, this chapter explains it and provides lots of examples. Chapter five brings us that ultimate datatype, the string. As with tables, Lua can do many things with the humble string and this chapter will make sure that you can work with substrings, handle user input, read and write files and use the built-in pattern matching available in the language.

Chapter six covers "Handling and Avoiding Errors". I know, I know, we don't have errors anymore, now that we've all discovered the benefits of agile development using scripting languages. Except that we do and circumstances external to our programs can still bring pain to our code. Users type the wrong things, network connections die, power can go out suddenly and, of course, sometimes there are parts of our programs that aren't as imperfect as we'd like to think they are. Chapter seven is about "Using Modules" and explains Lua's interfaces and implementations together with guidelines on modularising scripts and calling those modules.

Any agile language worth it's electrons is going to have meta-programming facilities within it. Lua has them and chapter eight is where we learn about "Extending Lua's Behaviour with Metamethods". Chapter nine examines Lua's ability to handle events using coroutines. This is a powerful feature and enables Lua applications to manage concurrent tasks with ease.

Chapter ten explores the fascinating world of Lua internals. While Lua is a scripting language, it does use a virtual machine, this chapter shows how scripts can be pre-compiled to the appropriate bytecode. It also covers memory management and implementation details for tables and strings. Chapter eleven is somewhat reference-like, covering the standard libraries supplied with Lua. Chapter twelve is a good compliment, describing some of the available libraries from the Lua community.

Chapter thirteen addresses the matter of interfacing Lua with other languages. If your language can handle C-style calling conventions, then it can be used by your Lua programs. Chapter fourteen is for everyone that wishes to store information in a database now and then. Lua has bindings for connecting to a number of popular database systems and this chapter will help you use them.

My favourite chapter is number fifteen, where using Lua for web applications is explained. There are several alternatives for the budding Lua web application programmer, ranging from that humble and faithful technique, the CGI script, to the Kepler web server environment with the convenience of LuaPages. In this highly-connected world, it is important to be able to communicate over a network and if chapter fifteen didn't tip you off, then chapter sixteen will make you absolutely certain that Lua is ready for networks. Chapter sixteen explores networking from LuaSockets to email and webpages.

Lua is very popular among video games designers. While not generally used to write the frameworks, it is often used for in-game scripting. Chapter seventeen recounts many of the ways that Lua can be used within video games. Chapter eighteen will appeal to the Palm carrying geeks in the house. If you've been looking for a programming language for your Palm PDA, then Plua may be just what you were looking for. Plua (actually Plua2, but they call it Plua) is an implementation of Lua 5.0 for the Palm OS. It gives full access to both data and graphics and is programmable on the Palm; no need to be tethered. Finally, chapter nineteen addresses the subject of "Fitting into the Lua Community".

That's a long list of chapters. Phew! After all of that, let's see what was worth noting along the way.

The writing style is good. Light without being flippant and respectful of the readers intelligence. I like that. I liked the fact that the topics were broken down into appropriately sized chapters. It meant that this book has more chapters than usual, but each one is nicely partitioned, so it doesn't feel over-whelming. I also like the fact that this book seems like it will continue to be useful in the medium term as well. Some beginners books stop being useful quite quickly after you've learned the basics from them, but this one covers quite a number of topics that will useful at the mid-level of Lua skills.

I have very little negative to say about the book. While I normally don't care for books much larger than 300 pages, this one doesn't feel like it has any gratuitous stuffing in it. There is an appendix with answers to the programming questions asked here and there in the chapters, but other than that, everything feels like it should be there.

As a typography and layout nut, I did feel that the layout was a little cramped and the primary type size was a little small. The program listings were generally well done, although I'm not sure that every single one needed a gray background to help separate it from the body text.

The title of chapter nineteen, "Fitting into the Lua Community" seemed a little patronizing to me. I understand the need for maintaining community values, but most communities do that fairly well without the aid of authors playing the heavy. Apparently the community lasted this long without the book. Let's hope they make it a little longer, now that the masses know about it.

All in all, this is a great introduction to Lua. It has solid writing and explanations of the concepts, with plenty of examples. Recommended."

Submission + - Skype's BIOS Reading Process Part of DRM

Submitted by

Juha-Matti Laurio

on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:08PM

Juha-Matti Laurio writes: "An official statement related to Skype's feature to read motherboard serial number on every startup has been released. The Chief Security Officer of the company states that the software in use 'includes a form of digital rights management functionality intended to protect commercial software, such as plug-ins, from illegal redistribution or unlicensed use.' Additionally, the newest Skype version 3.0.0.216 (released this week) no longer attemps to read the serial number. Conspiracy theories about generating an individual encryption key or tracking the users are not needed any more."

Submission + - Microsoft refuses to assist police w/hot xbox 360

Submitted by

Karzz1

on Friday February 09, 2007 @07:45PM

Karzz1 writes: "Microsoft refused New Zealand police demands for information regarding a stolen Xbox360. Apparently the hot Xbox was registered with Microsoft with details the police sought to apprehend the thief. According to Microsoft, "The privacy and safety of customer information was a "huge issue" for the company and the details could not be handed out.". Is Microsoft being truly altruistic or is there possibly something else at play here?"

Submission + - Single-celled Organisms Power Artificial Heart

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09, 2007 @06:12PM

An anonymous reader writes: Nigga, please!

Submission + - Botnet Stalkers Share Takedown Tactics at RSA

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09, 2007 @05:55PM

An anonymous reader writes: From EWeek: A pair of security researchers speaking here at the ongoing RSA Conference Feb. 7 demonstrated their techniques for catching botnet operators who use secret legions of infected computers to distribute malware programs and violent political propaganda. Addressing a packed room of conference attendees, Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Security Labs, and Wayne Porter, director of special research for the company, detailed their efforts to infiltrate the botnet community and find the people responsible for running underground networks believed to have harbored as many as 150,000 compromised computers. In the case of the other zombie net, run by a group identifying itself as the Q8Army, individuals used IM-borne adware programs to deliver malware rootkits that stole credit card information for the purpose of committing fraud. The programs also served up pop-ups that carried URLs of militant Arabic Web sites that endorse violent means for achieving "world domination," the researchers said.

Submission + - Getting What You Paid for from Dell

Submitted by

Barabbas

on Friday February 09, 2007 @05:38PM

Barabbas writes: "So, I like Dell computers. I think they run well if you don't abuse them (like everything else) and I've had reasonable success with customer service...until today. Last March, I purchased an Inspiron e1505 with a lot of pre-installed software extras (I had to spend a certain amount in order to get a refund). These programs were not out of the ordinary: PowerDVD, Sonic MyDVD, and Paint Shop Pro. Turns out, I did not receive the installation media for these programs. I read around online and the general consensus seemed to be that the installation CDs for these programs had to be requested separately (even though you pay for them when you buy the system).

Let me outline my request process (my thoughts are in parentheses):

Call #1:

Dell Rep: Can I please get your service tag?

ME: Sure, it's blah blah.

Dell Rep: Can I verify your name and address?

ME: Sure, it's blah blah.

Dell Rep: What seems to be the trouble?

ME: Well, it seems that I have a few programs running on my laptop (name the programs) that came pre-installed on my Dell and I do not have the installation media to re-install them. I would like to request the installation media.

Dell Rep: So, you need the drivers to reinstall the software?

ME: (Drivers are for hardware) No, I need the CDs to re-install these programs.

Dell Rep: Ok, I'll transfer you to technical support.

Waited forever on hold until hanging up.

Call #2:

Same interchange about address and blah blah.

Dell Rep: What seems to be the trouble?

ME: Well, I need the installation media for blah blah blah.

Dell Rep: Ok, let me transfer you to Electronics and Accessories.

Waited forever on hold until hanging up. I found out later that this person must have thought that I wanted to buy these programs, since this is what the department she was transferring me to does.

Call #3:

For the love of all that is good, my address and service tag have not changed!!!

Dell Rep: What seems to be the trouble?

ME: (Your company's helpdesk is incompetent.) I need the installation media ....

Dell Rep: Alright, sir, I can help you with that.

ME: (SHOCK) You can?

Dell Rep: But, first I'd like to know why you're re-installing.

ME: (VOMIT — it's my computer; what do you care??) I would like to change my system configuration.

Dell Rep: Yes, but is your system running slow with adware, pop-ups, viruses? Has

something been corrupted?

ME: (Gee, no one ever just re-installs their OS for no reason, I guess). Everything is fine — hardware is fine. Software is fine. I just want the installation media. I bought this software when I bought the system and I want the disks so I can re-install it.

Dell Rep: Ok, sir, what you need to do is purchase the Software Warranty and then a Support Specialist (what does that make the guy I'm talking to?) will connect remotely to your system and put it back to the way it was when you received it. Would you some time to consider purchasing the Software Warranty?

ME: (Ya, right — brain exploding) No, I don't need any time to consider it. I'm not buying anything. I've already PURCHASED the software when I bought the laptop. I just the need the CDs to re-install.

Dell Rep: Yes, sir. If it can be verified that nothing is wrong then you will not pay anything (that doesn't even make sense). Otherwise the Software Warranty will be eighty —

ME: Don't you think that if I already bought the software then I should have the right to re-install it??

Dell Rep: Ok, sir, I'm going to transfer you to customer care and you can lodge a complaint with them.

ME: (internally furious) Are you following procedure?

Dell Rep: Yes.

ME: Then tell me why I've called twice before and not been given an hassle and now I'm being told that I have to buy something?

Dell Rep: I'm transferring you now, sir.

Put on hold. Hang up.

Call #4:

Blah blah blah...

Dell Rep: What can I help you with today?

ME: (Well once upon a time, I was young and I decided to call Dell, that was many years ago...) I need some CDs...

Dell Rep: Let me see what we can do about that... > Ok, sir, you're going to have to purchase those programs separately. When you purchased the operating system, you did not get these programs to keep forever.

ME: (this is ridiculous) That doesn't make any sense. If I purchased PowerDVD from some place like Best Buy, then I would have a disk and I could re-install it all I wanted — I own the software. When I bought this system, I purchased the software. Doesn't that make sense.

Dell Rep: Yes.

ME: (AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH). Just transfer me to customer care.

Dell Rep: Alright, one moment.

Customer Care finally understood basic computing and was able to help me get things sorted out. I listed the part numbers and the software and they are sending them to me in the next 3 — 5 business days. My experience matches with a lot of other people's experiences with Dell systems. It used to be that when you purchased a computer from Dell that you received the software for everything on that system — not anymore. If you have purchased a Dell and don't have all of the software installation CDs (WARNING: all of the applications that came with your Dell are on the Dell Drivers and Application Recovery CD), then call Dell Customer Care directly at 1-800-624-9897, ext 7266966. Have your original packing slip in hand and tell them that you want the CDs to the software that came with your system (after figuring out what you're missing)."

Submission + - The Unreliability of Email

Submitted by

geekmansworld

on Friday February 09, 2007 @05:36PM

geekmansworld writes: "Our business is entirely dependent on e-mail to function. We have our own server and maintain it scrupulously to make sure we optimize legitimate receipt versus deletion of spam. All our major clients' domain names are SA whitelisted to avoid blocking. Increasingly, we've had trouble receiving messages sent through certain ISPs. We've poured over the mail logs, but the messages never even got to our servers (we have primary and secondary MX). It's no secret that spam is overwhelming these days. I wonder, is e-mail now so unreliable that it's a dead medium of communication? How are other server admins coping with email recently?"

Submission + - Get your Firefox add-ons while you still can

Submitted by

PetManimal

on Friday February 09, 2007 @05:35PM

PetManimal writes: "Mozilla is getting ready to relaunch the Firefox website on Monday, and when it does, several thousand extensions will be culled from the list. From the article:

... The site will drop marginal add-ons, as well as those no longer maintained by their creator or not updated for the browsers and e-mail clients now in use. A couple of hundred extensions will remain on the site after Monday.
"

Submission + - Mozilla Winnowing Firefox Add-ons

Submitted by Nick Number on Friday February 09, 2007 @05:08PM

Nick Number writes: According to a Computerworld story, the Mozilla Corporation will be removing many less-used and unmaintained Firefox add-ons from its website on Monday.

Submission + - Scientology Critic Reports to Usenet from Jail

Submitted by

Xenu

on Friday February 09, 2007 @04:07PM

Xenu writes: "Scientology critic and respected futurist Keith Henson, who was recently arrested on behalf of the Church of Scientology for comments made to usenet, has made his first post to the internet from jail."

EMI May Sell Entire Collection as DRM-less MP3s 188

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 09, 2007 @10:23AM from the and-away-we-go dept.

BobbyJo writes "According to the Chicago Sun-Times, EMI has been pitching the possibility of selling its entire music collection to the public in MP3 form ... without Digital Rights Management protections. According to the article, several other major music companies have considered this same route, but none as far as EMI. The reasons, of course, have nothing to do with taking a moral stand; EMI wants to compete with Apple. 'The London-based EMI is believed to have held talks with a wide range of online retailers that compete with Apple's iTunes. Those competing retailers include RealNetworks Inc., eMusic.com, MusicNet Inc. and Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks. People familiar with the matter cautioned that EMI could still abandon the proposed strategy before implementing it. A decision about whether to keep pursuing the idea could come as soon as today.'"

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