Neuropol - Slashdot User

Submission + - Banks dropping MS-Money and Quicken features

Submitted by dotslash on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:58PM

dotslash writes: Nemertes Research reports the disturbing response of banks to banking regulations aimed at identity theft: Dropping support for MS-Money and Quicken features! .

As of the end of the year, many banks may be dropping support for online direct connections from Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken while scrambling to comply with new banking regulations. If you are a user of these software applications you may find that you lose features either temporarily or permanently. Features based on direct connections from the software to the bank, such as bill-pay, automatic statement downloads and reconciliations and money transfers will no longer be supported by some banks.

Here's an excerpt of email sent to HSBC customers:

"On December 10, 2006, you will no longer be able to use the DirectConnect feature of Quicken and Money to connect to HSBC's Personal Internet Banking service. However, you can still download your HSBC transactions into your Quicken and Money software using the WebConnect feature. Simply log on to Personal Internet Banking to perform your banking transactions, select "View Accounts", and then "Download a File." Your account transactions can then be imported into your Quicken and Money software."

Submission + - Finding info on old tech

Submitted by dcsmith on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:53PM

dcsmith writes: While cleaning up (read: rearranging and justifying not throwing anything away) my den tonight, I ran across a web cam from an old Toshiba Tecra 780 laptop. I don't have the laptop or the manuals any more, and I don't recognize the connection type. Googling the part number (ZA1407P01) returned a bunch of sites that purportedly have this camera for sale, but nothing about the specs. Toshiba's site was void of specification goodness as well.

Where might I find info on this device? Are there any repositories of obsolete technology information out there somewhere?

Submission + - Writing to NTFS in Ubuntu & Debian

Submitted by antidrugue on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:39PM

antidrugue writes: Nothing new perhaps, but are you doing it ? A could-not-be-simpler guide on how to write to NTFS (Windows) partitions in Debian & Ubuntu. The latest driver from the Linux-NTFS project makes writing to NTFS both safe and easy. I've tested this new NTFS-3g driver for months now. My verdict : ready for prime time !

Read more at Techno Wizah

Journal Journal: Writing to NTFS in Ubuntu & Debian

Journal by antidrugue on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:39PM

Nothing new perhaps, but are you doing it ? A could-not-be-simpler guide on how to write to NTFS (Windows) partitions in Debian & Ubuntu. The latest driver from the Linux-NTFS project makes writing to NTFS both safe and easy. I've tested this new NTFS-3g driver for months now. My verdict : ready for prime time !

Submission + - Microsoft Supports SuSE

Submitted by the children on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:34PM

the children writes: CNN.com reports that "Microsoft Corp. has embraced Novell Inc.'s open-source software platform". From the article: The agreement announced Thursday between the world's largest seller of patent-protected software and a leader in the open-source software movement has potentially important business, technical and legal implications.

"This builds a very important intellectual-property bridge between the open source and proprietary sides of software," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said shortly before the companies formally announced their alliance in San Francisco.

Submission + - Dynamic Physical Rendering

Submitted by

bwogowly

on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:34PM

bwogowly writes: "http://www.intel.com/research/dpr.htm Intel and Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to make what looks to be like the Replicators from Stargate, the Sci-Fi show."

Bruce Schneier On Perceived and Real Risks 324

Posted by Zonk on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:32PM from the hit-me-with-your-best-shot dept.

prostoalex writes "Encryption guru Bruce Schneier takes a look at perceived and actual risks with some insightful commentary on how warped the public perception of risks may be: '...we worry more about anthrax (with an annual death toll of roughly zero) than influenza (with an annual death toll of a quarter-million to a half-million people). Influenza is a natural accident, anthrax is an intentional action, and the smallest action captures our attention in a way that the largest accident doesn't. If two airplanes had been hit by lightning and crashed into a New York skyscraper, few of us would be able to name the date on which it happened.'"

Submission + - How to gag your enemies using the DMCA

Submitted by

Diego Calleja

on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:30PM

Diego Calleja writes: "The Register has published a interesting history of how their site was about to be taken off because of a DMCA complaint. The published a photo without having permissions and despite of addressing the problem by email, the photo owner fired off a DMCA takedown notice. It isn't amazing how fast works justice depending on the subject? "So our entire site would have been closed for business, all because of one photograph — admittedly not ours to republish. This did not strike us an entirely proportionate response, and it brought home to us how easy it is to use the DMCA to ambush websites housed in the US or hosted overseas by companies headquartered in the US. We are considering our options for ensuring that we do not face such a situation again""

Submission + - Why Do Animals Play Dead?

Submitted by

Ant

on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:17PM

Ant writes: "This Science News article tries to answer on why some animals play dead when threatened by a predator. The commonly held belief is that many animals including snakes, bison, chickens, rabbits, and, of course, opposum act dead to discourage those who would eat them. Recent research suggests that this isn't always the case. Many of these animals freeze when a predator appears, and standard wisdom maintains that predators lose interest in prey that doesn't move. Yet some biologists now question that truism and are looking for a fuller explanation for the roles that feigned death might play in animal interactions. It's not easy to study predator-prey interactions. Modern research guidelines discourage handing over birds and mice for carnivores to kill. So, the newest insights are coming from creatures that don't attract such scruples. For playing dead, insects are the new opossums... Seen on Boing Boing."

Submission + - Gromozon rootkit widespread in Italy

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:09PM

Anonymous writes: Gromozon is a vicious piece of malware which installs on a users PC and does almost every craft trick available to avoid detection and removal, including creating its own user account, using rootkit technology, renaming its files, and a whole host of other nasty things. And its certainly popping up on the radar out there in the security community. But now these Gromozon jerks have gone a step further making the program itself seem like its authored by someone else a legitimate security researcher. Of all things, the authors of this malware have inserted code in Gromozon which implicates Marco Giuliani of authoring it! Marco is a perfectly upstanding security researcher who, in fact, created a Gromozon removal tool for PrevX. The whole story is readable here http://www.pcalsicuro.com/main/2006/11/gromozon-or a-va-sul-personale/ and an analysis of this threat, widespread in Italy and in other countries but still underestimated by italian and international press, can be read here http://www.pcalsicuro.com/gromozon.pdf

Submission + - Covert Censorship by the Physics Preprint Archive

Submitted by

haselhurst

on Friday November 03, 2006 @09:03PM

haselhurst writes: "Academic Censorship: Physics Preprint Archive In a time of universal deceit — telling the truth is a revolutionary act. (George Orwell) Hi Everyone, This page on censorship in Physics is here to show people that there are serious problems in getting new knowledge published in Journals (particularly if it contradicts current paradigm of 'particles' and 'fields', where it is just assumed that particle / wave duality is insolvable, waves are just 'probability waves', etc.). The particular example I have used relates to problems that Nobel Physics Laureate Brian Josephson had in getting articles published. But the problem is endemic and applies equally to philosophy. The solution!? I suspect the Internet is changing how new knowledge evolves into society — time will tell how much this changes the system (we live in hope!). Below you will find a good article from Nobel Physicist Brian Josephson, followed by an example of the nonsense that does actually get published in the Physics Archive. At the end there are some good quotes on censorship / resistance to new ideas which make us realise that this is not a 'conspiracy', it is just human nature, and many great minds of the past have experienced the same problems. Geoff Haselhurst http://www.spaceandmotion.com/physics-censorship-n obel-prize-laureate.htm"

Submission + - Microsoft Embraces Open Source

Submitted by

Gunny

on Friday November 03, 2006 @08:48PM

Gunny writes: "In a joint letter to the Open Source Community, Microsoft and Novell announced that they would be directly collaborating together on open source projects, namely the use of mixed Linux/Windows IT solutions. From the article:

Why is Microsoft doing this? Because they recognize that customers today are deploying mixed source solutions — Windows and Linux — and they want these solutions to work well together. This will help Microsoft by making it easier for Linux customers to deploy Windows in their Linux environments. Microsoft is committing significant resources to promote joint Windows-Linux solutions. This is all about co-existence and giving customers greater choice.

More importantly, Microsoft has pledged not to assert its patents against individual, non-commercial open source developers, as part of it's agreement with Novell. Microsoft will recommend SUSE Enterprise Linux to it's customers who want Linux solutions."

Submission + - Government Clearance to be Required to Leave US

Submitted by adam.dorsey on Friday November 03, 2006 @08:33PM

adam.dorsey writes: If the Department of Homeland Security gets its way, you will be required to pass a background check in order to leave or enter the United States via airliner or cruise ship. The actual proposal can be found here. (Warning: PDF file)

From the bill:
"Alternatively, air carriers may adopt, in conjunction with CBP, APIS Quick Query (AQQ) — a system that
allows the carriers to vet passengers individually during the check-in process. These changes will enhance the ability of CBP and other law enforcement agencies to plan and coordinate a more effective response to intercept high-risk individuals before boarding aircraft and before vessels depart." ...
"These proposed changes would further enhance the government's capability to counter terrorist threats to the United States, the carrier industry, and the
international traveling public by increasing that capability to a level necessary to meet more fully the protective purpose of the statutory requirements of section 115 of the Aviation Transportation Security Act, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Further background on the purpose and need may be found in the preamble to this proposed rule." (emphasis mine.)

Kinda creepy, huh? At least we'll stop them damned terrorists, right? Right?

Submission + - Why Gaming Sucks On Linux

Submitted by

DeepBlueGlow

on Friday November 03, 2006 @08:20PM

DeepBlueGlow writes: "ExtremeTech has published an interesting article on why gaming sucks on Linux. The article (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,204751 3,00.asp) goes on and talks about author's experiences trying to run games on Linux, and the final verdict is: "So where does all of this leave Linux gamers? One word: Windows.""

Submission + - Former Gizmondo CEO fraud trial gets messier

Submitted by

BigVig209

on Friday November 03, 2006 @08:12PM

BigVig209 writes: "As reported by the Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-ex-ferra ri3nov11,1,2636464.story?coll=chi-news-hed, Bo Stefan Eriksson's theft and embezzlement trial ended in deadlock today forcing the judge to declare a mistrial. This is a follow-up to the Oct. 4 slashdot article, Gizmondo's Spectacular Explosion, http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/04/ 1732202."

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