stony3k - Slashdot User

Submission + - High-Tech Hobbies For Geeks 3

Submitted by MotorMachineMercenar on Monday November 12, 2007 @02:39PM

MotorMachineMercenar writes: I'm a thirty-something geek who works in finance, plays computer games and wastes time on the internet — ie. I spend pretty much all my time in front of a screen. Lately I've started looking for a hobby, something outside the slouching-in-front-of-the-computer realm, and hopefully something to do with my hands with concrete stuff. I'm not talking about the gym, martial arts, photography or books (do that already), but something novel, high-tech and creative. The potential to actually make new discoveries applicable in the real world would be a huge benefit. The most appealing choice I've found thus far is BEAM robotics, although I'm quite skeptical of the potential for new discoveries. So perhaps a robosoccer challenge would be a better option. Amateur rocketry sounds like fun, but I'd like to keep traveling without being subjected to a "routine" cavity search.

Submission + - Is "Non Commercial" License Open Source? 4

Submitted by

wacco webstack

on Monday November 12, 2007 @02:05PM

wacco webstack writes: "On OSNews the issue has been brought up that project VGA might not be using a license that is following the Open Source Definition because I included a "Non Commerical" clause. At the moment, all information is licensed under BY-NC-SA 3.0 but I'm willing to switch to GPL. Being that this project is developing an hardware platform however, I don't know if the GPL will be able to protect my rights. With the schematic and soon the board layout released to the public it's very easy for other companies to make 'clones' which don't support the open source community. Is there an open source license specifically dealing with hardware, or will the GPL suffice?"

Submission + - Auctioning H-1B Visas Instead of Complaining

Submitted by

Chris Chiasson

on Wednesday September 19, 2007 @06:01PM

Chris Chiasson writes: "Every year, we hear about technology companies complaining that they can't find enough skilled workers in America to fill their open positions. Every year, we hear accusations that these companies just want to spend less on payroll by hiring foreign workers. So, my question to you is, instead of paying a flat fee for workers to acquire these visas, why not subject the visa slots to auctions? By tying the slots to auctions, I think we could be more sure that companies that really need the foreign workers they say they do — since they would likely be paying through the nose. Also, it could give a cost advantage to American workers. The government would probably like the proposal since it would result in more revenue. What do you think?"

Submission + - Online annotation or commentary systems? (sancairodicopenhagen.com)

Submitted by

MadFarmAnimalz

on Monday September 03, 2007 @01:59AM

MadFarmAnimalz writes: "I recently released my debut novel online under a Creative Commons license. I am reasonably satisfied with how it is being received so far, but I am interested in taking it a step further. I very much liked the system the FSF used for commentary on the GPLv3 drafts (called stet), but the code is not ready for wider deployment. I found a few alternative systems such as python-based Commentary which seems to be unmaintained, and marginalia which doesn't work as stably as one would hope. What (preferably free) software exists out there which enables online annotation and commentary, and which hopefully renders a "heatmap" of the discussion around the document?"

Submission + - what are the current do-not-miss PC games?

Submitted by

boxlight

on Thursday August 09, 2007 @03:06PM

boxlight writes: "Hi Slashdot. I'm looking at getting a new game or two for my PC. The last game I played and got severely addicted to was Call Of Duty: United Offensive. (I tried Call Of Duty 2 but didn't like it as much because the online maps were smaller and they took out the vehicles.) Before that the only other game I liked was X-Wing, and I did play a little bit of the original SimCity way back when.

So my question for Slashdot is what are the current coolest games. I tend to prefer games that require a little more strategy than an arcade style shoot-em-up. I'd really like to try something new and I'm up for anything. Thanks!"

Submission + - "All the World's Informaiton" a good thin

Submitted by pcause on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @07:36AM

pcause writes: Google talks about its mission being making all the world's information available. While this sounds like a great goal, I got to thinking whether or not this is really such a good thing. For example, do we want terrorists and rogue to have easy access materials about how to make dirty bombs and nuclear weapons? Is it a good thing to make it easier for identity thieves to get the data they need? Do we want it to be easy for minors to have access to pornography that makes even worldly 40 year olds blush? You get the idea.

We often find that grand goals and plans have unintended consequences. Splitting the atom was a great scientific challenge, but gave us nuclear weapons. Is it irresponsible for Google and others to rush forward on this quest for universal access to all information without spending equal effort on understanding the consequences of the effort and mitigating some of the worst consequences? Isn't that your responsibility if you profess to "Do no evil"?

Submission + - Unhacking a G-Mail account?

Submitted by

TokyoShoe

on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @05:31PM

TokyoShoe writes: "I have recently had my G-Mail account hacked, most probably for no reasons beyond my own stupidity. That being said, I am trying to find ways to get this account back from out of the Hacker's hands. They have changed the password for the account, and G-Mail will not bring up my security questions to force a password reset until after 5 days of inactivity. This means as long as the Hacker keeps using my account, I can never get it back! I have filled out Security Submission forms for Gmail Tech Support, documenting my account's details and a request to help me reclaim it. The G-Mail discussion forums are repleat with stories of folks with hacked G-Mail accounts and how they have been waiting months to no avail, never getting even an answer from the Gmail Support Team. Are there any other methods of getting my account back, or better yet getting in touch with Gmail Tech Support?"

Submission + - Open Source coding as a Charitable Tax Deduction

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 12, 2007 @12:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: Here's my Ask Slashdot (no links to my blog or homepage, as I don't want my server to die):

Speaking for U.S. tax law only, there is something called an "in-kind contribution of professional services." This allows people with particular skills to perform a service (design, coding, carpentry, etc.) for a registered not-for-profit, receive a letter from the NFP stating the market value of the service provided, then itemize that value in the charitable donations section of their Federal income tax return. Is there any reason why coders on open source projects who choose to donate their personal copyright (i.e., their coding) to the main project (as long as it is a registered non-profit) couldn't claim a tax deduction for a gift of in-kind professional services? If so, this could provide a measure of compensation to open source coders.

Submission + - Massachusetts gives in to Microsoft

Submitted by

taoman1

on Monday July 02, 2007 @11:02PM

taoman1 writes: "Massachusetts is back on the Microsoft bandwagon. Nearly two years ago, the US state unveiled a policy that required its agencies to abandon Microsoft's Office applications in favor of apps that use "open" standards, such as the OpenDocument format (ODF). Now, the state's Information Technology Division has released a draft proposal that would approve Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format as an open standard, bowing to pressure from Microsoft and the Massachusetts state legislature."

Submission + - Parallels Releases WineD3D Source Code (winehq.org)

Submitted by something_wicked_thi on Monday July 02, 2007 @05:26PM

something_wicked_thi writes: Seeing as Slashdot ran the story about Parallels being out of compliance with the [L]GPL, I think it's only fair that they provide an update. On the very next weekday after the Slashdot story ran, Parallels, apparently, has released the source code. The Wine developers are verifying that it really is what they say it is. The Wine page provides a link to the sources, though it is temporary. It would be nice if someone could mirror that before it gets Slashdotted.

Submission + - Wii Opened For Development

Submitted by

kiwipom

on Thursday June 28, 2007 @07:29AM

kiwipom writes: "The BBC is reporting that Nintendo are opening up the Wii to developers to produce their own games.

"Home and independent game makers are getting a chance to put together titles for Nintendo's Wii console. The hi-tech firm has released a set of game-making tools called WiiWare that give budding game makers the data they need to use the console and its innovative controller.

Do Slashdotters think this will drive a decent selection of games for the Wii driving further adoption, or is this just a gimmick that will supply endless versions of centipede clones? What games, that can be home developed, do people think would benefit from the wiimote and nunchuck?"

Submission + - Sun eyes supercomputing glory (com.com)

Submitted by

xk0der

on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @12:52AM

xk0der writes: "Sun Microsystems on Monday revealed the Constellation System, a high-performance computing platform that company executives claim will vault the company back into the top ranks of supercomputer manufacturers.
Sun says it can get 6 teraflops, or 6 trillion operations, a second out of a single rack because each rack holds 768 cores. At right, it's the monster of all switches. This hardware has 3,456 ports on it.

xk0der: With this development in place, will the glory days of Sun shining bright be back? That is yet to be seen!"

Submission + - Major Bit Torrent players targeted for takedown (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @12:01AM

An anonymous reader writes: "Leaseweb, the ISP of some of the largest BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy, BTjunkie and Demonoid was forced to take down everlasting.nu, a relatively small BitTorrent site. The outcome of the lawsuit initiated by the Dutch anti-piracy outfit Brein could spell trouble for some of the key players in the BitTorrent landscape."

Submission + - HP Violated GPL?

Submitted by ericrost on Monday June 25, 2007 @10:44PM

ericrost writes: When the SCO case was at its peak, HP was offering indemnity to its customers. If you read through the conditions:

"not use or modify the source code".

As a company distributing Linux, isn't that in direct violation of the terms of the GPL?

https://h30201.www3.hp.com/Default.asp

Submission + - eBay vs Google vs Amazon all out war pending (ebay.com)

Submitted by

BenelliShooter

on Monday June 18, 2007 @12:28AM

BenelliShooter writes: "eBay LIVE was held last week in Boston, Google planned a Boston Tea Party type event that offended eBay causing them to pull their entire Google AdWords spending (over $1MM per day) and divert it for 'testing' elsewhere. Like an intimidated schoolyard nerd Google canceled the party but the money isn't coming back. As any good geek would Google got their revenge cold by reducing or removing eBay's vital organic search results. Stay tuned to see who loves who the least in this mash-up gone awry. Google is not the only target of eBay's savvy moves of late... Amazon's bottom line is next. Having seen what 'Third Party Sales' did for Amazon's profit sheet the last few quarters, eBay management has now decided to nourish eBay Store's. eBay sellers, especially store owners are a sales hungry mob of third party sellers the likes of which Amazon cannot draw upon. With proper traffic management and attention to the stores that excel, eBay Stores will win the day for eBay and deprive Amazon of 'Third Party Sales' this fall. Wall Street will take notice soon enough, but as a programmer living full-time off my eBay Store (TECKWAVE) I'm liking it right now!"

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