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Encryption

Submission + - Church reveals 600 year old musical code

Person99 writes: "A father and son have deciphered a musical code in a Scottish church's arches. It is supposedly a 600-year old musical code. Quote from the article: A Scottish church which featured in the bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code" has revealed another mystery hidden in secret code for almost 600 years. A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in them. Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece as "frozen music." "The music has been frozen in time by symbolism," Mitchell told European media, which details the 27-year project to crack the chapel's code. "It was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to thaw out and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception." The 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel, about seven miles south of the Scottish capital Edinburgh, featured in the last part of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" — one of the most successful novels of all time which has been turned into a Hollywood film. Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns. "They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here." Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves at specific pitches. The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody."
Software

Submission + - Controversial Compression Perf Guide Finished

crazyeyes writes: "When I read this guide on data compression performance , I was so excited about it that I shared it on Slashdot . Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of arguments over the article. But it may now be time to revisit the topic, as the author(s) have finally finished the guide. I'll let their quote do the talking.

"This update completes the Compression Comparison Guide . Finally, 5 years after we posted the first version, we have a new revision of the guide.

This new Compression Comparison Guide takes a look at 11 common data compressors and their performance in 8 different filesets at 3 different compression settings. The result is a detailed but easily accessible look at these data compressors and how they perform with a wide variety of filetypes.

The results of this guide will surprise you. Data compressors that we may have given up as old-fashioned or outdated are actually still highly competitive. Even filesets that you thought was difficult to compress can be relatively easy to tackle.

Read on and find out. We hope this guide will help you choose the best data compressor and settings for your compression tasks."
This guide has really opened my eyes on what the different data compressors can do, especially the aggregated results. But I'm sure it will inevitably result in more arguments here. Let the battle begin!"
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Mr. Larry Laffer comes to Second Life

EGA is back, baby!!! writes: So many of us grew up with Sierra Online adventure games, I thought many of you would enjoy this: I've noticed that in the game "Second Life" ( http://secondlife.com/ ) nearly *Everyone* spends hours obsessing on how to make a *fake* version of themselves look *sexy*. Except, maybe this guy, who is apparently standing up for the underdog! That's right, the 4bit — 16 color, leisure suit! (wait, that IS sexy!) It gave me quite a chuckle, and brought back memories of a lot of late nights with some great games. There is an article here: http://www.sl-newspaper.com/ (just click on "Style") There are more shots here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/old_school_avatars/
Security

VeriSign To Offer Passwords On Bank Card 158

Billosaur writes "Imagine the PayPal security tool embedded on a credit card. VeriSign is announcing that a deal is in the works to provide credit cards with one-time-use passwords. By placing the technology directly on the card, it becomes more convenient and provides an extra layer of security for online credit-card transactions. A cardholder would type in their information as normal and then would be prompted to enter the passcode displayed on the card. This means a user would need to have the physical card in hand in order to use it, thus thwarting identity thieves who steal credit card information but do not possess the card itself. VeriSign said it expects to announce a major bank using its cards in May."
Music

Submission + - Ardour 2.0 Released

Provataki writes: Ardour 2.0, the powerful digital audio workstation, is out. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, or just experiment with new ideas about music and sound. Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it. And it's all free under the GPL. The new version also includes a Mac OS X universal package in addition to Linux/Unix support.
Intel

Submission + - Quad-core computers getting more affordable

An anonymous reader writes: If you have been playing with the idea to buy a quad-core computer, but refused to shell out $5000 or more, you may be surprised to hear that there is suddenly a system that is in your reach. Ok, now we all expected that prices would come down sooner or later, especially, after Intel's latest price round, but I was somewhat baffled about the dramatic price drop: Gateway is offering a decent $2100 retail system with an overclockable Q6600 CPU from Intel, which is, according to TG Daily, at least $700 below the nearest competitor's offering. We are still a bit away from calling these computers mainstream, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel, right?
Programming

Submission + - Repurposing Consumer Hardware

ChelleChelle writes: "I believe that what we are seeing is the beginning of a new trend: application-centric computing using inexpensive, small form-factor, low-power platforms, linked or not to the network, to address a new set of interesting needs. It's a good time be a hobbyist." So states Mache Creeger in the Queue column Geek@Home. Creeger, a technology hobbyist, discusses new uses for small form-factor, low-power machines, such as Microsoft Xboxes.
Robotics

Submission + - Ionatron ray-gun disables IEDs, autos, humanoids

An anonymous reader writes: Ionatron has a $10M contract with the U.S. Government to develop its next generation Directed Energy Weapons system. Their device uses high powered ultra short laser pulses to create a plasma air channel, which acts like a virtual wire, and directs a high voltage controlled discharge at a target. They claim to be able to precisely control both direction and range to "disable people or vehicles that threaten our security." I hope the police don't start zapping your car if you're speeding!
Communications

Submission + - Why you haven't heard of cell phone repeaters

SinaK writes: "Millions of people in the US have poor cell phone reception, whether because they are too far from a cell tower, or due to interference effects. A simple solution has existed for quite some time: cell phone repeaters. But most consumers haven't heard of them simply because current FCC regulations prevent networks from selling cell repeaters directly to customers."
United States

Submission + - Who's the best 2008 candidate for cyber security?

Luke writes: "We've all seen their web site rankings, and we know that McCain's already disqualified, but which candidate has the best record in terms of cyber security? The war on terror rages in the Middle East, but I haven't heard much about steps the government has taken to guard against cyber terrorism (which many believe has the potential to be the most deadly form). What cyber security obligations should be felt by the US Government, and which candidate is the most qualified to make sure those obligations are met?"
Music

Submission + - Album giveaway could ignite music revolution

Denyer writes: A couple of years ago, Seattle group Harvey Danger released their album Little By Little online, free, forever. Now press elsewhere are increasingly giving coverage to the idea that music serves better as the advertising for live shows and merchandise, and UK band The Crimea have thrown themselves into the ring with their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour. What do Slashdot readers think: is there value in recordings themselves any more, or are they mostly something to be shared and attract attention to a band's other endeavours?
Security

Submission + - Death Knell for DoS Extortion?

Ron writes: "An Infoworld article reports that Yazan Gable, a security researcher, has put forward an explanation as to why the numbers of denial of service attacks have been declining. His theory is that DoS attacks are no longer profitable to attackers. While spam and phishing attacks directly generate profit, he argues that extortion techniques often used with DoS attacks are far more risky and often make an attacker no profit at all. He writes:

So what happens if the target of the attack refuses to pay? The DoS extortionist is obligated to carry out a prolonged DoS attack against them to follow through on their threats. For a DoS extortionist, this is the worst scenario because they have to risk their bot network for nothing at all. Since the target has refused to pay, it is likely that they will never pay. As a consequence, the attacker has to spend time and resources on a lost cause.
"

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