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Submission + - Alternatives to Unfriending Someone on Facebook (tech-inspire.com) 1

Submitted by
HarryBansal
HarryBansal writes: "People are annoying on Facebook — that's no secret. Between uninformed political rants and unnecessary gaming updates, we've all been tempted to do some major unfriending for a better social experience.But Facebook unfriending can be awkward or taken personally, often making it more trouble than it's worth.

That's why we've come up with five alternatives to deleting a friend completely:"
Encryption

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Less Volatile Encryption?

Submitted by FuzzNugget
FuzzNugget writes: A recent catastrophic hard drive failure has caused me to ponder whether the trade-off between security and convenience with software-based OTFE is worthwhile. My setup involves an encrypted Windows installation with TrueCrypt's pre-boot authentication, in addition to having data stored in a number of TrueCrypt file containers.

While it is nice to have some amount of confidence that my data is safe from prying eyes in the case of loss or theft of my laptop, this setup poses a number of significant inconveniences:

1. Backup images of the encrypted operating system can only be restored to the original hard drive (ie.: the drive that has failed). So, recovery from this failure requires the time-consuming process of re-installing the OS, re-installing my software and re-encrypting it. Upgrading the hard drive where both the old and new drives are still functional is not much better as it requires decryption, copying the partition(s) and re-encryption.

2. With the data being stored in large file containers, each around 100-200GB. It can be come quite burdensome to deal with these huge files all the time. It's also a particularly volatile situation, as the file container is functionally useless if it's not completely intact.

3. As much as I'd like to use this situation as an opportunity to upgrade to an SSD, use with OTFE is said to pose risks of data leaks, cause decreased performance and premature failure due to excessive write operations.

So, with that, I'm open to suggestions for alternatives. Do you use encryption for your hard drive(s)? What's your setup like and how manageable is it?
The Courts

Submission + - TorrentLitigation Offers Database on File-Sharing Lawsuits (freezenet.ca)

Submitted by Dangerous_Minds
Dangerous_Minds writes: Freezenet recently profiled a website called TorrentLitigation. The website documents the file-sharing related litigation that is going on, then compiles them in a database of multi-Jon Doe lawsuits filed in the US. The database organizes the lawsuits by plaintiff and jurisdiction. There is even a list of files that plaintiffs have been most suing people over. Adam E. Urbanczyk of TorrentLitigation made a number of interesting comments including this: "The website has always been designed to be an objectively-minded “portal” through which website visitors – usually individuals on the receiving end of federal copyright infringement or state-based hacking cases, but also other attorneys and inquisitive individuals – can educate themselves and, if need be, seek our assistance."

Submission + - Milk Groups want FDA to redefine "milk" to include aspartame (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by jovialwoodchuck
jovialwoodchuck writes: US Milk groups are lobbying the FDA to redefine "milk", as well as 17 other dairy products, to include artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame). This essentially means they won't need to include these items on the label. Given the dubious past of aspartame in particular, and the very negative health effects it has on some people, this seems very questionable to me. The entire purpose of the FDA is to protect consumers, and ensure they know what they're consuming. This seems to go entirely against that purpose. I've created a whitehouse.gov petition on the subject, but I'm having trouble getting it circulated. Maybe the slashdot crowd can help?

Petition: http://wh.gov/vJAh

Submission + - US Wins Appeal in Battle to Extradite Kim Dotcom (go.com)

Submitted by Dr Max
Dr Max writes: U.S. prosecutors won a New Zealand court victory Friday in their battle to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three colleagues accused of facilitating massive copyright fraud through the now-defunct online file-sharing site.
Bitcoin

Submission + - Bitcoin hits new all-time high of $32

Submitted by Sabbetus
Sabbetus writes: Bitcoin tops its previous all-time high of $31.91 and in doing so it proves to be quite a resilient virtual currency. To the supporters of Bitcoin this does not come as a surprise, since we have seen the likes of WordPress, Reddit and Mega embrace it. Recently Namecheap also confirmed that they will start accepting bitcoins. The new record price was reached on the same day that Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, reached an agreement with CoinLab to manage the exchange's operations in the U.S. and Canada.
Cellphones

Submission + - Smartphone Screen Real Estate: How Big Is Big Enough? (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Aside from the terrible nickname (it sounds like a term for the spoiled offspring of fabulous people), phablets are somewhat controversial because they seem to be the epitome of inflated phone sizes. A lot of people wanted bigger, and this is “bigger” to the extreme. A larger screen on a smartphone is attractive for obvious reasons, but surely there’s a limit. So how big is too big? If you’re not into parsing out the particulars of form factors and use cases, here’s a really easy way to figure out if your phone or phablet is too big: Can you hold the device in one hand and 1) unlock the phone, 2) type out a text message with your thumb, and 3) adjust the volume with the rocker without using your other hand? If not, you might need a smaller phone."
Science

Submission + - Flies Get Drunk in Order to Survive (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Copper Nikus
Copper Nikus writes: In yet another fascinating example of insects being smarter than we give them credit for, this arstechnica article describes how fruit flies are able to fight back against deadly wasps by using alcohol. From the article:

A study in today's issue of Science suggests fruit flies are capable of medicating not only themselves but their offspring as well. And their medication of choice? Alcohol. The threat for these flies is any of a number of small, parasitic wasps. These wasps lay eggs on the larva or pupa of the flies, and their offspring feed on the animal internally, often killing them in the process. (Flies have larval stages, during which we call them maggots, and pupate just as butterflies do before emerging in their adult form.) Once infected, there isn't much one of the larva can do to get rid of the parasite. Its one option: booze. Fruit flies, as their name implies, like to dine on fruit, especially during the larval stages. In many cases, that involves ingesting the alcohol that's produced by natural fermentation of rotting fruit (this can approach 20 percent alcohol content). Some species of flies have developed the ability to tolerate this alcohol as they chew through the fruit as maggots. But for most of the wasp species, even moderate levels of alcohol are toxic.

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The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected. -- The Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd Edition, June 1972

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