gilgongo - Slashdot User

Submission + - How would YOU rebuild?

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday May 22, 2007 @08:53PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "I recently came across a paper I wrote in high school about extinction-level events and the consequences to plant and animal life. I got to thinking how far we've come as a species since the last such event, and (inspired in part by recent posts about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault) I thought I'd ask Slashdot: how would you go about "bootstrapping" a modern society after an ELE? What would you safeguard beforehand to ensure a smooth recompile?"

Submission + - Stealthy Packet Capturing a hoax?

Submitted by

rewritereds

on Tuesday May 22, 2007 @08:35PM

rewritereds writes: "Came across a fascinating article that discusses simple software tricks that alters the IP stack to supposedly become stealthy while capturing data off the wire. The author writes,

I have been in some tight spots where I had to sniff a password or two off the wire, or sniff some packets off the wire and based on the packets content perform some action. So I tried a few things, and this article is about an unexpected result. I stumbled on a method to passively capture packets from the wire without transmitting packets. This is surprising because it is achieved using only software and not messing with the hardware, which is the normal way to passively sniff packets.
I had always been told you could only achieve a passive network tap by modifying the wire itself to not transmit packets. Id like to know if there is any truth to this article, can you really disappear off the wire by removing routing tables, arp, and going into promiscuous?"

Submission + - External access to school surveillance cameras

Submitted by butabozuhi on Tuesday May 22, 2007 @11:29AM

butabozuhi writes: After the highly publicized school shootings, there's a lot of activity in education to improve security. I'm sure having access to in-school cameras would really assist in handling the situation, but what kind of potential for mischief (i.e. tapping into systems) is this creating? Will we have school terrorists destroying cameras — or using them to increase their publicity/notoriety?
http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Stories/News/ Law/Story~311308.aspx

Submission + - What's a good brand of HDTV tuner PCI card?

Submitted by NeuroManson on Monday May 21, 2007 @09:35AM

NeuroManson writes: I finally made the leap to purchasing a cheap TwinhanDTV ATSC (D+A) tuner card recently, and after making massive efforts to get it to operate semi passibly, realized that I pretty much wasted $45 or so on it. Can anyone advise of a good HDTV tuner card for the PC? Requirements include: Reasonable price (if I can just get a standalone HDTV for the same price, it isn't worth it), allow for YPb/PR inputs, and be compatible with MythTV or Dscaler.

This is not a huge amount of requirements, but it still seems like ATSC/HDTV tuner cards are in their relative infancy, with only a handful of external tuner boxes, and another handful of PCI cards, only 1/3 of each category actually performing as advertised or at all. So for that matter, is there any reason why it's taking far longer for HDTV cards to make the market? Regular tuner cards have been available for computers for almost a decade and a half, and yet it's taken almost as long for HDTV tuner cards to show up on the market.

Submission + - .Net/Oracle Build and Test platform

Submitted by

Kieranties

on Monday May 21, 2007 @08:28AM

Kieranties writes: "At my workplace we have recently been given the opportunity to start from scratch in terms of how we build, test and deploy our web applications. Being a fairly hip and young bunch of programmers we intend to do the minimal amount of work and use the tools available across the wonderful world of the interweb. So I ask you: What tools do you use to build, test and deploy .net web applications with an oracle back-end?"

Submission + - The Uncomfortable Reality of Sex in Space

Submitted by

Smaran

on Saturday May 19, 2007 @04:49AM

Smaran writes: "WIRED is running an interesting story about how sex in space will have to be inevitably discussed by space agencies and astronauts around the world, who currently refuse to even address the issue. They are only beginning to talk about the realities of illness and death in space. Sex is still a topic for another day. WIRED's Regina Lynn writes: "... as humans begin to spend more time in space and to travel further from Earth, space agencies will need to factor sex into their equations. We cannot expect astronauts to spend three years in a spacecraft and not have sex — of some kind. Probably with each other, and likely in more than one combination.""

Submission + - Five Reasons Linux Will Eventually Rule the World

Submitted by

otacon

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @01:01PM

otacon writes: "An article on Open Addict talks about reasons Linux will one day be the OS of choice. From the Article: "Let's face it, folks — Linux is an unstoppable force. It runs on everything, everywhere and impacts each one of our lives on a daily basis, whether or not you realize it. Here are five reasons why your operating system of the future will be a Linux distribution and why Microsoft is powerless to stop it. Our grandkids will look back on our Windows vs Linux debate and wonder what the heck we were thinking even using Windows in the first place. I'm going to make a prediction here. Linux will be the operating system of choice for new PC's and the majority of desktops by 2020. Windows will be relegated to legacy hardware and computer museums. Anyone want to take me up on this bet?"

I don't know about taking that bet, but it is certainly interesting to ponder."

Submission + - Interview with Firefox Founder and Creator Blake

Submitted by

elcid73

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @12:53PM

elcid73 writes: "OperaWatch.com readers submitted questions to Firefox's Blake Ross on the current state and future of browsers and the web. His responses make for a great, open minded read on the strengths and weaknesses of the major players gracing our desktops today and reveal a lot about the "what's best for the user" attitude he has that makes Firefox so great.

On the disputes between Opera and Firefox fans, he says:

Lets just agree that-

Firefox stole features from Opera.

Opera stole features from Firefox.

Opera is a better embedded browser (congratulations on Wii).

Both are fantastic browsers.

Asa is a troll.

-and get back to serving the people.

"

Submission + - Scientific Study Confirms Common Bar Knowledge

Submitted by on Thursday January 18, 2007 @12:48PM

An anonymous reader writes: According to this Reuters article on CNN.com, scientists in England have found that it isn't our imagination: women find a man more attractive when other women also seem to find said man attractive.

Submission + - New electronic device privacy law proposed

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @12:26PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "The state of Washington is proposing a new state privacy law relating to electronic devices. The bill can be found here. What changes would the slashdot community suggest? Any thoughts on the consequences (intended and unintended) of such a law?"

Printers Vulnerable To Security Threats 173

Posted by kdawson on Thursday January 18, 2007 @12:18PM from the infected-my-what? dept.

jcatcw writes "Networked printers are more vulnerable to attack than many organizations realize. Symantec has logged vulnerabilities in five brands of network printers. Printers outside firewalls, for ease of remote printing, may also be open to easy remote code execution. They can be possible launching pads for attacks on the rest of the network. Disabling services that aren't needed and keeping up with patches are first steps to securing them." From the article: "Security experts say that printers are loaded with more complex applications than ever, running every vulnerable service imaginable, with little or no risk management or oversight.... [N]etworked printers need to be treated like servers or workstations for security purposes — not like dumb peripherals."

Submission + - 1TB HDD going on sale soon: good price

Submitted by

illumina

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @12:04PM

illumina writes: "I found this story in my morning news gallimaufry: SHENZHEN, Jan 18, 2007 (SinoCast via COMTEX) — The world's first terabyte (TB) hard drive will be sold in China's retail market in the first quarter of 2007 at a suggested retail price of USD 399 (about CNY 3,120), announced Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) in Shenzhen. The company's 1 TB hard drive, with superior performance, reliability, and capacity, can store 1 million e-books, 250,000 songs, and 500 films. Hitachi GST, founded in 2003 as a result of the strategic combination of IBM and Hitachi's hard disk drive business, has three subsidiaries in Shenzhen, including Shenzhen Hailiang Storage Products Co., Ltd., Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., and Hitachi Global Storage Products (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd."

Submission + - Microsoft CEO Takes On Apple's iPhone

Submitted by Symblized on Thursday January 18, 2007 @11:56AM

Symblized writes: Surprise, surprise. Steve Ballmer isn't exactly a huge fan of Apple's forthcoming iPhone. In an interview with InformationWeek, the Microsoft CEO bemoaned the phone's $499 price tag, lack of a keyboard and the hype factor that comes solely because of its brand, while noting that many other vendors are doing similar things for less. "I don't think this would be a very interesting announcement if anybody else had announced exactly the same product," Ballmer said.

Submission + - Novell To Launch SLED 10 v. Vista Web Site

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday January 18, 2007 @11:54AM

Anonymous writes: On Friday, Novell will launch a new SLED 10 vs. Vista web site, according to CRN. (Maybe, given Apple's remarks last night on the strength of Mac sales, we'll soon see a SLED 10 vs. Leopard web site, too.)

Submission + - Linux Cert: Vendor-Specific or Vendor Neutral?

Submitted by

jammag

on Thursday January 18, 2007 @11:33AM

jammag writes: "This article looks at the competition between Linux certification programs. Some are geared for a specific flavor and some focus on Linux overall. What's the best option? Or, more relevant, can that question even be answered? The interesting bit is that the article gets comments from four different providers, spotlighting how splintered the Linux cert industry is."

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