Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment ${NONSENSEWORD} ${VERSION} Data Integration (Score 2, Informative) 103

"A book about the open source ${ACRONYM} tool ${DICTIONARYWORD} (${NONSESNEWORD} Data Integration) is finally available. ${NONSESNEWORD} ${VERSION} Data Integration: Beginner's Guide by ${AUTHORNAME} is for everybody who is new to ${DICTIONARYWORD}. In a nutshell, this book will give you all the information that you need to get started with ${DICTIONARYWORD} quickly and efficiently, even if you have never used it before.The books offers loads of illustrations and easy-to-follow examples. The code can be downloaded from the publisher website and ${DICTIONARYWORD} is available for free from the SourceForge website. In sum, the book is the best way to get to know the power of the open source ${ACRONYM} tool ${DICTIONARYWORD}, which is part of the ${NONSESNEWORD} ${DIFFERENTACRONYM} suite.
Biotech

Printing Replacement Body Parts 101

Deep Penguin sends in a piece that appeared in The Economist a couple of weeks back about a developing technology to "print" body parts for transplant. "A US and an Australian company have developed the $200,000 machine, which works by depositing stem cells and a 'sugar-based hydrogel' scaffolding material. (The stem cells are harvested from a transplant patient's own fat and bone marrow, to avoid rejection down the line.) The companies are Organovo, from San Diego, specializing in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia. The initial targets are skin, muscle, and 'short stretches of blood vessels,' which they hope to have available for human implantation within five years. Down the line, they expect the technology could even print directly into the body, bypassing the in-vitro portion of the current process."
Music

Obama DOJ Sides With RIAA Again In Tenenbaum 528

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Despite having had some time to get their act together, Obama's Department of Justice has filed yet another brief defending the RIAA's outlandish statutory damages theory — that someone who downloaded an mp3 with a 99-cent retail value, causing a maximum possible damages of 35 cents, is liable for from $750 to $150,000 for each such file downloaded, in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. The 25- page brief (PDF) continues the DOJ's practice of (a) ignoring the case law which holds that the Supreme Court's due process jurisprudence is applicable to statutory damages, (b) ignoring the law review articles to like effect, (c) ignoring the actual holding of the 1919 case they rely upon, (d) ignoring the fact that the RIAA failed to prove 'distribution' as defined by the Copyright Act, and (e) ignoring the actual wording and reasoning of the Supreme Court in its leading Gore and Campbell decisions. Jon Newton of p2pnet.net attributes the Justice Department's 'oversights' to the 'eye-popping number of people [in its employ] who worked for, and/or are directly connected with, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music's RIAA.'"
Government

US Blocking Costa Rican Sugar Trade To Force IP Laws 441

For the last couple of days news has been trickling in about how the US is trying to ram IP laws down Costa Rica's throat by blocking their access to the US sugar market. Techdirt has a good summary of the various commentaries and a related scoop in the Bahamas where the US is also applying IP pressure. "The first is in Costa Rica, which is included in the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Yet like with other free trade agreements that the US has agreed to elsewhere, this one includes draconian intellectual property law requirements. I still cannot understand why intellectual monopoly protectionism — the exact opposite of 'free trade' — gets included in free trade agreements. At least in Costa Rica, a lot of people started protesting these rules, pointing out that it would be harmful for the economy, for education and for healthcare. So the Costa Rican government has not moved forward with such laws. How has the US responded? It's blocking access to the US market of Costa Rican sugar until Costa Rica approves new copyright laws."
Government

INTERPOL Granted Diplomatic Immunity In the US 450

ShakaUVM writes "A couple of weeks ago without any fanfare or notice in the media, President Obama granted INTERPOL full diplomatic immunity while conducting investigations on American soil. While INTERPOL has been allowed to operate in the US in the past, under an executive order by President Reagan, they've had to follow the same rules as the FBI, CIA, etc., while on American soil. This means, among other things, the new executive order makes INTERPOL immune to Freedom of Information Act requests and that INTERPOL agents cannot be punished for most any crimes they may commit. Hopefully the worst we'll see from this is INTERPOL agents ignoring their speeding tickets." Update: 01/05 02:57 GMT by KD : Reader davecb pointed out an ABC News blog that comes to pretty much the opposite conclusion as to the import of the executive order.
Censorship

Scientology Charged With Slavery, Human Trafficking 802

eldavojohn writes "A formal complaint was filed in California (caged PDF) last week by John Lindstein naming David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology International as defendants. Lindstein claims that for sixteen years (from age 8) he was forced to work as a slave at Gold Base, a secret CoS site run by Golden Era Productions with 'razor wire, security guard patrols, surveillance posts, and three roll calls each day.' The pay was $50 a week. The allegations include 'Violations of wage and hour laws as well as unfair/illegal business practices actionable under California B&P 17200 Et. Seq.' and a complaint under the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, which abolished slavery. Members of the group Anonymous praised the summons."

Comment "Some of my word files don't work right" (Score 2, Informative) 503

Every time I try to migrate users at my company from MS Office to OpenOffice, the story is the same. They accept it at first, but a week or a month later, they come back to me and say "Some of my word files don't work right in my office. can you give me the same version that [name] has?" where [name] is the name of a person who still have MS Office 2002 on their computer.

When I try to track down specific complaints, I usually find a subtle formatting problem that breaks a table over a page boundary, or makes an awkwardly formatted page, or a font that ends up making a particular line of text just one pixel wider than it used to be causing a reflow. Stuff like that.

I get *almost* the same reaction from people when I try to upgrade them to MS Office 2007. (with higher emphasis on "I can't find feature X" and lower emphasis on "this document formats wrong")

Privacy

ACLU Creates Map of US "Constitution-Free Zone" 979

trackpick points out a recent ACLU initiative to publicize a recent expansion of authority claimed by the Border Patrol to stop and search individuals up to 100 miles from any US border. They have created a map of what they call the US Constitution-Free Zone. "Using data provided by the US Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders. The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This 'Constitution-Free Zone' includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.'"
Communications

Submission + - a cell phone my boss can use?

James Paige writes: Question: Where can I find a cell phone with voice mail that my boss can actually use? No phone I have ever seen has been remotely simple enough to suit his tastes.

For his land line he has an answering machine with two buttons "PLAY" and "DELETE" and one flashing light. It is red when there are messages and blank when there are not. In his mind, this is the ultimate pinnacle of of voice mail user-interface, and anything like menu-button-pick-voice-mail-wait-input-password-li sten-to-nasal-female-voice-read-off-a-selection-me nu to get to his messages is just too complex.

His solution? Call me, ask me to check his messages, and then I call him back and report them to him.

But why can't a phone just have a "Play Messages" button? An actual physical button, not a gui on the screen, and not a spoken menu. Doesn't anybody make this? I don't think my boss is so far off base in wanting this. I would like it too.
Censorship

Submission + - Canadian Govt sees no need for new anti-CAM law

SOCALchillin writes: "Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says current copyright laws against camcorded movie bootlegging are just fine. After threats from Hollywood to delay opening box office dates for the movies it distributes to Canada, the country to our North has responded in kind to the warnings. Initially taken aback by the heated rhetoric, now on the offensive to counter Hollywood's claims. Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said recently that the current laws the country already has on the books are enough to effectively combat piracy in his country."

Slashdot Top Deals

Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.

Working...