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PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Google Earth Flight Simulator (insidedesign.info)

Submitted by
insidedesign
insidedesign writes: "It has been recently discovered by Marco that the newest version of Google Earth includes a Flight Simulator. Though simple in comparison to the full-blow flight simulators available out there, the one available in Google Earth is fun and addictive. Getting started is easy and you can be playing in no time. Simply ensure that you have the newest version of Google Earth, which can be obtained from the Google Earth website, and press CTRL+ALT+A on your keyboard. A dialog will then appear, giving you option of plane (F16 or SR22) and airport. If you own a joystick, have no fear because they are supported! It has even been reported that force feedback is also supported. The game's controls are sensitive so it takes some getting used to. You can see all the available controls here on Google's Flight Controls Help Doc. If you want a quick overview, check out this YouTube video. Good luck flying!"
Security

Submission + - Bank of India web site hacked, security firm says (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
bednarz
bednarz writes: "The Web site of the Bank of India has been hacked and is now an unwitting dispenser of an enormous amount of malware code to visitors, including rootkits and trojans, according to security firm Sunbelt Software. The payload from the compromised site is said to be attempting a number of Internet Explorer exploits to break into computers that may not be fully patched. "We're seeing lots of rootkits and trojans, though not yet a keylogger," says Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software. Sunbelt says the situation is still fluid and every effort is being made to notify Bank of India, described as a government-operated site with more than 2,000 branches. Network World has the story: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/083007-secur ity-vendor-bank-of-india-hacked.html"
Books

Submission + - Lab 257 (scienceblogs.com)

Submitted by
grrlscientist
grrlscientist writes: "After the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK was shown to be the result this virus's escape from one of two nearby research labs, I thought it was timely to review a book that investigates this same occurrence in the United States. Like something out of the Andromeda Strain, Lab 257 by Michael Christopher Carroll is the chilling true story about the not-so-secret biowarfare research lab right next door to NYC.

From the article: Most interesting and troubling to birdwatchers and other outdoors-y types is the author's investigation into the unproven but nonetheless highly suspicious connections between Plum Island and the sudden appearance of Dutch duck plague (1967), Lyme disease (1975) and West Nile virus (1999) on the East Coast. All of these disease outbreaks were first documented within a few miles of the labs. Further, as if the appearance of these foreign disease organisms are not incriminating enough, the sudden and inexplicable appearance of the Lone Star Tick in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut should be, because this sedentary tick species was formerly confined to the state of Texas. Despite the U.S. Department of Agriculture's repeated denials of their work with these organisms at Plum Island, there are documents that reveal otherwise. However, even if government denials are true, these many coincidences are, in my opinion, just too numerous not to be viewed with great suspicion."
Microsoft

Submission + - Lobbying Could Cause Legal Trouble for Microsoft (robweir.com) 2

Submitted by
Rob Isn't Weird
Rob Isn't Weird writes: "After the smoking gun memo exposing how Microsoft tried to buy Sweden's vote on OOXML and Sweden's annulment of that vote due to the irregularities, IBM's Rob Weir points out that the fiasco could cause anti-trust worries for Microsoft. He quotes ALLIED TUBE & CONDUIT CORP. v. INDIAN HEAD, INC., 486 U.S. 492 (1988), which says "What petitioner may not do (without exposing itself to possible antitrust liability for direct injuries) is bias the process by, as in this case, stacking the private standard-setting body with decision makers sharing their economic interest in restraining competition.""
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Ten Horrors From the Home Office (wordpress.com)

Submitted by
sbrown3820
sbrown3820 writes: "Stuck working from home for much of his life, saleman Sam Wang offers his thoughts on the ten horrors of working out of his SOHO. "Being in a technology field, working from home is universally accepted. Laptops, high speed Internet from home, VPNs and remote desktop all add up to a full and productive environment. And why not? But today, after working from home most of my career, I will provide some insight into the horrors of the virtual office.""
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Trend? Chicago scraps public wireless network (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Chicago flew in the face of the public wireless broadband movement today and killed off an $18.5 million Internet access system. And there are signs the rush to municipal WiFi maybe be slowing. Chicago cited rising costs, spotty demand and uncooperative carriers as the main reasons for the cancellation of the rollout tat would have covered the city's 228 miles. According to one report, EarthLink and AT&T reportedly demanded that Chicago become an "anchor tenant," paying an annual fee to use the WiFi network to support city services. When the city refused — and insisted that the system attached to city street lights and lamp poles be built, maintained and operated at the contractor's "sole expense" the whole system came crashing down. This report says Chicago the latest in a string of municipalities to encounter troubles with their municipal broadband initiatives. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18848"
Communications

Submission + - Linux Foundation unveils Linux Weather Forecast (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Finally an attempt to keep track of all the new Linux code being developed every day. The Linux Foundation has unveiled the Linux Weather Forecast, a Web site aimed at giving people a better sense of the status of specific Linux kernel projects. Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation says the forecast is a way to improve on one of the operating system's key strengths — its open-source development model. He estimates that every day developers add 2,300 lines of code to the Linux kernel. On average, a new version of the Linux kernel appears every three months, while fresh desktop distributions of the operating system debut every six months and corporate distributions become available every 18 months. The goal of the Linux Weather Forecast is to provide a central repository of accurate information presented in an easily understandable format."
Microsoft

Submission + - Is MS gaming live.com referrals? (nfggames.com)

Submitted by
NEOGEOman
NEOGEOman writes: "In the last three days live.com has suddenly started appearing on my referral logs thirty times more frequently than they used to (a whopping 31 visitors per day now!). The thing is the search terms are almost certainly bogus. What human being would search for 'newest' or 'message' and find my tiny site among twenty three million results? All the visitors' IPs resolve to the domain *.phx.gbl, which seems to be some non-standard Microsoft thing. Google returns a lot of hits for it in discussion of all things Microsoft. My question now is: Am I the only one noticing this? Is there a legitimate reason for this increase in ridiculous traffic? To the point, is Microsoft gaming the system to make live.com more relevent?"
Space

Submission + - Computers Find False Aliens? (astrobio.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Astrobiology Magazine has interviewed Frank Drake, the creator of the Drake Equation which estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. He notes that potential alien signals detected by automated SETI programs have a problem — with no one there to conduct immediate follow-up studies, the source of one-time signals can't be identified: "The long Harvard search of Horowitz and Sagan observed more than thirty signals that had the earmark of an extraterrestrial signal. The SETI@Home program has observed more than a hundred such signals. Both of these programs are automated, though, so no one was there at the time to do immediate follow-up observations. Researchers later tried to detect these signals, but, as with the Wow signal, they've been unsuccessful. So the origin of these signals is an open question. Project Phoenix of the SETI Institute also has found many good candidates, but that program could immediately determine the origin of the signal and all of them turned out to be of human origin. It may be that all the potential signals detected so far were generated by humans."
Censorship

Submission + - Ultimate Censorship? China and Reincarnation.

Submitted by
michaelcole
michaelcole writes: ":
"China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission"
  — http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek /

This article is both hilarious and sad, looking at the lengths to which a government will go to regulate thought through censorship. It also goes into some of the more subtle politics of the current 72 year-old Dalai Lama as he thinks about his political and spiritual successor.

The Dalai Lama's response: "he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control.""
Education

Submission + - The History of the Nintedo Family Computer (4colorrebellion.com)

Submitted by
neil_beforezod
neil_beforezod writes: "Two well regarded gaming blogs, 4colorrebellion and Powet.tv, have joined forces to tell the story of the revolutionary console that helped revived gaming: the Nintendo Family Computer or the Famicom. The Famicom, the older brother to the NES, may never have been release in the U.S. nor have every reached the fame of its younger brother, but it's presence had everlasting effects on what the gaming industry is today."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Apple now sells more than one in six laptops (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "Apple's share of the laptop market has grown greatly over the past few years and the company is now beating Gateway in sales, according research firm NPD Group Inc. in Port Washington, N.Y. "Their sales are continuing to grow faster than the rest of the marketplace," the firm stated. Apple is now in third place behind HP and Toshiba, and their sales are continuing to grow faster than the rest of the marketplace. Next on Apple's plate: a totally refreshed iPod, NPD says."
IBM

Submission + - $1.4m IBM Server Falls Off Truck (informationweek.com) 2

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "An IBM server worth $1.4 million was wrecked after it fell off a forklift during shipping. Now the customer is suing ... "As a result of the rocking motion, the base of the pallet and the crate broke and the crate fell onto the curb, damaging the server packed inside," the contractor states in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

That would be federal contractor T.R. Systems, which claims that IBM is responsible for mispackaging the machine, and that Big Blue won't accept returns. This forced them to buy another one.

It certainly puts all those "Best Buy won't let me return a lemon laptop" stories in perspective, eh?"

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