ditoa - Slashdot User

Submission + - Solid-State Notebook has Full Linux OS Detailed (pcper.com)

Submitted by

Vigile

on Tuesday October 30, 2007 @01:05PM

Vigile writes: "The Asus Eee PC 701 is a solid-state hard drive notebook computer that uses a custom Linux operating system that boots in about 15 seconds. Though the hard drive is only 4GB, thanks to not relying on any Windows OS there is more than enough space for the applications necessary for most mobile users. The hardware features a small 7" LCD screen with an 800x480 resolution, Celeron-M 900 MHz CPU, 512MB of system memory and an integrated webcam and microphone all at just about 2 lbs. A full review of the Eee PC 701 is now available that details the functionality of the hardware in general as well as showing 100+ screenshots of the custom Linux OS."

What Does the 'Next Internet' Look Like? 283

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @04:11PM from the hampster-dance-for-the-next-generation dept.

Kraisch writes with a link to the Guardian website, which again revisits the subject of reconstructing the internet. This time the question isn't whether it should be done, but what should the goals of a redesign be? From the article: "'There's a real need to have better identity management, to declare your age and to know that when you're talking to, say, Barclays bank, that you're really doing so,' said Jonathan Zittrain, professor of internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute. At the moment we are still using very clumsy methods to approach such problems. The result: last year alone, identity theft and online fraud cost British victims an estimated £414m, while one recent report claimed 93% of all email sent from the UK was spam ... Many ideas revolve around so-called "mesh networks", which link many computers to create more powerful, reliable connections to the internet. By using small meshes of many machines that share a pipeline to the net instead of relying on lots of parallel connections, experts say they can create a system that is more intelligent and less prone to attack."

Submission + - Experts find vulnerabilities from voting machines

Submitted by

Jari Arkko

on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @04:10PM

Jari Arkko writes: "A security analysis of voting machines used in California reveals that the machines from all tested vendors have significant vulnerabilities. A team of outside security experts analyzed the machines. As their report states: "security of all three systems could be compromised." They found that voting machine firmware could be overwritten, test mode and election day made to produce different results, some vendors use well-known static keys for cryptographic operations, etc. The experts also say that an even larger number of vulnerabilities would have been discovered, had there been more time and if all the requested tools had been delivered."

Star Trek "DeMastered" Video Service to Launch 84

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 01, 2007 @03:20PM from the blast-from-the-past dept.

SlashRating^©
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slashdottit! ^tm

lopy writes "The Star Trek franchise has partnered with the little known DuroSport Corporation to launch a new video download service. The service will offer 'DeMastered' versions of classic Trek episodes. The new releases roll-back the quality enhancements of recent years and attempt to replicate the experience viewers had while watching the original series on TV in the 1960's. Medialoper was given a preview, and they've just posted a scathing review of this odd new service."

Submission + - UK teachers will be able to discipline pupils

Submitted by

moranar

on Sunday April 01, 2007 @03:09PM

moranar writes: "The BBC and others report on a new law that will give teachers in UK schools the power to use force to break fights, and to sequester cellphones if they've been used to bully other students. It also allows them to punish students with Saturday detention without consulting the school board or the parents."

Microsoft Getting Paid for Patents in Linux? 377

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday February 11, 2007 @12:30PM from the now-wait-a-minute dept.

kripkenstein noted an Interview with Jeremy Allison where the interviewer asks 'One of the persistent rumors that's going around is that certain large IT customers have already been paying Microsoft for patent licensing to cover their use of Linux, Samba and other free software projects.' and Jeremy responds "Yes, that's true, actually. I mean I have had people come up to me and essentially off the record admit that they had been threatened by Microsoft and had got patent cross license and had essentially taken out a license for Microsoft patents on the free software that they were using [...] But they're not telling anyone about it. They're completely doing it off the record."

Submission + - DirectX10 drops Hardware Acceleration for Audio.

Submitted by

shrewd

on Sunday February 11, 2007 @06:42AM

shrewd writes: ""Imagine your surprise when you fire up one of your favourite games in Vista — say World of Warcraft or Prey — only to find your fancy EAX-endowed soundcard and 5.1 surround speakers are dribbling out flat, unenhanced stereo sound. Then, in a vain attempt to spruce up the audio by enabling EAX, you get a nice taut error message saying EAX is not detected on your hardware. What's going on? Welcome to the world of Vista audio. And a brave new world it is.""

Jonathan Lethem On Plagiarism 186

Posted by kdawson on Sunday February 11, 2007 @06:28AM from the copy-with-daring-and-whimsy dept.

tmalone writes "This month's Harper's Magazine includes an excellent essay by the novelist Jonathan Lethem titled 'The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,' in which he discusses the public commons of ideas and the absurdity of restricting other peoples' right of second use. 'Artists and their surrogates who fall into the trap of seeking recompense for every possible second use end up attacking their own best audience members for the crime of exalting and enshrining their work.' Taking issue with the idea that any work is 'untainted' by others' ideas, he declares, 'Any text is woven entirely with citations, references, echoes, cultural languages, which cut across it through and through in a vast stereophony.' Later on he argues that 'Contemporary copyright, trademark, and patent law is presently corrupted. The case for perpetual copyright is a denial of the essential gift-aspect of the creative act.' Lethem finishes up with simple request: 'Don't pirate my editions; do plunder my visions.' The best part of the essay is at the end when he provides a key to all of the sources he stole his ideas from."

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