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Submission + - Linux Distro Used By Snowden Designed for Internet Anonymity Has 2.0 Release 1

Submitted by A_Mythago
A_Mythago writes: The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) has finalized version 2.0 which has several improvements and updates to continue to meet their mission of preserving privacy, anonymity and circumventing censorship without a trace using a Debian 8.0 custom live distro.

More details about Edward Snowden's use of Tails and the distro itself can be found at a previous Slashdot story from 2014
here.
The Internet

Destroy Entire Websites With Asteroids Bookmarklet 65

Posted by Soulskill from the take-that,-ads-with-sound dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever visited a website and been so frustrated by the content, layout, or adverts that you'd love to destroy it? Well, now you can. If you head on over to the erkie GitHub page there's a JavaScript bookmarklet you can drag and add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then just visit any website and click the bookmarklet. An Asteroids-style ship should appear that you can move around with the arrow keys. Press space and it will start firing bullets which destroy page content."
Chrome

A Mixed Review For Google Chrome On Linux 223

Posted by timothy from the but-on-the-5th-hand dept.
omlx contributes this link to LinuxCrunch's short review of Google Chrome on Linux, writing: "The summary of it is that although Google Chrome is in a beta stage, it is fast, stable, and has a simple, clean, and effective GUI design. On other side, Google Chrome has a small number of extensions, doesn't support RSS, lacks integration with KDE, and doesn't support complex scripts very well. Personally, I didn't succeed in using Flash Player on Google Chrome beta 1 (I am using OpenSUSE 11.2) and I wonder how the quality of Google Chrome OS will be, especially if it's based on Linux and Google Chrome."
Games

Games Workshop Goes After Fan Site 174

Posted by Soulskill from the don't-anger-your-base dept.
mark.leaman writes "BoingBoing has a recent post regarding Games Workshop's aggressive posturing against fan sites featuring derivative work of their game products. 'Game publisher and miniature manufacturer Games Workshop just sent a cease and desist letter to boardgamegeek.com, telling them to remove all fan-made players' aids. This includes scenarios, rules summaries, inventory manifests, scans to help replace worn pieces — many of these created for long out of print, well-loved games...' As a lifelong hobby gamer of table, board, card and miniature games, I view this as pure heresy. It made me reject the idea of buying any Games Workshop (read Warhammer) products for my son this Christmas. Their fate was sealed, in terms of my wallet, after I Googled their shenanigans. In 2007 they forbid Warhammer fan films, this year they shut down Vassal Modules, and a while back they went after retailers as well. What ever happened to fair use?"

Comment The MPAA Stimulus Package (Score 1) 466

by A_Mythago (#30074730) Attached to: MPAA Asks Again For Control Of TV Analog Ports

Actually, this is a great idea! By giving the ability to close the analog hole they can drive an increase of the purchase of HDMI capable televisions in this country and improve retail sales throughout the country. This will help save and/or create jobs at high paying employers such as Walmart, getting more money flowing to the entertainment industry.

Sure it might affect your grandparents or people too poor to afford a new TV but then again they would not be buying these premium services anyway. Just a 1 percent jobs increase would give us 14,000 jobs at Walmart alone making it well worth the minor inconveniencing of a few people.

It is our patriotic duty to contact the FCC and support SOC. Forget the rhetoric about corporate profits and control and think of the little people.

Stimulate the economy by stimulating the MPAA...everyone wins!
Idle

Submission + - Toy trains 'Star Wars' fans to use The Force (usatoday.com)

Submitted by A_Mythago
A_Mythago writes: Ever wanted to unlease your "Inner Jedi" but have been put off by that pesky lack of midi-chlorians? Fear not, your salvation is at hand with a new EEG-controlled toy developed by Uncle Milton Industries that allows you to use "the Force" to move a ball up and down in a tube using only the power of your mind. With levels of difficulty from Padawan to Jedi, it is sure to be a hit with the Star Wars geek in your life!

Comment Re:Microsoft Is Only Half The Problem (Score 1) 592

by A_Mythago (#20969727) Attached to: Consumer Group Demands XP for Vista Victims
I would never dream of saying everyone has enjoyed Vista that has invested money in decent systems, I was saying the majority of complaints have been from lower end systems. As for the Sony Vaio laptops I have been VERY disappointed with them in both bloat and system performance. Several of the applications on them seem to take an extraordinary amount of system resources. With base installs of either Vista or XP without the Sony crapware the performance is greatly increased.

As for the two specific problems you mentioned, I cannot say I have seen many Sony laptops exhibiting those particular problems. Working near a university I have the opportunity to work on a lot of laptops and I think I have seen the wireless problem twice (turned out to be a software conflict from a 3rd-party application both times). The video resize error I have not had the (mis)fortune to encounter and I am certain if this was a common problem I would have had a more than a few customers asking to have it fixed.

Vista as it stands now is not for everyone. My personal opinion is that just like XP it will take a couple of years for baseline systems to "catch up" with the real resource requirements and not a minimum requirements that is for successfully starting the OS that most vendors are looking at.

Disclaimer: I do use Vista, but I also have Ubuntu on my laptop, a Mac serving media files to my network and a FreeBSD system acting as a network gateway/firewall.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Giant squid caught near Japan

Submitted by Frankenbuffer
Frankenbuffer writes: Researchers on a quest to find a live giant squid succeeded in filming one south of Tokyo. They used a smaller bait squid to lure the giant squid to the water's surface. [Globe & Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20061222.wbigsquid1222/BNStory/Science/home%5D

The giant squid, a young female about 7 metres long, put up quite a fight as it was brought aboard the research vessel. It died in the process. The researchers believe that giant squid may be more plentiful that believed previously.
Java

Sun Releases First GPLed Java Source 206

Posted by CowboyNeal from the beginning-of-an-era dept.
An anonymous reader writes "You can now get GPLed JVM sources from Sun. Everyone seemed to be expecting the desktop version (J2SE) but J2ME has been released first. It looks to be buildable for Linux x86, MIPS, and ARM platforms. Sun now calls it 'phoneME.' Enjoy."
Google

Submission + - Google Blogger Leaves Beta

Submitted by
VE3OGG
VE3OGG writes: "It would seem that Google's famed, award-winning blogging software, Blogger, has just left beta, ABC reports, and entered a growing (but still short) list of Google products to move out of beta. Of course, with this change is status also came a few crucial new features for Google's blogging agent, specifically Google account integration, "Web 2.0" code free updates, and tagging."

Best (and Worst) High-Def Discs of 2006 173

Posted by CowboyNeal from the buyer-beware dept.
An anonymous reader writes "High-Def Digest has released their first annual 'Best (and Worst) of the Year' list of movies released on HD DVD and/or Blu-ray. Not surprisingly, the 'best' list is heavy on superheroes. Superman, Batman, and the Hulk all made the list. Not a bad cheat sheet for those of us with a Blu-ray capable PS3 or an XBox 360 HD DVD add-on on our Christmas lists."
The Almighty Buck

Hans Reiser to Sell Company 583

Posted by CowboyNeal from the will-order-bits-for-cash dept.
DVega writes "Due to increasing legal costs, murder suspect Hans Reiser is seeking to sell his company. His lawyer William DuBois said he is running out of money to pay for his defense. DuBois added, 'This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. We welcome all vultures.' This is a good opportunity to own a filesystem and rename it after your own."

Seventh Harry Potter Book Named 449

Posted by CowboyNeal from the and-the-last dept.
Croakyvoice writes "JK Rowling has today given fans of the Harry Potter books the name of Book 7 of the very popular series via a Christmas present on her site, to get to the name you need to follow a complicated procedure but thankfully the name of the book has been revealed as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Non-Geeky Gifts for Tech Geeks 142

Posted by Zonk from the when-you-absolutely-have-to-serve-hockey-puck-smoothie dept.
An anonymous reader writes "FiringSquad.com has just put out another holiday gift guide. They've gathered together, along with the usual video cards and whatnot, several non-techie toys with a techie slant. With the exception of an mp3 and a digital camera, everything else they recommend is stuff I haven't seen on any list before. They have things ranging from $10 to $7500. My favorite has to be the Blendtec blender. 2 horsepower motor. Turns hockey pucks into mulch."
Math

Submission + - Science's Breakthrough of the Year

Submitted by
johkir
johkir writes: "Last year, evolution was the breakthrough of the year; We found it full of new developments in understanding how new species originate. But we did get a complaint or two that perhaps we were just paying extra attention to the lively political/religious debate that was taking place over the issue, particularly in the United States. Perish the thought! Our readers can relax this year: Religion and politics are off the table, and n-dimensional geometry is on instead. This year's Breakthrough salutes the work of a lone, publicity-shy Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman, who was at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences until 2005. The work is very technical but has received unusual public attention because Perelman appears to have proven the Poincaré Conjecture, a problem in topology whose solution will earn a $1 million prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute. That's only if Perelman survives what's left of a 2-year gauntlet of critical attack required by the Clay rules, but most mathematicians think he will. There is also a page of runner-ups. Many of which have been covered here on Slashdot."

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