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Programming

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Making side-money as a programmer

Submitted by
earlzdotnet
earlzdotnet writes: "I've been programming for a few years now, have a full time job etc. I'm one of those lucky souls that actually enjoy programming, so I commonly work on my own open source projects on weekends. However, I wouldn't mind working on a short-term(ie, not more than 2 months) project every once in a while on weekends.

I've looked at freelancing before and I could probably make more money by working at McDonald's on weekends than that. I've also looked into making web sites for small businesses, but it requires a bit too much commitment and support for me, especially since I'm terrible at graphics design. I've had my hand at trying to write reusable components to sell to other programmers, but that was pretty pointless(made one $20 sale). I've seen teaching suggested, but I'm self-taught and probably not experienced enough to responsibly teach people

Are there any other options to make a bit of cash as a programmer? Is programming just one of those things that requires complete dedication or what?"
Censorship

Submission + - UK Government Changes Tack And Demands Default Porn Block (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to reverse a policy announced last week, and demand that ISPs filter adult content by default. This system would require users to actively opt out of a filter designed to block adult content and material about self-harm. Last week, after consultation with parents, the Department for Education had said that an opt-in system would be sufficient and no default porn block would be required, but the Daily Mail has announced triumphantly that Cameron will be presenting the policy in the paper. MP Claire Perry, who has argued for the block, will be in charge — and freedom of speech campaigners have branded the sudden change of mind as "chaotic"."
Robotics

Submission + - Reading Slashdot to amputation to climbing 103 floors on a 'bionic' leg (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 4 years ago I read about experimental Targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) surgery on Slashdot. 3 years ago I crashed my motorcycle and had my leg amputated — at which time I had TMR done. Today I climbed 103 floors of the Willis Tower in Chicago with a experimental prosthetic using TMR. Thanks Slashdot.
Government

Submission + - DWP UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused IPv4 Addresses (paritynews.com) 2

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The Department of Work and Pensions, UK has an entire block of /8 IPv4 addresses that is unused and an e-petition has been filed in this regards asking the DWP to sell it off thus easing off the IPv4 address space scarcity in the RIPE region a little. John Graham-Cumming, the person who first found this, wrote in a blog post that the DWP was in possession of 51.0.0.0/8 IPv4 addresses. According to Cumming, these 16.9 million IP addresses are unused at the moment and he derived this conclusion by doing a check in the ASN database. An e-petition has been filed in this regards.
Security

Submission + - Spoken commands crash bank phone lines (scmagazine.com.au) 1

Submitted by mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: A series of attacks have been made that are capable of disabling touch tone and voice activated phone systems or forcing them to disclose sensitive information.

The commands can be keyed in using touchtones or even using the human voice.

In one test, a phone system run by an unnamed Indian bank had dumped customer PINs. In another, a buffer overflow was triggered against a back-end database. Other attacks can be used to crash phone systems outright.
Mars

Submission + - Curiosity Rover Sees Solar Eclipes on Mars (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by
SchrodingerZ
SchrodingerZ writes: "Though solar eclipses are fairly common on Earth (though much more in the southern hemisphere), yesterday the Mars Curiosity Rover caught sight of a partial solar eclipse in Gale Crater on the Red planet. The martian moon Phobos took a small bite out of the sun on the 37th day (Sol 37) of the rover's martian mission. The Curiosity Rover was able to take a picture of the rare event through a 'neutral density filter that reduced the sunlight to a thousandth of its natural intensity.' This protected the camera from the intense light rays seen during eclipse or looking directly at the sun. It is possible a short movie of the event could be compiled from the data in the near future. More solar transits of Mar's moon (including the second moon Deimos) are predicted to happen in the days to come."
Patents

Submission + - Easy Fix For Software Patents Found In US Patent Act (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "What if there was an easy, inexpensive way to bring software patents under control, that did not involve Congress, which applied retrospectively to all patents and which was already part of the US Patent Act? Stanford law professor Mark Lemley thinks he's found it. He asserts that the current runaway destruction being caused by software patents is just like previous problems with US patent law, and that Congress included language in the Patent Act of 1952 that can be invoked over software patents just like it fixed the earlier problems. All it will take is a future defendant in a patent trial using his read of a crucial section of the Patent Act in their defence to establish case law. Can it really be that easy?"

Submission + - Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict (thenextweb.com)

Submitted by dgharmon
dgharmon writes: “I hate it,” Wozniak told Bloomberg in Shanghai today, referring to the patent battle. “I don’t think the decision of California will hold. And I don’t agree with it — very small things I don’t really call that innovative. I wish everybody would just agree to exchange all the patents and everybody can build the best forms they want to use everybody’s technologies.”
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo WiiU Price and Release Date Announced

Submitted by YokimaSun
YokimaSun writes: Nintendo have revealed the release date of the WiiU, in Japan it will launch on the 8th December. The console will ship in 2 versions a Basic version with 8GB of internal memory and a Premium version that has 32GB of internal memory and comes with a stand and docks. Both versions have 1GB of Main and the same for Game Memory. Nintendo claim the console is 20 times more powerful than the Wii and supports 1080p visuals out the box and comes with an hdmi cable. All existing Wii accessories will work with the WiiU but the new Tablet Gamepad will set you back around £100/$173 when you convert yen over. The price of the Premium SKU converts to £250/ $405 but expect that to change when each region announces their release date and price.

Submission + - Social robots may gain legal rights, says MIT researcher (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: Social robots, machines with the ability to do grocery shopping, fix dinner and discuss the day’s news, may gain limited rights, similar to those granted to pets. Kate Darling, a research specialist at the MIT Media Lab, looks at this broad issue in a recent paper, “Extending Legal Rights to Social Robots.” “The Kantian philosophical argument for preventing cruelty to animals is that our actions towards non-humans reflect our morality — if we treat animals in inhumane ways, we become inhumane persons. This logically extends to the treatment of robotic companions. Granting them protection may encourage us and our children to behave in a way that we generally regard as morally correct, or at least in a way that makes our cohabitation more agreeable or efficient.” If Apple or any company can make a robot that leaves the factory with rights the marketing potential, as Darling makes note of, may be significant. But then if corporations are people, why not give rights to their assembly line babies?
NASA

Submission + - 35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars (ajc.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "Thirty-five years after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 is reaching for the stars.

Sooner or later, the workhorse spacecraft will bid adieu to the solar system and enter a new realm of space — the first time a manmade object will have escaped to the other side.

Perhaps no one on Earth will relish the moment more than 76-year-old Ed Stone, who has toiled on the project from the start.

"We're anxious to get outside and find what's out there," he said.

When NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 first rocketed out of Earth's grip in 1977, no one knew how long they would live. Now, they are the longest-operating spacecraft in history and the most distant, at billions of miles from Earth but in different directions.

Wednesday marks the 35th anniversary of Voyager 1's launch to Jupiter and Saturn. It is now flitting around the fringes of the solar system, which is enveloped in a giant plasma bubble. This hot and turbulent area is created by a stream of charged particles from the sun.

Outside the bubble is a new frontier in the Milky Way — the space between stars. Once it plows through, scientists expect a calmer environment by comparison.

When that would happen is anyone's guess. Voyager 1 is in uncharted celestial territory. One thing is clear: The boundary that separates the solar system and interstellar space is near, but it could take days, months or years to cross that milestone.

Voyager 1 is currently more than 11 billion miles from the sun. Twin Voyager 2, which celebrated its launch anniversary two weeks ago, trails behind at 9 billion miles from the sun."
Games

Submission + - Fans Bring Back Half Life Game Series: Black Mesa Mod Launches 9/14 (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "In a little less than two weeks, Half Life fans will have an opportunity to relive Valve's original 1998 title Half Life, albeit reborn and modified using the company's Source engine. The ambitious third-party project is called Black Mesa (previously known as Black Mesa: Source) and it's been in development for eight years. Black Mesa will deliver Half Life as you've never seen it before. It will have all new graphics, maps, a new soundtrack, updated voice acting, support for multi-core processors, hardware accelerated facial animation, and other goodies."
Apple

Submission + - Bruce Willis 'considering iTunes legal action' against Apple (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by oobayly
oobayly writes: It appears that Bruce "Die Hard" Willis isn't too impressed that he can't include his iTunes collection in his estate when he dies.

Bruce Willis, the Hollywood actor, is said to be considering legal action against Apple so he can leave his iTunes music collection to his three daughters.

Such a high profile individual complaining about the ability to own your digital music can only be a good thing, right? I suggest that also assaulting Cupertino in a dirty white vest would do the job.

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