Cska Sofia - Slashdot User

Comment Re:No Skype makes sense, No GPLv3 is annoying... (Score 1) 800

by Cska Sofia on Tuesday March 11, 2008 @11:38AM (#22717286) Attached to: iPhone SDK Rules Block Skype, Firefox, Java ...

there isn't a "no competing browsers" restriction - it's an assumption based on the "no interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application" clause, which other browsers' plugin architectures would presumably violate.

Submission + - How PALS Help Secure Nuclear Weapons

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Friday November 23, 2007 @10:22AM

Hugh Pickens writes: "The BBC reported last week that until 1998 no code or dual key system was required to arm British nuclear weapons. Bombs were armed by inserting a bicycle lock key (video) into the arming switch and turning it 90 degrees. Permissive Action Links (PALs) were introduced in the 1960s in America to prevent a mad General or pilot launching a nuclear war on their own and to control nuclear weapons that were at least partially controlled by other nations but as late as 1974, when an armed quarrel broke out between two members of NATO, Greece and Turkey, the Secretary of Defense learned that many tactical nukes were still not equipped with PALS. It has been reported that PALs have been installed on Pakistan's nuclear weapons to disarm or disable their triggering mechanism if the wrong code is entered or if the bomb is tampered with in any manner. But "there is an urgent need to improve the technical skills of personnel charged with the security of [Pakistan's] nuclear installations and develop an institutional security culture," warned a report two years ago by retired Pakistani army Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani at the Sandia Labs in New Mexico."

Submission + - Monitor draws zero power in standby

Submitted by

fifthace

on Thursday November 08, 2007 @06:36AM

fifthace writes: "A new range of Fujitsu Siemens monitors don't draw power during standby. The technology uses capacitors and relays to avoid drawing power when no video signal is present.

With political parties all over Europe calling for a ban on standby, this small development could end up as one of the most significant advances in recent times. The British Government estimates eight percent of all domestic electricity is consumed by devices in standby."

Submission + - Comcast Admits Delaying, Not Blocking, P2P Traffic (nytimes.com)

Submitted by haibijon on Tuesday October 23, 2007 @08:02AM

haibijon writes: The executive declined to talk in detail about the technology, citing spammers or other miscreants who might exploit that knowledge. But he insisted the company was not stopping file transfers from happening, only postponing them in certain cases. He compared it to making a phone call and getting a busy signal, then trying again and getting through.

Submission + - realtime ASCII Goggles (englishrussia.com)

Submitted by jabjoe on Thursday September 06, 2007 @05:31AM

jabjoe writes: Russian artists from Moscow have created goggles with image filtering, interestingly ascii. This allows you to view the world in real time as ascii. Pointless but cool. Link

Submission + - 3D Animations in Mid-Air Using Plasma Balls (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @04:44AM

An anonymous reader writes: Japanese boffins are now making animations by creating small plasma balls in mid-air. The technology doesn't use vapor or strange gases, just lasers to heat up oxygen and nitrogen molecules: up to 1,000 brilliant dots per second, which makes smooth motion possible. They could be used as street signs, advertising or to create giant plasma monsters to destroy entire cities. Maybe.

Submission + - Internet no longer dangerous, school boards decide (blorge.com) 1

Submitted by

destinyland

on Wednesday August 08, 2007 @02:51AM

destinyland writes: "Good news. The National School Boards Association, which represents 95,000 school board members, just released a report declaring fears of the internet are overblown. In fact, after surveying 1,277 students, "the researchers found exactly one student who reported they'd actually met a stranger from the internet without their parents' permission. (They described this as "0.08 percent of all students.") The report reminds educators that schools initially banned internet use before they'd realized how educational it was. Now instead they're urging schools to include social networks in their curriculum!"

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