Exstatica - Slashdot User

Comment Maybe, Maybe not (Score 3, Informative) 91

by Exstatica on Friday December 11, 2009 @03:35PM (#30405802) Attached to: Arrington Responds To the JooJoo, Files Suit

I think Gizmodo said it right in this article http://gizmodo.com/5424261/the-crunchpadjoojoo-lawsuit-has-been-filed-preorders-are-officially-a-gamble "if Arrington's lawsuit has even a hint of truth to it regarding the lack of lack of Fusion Garage's sound capital resource—is no longer an option for the sane or even marginally patient. I mean, just wait til it ships and gets reviewed before giving these guys any money, ok?" One, I wouldn't put 500 bucks down on a device that is a web browser, and looks like e-ink. I want something very fresh. I've never owned an apple product, but if the rumored tablet is real, and is off the charts, I'll buy it. Otherwise I'm going to wait a year to see what other products come to light.

Comment Re:Sametime (Score 2, Informative) 308

by Exstatica on Friday October 31, 2008 @05:52PM (#25589663) Attached to: Good Open Source, Multi-Platform, Secure IM Client?

I used to have that issue to, But i updated my java recently and the issue has cleared up.

XKCD Improving the Internet ... Yet Again 204

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday October 09, 2008 @12:25PM from the oh-oh-monroe dept.

netbuzz writes "Comic creator Randall Monroe suggested in a recent xkcd strip that YouTube comments would be better — or, more precisely, less idiotic — if only those posting them were forced to hear their words read aloud first. Well, YouTube has gone and made this "audio preview" a reality, albeit an optional one. And, it's not the first time that xkcd has contributed to the betterment of the Internet, as those who are familiar with last year's "Internet census" and its use of a Hilbert curve may remember."

Internet Filtering Lobby Forms 140

Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 26, 2008 @07:45PM from the do-not-want dept.

mbone writes "Wired's David Kravets reports on a new lobbying effort to support the filtering of internet traffic called Arts & Labs. Coverage is available at PC World as well. The lobby's members include AT&T, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Viacom and the Songwriters Guild of America. Their web site says, 'network operators must have the flexibility to manage and expand their networks to defend against net pollution and illegal file-trafficking which threatens to congest and delay the network for all consumers.' Does it seem that this is an attempt to categorize P2P with spam and malware, or is it just me?"

Good Email For Kids? 489

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday September 26, 2008 @01:43PM from the think-of-the-children dept.

mgessner writes "My kids are starting to want email accounts of their own. Even though gmail does a pretty good job of filtering spam, it's not perfect. Searching the web the other day for kid-safe email, I found a few sites that say they can do the job. What do others do for their kids' email? Pay for it? Just use a free service like gmail or yahoo? I don't pay for email accounts out of my own pocket, so I don't really see the need, but if the cost was a few bucks a month, I'd do it."

Submission + - Timewarner DNS Hijacking

Submitted by

Exstatica

on Sunday July 22, 2007 @06:06PM

Exstatica writes: "It looks like Timewarner is taking botnets into their own hands. They've hijacked dns for a few irc servers. The latests being irc.vel.net, irc.mzima.net, and irc.nac.net all part of EFNet. Using ns1.sd.cox.net the lookup returns an ip for what looks to be a script that forces the user into a channel and issues a set of commands to clean the drones. There have been different reports of other irc networks being hijacked and other dns servers involved. Is this the right way to handle this? Is hijacking DNS illegal?"

Submission + - Followup: Free Linux Kernel Driver Development Q&a

Submitted by schwaang on Monday February 12, 2007 @03:00AM

schwaang writes: The recent announcement by Linux Kernel Developer Greg Kroah-Hartman that "the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development" seems to have stirred up some interest as well as some questions (see the Slashdot discussion about the announcement here).

Greg K-H addresses some of the Slashdotters' questions and maybe even raises a few more in a new Free Linux Driver Development FAQ on his blog. An excerpt:

Q: Are companies really going to do this?
A: Yes, already we have received a number of serious queries from companies about producing Linux drivers for their devices. More information will be available later when details are firmed up.

US Planning Response To a Cyber Attack 359

Posted by kdawson on Sunday February 11, 2007 @04:07PM from the one-less-cyber-cafe-in-Karachi dept.

We've all heard of Google bombing; the US Government may be taking the expression rather literally. Planning is now underway across the government for the proper way to respond to a cyber attack, and options on the table include launching a cyber counterattack or even bombing the attack's source. The article makes clear that no settled plan is in place, and quotes one spokesman as saying "the preferred route would be warning the source to shut down the attack before a military response." That's assuming the source could be found. From the article: "If the United States found itself under a major cyberattack aimed at undermining the nations critical information infrastructure, the Department of Defense is prepared, based on the authority of the president, to launch a cyber counterattack or an actual bombing of an attack source."

Submission + - Why pirated software is a problem in the 3rd world

Submitted by RockDoctor on Sunday February 11, 2007 @07:17AM

RockDoctor writes: Dark Reading, the security-related online journal, carries an article by one Nathan Spande who works in Cambodia. Locally he finds that OpenOffice.Org and MS Office are the same price ($2), or $7-20 by downloading. He discusses why the economics of OpenSource don't work in this environment, and how it contributes to global computer security issues through the "little extras" (trojans, spambots and other malware) that typically accompany such "local editions" of software. Spande's analysis strikes me as being solid. I still remember my suspiscion of buying software in Russia (a 5-language dictionary-thesaurus-pronunciation assistant) for $10, and my utter astonishment when it's on-line activation routine actually worked and left me (well, my wife) with a computer that is still working 2½ years later. Hmm, 4 new versions of Lingvo since we got her copy — maybe we should upgrade next time one of us is in Russia.
The economics of software outside the west are very different to what most people are used to.

Obama Announces for President, Boosts Broadband 846

Posted by kdawson on Sunday February 11, 2007 @03:40AM from the ethanol-and-fat-pipes-for-all dept.

Arlen writes "As many as 17,000 people (according to police estimates) watched Senator Barack Obama officially announce his candidacy for President in Springfield, Illinois today. He mentioned several things that will interest readers of Slashdot. The Senator said he wanted to free America from 'the tyranny of oil' and went on to promote alternative energy sources such as ethanol — a popular stance in the Midwest where he announced, because of all the corn farmers. He also talked about using science and technology to help those with chronic diseases, which is likely to have been an allusion to his staunch support for stem cell research. Perhaps most of interest to readers here is the following statement halfway through Obama's speech: 'Let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America. We can do that.' Like nearly everything in his speech, this was met with robust applause from the crowd. You can watch a video of the entire speech at Obama's website."

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