Larch - Slashdot User

Stimulus Could Kickstart US Battery Industry 369

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 17, 2009 @06:32PM from the charging-ahead dept.

Al sends along a Technology Review piece that begins "Provisions in the Congressional stimulus bill could help jump-start a new, multibillion-dollar industry in the US for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles and for storing energy from the electrical grid to enable the widespread use of renewable energy. The nearly $790 billion economic stimulus legislation contains tens of billions of dollars in loans, grants, and tax incentives for advanced battery research and manufacturing, as well as incentives for plug-in hybrids and improvements to the electrical grid, which could help create a market for these batteries. Significant advances in battery materials, including the development of new lithium-ion batteries, have been made in the US in the past few years; but advanced battery manufacturing is almost entirely overseas, particularly in Asia."

Could Fake Phishing Emails Help Fight Spam? 296

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 02, 2009 @10:50AM from the hello-sir-madam dept.

Glyn Moody writes "Apparently, the US Department of Justice has been sending out hoax emails to test the security awareness of its staff. How about applying a similar strategy to tackling spam among ordinary users? If fake spam messages offering all the usual benefits, and employing all the usual tricks, were sent out by national security agencies around the world, it would select precisely the people who tend to respond to spam. The agencies could then contact them from a suitably important-looking government address, warning about what could have happened. Some might become more cautious as a result, others will not. But again, it is precisely the latter who are more likely to respond to further fake spam messages in the future, allowing the process to be repeated as often as necessary. The system would be cheap to run — spam is very efficient — and could use the latest spam as templates."

Obama Looking To Symantec CEO For Commerce 168

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 28, 2009 @11:06AM from the fear-monger-your-way-to-the-top dept.

patentpundit writes "Word has started to circulate that President Barack Obama may be close to appointing John W. Thompson, the outgoing chief executive of network security firm Symantec Corp., to be the next Secretary of Commerce. According to the LA Times, over the last several days Thompson has spoken on the telephone and met with key senators, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a member of the commerce committee that would hold confirmation hearings for any appointed Secretary of Commerce, is 'extremely supportive and hopeful he'll be the nominee.' The appointment of Thompson to head the Department of Commerce would be an exceptionally interesting choice given that only days ago President Obama asked Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to lead his open source charge and conduct a study and report back regarding the feasibility of the US government forgoing proprietary software and moving toward open source software solutions."

Comment Re:The IT Crowd (Score 1) 318

by Larch on Monday September 24, 2007 @03:50PM (#20733597) Attached to: The Fall Geek TV Lineup

I've heard it's being done by the same people who did the US version of the Office. The US version of the Office isn't much like the UK version, but it's a pretty decent show anyway.

I'm holding out hope it won't be as bad as the US Red Dwarf pilot anyway.

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