Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Comment Re:buh? (Score 1) 642

by Marton (#36493816) Attached to: Bitcoin Price Crashes

RTFA?

What they're saying is that somebody amassed a lot of coins on a single account but wasn't able to transfer them out. Just $1000 worth. The coins are there, and the transactions can be rolled back. Mostly.

I hope that is the case - if they can't fix this then it's a huge blow to a very interesting experiment.

Comment Ok, I'll bite... (Score 1) 315

by Marton (#23621793) Attached to: Why BitTorrent Causes Latency and How To Fix It
Technology for mortals?

"Incoming data from from multiple sources via the fast core of the Internet can sometimes clump closely together when multiple sources happen to transmit data around the same time."

More like technology for idiots.

It's simple. TCP/IP has a built-in backoff mechanism. It works wonderfully when two or three TCP (and other similar, more or less polite) streams compete for bandwidth. The mechanism is stream-based and not port-based, so when one app (one port) has 200-300 active streams, you're SoL no matter how polite those streams are. I guess one can approach the "BitTorrent corporation" with some crackpot idea about breaking TCP, but I wouldn't do it, unless you like to be laughed out of rooms.

What may work is a port-based backoff mechanism on top of the existing stream-based one, but no app vendor is going to be able to help you with that. Or get QoS configured on your router. Alternatively, just get your roommate to use BT traffic throttling. It's there for a reason.

Now can /. get back to actual nerd stuff?
The Media

HBO Exec Proposes DRM Name Change 544

Posted by Zonk from the that's-all-that's-in-the-way dept.
surfingmarmot writes "An HBO executive has figured out the problem with DRM acceptance — it's the name. HBO's chief technology officer Bob Zitter now wants to refer to the technology as Digital Consumer Enablement. Because, you see, DRM actually helps consumers by getting more content into their hands. The company already has HD movies on demand ready to go, but is delaying them because of ownership concerns. Says Zitter, 'Digital Consumer Enablement would more accurately describe technology that allows consumers "to use content in ways they haven't before," such as enjoying TV shows and movies on portable video players like iPods. "I don't want to use the term DRM any longer," said Zitter, who added that content-protection technology could enable various new applications for cable operators.'"
Education

Many Dead In Virginia Tech Shooting 2661

Posted by CmdrTaco from the funny-not-appropriate dept.
nexuspal writes "Over 20 confirmed dead at Virginia Tech. Shooter killed some at residence hall then two hours later killed others in classrooms. Worst school shooting in US history. "
The Internet

Viacom vs. YouTube - Whose Side Are You On? 353

Posted by Zonk from the i-vote-for-adam-ant dept.
DigitalDame2 writes "Lance Ulanoff of PCMag believes that the Viacom and YouTube lawsuit is a bad idea because it has the potential to damage the burgeoning online video business; instead, it could work with the millions of people who are currently viewing Viacom content on YouTube. On the other side, Jim Louderback, an editor-in-chief of PCMag says that Lance doesn't know what he's talking about: with all the content available online for free, Viacom can kiss those investments goodbye. YouTube is actively filtering, actively allowing uploads, and making money off of the content that's been uploaded. The courts will find that Viacom has been wronged, that Google has not done enough to protect the rights of copyright holders, and that Google owes Viacom reparations. Whose side are you on?"
Operating Systems

Virtualization Is Not All Roses 214

Posted by CmdrTaco from the watch-out-for-those-thorns dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Vendors and magazines are all over virtualization like a rash, like it is the Saviour for IT-kind. Not always, writes analyst Andi Mann in Computerworld." I've found that when it works, it's really cool, but it does add a layer of complexity that wasn't there before. Then again, having a disk image be a 'machine' is amazingly useful sometimes.
Portables

Submission + - big ram laptops? (beyond 4gb)

Submitted by Fubari
Fubari writes: Anybody know when laptops over 4gb might be coming out? Some of the devtools I want to run are just obscene ram-pigs. On the desktop I'm using now (win2003), it sucks up 1.6gb just to boot. By the time I log in and start doing work, it is stretching 2gb.

Move that to vista, add a vm-ware session or two, and I'm worried I'll be pushing 4gb.

I'm torn between buying a 4gb-max laptop now, or some mini-desktop that can fit in a set of luggage wheels. A friend of mine suggested something like this, but my first choice would be something designed to be portable.
Security

"Very Severe Hole" In Vista UAC Design 813

Posted by kdawson from the she-said-he-said dept.
Cuts and bruises writes "Hacker Joanna Rutkowska has flagged a "very severe hole" in the design of Windows Vista's User Account Controls (UAC) feature. The issue is that Vista automatically assumes that all setup programs (application installers) should be run with administrator privileges — and gives the user no option to let them run without elevated privileges. This means that a freeware Tetris installer would be allowed to load kernel drivers. Microsoft's Mark Russinovich acknowledges the risk factor but says it was a 'design choice' to balance security with ease of use."
Linux Business

OSDL's Review of Desktop Linux In 2006 200

Posted by kdawson from the it's-a-wrap dept.
derrida writes "The OSDL's Desktop Linux Working Group has published its first year-end report on the state of the overall desktop Linux ecosystem. The report provides insight into the year's key accomplishments in functionality, standards, applications, distributions, market penetration, and more. Of great interest is the Market Growth part. Quoting from there: 'Most observers believe that much of the growth will take place outside of the United States. "It will be in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries," said Gerry Riveros, Red Hat, "because of the price and because they aren't locked in yet."'"
Google

YouTube To Pay For User-Generated Content 128

Posted by kdawson from the sharing-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Speaking at the World Economic Forum, YouTube CEO Chad Hurley has revealed that the company plans to financially compensate users who produce and upload their content. With Google's purchase of YouTube last year, followed by more aggressive attempts to monetize the site (such as the deal struck with Verizon Wireless), it was inevitable that YouTube would come under pressure to share some of those fruits with ordinary users. But why didn't YouTube pay its users from the start? Hurley said: 'We didn't want to build a system that was motivated by monetary reward. We wanted to really build a true community around video. When you start out with giving money to people from day one, the people you do attract will just switch to the next provider who's paying more. We're at a scale now that we feel we can do that and still have a true community around video.'"
Microsoft

Microsoft Answers Vista DRM Critics' Claims 627

Posted by Zonk from the don't-believe-everything-you-read-on-the-interwebs dept.
skepsis writes "Recently there have been some stories on Slashdot claiming that Vista would downgrade the quality of audio and video for every application in a machine where protected content was running. One of the stories painted a scary scenario where a 'medical IT worker who's using a medical imaging PC while listening to audio/video played back by the computer' would have his medical images 'deliberately degraded.' A post has been put up on the Vista team blog explaining exactly how the content protection works, and it turns out the medical IT staff and audio pros can relax. From the post: 'It's important to emphasize that while Windows Vista has the necessary infrastructure to support commercial content scenarios, this infrastructure is designed to minimize impact on other types of content and other activities on the same PC. For example, if a user were viewing medical imagery concurrently with playback of video which required image constraint, only the commercial video would be constrained -- not the medical image or other things on the user's desktop.'"
The Internet

Microsoft, Google Agree to NGO Code of Conduct 59

Posted by Zonk from the we've-all-been-waiting dept.
Aditi.Tuteja writes "Technology companies have come under fire for providing equipment or software that permits governments to censor information or monitor the online or offline activities of their citizens. For example, last year, Google's approach to the China market was criticized over its creation of a censored, local version of its search engine. Microsoft, Google, and two other technology companies will develop a code of conduct with a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) to promote freedom of expression and privacy rights, they announced Friday. The two companies along with Yahoo, and Vodafone Group said the new guidelines are the result of talks with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School."
Security

Memories of a Media Card 266

Posted by kdawson from the embarassing-moments dept.
twistedmoney99 writes "Anyone who has upgraded their digital camera probably has a few older, incompatible media cards lying around — so why not post them on Ebay? Well, if you do, be sure to properly wipe them because the digital voyeurs are watching. Seth Fogie at InformIT.com purchased a bunch of used cards from Ebay and found recoverable data on most of them. Using the freely available PhotoRec application, he was able to extract pictures, movies, and more from apparently formatted cards. The picture is clear — wipe anything that can store digital data before getting rid of it."

Looking Beyond Vista To Fiji and Vienna 600

Posted by CowboyNeal from the better-and-better dept.
Vinit wrote in with an article that describes Microsoft's strategy for future versions of Windows. It begins: "As we all know that Microsoft Vista was originally scheduled to be released in 2003, after two years of Windows XP, but it got delayed by over five years due to various reasons. Definitely, Vista is very very improved OS over the previous versions, but the delayed in the launch has cost Microsoft, billions of dollars. Now the question at the moment is, what exactly after Vista? Microsoft can't afford to wait another five years for an operating system. People are becoming more aware of the choices they have, and Linux is no longer a hobbyist OS, and that day isn't far away when it becomes simple enough to be a viable alternative to Windows. The competition is fierce. That is why, to stay at the top, Microsoft has planned a 'Vista R2', codenamed 'Fiji' which will be released some time in 2008. And after Fiji, there will be Windows 'Vienna'. Windows Fiji, will not be a totally different OS from Vista; but it will be an add-on. Whereas Vienna will be totally different from Vista."
Debian

Debian Delayed by Disenchanted Developers 329

Posted by CmdrTaco from the look-at-all-that-alliteration dept.
Torus Kas writes "Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 was supposed to be due by December 4 and development is currently frozen. Apparently the saga was triggered by disenchantment towards funding of $6,000 for each of the 2 release managers to work full-time in order to speed up the development. Many unpaid developers simply put off Debian work to work on something else."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Being against torture ought to be sort of a bipartisan thing." -- Karl Lehenbauer

Close