Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Submission + - Binary usenet groups prohibited in the Netherlands (vrritti.com)

dutchwhizzman writes: Amsterdam based Usenet wholesale provider News Service Europe has been mandated by the court to remove all copyright infringing content on their servers, or face severe financial penalties. Dutch copyright MAFIAA organization BREIN has won a court case making the usenet provider responsible for the content posted on other platforms than their own.

Could this be the end of usenet as we know it, or will an appeal be won by NSE? Why didn't the judge make the provider that allowed the posts responsible? Why did the judge not honor the "cancel message" procedure that technically exists in the NNTP protocol?

Submission + - AIDS Vaccine Breakthru (voanews.com)

Doc Ruby writes: Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in MD, USA announced they've disrupted the means by which HIV stops the immune system from attacking it, after the HIV has stolen a cholesterol membrane from the immune system first responders:

Scientists say they have found a way to disarm the AIDS virus in research that could lead to a vaccine. Researchers have discovered that if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune system returns to normal. [...] 'By stealing cholesterol from the envelope of the virus, we can neutralize the subversion,' said Graham. 'We’ve broken the code; we can shut down the type of interference that HIV is having on the immune system.'


Submission + - Steam translation community slaving away (zanfr.fr)

An anonymous reader writes: Steam has decided to build a community effort to get its Steam platform and game files translated by the community, but here is the catch:Translators do not get paid.
Millions could be saved by Steam by making the community work for free. The article describes basic estimates on how much is saved by Steam in translation costs.

Hardware

Submission + - Babbage's Analytical Engine to be built (i-programmer.info)

mikejuk writes: Last year John Graham-Cumming launched a project to create a fully-functional implementation of Babbage's original design for a computer — the Analytical Engine. Now it looks as if the project is going ahead. The first phase is to digitize all of Babbage's papers and designs. These will be available to the general public in 2012. The machine to be built is no simple calculator. It is a full computer with a store for between 100 and 1000 values each of 40 digits and it was programmed using punched cards in a modern "operator/address" format. There was even a plan to send the output to a printer. When this device is built it will make it clear that the computer age nearly began in the 18th centuary.

Submission + - The tunnel between CERN and Central Italy (google.com)

fph il quozientatore writes: The Italian ministry for university and research complimented the researchers for the recent (supposed) discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos. Her press release (Google machine translation) mentions that Italy funded the construction of a "tunnel between the CERN [in Geneva] and Gran Sasso [the labs in Central Italy]". Google maps reports the distance between the two labs as over 900km — but of course once the tunnel is open to traffic the trip will be much faster.

Submission + - AskSlashdot: Calculators with 1-2-3 numpads? 2

dotancohen writes: "Although the telephone has the 1-2-3 key on the top row, most calculators and keyboards have 7-8-9 on the top row. Switching between the two destroys muscle- and spatial- memory. Do any slashdotters use a scientific calculator with 1-2-3 on the top row? I've already scraped and resoldered my Casio fx-82 calculator to have 1-2-3 on the top, and remapped the numpad in Kubuntu, but if there exist any calculators like this already on the market I'd buy two."

Comment Funny thing is (Score -1) 394

Even more people are going to pirate movies instead of going to the theater simply because they want a plain 2D version so they don't get a horrible headache after viewing it.

Also added to the usual reasons of why people avoid theaters if they can: can take breaks whenever, watch at whatever time they like, on whatever gear they have/can afford, no annoyances like loud or tall people, and a better selection of snacks and drinks.

Comment Meh (Score -1) 71

Call me when all this actually serves some purpose...

So far all I have seen from LHC is a boatload of data noise and computers crunching thru it all in the hopes of making sense of... randomness...

Don't need LHC to create random bytes...

Comment Hadopi.uk ? (Score -1) 184

All the points raised in the comments have already been adressed in France with the debates around HADOPI.

The burden will be on the user to prove he is NOT guilty.

IPs seems to far to be picked at random (amongst french IPs on torrent trackers) by a company called TMG; some gross mismatch have been detected, including strangely enough internal IPs... which shows a high level of incompetence.

The cost will be paid by ISPs, they will raise prices (like they did here)

Next step (in france at least) is to have "voluntary" filtering enabled. A log is kept on your ISP-mandated modem/router of your connections so you can "prove" you are not "guilty". Of course if you refuse this filtering to be enabled you are deemed guilty by default

Some other goals are: filtering direct download sites and VPNs; some people, who might actually be tinfoil-lovers, claim they will also ban SSH on "consumer" grade connections and require a "business" grade connection to get SSH working again. This would be disastrous for the economy here as more and more people work from home using VPNs and SSH.. but it seems the government can't put 2 and 2 together. To them internet is a media consumption network with only 1 way data flow.

HADOPI is already having disastrous consequences for french hosting companies because people don't trust having their machines on such a crippled network.

VPN sales in other countries are surging, of course.

So brace yourselves UK if you government is looking to copy HADOPI this is what is in store for you.

Comment Re:Question for those who know more about networki (Score -1) 406

I'd settle for this if and only if I am assured my openvpn traffic goes thru as normal and if I pay LESS than I currently do.

In France, I currently pay 33 euros for 15 mbit adsl, phone (+ TV but that i dont give a flying.... about) on a dynamic ipv4, i'd settle for a global nat'd ipv4 and free phone (no TV) and the same speed (up and down) for no more than 12 euros a month provided that openvpn works properly of course. Torrenting in France without going thru a VPN is a bad idea nowadays, so it doesn't really matter if your ports are reachable, just remote forward the vpn server ports.

You get a crippled network, you pay less.

Comment Why bother? (Score -1) 1162

Why bother invest in hardware + software (the blurays themselves) when you can just get the same thing for free from the pirate bay?

The home theatre thing has always astonished me, spend alot of $$$ for "surround" sound, a fancy "TV" (just a big and low res LCD monitor), a bluray/dvd player and then buy the disks now that you can finally watch them (this is of course ignoring buying gold plated HDCP cables and such joys).

A computer with a reasonable screen, headphones, an internet connection, im all set...

Comment Glucose (Score -1) 1017

Glucose is necessary and not toxic.

Fructose / Corn syrup is horrible stuff, that doesn't get digested easily because it needs to be broken down to glucose by the body. Gives you the runs and makes you fart. Glucose doesn't.

Sweeteners? blah! all of them rubbish, even stuff like stervia (so called organic stuff) are just bullshit and potentially harmful.

Stick to basic glucose, it works, why change it?

Slashdot Top Deals

"Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." -- Alexander Graham Bell

Working...