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Education

Submission + - FBI to restrict student freedoms (pressesc.com)

Submitted by
amigoro
amigoro writes: "US university students will not be able to work late at the campus, travel abroad, show interest in their colleagues' work, have friends outside America, engage in independent research, or make extra money without the prior consent of the authorities, according to a set of guidelines given to administrators by the FBI. Feds are going around briefing top universities including MIT about "espionage indicators" aimed at identifying foreign agents and terrorists who might steal university research."
Microsoft

Submission + - Ubuntu Linux = Genuine Windows? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
bobbocanfly
bobbocanfly writes: "Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years you will have heard about the problems with the Windows Genuine Advantage system. Well here is another one. A user at UbuntuForums.org managed to validate their Ubuntu installation as a genuine copy of Microsoft Windows and get to the download page of Windows Defender, using IE4Linux and Wine. This along with the advancement of LiveCD technology could mean the end of Microsoft's control over who gets their updates."
Books

Submission + - A book full of real-world applications of CSS (nateklaiber.com)

Submitted by
nateklaiber
nateklaiber writes: "The Art and Science of CSS was a quick read (208 pages) and packed full of valuable code examples. Unlike other CSS books that teach you the specifics of CSS with vague examples (not vague in a bad way), this book teaches you specific examples and gives you extra resources. This book is somewhat of a cookbook of commonly used CSS methods. Each author brings their unique writing style to the table, and each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of design and its CSS and styling methods.

Chapter 1 starts with Headings. The author of this chapter gives a brief introduction to hierarchy and branding, and how you can achieve more control with your look and typography. As typography is discussed, he moves on to talk about image replacement and the many techniques available to us today. There is no perfect solution when it comes to image replacement, but the author does a great job of showing current methods, their advantages, and their disadvantages (including an in-depth section on sIFR).

Chapter 2 is all about Images. The author starts by showing you how to create a basic but aesthetically pleasing image gallery. The task at hand is to create the enlarged version, the thumbnail page, and the galleries page while keeping the markup lean and semantic. Each of these are put together very nicely with flair not usually seen in off the shelf image galleries. The author also discusses how to create images (in context) with captions, including a nice use of transparent PNGs. The authors creative use of captions give you options outside of the box (both semantically and philosophically) of normal captions that are seen all around the web.

Chapter 3 shows us that backgrounds dont have to be boring. This is a very simple chapter that discusses backgrounds of the past (repeating pictures, large pictures, etc), and then looks forward to the present in getting creative with your backgrounds. He uses a case study as an example, and it shows specifics of positioning and layering.

Chapter 4 jumps into Navigation. Different types of navigations are discussed (vertical, horizontal, tabbed, variable width, etc) and shown with specific examples. The author shows how to take from each of those to create advanced navigation systems using images and your semantic markup. I think that from this chapter a user could create an advanced navigation simply because the foundation is set pretty solid before he gets to the advanced section. This chapter goes hand-in-hand with chapter 1 when talking about image replacement.

Chapter 5 discusses the dreaded (sometimes feared) Forms. Forms come in all shapes and sizes and it is up to us to build them accordingly with the user in mind. The styling in this chapter spruces up what is a rather mundane form while giving you great flexibility and hooks to extend yourself. The author discusses the several different layout types (top aligned label, left aligned label, right aligned label) and shows how to enhance each. If you work with forms often, this chapter will help you whip up a clean interface for the task.

Chapter 6 is everybodys favorite chapter Rounded Corners. The author gives you an arsenal of tools (and knowledge) to attack the task of adding rounded corners. He discusses the different methods (horizontal stretching, vertical stretching, and full flexibility) and shows you how to achieve each keeping in mind the task of keeping the markup minimal and meaningful. We also get a brief glimpse into what CSS3 will have to offer us with multiple backgrounds per element.

Chapter 7 closes out the book with Tables. Tables still have a strong place in web development and the author shows you how to use tables properly (with semantic markup) and then how to give them a little visual jump-start and interaction. The markup presented here helps you give clear meaning to your tables as well as building with accessibility in mind (which is always important with tables, specifically). We round off the chapter looking at some interaction enhancements via Javascript that we can use with our tables (sorting, striping, and hovering).

Overall I found this book to be an excellent read. It was short and to the point, and gives the reader a great starting point (as well as inspiration). The book itself is well designed. My only qualms with the book is that the code examples are listed in full in many places, which gives less room for content related to the chapters. As I said in the beginning, this was a fairly quick read but well worth it. I would say that this is for an intermediate CSS developer, as specific CSS is not discussed in great detail but given to you as a way to achieve a specific design task. If you are familiar with CSS and need a quick way to achieve the tasks listed above, then this book is perfect for you."
Movies

Submission + - Michael Moore's new "Sicko" leaked on BitT (zeropaid.com)

Submitted by
Jared
Jared writes: "Michael Moore went so far as to stash a copy of his new documentary "Sicko," a scathing indictment of the US healthcare system, in Canada over fears the Feds would seize it since a portion of it was filmed in Cuba despite the current US embargo against it. Buyt, it won't matter after all since a copy of it has been leaked on BitTorrent and P2P networks everywhere.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8846/Michael+Moore's+ new+documentary+%22Sicko%22+leaked+on+BitTorrent"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Getting into American Election Business!

Submitted by myspace-cn
myspace-cn writes: The 800 pound gorilla of software development has moved forcefully into New York State with proposed changes(PDF WARNING) to New York State Election Law drafted by Microsoft attorneys that has been circulating among the Legislature. These changes would gut the source code escrow and review provisions provided current LAW!! There's more information on Bo Lipari's web blog and on Bradblog.com Ain't it time to get rid of these machines?!
Editorial

Submission + - Closed captioning in web video

Submitted by
mforbes
mforbes writes: "I, like many geeks, enjoy watching TV, movies, and streamed video. However, I suffer from a problem known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), which essentially means that I often have difficulties separating the sounds of human voices from various background noises.

When watching TV and when watching movies at home, this isn't a problem, as I can simply turn on the closed captioning. I never watch any television programs without CCTV, actually, and find radio to be an annoyance for the same reason.

Given this, and that CAPD only effects two to three percent of the population (see the preceding link), how much effort would it take the major purveyors of internet video (the broadcasting majors, etc) to include an option for CCTV? I ask this not as a technical expert, although I doubt the bandwidth required would be more than 1% of that required for the video already being presented, but as someone who simply cannot understand much of the dialogue due to this handicap.

As a social libertarian, I would never ask that there be government regulation of such an enterprise; I ask only that the major studios be aware of the difficulties that those of us with auditory disorders face. If it's rough for me, how much more difficult can it be for someone who can't hear at all?

To answer the obvious question, "Why did you post this to Your Rights Online?"
The only response I have is through the American with Disability Act. I acknowledge that this is a law, not a constitutional principle, and that it doesn't matter at all in countries other than the US. Nevertheless, as an American citizen who is subject to the ADA, I find that this is the relevant forum for such discussion."
Communications

Submission + - PC calls centers garner lowest satisfaction score (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "The University of Michigan took its first American Customer Satisfaction survey and found that of six industries measured for the Customers' Call Center Satisfaction Index, the PC industry received the lowest score, according to a Computerworld story. 'According to the survey, nearly 73% of the people who have bad experiences with their PC companies' call centers said they will consider purchasing their next PCs from another company, while 85% of customers who had their problems resolved by calling a PC call center said they would continue doing business with the company. Other calls centers included in the survey included banking, cell phone service, cable and satellite television, and insurance."
Communications

Submission + - Bones Could Become Conduits For Data Swaps

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "New Scientist Tech has an intriguing article about researchers at Rice University in Houston, TX who are looking at ways to use the human skeleton to transmit data. The idea is to use bones to conduct sound waves, with 0's and 1's being represented by different frequencies. Preliminary results, shared with a conference on body networks in Florence, Italy, this week, show that bones can conduct even low-power vibrations with few errors. The idea is that the conduction of sound along bone would be more secure that via radio waves, leading to the possibility of swapping data with someone by shaking their hand."
Networking

Submission + - China taking on U.S. in cyber arms race (cnn.com)

Submitted by
Pabugs
Pabugs writes: "China has developed information warfare units — China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said Wednesday."
Links

Submission + - Is Scientific Consensus a Threat to Democracy? (ft.com)

Submitted by
chance_encounter
chance_encounter writes: "President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus has published an article in the Financial Times in which he seems to equate the current global warming debate with totalitarian thought control: "The dictates of political correctness are strict and only one permitted truth, not for the first time in human history, is imposed on us. Everything else is denounced." He goes on to state: "The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence." At the end of the article he proposes several suggestions to improve the global climate debate, including this point: "Let us resist the politicisation of science and oppose the term "scientific consensus," which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority.""
Math

Submission + - Can statistics predict the outcome of a war? (texyt.com)

Submitted by StatisticallyDeadGuy
StatisticallyDeadGuy writes: A University of Georgia scientist has developed a statistical system that, she claims, can predict the outcome of wars with an accuracy of 80 percent. Her approach, applied retrospectively, says the US chance of victory in the first Gulf War was 93%, while the poor Soviets only had a seven percent chance in Afghanistan (if only they'd known; failure maybe triggered the collapse of the USSR). As for the current Iraq conflict: the US started off with a 70% chance of a successful regime change, which was duly achieved — but extending the mission past this to support a weak government has dropped the probability of ultimate success to 26%. Full details of the forecasting methodology are revealed in a new paper (subscription required — link goes to abstract).
Slashdot.org

Journal Journal: Has someone been messing with the 'tagging beta'?

Journal by weierstrass

Within the last few weeks, something has changed. Whereas tags like 'fud' 'notfud' and 'yes' or 'no' answers to rhetorical questions in the headlines used to dominate, they are rarely seen anymore. There are in general a lot fewer wisecrack tags. and every article has tags for its Section - eg 'business', and often several of the official slashdot sections if it could have belonged to several. It seems to me that very few people would have bothered to add these categorising tags, wh
Privacy

Submission + - States rebel against Real ID Act (lawbean.com)

Submitted by
Spamicles
Spamicles writes: "Four states have passed laws that reject federal rules regarding a national identification system. This casts serious doubt on the future of the 2005 Real ID Act that goes into effect in December 2009. New Hampshire and Oklahoma joined Montana and Washington state in the passage of statutes that refute guidelines set forth in the Act. However, these actions could eventually lead to drivers licenses issued in these states to not be accepted as official identification when boarding airplanes or accessing federal buildings. In addition to these four states, members of the Idaho legislature intentionally left out money in the budget to comply with the Act."
Communications

Submission + - Touchsensitive paper with built in speakers

Submitted by
The Bongo King
The Bongo King writes: "Swedish research scientists has made a prototype billboard of interactive paper with built in flat loudspeakers apparantly also made of paper. Maybe ads in you morning paper will speak back at you?

"The first generation of paper was for display, like books," says Mikael Gulliksson, a researcher at Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden, "the second for packaging, and the third for hygiene — we are investigating what the fourth might be."

New Scientist Tech: www.newscientisttech.com"
Biotech

Submission + - Serious diseases genes revealed

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "A major advance in understanding the genetics behind several of the world's most common diseases has been reported ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6724369.stm ). The landmark Wellcome Trust study analysed DNA from the blood of 17,000 people to find genetic differences. They found new genetic variants for depression, Crohn's disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 and 2 diabetes. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) involved 50 leading research groups analysing the DNA from 2,000 patients for each of the seven conditions and 3,000 healthy volunteers. One of the most exciting finds was a previously unknown gene common to type 1 diabetes and Crohn's disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disorder, suggesting that they share similar biological pathways. There is also disease by disease data at the BBC ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6727043.stm )."

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