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Security

Ask Slashdot: Using Company Laptop For Personal Use 671

Posted by samzenpus from the in-the-privacy-of-your-own-home dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I'm starting a new job soon, and I will be issued a work laptop. For obvious reasons I cannot name any names, but I can state that I do expect my employer to have tracking software on the laptop, and I expect to not be the administrator on the device. That being said, I am not the kind of person who can just 'not browse the internet.' If I ever have to travel with this laptop, I may want to read an ebook or watch a movie or maybe even play a game. I can make an image of the drive, then wipe the machine, and restore it back to its former state if I ever have to return it. I can use portable apps off a usb key and browse in private mode. The machine will be encrypted, but I can also make myself my own little encrypted folder or partition perhaps. Are there any other precautions I could or should take?"
Books

Opus the Penguin Retired 218

Posted by CmdrTaco from the yet-garfield-lives-on dept.
garylian writes "Berkeley Breathed has announced that he has drawn the final comic containing the greatest penguin ever, Opus. The author is now going to write children's books. For those of you in your mid-30s and older, you remember Bloom County as a staple of the comic pages in a similar time frame as Calvin & Hobbes, and that time was probably the greatest the daily/Sunday comics have ever known. From running for the vice presidency to impersonating Michael Jackson, from gracing a ton of t-shirts to being one of the weirdest stuffed animals ever, from rocking in a heavy metal band 'Billy and the Boingers' to cleaning up Bill's hair balls, Opus was perfect for that time. And Bloom County would have been perfect during the Bush 2 years. Now, I'm going to pull out all my old Bloom County books and read them. After I dig through some boxes and find my old Opus dolls. I wonder what my kids are going to think of them."
Movies

Submission + - Blockbuster CEO confused by Netflix fascination (wired.com)

Submitted by Robaato
Robaato writes: Wired Magazine's Epicenter blog reports that Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes is baffled by the success of Netflix. "I've been frankly confused by this fascination that everybody has with Netflix," he said in an interview.

Keyes also expresses the belief that since HE is only interested in watching new releases, EVERYBODY is only interested in watching new releases. A film buff he is not.
NASA

Submission + - 30 Years of Voyager (smh.com.au)

Submitted by Robaato
Robaato writes: While Spirit and Opportunity's endurance is certainly amazing, the Voyager missions, launched 30 years ago, are just as incredible if not more so.

With the nuclear-powered Voyagers tipped to keep transmitting until at least 2020, Mr Murray has to show younger staff how to maintain the vital hardware. "I find it funny that I send people I am teaching to go and get parts for these machines that are older than them," he said.
Which do you think is more impressive, the Mars Rover's survival in the harsh conditions on Mars, or Voyager 1 and 2's sheer longevity?
Movies

Submission + - Blockbuster chooses Blu-Ray over HD-DVD (engadget.com)

Submitted by
Robaato
Robaato writes: "Blockbuster has opted to stock Blu-Ray over HD-DVD in almost all of its brick & mortar stores. However, they will still carry both HD formats on their online service. Endgadget calls it a "huge blow to Toshiba, Universal, and the rest of the HD DVD devotees," and asks "is the war over?" in their headline. Is this realistic, or could they be over-estimating the impact of Blockbuster in this day and age?"
The Media

Submission + - Where Digg Failed

Submitted by
legoburner
legoburner writes: "An interesting op-ed piece has appeared detailing the author's belief that Digg is so fundamentally flawed that it is only a matter of time before it completely collapses. Why Digg Failed has some choice quotes and analysis of why Digg's popularity has caused it to become too similar to tabloids in gaining attention and how quality has fallen drastically as usage has increased. Take note slashdot/firehose!"
Music

Submission + - AllOfMP3 payments cut off

Submitted by
cerberusss
cerberusss writes: "As of February 2007, the popular Russian music download site AllOfMP3 seems to be cut off from user payments. Whereas previously it was possible to buy gift certificates at XRost and then using these at AllOfMP3, the XRost payment provider displays the following message upon logging in:

As part of our ongoing effort to improve the payment platform, we will be performing a scheduled server maintenance. The payment option at our site will be restored in 48 hours.
However, the 48 hours have passed since long and it's not known when payments will be possible again. Did the RIAA finally get what they wanted?"
The Internet

Submission + - Citizendium failing to gain traction?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Despite the two recent Slashdot articles about Larry Sanger's Citizendium, it appears that the site is having difficulty converting good publicity into new content. Although the project saw impressive spikes in the number of new user registrations on both occasions, neither of them resulted in a general increase in the number of edits made to the site; even the number of article edits for the last 24 hours are lower than pre-Slashdot levels. What does this mean for the budding Wikipedia competitor?

CEO Shawn Hogan Takes on MPAA 491

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the how-long-till-it-stops dept.
IAmTheDave writes "Shawn Hogan, CEO of Digital Point Solutions, has found himself on the receiving end of an MPAA lawsuit claiming he downloaded a copy of 'Meet the Fockers' on Bittorrent. Mr. Hogan both denies the charges as well as claims he already owns the movie on DVD. After being asked to pay a $2500 extortion fee, Mr. Hogan lawyered up and has vowed to challenge and help change the MPAA's tactics. 'They're completely abusing the system,' Hogan says. Although expecting to pay well over $100,000 to defend himself, he claims 'I would spend well into the millions on this.'"

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