Comment Re:John Gosling mea culpa (Score 1) 2
Oops, I meant James Gosling of course. I humbly submit my head to the crowd ...
Comment John Gosling (Score 1) 2
must be spinning in his ...,umm, office.
You're Too Fat to Eat Here 7
Mississippi legislators have introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. The work of Republicans W. T. Mayhall Jr., John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows, the bill proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. Some in the Mississippi legislature worry that the new law would be too draconian in nature, not making allowances for the chunky, thick, husky or big boned.
Maryland Scraps Diebold Voting System 209
beadfulthings writes "After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."
Feed The Register: Microsoft plugs 'critical' hole in Vista (theregister.com)
'Secure Development Lifecycle' only goes so far
Microsoft on Tuesday issued two security updates, one of them rated critical that fixes nasty bugs in Windows Vista that could allow an attacker to gain complete control over a user's machine.
Submission + - Hand-Made Vacuum Valves
djmoore writes: "Over at Make Magazine, watch this video of a French ham making and testing his own vacuum tubes. It looks like he built much of his own equipment as well."
Feed Techdirt: Howard Berman To Force ISPs To Do RIAA's Bidding (techdirt.com)
First Congress tried to require universities to act as the RIAA's servants (or Congress would take away funding) and now they're trying to do the same thing to ISPs. Rep. Howard Berman (who continually lives up to his nickname of being the Representative from Disney), the head of the Intellectual Property subcommittee (which, as Larry Lessig has pointed out, is like asking a Representative from Detroit to head up the committee on auto safety), is about to introduce legislation that would require ISPs pass on RIAA/MPAA threat letters to subscribers (found via TorrentFreak). Of course, Berman doesn't seem to note that the entertainment industry process is based on extremely flimsy evidence and the whole "settlement process" amounts to little more than an extortion shakedown from the entertainment industry. It's not easy to fight back, and often people feel compelled to settle. With ISPs forced to do their bidding, it will only encourage the entertainment industry to send out notices based on even weaker evidence, since the whole thing has become a revenue generator for them -- and this will simply increase their channel -- all with government support. This is making a mockery of the intent of copyright.
Submission + - FSF may sue Microsoft over GPLv3 (groklaw.net)
mjasay writes: "As Groklaw reports, the Free Software Foundation has issued a press release decrying Microsoft's attempts to distance itself from its obligations to abide by GPL Version 3. Citing Microsoft's earlier refusal to abide by GPLv3, the Free Software Foundation declared, "Microsoft cannot by any act of anticipatory repudiation divest itself of its obligation to respect others' copyrights." The press release goes on to imply that the Free Software Foundation may sue Microsoft over the issue."
Feed news.com: Adobe: No DNG turf war with JPEG XR (com.com)
Blog: Adobe doesn't think that JPEG XR--a potential higher-end sequel to ordinary JPEG--will bump into its own DNG format.
Submission + - Microsoft's HD Photo to become JPEG Standard?
Mortimer.CA writes: Ars Technica is reporting that Microsoft has submitted their HD Photo to the JPEG committee: 'Microsoft's ongoing attempt to establish its own photo format as a JPEG alternative (and potential successor) took another step forward today when the JPEG standards group agreed to consider HD Photo (originally named Windows Media Photo) as a standard. If successful, the new file standard will be known as JPEG XR.' Microsoft has made a 'commitment to make its patents that are required to implement the specification available without charge.' While JPEG 2000 exists, HD Photo has several advantages (not the least of which is a lot less CPU power is needed). Is this a big of an issue as ODF/OOXML?
Journal Journal: I'm tired of the Republosers playing at this war 4
We don't need to pull out or surrender to lose this war. Claiming that Pakistan is an ally and refusing to attack targets there is enough of a toe hold for al Qaida to come back- it's September 10th all over again. We're busy in Iraq and for what- so that the citizens there can kill each other? Why are we bothering with Iraq while the Taliban are getting ready to attack the United States all over again, this time from Pakistan?
Feed The Register: Scientists force confessions from mucky fingerprints (theregister.com)
No more clean getaways
Wannabe criminals would do well to listen to their dear old ma's and wash their hands regularly, or PC Plod will be knocking on the door in double quick time*.
FBI Remotely Installs Spyware to Trace Bomb Threat 325
cnet-declan writes "There have been rumors for years about the FBI remotely installing spyware via e-mail or by exploiting an operating system vulnerability from afar — and now there's confirmation. Last month, the FBI obtained a federal court order to remotely install spyware called CIPAV (Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier) to find out who was behind a MySpace account linked to bomb threats sent to a high school near Olympia, Wash. News.com has posted a PDF of the FBI affidavit, which makes for interesting reading, and a summary of the CIPAV results that the FBI submitted to a magistrate judge. It seems as though CIPAV was installed via e-mail, as an article back in 2004 hinted was the case. In addition to reporting the computer's IP address, MAC address, and registry information, it also gave the FBI updates on which IP addresses the user(s) visited. But how did the FBI get the spyware activated and past anti-virus defenses? Two obvious ways are for the Feds to find and exploit their own operating system backdoors, or to compromise security vendors..."
Submission + - Identifying (and Fixing) Failing IT Projects
Esther Schindler writes: "Often, the difference between success and failure is spotting critical early warning signs that a project is in trouble. CIO.com offers a few ways to identify the symptoms, as well as suggestions about what you can do to fix a project gone wrong.
One interesting point is that failure isn't preordained; IT projects are far more likely to succeed than they once were.
And that's before the author enumerates the warning signs, both tangible and intangible."
One interesting point is that failure isn't preordained; IT projects are far more likely to succeed than they once were.
In 1994, the [Standish Group] researchers found that 31 percent of the IT projects were flat failures. That is, they were abandoned before completion and produced nothing useful. Only about 16 percent of all projects were completely successful: delivering applications on time, within budget and with all the originally specified features.
"As of 2006, the absolute failure rate is down to 19 percent," Johnson says. "The success rate is up to 35 percent." The remaining 46 percent are what the Standish Group calls "challenged": projects that didn't meet the criteria for total success but delivered a useful product.
And that's before the author enumerates the warning signs, both tangible and intangible."
Feed Science Daily: Sequencing Method Yields Fuller Picture (sciencedaily.com)
Sequence data for both chromosomes, can be inferred under the right circumstances through a new statistical method developed by USC biologists.
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