TurtlesAllTheWayDown - Slashdot User

Wikipedia Blocks Qatar [Updated] 204

Posted by Hemos on Monday January 01, 2007 @10:30AM from the the-law-of-unintended-consequenceas dept.

GrumpySimon writes "Wikipedia has blocked the entire country of Qatar from editing pages. Whilst the ban is due to spam-abuse coming from the IP address in question, the fact that this belongs to the country's sole high-speed internet provider has the unintended consequence of stopping Qataris from editing the wiki. The ban has raised concerns about impartiality — the majority of Al Jazeera journalists operate out of Qatar, for example. This raises a number of issues about internet connectivity in small countries — what other internet bottlenecks like this exist?" Update: 01/02 13:32 GMT by Z : Jim Wales wrote in the comments that the story is 'completely false'. Either way, the ban has been lifted and anonymous editing is once again possible from Qatar.

Comment Re:It's not college students, it's people (Score 1) 297

by TurtlesAllTheWayDown on Thursday November 16, 2006 @04:04PM (#16874516) Attached to: Are College Students Techno Idiots?

I don't write techincal papers for a living (or technical papers, for that matter), but even this short Slashdot post presents severe difficulties. I count five blatant mis-spelled words, one grammatical error, and a severely awkward phrasing. Your sentences run on a bit, and the entire passage reads with tedium. As someone who reads technical papers for a living, I'm afraid I share more sympathy with your users than your self.

I can only hope you make use of a program of sufficient capability to render your own language into intelligable technical English.

EU Software Patent War Ignites Again 168

Posted by Zonk on Thursday September 21, 2006 @04:59PM from the another-skirmish dept.

pieterh writes "ZDNet UK has a detailed article on the heating-up of the software patent debate in Europe. A new motion before the European Parliament calls for a harmonised patent court (EPLA) that would be able to enforce software patents across Europe. This comes just 15 months after the EP rejected the infamous Computer Implemented Inventions directive." From the article: "Patents on software are formally disallowed under the European patent system, but are routinely granted by the European patent office, according to critics. They are currently difficult to enforce in many EU member states, something critics say would be changed by the failed software patent directive, and now by the EPLA. Software patents are generally considered to add to the legal costs of large enterprises, as well as creating a hostile legal environment for smaller software businesses and open source projects."

Comment Re:Real Holiday? (Score 2, Insightful) 95

by Irashtar on Sunday September 17, 2006 @02:08AM (#16123448) Attached to: "How to Talk Like a Pirate" Film

What do you define as a 'Real' Holiday? Arr birthdays? Is International Ferris Wheel Day one? This falls somewhere between those in importance.

Periodic Table Table Poster Post 93

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday September 06, 2006 @05:29AM from the ray-smullyan-did-not-live-in-vain dept.

TheodoreGray writes to mention his Artsy Periodic Table Poster. Others here have discovered his Periodic Table Table and his sodium-in-the-lake party. He concludes, "And if I post about posters again, I could be a Periodic Periodic Table Table Poster Poster."

Dick Tracy's New Linux Box? 161

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 29, 2006 @10:27AM from the could-potentially-are-key-words dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Zypad is a new arm-wearable computer right out of Futurama. It can run Windows CE or Linux and has a 400 MHz CPU, 64MB Flash memory, 3.5 inch screen. The Zypad leaves the user's hands free — it has no keyboard, just a touchscreen and navigation keys. Voice recognition is 'being developed.' It turns on only when you look at it, so it saves power. It has GPS and Bluetooth/WLAN/GSM connectivity. Price: 1000 Euro." Too bad it's not yet available for sale — that screen looks more useful than the one on IBM's Linux watch from 2000.

Day of the Robotic Tentacle 199

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday May 08, 2006 @04:16PM from the of-course-they-will-do-a-sequel dept.

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist is reporting on a robotic tentacle developed thanks to funding from military agency DARPA. From the video it looks to have a lot of potential, I can almost feel it fastening around my ankle right now."

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