Comment a bit late? (Score 0, Troll) 164
*yawn* glad to know slackware supports a processor that's been in production for over 6 years now.
Comment EU: Check your history books (Score 1) 503
U.S. taxpayers funded DARPA's principle research and development of ARPANET, the precursor for what is now known as the internet. IANA, the agency responsible for managing DNS namespace and IP ranges, was funded directly by DARPA up through 1998 when an act of U.S. congress established ICANN to take this responsibility over from the department of defense.
The United States need not forfeit property rights just because European, Asian, and other nations' decided to connect their sytems and infrastructure to the internet.
Comment Re:Nothing to see here (Score 1) 393
Wiping the drive has never been a sufficient method of clearing a rootkit. BIOS, video card sram, CMOS, etc. type attack vectors for malware/virus have existed for decades. Any piece of hardware with static memory needs to be cleared/reset/reflashed etc. Is there something unique about SMM exploits that prevents a system owner from reflashing their BIOS?
Comment Nothing to see here (Score 1) 393
The SMM exploit requires that the attacker already have root. You're already screwed at this point.
Comment Re:estate tax (Score 1) 913
I have no envy, just a passionate desire to defend the American dream. Maintaining high levels of social mobility means to the greatest extent possible, ensuring one's success in a society is a function of ability and hard work, not a function of one's ancestry. This country has thrived over the last two centuries precisely because we have rejected the European values of plutocracy. Why does society tax my labor? Is the wealth produced by my labor not more valuable to society than idle capital?
Comment Re:estate tax (Score 1) 913
"Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline."
"A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy."
"In a country that prides itself on equality of opportunity, it's becoming anything but that as the gap between the super-rich and the middle class is widening." - Warren Buffett, Wed Nov 14, 2007, Senate Finance Committee Hearing
Comment estate tax (Score 1) 913
how can you ignore the estate tax in this question?
Academics To Predict Next Twitter and Its Pitfalls 150
An anonymous reader writes "University researchers in the UK have put together a team tasked with predicting the next big thing in terms of communication technologies, in a bid to tackle ethical pitfalls before they become a problem. This is in the wake of the rise of social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, which has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of personal information available online."
Comment see renice(1) manpage (Score 2, Informative) 92
RENICE(1) BSD General Commands Manual RENICE(1)
NAME
renice - alter priority of running processes
DESCRIPTION
Renice alters the scheduling priority of one or more running processes. The following who parameters are interpreted as process ID's, process
group ID's, or user names. Renice'ing a process group causes all processes in the process group to have their scheduling priority altered.
Renice'ing a user causes all processes owned by the user to have their scheduling priority altered. By default, the processes to be affected
are specified by their process ID's.
Cinder Mobile OS Lets Users Send More Power To Slow Apps 92
alphadogg writes with this excerpt from Network World: "Stanford University researchers are designing an operating system from the ground up to handle the power and security requirements of mobile devices. The Cinder operating system is already working on an Arm chip, and members of the team are working on making it run on the HTC G1 handset, according to Philip Levis, a Stanford assistant professor. Levis spoke about Cinder at the Stanford Computer Forum on Tuesday. If an application isn't running as fast as the user wants, a Cinder-based phone could include a button to boost the energy allocated to that application, Levis said. Cinder also could allow users to download any code and run it safely on their phones in a 'sandbox' mode."
Amazon Announces Kindle 2, With Slew of New Features 451
Engadget is reporting that Amazon has announced the new Kindle 2 for release on February 24th at a price point of $359. Thinner than an iPhone and coming standard with "Read-to-me" text-to-speech capability, the new device also has seven times more storage, faster page turning, a 16-level e-ink display, longer battery life, and a new five-way joystick. Looks like life just got a lot more interesting for fans of the original device. Engadget also has live coverage from the Kindle 2 press conference.
Google Maps To Add 'Friend' GPS Tracking 259
Henway writes "Google is adding the option to Google Maps to
place your whereabouts either via cell phone towers or GPS. Think 'locator beacon.' Paraphrased: This would be good for people wanting to let their friends know where they are or for parents wanting to know where their children are at all times."
Comment Re:The First Amendment to the Constitution (Score 2, Insightful) 387
Technological innovation in communication by definition expands the ability of the people to freely communicate as they wish. If we accepted your argument that P2P does not expand one's ability to express himself, then what is to prevent government from outlawing any form of technological innovation? Imagine if the internet, radio, television, telephones, etc. were all made illegal. Would this not constitute an abridgement of freedom of speech rights? Why is P2P any different?
Slashdot Top Deals
"I have five dollars for each of you." -- Bernhard Goetz
