dleonard0 - Slashdot User

The Economist Weighs In For Shorter Copyright Terms 386

Posted by timothy on Friday April 09, 2010 @01:38AM from the and-that-guy-ought-to-know dept.

lxmota writes "The Economist says that long copyright terms are hindering creativity, and that shortening them is the way to go: 'Largely thanks to the entertainment industry's lawyers and lobbyists, copyright's scope and duration have vastly increased. In America, copyright holders get 95 years' protection as a result of an extension granted in 1998, derided by critics as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act." They are now calling for even greater protection, and there have been efforts to introduce similar terms in Europe. Such arguments should be resisted: it is time to tip the balance back.'"

Submission + - The Oz Pirate Party: how to bypass the net filter (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by mask.of.sanity on Friday April 09, 2010 @01:14AM

mask.of.sanity writes: You're reading Slashdot. So it's fair to assume you're likely a nerd. A nerd who could traverse an Internet filter like side-stepping a puddle. But when Exit International discovered it was earmarked for Australia's Internet filter blacklist, it wanted to ensure its members could access its pro-euthanasia material.

But its members share an average age of 70. Not exactly from the tech generation.

So Exit International turned to the filter-hating Pirate Party of Australia which supplied a "hacker", who then taught a crowded room of grandmas and grandpas how to use proxies and advanced VPN tunnels to access Exit Internation's material — which the Australian government thinks breaches the moral compass of society.

Computerworld has the the presentation which you can use to teach your granny to "hack".

Warhammer Online Users Repeatedly Overbilled 216

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday April 08, 2010 @11:53PM from the greenbacks-for-greenskins dept.

TheSpoom writes "A screw-up in EA's Warhammer Online billing system has resulted in many players being charged upwards of 22 times for a one-month subscription, filling bank accounts with overdraft fees and the Warhammer forums with very angry players, who are discussing the issue quite vocally. EA has said that refunds are in progress and that '[they] anticipate that once the charges have been reversed, any fees that have been incurred should be refunded as well.' They haven't specifically promised to refund overdraft charges, only to ask customers' banks to refund them once the actual charges are refunded. They seem to be assuming banks will have no problem with this."

Submission + - "Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other"

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Thursday April 08, 2010 @11:22PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that federal regulators plan a pilot project to test “high visibility” crackdown efforts to curb cellphone use by drivers in two cities, Hartford and Syracuse spending $200,000 in each city, while each state would contribute $100,000 more. The Transportation Department says it wants to send the message: “Phone in One Hand. Ticket in the Other” and plan ramping up enforcement on state bans of hands-free phones by motorists, advertising the campaigns and undertaking studies to see if the efforts curb behavior and attitudes. Safety advocates say that curbing the behavior requires enforcement and education, which they say has been clearly evident in past efforts with seat belts with the "Click It or Ticket Program" (PDF) that helped increase seat belt use to 83% nationally. “It’s time for drivers to act responsibly, put their hands on the wheel and focus on the road,” says Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who last year called distracted driving an “epidemic.”"

Submission + - Chinese users get Nokia music service sans DRM (idg.com.au)

Submitted by

angry tapir

on Thursday April 08, 2010 @10:29PM

angry tapir writes: "Nokia has launched a version of its Comes With Music download service without digital rights management (DRM) for the Chinese market. Currently, the service is available in about 30 countries, but in those countries the music, unlike in China, is copy-protected."

Comment Complexity and data structures are more important (Score 1) 407

by dleonard0 on Sunday March 14, 2010 @11:34PM (#31477792) Attached to: Good Language Choice For School Programming Test?

I think if you are worried about the efficiency of their solution you ought to explain complexity/order notation, and then apply it to a some practical data structures, like arrays or hash maps. Even more awesome if you get them to do some time measurements in easy language X so to demonstrate the effect of complexity. At crunch time, if they can judge the design trade-offs of their model&implementation, then that will eclipse any speed benefits of a compiled language. Good luck!

Using EMP To Punch Holes In Steel 165

Posted by timothy on Saturday January 16, 2010 @12:25AM from the you'll-need-some-big-batteries dept.

angrytuna writes "The Economist is running a story about a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, Germany, who've found a way to use an EMP device to shape and punch holes through steel. The process enjoys advantages over both lasers, which take more time to bore the hole (0.2 vs. 1.4 seconds), and by metal presses, which can leave burrs that must be removed by hand."

Somali Pirates Open Up a "Stock Exchange" 666

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday December 02, 2009 @12:29AM from the send-in-the-sba dept.

reginaldo writes to clue us that pirates in Somalia have opened up a cooperative in Haradheere, where investors can pay money or guns to help their favorite pirate crew for a share of the piracy profits. "'Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 "maritime companies" and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,' Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate who took a Reuters reporter to the facility] said. ... Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel. 'I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,' she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony. 'I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the "company."'"

Canadian Blood Services Promotes Pseudoscience 219

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @07:49PM from the type-A-negative-personality dept.

trianglecat writes "The not-for-profit agency Canadian Blood Services has a section of their website based on the Japanese cultural belief of ketsueki-gata, which claims that a person's blood group determines or predicts their personality type. Disappointing for a self-proclaimed 'science-based' organization. The Ottawa Skeptics, based in the nation's capital, appear to be taking some action."

Verizon Changes FiOS AUP, -1, Offtopic 560

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @02:26PM from the get-ready-for-municipal-broadband dept.

RasputinAXP writes "Verizon has changed their FiOS AUP effective yesterday, and added an interesting new clause to their specific examples that we're all familiar with: 'it is a violation of the Agreement and this AUP to ... post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites.' At this point, every FiOS-based Slashdot user is breaking the new AUP."

Programmable Quantum Computer Created 132

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday November 26, 2009 @12:41PM from the four-out-of-five-ain't-bad dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A team at NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) used berylium ions, lasers and electrodes to develop a quantum system that performed 160 randomly chosen routines. Other quantum systems to date have only been able to perform single, prescribed tasks. Other researchers say the system could be scaled up. 'The researchers ran each program 900 times. On average, the quantum computer operated accurately 79 percent of the time, the team reported in their paper.'"

The Psychology of Achievement In Playing Games 80

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday November 26, 2009 @04:07AM from the no-you-don't-get-points-for-reading-this dept.

A post on Pixel Poppers looks at the psychological underpinnings of the types of challenges offered by different game genres, and the effect those challenges have on determining which players find the games entertaining. Quoting: "To progress in an action game, the player has to improve, which is by no means guaranteed — but to progress in an RPG, the characters have to improve, which is inevitable. ... It turns out there are two different ways people respond to challenges. Some people see them as opportunities to perform — to demonstrate their talent or intellect. Others see them as opportunities to master — to improve their skill or knowledge. Say you take a person with a performance orientation ('Paul') and a person with a mastery orientation ('Matt'). Give them each an easy puzzle, and they will both do well. Paul will complete it quickly and smile proudly at how well he performed. Matt will complete it quickly and be satisfied that he has mastered the skill involved. Now give them each a difficult puzzle. Paul will jump in gamely, but it will soon become clear he cannot overcome it as impressively as he did the last one. The opportunity to show off has disappeared, and Paul will lose interest and give up. Matt, on the other hand, when stymied, will push harder. His early failure means there's still something to be learned here, and he will persevere until he does so and solves the puzzle."

Haskell 2010 Announced 173

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 24, 2009 @06:05PM from the eddie-and-the-beav dept.

paltemalte writes "Simon Marlow has posted an announcement of Haskell 2010, a new revision of the Haskell purely functional programming language. Good news for everyone interested in SMP and concurrency programming."

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