Comment Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score 1) 399

by heroofhyr on Wednesday January 30, 2008 @04:04PM (#22237980) Attached to: Windows Vista Annoyances

It took them +-5 years to rewrite the whole OS and it's only an incremental advance over the last release? I've never worked at a software company where something like that wouldn't get a few teams fired. At least if they argued that the changes were necessary to make future versions more stable, secure, and easier to add new functionality to then I could see it as a justification for only incremental advancement. But they're writing a new version of Windows for the next release too (MinWin or WinMin or whatever their codename for the kernel is--personally I don't know why they don't just call it DarWin and be honest for once about who they've been copying on-and-off for the past 20 years).

Submission + - UN offical says org. not taking over internet

Submitted by kaufmanmoore on Friday January 12, 2007 @08:27PM

kaufmanmoore writes: Hamadoun Toure, the new head of the UN's International Telecommunications Union says that he does not plan to take over governance of the internet and leave it up to groups like ICANN. In his statement he says that the ITU will instead focus on bridging the digital divide, internet security and standardize broadband communications. When asked about Chinese censorship Toure said that issue is beyond the mandate of the ITU. The full article is here

Submission + - Senate bill S.256 aims to restrict internet radio

Submitted by JAFSlashdotter on Friday January 12, 2007 @08:17PM

JAFSlashdotter writes: If you enjoy MP3 or OGG streams of internet radio, it's time to pay attention. This week US Senators Lamar Alexander, Joseph Biden, Dianne Feinstein, and Lindsey Graham in their collective wisdom have decided to reintroduce the "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music (PERFORM) Act". This ARS Technica article explains that PERFORM would restrict our rights to make non-commercial recordings under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, and require satellite and internet broadcasters to use "technology to prevent music theft". That means goodbye to your favorite streaming audio formats, hello DRM. The EFF said pretty much the same when this bill last reared its ugly head in April of 2006. It's too soon to get the text of this year's version (S.256) online, but it likely to resemble last year's S.2644, which is available through Thomas. Last year's bill died in committee, but if at first you don't succeed...

Feed Language Fluency and Alzheimers (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Friday January 12, 2007 @08:12PM

A new Canadian study shows bilingualism may delay the onset of dementia. In Wired Science.

Software Error Likely Killed MGS Spacecraft 199

Posted by kdawson on Thursday January 11, 2007 @11:32AM from the off-by-one dept.

Aglassis writes "NASA investigators have determined that a software update performed in June of 2006 may have doomed the 10-year-old spacecraft. Apparently the software error caused the solar arrays to drive against a mechanical stop which then forced the spacecraft into safe mode. Unfortunately, after that the spacecraft's radiator was pointed at the sun which overheated the battery and destroyed it. Contact was lost with the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in November 2006. NASA will form an internal review board to determine formally the cause of the loss of the spacecraft and what remedial actions are needed for future missions."

Submission + - UK schools at risk of Microsoft lock-in

Submitted by Robert on Thursday January 11, 2007 @09:10AM

Robert writes: UK schools and colleges that have signed up to Microsoft Corp's academic licensing programs face the 'significant potential' of being locked in to the company's software, according to an interim review by the UK government agency responsible for technology in education. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency report also states that most establishments surveyed do not believe that Microsoft's licensing agreements provide value for money.

Journal Journal: You have been... Goatsed?

Journal by Noryungi on Thursday January 11, 2007 @09:07AM

About 2,500 people have had a (very) nasty surprise recently when they looked at their MySpace page. Let's just say a small image was replaced by... another small image. Only, the second one was from the infamous "Goatse.cx" (You remember THAT one, don't you?). But what exactly happened? Jason Scott, the owner of textfiles.com explains all -- or is it confesses all?. The email received are hilarious. Well worth a read and a chuckle

Journal Journal: Server death, the sequel... 4

Journal by Cyberdyne on Thursday January 11, 2007 @08:24AM

*sniff* Alas, poor Server!

My current server, home to some of my websites, some e-mail and half my DNS service, has decided it would make life more fun if it rebooted spontaneously every few minutes. Nothing in the logs, just unsolicited rebooting - possibly a power supply issue of some sort. (All I know is SMART shows the hard drive is OK; I'd expect most memory or CPU problems to give different symptoms, but being eight time zones away makes diagnostics rather limited.)

Methods of Learning to Build Electronic Circuitry? 134

Posted by Cliff on Thursday January 11, 2007 @05:43AM from the beyond-resisters-and-capacitors dept.

Peristaltic asks: "I've seen some cool articles in Instructables detailing how to create various electronic gadgets. A couple of these as well as the odd DIY kit have come to life on my kitchen table. While it's satisfying to see the things work after time spent soldering, I would love to be able to take the next step beyond the basics of component functionality, i.e. a resistor does -this-; a capacitor does -that-. Forest Mimm's books have been helpful towards this end, but it's time to move forward. Every month or so, I read here on Slashdot a plea for help getting started with, or expanding someone's knowledge of programming. OK, I'd like to make that plea for help with electronics theory & circuit building. I've found plenty of references on the web, Amazon, etc., but can someone who's already taken this trip outline what has and hasn't worked for them?"

Journal SPAM: Iran starstruck by UFO phenomenon 1

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday January 11, 2007 @03:01AM

UFO fever is gripping Iran after dozens of Unidentified Flying Object sightings in the last few days.

State television has shown pictures of a sparkling white disc which it says was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday.

Other UFOs have been spotted in several northern and north-western cities moving quickly through the atmosphere emitting brightly coloured rays.

Scientists say the sightings are a result of natural phenomena, but many people say they are spy planes.

Submission + - Best ways to learn graphics design for the web

Submitted by

ConceptDog

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @12:08AM

ConceptDog writes: "I consider myself a fairly good web programmer. In fact, my job evolved from just fixing PC's to being lead designer for most of the new web applications for my company. I'm comfortable with formatting things using CSS and with tabless design. But the one thing that has always escaped me is designing custom graphics for my sites. I'd like to be able to create buttons and interesting backgrounds to punch up my designs and use in other media, Flash for example..

I've always had a problem with art. I really can't draw a straight line with a ruler. What are some methods and resources other slashdotters with more language oriented backgrounds have used to help make the step from just a web programmer to a real web designer?"

Submission + - How can we convert the US to the metric system?

Submitted by

thesolo

on Wednesday January 10, 2007 @10:43PM

thesolo writes: "Despite past efforts of the 1970s and 1980s, the United States remains one of only three countries (others are Liberia and Myanmar) that does not use the metric system. Staying with imperial measurements has only served to handicap American industry and economy. Attempts to get Americans using the Celsius scale or putting up speed limits in kilometers per hour have been squashed dead. Not only that, but some Americans actually see metrication efforts as an assault on "our way" of measuring.

I personally deal with European scientists on a daily basis, and find our lack of common measurement to be extremely frustrating. Are we so entrenched with imperial units that we cannot get our fellow citizens to simply learn something new? What are those of us who wish to finally see America catch up to the rest of the world supposed to do? Are there any organizations that we may back, or any pro-metric legislators who we can support?"

Journal Journal: Have Verizon? Try pound door (#3667) 3

Journal by GMontag on Wednesday January 10, 2007 @08:55PM

As just heard on Off the Hook 10 January 2007, a Verizon feature that allows the staff, and apparently anybody else who has Verizon mobile service, to request warrants and other fun stuff. #3667

Bookmark How AT&T chewed up, and spat out Net Neutrality (theregister.com)

by Bookwyrm on Wednesday January 10, 2007 @07:04PM

EU Considering Regulating Video Bloggers 351

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 17, 2006 @09:23PM from the license-to-speak-just-a-small-additional-fee dept.

Aglassis writes to tell us that recent proposed EU legislation could require anyone running a website featuring video content to acquire a broadcast license. From the article: "Personal websites would have to be licensed as a "television-like service". Once again the reasoning behind such legislation is said to be in order to set minimum standards on areas such as hate speech and the protection of children. In reality this directive would do nothing to protect children or prevent hate speech - unless you judge protecting children to be denying them access to anything that is not government regulated or you assume hate speech to be the criticism of government actions and policy."

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