jgabby - Slashdot User

Submission + - California proposes to ban incandescent lightbulbs

Submitted by

zhang1983

on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @10:45AM

zhang1983 writes: "A California Assemblyman Llyod Levine wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs with the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" The act will promote Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) to replace the inefficient incandescent lightbulbs. According to him, "Incandescent lightbulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications, meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about 5 percent of the energy they receive into light.""

Submission + - FCC Opens Market for Cable Boxes

Submitted by

fistfullast33l

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @03:33PM

fistfullast33l writes: "The FCC rendered a decision today against a Comcast appeal that centers on integrated security features in set-top cable boxes. The decision comes at the end of a long standing feud between the FCC and Cable Companies over the matter. The result is that starting July 1st, cable boxes distributed by Cable Companies must not be tied directly to a cable provider via internal security features. This rule is viewed as the first step in creating a market for set-top cable boxes. Comcast does have the right to appeal and has said they will do so. From the article: "Several major consumer electronics manufacturers have argued that if set-top boxes weren't directly linked to the provision of cable service, they could enter the set-top market. Consumers could get a cable card from their service provider that they could insert into a set-top box purchased at a consumer electronics store. The cards would ensure that consumers could only access channels that they paid for.""

Submission + - Stallman with 20 years of explaining free software

Submitted by

H4x0r Jim Duggan

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @08:09AM

H4x0r Jim Duggan writes: "The first recorded talk by Richard Stallman on free software was in 1986, so I've picked from the 2006 recordings and have made a transcript of a recent talk: The Free Software Movement and the Future of Freedom. Those two are the only transcripts of his general free software talk. Others that exist are on specific topics such as patents, GPLv3, copyright, etc. For those who've been reading Slashdot during the gradual evolution of Stallman's pronouncements, it's interesting to see what has changed on a 20 year timeline."

Submission + - What does your dead man's switch do?

Submitted by

LqdEngineer

on Monday January 08, 2007 @11:06PM

LqdEngineer writes: "How many of the Slashdot crowd use or have used a Dead Man's Switch designed to perform some action if you don't check in for a certain amount of time? Recently, I decided to put one together using MySQL and some Cron jobs, but I wanted to see what others have their Switches set up to do in the event you fail to check in. E-mails to loved ones? Send encryption keys to friends/family? Hate mail to your boss? Has anyone ever been on the receiving end of a Dead Man's e-mail? I can't even imagine how creepy that would feel."

Submission + - PBS asking viewers to choose new Science show

Submitted by chinmay7 on Monday January 08, 2007 @03:01PM

chinmay7 writes: PBS has posted three different pilots for a new science show, that they want viewers to weigh in on and help choose one as a regular science show. All three pilots are viewable as vodcasts.
Wired Science aired on January 3rd. The pilot certainly is polished as expected from Wired Magazine, and deals with interesting topics: "Meet rocket-belt inventors, stem cell explorers and meteorite hunters."
Science Investigators (Air date: January 10) seems to be the most 'science' show: "The investigators examine 30,000-year-old Neanderthal DNA, vanishing frogs, mind-boggling baseball pitches and more."
22nd Century (Air date: January 17) is pretty gimmicky and loud (for my tastes, at least) but delivers interesting content — "In the coming decades will all our brains be wired together like networked computers?"

So watch and vote. Choose our new public TV science show.

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