lewdot - Slashdot User

Scientists Closer To Invisibility Cloak 308

Posted by timothy on Monday August 11, 2008 @09:49AM from the excellent-for-parties dept.

Aviran was one of many readers to submit news of a just-announced development in the ongoing quest to develop a working invisibility cloak, writing: "Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects. Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects" Reader bensafrickingenius adds a link to coverage at the Times Online, and notes that "the world's two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week." Tjeerd adds a link to a Reuters' story carried by Scientific American.

Submission + - Wikileaks Avoids Publishing Public PGP Key (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by on Wednesday April 16, 2008 @11:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: Repeated requests toward the Wikileaks staff regarding their use of PGP have gone unanswered. The current public PGP key posted has been expired since November 2nd, 2007. A response on their PGP talk page notes that the "SSL based mail submission system" will be the secure online method of document submission. At the current time, there is no method to safely encrypt any postal communications with Wikileaks or verify that any given communication actually originated from a Wikileaks staff member.

Submission + - SPAM: IBM Invests in MySQL/Oracle Competitor

Submitted by

stoolpigeon

on Tuesday March 25, 2008 @12:20PM

stoolpigeon writes: "IBM has made a move to support Open Source RDBMS PostgreSQL by supplying $10 million in funding to EnterpriseDB, a company that supports PostgreSQL as well as selling their own propietary extensions to the database product. In the past EnterpriseDB has primarily advertised itself as an Oracle competitor, though the article says, "Derek Rodner, EnterpriseDB's director of product strategy, explained that Postgres Plus 8.3 also adds in new application quick starts which are supposed to help with installation issues. They will also help in EnterpriseDB's battle against MySQL for open source database supremacy.""
Link to Original Source

House Bill Won't Criminalize Free Wi-Fi Operators 540

Posted by kdawson on Thursday December 06, 2007 @10:14AM from the what-were-they-thinking dept.

Velcroman98 sends word of a bill that passed the US House of Representatives by a lopsided vote of 409 to 2. It would require everyone who runs an open Wi-Fi connection to report illegal images, including "obscene" cartoons and drawings, or be fined up to $300,000. The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online (SAFE) Act was rushed through the House without any hearings or committee votes, and the version that passed on a voice vote reportedly differs substantially from the last publicly available version. CNET reports that sentiment in favor of such a bill is strong in the Senate as well. Update: 12/07 06:22 GMT by Z : As clarified in an Ars writeup, this summary is a bit off-base. The bill doesn't require WiFi owners to police anything, merely 'stiffening the penalties' for those who make no effort to report obvious child pornography.

Submission + - OpenOffice.org tries to woo Dell

Submitted by Rob on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @07:50AM

Rob writes: The OpenOffice.org open source productivity suite project has written to Dell Inc hoping to persuade the company to adopt OpenOffice in response to customer demand. "Let's have a conversation about how we could build an 'OpenOffice.org supplied by Dell'product to give your customers what they are asking for," wrote McCreesh, in reference to the demand for open source products on Dell's IdeaStorm web site. A somewhat obvious question is raised... Why isnt OpenOffice already available by default on new PC's and Workstations?

Report Says Patents Prevent New Drugs 381

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 21, 2006 @08:58AM from the but-the-old-ones-were-good dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Current orthodoxy claims patents encourage innovation, by allowing developers to enjoy profitable monopolies on their inventions which in turn inspire them to create new inventions. A new report by the non-partisan General Accounting Office suggests that this orthodoxy is wrong — at least when drug companies are involved. According to the report, existing patent law allows drug companies to patent, and make substantial profits off of, "new" drugs which differ little from existing medicines. Given high profit margins on very minor innovations, the report argues that drug companies have little incentive to produce innovative new drugs. In other words, current patent law actually discourages drug companies from producing new medicines. Responding to the report, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released a strongly worded statement suggesting that a legislative response will be forthcoming. "The findings in this new GAO report," said Senator Durbin, "raise serious questions about the pharmaceutical industry claims that there is a connection between new drug development and the soaring price of drugs already on the market. Most troubling is the notion that pharmaceutical industry profits are coming at the expense of consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer new drugs.""

Robot Identifies Human Flesh As Bacon 312

Posted by Zonk on Thursday November 09, 2006 @07:53PM from the tastes-like-chicken-or-so-i've-heard dept.

Jearil writes "Wired's 'Table of Malcontents' blog links to an article about a wine-tasting robot that thinks humans taste like bacon. The Japanese robot is intended to act as a personal sommelier, suggesting wines, cheeses, and hors d'oeuvres based on its owners personal tastes. It also apparently thinks humans would be tasty as part of a sandwich." From the article: "Let the robot holocaust commence: robots think we taste like bacon ... Upon being given a sample, he will speak up in a childlike voice and identify what he has just been fed. The idea is that wineries can tell if a wine is authentic without even opening the bottle, amongst other more obscure uses ... like 'tell me what this strange grayish lump at the back of my freezer is/was.' But when some smart aleck reporter placed his hand in the robot's omnivorous clanking jaw, he was identified as bacon. A cameraman then tried and was identified as prosciutto." This is most distressing.

Comment Re:I don't get it (Score 1) 530

by lewdot on Thursday June 30, 2005 @03:24PM (#12952670) Attached to: Following Bill Gates' Linux Attack Money

And not putting a price on your time, how much did it cost you to try out all that linux software?

I know it's not for everyone yet, but out of curiousity, do have a license for all 7 copies of Windows? I assume you're using MS Office on there, you pay for as many licenses as you have copies installed? How about any additional non-MS software? Assuming you've payed for everything your using, how much did all that set you back?

Now, if you'd rather pay the difference between the two, than look for a little assistance online, or try a different distro (my personal advice, is to try the live CD version of it first, if one exists, to see what works), then yes, Windows is still the OS for you (although if price is not an issue, perhaps a Mac would be better for you). On the other hand, if your shocked at the price difference, and are a little willing to learn, then you'd be what I'd consider the ideal candidate for the next stage of Linux adopters: average computer users either willing to learn and/or fed up with malware.

(I do realize that currently most people fall into a different category: borrow the software they need and install it, rather then paying for it all. I'd imagine that this will get more and more difficult to do over time.)

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