mortiis - Slashdot User

Submission + - Skype protocol has been reverse engineered 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02, 2011 @11:27AM

An anonymous reader writes: One researcher has decided he wants to make Skype open source by reverse engineering the protocol the service uses. In fact, he claims to have already achieved that feat on a new skype-open-source blog. The source code has been posted for versions 1.x/3.x/4.x of Skype as well as details of the rc4 layer arithmetic encoding the service uses. While his intention may be to recreate Skype as an open source platform, it is doubtful he will get very far without facing an army of Microsoft lawyers. Skype is not an open platform, and Microsoft will want to keep it that way.

Submission + - Google WebRTC - no need for Skype (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk on Thursday June 02, 2011 @11:13AM

mikejuk writes: Google WebRTC, all open source, is part of the web revolution that allows one browser to talk directly to another without the need for a server getting involved Can my browser speak to your browser?". WebRTC is an API that used the new P2P web API to allow developers to implement audio and video communictions using direct P2P links between browsers.
This really is a game changer.
Google WebRTC

Submission + - Prevent my hosting provider from rooting my server (gnu-designs.com) 3

Submitted by

hacker

on Friday December 25, 2009 @11:47PM

hacker writes: "I have a heavily-hit public server (web, mail, cvs/svn/git, dns, etc.) that runs a few dozen OSS project websites, as well as my own personal sites (gallery, blog, etc.). From time to time, the server has "unexpected" outages, which I've determined to be the result of hardware, network and other issues on behalf of the provider. I run a lot of monitoring and logging on the server-side, so I see and graph every single bit and byte in and out of the server and applications, so I know it's not the OS itself.

When I file "WTF?" style support tickets to the provider through their web-based ticketing system, I often get the response of "Please provide us with the root password to your server so we can analyze your logs for the cause of the outage." Moments ago, there were 3 simultaneous outages, while I was logged into the server working on some projects. Server-side, everything was fine. They asked me for the root password, which I flatly denied (as I always do), and then they rooted the server anyway, bringing it down and poking around through my logs anyway. This is at least the third time they've done this without my approval or consent.

Is it possible to create a minimal Linux boot that will allow me to reboot the server remotely, come back up with basic networking and ssh, and then from there, allow me to log in and mount the other application and data partitions under dm-crypt/loop-aes and friends?

With sufficient memory and CPU, I could install VMware and run my entire system within a VM, and encrypt that. I could also use UML, and try to bury my data in there, but that's not encrypted. Ultimately, I'd like to have an encrypted system end-to-end, but if I do that, I can't reboot it remotely without entering the password at boot time. Since I'll be remote, that's a blocker for me.

What does the Slashdot community have for ideas in this regard? What other technologies and options are at my disposal to try here (beyond litigation and jumping providers, both of which are on the short horizon ahead)."

Submission + - Gnome switches Nautilus back to browser mode

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 24, 2009 @08:14PM

An anonymous reader writes: In one of the ( Do the developers actually use their own software?) decisions in the Linux Desktop World , back in 2004 Gnome switched to the "Spacial" view by default with their Nautilus file manager opening a new window with each new folder viewed. Many derided the decision as poor design or be different for the sake of being different. Well, after 5 long years the Gnome powers that be have decided to switch back to browser mode

Verizon's Challenge To the iPhone Confirmed 423

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 18, 2009 @09:20AM from the is-this-the-droid-you're-looking-for dept.

misnohmer writes "Verizon has just launched a new set of ads confirming the rumors of its upcoming iPhone competitor: 'Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11-based Android phones that exist today. Droid will also be running v.2.0 of Android, with a significantly upgraded user interface. The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who've handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, you've got something that is most definitely a challenger to the Jesus phone.'"

Submission + - Verizon's challenge to the iPhone confirmed (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by misnohmer on Sunday October 18, 2009 @05:25AM

misnohmer writes: Verizon has just launched a new set of ads [droiddoes.com] confirming the rumors of its upcoming iPhone competitor :
"Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11 based Android phones that exist today. [] Droid will also be running v.2.0 of Android, with a significantly upgraded user interface. The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who've handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, you've got something that is most definitely a challenger to the Jesus phone."

Lawyer Jailed For Contempt Is Freed After 14 Years 408

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday July 21, 2009 @10:56AM from the all-we-need-is-a-little-patience dept.

H. Beatty Chadwick has been in a staring match with the judicial system for the past 14 years, and the system just blinked. Chadwick was ordered to pay his ex-wife $2.5 million after their divorce. He refused to pay saying that he couldn't because he lost the money in a series of "bad investments." The judge in the case didn't believe him and sent him to jail for contempt. That was 14 years ago. Last week another judge let Chadwick go saying that "continued imprisonment would be legal only if there was some likelihood that ultimately he would comply with the order; otherwise, the confinement would be merely punitive instead of coercive." Chadwick, now 73, is believed to have served the longest contempt sentence in US history.

Canonical Fully Open-Sources the Launchpad Code 104

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday July 21, 2009 @09:27AM from the done-and-done dept.

kfogel writes "Canonical has just fully open-sourced the code to Launchpad. Although we'd said earlier that a couple of components would be held back, we changed our mind. All the code has been released under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3. 'Canonical will continue to run the Launchpad servers, taking care of production and deployment issues; opening up the code doesn't mean burdening the users with all of that stuff. At the same time, we'll institute processes to shepherd community-contributed code into the system, so that people who have ideas for how to improve Launchpad can quickly turn these ideas into reality.'"

Submission + - WoW gamer earns Federal Investigation achievement.

Submitted by barnyjr on Sunday July 19, 2009 @04:53PM

barnyjr writes: A teenager could face federal charges after investigators say he made online threats to kill Americans on a plane from Indianapolis to Chicago. According to investigators, a monitor of the online interactive game World of Warcraft saw the alleged threats in an on-line chat and called Johnson County authorities. She told investigators the chatter didn't seem like a game. Full Story

Submission + - Webkit for Metacity/Mutter CSS Theming? (gnome.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19, 2009 @02:42PM

An anonymous reader writes: As Metacity (the Gnome window manager) progresses into Mutter, the question of CSS themes and how to implement them has come up. One of the proposals was WebKit, which the author asked more specifically about on his blog. It seems that WebKit, being a very fast rendering engine, would allow Mutter to have unprecedented power, not to mention being nearly future-proofed. As a major bonus, going this way could allow Gnome to share themes with KDE, which is apparently headed the WebKit way already. Many people will reflexively recoil at the idea of a browser being mixed with a window manager, but it's important to remember that WebKit it not a web browser but a rendering engine, and it's not where all the security issues come from. So, what are the real technical issues at stake here? What are the pros and cons of using WebKit here?

Submission + - Computerized Election Results With No Election 2

Submitted by

_Sharp'r_

on Sunday July 19, 2009 @01:39AM

_Sharp'r_ writes: "According to breaking Spanish language newspaper reports, (translations available, USA Today mention), Honduran authorities have seized 45 computers containing certified election results for the constitutional election Zelaya wanted, but that never took place. The "certified" and detailed electronic records of the non-existent election show Zelaya's side having won overwhelmingly."

Submission + - Danish Expert Declares Vinland Map Genuine (newsdaily.com)

Submitted by

MBCook

on Saturday July 18, 2009 @06:36PM

MBCook writes: "A Danish expert named Rene Larson has finished a study of the infamous Vinland Map and declared it genuine. "All the tests that we have done over the past five years — on the materials and other aspects — do not show any signs of forgery," he said at the press conference. He and his team studied the ink, the paper, and even insect damage. They believe that the ink, which was discovered to contain titanium dioxide in 1972 and thus supposedly too new for the map to be genuine, was contaminated when it was being dried, causing the contamination."

Comment Re:That is your job. (Score 1) 474

by mortiis on Thursday June 18, 2009 @11:05AM (#28374283) Attached to: Getting Beyond the Helldesk

If that's the case - find a bigger company where unjamming printers is a job for the PC techs or one of their monkeys, not the helpdeskers who deal with potentially revenue critical problems with their knowledge of the intertwining of different mission critical applications.

Naturally there are lesser problems and incidents too, which you delegate.

Submission + - Court orders breathalyzer code opened, finds mess (dwi.com)

Submitted by

Death Metal

on Thursday May 14, 2009 @01:25PM

Death Metal writes: "After two years of attempting to get the computer based source code for the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C, defense counsel in State v. Chun were successful in obtaining the code, and had it analyzed by Base One Technologies, Inc.

By making itself a party to the litigation after the oral arguments in April, Draeger subjected itself to the Supreme Court's directive that Draeger ultimately provide the source code to the defendants' software analysis house, Base One.

Draeger reviewed the code, as well, through its software house, SysTest Labs, which agreed with Base One, that the patchwork code that makes up the 7110 is not written well, nor is it written to any defined coding standard. SysTest said, "The Alcotest NJ3.11 source code appears to have evolved over numerous transitions and versioning, which is responsible for cyclomatic complexity.""

Submission + - Daydreaming is really complex problem solving

Submitted by beefsprocket on Thursday May 14, 2009 @10:48AM

beefsprocket writes: ScienceDaily reports that "A new University of British Columbia study finds that our brains are much more active when we daydream than previously thought. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that activity in numerous brain regions increases when our minds wander. It also finds that brain areas associated with complex problem-solving — previously thought to go dormant when we daydream — are in fact highly active during these episodes. "Mind wandering is typically associated with negative things like laziness or inattentiveness," says lead author, Prof. Kalina Christoff, UBC Dept. of Psychology. "But this study shows our brains are very active when we daydream — much more active than when we focus on routine tasks."

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