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Google

Submission + - Google goofs up Firefox's anti-phishing list (google.com)

Submitted by
Stephen
Stephen writes: "While phishing is a problem, giving one company the power to block any site that it wishes at the browser level never seemed like a good idea. Today Google blocked a host of legitimate web sites by listing mine.nu. mine.nu is available as a dynamic dns domain and anybody can claim a sub domain. All sub-domains are blocked regardless of whether phishing actually occurs on the sub-domain or not. Several Linux enthusiast sites are caught up in the net including Hostfile Ad Blocking and Berry Linux Bootable CD."
Education

Submission + - Student Group Reform? 1

Submitted by discards
discards writes: I help run a student group at a Canadian University. For almost 15 years we've provided students with services such as web space, email, wireless internet on campus, cvs/svn, database access, mailing lists, etc... all using Linux and FOSS. In recent years however, we have faced becoming obsolete. The university now provides wireless access, people get their email from other places such as Google, which also provides free svn access, web space, etc... Since we have a large amount of decent, useable hardware, as well as space, funding and a very fast internet connection, we are looking to possibly reform instead of just withering away and dying. We would like to ask Slashdot for ideas as to what we could do, preferably something that cultivates student research or provides an otherwise useful service to students, however all ideas are welcome. Thank you
Technology

Stephen Hawking Unveils "Time Eater" Clock 198

Posted by timothy from the brief-history-of-eating dept.
gyrogeerloose writes "Stephen Hawking unveiled an unsettling clock in Cambridge on Friday. Designed by John Taylor — a British horologist and inventor whose thermostatic switch is incorporated in millions of electric appliances worldwide — the clock was conceived as a tribute to another British inventor, John Harrison. Harrison invented the grasshopper escapement in the early 18th Century, which resulted in extremely accurate mechanical time keeping and was instrumental in solving the Longitude Problem. Taylor's clock, which in entirely mechanical in operation but has no hands, uses a fearsome-looking 'demon grasshopper' as its escapement. 'I... wanted to depict that time is a destroyer — once a minute is gone you can't get it back' Taylor said. 'That's why my grasshopper is not a Disney character. He is a ferocious beast that over the seconds has his tongue lolling out, his jaws opening, then on the 59th second he gulps down time.' It also (purposely) only tells correct time once every five minutes. An excellent video of the clock in action, with an explanation of its workings by its inventor, is available on YouTube."
Robotics

Inside the DARPA-esque Singapore Military Bot Contest 45

Posted by Soulskill from the running-into-walls-on-the-government's-dime dept.
mattnyc99 writes "Earlier this summer we followed a war robot contest in England. But now, after the Russian onslaught in Georgia, this weekend's TechX Challenge in Singapore takes on a bigger meaning: can small countries keep up with military superpowers by upmodding existing robots for their own needs and then arming them? Researchers in the Far East seem to be struggling with their A.I. research right now, but this could just be the beginning of the 'little guys' fighting back. From the article: 'Chan says the agency wants to use more locally developed robots to help in homeland security and counterterrorist operations. The DSTA's goal is to improve robotic artificial intelligence so it can build machines to perform dangerous tasks — reconnaissance, surveillance and the handling of hazardous materials — that American robots already can. ... Back at Nanyang Technological University, Michael Lau acknowledges the urgency of the research but says the AI for urban warfare just isn't ready. "We don't really believe fully autonomous robots are possible yet," says the Evolution team supervisor. "How does a robot differentiate between friend and foe?"'" We've discussed similar projects from DARPA in the past. Reader coondoggie notes that enthusiasts will be able to participate in the lighter side of robot warfare next month in Texas.

Feed NASA Scientists Pioneer Technique For 'Weighing' Black Holes (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Two NASA astrophysicists have successfully tested a new method for determining the masses of black holes. Scientists used the new technique to estimate that an ultra-luminous X-ray source in the small, nearby galaxy NGC 5408 harbors a black hole with a mass of about 2,000 suns.

Feed Innovative Sunrise Browser aids Mac Web developers (newsforge.com)

From feed by nffeed
Sunrise Browser is an open source Web browser for Mac OS X intended for use as a Web developer's tool. It is not a groundbreaking achievement in that regard, but it is worth checking out due to its innovative and often unusual user interface choices.
The Internet

Blogger Freed After 226 Days in Jail For Contempt 224

Posted by Zonk from the little-site-big-stand dept.
frdmfghtr writes "Over at CNN is a report that a blogger has been freed after spending 226 days in jail — a record for a journalist held in contempt. 'Wolf had been found in contempt for refusing to obey a subpoena to turn over his video from a July 2005 protest during the G-8 economic summit where anarchists were suspected of vandalizing a San Francisco police car. One city officer was struck during the rally and his skull was fractured ... California's shield law allows reporters to keep sources and unpublished material secret. But there is no federal shield law protecting reporters from federal investigations. The National Writer's Union, which represents freelance writers, said in a statement that Wolf should never have been jailed. "The abuses visited on Josh and other journalists are part of an effort by governments at all levels to control the volume, flow and content of the information that reaches the public," the union said.'"
Toys

Japanese Mileage Maniacs 277

Posted by Zonk from the where-did-they-get-those-wonderful-toys dept.
WY writes "Bloomberg reports on the quirky world of Japanese hybrid car hackers: 'Toyota Motor Corp. says its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car gets about 55 miles to the gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. That's not good enough for Takashi Toya.' He managed to reach as high as 115 MPG. He is one of about 100 nenpimania, Japanese for mileage maniacs."

Square Enix Supports Sony, But Not Too Much 109

Posted by Zonk from the big-heads dept.
Next-Gen reports that Square Enix is throwing just the right amount of support behind Sony. In some fairly non-humble statements, Square Enix senior VP Michihiro Sasaki talked about their positioning in the next generation market. "'We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them,' he said. 'But we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much.' Sasaki's comments (which were pulled out of context and dropped into the WSJ article) don't exactly take the humble approach regarding Square Enix's heavy influence on the popularity of the PlayStation brand. The PS2-exclusive FFXII sold over 1.7 million units for a premium $80 equivalent price tag in the first four days after its Japan launch."

Intel Pledges 80 Core Processor in 5 Years 439

Posted by Zonk from the thinking-of-the-gaming dept.
ZonkerWilliam writes "Intel has developed an 80 core processor with claims 'that can perform a trillion floating point operations per second.'" From the article: "CEO Paul Otellini held up a silicon wafer with the prototype chips before several thousand attendees at the Intel Developer Forum here on Tuesday. The chips are capable of exchanging data at a terabyte a second, Otellini said during a keynote speech. The company hopes to have these chips ready for commercial production within a five-year window."

Wii Opera Browser is Free Until Next Year 213

Posted by Zonk from the because-web-browsing-on-my-wii-sounds-fun dept.
Wowzer writes "Nintendo is serious about giving casual game console users multi-functionality by offering not just a weather, news, and photo channels, but a free internet browser with the Wii at the November 19th U.S. launch. From the article: 'Opera's full Web browser is available for download from the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo has stated that they will offer Opera free of charge as a temporary promotion for all [worldwide] Wii users until June 2007.'"

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