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Comment Immersive Education node (Score 1) 83

by pr0fess (#24089079) Attached to: Rare Tour of Sun Microsystems' "Wonderland"

I help admin the Immersive Education node (http://ImmersiveEducation.org) mentioned in TFA. In addition to business use of Wonderland the Immersive Education Initiative is using Wonderland for learning. In collaboration with Sun Microsystems the Immersive Education Initiative recently announced the "Education Grid" to give educators a sneak peak at what's possible with Wonderland.
NASA

Shuttle Launch Pad Damaged During Discovery's Launch 173

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the time-to-upgrade dept.
pumpkinpuss writes "Launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center suffered unusual damage during the shuttle Discovery's blastoff Saturday. Pictures from a NASA source show buckled concrete and numerous concrete blocks or bricks, presumably from the flame trench, littering a road behind the pad."
Security

Submission + - What examples of Security Theater have you seen? 1

Submitted by
swillden
swillden writes: "Everyone who pays any attention at all to security, both computer security and "meatspace" security, has heard the phrase Security Theater. For years I've paid close attention to security setups that I come in contact with, and tried to evaluate their real effectiveness vs their theatrical aspects. In the process I've found many examples of pure theater, but even more cases where the security was really a cover for another motive.

Recently, a neighbor uncovered a good example. He and his wife attended a local semi-pro baseball game where security guards were checking all bags for weapons. Since his wife carries a small pistol in her purse, they were concerned that there would be a problem. They decided to try anyway, and see if her concealed weapon permit satisfied the policy. The guard looked at her gun, said nothing and passed them in, then stopped the man behind them because he had beer and snacks in his bag. Park rules prohibit outside food. It's clear what the "security" check was really about: improving park food vending revenues.

So, what examples of pure security theater have slashdotters noticed? Even more interesting, what examples of security-as-excuse have you seen?."
Security

Submission + - CCP/EVE ONLINE suffers public source code release (dreamnotoftoday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Source code for the game client for popular MMORPG Eve Online was made available recently via BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay. Along with the torrent, a player representing themself as 'Abuser' posts a chat transcript with a CCP games representative identified as [IA]Morpheus. In a lengthy and scatological exchange, the poster of the source code attempts to get some answers about CCP's much maligned security practices, particularly concerning the rife issue of bots and scripting in their flagship game. CCP has thus far declined any comment, and all attempts for information via their support forums have been immediately deleted.
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun Developing Open Media Stack (pcworld.com)

Submitted by Graftweed
Graftweed writes:
Looking to boost the Web, Sun is working on a royalty-free and open video codec and media system, company officials said Thursday afternoon.

"The main benefit is that you don't have that now and there are markets, key markets like the Web, that are in need for the Web 2.0 experience a foundation of royalty-free for the media element," for audio and video, said Rob Glidden, global alliance manager for TV & Media at Sun.

Detailed at the Sun Labs Open House event in Menlo Park, Calif., the project is called Open Media Stack or the Open Media System. It was derived out of Sun's Open Media Commons initiative for development of royalty-free and open solutions for digital content.
Book Reviews

The Children of Hurin 209

Posted by samzenpus from the pre-rings dept.
stoolpigeon writes "Throughout much of his life, J.R.R. Tolkien worked on a series of stories set in his well known middle earth. A few he considered his "Great Tales" and he would return to them often, writing them multiple times and in multiple forms. One story that he worked on often over many years was the tale of Hurin and his children Turin and Nienor. Following his death, Tolkien's youngest son Christopher has worked to collect, edit and publish much of what his father wrote but never published. The tale of Hurin's children has been told in part already in some of those works. But it is in this book that for the first time the complete tale is told from start to finish of The Children of Hurin." Read below for the rest of JR's review.
Linux Business

Journal SPAM: Shuttle KPC 2

Journal by stoolpigeon

I started hearing about the Shuttle KPC yesterday. There are still not many details available - so I guess technically it is vaporware at this point. But they are saying it will be $199 built, $99 bare bones and will run linux. this endgadget article has the pic of it from the press kit. If they are going to be selling it this year, hopefully more meaningful details aren't too far out.
The Internet

Submission + - FCC to investigate Comcast bittorrent meddling (komotv.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday that the commission will investigate complaints that Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online. A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars asked the agency in November to stop Comcast from discriminating against certain types of data and fine Comcast $195,000 for every affected subscriber. While known for months in tech circles, the issue was given broad attention by an Associated Press report last year in which the reporters tested and verified the data blocking.
The Courts

Submission + - Boston University Student Challenges RIAA

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A Boston University student identified only as one of the 21 "John Does" in Arista v. Does 1-21 has challenged the RIAA's alleged right to get his or her identity from the school, bringing a motion to vacate the ex parte discovery order obtained by the RIAA, and to quash the subpoena served on the university. John Doe's court papers (pdf) argue, among other things, that the RIAA's papers are "based on a flawed theory that having copyrighted music files on an individual's computer or on an assigned folder on Boston University's server is a "distribution" of such copyrighted music files, where such folder is merely accessible by others." (Memorandum of Law, pp. 4-5)."
Networking

Submission + - Cisco routers to blame for huge Japan net outtage

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Cisco routers were the source of a major outage May 15 in an NTT network in Japan, according to an investment firm bulletin. Between 2,000 and 4,000 Cisco routers went down for about 7 hours in the NTT East network after a switchover to backup routes triggered the routers to rewrite routing tables, according to a bulletin from CIBC World Markets. The outage disconnected millions of broadband Internet users across most of eastern Japan. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/051607-cisco -routers-major-outage-japan.html
Editorial

Submission + - Editorial: Compiz and Beryl Merger

Submitted by
invisibastard
invisibastard writes: "Linux Tech Daily has an editorial on the proceeding merger or Compiz and Beryl. LTD believes this is a good thing and the community overall will benefit. What do you think? Will it be possible for these teams to work together? One thing is certain, the 3D desktop space is drawing a lot of attention to Linux."
Microsoft

Journal Journal: Mozilla Foundation sues Microsoft over tabbed browsing 149

Journal by Alphager
According to the german tech-site heise.de, the Mozilla Foundation is suing Microsoft over the use of tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer 7.
The Mozilla Foundation owns the patent 5,160,296 through one of their developers (Solomon Katz, a former Opera dev) and has begun suing Microsoft in Mountainview, California.
The Foundation wants that MS imediately

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