ramirez - Slashdot User

Hooked On Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price 180

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 07, 2010 @09:09AM from the can't-talk-now-texting dept.

Zecheus writes "In the New York Times: 'Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls, and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.'"

ACLU Sues Over Legality of "Targeted Killing" By Drones 776

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday March 17, 2010 @10:46AM from the skynet-jokes-are-allowed-and-encouraged dept.

MacAndrew writes "The ACLU has sued the United States Government to enforce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for 'the release of records relating to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles — commonly known as 'drones' — for the purpose of targeting and killing individuals since September 11, 2001.' (Complaint.) The information sought includes the legal basis for use of the drones, how the program is managed, and the number of civilian deaths in areas of operation such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen. The ACLU further claims that 'Recent reports, including public statements from the director of national intelligence, indicate that US citizens have been placed on the list of targets who can be hunted and killed with drones.' Aside from one's view of the wisdom, effectiveness, and morality of these military operations, the inclusion of US citizens suggests that summary remote-control executions are becoming routine. Especially given the difficulty in locating and targeting individuals from aircraft, risks of human and machine error are obvious, and these likely increase as the robots become increasingly autonomous (please no Skynet jokes). This must give pause to anyone who's ever spent time coding or debugging or even driving certain willful late model automobiles, and the US government evidently doesn't want to discuss it."

Comment layers of bookmark folders? (Score 1) 673

by ramirez on Wednesday August 26, 2009 @03:08PM (#29207225) Attached to: Fear of Porn URL Exposure Discourages Firefox 3 Upgrade

Who uses layers of bookmark folders? Use layers of virtual machines instead.

Comment Botnets? (Score 1) 222

by ramirez on Tuesday July 21, 2009 @09:25AM (#28769625) Attached to: P.I.I. In the Sky

In the age where we're constantly discovering new botnets. Where most computer owners probably couldn't tell if their computer is being controlled by someone else (can most experts even be sure?) how can you say that an IP address is personally identifiable in a legal context? I guess if you can prove that 1) a computer had that IP address at the moment in time in question 2) Another computer didn't have the same IP address at the same time (always fun) 3) The computer was not compromised by an entity unknown to the user 4) The person you're trying to identify was using the computer at the time.

Comment from the what department? (Score 1) 554

by ramirez on Wednesday May 27, 2009 @12:29PM (#28112147) Attached to: Dot-Communism Is Already Here

from the no-in-soviet-russia-jokes-i-swear-to-god dept.

In Soviet Russia God Swear to you!!

Passwords From PHPBB Attack Analyzed 299

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday February 07, 2009 @12:19PM from the convenience-trumps-security dept.

Robert David Graham writes "The hacker who broke into phpbb.com posted the passwords online. I was sent the password list, so I ran it through my analysis tools and posted the results. Nothing terribly surprising here; 123456 and password are the most popular passwords as you would expect. I tried to be a bit more creative in my analysis, though, to get into the psychology of why people choose the passwords they do. '14% of passwords were patterns on the keyboard, like "1234" or "qwerty" or "asdf." There are a lot of different patterns people choose, like "1qaz2wsx" or "1q2w3e." I spent a while googling "159357" trying to figure out how to categorize it, then realized it was a pattern on the numeric keypad. I suppose whereas "1234" is popular among right-hand people, "159357" will be popular among lefties.'"

Family Dog Cloned, Thanks To Dolly Patents 261

Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 28, 2009 @03:34PM from the better-would-be-to-clone-mougli-and-emily dept.

patentpundit writes "BioArts International announced today that they have delivered the world's first commercially cloned dog, a 10-week old Labrador named Lancey, to Florida residents Edgar and Nina Otto. According to the press release issued by the company, 'BioArts International is a biotech company focused on unique, untapped markets in the global companion animal, stem cell and human genomics industries. The Best Friends Again program is a collaboration between BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, home to the best and most experienced dog cloning team in the world.' The technology that makes this animal cloning possible stems from the cloning patents developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of the now famous, or infamous depending on your view, Dolly the sheep."

Steve Jobs Issues Update On His Health 320

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday January 05, 2009 @09:48AM from the can't-believe-this-is-news dept.

i4u writes "Rumors about Steve Jobs' health have been flying high again after Apple announced that he will not be holding the keynote at the Macworld 2009. Today Steve Jobs issued a letter with a rather personal update on why he was losing weight in 2008. The reason for losing weight in 2008 is a hormone imbalance that has been reducing proteins. The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward according to Jobs. Steve and his doctors predict that he will have normal weight again by Spring. So stop the rumors and enjoy Macworld 2009."

Comment Re:Off the cuff statistics make me sick. (Score 1) 303

by ramirez on Tuesday October 21, 2008 @03:38PM (#25459443) Attached to: Soaring, Cryptography, and Nuclear Weapons

This is not an interesting comment. It's a stupid comment. What are the moderators smoking?

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