Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Check out the new SourceForge HTML5 internet speed test! No Flash necessary and runs on all devices. ×

Comment Re:Can I post in polls? (Score 2) 85

I have just seen this happen, and it affects http://slashdot.org/ but not subdomains of the site. Adding "news." or whatever to the host name makes the site notice the login cookie. (The cookie values are identical for both slashdot.org and .slashdot.org, mind you.)

Submission + - Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s 2

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A new study finds that people today who eat and exercise the same amount as people 20 years ago are still fatter.

A study published recently in the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practice found that it's harder for adults today to maintain the same weight as those 20 to 30 years ago did, even at the same levels of food intake and exercise. The authors examined the dietary data of 36,400 Americans between 1971 and 2008 and the physical activity data of 14,419 people between 1988 and 2006. They grouped the data sets together by the amount of food and activity, age, and BMI.

They found a very surprising correlation: A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.

Submission + - Virgin Media censors talk of "bufferbloat" on their discussion forums (blogspot.com)

Submitted by mtaht
mtaht writes: Given that bufferbloat is now fixed by fq_codel and the sqm-scripts for anyone that cares to install openwrt and derivatives on their home routers (or use any random linux box for the job), AND standardization efforts for the relevant algorithms near completion in the IETF, I went and posted a short, helpful message about how to fix it on a bufferbloat-related thread on Virgin Media's cable modems... And they deleted the post, and banned my IP... for "advertising". I know I could post again via another IP, and try to get them to correct their mistake, but it is WAY more fun to try to annoy them into more publically acknowledging their enormous bufferbloat problems and to release a schedule for their fixes. Naturally I figured the members of slashdot could help out Virgin and their customers understand their bufferbloat problems better. My explanations of how they can fix their bufferbloat, are now, here.

Comment Re:/etc/inittab (Score 1) 314

by rb12345 (#47855123) Attached to: GSOC Project Works To Emulate Systemd For OpenBSD
It's still possible in daemontools to run a shell script wrapper from /etc/service/foo/run around some real server in Java/Erlang/whatever. Stopping the service with "svc -d /etc/service/foo" will then entirely fail to kill the server process. I would imagine that the systemd's cgroup suport would avoid this happening.

Comment Re:"There's zero benefit a consumer gets from that (Score 1) 47

by rb12345 (#46692639) Attached to: Qualcomm Announces Next-Gen Snapdragon 808 and 810 SoCs

There's a reasonable argument for moving to 64-bit on security grounds too. The increase in virtual address space makes ASLR far more effective since there are many more options for positioning compared to 32-bit code. On top of that, any attacks are more likely to hit a unallocated page as opposed to anything useful (with some limitations of course).

Submission + - Over +36 exploits in latest Java with +140 for all Oracle products discovered (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: More bad press can't seem to escape Oracle.

Oracle is posting patches for all its products next Tuesday which include +36 exploits for Java alone and over 140 for all Oracle products currently supported included over 80 that require no authentication to execute.These patches look to be critical for any administrator. Java 6 users who use equipment or programs that rely on older versions are SOL unless you sign up for a very expensive support contract as these patches are for Java 7 only.

Submission + - Target Admits 110 Million Victims in Data Breach, Not 40 Million (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Retail giant Target continues to drastically downplay the impact of the massive data breach it suffered during December, even while admitting the number of customers affected is nearly twice as large as it had previously estimated. Target admitted today the massive data breach it suffered during the Christmas shopping season was more than twice as large and far more serious than previously disclosed. A Jan. 10 press release admits the number of customers affected by the second-largest corporate data breach in history had increased from 40 million to 70 million, and that the data stolen included emails, phone numbers, street addresses and other information absent from the stolen transactional data that netted thieves 40 million debit- and credit-card numbers and PINs. “As part of Target’s ongoing forensic investigation, it has been determined that certain guest information — separate from the payment card data previously disclosed — was taken during the data breach” according to Target’s statement. “This theft is not a new breach, but was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation.” The new revalation does represent a new breach, however, or at least the breach of an unrelated system during the period covered during the same attack, according to the few details Target has released. Most analysts and news outlets have blamed the breach on either the security of Target’s Windows-based Point-of-Sale systems or the company’s failure to fulfill its security obligations under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Submission + - How Chris Christie Could Use the NSA Playbook to Defend Himself over Bridgegate

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Conor Friedersdorf has written a tongue-in-cheek article in The Atlantic advising New Jersey Governor Chris Christie how he can use the NSA playbook to successfully defend himself of the charges that a senior member of his staff was involved in shutting down George Washington Bridge traffic, a stunt meant to punish the mayor of an affected town for opposing his reelection. Christie's NSA-inspired explanation would include the following points: There are almost 9 million people in New Jersey, and only one was targeted for retribution, an impressively tiny error rate lower than .001 percent; The bridge closure was vital to national security because [redacted]; Since the George Washington Bridge is a potential terrorist target, everything that may or may not have happened near it is a state secret; Going after a political rival is wrong but it's important to put this event in context; Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was the only target of non-compliant behavior. No other Fort Lee resident was ever targeted for retribution, and any delays that any Fort Lee resident experienced were totally inadvertent and incidental; Finally a panel will be formed to figure out how to restore the public's faith in Chris Christie. "To some readers, these talking points may seem absurd or deliberately misleading," concludes Friedersdorf, "but there isn't any denying that so far they're working okay for the NSA."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Being against torture ought to be sort of a bipartisan thing." -- Karl Lehenbauer

Close