trellz - Slashdot User

Comment How about Bit-torrent Sync? (Score 1) 168

by trellz on Monday February 10, 2014 @08:25PM (#46213943) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Distributed Online Storage For Families?

I use bit-torrent Sync to keep our families files in 2 or more places. You can set up a round robin, or simply 1 to 1 with each given family member using different directories. I use it in conjunction with snapshots on my filer.

Wikipedia Will Soon Be Available Via Text Messages 34

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday February 27, 2013 @12:08AM from the citation-needed dept.

pigrabbitbear writes "Even as we all love to debate the scholarly merits of Wikipedia, there's no denying that it's an immensely powerful research and learning tool. That goes doubly so in poor nations, where access to education materials can be limited to nonexistent. To that end, Wikimedia started the Wikipedia Zero project, which aims to partner with mobile service providers to bring Wikipedia to poor regions free of charge. It's a killer strategy, because while computer and internet access is still fleeting for much of the world, cell phones are far more ubiquitous. Wikimedia claims that four mobile partnerships signed since 2012 brings free Wiki service to 330 million cell subscribers in 35 countries, a huge boon for folks whose phones have web capability but who can't afford data charges."

Comment Re:How was it broken into again? (Score 3, Informative) 272

by trellz on Sunday February 17, 2013 @03:03PM (#42929699) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Inexpensive SOHO Crime Deterrence and Monitoring?

I'll try and answer some of the general questions I've seen here. It is a tattoo studio, they used bolt cutters to open the locked rear gate to the courtyard, bolt cutters on the back security door, and then battered the metal door down. They stole thousands in tattoo equipment and inks, and even his portfolio, but left the computer. This is a similar MO to last time, and it does seem personal(though I have no idea as to why). It's in a small town, so that area is just vacant during the nights, and the back courtyard is hidden completely. Other measures to secure things will be taken, like a safe, etc. This is family, so I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help. They've been in business for 15+ years and enjoy being self employed. The alerting them at home would be the last preferred method. In my opinion it's best to deter (through visible security means), prevent (through physical security and restricted access), to alarm (loud audible), and then finally alert (through some means), so that at the very least they could hop in their car and drive past.

Submission + - Once a hacker Kevin Mitnick Now Helps Secure Ecuador Presidential Elections (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec on Sunday February 17, 2013 @11:14AM

hypnosec writes: Kevin Mitnick, who was one of the most wanted computer hacker in the US at one time, is now heading a security consultancy firm – Mitnick Security Consulting, and is entrusted with the task of securing Sunday's presidential elections in Ecuador. Sunday may very well see Rafael Correa win the presidential elections provided nothing goes wrong and Mitnick does the job perfectly which has been assigned to him. Mitnick tweeted, "18 years ago I was busted for hacking. I do the same thing today but with full authorization. How cool is that?" Mitnick has been assigned to protect the Net Lock computer system that has been assigned the task of tabulating Ecuador's elections.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot; Inexpensive SOHO crime detterence, monitoring, and alerting. (facebook.com)

Submitted by trellz on Saturday February 16, 2013 @07:02PM

trellz writes: Dear Slashdot,
My sister and brother-in-law are self employed, and run a small business with a storefront. It was broken into about a year ago, and since then they have reinforced physical security; bars on the doors and windows, better locks, etc. Unfortunately, their store was broken into, and vandalized again last week in spite of the added security measures. Being technically savvy, I'm trying to come up with inexpensive ways to add deterrence, monitoring, and alerting to their business. They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin, so the solution needs to be almost free. They do have an internet connection at the store, so motion detection, web cameras, arduino devices, and the like are certainly an option. Ideally I would like a rock solid alerting method. Something like an email or text to a laptop at home, or a dedicated prepaid phone, but without the pitfalls of such a solution(ie random wrong numbers, solicitors, email spam, etc). I'd also prefer not to poke holes in their firewall at the shop if at all possible. I was considering an email with some sort of long code or hash in the body, and then could white list that on the receiving end to key off of. The goal is to never have a false alarm based on the transmission/reception method. I know the physical triggers will have to be fine tuned, but I don't ever want them woken up at night due to some random male enhancement email.

Submission + - The Apple Shop forced to change its name (cnet.com)

Submitted by

tlhIngan

on Saturday February 16, 2013 @06:27PM

tlhIngan writes: "The Apple Shop, in Norfolk, UK is a little corner store that sells apple products. Not Apple products, but apple products, in this case, cider. However, it's been forced to change its name to the Norfolk Cider Shop. However, the name change did not come from any lawsuit from Apple (the Cupertino one, that is), nor has there been any evidence that Apple (Cupertino) knew about them. Instead, they're changing their name because their phones have been ringing constantly from people seeking help with their Apple (Cupertino) products. Apple (Cupertino) opened an Apple store in 2009 in the nearby (larger) town of Norwich."

Submission + - The US Redrawn As 50 Equally Populated States (vice.com) 3

Submitted by

Daniel_Stuckey

on Saturday February 16, 2013 @06:23PM

Daniel_Stuckey writes: "Bam! For anyone that's paid a speck of attention to the tedium of political redistricting, which happens while a state grows unevenly, (and must dynamically respond to density, electorate disparity, natural resources and ridgelines, etc.), this is straight out of some psychedelic dream. For Democrats, it could be straight out of a nightmare. That's because Freeman's map necessitates 50 equally populous United States. His methods for creating the map are explained thusly:

"The algorithm was seeded with the fifty largest cities. After that, manual changes took into account compact shapes, equal populations, metro areas divided by state lines, and drainage basins. In certain areas, divisions are based on census tract lines... The suggested names of the new states are taken mainly from geographical features."

The new 50 states would be equally potent in terms of voting, but how many would be red? I made this layered GIF of Romney vs. Obama by county to try and figure things out."

US Congress Funds Laser Weapons 423

Posted by Soulskill on Monday September 22, 2008 @12:58PM from the vaporize-ware dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post reports that the US Congress is funding laser weapons for use in the near future. Low-power lasers called 'dazzlers' are already being used in Iraq to temporarily reduce a person's vision. High-power laser weapons would allow precision attacks that minimize civilian casualties. From the Post: 'The science board said tactical laser systems could be developed for broader use because they "enable precision ground attack to minimize collateral damage in urban conflicts." The report suggested, for example, that "future gunships could provide extended precision lethality and sensing." The board also proposed using lasers to protect against rockets, artillery, mortars and unmanned airborne vehicles by blasting them out of the sky. Last month, the Army awarded Boeing $36 million to continue development of a high-energy laser mounted on a truck that could hit overhead targets. But deployment is not expected until 2016, even if all goes well.'"

Judge Munley is So Out of My Top 8 791

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday September 22, 2008 @12:14PM from the surprised-he-was-there-in-the-first-place dept.

Frequent Slashdot Contributor Bennett Haselton writes "A federal judge has ruled that a school district didn't violate a student's free speech rights when it suspended her for a parody MySpace page she created calling her principal a sex addict who "hits on students". In the ruling, Judge James M. Munley made the curious argument that if the case involves a student publishing lewd and offensive speech outside of school on their own time, then the proper precedent-setting cases to look to, are cases involving students making offensive statements in school during school hours, not cases involving students making less-offensive statements outside of school on their own time. In other words, if you can't find prior caselaw where all of the factors are the same, then the lewd-speech issue is more significant than the issue of whether the speech was made in or out of school." Hit that magical link below to read the rest of these words.

Microsoft Innovates Tent Data Centers 201

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday September 22, 2008 @11:31AM from the don't-touch-the-fabric dept.

1sockchuck writes "The outside-the-box thinking in data center design continues. Microsoft has tested running a rack of servers in a tent outside one of its data centers. In seven months of testing, a small group of servers ran for seven months without failures, even when water dripped on the rack. The experiment builds on Intel's recent research on air-side economizers in suggesting that servers may be sturdier than believed, leaving more room to save energy by optimizing cooling set points and other key environmental settings in the server room."

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