| If you have trouble reading this e-mail, go to http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Today's Headlines: Bloomberg Pushes Moderates in National Races
[Slashdot] Stories for 2010-09-19
======================================================================
Build and deploy interactive reports and dashboards - without
any hidden costs. Our in.the.cloud free trial lets you see for
yourself �� no download required. Start your SAP Crystal Reports
Server 60-day Free Trial.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-sdnews
======================================================================
Build and deploy interactive reports and dashboards - without
any hidden costs. Our in.the.cloud free trial lets you see for
yourself �� no download required. Start your SAP Crystal Reports
Server 60-day Free Trial.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-sdnews
======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* First Google Voice App Hits the App Store
* IE9, FF4 Beta In Real-World Use Face-Off
* A Portable Laser Backpack For 3D Mapping
* Swiss Canton Abandons Linux Migration
* In Canada, Criminal Libel Charges Laid For Criticizing Police
* T-Mobile Facing Lawsuit Over Text Message Censorship
* Learning By Playing
* Developers Fork Mandriva Linux, Creating Mageia
* Google, Apple and Others Accused of 'No Poaching' Deal
* How Your Brain Figures Out What It Doesn't Know
* Afghan Government Turns To Iran For Internet
* Facing Oblivion, Island Nation Makes Big Sacrifice
* DDoS From 4chan Hits MPAA and Anti-Piracy Website
* Is SSD Density About To Hit a Wall?
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Google Voice App Hits the App Store |
| from the waiting-for-cheaper-data dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday September 17, @21:16 (Cellphones) |
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/0035220/First-Google-Voice-App-Hits-the-App-Store|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
silverpig writes "The [0]first Google Voice app has hit the app store,
and it's called [1]GV Connect. Providing a front end to the Google Voice
service, GV Connect allows users of devices running Apple iOS platform to
have a native app with which to interact with Google Voice. What will be
interesting to note is the order that these apps are approved in. I know
[2]Sean Kovacs was first out with GV Mobile back before Apple banned
Google Voice, and while he is in the approval pipeline, this other app
has some first mover advantage. I wonder what it means when Google gets
their app officially approved, as surely it'll be free."
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/0035220
Links:
0. http://www.wifitalk.ca/google-voice/gv-connect-hits-the-app-store/
1. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gv-connect/id347835665?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4#
2. http://www.seankovacs.com/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| IE9, FF4 Beta In Real-World Use Face-Off |
| from the it's-a-walk-off dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday September 17, @23:39 (Firefox) |
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/0251252/IE9-FF4-Beta-In-Real-World-Use-Face-Off |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Most browser benchmarks are isolated,
artificial tests that can be gamed by browser vendors optimizing those
specific cases. With only those benchmarks to go on, the folks at
LucidChart were skeptical that the IE9 beta would actually outperform
other modern browsers in real-world applications. To separate hype from
reality, they [0]built their first browser benchmarking tool, based in
LucidChart itself. This benchmark is to SunSpider what a Left4Dead 2
benchmark is to 3Dmark Vantage. Product specs don't matter, only
real-world performance on a real-world application. The results were
surprising. IE9 held its own pretty well (with a few caveats), and the
latest Firefox 4 beta came in dead last."
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/0251252
Links:
0. http://www.lucidchart.com/blog/2010/09/16/ie9-ff4-beta-in-real-world-benchmark/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Portable Laser Backpack For 3D Mapping |
| from the overkill-for-osm dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday September 18, @02:22 (Earth) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/0455202/A-Portable-Laser-Backpack-For-3D-Mappi|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]wooferhound writes "A portable laser [1]backpack for 3D mapping has
been developed at the University of California, Berkeley, where it is
being hailed as a breakthrough technology capable of producing fast,
automatic and realistic 3D mapping of difficult interior environments.
... The backpack is the first of a series of similar systems to work
without being strapped to a robot or attached to a cart. At the same
time, its data acquisition speed is very fast, as it collects the data
while the human operator is walking; this is in contrast with existing
systems in which the data is painstakingly collected in a stop-and-go
fashion, resulting in days and weeks of data acquisition time. It
utilizes novel sensor fusion algorithms that use cameras, lasers range
finders and inertial measurement units to generate a textured,
photo-realistic, 3D model that can operate without GPS input and that is
a big challenge."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/0455202
Links:
0. mailto:tim@woofCOLAerhound.comminuscaffeine
1. http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Portable_Laser_Backpack_Revolutionizes_Interior_3D_Mapping_999.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Swiss Canton Abandons Linux Migration |
| from the eaten-employees-eh? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday September 18, @05:08 (Government) |
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/0239243/Swiss-Canton-Abandons-Linux-Migration |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "The Swiss canton Solothurn has [0]put a stop
to their ongoing migration to Linux. [[1]Original, in German.] The
project started in 2001, and has been under harsh public criticism ever
since. The responsible CIO resigned this summer. Solothurn plans to
convert all desktop computers to Windows 7 in 2011."
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/0239243
Links:
0. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Die-Woche-Bruchlandung-fuer-den-Pinguin-1080686.html
1. http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Die-Woche-Bruchlandung-fuer-den-Pinguin-1080686.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In Canada, Criminal Libel Charges Laid For Criticizing Police |
| from the buncha-hosers-you-say? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday September 18, @08:19 (Canada) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/0224253/In-Canada-Criminal-Libel-Charges-Laid-For-C|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BitterOak writes "A Calgary man is facing criminal charges of libel for
criticizing police. According to the story, the RCMP have [0]filed five
charges against John Kelly for claiming on his website that Calgary
police officers engaged in perjury, corruption, and obstruction of
justice. What makes the story unusual is that the charges are criminal
and not civil. Even in Canada, which has much less free speech protection
than the United States, it is extremely rare for people to be charged
criminally with libel. It is almost always matter for civil courts."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/0224253
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| T-Mobile Facing Lawsuit Over Text Message Censorship |
| from the stirring-the-pot dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @09:30 (Censorship) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1244230/T-Mobile-Facing-Lawsuit-Over-Text-Message-C|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Tootech writes with this quote from Wired: "A mobile-marketing company
claimed Friday it would go out of business unless a federal judge orders
T-Mobile to stop blocking its text-messaging service, the first case
[0]testing whether wireless providers can block text messages they don't
like. EZ Texting claims T-Mobile [1]blocked the company from sending text
messages for all of its clients after learning that
legalmarijuanadispensary.com, an EZ Texting client, was using its service
to send texts about legal medical marijuana dispensaries in California.
'T-Mobile subjectively did not approve of one of the thousands of lawful
businesses and non-profits served by EZ Texting,' according to New York
federal lawsuit."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1244230
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/blocking-text-messages/
1. http://www.publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-sees-lawsuit-over-unlawful-text-m
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Learning By Playing |
| from the good-for-computers-bad-for-surgery dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @10:42 (Education) |
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1353218/Learning-By-Playing |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
theodp writes "This week's NY Times Magazine ��� [0]a special issue on
education and technology ��� is tailor-made for the Slashdot crowd. For the
cover story, Sarah Corbett [1]explores the games-and-education movement,
which she notes is alive and well at [2]Quest to Learn, a NYC
middle-school that aims to make school nothing less than 'a big,
delicious video game.' Elsewhere in the issue, Paul Boutin writes about
Microsoft's efforts to inspire [3]The 8-Year-Old Programmer with its
[4]Kodu Project, and Nicholas Carlson reports on [5]Columbia University's
efforts to mix journalism and hard-core computer science with its unique
[6]dual-degree master's in journalism and CS. There's also an
accompanying timeline that nicely illustrates how learning machines have
progressed [7]from the Horn-Book to the iPad."
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1353218
Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/magazine/
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html
2. http://www.q2l.org/
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19Essays-kodu-t.html
4. http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/kodu.aspx
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19Essays-HigherEd-t.html
6. http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1212612493028/page/1212612492347/JRNSimplePage2.htm
7. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/19/magazine/classroom-technology.html?ref=magazine
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Developers Fork Mandriva Linux, Creating Mageia |
| from the onward-and-upward dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @11:50 (Mandriva) |
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1437248/Developers-Fork-Mandriva-Linux-Creating-M|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Anssi55 writes "As most of the Mandriva employees working on the Linux
distribution were laid off due to the liquidation of Edge-IT (a
subsidiary of Mandriva SA) and trust in the company has diminished, the
development community (including the core developers) [0]has decided to
fork the project. The new Linux distribution, named Mageia, will be
managed by a not-for-profit organization that will be set up in the
coming days. There are already many people that have decided to follow
the fork, but the people behind it are still welcoming any help offered
in the various tasks related to establishing the new distribution."
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1437248
Links:
0. http://www.mageia.org/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google, Apple and Others Accused of 'No Poaching' Deal |
| from the stories-that-don't-involve-deer-and-the-king's-land dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @13:01 (Businesses) |
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1515200/Google-Apple-and-Others-Accused-of-No-Poac|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
lightbox32 writes "According to the Wall Street Journal, several of the
US's largest technology companies, which include Google, Apple, Intel,
Adobe, Intuit and Pixar Animation, are in the final stages of
negotiations with the Justice Department to avoid a court battle over
whether they [0]colluded to hold down wages by agreeing not to poach each
other's employees. 'The Justice Department would have to convince a court
not just that such accords existed, but that workers had suffered
significant harm as a result. The companies may not want to take a chance
in court. If the government wins, it could open the floodgates for
private claimants, even a class action by employees. A settlement would
allow the Justice Department to halt the practice, without the companies
having to admit to any legal violations.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1515200
Links:
0. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575496182527552678.html#ixzz0ztKzy23r
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How Your Brain Figures Out What It Doesn't Know |
| from the identifying-the-dunning-kruger-zone dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @14:15 (Science) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1640223/How-Your-Brain-Figures-Out-What-It-Does|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
hex0D passes along an article at NPR about a study that examined [0]the
biology behind the self-assessment of knowledge. Quoting: "We isolated a
region of the prefrontal cortex, which is right at the front of the brain
and is thought to be involved in high-level thought, conscious planning,
monitoring of our ongoing brain activity,' Fleming says. In people who
were good at assessing their own level of certainty, that region had more
gray matter and more connections to other parts of the brain, according
to [0]the study Fleming and his colleagues published in the journal
Science." [1]
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1640223
Links:
0. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/329/5998/1541
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/09/16/129910351/how-your-brain-figures-out-what-it-doesn-t-know
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Afghan Government Turns To Iran For Internet |
| from the access-of-evil dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @15:31 (The Internet) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1810233/Afghan-Government-Turns-To-Iran-For-Intern|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Barlaam writes "Renesys describes new evidence that the Iranian national
telecommunications provider, DCI, is [0]selling (uncensored?) Internet
connectivity to customers in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan. 'The
Internet connectivity outreach that we now see in the global routing
tables seems like continuing evidence of Iran's long-term strategy:
aggressively pursuing bilateral infrastructure and investment projects
with its neighbors, in ways that will increase Iran's regional influence
after the Americans have moved on.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1810233
Links:
0. http://www.renesys.com/blog/2010/09/iran-exporting-the-internet-pa.shtml
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Facing Oblivion, Island Nation Makes Big Sacrifice |
| from the sink-or-swim dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @16:43 (Earth) |
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/1852201/Facing-Oblivion-Island-Nation-Makes-Big-Sa|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Damien1972 writes "Kiribati, a small nation consisting of 33 Pacific
island atolls, is forecast to be among the first countries swamped by
rising sea levels. Nevertheless, [0]the country recently made an
astounding commitment: it closed over 150,000 square miles of its
territory to fishing, an activity that accounts for nearly half the
government's tax revenue. What moved the tiny country to take this
monumental action? President Anote Tong, says Kiribati is sending a
message to the world: 'We need to make sacrifices to provide a future for
our children and grandchildren.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/1852201
Links:
0. http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0915-kiribati_interview_anote_tong.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DDoS From 4chan Hits MPAA and Anti-Piracy Website |
| from the wonder-how-much-piracy-went-unaddressed-while-they-were-down dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @17:56 (Security) |
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/2016207/DDoS-From-4chan-Hits-MPAA-and-Anti-Piracy-We|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
ACKyushu writes "Say what you like about 4chan; when they want something
done, it gets done. Following a call to arms yesterday, the masses
inhabiting the anonymous 4chan boards have [0]carried out a huge assault
on a pair of anti-piracy enemies. The website of Aiplex Software, the
anti-piracy outfit which has been [1]DDoSing torrent sites recently, fell
victim to a DDoS itself. They were joined in the Internet wasteland by
the MPAA's website, which also fell to a huge and sustained attack."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/2016207
Links:
0. http://torrentfreak.com/4chan-ddos-takes-down-mpaa-and-anti-piracy-websites-100918/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/09/0047234/Film-Industry-Hires-Cyber-Hitmen-To-Take-Down-Pirates
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is SSD Density About To Hit a Wall? |
| from the right-into-a-brick-wall dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 18, @19:05 (Data Storage) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/09/18/2136251/Is-SSD-Density-About-To-Hit-a-Wall |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Zombie Puggle writes "Enterprise Storage Forum has an article contending
that [0]solid state disks will stay stuck at 20-25nm unless the materials
and techniques used to design Flash drives changes, and soon. 'Anything
smaller and the data protection and data corruption issues become so
great that either the performance is abysmal, the data retention period
doesn't meet JEDEC standards, or the cost increases. Though engineers are
working on performance and density improvements via new technologies
(they're also trying to drive costs down), these are fairly new
techniques and are not likely to make it into devices for a while."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/09/18/2136251
Copyright 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.. All rights reserved.
======================================================================
You have received this message because you subscribed to it
on Slashdot. To stop receiving this and other
messages from Slashdot, or to add more messages
or change your preferences, please go to your user page.
http://slashdot.org/my/messages
You can log in and change your preferences from there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)