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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Drupal 8 Development Begins — 15 Bugs At a Time
* First Look At Chrome 10
* Australia Creates Cyberwarfare Unit
* DraftSight 2D CAD For Linux Beta Available
* US Lawyers Target Swedish Pirate, and His Unicorn
* 8.8 Earthquake Near Japanese Coast
* New Hardware Needed For Future Computational Brain
* Should Public Libraries Become Hacker Spaces?
* Copyright Troll Complains of Defendant's Legal Fees
* Gamer Banned From <em>Dragon Age II</em> Over Forum Post
* Clearwire Sued Over WiMAX Throttling
* Eric Schmidt a Contender For US Commerce Secretary
* Microsoft Patent Deems Comic Books Shameful
* Prepare For Massive Wave of Earthquake Scams
* Miguel de Icaza On Usability and Openness
* Google Introduces Domain Blocking To Search
* Novell Sale Delayed Due To Patent Investigation
* <em>Doom</em> Creator Says Direct3D Is Now Better Than OpenGL
* Smartphone Device Detects Cancer In an Hour
* What Data Mining Firms Know About You
* Brazilian Spider Bite May Become the Next Viagra
* Improving Nature's Top Recyclers
* Game Maker Says 40% of iTunes In-App Buys Are Fraud
* NASA To Host Open Source Summit
* 'Son of ACTA' Worse Than Original
* Ask Slashdot: Worst Computer Scene In TV or Movies?
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Drupal 8 Development Begins — 15 Bugs At a Time
| from the just-don't-rename-them-all-features dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday March 10, @19:22 (Programming)
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/03/10/2341210/Drupal-8-Development-Begins-mdash-15-Bugs-At-a-Time?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
darthcamaro writes "It took nearly 3 years for the open source Drupal 7
content management system to hit general availability. The plan for
pushing out Drupal 8 is to be faster. How are they going to do that? '"At
no point in time will there be [0]more than 15 critical bugs," Dries
Buytaert, founder of Drupal said. "I will not pull in a big change if we
know there are known bugs. This gives us the ability to do timely
releases because we know at most the release is only 15 critical bugs
away from being ready."'"
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/03/10/2341210/Drupal-8-Development-Begins-mdash-15-Bugs-At-a-Time?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.ecrmguide.com/article.php/3927666/drupal-8-open-source-cms-starts-to-take-shape.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| First Look At Chrome 10
| from the new-shiny-pretty-ok dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday March 10, @20:09 (Chrome)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0013223/First-Look-At-Chrome-10?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]jbrodkin writes "Boosted JavaScript performance, Adobe Flash
sandboxing, password encryption and an overhauled settings interface are
among the [1]new features in Google Chrome 10. JavaScript pages should
now load 12% faster than in previous versions, and Chrome 10 beats IE9 by
at least 50% in a JavaScript benchmark."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0013223/First-Look-At-Chrome-10?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2011/031011-google-chrome10.html#slide1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Australia Creates Cyberwarfare Unit
| from the sir-shall-I-adjust-the-budget-sir dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday March 10, @23:04 (Australia)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0156252/Australia-Creates-Cyberwarfare-Unit?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Australia's Federal Government computer
emergency response team and other spy agencies are teaming up to
[0]create a cyberspooks unit to counter threats from other countries, the
nation's chief lawmaker said last night. In a speech referencing Stuxnet
and GhostNet, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the unit would
protect sensitive Australian Government and business information from
espionage by the nation's foes. Recently [1]new powers were handed to
spymasters to deal with the enhanced security threat that the Greens
party said were 'excessive.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0156252/Australia-Creates-Cyberwarfare-Unit?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.securecomputing.net.au/News/250899,ag-speech-transcript-creating-cyberwarfare-unit.aspx/2
1. http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/law-change-will-give-spy-agency-unprecedented-powers-greens-warn
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| DraftSight 2D CAD For Linux Beta Available
| from the now-not-in-stereo dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday March 11, @00:19 (Graphics)
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0347221/DraftSight-2D-CAD-For-Linux-Beta-Available?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]crypton writes "Dassault Systems, (Solidworks) has [1]released their
promised Linux version of DraftSight, their free 2D AutoCAD work-alike
drafting program (deb and rpm files available). Right now it appears to
be 32-bit only but it looks like one of the best Linux CAD alternatives
(paid or unpaid) right out of the gate. Also available for PC and Mac."
Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0347221/DraftSight-2D-CAD-For-Linux-Beta-Available?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:thejohnnicholson@gmail.com
1. http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=2662
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| US Lawyers Target Swedish Pirate, and His Unicorn
| from the please-make-this-into-a-movie dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday March 11, @02:11 (Piracy)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0243252/US-Lawyers-Target-Swedish-Pirate-and-His-Unicorn?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chaonici writes "When a Swedish citizen identified as Ryan heard about US
movie studio Liberty Media's [0]plan to get copyright infringers to
confess and voluntarily pay up, he couldn't stop himself from sending
them a [1]satirical email promising that he will pay 'from the pot of
gold I got at the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow', regardless of
scathing criticism of the studio from his unicorn. However, despite his
location, the jesting nature of the email, and his insistence that he has
never downloaded anything for which the studio is suing, Liberty Media's
lawyers have taken the 'confession' seriously, and have issued a subpoena
to Google for personal information related to Ryan's Gmail account. In a
phone call, the legal team affirmed their determination to 'hunt him
down, all the way to Sweden if need be.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0243252/US-Lawyers-Target-Swedish-Pirate-and-His-Unicorn?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studio-tells-bittorrent-users-turn-yourselves-in-110126/
1. http://torrentfreak.com/movie-studio-goes-after-self-proclaimed-pirate-his-unicorn-and-leprechaun-110310/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 8.8 Earthquake Near Japanese Coast
| from the surf's-up-and-up-and-up dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday March 11, @03:27 (Earth)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0722228/88-Earthquake-Near-Japanese-Coast?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]radioweather writes "USGS is reporting a 8.8 (was estimated first at
7.9) magnitude earthquake off of the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
[1]Details from USGS. [2]Tsunami warning issued. Japan's Meteorological
agency is saying 20-foot or higher waves are possible from a Tsunami near
Miyagi prefecture"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0722228/88-Earthquake-Near-Japanese-Coast?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/10/monster-eart
1. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.html
2. http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Hardware Needed For Future Computational Brain
| from the why-not-wipe-and-reinstall-on-regular-brains? dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday March 11, @05:00 (AI)
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0658232/New-Hardware-Needed-For-Future-Computational-Brain?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
schliz writes "Salk Institute director Terrence Sejnowski has called for
[0]more power-efficient, parallel computing architecture to support
future robots that could keep up with the human brain. While human brains
had 100 billion neurons and required only 20 Watts of energy, today's
most powerful supercomputer, the 2.57 PFlop Chinese Tianhe-1A, requires
four megawatts, and still has trouble with vision, motion, and 'common
sense,' he said."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0658232/New-Hardware-Needed-For-Future-Computational-Brain?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/250915,new-hardware-to-enable-a-computational-brain.aspx
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Should Public Libraries Become Hacker Spaces?
| from the kevin-kelly-might-like-that-idea dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday March 11, @08:11 (Education)
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0225227/Should-Public-Libraries-Become-Hacker-Spaces?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]ptorrone writes "Public libraries ��� the availability of free education
for all ��� represent the collective commitment of a community to their
future. They symbolize what is most important, a commitment to educating
the next generation. The role of a public library should also adapt over
time, and that time is finally here. It's time to plan how we're going to
build the future and [1]what place public libraries have, should have, or
won't have. MAKE's latest article encourages everyone to start talking
about one of our great resources, the public library, and its future."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0225227/Should-Public-Libraries-Become-Hacker-Spaces?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:ptNO@SPAMadafruit.com
1. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/03/is-it-time-to-rebuild-retool-public-libraries-and-make-techshops.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Copyright Troll Complains of Defendant's Legal Fees
| from the anybody-have-a-tiny-violin dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @08:53 (Crime)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/133232/Copyright-Troll-Complains-of-Defendants-Legal-Fees?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "Copyright enforcement company Righthaven, accused
of coercing defendants into settling with threats of damages of $150,000
and forfeiture of the defendants' website domain names, is complaining
that [1]one of its litigation foes is needlessly running up legal costs
that Righthaven may end up having to pay. In one of its more
extensively-litigated cases, Righthaven sued the Democratic Underground
last year after a message-board poster re-posted the first four
paragraphs of a 34-paragraph Review-Journal story. After suffering a
fair-use setback in another case involving a partial story post,
Righthaven tried to drop its suit against the Democratic Underground,
which would have resulted in a finding of 'no infringement.' But the
Democratic Underground is pressing for Righthaven to pay its attorney's
fees and says [2]new evidence had surfaced that would bolster their case.
'Defendants agree that this case should be over ��� indeed, it should never
have started. But it should not end until Righthaven is called to account
for the cost of the defense it provoked,' say attorneys for the EFF. 'To
allow Righthaven to avoid compensating those who have no choice but to
defend would be unjust and unsupportable.' In related news, Righthaven
has [3]filed five more lawsuits, bringing their total since March 2010 to
246 lawsuits."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/133232/Copyright-Troll-Complains-of-Defendants-Legal-Fees?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/10/righthaven-accuses-defendant-running-lawyer-fees-c/
2. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/04/defense-attorneys-claim-key-evidence-undermining-c/
3. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/08/five-more-righthaven-suits-filed/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Gamer Banned From <em>Dragon Age II</em> Over Forum Post
| from the flexible-boundaries dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @09:36 (DRM)
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/143241/Gamer-Banned-From-Dragon-Age-II-Over-Forum-Post?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]RogueyWon writes "Kotaku is reporting that a Dragon Age II gamer
[1]banned from BioWare's forums for an allegedly inflammatory post has
been [2]locked out of the (singleplayer only) game for the duration of
the ban. This is a consequence of EA's backend systems, which link forum
accounts to the accounts that players use to access their games. This
would appear to be a worrying new development; while trolling forums has
led to bans from massively multiplayer games in the past (arguably with
some justification), the extension of the principle to singleplayer
games, where an abusive player cannot affect the enjoyment of others,
must surely be a step too far."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/143241/Gamer-Banned-From-Dragon-Age-II-Over-Forum-Post?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/~Rogueywon
1. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1
2. http://kotaku.com/#!5780876/how-saying-bad-things-can-keep-you-from-playing-a-video-game
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Clearwire Sued Over WiMAX Throttling
| from the beware-the-internet-traffic-cops dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @10:18 (Handhelds)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/152232/Clearwire-Sued-Over-WiMAX-Throttling?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica: "Wireless operator
Clearwire has had a bumpy few months, and now things are getting worse. A
lawsuit has been filed by 15 users over the company's throttling
practices, accusing Clearwire of [0]not delivering advertised 'high-speed
Internet' services to customers and charging them termination fees when
they walk away unsatisfied. The complaint focuses heavily on Clearwire's
advertising, which not only highlights the speed of the connection, but
also the fact that there are no limits on data usage. 'Usage is unlimited
��� believe it. You can upload, download, and surf as much as you want for
one low price with any of the CLEAR Internet plans. We don't slow down
your connection ��� the way some Internet providers do ��� if we think you
are using too much bandwidth,' the complaint quotes from Clearwire's
website. (That text appears to have been removed at the time of
publication)."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/152232/Clearwire-Sued-Over-WiMAX-Throttling?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2011/03/wimax-throttling-lawsuit-clearwire-cant-deliver-the-goods.ars
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Eric Schmidt a Contender For US Commerce Secretary
| from the don't-be-evil-there-either dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @10:59 (Google)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1525246/Eric-Schmidt-a-Contender-For-US-Commerce-Secretary?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]itwbennett writes "Rumor has it that the man who while CEO of Google
was, at best, [1]blithe about user privacy, is on a short list to
[2]replace Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary. Schmidt [3]has competition,
though, including former Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler and US Trade
Representative Ron Kirk, according to Bloomberg."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1525246/Eric-Schmidt-a-Contender-For-US-Commerce-Secretary?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/08/0127219/Google-CEO-Says-Privacy-Worries-Are-For-Wrongdoers
2. http://www.itworld.com/government/139810/eric-schmidt-rumored-be-contender-commerce-secretary
3. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-10/obama-said-to-consider-kindler-schmidt-for-commerce-secretary.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Microsoft Patent Deems Comic Books Shameful
| from the worst-patent-ever dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday March 11, @11:04 (Books)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1422212/Microsoft-Patent-Deems-Comic-Books-Shameful?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
theodp writes "A newly-surfaced Microsoft patent application describes
methods of [0]secretly matching up individuals whose shared 'fringe
interests' might be 'a source of shame or embarrassment' to them should
they become known to society-at-large. No, not sexual preferences. A much
bigger taboo. Comic books. 'For example,' explains Microsoft in its
filing, 'an ambitious professional is not likely to divulge that he
likes, say, comic books, even though quite true. Appreciably, certain
affinities especially those relating to fringe interests, eccentricities,
or topics about which there is a common misconception or very little
mainstream familiarity or understanding are generally omitted rather than
included in conventional descriptions. Typically, this is so because
these affinities might be a source of shame or embarrassment or incur
undue explanation.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1422212/Microsoft-Patent-Deems-Comic-Books-Shameful?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.geekwire.com/2011/microsoft-idea-dating-service-people-source-shame-comic-books
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Prepare For Massive Wave of Earthquake Scams
| from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @11:43 (Japan)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1637218/Prepare-For-Massive-Wave-of-Earthquake-Scams?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wiredmikey sends this quote from Security Week: "Today's tragic events of
the [0]8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami, as sad as it is,
is a dream for scammers and fraudsters around the world. Tragic events
are always something scammers use to their advantage, helping them prey
on and exploit innocent victims. [1]Scams are already spreading across
Facebook, which started in a matter of minutes after the news broke of
the earthquake in Japan. As I write this, scammers are hard at work,
registering new domains and cranking out templates for their fake
donation sites. This will be followed with massive volumes of email spam,
Tweets through Twitter, and Facebook posts, as scammers gear up to
solicit donations from around the world." As coverage of the earthquake
and resulting tsunami has proceeded, collections of [2]videos and
[3]pictures are showing the [4]extent of the devastation. The NY Times
makes the excellent point that things could have been much worse if not
for [5]building codes and quake-resistant engineering. A state of
emergency was declared at one of Japan's nuclear plants, after the
earthquake [6]caused cooling problems at one of the reactors. No
radiation leakage has been reported, and the US Air Force has helped by
[7]delivering coolant by air.
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1637218/Prepare-For-Massive-Wave-of-Earthquake-Scams?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0722228/88-Earthquake-Near-Japanese-Coast
1. http://www.securityweek.com/massive-influx-scams-surrounding-japans-earthquake-and-tsunami-expected
2. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-japan-earthquake-20110310,0,7154967.story
3. http://imgur.com/a/b29Uu
4. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-japan/100022/
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12codes.html
6. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency-quake
7. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-japan-quake-nuclear-clinton-idUSTRE72A4LR20110311
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Miguel de Icaza On Usability and Openness
| from the many-eyes-have-many-priorities dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @12:25 (GUI)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1659255/Miguel-de-Icaza-On-Usability-and-Openness?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
doperative points out comments from Miguel de Icaza on the struggle for
usability in many software products: "De Icaza uses OpenSUSE as his main
desktop (with the GNOME interface, of course), says he likes Linux better
than Windows, and says the Linux kernel is also 'superior' to the MacOS
kernel. 'Having the source code for the system is fabulous. Being able to
extend the system is fabulous,' he says. But he notes that proprietary
systems have advantages ��� such as video and audio systems that rarely
break. 'I spent so many years battling with Linux and something new is
broken every time,' he says. 'We as an open source community, we don't
seem to get our act together when it comes to [0]understanding the needs
of end users on the desktop.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1659255/Miguel-de-Icaza-On-Usability-and-Openness?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/031111-deicaza-gnome-ipad2.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Google Introduces Domain Blocking To Search
| from the see-you-later-yahoo-answers dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @13:05 (Google)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1711252/Google-Introduces-Domain-Blocking-To-Search?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "We [0]recently discussed a new Chrome
extension that was introduced to block specified websites from appearing
in search results. Now, Google has [1]introduced a new feature that hide
results from unwanted domains right from the search page. This is yet
another way to find more of what you want on Google by blocking the sites
you don't want to see at all in search result. The so-called 'experts
exchange' or 'online eHow to guide' would be first on my blocked list."
Another neat recent addition was the introduction of [2]Recipe View,
which adds depth to food preparation searches.
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1711252/Google-Introduces-Domain-Blocking-To-Search?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://search.slashdot.org/story/11/02/15/003234/Google-Goes-After-Content-Farms
1. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/hide-sites-to-find-more-of-what-you.html
2. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/slice-and-dice-your-recipe-search.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Novell Sale Delayed Due To Patent Investigation
| from the something-is-afoot dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @13:48 (Novell)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1828259/Novell-Sale-Delayed-Due-To-Patent-Investigation?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
darthcamaro writes "Novell's $2.2 billion dollar acquisition by
Attachmate isn't going to close as soon as first expected. A key part of
the deal is the sale of 882 patents to a consortium of vendors led by
Microsoft. The US Department of Justice is [0]investigating the patent
deal and is now pushing out the close until at least April 12th. Does
this mean the deal is in trouble?"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1828259/Novell-Sale-Delayed-Due-To-Patent-Investigation?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/2011/03/novell-sale-to-attachmate-dela.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| <em>Doom</em> Creator Says Direct3D Is Now Better Than OpenGL
| from the changing-horses dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @14:10 (Graphics)
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1832205/Doom-Creator-Says-Direct3D-Is-Now-Better-Than-OpenGL?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
arcticstoat writes "First-person shooter godfather and OpenGL stickler
John Carmack has revealed that [0]he now prefers Direct3D to OpenGL,
saying that 'inertia' is the main reason why id Software has stuck by the
cross-platform 3D graphics API for years. In a recent interview, the
co-founder of id Software said, 'I actually think that Direct3D is a
rather better API today.' He added, 'Microsoft had the courage to
continue making significant incompatible changes to improve the API,
while OpenGL has been held back by compatibility concerns. Direct3D
handles multi-threading better, and newer versions manage state better.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1832205/Doom-Creator-Says-Direct3D-Is-Now-Better-Than-OpenGL?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/03/11/carmack-directx-better-opengl/1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Smartphone Device Detects Cancer In an Hour
| from the can't-wait-for-my-itricorder dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @14:33 (Handhelds)
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1847248/Smartphone-Device-Detects-Cancer-In-an-Hour?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]kkleiner writes "Scientists at the Center for Systems Biology at
Massachusetts General Hospital have integrated a microNMR device that
[1]accurately detects cancer cells and integrates with a smartphone ([2]abstract).
Though just a prototype, this device enables a clinician to extract small
amounts of cells from a mass inside of a patient, analyze the sample on
the spot, acquire the results in an hour, and pass the results to other
clinicians and into medical records rapidly. How much does the device
cost to make? $200. Seriously, smartphones just got their own Samuel L.
Jackson-esque wallet." Reader Stoobalou points out other cancer-related
news that Norwegian researchers have found a group of genes that
[3]increase a person's risk to develop lung cancer.
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1847248/Smartphone-Device-Detects-Cancer-In-an-Hour?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://singularityhub.com/
1. http://singularityhub.com/2011/03/10/a-smartphone-enabled-device-that-detects-cancer-in-under-an-hour/
2. http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/3/71/71ra16.abstract
3. http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=98141&CultureCode=en
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| What Data Mining Firms Know About You
| from the how-you-actually-love-bieber dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @15:16 (Privacy)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/200200/What-Data-Mining-Firms-Know-About-You?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]storagedude writes "Time writer Joel Stein spent three months
[1]learning what data mining companies know about him. After learning
everything the companies had profiled about him (some of it inaccurate) ���
social security number, age, marital status, religion, income, debt,
interests, browsing and spending habits ��� he had a surprising reaction:
complacency. '... oddly, the more I learned about data mining, the less
concerned I was. Sure, I was surprised that all these companies are
actually keeping permanent files on me. But I don't think they will do
anything with them that does me any harm. There should be protections for
vulnerable groups, and a government-enforced opt-out mechanism would be
great for accountability. But I'm pretty sure that, like me, most people
won't use that option. Of the people who actually find the Ads
Preferences page ��� and these must be people pretty into privacy ��� only 1
in 8 asks to opt out of being tracked. The rest, apparently, just like to
read privacy rules."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/200200/What-Data-Mining-Firms-Know-About-You?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:pshread@internet.com
1. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2058114,00.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Brazilian Spider Bite May Become the Next Viagra
| from the Is-that-a-spider-in-your-pocket? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday March 11, @15:52 (Medicine)
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1412204/Brazilian-Spider-Bite-May-Become-the-Next-Viagra?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists believe [0]a spider could lead to
a breakthrough in sexual health after finding a single bite can cause a
four-hour erection. According to the report, researchers at the Medical
College of Georgia believe the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider
could lead to a new cure for erectile dysfunction. Dr Kenia Nunes, a
physiologist at the college, said it works in a different way to Viagra.
'This is good because we know that some patients don't respond to the
conventional therapy. This could be an optional treatment for them,' she
said. Her study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, involved
experiments using hypertensive rats with severe erectile dysfunction."
Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/1412204/Brazilian-Spider-Bite-May-Become-the-Next-Viagra?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2011/03/08/brazilian-spider-viagra/?test=faces
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Improving Nature's Top Recyclers
| from the i-bet-they're-twice-as-productive-in-michigan dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @15:59 (Biotech)
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2026238/Improving-Natures-Top-Recyclers?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]aarondubrow sends in this snippet from an article at the Texas
Advanced Computing Center: "Over billions of years, fungi and bacteria
have evolved enzymes to convert abundant cellulosic plant matter into
sugars to use as energy sources to sustain life. It's a great trick, but
unfortunately, these enzymes don't work fast enough...yet. So
computational scientists at NREL, in collaboration with a large
experimental enzyme engineering group, set about trying to understand and
design enhanced enzymes to ... [1]lower the cost of biomass-derived fuel
to serve the global population ([2]abstract)."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2026238/Improving-Natures-Top-Recyclers?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:aarondubrow@hotmail.com
1. http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2011/improving-nature-s-top-recyclers/
2. http://www.jbc.org/content/286/7/5614.abstract?sid=5b7f3824-fa3a-4d80-a190-70484084017e
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Game Maker Says 40% of iTunes In-App Buys Are Fraud
| from the most-of-the-remainder-are-probably-three-year-olds dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @16:22 (Crime)
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2056210/Game-Maker-Says-40-of-iTunes-In-App-Buys-Are-Fraud?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]chicksdaddy writes "Hong Kong-based Lakoo, maker of the Empire Online
game, says that 4 in 10 in-application purchases by users of the iOS
version of its MMORPG are fraudulent, and [1]made through compromised
iTunes accounts. But Apple has turned a deaf ear to its requests for help
to stop the bogus activity."
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2056210/Game-Maker-Says-40-of-iTunes-In-App-Buys-Are-Fraud?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://threatpost.com/
1. http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/game-maker-40-percent-itunes-app-purchases-are-fraud-031011
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NASA To Host Open Source Summit
| from the patching-the-space-program dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @16:44 (NASA)
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2129231/NASA-To-Host-Open-Source-Summit?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]PyroMosh writes "'On March 29 & 30, [1]NASA will host its first Open
Source Summit at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. This
event will bring together engineers and policy makers across NASA and
respected members of the open source community to discuss the challenges
with the existing open source policy framework, and propose modifications
that would make it easier for NASA to develop, release, and use open
source software.' It's nice to see NASA keeping up the spirit of
give-and-take that OSS is built around."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2129231/NASA-To-Host-Open-Source-Summit?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://pyromosh.org/
1. http://www.nasa.gov/open/source/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 'Son of ACTA' Worse Than Original
| from the sequels-are-never-as-good dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @17:27 (Patents)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2134224/Son-of-ACTA-Worse-Than-Original?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "TechDirt has the latest on the [0]leaked US
proposals for the 'Son of ACTA' treaty and it looks worse than the
original. It's practically a checklist for how to kill innovation while
making lawyers rich. In particular, they call for expanding what's
patentable, blocking people from buying copyrighted goods in other
countries and taking them home, expanding liability for ISPs whose users
commit acts of infringement, forcing ISPs to identify their users to
anyone on demand, and getting rid of third-party patent review while
expanding the presumption that they're valid. The only way it could get
any worse would be if it were enacted in law."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2134224/Son-of-ACTA-Worse-Than-Original?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/00104713434/us-proposals-secret-tpp-son-acta-treaty-leaked-chock-full-awful-ideas.shtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ask Slashdot: Worst Computer Scene In TV or Movies?
| from the this-is-a-unix-system-i-know-this dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 11, @18:15 (Movies)
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2227243/Ask-Slashdot-Worst-Computer-Scene-In-TV-or-Movies?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cuban Devil writes "Yesterday I rented a copy of The Social Network. I
won't comment on the story, but the Zuckerberg character's narrated
performance on hacking Harvard servers made me wonder: what's the worst
computer-related acting performance ever? I leave here my vote:
Independence Day, when I had to see Mr. Goldblum upload a virus, using a
Mac, when it did not connect even to an ethernet network, compromising
the entire alien fleet. What other major technological gaffes have you
seen?"
Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/2227243/Ask-Slashdot-Worst-Computer-Scene-In-TV-or-Movies?from=newsletter#commentlisting
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On Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:46:23 p.m. local time, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan, the largest in recorded history.
The Indian blogosphere is buzzing with mixed emotions after the Supreme Court of India rejected the mercy killing petition filed by journalist Pinki Virani on behalf of Aruna Shanbaug who has been cared for and kept alive for 37years at the KEM hospital, Mumbai, India. Conversations abound on blogs, forums, comments on published news posts, Twitter and Facebook.
Cameroonian internet users were shocked to learn that "for security reasons, the country's government asked that posting on Twitter via SMS be suspended on the MTN Cameroon network". Many speculate that the government's decision was motivated by the fear that Twitter has played a role in uprisings throughout Africa. Julie Owono explains.
Doctors say the protesters attacked by Yemen's security forces on Tuesday (March 8) showed different symptoms than those usually exhibited by victims of tear gas. Some of the protesters had convulsions, they lost muscular control and some were even temporarily paralyzed. It begs the question: Did Yemen's government use some form of nerve agent on its own people?
The popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have members of the Cuban blogosphere wondering: could Cuba become "the next Egypt"? Although reports and footage from Cairo inspired many posts devoted to this question, few bloggers were optimistic that a similar movement could take hold in Cuba today.
After long-serving and corrupt rulers and their families leave office, new governments strive to regain state monies lost to dishonesty, cheating and fraud. Often to little success. But a group of squatters under the name 'Topple the Tyrants' now occupy a house in London owned by one of Muammar Al Gaddafi's sons. They want to ensure the money is returned to the Libyan people.
