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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Linus Torvalds Ditches GNOME 3 For Xfce
* Rare Earth Deposit Discovered In US
* Smart Power Grid Could Wreak Havoc On Itself
* Oracle's Java Policies Are Destroying the Community
* Germany Says Facebook's Facial Recognition Is Illegal
* Google Accuses Competitors of Abusing Patents Against Android
* FAA Taking a Look At News Corp's Use of Drone
* NASA Briefing on New Mars Finding This Afternoon
* Saudi Arabia Constructing World's Tallest Building
* OS X Lion Ships With Faulty NVidia Drivers
* Finding Fault With the Low, Low Price of Android
* Is Free Software Ready For E-publishing?
* London Could Soon Get Free Wi-Fi Everywhere
* NASA Announces Discovery of Salty Water On Mars<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... Maybe
* Study Links Game Piracy To Critics' Review Scores
* NASA Sends Lego Figures to Jupiter
* Researcher's Tool Catches Net Neutrality Cheaters
* Stanford 'Intro To AI' Course Offered Free Online
* <em>Doom 3</em> Source Code To Be Released This Year
* UK Health Service Fears Huge Legal Fight Over Unwanted Contracts
* DOS, Backdoor, and Easter Egg Found In Siemens S7
* The Story Behind Recent Patent Reform
* Harnessing Interference For Faster Wireless Data
* Xamarin's First Mono Release - Proof of Life!
* Former Nokia Engineers Fueling Finnish Startups
* New Federal CIO Is Former Microsoft, FCC Exec
* Low Violence <em>Red Orchestra 2</em> For Australia
* Villains & Vigilantes Creators Sue Publisher
* New Chip Can Identify Liquids, Encode Messages
* Open Source Gesture Recognition For Kinect SDK
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Linus Torvalds Ditches GNOME 3 For Xfce
| from the what-else-don't-you-like? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 03, @22:00 (GNOME)
| with 740 comments
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0115232/Linus-Torvalds-Ditches-GNOME-3-For-Xfce?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]kai_hiwatari writes "In Google+, Torvalds [1]criticized the direction
that GNOME has taken with GNOME 3. He called GNOME 3 an 'unholy mess' and
said that the user experience is unacceptable, adding that because of
GNOME 3, he has ditched GNOME for Xfce. He said that Xfce is a step down
from GNOME 2 ��� but a huge step up from GNOME 3."
Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0115232/Linus-Torvalds-Ditches-GNOME-3-For-Xfce?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://digitizor.com/
1. http://digitizor.com/2011/08/04/linus-torvalds-ditches-gnome-for-xfce/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rare Earth Deposit Discovered In US
| from the go-west-young-man dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @14:57 (China)
| with 301 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1857220/Rare-Earth-Deposit-Discovered-In-US?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
s31523 writes "With China having 97% of the market share of rare earth
elements, many countries are nervous about being able to get supplies of
key elements needed for high tech gear. Quantum Rare Earths Developments
Corp. has reported they have discovered a potential huge source of rare
earth elements, [0]right in the middle of the U.S. While the USGS reports
that the U.S. has an estimated 13 million metric tonnes available for
mining (about 1/3 of China's reserves), finding another regular source is
crucial to global stability. The potential yield of the deposit, found in
Nebraska, could be the world's largest source for Niobium and other rare
earth elements. Could this be the next gold rush?"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1857220/Rare-Earth-Deposit-Discovered-In-US?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Smart Power Grid Could Wreak Havoc On Itself
| from the off-is-the-new-on dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @12:33 (Power)
| with 293 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1551257/Smart-Power-Grid-Could-Wreak-Havoc-On-Itself?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]MrSeb writes "Smart power grid monitoring that lets you pick the exact
cheapest time to run the dishwasher or recharge your electric car may put
too much power (so to speak) in the hands of the consumer, according to a
[1]new study by MIT. Researchers say that users receiving
[2]minute-by-minute pricing information might cycle off-peak power use
more rapidly than utilities can spool up their power plants. In other
words, it's OK if you're the only person charging your Chevy Volt at 2am
in the morning, but if a whole town does it exactly the same time...
[3]there will be issues."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1551257/Smart-Power-Grid-Could-Wreak-Havoc-On-Itself?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.mrseb.co.uk/
1. http://www.mit.edu/~mardavij/publications_files/Volatility.pdf
2. http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/too-smart-grid-0803.html
3. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/92018-is-the-smart-power-grid-too-smart
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Oracle's Java Policies Are Destroying the Community
| from the shares-in-haskell-inc-up-ten-points dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @11:00 (Java)
| with 287 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1427213/Oracles-Java-Policies-Are-Destroying-the-Community?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]snydeq writes "Neil McAllister sees Oracle's buggy Java SE 7 release
as only the latest misstep in a mounting litany of bad behavior. 'Who was
the [1]first to alert the Java community? The [2]Apache Foundation. Oh,
the irony. This is the same Apache Foundation that [3]resigned from the
Java Community Process executive committee in protest after Oracle
repeatedly refused to give it access to the Java Technology Compatibility
Kit,' McAllister writes. 'It seems as if Oracle would like nothing better
than to [4]stomp Apache and its open source Java efforts clean out of
existence.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1427213/Oracles-Java-Policies-Are-Destroying-the-Community?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/07/29/1639233/Java-7-Ships-With-Severe-Bug
2. http://harmony.apache.org/
3. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/12/09/197208/Apache-Resigns-From-the-JCP-Executive-Committee
4. http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/oracle-javas-worst-enemy-168828
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Germany Says Facebook's Facial Recognition Is Illegal
| from the pictures-of-you dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 03, @23:05 (Facebook)
| with 271 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/03/2352200/Germany-Says-Facebooks-Facial-Recognition-Is-Illegal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]fysdt writes "Although we think it's generally a pretty nifty feature,
valid concerns over the misuse of Facebook's auto-recognition tagging
have lead Germany to [1]ban it entirely. That's right ��� Facebook in its
current state is now illegal. The German government, which possesses
perhaps the world's most adamant privacy laws as a result of postwar
abuse, considers Facebook's facial recognition a violation of 'the right
to anonymity.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/03/2352200/Germany-Says-Facebooks-Facial-Recognition-Is-Illegal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://definely.com/
1. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/08/germanys-war-facebook/40771/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Google Accuses Competitors of Abusing Patents Against Android
| from the the-plot-thickens dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @08:48 (Android)
| with 271 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/129244/Google-Accuses-Competitors-of-Abusing-Patents-Against-Android?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "Bloomberg reports that Google has accused
Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle of [1]waging a 'hostile, organized campaign'
against Android by purchasing patents to keep them out of Google's hands
and to make it [2]more expensive for handset makers to use Android. 'We
thought it was important to speak out and make it clear that we're
determined to preserve Android as a competitive choice for consumers, by
[3]stopping those who are trying to strangle it,' writes David Drummond,
Google's chief legal officer. Android's success has resulted in a
'hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple
and other companies, [4]waged through bogus patents.'" Microsoft has
responded, saying they [5]offered to bid jointly with Google on the
Nortel patents, but Google refused. Some think [6]Google is being
hypocritical with their stance on patents changing now that Android
appears to infringe on a bunch.
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/129244/Google-Accuses-Competitors-of-Abusing-Patents-Against-Android?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-08-03/google-says-apple-microsoft-oracle-wage-hostile-campaign-.html
2. https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/05/2012229/Microsofts-Hottest-New-Profit-Center-Android
3. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-patents-attack-android.html
4. http://slashdot.org/story/11/07/01/1344205/Nortel-Patents-Go-To-Apple-Microsoft-Sony-and-Others
5. http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-google-email-2011-8?op=1
6. http://daringfireball.net/2011/08/google_patently_absurd
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| FAA Taking a Look At News Corp's Use of Drone
| from the they-have-a-drone? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 03, @20:21 (Government)
| with 238 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/03/2227248/FAA-Taking-a-Look-At-News-Corps-Use-of-Drone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
nonprofiteer writes "The News Corp iPad newspaper has [0]a drone they've
been using for news gathering ��� mainly flying it over disaster zones in
N. Dakota and Alabama. However, FAA regulations on drones are very
restrictive at the moment, and they're not supposed to be used for
commercial purposes (law enforcement is free to use them). The FAA is now
examining The Daily's use of its drone. Could this set a precedent for
how private businesses can use drones?"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/03/2227248/FAA-Taking-a-Look-At-News-Corps-Use-of-Drone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NASA Briefing on New Mars Finding This Afternoon
| from the mulder-found-exploring-face-of-mars dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @10:38 (NASA)
| with 221 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1328249/NASA-Briefing-on-New-Mars-Finding-This-Afternoon?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ipsender writes with a NASA announcement: "NASA will host a news briefing
on Thursday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) about a [0]significant
new Mars science finding. The briefing will be held at NASA Headquarters
in Washington. The new finding is based on observations from NASA's
[1]Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been [2]orbiting the Red Planet
since 2006." You can catch the briefing online at the [3]NASA TV site.
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1328249/NASA-Briefing-on-New-Mars-Finding-This-Afternoon?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-238
1. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
2. https://slashdot.org/story/06/03/11/0358240/Orbiter-Successfully-Enters-Orbit
3. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Saudi Arabia Constructing World's Tallest Building
| from the perhaps-to-house-a-language-institute dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @14:25 (Technology)
| with 203 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1823254/Saudi-Arabia-Constructing-Worlds-Tallest-Building?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]kkleiner writes "1,000 meters, or 3,280 feet. That's two-thirds of a
mile. When the Kingdom Tower is built on the outskirts of Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia it will not only become [1]the tallest building in the world, it
will shatter the old record. The total cost for the tower is
approximately $1.2 billion. It features a Four Seasons hotel, Four
Seasons serviced apartments, luxury condominiums, top class office space
and the world's highest observatory."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1823254/Saudi-Arabia-Constructing-Worlds-Tallest-Building?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://singularityhub.com/
1. http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/04/saudi-arabia-begins-construction-of-world%E2%80%99s-tallest-building-the-kingdom-tower/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| OS X Lion Ships With Faulty NVidia Drivers
| from the rough-edges-on-the-rollout dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @17:34 (Bug)
| with 203 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2118220/OS-X-Lion-Ships-With-Faulty-NVidia-Drivers?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TeaCurran writes with this mildly ranty objection to the most recent Mac
OS X update; several friends who have made the leap on their MacBook Pros
have various other complaints, too, including system slowdowns that
resemble crashes (except that their pointers still work) and [0]recurring
black screens for some configurations (with or without the kernel panics
TeaCurran mentions) ��� what's been your experience? "Apple OS X Lion
shipped with new NVidia video drivers that are causing anyone with a mid
2010 Macbook Pro to get a kernel panic every 5-10 minutes. Apple knew
about the issue before shipping lion, hasn't responded to the issue, and
is censoring [1]posts in their support forum that mention words like
'boycott' and 'petition.' NVidia has responded that the drivers are the
responsibility of Apple so they won't deal with the issue. How a major
hardware manufacturer can ship such a faulty product without getting much
press about it is completely beyond me."
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2118220/OS-X-Lion-Ships-With-Faulty-NVidia-Drivers?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20083947-263/some-lion-users-plagued-by-black-screen-bug/
1. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191083?tstart=0
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Finding Fault With the Low, Low Price of Android
| from the armchair-quarterbacks-and-the-forces-of-envy dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @18:49 (Android)
| with 201 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2134255/Finding-Fault-With-the-Low-Low-Price-of-Android?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bonch writes "Google's [0]accusation of patent abuse toward its
competitors has generated many responses, some of which have [1]asked
whether Android's free price is anti-competitive. Drawing comparisons to
[2]Microsoft's antitrust trial, in which they were accused of giving away
Internet Explorer to drive competitors out of the browser market,
Thurrott argues that Google's rivals are 'leveling the playing field'
through patent fees by removing an artificial price advantage funded by
monopoly search revenues. 'One could argue that Google is using its
dominance in search advertising to unfairly gain entry into another
market by giving that new product, Android, away for free. Does this
remind you of any famous antitrust case?'"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2134255/Finding-Fault-With-the-Low-Low-Price-of-Android?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/129244/Google-Accuses-Competitors-of-Abusing-Patents-Against-Android
1. http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/commentary/hypocritical-google-lashes-apple-microsoft-140075
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Is Free Software Ready For E-publishing?
| from the information-wants-to-be-free dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @09:31 (Open Source)
| with 200 comments
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/137258/Is-Free-Software-Ready-For-E-publishing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]johanneswilm writes "Over more than 3 years I have been writing my PhD
thesis on the politics of Nicaragua. Being the most professional system
for PDF generation, I went with [1]LaTeX, and, to make the text
accessible for the editors, I used the [2]LyX editor. Now that the
publication date comes near, I found I had to [3]spend considerable time
creating a script to convert the manuscript to formats such as [4]Epub as
none of the [5]available tools were quite ready to do it automatically.
Is LaTeX only good for writers in the natural sciences? Is the open
source community boycotting ebook formats, as [6]Richard Stallman has
proposed? Are there better tools to do the same?"
Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/137258/Is-Free-Software-Ready-For-E-publishing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.johanneswilm.org/
1. http://www.latex-project.org/
2. http://www.lyx.org/
3. http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/2011/selfpublishing
4. http://idpf.org/epub
5. http://calibre-ebook.com/
6. http://www.gnu.org/p/the-danger-of-ebooks.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| London Could Soon Get Free Wi-Fi Everywhere
| from the have-a-bit-of-internet dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 04, @01:56 (The Internet)
| with 183 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0120258/London-Could-Soon-Get-Free-Wi-Fi-Everywhere?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fangmcgee writes "London could soon be [0]covered with a free public WiFi
network as Virgin Media moves to challenge BT's Openzone network. Virgin
Media's network would be freely available to anyone at 0.5Mbps, and to
subscribers to its home broadband at speeds up to a blistering 10Mbps.
The proposals would see WiFi routers installed in each of the company's
street-side cabinets, which distribute its cable network to homes and
businesses."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0120258/London-Could-Soon-Get-Free-Wi-Fi-Everywhere?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NASA Announces Discovery of Salty Water On Mars<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... Maybe
| from the why-don't-they-just-taste-it? dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @15:41 (Mars)
| with 181 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1929249/NASA-Announces-Discovery-of-Salty-Water-On-Mars--Maybe?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's [0]promised mystery announcement from NASA has finally been made:
[1]dotancohen writes "A [2]NASA orbiter has found possible evidence for
[3]water on the surface of Mars that flows seasonally. The water likely
would be salty, in keeping with the salty Martian environment." Adds an
anonymous reader: "Dark, [4]finger-like features appear and extend down
some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter,
and return during the next spring, NASA says, and repeated observations
have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several
steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere." You
can find more on the claimed find at [5]NASA TV.
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1929249/NASA-Announces-Discovery-of-Salty-Water-On-Mars--Maybe?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1328249/NASA-Briefing-on-New-Mars-Finding-This-Afternoon
1. http://dotancohen.com/
2. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
3. http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-salt-water-surface-110804.html
4. http://scienceblog.com/46905/salty-water-found-flowing-on-mars/
5. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Study Links Game Piracy To Critics' Review Scores
| from the if-you-pan-it-they-will-come dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday August 04, @06:24 (Piracy)
| with 174 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/026253/Study-Links-Game-Piracy-To-Critics-Review-Scores?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "A [0]new study (abstract) published at the
annual ACM Foundations of Digital Games conference by researchers from
Copenhagen Business School and the University of Waterloo explores the
magnitude of game piracy on public BitTorrent trackers. The researchers
tracked 173 new game releases over a three-month period and found that
these were downloaded by 12.7 million unique peers. They further show
that the number of downloads on BitTorrent can be [1]predicted by the
scores of game reviewers. Overall the current paper gives a seemingly
robust overview of the state of game piracy on BitTorrent. Although the
results may not be all that surprising, it's certainly refreshing to see
a decent report on BitTorrent statistics every now and then."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/026253/Study-Links-Game-Piracy-To-Critics-Review-Scores?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://openarchive.cbs.dk/handle/10398/8299
1. http://torrentfreak.com/game-piracy-linked-to-critics-review-scores-110803/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NASA Sends Lego Figures to Jupiter
| from the universal-toy dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 04, @13:24 (NASA)
| with 151 comments
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1420201/NASA-Sends-Lego-Figures-to-Jupiter?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bLanark writes "NASA have teamed up with Lego and will [0]send three
specially crafted, minifigures towards Jupiter in a probe to be launched
on an Atlas V rocket on Friday. The figures, representing Roman gods
Jupiter and Juno, and astronomer Galileo, are machined from aluminum and
are the normal size for Lego minifigures. From the article: 'This (until
now) secret installation was initiated by NASA scientists, who love Lego
as much as anyone and wanted to do something memorable for this mission.
They approached Lego and the company loved the idea. It saw the project
as a way to promote children���s education and STEM programs.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1420201/NASA-Sends-Lego-Figures-to-Jupiter?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/lego-minifigs-soon-headed-for-deep-space/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Researcher's Tool Catches Net Neutrality Cheaters
| from the why-so-slow? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 04, @08:06 (The Internet)
| with 126 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0321249/Researchers-Tool-Catches-Net-Neutrality-Cheaters?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the Black Hat security conference in Las
Vegas Wednesday, researcher Dan Kaminsky announced he will release a free
software tool for [0]detecting when an Internet service provider is
artificially slowing down or speeding up traffic to and from a website, a
tool he is calling N00ter, or 'neutral router.' N00ter functions like a
VPN, routing traffic through a proxy and disguising its source and
destination. But instead of encrypting the traffic in both directions as
VPNs do, it instead spoofs the traffic from a Web site to a user to make
it seem to be coming from any Web site that the user wants to test. That
traffic can be compared with a normal connection to the N00ter server
without a spoofed IP address, to spot any artificial changes in speed."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0321249/Researchers-Tool-Catches-Net-Neutrality-Cheaters?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Stanford 'Intro To AI' Course Offered Free Online
| from the i'm-afraid-i-can't-let-you-do-that dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @13:20 (AI)
| with 122 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1646210/Stanford-Intro-To-AI-Course-Offered-Free-Online?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "IEEE Spectrum reports that Stanford's CS221
course '[0]Introduction to Artificial Intelligence' will be offered
online for free. [1]Anyone can sign up and take the course, along with
several hundred Stanford undergrads. The instructors are [2]Sebastian
Thrun, known for [3]his self-driving cars, and [4]Peter Norvig, director
of research at Google. Online students will actually have to do all the
same work as the Stanford students. There will be at least 10 hours per
week of studying, along with weekly graded homework assignments and
midterm and final exams. The instructors, who will be available to answer
questions, will issue a certificate for those who complete the course,
along with a final grade that can be compared to the grades of the
Stanford students. The course, which will last 10 weeks, starts on
October 2nd, and online enrollment is now open." When asked how they
would deal with ten thousand students, Professor Thrun replied: "We will
use something akin to [5]Google Moderator to make sure Peter and I answer
the most pressing questions. Our hypothesis is that even in a class of
10,000, there will only be a fixed number of really interesting questions
(like 15 per week). There exist tools to find them."
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1646210/Stanford-Intro-To-AI-Course-Offered-Free-Online?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.ai-class.com/
1. http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/you-you-can-take-stanfords-intro-to-ai-course-next-quarter-for-free
2. http://robots.stanford.edu/
3. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/04/02/1529237/Googles-Driverless-Car-and-the-Logic-of-Safety
4. http://norvig.com/
5. http://www.google.com/moderator/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| <em>Doom 3</em> Source Code To Be Released This Year
| from the carmack-is-awesome-and-I-don't-even-play-games dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @18:00 (First Person Shooters (Games))
| with 116 comments
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2129223/Doom-3-Source-Code-To-Be-Released-This-Year?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "John Carmack just confirmed during his
[0]QuakeCon 2011 keynote that [1]the source code to Doom 3 will be
released this year. The source drop will follow the release of their Rage
game in October. Carmack has also challenged other game developers to
release their old source code."
Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2129223/Doom-3-Source-Code-To-Be-Released-This-Year?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.quakecon.org/
1. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTc1MQ
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| UK Health Service Fears Huge Legal Fight Over Unwanted Contracts
| from the read-it-before-you-sign-it dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 04, @04:44 (Government)
| with 112 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0131233/UK-Health-Service-Fears-Huge-Legal-Fight-Over-Unwanted-Contracts?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DMandPenfold writes "The Department of Health is concerned that Fujitsu,
CSC and BT would team up against it in [0]a multibillion pound legal
fight, should it decide to scrap the disastrous NHS National Program for
IT. Fujitsu walked away from a ��709 million contract in 2008, and remains
locked in legal wrangling with the government over claims for the
majority of the value. Today, MPs urged the government to seriously
consider abandoning the program and therefore to consider terminating the
remaining CSC and BT contracts, worth ��3 billion and ��1 billion
respectively."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0131233/UK-Health-Service-Fears-Huge-Legal-Fight-Over-Unwanted-Contracts?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| DOS, Backdoor, and Easter Egg Found In Siemens S7
| from the punch-the-monkey dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @11:47 (Security)
| with 111 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1520239/DOS-Backdoor-and-Easter-Egg-Found-In-Siemens-S7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]chicksdaddy writes with a post in Threat Post. From the article:
"Dillon Beresford used a [1]presentation at the Black Hat Briefings on
Wednesday to detail [2]more software vulnerabilities affecting industrial
controllers from Siemens, including a serious remotely exploitable denial
of service vulnerability, more hard-coded administrative passwords, and
even an [3]easter egg program buried in the code that runs industrial
machinery around the globe. In an interview Tuesday evening, Beresford
said he has reported 18 separate issues to Siemens and to officials at
[4]ICS CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Industrial
Control Sector. Siemens said it is [5]readying a patch for some of the
holes, including one that would allow a remote attacker to gain
administrative control over machinery controlled by certain models of its
Step 7 industrial control software."
Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1520239/DOS-Backdoor-and-Easter-Egg-Found-In-Siemens-S7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://threatpost.com/
1. https://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-us-11/bh-us-11-speaker_bios.html#Beresford
2. http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/black-hat-remote-dos-backdoor-easter-egg-among-newly-discovered-siemens-holes-080311
3. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/siemens-hardcoded-password/
4. http://www.us-cert.gov/control_systems/ics-cert/
5. https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/06/11/0137246/Siemens-Fixes-SCADA-Flaws
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The Story Behind Recent Patent Reform
| from the ain't-pretty-ain't-sufficient dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @14:03 (Patents)
| with 86 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1755209/The-Story-Behind-Recent-Patent-Reform?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rmstar writes "In an article titled '[0]The Spoilsmen: How Congress
Corrupted Patent Reform,' Huffington Post reporter Zach Carter takes a
look at the story behind the recent patent reform effort. It is an
interesting and scary account of just how broken the legislative process
is when it comes to intellectual property."
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1755209/The-Story-Behind-Recent-Patent-Reform?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/patent-reform-congress_n_906278.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Harnessing Interference For Faster Wireless Data
| from the injecting-signal-into-the-noise dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @17:16 (Networking)
| with 73 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2012234/Harnessing-Interference-For-Faster-Wireless-Data?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]holy_calamity writes "Inventor of the Quicktime codec Steve Perlman
has [1]unveiled a new wireless technology he claims can deliver thousands
of times more bandwidth to mobile devices than existing technology. Each
user is served by multiple transmitters, which send out waves carefully
designed to combine into a data signal only at a device's location. That
technique enables every user to be targeted with a signal with the same
total bandwidth that would usually be shared between users, says
Perlman."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2012234/Harnessing-Interference-For-Faster-Wireless-Data?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/38226/?p1=A2
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Xamarin's First Mono Release - Proof of Life!
| from the congratulations-to-miguel dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @16:03 (Open Source)
| with 72 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/201219/Xamarins-First-Mono-Release---Proof-of-Life?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mikejuk writes "After striking out on their own the former Mono team, now
reconstituted as Xamarin, has [0]just issued its first release of Mono.
This is essentially a minor release with lots of bug fixes but it's proof
of life for the Mono project after being dropped by Attachmate."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/201219/Xamarins-First-Mono-Release---Proof-of-Life?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/89-net/2841-xamarins-first-mono-release.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Former Nokia Engineers Fueling Finnish Startups
| from the funeral-pyre dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday August 04, @10:15 (Businesses)
| with 57 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1341255/Former-Nokia-Engineers-Fueling-Finnish-Startups?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]pbahra writes with an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. From the
article: "A few weeks ago Microsoft's European chairman told TechEurope
that the average amount of venture capital per head across Europe was
just $7. ... Finnish blog ArcticStartup has extrapolated figures showing
the total average [1]VC investment per capita for the country was $46 in
2010... The question of why this country on the edge of the Arctic Circle
should have such active entrepreneurs came up again in a conversation
with Wilhelm Taht, the marketing director of Flowd... 'With Nokia
changing gear there is a lot of [2]technical know-how all of a sudden
which wasn't available even two years ago,' said Mr.Taht, diplomatically,
about the savage [3]job cuts at the struggling mobile phone giant.
'There's a culture of technically savvy engineers. Finns are not
necessarily very talkative people, but when it comes to what they know
about computers and programming it's pretty staggering.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1341255/Former-Nokia-Engineers-Fueling-Finnish-Startups?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:parminder.bahra@wsj.com
1. http://www.arcticstartup.com/2011/06/22/vc-per-capita-finland-46-sweden-45-us-72-europe-7
2. http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/08/04/nokias-losses-become-finlands-gains/
3. https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/04/29/0544256/Nokia-Outsources-Symbian-OS-Work
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Federal CIO Is Former Microsoft, FCC Exec
| from the maybe-he's-just-civic-minded dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @16:28 (Government)
| with 50 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1940245/New-Federal-CIO-Is-Former-Microsoft-FCC-Exec?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
msmoriarty writes "The second-ever federal CIO (the first, Vivek Kundra,
[0]resigned in June) [1]will be Steven VanRoekel, who worked with
Microsoft for 15 years, running the company's Web Services and Platform
Strategy and Windows Server Solutions groups. He went to the FCC in 2009,
where he then [2]advocated for open government and [3]open platforms.
VanRoekel's title on his [4]twitter feed has already been changed to
'United States Chief Information Officer.'" According to reader dcblogs,
VanRoekel is also a hefty political donor, having [5]given $50,000 toward
Obama's inauguration festivities.
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/1940245/New-Federal-CIO-Is-Former-Microsoft-FCC-Exec?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://rcpmag.com/blogs/the-schwartz-cloud-report/2011/06/federal-cio-vivek-kundra-to-depart.aspx
1. http://rcpmag.com/articles/2011/08/04/former-microsoft-fcc-exec-vanroekel-named-federal-cio.aspx
2. http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog?authorId=10349
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/04/05/1557222/FCCgov-A-Modern-Open-Platform
4. http://twitter.com/stevenvDC
5. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218870/Former_Microsoft_exec_Obama_donor_named_new_U.S._CIO
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Low Violence <em>Red Orchestra 2</em> For Australia
| from the i-like-low-violins-in-orchestras dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday August 04, @00:28 (Australia)
| with 40 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0217208/Low-Violence-Red-Orchestra-2-For-Australia?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dotarray writes "Even though an adult rating for video games has been
approved in theory for Australia, it's still a little ways off ��� and
[0]will not come soon enough for Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad.
Alan Wilison, VP with the company producing the game, said, 'We are
hoping that they will take the same view as PEGI/BBFC and not go all
silly on us. However, [1]until we're sure, we putting LV up to be safe.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/0217208/Low-Violence-Red-Orchestra-2-For-Australia?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.gamepron.com/news/2011/08/02/low-violence-red-orchestra-2-for-australia/
1. http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24076736&postcount=9
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Villains & Vigilantes Creators Sue Publisher
| from the neater-than-garotting-them dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @19:34 (Role Playing (Games))
| with 28 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2252243/Villains-amp-Vigilantes-Creators-Sue-Publisher?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]rcade writes "Jeff Dee and Jack Herman, the creators of the super-hero
roleplaying game Villains & Vigilantes, have filed a [1]federal copyright
lawsuit against the game's longtime publisher Scott Bizar of Fantasy
Games Unlimited. They allege that Bizar has no rights to publish the game
because his corporation was dissolved in 1991, reverting the rights to
them. Dee and Herman revived the old-school RPG last year and have been
battling Bizar ever since. Sadly, this suit will not be resolved by
muscle-bound men in tights."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2252243/Villains-amp-Vigilantes-Creators-Sue-Publisher?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://workbench.cadenhead.org/
1. http://workbench.cadenhead.org/news/3669/villains-vigilantes-creators-sue-games
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Chip Can Identify Liquids, Encode Messages
| from the handy-clandestine-uses dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @18:27 (Science)
| with 25 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2227217/New-Chip-Can-Identify-Liquids-Encode-Messages?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have developed a porous chip that
[0]can identify liquids instantaneously. Each liquid's distinct surface
tension determines how much it seeps into the pores of the chip, which
the chip uses to tell liquids apart. The researchers also decorated the
chip with a secret message (ie, brand name) that only shows up when
certain liquids are applied. The chip is so sensitive it can distinguish
gasolines with varying proportions of ethanol, and could help clean-up
crews identify spills in the field."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2227217/New-Chip-Can-Identify-Liquids-Encode-Messages?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Open Source Gesture Recognition For Kinect SDK
| from the everybody-will-have-been-kung-fu-fighting dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 04, @17:00 (Input Devices)
| with 19 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2057212/Open-Source-Gesture-Recognition-For-Kinect-SDK?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Rymix writes "I have been working with a new internet-friend of mine
to produce an [1]open source gesture recording and recognition engine for
Kinect SDK. It's based on the Dynamic Time Warping technique and allows
developers to record their own gestures and reliably recognise them. It's
currently 2D but 3D is an easy development, coming soon. We're looking
for community take-up and contribution to this project ��� it could help a
lot of people with rapid prototyping and could even be used in production
solutions (within the Kinect SDK's terms of use, of course!)."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2057212/Open-Source-Gesture-Recognition-For-Kinect-SDK?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://rymixxx.wordpress.com/
1. http://rymixxx.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/kinectdtw-kinect-gesture-recognition-open-source-project-ready-for-download/
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