Kaizenlog

15 08 2007

[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-08-15

Posted by: kaizenlog in Computer

By N2H

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Google’s $10 Local Search Play
* Building a Fast Wikipedia Offline Reader
* Kids Review the OLPC
* Security Threat In the New Wiretapping Law
* A Non-Toxic, Paper Battery / Supercapacitor
* Crowther’s Original Adventure Source Code Found
* Increased Linux Use With SCO’s Defeat Predicted
* Server with Top-Secret Data Stolen
* Echeria Coli Co-Opted To Make Gasoline
* British Report Details the Stress of Email Communication
* See Who Is Whitewashing Wikipedia
* Big Business Loves the Computer Gaming Industry
* VMware May Violate Linux Copyrights
* Scientists Offer ‘Overwhelming’ Evidence Terran Life Began in Space
* Yahoo Edges out Google in Customer Satisfaction
* Microsoft Questions FCC’s ‘White Spaces’ Decision
* YouTube Begins Defense, Seeks Depositions
* RIAA Short on Funds? Fails to Pay Attorney Fees
* Woz Details His Plans for Energy-Efficient House
* The Technology of They Might Be Giants

thefickler writes “Google has come come up with a novel way to [0]boost
the information it has about local businesses. As part of its [1]Business
Referral Representative program, Google is offering individuals up to $10
to visit local businesses and tell them about Google Maps and Google
AdWords, collect information (such as hours of operation and types of
payment accepted), and take digital photos of the business. Reaction to
the program has been mixed.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/13/2151255

Links:
0. http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/08/13/googles-10-local-search-play/
1. http://www.google.com/services/local-business-referrals/repfaq.html

[0]ttsiod writes “An internet connection is not always at hand. I wanted
to [1]install Wikipedia on my laptop to be able to carry it along with me
on business trips. After trying and rejecting the normal (MySQL-based)
procedure, I quickly hacked a much better one over the weekend, using
open source tools. Highlights: (1) Very fast searching. (2) Keyword
(actually, title words) based searching. (3) Search produces multiple
possible articles, sorted by probability (you choose amongst them). (4)
LaTeX based rendering for mathematical equations. (5) Hard disk usage is
minimal: space for the original .bz2 file plus the index built through
Xapian. (6) Orders of magnitude faster to install (a matter of hours)
compared to loading the ‘dump’ into MySQL — which, if you want to enable
keyword searching, takes days.”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/13/1939231

Links:
0. mailto:ttsiod [Email address: ttsiod #AT# softlab.ntua.gr - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/buildWikipediaOffline.html

A. N. Onymous sends us to OLPCNews for an account of [0]kids’ reactions
to the OLPC XO, and comments: “My first impression is, it’s just like
when you give a kid a box of Lego.” The video of a 10-year-old and his
younger sister replacing a mobo is pretty cool.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/13/2222259

Links:
0. http://www.olpcnews.com/implementation/maintenance/childrens_reviews_xo_technology.html

The NSA wants [0]automatic surveillance capabilities in telephone
switches. But once such capabilities are built in, others could use them
to intercept communications. Within 10 years this could render the US
vulnerable to attacks from terrorist groups across the globe, as well as
from the military establishments of other nations. “Such threats are not
theoretical: In April 2004, phones belonging to members of the Greek
government, including the prime minister, were [1]spied on with
wiretapping software that was misused.”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/13/233248

Links:
0. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080801961_pf.html
1. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/06/greek_wiretappi_1.html

[0]jcr writes “Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have
developed a [1]combination battery/capacitor by infusing carbon nanotubes
and electrolytes into a paper substrate. The material can be folded,
rolled up, or molded to any convenient shape with no effect on power
capacity. Operating temperature range is -100 to 300 degrees F. One of
the co-authors is quoted: ‘We’re not putting pieces together — it’s a
single, integrated device. The components are molecularly attached to
each other: the carbon nanotube print is embedded in the paper, and the
electrolyte is soaked into the paper. The end result is a device that
looks, feels, and weighs the same as paper.’” The researchers haven’t yet
developed a high-volume way to manufacture the devices. They envision
ultimately printing sheets between rollers like newsprint.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/0023202

Links:
0. mailto:jcr [Email address: jcr #AT# idiom.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/rpi-bbs080907.php

+—————————–—————————————+
| Crowther’s Original Adventure Source Code Found |
| from the hollow-voice-says-plugh dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday August 14, @08:08 (Programming) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/011230 |
+—————————–—————————————+

drxenos writes “I don’t know how many of you are fans of old-school text
adventures (interactive fiction), but [0]Will Crowther’s original Fortran
source code has been located in a backup of Don Woods’s old student
account. For fans like me, this is like finding the Holy Grail.”

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/011230

Links:
0. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_thread/thread/607acaf1a279d4dd/bd53b672a185d177#bd53b672a185d177

+—————————–—————————————+
| Increased Linux Use With SCO’s Defeat Predicted |
| from the penguins-in-more-places dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @08:48 (Linux Business) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1235203 |
+—————————–—————————————+

twitter writes “The defeat of SCO’s infamous copyright attack has Forbes
wondering if [0]a GNU/Linux boom is upon us. They discuss how this will
benefit Novel, IBM, Chrysler, AutoZone and Red Hat. ‘The SCO Group
frightened potential business users away from Linux with lawsuits
demanding billions in royalties. But the litigious company’s claims were
shot down in a ruling that will likely boost uptake of the operating
system.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1235203

Links:
0. http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/08/13/novell-sco-update-markets-equity-cx_af_0813markets29.html

An anonymous reader writes “Usually missing information stories are
fairly low key; the loss of a few thousand student records is cause for
concern for those involved, but hardly national security. This one is
slightly different. The company Forensic Telecommunications Services has
announced that a server [0]containing ‘thousands of top-secret mobile
phone records and evidence from undercover terrorism and organized crime
investigations’ has been stolen. From the article: ‘The company — whose
clients include Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service — has
assured the public that the server is security protected, and the breach
will not compromise ongoing police operations. The information is made up
of either old cases that have passed through the judicial process, or
cases that are already in the judicial system and so subject to full
disclosure to both defense and prosecution teams.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1250217

Links:
0. http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5418

Flask_Man writes “Technology Review has an article about a small biotech
company in the Silicon Valley that has successfully [0]produced renewable
gasoline from genetically modified bacteria, including the nefarious
E.Coli bacteria. A pilot plant is slated to be constructed in California
in 2008, and it is claimed that hundreds of different hydrocarbon
molecules are capable of being produced. The modified bacteria make and
excrete hydrocarbon molecules that are the length and molecular structure
the company desires. From the article: ‘To do this, the company is
employing tools from the field of synthetic biology to modify the genetic
pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids, one
of the main ways that organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of
carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement,
with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
attached at one end. Take away the acid, and you’re left with a
hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.’” We [1]discussed something
similar to this earlier this year.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1326228

Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19128/
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/03/2148252&tid=191

+—————————–—————————————+
| British Report Details the Stress of Email Communication |
| from the yeah-way-rougher-than-construction-work dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @11:04 (The Internet) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1419239 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]WaltonNews writes “British researchers have found that pressures from
handling emails throughout the work day cause stress and frustration with
workers. Researchers from a pair of collaborating universities have found
that [1]heavy email communication causes anxiety, with some workers
thinking they checked their email as often as once every fifteen minutes.
The reality was much worse. From the article: ‘When researchers fitted
monitors to their computers, workers were found to be viewing e-mails up
to 40 times an hour. About 33 per cent said they felt stressed by the
volume of e-mails and the need to reply quickly. A further 28 per cent
said they felt “driven” when they checked messages because of the
pressure to respond. Just 38 per cent of workers were relaxed enough to
wait a day or longer before replying.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1419239

Links:
0. mailto:waarc [Email address: waarc #AT# grics.net - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2246434.ece

[0]Decius6i5 writes “Caltech grad student Virgil Griffith has launched a
search tool that [1]uncovers whitewashing and other self-interested
editing of Wikipedia. Users can generate lists of every edit to Wikipedia
which has been made from a particular IP address range. The tool has
already uncovered a number of interesting edits, such as one from the
corporate offices of Diebold which removed large sections of content
critical of their electronic voting machines. A Wired story provides more
detail and Threat Level is running a contest to see who can come up with
[2]the most interesting Wikipedia spin job.”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1453223

Links:
0. http://www.memestreams.net/users/decius/
1. http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/08/wiki_tracker
2. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/vote-on-the-top.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Big Business Loves the Computer Gaming Industry |
| from the gnomes-are-always-surprising dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @12:41 (Businesses) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1557251 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]David Greenspan writes “Video games are no longer exclusive to a
consumer market. Business Week has an article on the new trend of big
business [1]willing to pay millions for custom-made games. The casual
market has inspired folks in business to realize the broad appeal of
games, and some of the possibilities inherent to the medium. As a result,
business games are now big business. From the article: ‘To reach the
billion-dollar mark, the market will have to overcome the common wisdom
that games are inherently not serious. A serious games market will also
require game developers to shift from the traditional
business-to-consumer model to a business-to-business one. Today when
major studios and publishers are approached by companies interested in
commissioning, say, an employee-training game based on a successful
commercial title, more often than not those studios and publishers
decline. Even if the interested company is offering $5 million, it’s not
worth the gamemakers’ time to divert engineers from a commercial title
likely to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1557251

Links:
0. mailto:david [Email address: david #AT# trylonsmr.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070813_756874.htm

Nailer writes “Bloomberg believe VMware’s IPO today may the largest
technology offering since Google. But doubts have been cast over the
company’s supposedly proprietary ESX product, as top 10 Linux contributor
Christopher Hellwig claims [0]the software may violate Linux kernel
copyrights. ‘Is Hellwig right, and is VMware a derived product of Linux?
Unless vmkernel can be loaded without the Linux kernel, it would appear
so. VMware was developed from another, long ago OS created as a research
project, but it’s unclear whether vmkernel was ported from that OS or
rewritten as the Linux-requiring binary blob. What’s more of an issue is
that VMware had these serious questions posed directly to them a year
ago, repeated in a public forum many times since, but have yet to respond
at all.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1618241

Links:
0. http://www.venturecake.com/the-vmware-house-of-cards/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Scientists Offer ‘Overwhelming’ Evidence Terran Life Began in Space|
| from the we-are-all-made-of-stardust dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @14:22 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1744212 |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “Using data from recent comet-probing space
missions, British scientists are reporting today that the odds of life
starting on Earth rather than inside a comet are one trillion trillion
(10 to the power of 24) to one against. That is, [0]we’re not originally
from around here. Radiation in comets could keep water in liquid form for
millions of years, they say, which along with the clay and organic
molecules found on-board would provide an ideal incubator. ‘Professor
Wickramasinghe said: “The findings of the comet missions, which surprised
many, strengthen the argument for panspermia. We now have a mechanism for
how it could have happened. All the necessary elements - clay, organic
molecules and water - are there. The longer time scale and the greater
mass of comets make it overwhelmingly more likely that life began in
space than on earth.”‘” jamie points out that the author of this paper
[1]has many ‘fringe’ theories. Your mileage may vary.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1744212

Links:
0. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070814093819.htm
1. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/ken_saladin/saladin-gish2/saladin2.html

[0]athloi writes “The University of Michigan’s American Consumer
Satisfaction Index shows some significant shifts this year in consumer
satisfaction among several major online players: Google, Yahoo, Ask, and
AOL. For one, [1]Google no longer holds first place. ‘The ACSI report
notes that Yahoo’s jump into first place was a 4 percent increase over
its score from last year, while Google saw a 4 percent decrease during
the same time period. ACSI says that to the untrained eye, Google’s home
page today looks almost identical to the way it looked years ago. This is
where Google’s simplicity is apparently hurting it in the long-term, as
new users just aren’t seeing Google’s new offerings–such as increased
storage options, additions to Google Maps, and tweaks to Google Image
Search–right in front of their faces like they do with other sites.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/1844201

Links:
0. http://technical-writing.dionysius.com/
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070814-yahoo-edges-out-google-in-customer-satisfaction.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Microsoft Questions FCC’s ‘White Spaces’ Decision |
| from the it-was-broken-when-we-found-it dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @16:05 (Wireless Networking)|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/192252 |
+—————————–—————————————+

narramissic writes “Late last month a wireless prototype submitted by
Microsoft and other members of the White Spaces Coalition [0]was rejected
by the FCC because it interfered with cable channels. The organization
rejected the device. Microsoft, though, claims that the [1]device was
malfunctioning when the FCC tested it. From the article: ‘In a letter to
the FCC Monday, Microsoft said the scanner in one of two prototypes was
damaged and “operated at a severely degraded level. The damaged scanner
accounted for the entire discrepancy between the Microsoft and the FCC
bench test data,” said Ed Thomas, a consultant for the White Spaces
Coalition and a former chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and
Technology.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/192252

Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/10/1231216&tid=95
1. http://wireless.itworld.com/4279/070814msfcc/page_1.html

[0]eldavojohn writes “YouTube has begun their [1]defense against Viacom
by first calling on [2]30 depositions from people like Jon Stewart &
Stephen Colbert. While the article mentions that YouTube has not revealed
what they hope to gain in these depositions, I think [3]Jon Stewart’s
opinions will weigh in favor of YouTube. Comedy Central’s parent company,
Viacom, objects to YouTube’s hosting of their content. Comedy Central
hosts many Daily Show & Colbert Report clips on its own site, bringing in
its own ad revenue.”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/2016256

Links:
0. mailto:my/.username@ [Email address: my/.username #AT# - replace #AT# with @ ]@@gmail.com
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/13/1413242&tid=217
2. http://www.physorg.com/news106324280.html
3. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/14/0521209&tid=217

+—————————–—————————————+
| RIAA Short on Funds? Fails to Pay Attorney Fees |
| from the must-be-because-of-all-those-lost-record-sales dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @17:40 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/2027231 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “Can it be that the RIAA, or the “Big 4″
record companies it represents, are short on funds? It turns out that
despite the Judge’s order, entered a month ago, [1]telling them to pay
Debbie Foster $68,685.23 in attorneys fees, in [2]Capitol v. Foster, they
have failed to make payment. Ms. Foster has now had to [3]ask the Court
to enter Judgment, so that she can commence ‘post judgment collection
proceedings’. According to Ms. Foster’s [4]motion papers (pdf), her
attorneys received no response to their email inquiry about payment.
Perhaps the RIAA should ask their lawyers for a loan?”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/2027231

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/17/0119241&tid=123
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-of-litigation-documents.html#Capitol_v_Foster
3. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/08/riaa-fails-to-pay-attorneys-fee-award.html
4. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=capitol_foster_070813MotforJudgment

An anonymous reader writes “ECN magazine has posted [0]a long interview
with the Woz on his new passion: energy-efficient housing. ‘ECN: In PC
World, you said, “It’s like the way I used to make computers” — how so?
Woz: Simple design. Think about the right way to build something and take
a lot of time to get it the best that can be done with the fewest
resources used. No waste. Build it right and with few parts it does a
lot. Don’t cover things with more and more and more technology for
features. Design them in from the start. It starts with the architect, of
a home or a computer, working from a knowledge of the building materials
and a desire to choose wisely.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/2210203

Links:
0. http://www.ecnmag.com/article.aspx?id=146610&menuid=&adcode=section=effzone

+—————————–—————————————+
| The Technology of They Might Be Giants |
| from the julie-at-the-station-says-they‘ll-be-here-any-minute-now|
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 14, @19:24 (Music) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/2218207 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Brian Heater writes “I recently did [1]a two-part interview with John
Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. It might be of interest, as we
discussed [2]the role of technology both in terms of their recording and
distribution, from Dial-a-Song, to podcasts, to Myspace. Says John: ‘All
the song writing we do, we’ll be working with a computer, just as a
recording device, and maybe we’ll be working with a program as a
music-generating device. That’s just the sound-making devices that are
there. A lot of times it’s good enough, but when you hear it played on a
real instrument, it’s much more persuasive and exciting. Or conversely,
you’ve have some lumpy, homemade loop that has oodles of charm that you
forget to leave on the final version of the song, because it seemed
amateurish. Finding the balance is really the key for us. I’m very
excited by the time we live in, but I feel like any time in the
post-mechanical era would be good for me.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/14/2218207

Links:
0. mailto:plasticintheafterlife@gmail.com [Email address: plasticintheafterlife #AT# gmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.gearlog.com/2007/08/interview_they_might_be_giants.php
2. http://www.gearlog.com/2007/08/interview_they_might_be_giants_1.php

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