Kaizenlog

15 12 2007

[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-12-15

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* KDE 4 Uses 40% Less Memory Than 3 Despite Eye-Candy
* Cause of Aurora Borealis Confirmed
* Terry Pratchett Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
* Hack Turns iPhone Camera Into HD Camcorder
* Google’s “Knol” Reinvents Wikipedia
* 30 Years of LucasFilm Staff Christmas Cards
* Dutch Government Adopts Open Source Software Initiative
* Does Constant Access Shatter the Home/Work Boundary?
* The Future of Love and Sex – Robots
* Can Blockbuster be Sued Over Facebook/Beacon?
* The ‘Malware Economy’ Evolves
* Will The Next Generation of Spacecraft Land In the Water?
* Google’s OpenSocial Too Late To Be a Win?
* Opera Tells EU That Microsoft’s IE Hurts the Web
* DOJ Doesn’t Like the Idea of A Copyright Czar
* Light-based Quantum Circuit Does Basic Maths
* FireWire Spec to Boost Data Speeds to 3.2 Gbps
* Mars Rover Technology Used to Make Better Maps
* Giving Avatars Real Bodies
* Riding the Failure Cascade

+—————————–—————————————+
| KDE 4 Uses 40% Less Memory Than 3 Despite Eye-Candy |
| from the optimization-in-action dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 13, @20:37 (KDE) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/13/2314206 |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “Pro-Linux reports that KDE 4, scheduled to be
released in January 2008, [0]consumes almost 40% less memory than KDE
3.5, despite the fact that version 4 of the Free and Open Source desktop
system includes a composited window manager and a revamped menu and
applet interface. KDE developer Will Stephenson [1]showcased KDE 4’s 3D
eye-candy on a 256Mb laptop with 1Ghz CPU and run-of-the-mill integrated
graphics, pointing out that mini-optimizations haven’t even yet been
started.” Update: 12/14 22:40 GMT by [2]Z : Or, not so much. An anonymous
reader writes “The author of the original KDE 3.5 vs KDE 4.0 memory
comparison has come out with a more accurate benchmark. In reality,
[3]KDE 4.0 uses 110 MB more memory than KDE 3.5.8.

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/13/2314206

Links:
0. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.pro-linux.de/news/2007/12082.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.pro-linux.de/news/2007/12082.html%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dcom.ubuntu:en-US fficial%26hs%3Drd
1. http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3137
2. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
3. http://www.jarzebski.pl/read/kde-3-5-vs-4-0-round-two.so

+—————————–—————————————+
| Cause of Aurora Borealis Confirmed |
| from the it’s-not-eskimo-ghosts-more’s-the-pity dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday December 13, @22:35 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/13/2325206 |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “There are reports that satellites have aided
scientists in confirming [0]why the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)
exists. ‘New data from NASA’s Themis mission, a quintet of satellites
launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged
particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of
magnetic fields connecting Earth’s upper atmosphere to the sun. The
energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of
lights.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/13/2325206

Links:
0. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/13/northern.lights.ap/index.html

sapphire wyvern writes “One of geekdom’s most popular authors, Terry
Pratchett, has announced that he has been [0]diagnosed with early-onset
Alzheimer’s. The OBE-winning author of the Discworld fantasy series made
the [1]original announcement on the website of Discworld illustrator Paul
Kidby. Pratchett remains optimistic: ‘I would just like to draw attention
to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as ‘I am
not dead’. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will
everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too
soon to tell.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/0113224

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7141458.stm
1. http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| Hack Turns iPhone Camera Into HD Camcorder |
| from the fancy-moving-pictures dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday December 14, @02:32 (Portables (App|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/13/2316221 |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader writes “Monsters and Friends has just released the
beta of [0]Drunknbass, a new iPhone hack that [1]allows the unit’s camera
to capture video. ‘While the iPhone’s 2.0 megapixel camera resolution may
be mediocre for a still camera, it is excellent resolution for a consumer
video camera.’ A standard definition Canon digital camcorder uses a 680K
pixel sensor chip (because a standard definition TV’s resolution is only
520 x 360), while one of Canon’s HD camcorders uses a 2.9 megapixel
sensor. The beta presently allows 5 second clips at 10 frames per second,
but the finished version will soon allow infinite recording at 45 frames
per second. Video of [2]Drunknbass in action can be found on YouTube.”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/13/2316221

Links:
0. http://monsterandfriends.com/?q=node/50
1. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/7002/iphone-video.html
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9te86OSmS4

teslatug writes “Google appears to be [0] reinventing Wikipedia with
their new product that they call knol (not yet publicly available). In an
attempt to gather human knowledge, Google will accept articles from users
who will be credited with the article by name. If they want, they can
allow ads to appear alongside the content and they will be getting a
share of the profits if that’s the case. Other users will be allowed to
rate, edit or comment on the articles. The content does not have to be
exclusive to Google but no mention is made on any license for it. Is this
a better model for free information gathering?”

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1323221

Links:
0. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html

+—————————–—————————————+
| 30 Years of LucasFilm Staff Christmas Cards |
| from the tis-the-season-to-blah-blah-blah dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Friday December 14, @09:07 (Christmas Cheer|
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/1329203 |
+—————————–—————————————+

An anonymous reader found that “For the last 30 years, Lucasfilm has
created [0]special holiday greeting cards for its employees and business
partners. For the first time ever, we have compiled most of the Star
Wars-themed Holiday Cards on one page.” My favorite is 2005. That would
make a cool poster or something.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1329203

Links:
0. http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/13/cool-stuff-30-years-of-lucasfilm-christmas-cards/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Dutch Government Adopts Open Source Software Initiative |
| from the who-doesn’t-love-a-good-open-government dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @09:42 (Software) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/1353230 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]christian.einfeldt writes “The Dutch government has set a target date
of April 2008 for its agencies to [1]start preferentially using open
standards-based software. Organizations in the government will still be
able to use proprietary software and formats … but will have to justify
it. A Microsoft Netherlands spokesman claims that Microsoft’s Office
productivity suite will still be used widely in the Dutch government
until April, and that Microsoft Office will comply with the new Dutch
rules once Microsoft’s so-called “Open Office XML” standard is approved
as an international ISO standard in February.”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1353230

Links:
0. mailto:einfeldtNO@SPAMdigitaltippingpoint.com [Email address: einfeldtNO #AT# SPAMdigitaltippingpoint.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gK-eb7SFzG8QLvOOlfdt_cPMnFmwD8TGNLJ80

+—————————–—————————————+
| Does Constant Access Shatter the Home/Work Boundary? |
| from the and-is-that-a-bad-thing dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @10:22 (Handhelds) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/1457226 |
+—————————–—————————————+

StonyandCher has passed us a link to PCWorld.au, once again raising the
[0]tough topic of work/life separation. A department of the Australian
government went ahead with a purchase of dozens of Blackberry
communication devices, but is now delaying their deployment. The reason:
“Staff expressed fears about BlackBerries contributing to a longer
working day and felt it was going a step too far because mobile phones
are adequate for out-of-office contact. Not everyone agreed, however,
with some senior executives claiming a BlackBerry can contribute to
work/life balance by facilitating telecommuting and more flexible
schedules. ” For the time being this issue is on hold for those staffers,
but how does this issue fall for you? Is constant accessibility freeing
or just another chain around your neck?

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1457226

Links:
0. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php?id=1577888877

[0]nem75 writes “The New York Times has a review of British AI researcher
David Levy’s book ‘Love and Sex with Robots’. He claims that within a
span of about 50 years the day will come when [1]people could actually
fall in love with life-like robots. While this may seem far fetched at
first, he has some pretty interesting views. ‘He begins with what
scientists know about why humans fall in love with other humans. There
are 10 factors, he writes, including mystery, reciprocal liking, and
readiness to enter a relationship. Why can’t these factors apply to
robots, too?’ The case he builds goes much further though, and certainly
provides food for thought.” Update: 12/14 16:16 GMT by [2]Z : This
article is very similar to a [3]discussion we had recently.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1555245

Links:
0. mailto:jens [Email address: jens #AT# bremmekamp.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Henig-t.html?bl&ex=1196744400&en=3e6bf4930d0bac5b&ei=5087%0A
2. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
3. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/13/116201&tid=216

An anonymous reader writes “A professor at the New York Law School is
arguing that [0]Blockbuster violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of
1988 when [1]movie choices that Facebook members made on its Web site
were made available to other members of the social network via Beacon.
The law basically prohibits video rental outfits from disclosing rental
choice of their customers to anyone else without specific written
consent. Facebook’s legal liability in all of this is unclear; with
Blockbuster it’s a straightforward case of not complying with the VPPA,
the law professor says.”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1620258

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9053002&intsrc=hm_list
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/2114247&tid=267

[0]superglaze writes “ZDNet UK has a feature on how the malware economy
is [1]turning into a recognizable traditional IT economy. Leasing
botnets? Malware support? Welcome to the new age of computing. As the
piece suggests, it’s all gone Darwinian. ‘One indication of the maturity
of the black economy, according to Telafici, was the recent case of a
hacker who wrote a packer [software used to bypass antivirus protection],
“threw in the towel recently as it wasn’t profitable enough — there’s
too much competition. They opened the source code and walked away.”‘”

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1644218

Links:
0. mailto:superglaze [Email address: superglaze #AT# hotmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/features/0,1000002000,39291463,00.htm

+—————————–—————————————+
| Will The Next Generation of Spacecraft Land In the Water? |
| from the splashdown-for-the-future dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @13:01 (NASA) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/175241 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]Reservoir Hill writes “Work is progressing on the design of the new
[1]Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the next generation of NASA
spacecraft that will take humans to the International Space Station, back
to the Moon, and hopefully on to Mars. One major question about the
spacecraft has yet to be answered. On returning to Earth, [2]should the
CEV land in water or on terra firma? After initial studies, the first
assessment by NASA and the contractor for the CEV, Lockheed Martin, was
that landing on land was preferred in terms of total life cycle costs for
the vehicles. Getting the CEV light enough for the Ares rockets to be
able to launch it, and therefore eliminating the 1500 lb airbags for
landing has its appeal. A splashdown in water seems to be favored.”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/175241

Links:
0. http://reservoirhill.org/
1. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/
2. http://www.universetoday.com/2007/12/10/water-or-land-the-orion-landing-choice/

+—————————–—————————————+
| Google’s OpenSocial Too Late To Be a Win? |
| from the a-nice-way-to-have-a-chat dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @13:44 (Google) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/1345206 |
+—————————–—————————————+

DeeQ writes with a link to a post on News.com’s social networking blog.
Author Caroline McCarthy wonders if Google’s [0]OpenSocial initiative has
missed its moment in the sun. It’s been something like six weeks now
since the search giant offered up its open-source social media initiative
… but where have been the usual swift victories? Moreover, OpenSocial
isn’t done yet, and it’s not expected until sometime next year. In the
meantime Facebook is capitalizing on Google’s delay, and other networks
are stepping in as well. “Kraus adds that some of the independent
platform strategies would be necessary even if OpenSocial were finalized.
One of them is LinkedIn’s ‘InApps,’ which also aims to spread LinkedIn’s
data and influence outside the business-oriented social network through
partnerships with other Web sites. ‘OpenSocial so far is really about how
developers embed their application into a social network,’ Kraus
explained. ‘A good chunk of LinkedIn’s APIs is about how LinkedIn extends
their social-networking data into other sites.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1345206

Links:
0. http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9833723-36.html?tag=nefd.top

+—————————–—————————————+
| Opera Tells EU That Microsoft’s IE Hurts the Web |
| from the ow-right-in-my-infrastructure dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @14:25 (Internet Explorer) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/192240 |
+—————————–—————————————+

[0]kastababy writes “In yet another instance of up-and-coming browser
developers fighting back against the Microsoft behemoth, the makers of
Opera have [1]filed a complaint with the European Union against Microsoft.
In their complaint, they allege that IE’s 77% market share abuses its
dominant position by tying IE to Windows and its refusal to accept Web
standards, causing significant interoperability issues. The complaint
also requests that the EU’s Antitrust Division force Microsoft to
separate IE from Windows and accept several different standards, thereby
resolving major interoperability issues and providing consumers more
choice in the browser market.” Update: 12/14 19:47 GMT by [2]Z : We also
[3]discussed this yesterday.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/192240

Links:
0. mailto:yokastamartinez [Email address: yokastamartinez #AT# gmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=standards_and_legal_issues&articleId=9052982&taxonomyId=146
2. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/13/1524233&tid=123

[0]sconeu writes “Seems as if the [1]DOJ is not particularly happy about
HR 4729, the ‘Copyright Czar’ bill. The Deputy AG told Congress that the
current structure works quite effectively. ‘Panel members also expressed
concern over Section 104 of the bill, which would allow a copyright owner
to collect statutory damages for each copyrighted work that is stolen.
Detractors fear that this provision could result in protracted lawsuits
… Section 104, however, would penalize criminals on a per-song basis,
so if someone pirated a motion picture soundtrack that had songs from 12
different artists, the pirate would be charged with 12 separate offenses
and be subject to exorbitant fees.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/1925247

Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/~sconeu
1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20071213/tc_zd/221645

+—————————–—————————————+
| Light-based Quantum Circuit Does Basic Maths |
| from the small-steps-start-small dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @16:04 (Supercomputing) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/2023257 |
+—————————–—————————————+

Stochastism writes “In yet another small step toward realistic quantum
computing Australian researchers have developed a [0]light based 4-qubit
quantum computer. It has already calculated the prime roots of fifteen,
three and five. ‘The quantum circuit pioneered by the Queensland
researchers involves using a laser to send “entangled” photons through a
linear optical circuit … The Queensland research group acknowledged
that the theorised code cracking ability of quantum computers may be why
Australian quantum computer research is in part funded by a US government
defence intelligence agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA).’”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/2023257

Links:
0. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Light-based-quantum-circuit-does-basic-maths/0,130061702,339284517,00.htm

+—————————–—————————————+
| FireWire Spec to Boost Data Speeds to 3.2 Gbps |
| from the lots-of-mp3s-really-fast dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 14, @16:41 (Networking) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/14/2037209 |
+—————————–—————————————+

Stony Stevenson writes “A new set of data transfer [0]specs may reach new
Firewire speed records. The new transfer version is called S3200 and
builds on the earlier specification approved by the IEEE.’ The technology
will be able to use existing FireWire 800 cables and connectors while
delivering a major boost in performance. The new spec also will let users
interconnect various home-networking appliances via coax cable, linking
HDTVs with set-top boxes, TVs, and computers in various rooms around a
home or office. The new release enables the transmission of FireWire data
over distances of more than 100 meters. Home entertainment centers are
likely to be an early application.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/2037209

Links:
0. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/66868,firewire-spec-to-boost-data-speeds-to-32-gbps.aspx

[0]Cal writes “An article on the O’Reilly Radar site discusses a new
street mapping technology by a company in Berkeley called earthmine. They
are using technology developed by the Jet Propulsion Lab for the Mars
Exploration Rover missions [1]for reconstructing three-dimensional data
of the street-scape. ‘The licensed software and algorithms are used to
create a 3D representation of the local terrain, allowing autonomous
routing of the MERs through the Martian environment. earthmine has
combined this JPL technology with its unique, capture hardware and web
delivery technology to deliver 3D data with unprecedented density and
accuracy.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/2051200

Links:
0. mailto:calgrad26 [Email address: calgrad26 #AT# yahoo.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
1. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/12/earthmine-digitizes-world-nasa.html

trogador writes “Researchers are working to [0]associate online avatars
with physical bodies, connecting virtual reality robots with steel and
software counterparts. The unification of software and mobility like this
results in the so-called ‘Ubibot’ (ubiquitous robot), which the
researchers predict is the future of interactive robotics. In the future,
avatars on your pc/cell/pda screen may be able to bring you your tea or
scratch your back. ‘Two key components of the interface involve the
sensor mapper and behavior mapper. The sensor mapper helps Rity get
physical (ultrasound) sensor information from Mybot, enabling the virtual
avatar to use physical information. The behavior mapper helps Rity
actually perform physical behaviors using Mybot in a real environment,
enabling the avatar to interact physically with human beings in real
environments.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/2137227

Links:
0. http://www.robotworldnews.com/100328.php

An anonymous reader writes “The Escapist has up an article looking at a
curve that represents the dissolution of large social groups, like online
guilds. Called [0]the Failure Cascade, it’s essentially a way of
examining the dissociation of members of an organization predicated on a
culture of success. They primarily explore this phenomenon using
descriptions of EVE corporate alliances. ‘These are the two forces at
work in [an] alliance’s failure cascade: the individual and the guild …
This happens because the failure cascade is the inverse of a network
effect. Websites like MySpace define their value by the people that use
the service just as guilds define their quality by their members. As bad
events cause players to leave or become inactive, the quality drop leads
others to do the same in a spiral that rarely stabilizes, until no one is
left.’”

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/14/2148224

Links:
0. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_124/2645-Riding-the-Failure-Cascade

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[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-12-15

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