[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-12-23
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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Retail Store Scalping Wii Consoles on eBay
* Norway Mandates Government Use of ODF and PDF
* Could An ExtraTerrestrial Find Earth with a Telescope?
* Specs For the New KITT
* NASA’s Invention of the Year Award Goes to Synthetic Muscles
* Many Analog TV Watchers Aren’t Aware of Upcoming Switchover
* Notebook Makers Moving to 4 GB Memory As Standard
* New Jersey Judge Shields Anonymous Blogger
* IRS Data Security Still a Concern
* Mystery Company Recruiting Talent With a Puzzle
* FBI Prepares Vast Database of Biometrics
* U.Maine Law Clinic Is First To Fight RIAA
* Analog Cellular Shutdown To Hit Built-In Devices
* GNU Octave 3.0 Released After 11 Years
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| Retail Store Scalping Wii Consoles on eBay |
| from the with-a-name-like-slackers-… dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 21, @20:55 (Wii (Games)) |
| http://games.slashdot.org
+—————————–
C0rinthian writes “ArsTechnica reports that the games retailer Slackers
has been keeping their stock of the Nintendo Wii off their store shelves,
and is instead [0]selling the system on eBay for $400-500. (A $150-$250
markup)” This follows their look at the other side of the coin: [1]why
some retailers insist on Wii Bundles.
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news
1. http://arstechnica.com/journal
+—————————–
| Norway Mandates Government Use of ODF and PDF |
| from the playing-nice-with-everyone dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 21, @22:30 (Government) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org
+—————————–
siDDis writes “Earlier this year Slashdot mentioned that Norway was
[0]moving towards mandatory use of ODF and PDF. Now it’s official: the
Norwegian government has [1]mandated the use of open document formats
from January 1st, 2009. There are three formats that have been mandated
for all documentation between authorities, users and partners. HTML for
all public information on the Web, PDF for all documents where layout
needs to be preserved and ODF for all documents that the recipient is
supposed to be able to edit. Documents may also be published in other
formats, but they must always be available in either ODF or PDF.”
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://politics.slashdot.org
1. http://www.theinquirer.net/gb
+—————————–
| Could An ExtraTerrestrial Find Earth with a Telescope? |
| from the helloooo-up-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 22, @00:38 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]Active Seti writes “If aliens were hunting life outside their own
planet, could they peer through the vastness of space and lock onto
[1]Earth as a likely home for life? Researchers say with a roughly
Hubble-sized array observers could measure Earth’s 24-hour rotation
period, possibly leading to observations of oceans and the chance of
life. ‘They would only be able to see Earth as a single pixel, rather
than resolving it to take a picture,’ said Astronomer Eric Ford. ‘But
that could be enough for them to identify our planet as one that likely
contains clouds and oceans of liquid water.’ The research will be useful
to astronomers designing the next generation of space telescopes on our
planet, because it provides an outline of the capabilities required for
studying the surfaces of Earth-like worlds.”
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://activeseti.com/
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub
+—————————–
| Specs For the New KITT |
| from the a-shadowy-flight-into-the
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 22, @02:22 (Television) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl
+—————————–
An anonymous reader writes “The upcoming made-for-TV Knight Rider movie
features an [0]all-new version of the Knight Industries Two Thousand
(KITT). Popular Mechanics has the ’specs’ for the original
Hasslehoff-mobile, as well as for the digital-effects enhanced version in
[1]the 2008 production. ‘Designer Harald Belker, who has created the
Batmobile for Batman and Robin and a next-gen space shuttle for
Armageddon, came onboard to give the new KITT. a unique look. “The goal
was to make it look more aggressive without being hokey or garish,”
Belker says.’”
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments
Links:
0. http://www.popularmechanics
1. http://slashdot.org/article.pl
+—————————–
| NASA’s Invention of the Year Award Goes to Synthetic Muscles |
| from the we’re-so-close-to-cyborgs dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 22, @04:28 (NASA) |
| http://science.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]coondoggie writes “It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie:
technology that can [1]act like muscle and nerves to expand and contract.
The invention has been named the NASA Government Invention of the Year
for 2007. ‘The Macro-Fiber Composite, or MFC, is made up of ceramic
fibers and can be attached to a structure to bend it, reduce vibrations
and monitor force. By applying voltage to the MFC, the ceramic fibers
change shape to expand or contract and turn the resulting force into a
bending or twisting action on the material. MFC technology could also
find its way into inflatable space structures can be used for antennas,
communication satellites, space station trusses, and solar sail support
structures, NASA said.’”
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://networkworld/
1. http://www.networkworld.com
+—————————–
| Many Analog TV Watchers Aren’t Aware of Upcoming Switchover |
| from the it’s-coming dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 22, @06:19 (Television) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl
+—————————–
A recent poll of TV watchers shows that many Americans aren’t aware
[0]the end times are coming for analog broadcast signals. “The survey
found that the group most affected by the analog cutoff — those with no
cable or satellite service — are most in the dark about what will happen
to their sets: Only one-third of them had heard that their TVs are set to
stop receiving programs. Of course, there are solutions. Congress is
subsidizing the purchase of digital television receivers. And the cable
TV industry is hoping that this will spur the last holdouts to buy pay
TV.”
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments
+—————————–
| Notebook Makers Moving to 4 GB Memory As Standard |
| from the living-in-the-wacky-future dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 22, @08:24 (Portables) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org
+—————————–
akintayo writes “Digitimes reports that first-tier notebook manufacturers
are [0]increasing the standard installed memory from the current 1 GB to
4GB. They claim the move is an attempt to shore up the costs of DRAM
chips, which are currently depressed because of a glut in market. The
glut is supposedly due to [1]increased manufacturing capacity and the
slow adoption of Microsoft’s Vista operating system. The proposed move is
especially interesting, given that [2]32-bit Vista and XP cannot access 4
GB of memory. They have a practical 3.1 — 3.3 GB limit. With Vista SP1 it
seems that Microsoft has decided to fix the problem [3]by reporting the
installed memory rather than the available memory.”
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.digitimes.com/news
1. http://infotech.indiatimes.com
2. http://blogs.msdn.com/dcook
3. http://www.ghacks.net/2007/12
+—————————–
| New Jersey Judge Shields Anonymous Blogger |
| from the keeping-hidden-agendas-hidden dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 22, @09:50 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]netbuzz brings us an update to a case we [1]discussed earlier this
month: “In a widely watched free-speech case, a New Jersey judge has
upheld a blogger’s right to [2]criticize county officials anonymously.
The contention of those officials was that the blogger is actually a
former mayor/attorney being sued by the local government for malpractice.
This comes less than a month after the Electronic Frontier Foundation
[3]began their legal efforts to shield the blogger, claiming that the
[4]subpoena for Google to release his identity was ‘part of an unrelated
and unauthorized campaign to embarrass or otherwise outmaneuver the
Defendant.’ Score one for the First Amendment.”
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com
1. http://yro.slashdot.org
2. http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs
3. http://www.eff.org/files
4. http://www.eff.org/files
+—————————–
| IRS Data Security Still a Concern |
| from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 22, @11:22 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article
+—————————–
[0]Lucas123 writes “Computerworld has a story about the possibility and
the [1]potential ramifications of an IRS data loss similar to the [2]UK’s
recent mishap. According to one World Bank executive, it could have
already happened, ‘and we don’t know about it.’ While the IRS does offer
data encryption to its workers, more than half of its 94,000 employees
have permission to take taxpayer information to locations outside the IRS
offices. In the 2007 filing season, roughly 128 million individual tax
returns were filed. In addition to the basic personal information on
those forms, an IRS breach could also jeopardize the banking information
of the 46% of filers who requested direct deposit refunds. This is not
the first time that IRS security has been [3]called into question, and
the Department of Treasury’s progress in that arena is [4]dubious. [PDF]”
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comment
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com
2. http://it.slashdot.org/article
3. http://it.slashdot.org/article
4. http://republicans.oversight
+—————————–
| Mystery Company Recruiting Talent With a Puzzle |
| from the denver-maybe dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday December 22, @12:52 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org
+—————————–
An anonymous reader writes “Google has previously used coding
competitions to [0]locate top talent. In a new twist on the idea, an
anonymous tech company is posting a help-wanted ad that [1]challenges
developers to find out who the company is. A little [2]digging and text
mashing reveals a website containing a Web 2.0 puzzle that makes
[3]notpron look like child’s play. So, fellow developers, who is this
company, and, well, what is the significance of the date ‘01-18-08?’”
Update: 12/12 20:20 GMT by [4]KD : Replaced link to a removed Craigslist
ad with a mirror.
Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet
1. http://www.networkmirror.com
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
3. http://www.deathball.net
4. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
+—————————–
| FBI Prepares Vast Database of Biometrics |
| from the left-my-irises-in-my-other
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 22, @14:10 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]MacRonin sends us to the Washington Post for a story about the FBI’s
plans for a [1]large biometric identification database. The Post also has
a chart detailing the characteristics of the [2]different methods of
identification. We discussed the ethics of a [3]similar situation a few
months ago. Quoting the Post: “Next month, the FBI intends to award a
10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of
biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law
enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris
patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people
walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The
FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of
employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers
can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.”
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.privacydigest.com/
1. http://www.washingtonpost.com
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com
3. http://science.slashdot.org
+—————————–
| U.Maine Law Clinic Is First To Fight RIAA |
| from the lawyers-guns-and-money dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday December 22, @15:33 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “‘[1]A student law clinic is about to
cause a revolution’ says p2pnet. For the first time in the history of the
RIAA’s ex parte litigation campaign against college students, a
university law school’s legal aid clinic has taken up the fight against
the RIAA in defense of the university’s students. Student attorneys at
the University of Maine School of Law’s [2]Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic,
under the supervision of law school prof Deirdre M. Smith, have [3]moved
to dismiss the RIAA’s complaint in a Portland, Maine, case, [4]Arista v.
Does 1-27, on behalf of two University of Maine undergrads. Their
recently filed [5]reply brief (PDF) points to the US Supreme Court
decision in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, and the subsequent California
decision following Twombly, Interscope v. Rodriguez, which [6]dismissed
the RIAA’s ‘making available’ complaint as mere ‘conclusory,’
‘boilerplate’ ’speculation.’”
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeop
1. http://www.p2pnet.net/story
2. http://mainelaw.maine.edu
3. http://recordingindustryvspeop
4. http://recordingindustryvspeop
5. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRP
6. http://yro.slashdot.org
+—————————–
| Analog Cellular Shutdown To Hit Built-In Devices |
| from the can’t-hear-you-now dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday December 22, @16:57 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org
+—————————–
[0]Nick Kilkenny sends us an AP article on the imminent [1]shutdown of
the US analog cellular network, now 24 years old. The network is
scheduled to go dark on Feb. 18, 2008; some users, such as OnStar, are
stopping analog service at the end of this year. Here’s a list of
[2]devices and industries that will be affected by the shutdown.
(Cellular telephony won’t be affected much.) “The shutdown date has been
known years in advance, but some industries appear to have a had a
problem updating their technologies and informing their customers in
advance… General Motors Corp., which owns OnStar, started modifying its
cars after the 2002 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to
let the network die, but some cars made as late as 2005 can’t use digital
networks for OnStar, nor can they be upgraded. For some cars made in the
intervening years, GM provides digital upgrades for $15.” Update: 12/22
22:25 GMT by [3]KD : Replaced two registration-required links.
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.techarsenal.com/
1. http://ap.google.com/article
2. http://ap.google.com/article
3. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
+—————————–
| GNU Octave 3.0 Released After 11 Years |
| from the math-just-works dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday December 22, @18:19 (Software) |
| http://science.slashdot.org
+—————————–
Digana writes “[0]GNU Octave is a free numerical computing environment
highly compatible with the [1]MATLAB language. After 11 years of
development since version 2.0, [2]stable version 3.0 released yesterday.
This version is interesting because unlike other free or semi-free MATLAB
competitors like [3]Scilab, specific compatibility with MATLAB code is a
design goal. This has manifested itself in goodies like better support
for [4]MATLAB’s Handle Graphics, a syntax closer to MATLAB’s own for many
functions, and many functions from the sister project [5]Octave-Forge
ported to the core Octave project for an enriched functionality closer to
the toolboxes provided by MATLAB. GUI development is underway, but
[6]still no JIT compiling, which is a show-stopper for Octave newbies
coming from MATLAB with [7]unvectorized code.”
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org
Links:
0. http://www.octave.org/
1. http://www.mathworks.com
2. http://www.gnu.org/software
3. http://www.scilab.org/
4. http://www.mathworks.com
5. http://octave.sf.net/
6. http://www.gnu.org/software
7. http://www.mathworks.com
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