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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Torvalds on Linux and Microsoft
* Baiji River Dolphin May or May Not Be Extinct
* OOXML Won't Get Fast-Track ISO Standardization
* Why We Need to Expand into Space
* Sharp Rise Seen in Chinese Patents
* US Spy Agencies See Bloggers as Journalists
* Voltron Headed For The Big Screen
* Hardening Linux
* The $200 Billion Broadband Rip-Off
* United Nations vs SQL Injections
* Google Pack Adds StarOffice
* Forgent Patent Troll Loses Again
* iPhone Bill a Whopping 52 Pages Long
* Bone Hormone Linked to Obesity and Diabetes
* China to Deploy World's Largest People Tracking Network
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Torvalds on Linux and Microsoft |
| from the popular-subject dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday August 11, @21:40 (Microsoft) |
|
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/0121223
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Sniper223 writes with a link to [1]an interview on the Network World
site with Linus Torvalds. Linus goes through the usual spiel about stuff
like why he released the Linux OS in the first place, and how the future
is open source. He also has some interesting commentary on the
Microsoft/Novell deal: "I actually thought that whole discussion was
interesting, not because of any Novell versus MS issues at all, but
because all the people talking about them so clearly showed their own
biases. The actual partnership itself seemed pretty much a nonissue to
me, and not nearly as interesting as the reaction it got from people, and
how it was reported ... I don't actually personally think the Novell-MS
agreement kind of thing matters all that much in the end, but it's
interesting to see the signs that the sides are at least talking to each
other. I don't know what the end result will be, but I think it would be
healthier for everybody if there wasn't the kind of rabid hatred on both
sides. Some people get a bit too excited about MS, I think. I don't think
they are that interesting." An interesting contrast to [2]our earlier
conversation.
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/0121223
Links:
0. mailto:rdx@chemist.com
1. http://www.linuxworld.com/cgi-bin/mailto/x_linux.cgi?pagetosend=/export/home/httpd/linuxworld/news/2007/080907-torvalds-on-linux-ms-softwares.html&pagename=/news/2007/080907-torvalds-on-linux-ms-softwares.html&pageurl=http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/080907-torvalds-on-linux-ms-softwares.html&site=lw_general
2. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/11/1535257&tid=109
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Baiji River Dolphin May or May Not Be Extinct |
| from the they-don't-want-to-go-on-the-cart dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday August 11, @23:31 (Science) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/0129236
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
ozmanjusri writes "Major news outlets are reporting that after 20 million
years, [0]Baiji (Yangtze River Dolphin) are now officially extinct. This
is apparently actually old news; it was [1]announced on a Baiji
conservation website in December of last year. One outlet, though, is
claiming [2]they may not quite be completely dead yet. The same scientist
that filed the report leading the the declaration of extinction is still
hopeful: '"This is only one survey and...you can't have a sample in a
survey, so you cannot say the baiji all is gone by the result of only one
survey," he said. "For example, there is some side channels or some
tributaries [where] we cannot go because of a restriction of navigation
rules, and also we don't survey during the night-time so we may miss some
animals in the Yangtze River." Professor Ding says based on anecdotal
evidence, he remains confident the dolphins are still out there. "I'm
pretty much sure there are a few of them left somewhere in the Yangtze
River," he said. "I keep receiving reports from fishermen, they say they
saw a couple of baiji somewhere, sometime."'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/0129236
1. http://www.baiji.org/expeditions/1/overview.html
2. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/10/2002267.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| OOXML Won't Get Fast-Track ISO Standardization |
| from the but-it's-pretty-close dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @01:50 (Microsoft) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/0543256
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
realdodgeman writes "The International Committee for Information
Technology Standards (INCITS) recently held an internal poll to determine
the position that the United States should take on Microsoft's request
for Office Open XML (OOXML) approval. With eight votes in favor, seven
against, and one abstention, the group was [0]one vote short of the nine
votes required for approving OOXLM ISO standardization. This will mean a
huge slowdown to the standardization to the OOXML format. 'Given the
controversial nature, relative complexity, and significant importance of
the standard, the results of INCIT's vote is unsurprising. An INCITS
technical committee also voted against fast-track OOXML approval last
month prior to the executive board's vote. Further deliberation is
clearly needed as well as further refinement of the format. It seems as
though many of the organizations participating in the approval process
are generally supportive of the standard itself, but are unwilling to
voice unconditional support until their concerns are resolved. OOXML may
be down, but it's certainly not out.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/0543256
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why We Need to Expand into Space |
| from the earth-that-was-could-no-longer-sustain-our-numbers dept.|
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @03:20 (Space) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/0559250
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Zentropa writes "Why do humans need to explore and colonize space? To
[0]save the planet and our species, argues an opinion piece in Cosmos, an
Aussie science magazine. It makes some good points from an angle you may
not have previously considered; for example, it's in the universe's best
interest to keep us around. We make things fun. 'So what if humans pass
into history? It's not just a tragedy for us, but also one for nature.
Without us, there is no one to witness its infinite beauty; no one to
marvel at a sunset, revel in a view, or thrill to the breaking of a wave
on a beach. As the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan once said, "we
are a way for the universe to know itself". But we also deserve to
continue because we have created things greater than ourselves. Not only
scientific and engineering knowledge, valuable as this is -- we have also
created new and beautiful ways to see the world through art, music,
literature and performance.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/0559250
Links:
0. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1477
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sharp Rise Seen in Chinese Patents |
| from the everyone-is-doing-it-so-why-can't-we dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @05:34 (Patents) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/066211
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
ianare writes "According to a [0]report by the UN's intellectual property
agency, the number of requests for [1]patents in China grew by 33% in
2005 compared with the previous year. That gives it the world's third
highest number behind Japan and the United States, the agency said.
China's leaders have been urging companies to become more creative, and
put more of their money into developing new technology. 'Made by China'
rather than simply 'Made in China' will mean that the country's economic
miracle stands a far better chance of lasting longer."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/066211
Links:
0. http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/patent_report_2007.html
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6939767.stm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| US Spy Agencies See Bloggers as Journalists |
| from the at-least-somebody-cares dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @07:04 (The Internet) |
|
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/0611216
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Sniper223 writes with a link to ABC's Blotter blog. That site observes
that at least in the realm of US intelligence gathering, [1]the 'are
bloggers journalists' question is already decided. "Despite the rap that
bloggers simply 'bloviate' and 'don't try to find things out,' as
conservative newspaper columnist Robert Novak once sniffed, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have
altered policies to indicate they're taking blogs seriously, and a
growing number of public offices are actively reaching out to the
blogosphere. The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of
Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special
treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. And last August, the
NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified
information to the media ��� "including blogs," the order said."
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/0611216
Links:
0. http://www.myspace.com/dsc606
1. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/spy-agency-oks-.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Voltron Headed For The Big Screen |
| from the thank-god-its-the-lion-voltron dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 12, @09:23 (Sci-Fi) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1254239
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Following the success of the Transformers
movie, Hollywood is preparing to make another live-action film featuring
giant robots from the 1980s: '[0]Voltron: Defender of the Universe'. The
script, by Justin Marks, is described as '...a post-apocalyptic tale set
in New York City and Mexico. Five ragtag survivors of an alien attack
band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that
combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron that helps battle
Earth's invaders.' [1]Let's go, Voltron force!"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1254239
Links:
0. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117970000.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uS5b8aQ6z8
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hardening Linux |
| from the you-know-you-should dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 12, @10:28 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1259214
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]davidmwilliams writes "Out of the box, many Linux systems are insecure
with open ports and unpatched vulnerabilities. Read about the essential
steps to [1]secure your server as well as how to solve them manually and
via automated tools like Bastille."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1259214
Links:
0. http://www.alivad.com/
1. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/13976/53/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The $200 Billion Broadband Rip-Off |
| from the where's-my-dsl-dangit dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 12, @11:31 (The Internet) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1314246
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Jamie noted that Cringley has a piece about [0]the US Broadband situation.
He talks about where we were and where we are: 'not very fast, not very
cheap Internet service that is hurting our ability to compete
economically with the rest of the world' and about the $200B the phone
companies got to make it that way.
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1314246
Links:
0. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| United Nations vs SQL Injections |
| from the virtual-security-is-hard-too dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 12, @12:39 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1550254
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Giorgio Maone writes "The [1]United Nations web site has been defaced
by 3 crackers who replaced the speeches of the Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon with their own pacifist message. This article briefly [2]analyzes
the exploited vulnerability and the technology used on the server, both
quite surprising to find in such a high profile site."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1550254
Links:
0. http://maone.net/
2. http://hackademix.net/2007/08/12/united-nations-vs-sql-injections/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Pack Adds StarOffice |
| from the little-stars-everywhere dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @13:16 (Google) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1634208
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]derrida writes The GoogleOS Blog has the news that Google Pack, their
collection of applications, [1]now includes StarOffice. 'It will be
interesting to see why Google didn't choose to include OpenOffice.org,
the primary difference between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org being that
StarOffice includes some proprietary components like clip-art graphics,
fonts, templates and tools for Microsoft Office migration.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1634208
Links:
0. http://www.nemesis-project.org/
1. http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/08/google-pack-adds-staroffice.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Forgent Patent Troll Loses Again |
| from the system-kinda-sorta-works dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @14:27 (Patents) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/1634231
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]anagama writes "Forgent Networks, a patent troll, got the slap down by
a TX jury in May when it invalidated a patent Forgent held regarding
video teleconferencing over telephone lines, and today, its [1]motion for
a new trial against EchoStar was denied. In fact, the court awarded
EchoStar $90k in costs. Forgent probably isn't crying that much though,
it already extorted $28m from other defendants. Some of you may recall
that Forgent made a business out of cheating companies for jpeg use ���
till their [2]patent was largely invalidated on that front as well."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/1634231
Links:
0. http://thepotterampyahoocom/
1. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/primenewswire/124733.htm
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/26/1543237&tid=155
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| iPhone Bill a Whopping 52 Pages Long |
| from the make-the-trees-stop-crying dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @15:28 (Handhelds) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/193221
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
PoliTech writes "[0]iPhone bills are surprisingly large - 'Xbox Large',
according to Ars technica: 'AT&T's iPhone bills are quite impressive in
their own right. We're starting to get bills for the iPhone here at Ars,
and while many of us have had smartphones for some time, we've never seen
a bill like this. One of our bills [1]is a whopping 52 pages long, and my
own bill is 34 pages long. They're printed on both sides, too. What
gives? The AT&T bill itemizes your data usage whenever you surf the
Internet via EDGE, even if you're signed up for the unlimited data plan.
AT&T also goes into an incredible amount of detail to tell you; well,
almost nothing. For instance, I know that on July 27 at 3:21 p.m. I had
some data use that, under the To/From heading, AT&T has helpfully listed
as Data Transfer. The Type of file? Data. My total charge? $0.00. This
mind-numbing detail goes on for 52 double-sided pages (for 104 printed
pages!) with absolutely no variance except the size of the files.' You
would think that a data company would have a more efficient billing
process."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/193221
Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070811-iphone-bill-is-surprisingly-xbox-huge-lol.html
1. http://media.arstechnica.com/news.media/Iphone%20bill2.jpg
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bone Hormone Linked to Obesity and Diabetes |
| from the keep-your-skeleton-happy dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @16:36 (Science) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/197212
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]grrlscientist writes "New research has shown that the skeletal system
[1]may be an important player in preventing obesity and type-2 diabetes
in animals. This may also be true for humans, and thus represents an
important development for the treatment of these health conditions. From
the article: 'Not only do bones produce a protein hormone, osteocalcin
(pictured), that regulates bone formation, but this hormone also protects
against obesity and glucose intolerance by increasing proliferation of
pancreatic beta cells and their subsequent secretion of insulin.
Osteocalcin was also found to increase the body's sensitivity to insulin
and as well as reducing its fat stores ... "The skeleton used to be
thought of as just a structural support system. This opens the door to a
new way of seeing the bones," said Dr. Gerard Karsenty, chairman of the
department of genetics and development at Columbia University Medical
Center in NYC, who headed the team that made the discovery.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/197212
Links:
0. http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
1. http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/08/bone_hormone_linked_to_obesity.php
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China to Deploy World's Largest People Tracking Network |
| from the big-brother-goes-bigtime dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday August 12, @18:29 (Privacy) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/12/2157215
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
hackingbear writes "News.com reports that China is building [0]the
largest and most sophisticated people-tracking network in the world, all
to track citizens in the city of Shenzhen. This network utilizes 20,000
intelligent digital cameras and RFID cards to keep track of the 12.4
million people living in the Southern port city. The key to the system is
the new residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips. 'Data on the
chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work
history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record,
medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal
reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's
controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit
histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the
card.' While I lived in Shenzhen, there indeed were (and still are)
plenty of crimes. One of my friend who lived at the 20th floor of a condo
building in a nice neighborhood saw an intruder in the middle of one
night while he was sleeping. Still, this will clearly raise the fear of
human rights abuses. And ... ' one of the most startling aspects of this
plan is that this project is mostly made possible by an American company
with solid venture fundings.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/08/12/2157215
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
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