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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Netflix May Already Be Killing Blockbuster?
* CNet Tracks the History of the Digital Camera
* DARPA Looks To Adaptive Battlefield Wireless Nets
* A Belated Halloween History - Monsters Edition
* Microsoft Denies Sabotaging Mandriva Linux PC Deal
* Study Says P2P Downloaders Buy More Music
* Database Finds Fugitive After 35 Years
* The New School of Videographers
* ICANN Elects Peter Dengate-Thrush as New Chairman
* Emailed Threats Less Crazy Than Snail Mail
* Google As The Next Microsoft?
* Ten Strangely Cruel Science Experiments
* Cross-Selling Online Scams and Security Issues
* A New Way To Make Water, And Fuel Cells
* First RIAA Case Victim Finally Speaks Out
* Datacenter Robbed for the Fourth Time in Two Years
* Stix Scientific Fonts Reach Beta Release
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Netflix May Already Be Killing Blockbuster? |
| from the quick-knife-to-the-throat dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 02, @22:51 (Movies) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/0252218
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mattintosh writes "A blogger at C|Net takes a moment to [0]consider the
impact Netflix has had on Blockbuster. Some notable highlights include
heavy losses ($35 million), job cuts ($45 million worth), and store
closings: 'Much like the print media and retail stores refusing to
change, Blockbuster has been a victim on an online company finding new
and inventive ways of bringing a product to a customer. And due to its
size and outdated corporate culture, there really is no salvation for
Blockbuster at this point. Try as it might, the future of Blockbuster is
bleak, at best. Sure, the company still enjoys revenue that climb into
the billions of dollars, but with an ever-increasing net loss and a
public refusal to focus on Total Access--the area where Netflix continues
to dominate--what is the impetus for us to jump on the Blockbuster
bandwagon?'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/0252218
Links:
0. http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9809950-17.html?tag=blg.orig
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CNet Tracks the History of the Digital Camera |
| from the how-far-we-have-come dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @00:16 (Toys) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/0420243
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Abby Donivosif writes "CNet has up an article [0]about the history of the
digital camera. It's fascinating to note how far the technology has come
in such a short amount of time. 'The camera generally recognized as the
first digital still snapper was a prototype developed by Eastman Kodak
engineer Steven Sasson in 1975. He cobbled together some Motorola parts
with a Kodak movie-camera lens and some newly invented Fairchild CCD
electronic sensors. The resulting camera, pictured above on its first
trip to Europe recently, was the size of a large toaster and weighed
nearly 4kg. Black-and-white images were captured on a digital cassette
tape, and viewing them required Sasson and his colleagues to develop a
special screen.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/0420243
Links:
0. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalcameras/0,39029429,49293172-1,00.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DARPA Looks To Adaptive Battlefield Wireless Nets |
| from the was-a-boring-conversation-anyway dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @02:23 (The Military) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/0427257
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader passed us a NetworkWorld link about an effort at
DARPA [0]to succeed in combat through networking. The idea is to keep
soldiers in a position of informational superiority through a tactical
radio network that would 'link' everyone together on the battlefield.
"Project WAND, for Wireless Adaptive Network Development, will exploit
commercial radio components, rather than custom ones, and use a variety
of software techniques and algorithms, many of them only just now
emerging in mature form. These $500 walkie-talkie-size radios will form
large-scale, peer-to-peer ad hoc nets, which can shift frequencies,
sidestep interference, and handle a range of events that today completely
disrupt wireless communications ... [right now] 'The average soldier on
the ground doesn't have a radio,' says Jason Redi, principle scientist
for BBN's network technologies group, and the man overseeing the software
work. Radios are reserved for platoon and company commanders, in part
because of their cost: typically $15,000 to $20,000 each, with
vehicle-mounted radios reaching $80,000."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/0427257
Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/110107-wand.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Belated Halloween History - Monsters Edition |
| from the blah-blah dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @04:30 (It's funny. Laug|
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/01/2120228
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]uriah923 writes "Nick Dilmore has published the second edition in his
Snarky Halloween History series, featured [1]on Slashdot last year. This
time around, [2]he concentrates on movie monsters: vampires, werewolves
and zombies. From the article: '[D]id you know the movie monsters we've
all to come to know and love (in a platonic way, of course) have colorful
histories stretching back to the earliest civilizations? What, you didn't
think some Hollywood hack actually had enough imagination to invent
vampires, werewolves, and zombies, did you? Silly, silly
non-monster-trivia knowing person.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/01/2120228
Links:
0. http://www.artbyhansen.com/
1. http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/31/2033233&tid=133
2. http://www.omninerd.com/articles/A_Snarky_Halloween_History_Scary_Monsters_Edition
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Denies Sabotaging Mandriva Linux PC Deal |
| from the fair-market-etc-etc dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @06:19 (Mandriva) |
|
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/0413214
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has [0]denied sabotaging Mandriva's
deal with the Nigerian government to supply Classmate PCs from Intel
along with a customized Mandriva Linux operating system. 'From
Microsoft's perspective it's a matter of choice. In the statement sent to
InternetNews.com, Microsoft said it believes individuals, governments and
other organizations should be free to choose the software and other
technologies that best meet their needs. "We are seeing strong market
demand for Windows on low-cost devices to help governments in the areas
of education, local innovation, and jobs and opportunity," the Microsoft
spokesperson said in the statement.' The company's denial is in response
to Mandriva's CEO Francois Bancilhon [1]expression of disappointment with
Microsoft."
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/0413214
Links:
0. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3708961
1. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/01/1331202&tid=147
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Study Says P2P Downloaders Buy More Music |
| from the not-all-that-kooky dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @07:17 (Music) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/048256
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist posts to his site about a study
commissioned by the Canadian government intended to [0]look into the
buying habits of music fans. What the study found is that 'there is a
positive correlation between peer-to-peer downloading and CD purchasing.'
The report is entitled [1]The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P
File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study For Industry Canada, and
it was 'conducted collaboratively by two professors from the University
of London, Industry Canada, and Decima Research, who surveyed over 2,000
Canadians on their music downloading and purchasing habits. The authors
believe this is the first ever empirical study to employ representative
microeconomic data.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/048256
Links:
0. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2347/125/
1. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/en/h_ip01456e.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Database Finds Fugitive After 35 Years |
| from the can-run-but-cannot-hide dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday November 03, @09:17 (The Courts)|
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1049254
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian has a story on a woman who was
claims she is innocent and was apprehended 35 years after escaping prison
by a [1]computer database created by the Department of Homeland Security.
Linda Darby was convicted of killing her husband in 1970 and sentenced to
life at an Indiana prison but escaped two years later by climbing over a
barbed-wire fence at the Indiana Women's Prison. She knocked on a
stranger's door in Indianapolis, telling the woman who answered that her
cuts and scratches were from a fight with her boyfriend. In Indianapolis
she met the man who would become her third husband and moved to his
hometown of Pulaski, where they raised their two children and watched
eight grandchildren grow up. As Linda Jo McElroy, she used a similar date
of birth and social security number to her real ones which allowed a
computer database created by the Department of Homeland Security to
identify her. Darby says she is innocent and fled prison because she did
not want to serve time for another person's crime."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1049254
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7010883,00.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The New School of Videographers |
| from the film-it-yourself dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday November 03, @10:13 (Movies) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1055234
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Provataki writes "This editorial discusses the [0]impending explosion of
hobbyist artistic videographers, in the same way that happened with
digital photography just a few short years ago. The article claims that
it's time camera manufacturers create camcorders equivalent in principle
to the cheap DSLRs that we currently enjoy. Some beautiful HD footage,
shot by amateurs, is shown too."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1055234
Links:
0. http://www.osnews.com/story.php/18870/The-New-School-of-Videographers/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ICANN Elects Peter Dengate-Thrush as New Chairman |
| from the changing-of-the-guard dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday November 03, @11:11 (The Interne|
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1059223
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Peter Dengate-Thrush, a New Zealand lawyer,
has been elected unanimously as the [0]new Chairman of the Board of the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. "I am delighted that
my colleagues have placed their confidence in me for this challenging and
important role," Dengate Thrush said. Peter practices civil litigation,
specializing in intellectual property, competition, and Internet law. He
has been involved in ICANN since its inception. As a member of the Boston
Working Group, he provided comment in 1998 on the early drafts of the
ICANN bylaws, and he co-chaired one of the pre-formation meetings of the
Intellectual Property Constituency in Wellington, New Zealand."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1059223
Links:
0. http://techluver.com/2007/11/02/icann-elects-peter-dengate-thrush-to-replace-vint-cerf/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Emailed Threats Less Crazy Than Snail Mail |
| from the well-on-the-whole-at-least dept. |
| posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday November 03, @12:02 (Communicati|
|
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/114234
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
SoyChemist writes "Psychologists at the University of Nebraska have
[0]read 300 threatening letters and 99 angry emails to members of
Congress. They concluded that the authors of the electronic messages show
less signs of serious mental illness, but they are more profane and
disorganized. The report was published in the September issue of the
Journal of Forensic Sciences."
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/114234
Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/psychologists-e.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google As The Next Microsoft? |
| from the yeah-he-went-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @13:43 (Google) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1725205
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]theodp writes "In this week's missive, Robert X. Cringely argues that
[1]Google is starting to look a bit like Microsoft. The search giant is
learning too well from the master, says Cringely, noting that Google's
launch of Goog-411 after taking a long look at investing in or acquiring
Free411.com under an NDA is straight out of an old Microsoft playbook.
Cringely goes on to note that Google has a problem with algorithmic
optimization gone mad ([2]seconded by Newsweek), which is [3]wreaking
havoc on some AdWords customers who may find themselves out of business
before they can get Google to do the right thing. Cringely concedes that
Google's inability to follow through because of IT failings may not have
been learned from Microsoft ��� it may just be an inevitable part of having
an IT monopoly."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1725205
Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20071102_003354.html
2. http://www.newsweek.com/id/67590
3. http://www.ppcthink.com/category/ppc-advertising/google-adwords/google-adwords-problems
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ten Strangely Cruel Science Experiments |
| from the cruel-but-hilarious dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @14:34 (Books) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1730257
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]aalobode writes "The Times of London has a current story based on the
review of a book by Alex Boase, Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre
Experiments. There they list the top science experiments ��� including the
one from which the book gets its name ��� that were conducted by otherwise
sane humans who [1]tragically or otherwise ignored the effect of their
research on the subjects themselves. Nowadays, most institutions have a
review board for research on human subjects which would flag most
proposals that could lead to harm for the subjects, but not so in the
past. 'Another 1960s experiment, in which ten soldiers on a training
flight were told by the pilot that the aircraft was disabled, and about
to ditch in the ocean. They were then required to fill in insurance forms
before the crash -- ostensibly so the Army was not financially liable for
any deaths or injuries. They were actually unwitting participants in an
experiment: the plane was not crippled at all. It revealed that fear of
imminent death indeed causes soldiers to make more mistakes than usual
when filling in forms.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1730257
Links:
0. mailto:aalobous@yahoo.com
1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2779808.ece?OTC-HPtoppuff&ATTR=elephants
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cross-Selling Online Scams and Security Issues |
| from the keep-it-secret-keep-it-safe dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @15:41 (Privacy) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1739227
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "The site 12 Angry Men recently published a
discussion of a widely used but [0]little-known online scam called
'cross-selling'. Essentially, after-sale shops cut deals with shady
online retailers in an attempt to make a quick buck off of you after
you've already bought something. 'What actually happens is that instead
of linking to the site as a separate session, they link internally as
another page in the same session. Why is this important? When you do a
credit card transaction, any reputable company will attempt to protect
your credit card data. They do this by establishing an SSL session to
encrypt sensitive data on-line.' What makes everything even more
interesting is that now the company has [1]responded, with the usual
white washing and meaningless statements."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1739227
Links:
0. http://12angrymen.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/caveat-emptor-use-of-credit-cards-on-line/
1. http://12angrymen.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/caveat-emptor-use-of-credit-cards-on-line/#comment-4675
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A New Way To Make Water, And Fuel Cells |
| from the it's-in-the-drinking-water dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @16:40 (Power) |
|
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/2042256
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "You probably know that it is easy to
combine hydrogen and oxygen to make water. After all, this chemical
reaction is known for more than two centuries. But now, researchers at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have discovered
[1]a new way to make water. As states the UIUC report, 'not only can they
make water from unlikely starting materials, such as alcohols, their work
could also lead to better catalysts and less expensive fuel cells.' But
be warned: don't read the technical paper itself. It could win an
obfuscated contest ��� if such a contest existed for scientific papers."
Yet another advance in fuel cell technology; we discussed [2]a different
one just the other day.
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/2042256
Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2007/11/03.html
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/uoia-sdn103107.php
2. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/02/2028219&tid=232
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First RIAA Case Victim Finally Speaks Out |
| from the bad-couple-of-years dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @17:23 (Privacy) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/2050216
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes with a link to an article at P2P Net about the
very first victim of the RIAA's file-sharing litigation sweep. The site
gave Jammie Thomas the chance to [0]explain in her own words what the
last two years have been like. She recounts her experiances with
subpoenas, Best Buy, and most of all, stress. Even after all this time,
her case is still in legal limbo: "As for what's next, my attorney filed
a motion to have the verdict thrown out or to have the judgment reduced
based on the constitutionality of the judgment. This is not an appeal,
this is a post trial motion. We are currently waiting for the plaintiffs
to file their response to our motion. The judge will not make a decision
on that motion until after the plaintiffs have filed. The timeline for
appeals is we have 30 days after the judge decides all post trial motions
before we file any appeals ... I do know personally I cannot allow my
case to end this way, with this judgment. My case will be used as a
sledgehammer by the RIAA to force other people caught in the RIAA's
driftnets to settle, even if they are or are not guilty of illegally
sharing music online."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/2050216
Links:
0. http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13882
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Datacenter Robbed for the Fourth Time in Two Years |
| from the that's-quite-a-router-failure dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @18:36 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/2054208
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]mariushm writes "According to the Register, the Chicago-based
colocation datacenter C I Host was attacked by armed intruders recently,
making it the [1]the fourth time in two years that armed thugs have made
off with data. According to a letter C I Host officials sent customers,
'At least two masked intruders entered the suite after cutting into the
reinforced walls with a power saw ... During the robbery, C I Host's
night manager was repeatedly tazered and struck with a blunt instrument.
After violently attacking the manager, the intruders stole equipment
belonging to C I Host and its customers.' Aggravating the situation, C I
Host representatives took several days to admit the most recent breach,
according to [2]several customers who said they lost equipment, all the
while reporting the problems as 'router failures'."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/2054208
Links:
0. http://www.helpedia.com/
1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/02/chicaco_datacenter_breaches/
2. http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=639284
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Stix Scientific Fonts Reach Beta Release |
| from the make-sure-to-!-after-the-word-science dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday November 03, @19:33 (Software) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/03/1740245
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
starseeker writes "At long last, the [0]STIX project has posted a [1]Beta
release of their scientific fonts. The mission of the STIX project has
been the 'preparation of a comprehensive set of fonts that serve the
scientific and engineering community in the process from manuscript
creation through final publication, both in electronic and print
formats.' The result is a font set containing thousands of characters,
and hopefully a font set that will become a staple for scientific
publishing. Among other uses, it has long been hoped that this would make
the wide scale use of MathML in browsers possible. Despite [2]rather long
delays the project has persisted and is now showing concrete results."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/03/1740245
Links:
0. http://www.stixfonts.org/
1. http://www.aip.org/stixfonts/font_download.jsp
2. http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/18/1221242&tid=162
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
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