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and reduce the chances of data reaching the wrong eyes. Examine
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* FTC Rules Outlawing Robocalls Go Into Effect Next Week
* Big, Beautiful Boxes From Computer History
* Spotify Wins iPhone App Store Approval
* FBI Investigating Mystery Laptops Sent To US Governors
* Slackware 13.0 Released
* IBM Images a Single Molecule
* We're In the Midst of a Literacy Revolution
* Treasured "Moon Rock" Is Petrified Wood
* Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy
* Apple Faces Inquiries In the EU On iPhone Accidents
* Emergency Government Control of the Internet?
* Swedish Regulators Ban Word "Bank" In Domain Names For Non-Banks
* Publisher Whining Prompts Italian Investigation of Google
* Oracle To Sell Sun's Hardware Business To HP?
* NVIDIA Predicts 570x GPU Performance Boost
* Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute"
* Court of Appeals Rejects FCC's Cable Subscriber Cap
* Making an Open Source Project Press-Friendly
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FTC Rules Outlawing Robocalls Go Into Effect Next Week |
| from the not-a-moment-too-soon dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday August 27, @22:34 (Communications) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/0114214/FTC-Rules-Outlawing-Robocalls-Go-Into-Effec|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]coondoggie writes "Nearly a year after announcing the plan, new
Federal Trade Commission [1]rules prohibiting most robocalls are set to
take effect Tuesday, Sept. 1. With the rules, prerecorded commercial
telemarketing robocalls will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has
obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such
calls. Hopefully the rules will go a long way to helping consumers eat
dinner in peace without being interrupted by amazingly annoying
telemarketer blather or in this case prerecorded blather. The requirement
is part of amendments to the agency's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that
were announced a year ago. After September 1, sellers and telemarketers
who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in
writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per
call."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/0114214
Links:
0. mailto:mcooney@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/44776
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Big, Beautiful Boxes From Computer History |
| from the know-your-past dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Friday August 28, @01:42 (Hardware) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/0341209/Big-Beautiful-Boxes-From-Computer-Hist|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Slatterz writes "We might sometimes complain about the limitations of
today's technology, but there's nothing like seeing photos of a 27Kg hard
drive with a capacity of 5MB to put things into perspective. PC Authority
has toured the Computer History Museum in California, and has posted
[0]these fascinating photos, including monster 27Kg and 60Kg drives, and
a SAGE air-defense system. Each SAGE housed an A/N FSQ-7 computer, which
had around 60,000 vacuum tubes. IBM constructed the hardware, and each
computer occupied a huge amount of space. From its completion in 1954 it
analyzed radar data in real-time, to provide a complete picture of US
Airspace during the cold war. Other interesting photos and trivia include
some giant early IBM disc platters, and pics of a curvaceous Cray-1
supercomputer, built in 1972. It was the fastest machine in the world
until 1977 and an icon for decades. It cost a mere $6 million, and could
perform at 160MFLOPS ��� which your phone can now comfortably manage."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/0341209
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Spotify Wins iPhone App Store Approval |
| from the there's-a-cream-for-that dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday August 28, @04:53 (Media (Apple)) |
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/0424242/Spotify-Wins-iPhone-App-Store-Approval |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]angry tapir writes "Apple has [1]approved a streaming music
application from Spotify for use on the iPhone, even though the program
will compete with Apple's own iTunes service. Spotify is an
advertising-supported music service that lets end-users stream music to
their computers free of charge. The service is available in the U.K. and
by invitation in countries including Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and
Spain. Users can opt to pay for a version of the service without ads."
[2]The BBC also has a story on the app's acceptance.
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/0424242
Links:
0. http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/
1. http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/316550
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8225731.stm
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FBI Investigating Mystery Laptops Sent To US Governors |
| from the send-a-few-to-me dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday August 28, @07:59 (Portables) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/0210225/FBI-Investigating-Mystery-Laptops-Sent|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]itwbennett writes "The FBI is trying to find out who is [1]sending
laptops to state governors across the US, including the governors of
Wyoming and West Virginia. The West Virginia laptops were [2]delivered to
the governor's office on August 5, according to the Charleston Gazette,
which first reported the story. Kyle Schafer, West Virginia's chief
technology officer, says he doesn't know what's on the laptops, but he
handed them over to the authorities. 'Our expectation is that this is not
a gesture of good will,' he said. 'People don't just send you five
laptops for no good reason.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/0210225
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/government/75885/fbi-investigating-laptops-sent-us-governors
2. http://wvgazette.com/News/politics/200908240818
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Slackware 13.0 Released |
| from the fresh-bits dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday August 28, @08:49 (Upgrades) |
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1057219/Slackware-130-Released |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
willy everlearn and several other readers let us know that [0]Slackware
13.0 is out. 'Wed Aug 26 10:00:38 CDT 2009: Slackware 13.0 x86_64 is
released as stable! Thanks to everyone who helped make this release
possible ��� see the [1]RELEASE_NOTES for the credits. The ISOs are off to
the replicator. This time it will be a 6 CD-ROM 32-bit set and a
dual-sided 32-bit/64-bit x86/x86_64 DVD. We're taking pre-orders now at
store.slackware.com. Please consider picking up a copy to help support
the project. Once again, thanks to the entire Slackware community for all
the help testing and fixing things and offering suggestions during this
development cycle. As always, have fun and enjoy!'
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1057219
Links:
0. http://www.slackware.com/announce/13.0.php
1. http://www.slackware.com/releasenotes/13.0.php
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM Images a Single Molecule |
| from the blow-it-up dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday August 28, @09:39 (IBM) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1119203/IBM-Images-a-Single-Molecule |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
chrb writes "New Scientist is reporting that researchers at IBM Zurich
have managed to [0]image a single molecule in detail for the first time.
In the images of a [1]pentacene molecule, the bonds between the carbon
atoms are visible as [2]five linked rings."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1119203
Links:
0. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17699-microscopes-zoom-in-on-molecules-at-last.html
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacene
2. http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn17699/dn17699-1_300.jpg
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| We're In the Midst of a Literacy Revolution |
| from the write-on dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday August 28, @10:30 (Social Networks) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1147215/Were-In-the-Midst-of-a-Literacy-Revolut|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Mike Sauter sends in a piece from Wired profiling research by Andrea
Lunsford, a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford, from which she
concludes that we don't need to worry about computers and the Internet
causing a decline in general literacy. "[Lunsford] has organized a
mammoth project called the Stanford Study of Writing to scrutinize
college students' prose. From 2001 to 2006, she collected 14,672 student
writing samples ��� everything from in-class assignments, formal essays,
and journal entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions. Her
conclusions are stirring. 'I think we're in the midst of a literacy
revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization,'
she says. For Lunsford, [1]technology isn't killing our ability to write.
It's reviving it ��� and pushing our literacy in bold new directions."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1147215
Links:
0. mailto:mikesauter@dartmouth.edu
1. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Treasured "Moon Rock" Is Petrified Wood |
| from the keep-yer-hands-off-my-treasure dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Friday August 28, @11:11 (It's funny. Laugh.) |
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/143242/Treasured-Moon-Rock-Is-Petrified-Wood |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that a treasured piece at the Dutch
national museum ��� a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar
landing given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill
tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission
in 1969 ��� has [1]been revealed as nothing more than petrified wood,
curators say. A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted
and placed above a plaque that said, 'With the compliments of the
Ambassador of the United States of America... to commemorate the visit to
The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts.' The plaque does not specify
that the rock came from the moon's surface. Researchers from Amsterdam's
Free University said they could see at a glance [2]the rock was probably
not from the moon. They followed the initial appraisal up with extensive
testing. 'It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone,' wrote
Geologist Frank Beunk in an article published by the museum. Beunk says
the rock, which the museum at one point insured for more than half a
million dollars, was worth no more than $70. The 'rock' had originally
been been vetted through a phone call to NASA. As the US Embassy in the
Hague said it was investigating the matter, the Rijksmuseum says it will
keep the piece as a curiosity."
Discuss this story at:
http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/143242
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8226075.stm
2. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jgUR6kCStlEz2Q4WaUiaXKi6gyCgD9AB9TC81
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Homeland Security Changes Laptop Search Policy |
| from the beatings-will-continue-until-morale-improves dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday August 28, @12:13 (Privacy) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1216200/Homeland-Security-Changes-Laptop-Search-Pol|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]IronicToo writes "The US Government has [1]updated its policy on the
search and seizure of laptops at border crossing. 'The long-criticized
practice of searching travelers' electronic devices will continue, but a
supervisor now would need to approve holding a device for more than five
days. Any copies of information taken from travelers' machines would be
destroyed within days if there were no legal reason to hold the
information.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1216200
Links:
0. http://www.samuelbarnes.net/
1. http://www.physorg.com/news170619757.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple Faces Inquiries In the EU On iPhone Accidents |
| from the or-are-you-just-glad-to-see-me dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday August 28, @13:03 (Handhelds) |
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1535243/Apple-Faces-Inquiries-In-the-EU-On-iPhone|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
o'reor writes "As [0]more cases of iPhone screen explosions emerge in the
news on this side of the pond, Apple is now [1]facing official inquiries
and lawsuits in France. This situation has forced Apple finally to break
silence and acknowledge the incidents: 'We are aware of these reports and
we are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers. Until we have
the full details, we don't have anything further to add.' Following those
reports, the [2]European Commission had already decided last week to step
in, while Apple tried to dismiss the problem as 'isolated incidents.'
Meanwhile, [3]iPhone explosion-related sites are now popping up on the
Internet, releasing games such as [4]iPop to chill out and relax on the
subject, but also giving users advice on preventing iPhone accidents, or
[5]detecting imminent explosions."
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1535243
Links:
0. http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/26592/another-exploding-iphone-reported-france
1. http://livenews.com.au/geek/apple-forced-to-defend-safety-of-iphone-after-explosion-reports/2009/8/27/217487
2. http://www.thedigitalnewsroom.com/en/News/2450/iPhone_accidents_Apple_plays_for_time_with_Brussels.htm
3. http://www.makeipodsafe.com/exploding_ipod.html
4. http://www.makeipodsafe.com/
5. http://www.makeipodsafe.com/get_to_know_when_your_iphone_is_about_to_explode.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Emergency Government Control of the Internet? |
| from the big-brother-bigger-than-ever dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @13:58 (Government) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1659257/Emergency-Government-Control-of-the-Interne|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
TheZid writes "A newly proposed bill would give Uncle Sam the power to
disconnect private sector computers from the internet in the event of a '[0]cyber
security emergency.' As usual, our government is trying to take away our
privacy by citing security. What actually counts as a 'Cyber-Security
Emergency?' Does the president now have the option of disconnecting
people when they disagree with his policies? How about disconnecting
bloggers that criticize his health care reform? What counts as an
emergency? Can political opponents be deemed a cyber-security emergency?"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1659257
Links:
0. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Swedish Regulators Ban Word "Bank" In Domain Names For Non-Banks |
| from the nanny-state-to-the-rescue dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @14:42 (Censorship) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1541200/Swedish-Regulators-Ban-Word-Bank-In-Domain-|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
It seems that Swedish regulators have decided to extend the requirement
of not calling yourself a bank to the registration of domain names. Now
anyone that tries to register a .SE domain name with the word "bank" in
it will need to [0]prove they are a legitimate bank. Hopefully there are
no blood banks or anyone with the last name of "Banks" that might want a
.SE domain. Here is a Google translation of the [1]demand issued by the
authorities to the .SE registry.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1541200
Links:
0. http://techdirt.com/articles/20090827/1929016027.shtml
1. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pts.se%2Fupload%2FBeslut%2FInternet%2F2009%2F09-6818-underrattelse-se-090827.pdf
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Publisher Whining Prompts Italian Investigation of Google |
| from the sounds-like-pure-unadulterated-greed-to-me dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @15:33 (Google) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/156238/Publisher-Whining-Prompts-Italian-Investigat|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Complaints about "lack of transparency" from publishers have prompted
Italian competition authorities to begin an [0]investigation of Google's
search and news services. I'm sure their motives are completely
altruistic. "Because Google does not disclose the criteria for ranking
news articles or search results, he said, newspapers are unable to hone
their content to try to earn more revenue from online advertising. Ad
revenue on the Web is directly proportional to the size of the audience,
which is heavily influenced by search or Google News rankings."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/156238
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Oracle To Sell Sun's Hardware Business To HP? |
| from the playing-hard-to-get dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @16:25 (Businesses) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/180244/Oracle-To-Sell-Suns-Hardware-Business-T|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Underholdning writes "With the [1]DOJ approving Oracle's Sun buyout
the question arises what Oracle might want to do with Sun's hardware
business. It's no secret that what Oracle wanted was the software part.
Now The Inquirer is running a story claiming that [2]Oracle will sell the
hardware business of Sun to HP. This will give Oracle a juicy check while
HP can increase its services. Larry Ellison denies that it will take
place, but a source for CNN claims otherwise."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/180244
Links:
0. http://www.underholdning.info/
1. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/09/08/23/125211/DOJ-Gives-Oracle-Approval-To-Buy-Sun
2. http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1531798/oracle-sell-sun-hardware-busiiness-hp
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA Predicts 570x GPU Performance Boost |
| from the lets-talk-about-diminishing-returns dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @17:17 (Graphics) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1821207/NVIDIA-Predicts-570x-GPU-Performance-B|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Gianna Borgnine writes "NVIDIA is predicting that GPU performance is
going to increase a whopping [1]570-fold in the next six years. According
to TG Daily, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang made the prediction at this year's
Hot Chips symposium. Huang claimed that while the performance of GPU
silicon is heading for a monumental increase in the next six years ���
making it 570 times faster than the products available today ��� CPU
technology will find itself lagging behind, increasing to a mere 3 times
current performance levels. 'Huang also discussed a number of
"real-world" GPU applications, including energy exploration, interactive
ray tracing and CGI simulations.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1821207
Links:
0. mailto:gianna@changingworldsbuildingdreams.com
1. http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43745/135/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute" |
| from the natural-selection-working-just-fine dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 28, @18:08 (Security) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/1952211/Crime-Expert-Backs-Call-For-License-To-Com|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Cable Guy writes to mention that Russel Smith, one of Australia's
principal criminologists, is pushing for first-time computer users to be
required to [0]earn a license to browse the web. "The Australian Computer
Society launched computer driver's licenses in 1999. It aimed to give
users a basic level of competency before they started using PCs. But the
growth in cybercrime has led to IT security experts such as Eugene
Kaspersky to call for more formalized recognition of a user's identity so
they can travel the net safely. Last week Dr. Smith sat in front of a
Federal Government Inquiry into cybercrime and advised Australia's senior
politicians on initiatives in train to fight cybercrime. He said that
education was secondary to better technology solutions."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/1952211
Links:
0. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/154129,crime-expert-backs-calls-for-licence-to-compute.aspx
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Court of Appeals Rejects FCC's Cable Subscriber Cap |
| from the pack-'em-in dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday August 28, @18:59 (Government) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/2213208/Court-of-Appeals-Rejects-FCCs-Cable-Subscri|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
olsmeister writes "The US Court of Appeals Friday [0]threw out the FCC's
cap on the number of cable subscribers one operator can serve, saying the
FCC was 'derelict' in not giving DBS its due as a legitimate competitor.
'We agree with Comcast that the 30% subscriber limit is arbitrary and
capricious. We therefore grant the petition and vacate the Rule,' said
the court, which concluded that there was ample evidence of an
increasingly competitive communications marketplace and that cable did
not have undue control on the programming pipeline. The [1]FCC
commissioner's statement (PDF) is available online."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/2213208
Links:
0. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/338735-Court_Throws_Out_FCC_s_Cable_Subscriber_Cap.php
1. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-293152A1.pdf
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Making an Open Source Project Press-Friendly |
| from the spreading-the-word dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday August 28, @19:57 (Software) |
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/09/08/28/2311243/Making-an-Open-Source-Project-Press-Friend|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]blackbearnh writes "Corporations know that part of launching a
successful project is projecting the right image to the media. But a lot
of open source projects seem to treat the press as an annoyance, if they
think about it at all. For a reporter, even finding someone on a project
who's willing to talk about it can be a challenge. Esther Schindler over
at IT World has a summary of a roundtable discussion that was held at
OSCON with pointers about [1]how open source projects can be more
reporter-accessible. 'Recognize that we are on deadline, which for most
news journalists means posting the article within a couple of hours and
for feature authors within a couple of days. If we ask for input, or a
quote, or anything to which your project spokesperson (you do have one?
yes? please say yes) might want to respond, it generally does mean, "Drop
everything and answer us now." If the journalist doesn't give you a
deadline ("I need to know by 2pm"), it's okay to ask how long you can
take to reach the right developer in Poland, but err on the side of
"emergency response." It's unreasonable, I know, but so are our
deadlines.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/08/28/2311243
Links:
0. http://www.blackbear.biz/
1. http://www.itworld.com/open-source/76011/four-things-open-source-projects-should-know-about-dealing-press
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