http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2009, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2009-12-19T17:13:04+00:00 Geeknet, Inc. help@slashdot.org Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/topicslashdot.gif http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl //slashdot.org/submission/1132926/Gravity-explained-as-not-a-force?from=rss The Dutch theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde proposed a remarkable simple theory which explains gravity as a statistical phenomenon resulting from different concentrations of information in empty spaces between masses. If it holds the magnitude of this new theory is of the same order as Einstein's introduction of the relativity theory and would result in a rewrite of all secondary education physics books. 'Gravity is not a fundamental force. It emergences from a deeper microscopic reality' he stated in a newspaper article (Dutch, Google translated). Simple Newtonian laws like the law of motion (F=m*a) can be easily derived from the new theory. So far his colleagues have stated to be intrigued rather than sceptic. The implications for other theories such as the unification theory are enormous. sciencewatcher 2009-12-12T22:51:17+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1136772/Insurgent-Attacks-Follow-Mathematical-Pattern?from=rss Nature reports that data collected on the timing of attacks and number of casualties from more than 54,000 events across nine insurgent wars, including those fought in Iraq between 2003 and 2008 and in Sierra Leone between 1994 and 2003 suggests that insurgencies have a common underlying pattern that may allow the timing of attacks and the number of casualties to be predicted. By plotting the distribution of the frequency and size of events, the team found that insurgent wars follow an approximate power law, in which the frequency of attacks decreases with increasing attack size to the power of 2.5. That means that for any insurgent war, an attack with 10 casualties is 316 times more likely to occur than one with 100 casualties (316 is 10 to the power of 2.5). "We found that the way in which humans do insurgent wars — that is, the number of casualties and the timing of events — is universal," says team leader Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami in Florida. "This changes the way we think insurgency works." To explain what was driving this common pattern, the researchers created a mathematical model that assumes that insurgent groups form and fragment when they sense danger, and strike in well-timed bursts to maximize their media exposure. Johnson is now working to predict how the insurgency in Afghanistan might respond to the influx of foreign troops recently announced by US President Barack Obama. "We do observe a complicated pattern that has to do with the way humans do violence in some collective way," adds Johnson. pickens 2009-12-18T20:42:23+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1132934/DIY-book-scanner?from=rss Daniel Reetz did not want to lug around heavy textbooks, so he built a book scanner to create digital copies. azoblue 2009-12-12T23:06:47+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1135488/BBC-Lowers-HDTV-bitrate-users-notice?from=rss According to an article on the bbc website, BBC HD lowered the bitrate of their broadcasts by almost 50% and are surprised that users noticed. From the article: "The replacement encoders work at a bitrate of 9.7Mbps (megabits per second), while their predecessors worked at 16Mbps, the standard for other broadcasters". The BBC claims "We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders..." I got a good laugh off of this, but is it really possible to get better quality from a lower bitrate? aws910 2009-12-17T00:21:50+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1132942/How-to-get-back-at-the-noisy-nextdoor-neighbor?from=rss After a long time with that annoying downstairs neighbor playing too loud music, I've been contemplating HOW to deal with it, being a teenager AND a female — you know the drill — asking nicely is NOT an option, teenagers usually get angry because you should NOT tell them what to do etc...so I came up with a quite devious way to solve the issue, and the trick is fighting fire with fire, for once :)Here's how I did it:I made a small low-frequency microphone amplifier, hot glued an electret microphone to the floor, and made sure there were no leaks around the microphone (to avoid audio-feedback). I connected this to an active subwoofer (this is a subwoofer that has an power amplifier built in, typically the thing you have in your average surround amplifier, and placed the subwoofer in the room next door to the mike (to avoid feedback!). Now — it's very important to disconnect any surround speakers as you ONLY want the BASS to distribute into the structure of the building itself, this makes it IMPOSSIBLE to locate the sound from YOUR flat, and the penetrating middle-tones that comes from your noisy neighbors stereo — will reveal that it is YOUR NEIGHBOR that plays the loud music.It worked flawlessly, the entire building shook with the sound of the neighbors stereo, and the teenager had to turn down the sound several times due to multiple complaints from the ENTIRE neighborhood.Revenge is SOO sweet ;) MindPrison 2009-12-13T00:01:47+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1137134/Colliding-Auroras-Produce-Explosions-of?from=rss Another neat discovery from the lab of Larry Lyons at UCLA. As reported earlier on Slashdot, Lyons' group studies the dynamics of auroras. Their most recent discovery reveals for the first time the sequence of events leading to dramatic space-weather disturbances. Using a network of cameras deployed around the Arctic in support of NASA's THEMIS mission, they recorded over 200 instances of aurora's colliding, causing brillant displays of northern lights (See time 8:22 for such an example). elyons 2009-12-19T16:17:42+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1134760/Judge-orders-permanent-injunction-against-Psystar?from=rss It appears to be the end of the road for infamous Mac-clone maker Psystar, as a federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against the company, banning it from selling its OS X-based hardware products, following November's ruling that Psystar was guilty of copyright infringement under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Specifically, Judge William Alsup's ruling prevents Psystar from "copying, selling, offering to sell, distributing or creating derivative works of Mac OS X without authorization from Apple; circumventing any technological measure that effectively controls access Mac OS X; or doing anything to circumvent the rights held by Apple under the Copyright Act with respect to Mac OS X". The ruling does not include Psystar's Rebel EFI software, which (in theory) allows users to boot OS X onto any computer, but Alsup said that too would be unlikely to stand up in court if Apple decides to make a formal challenge. AdmiralXyz 2009-12-16T01:49:09+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1136222/Ten-years-of-NET---did-Microsoft-deliver?from=rss Interesting snippet from this article from The Register: "If the goal of .NET was to see off Java, it was at least partially successful. Java did not die, but enterprise Java became mired in complexity, making .NET an easy sell as a more productive alternative. C# has steadily grown in popularity, and is now the first choice for most Windows development. ASP.NET has been a popular business web framework. The common language runtime has proved robust and flexible." The article also continues: "Job trend figures here show steadily increasing demand for C#, which is now mentioned in around 32 per cent of UK IT programming vacancies, ahead of Java at 26 per cent." cyclocommuter 2009-12-18T01:17:32+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133114/Facebook-Founders-Pictures-Go-Public?from=rss In a not-uncommon development for the social-networking leader, Facebook's recently released privacy controls are leaving the company a bit red-faced. As a result of a new policy that by default makes users' profiles, photos and friends lists available on the web, almost 300 personal photos of founder Mark Zuckerberg became publicly available, a development that had gossip sites like Gawker yukking it up.related story jamie 2009-12-13T14:22:23+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1135446/Russians-Claim-More-Climate-Data-Was-Manipulated?from=rss On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) claimed that the Hadley Center for Climate Change had probably tampered with Russian-climate data. The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations. The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley CRU survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century. DustyShadow 2009-12-16T22:27:24+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133104/Secret-Copyright-Treaty-Timeline-Shows-Global-DMCA?from=rss Michael Geist, a leading critic of the ACTA secret copyright treaty, has produced a new interactive timeline that traces its development. The timeline includes links to leaked documents, videos, and public interest group letters that should increasing concern with a deal that could lead to a global three-strikes and you're out policy. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-13T14:06:07+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1134018/22-million-missing-Bush-emails-found?from=rss Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days' worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system. The article goes on to describe to say the tally of missing e-mails, the additional searches and the settlement are the latest development in a political controversy that stemmed from the Bush White House's failure to install a properly working electronic record keeping system. Earlier /. had a discussion on the Obama White House opposing the lawsuit that lead to this discovery. ctmurray 2009-12-15T04:29:38+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133066/Microsoft-Encroaching-on-Spanish-Schools-Again?from=rss Microsoft had lost the single Windows booting option in school computers in Spain some time ago. But now they are getting back: The Spanish Government announced in a surprising move that an agreement with Microsoft has been signed to give out laptops to primary schoolchildren next year. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-13T10:49:27+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1132930/MySpaceImeem-Deal-Leaves-Artists-Unpaid?from=rss Independent artists who sold their music through imeem’s Snocap music storefronts on MySpace and other sites won’t be paid what’s owed even after MySpace Music’s acquisition of imeem. azoblue 2009-12-12T22:56:10+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133012/Microsoft-eOpen-site-down-for-nearly-a-week-so-far?from=rss Since last Monday, Dec. 7th, the Microsoft eOpen license website has been mostly "Down for Maintenance".When we do not see this message, we still do not see most of the normal functionality.As this is Microsoft's main channel for managing and installing licenses for products such as Server, and fo open License products for business,this makes the company effectively "closed for business" !Attempts to connect to: https://eopen.microsoft.com/Are redirected to:https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/sitemaintenance.htmlFor those who wish to activate Microsoft Business Solutions software need to obtain Software Registration keys,and these also can not be obtained, as the site:http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions/MBSRegistrationdoes not resolve, instead one gets a Microsoft Search page when we attempt to go to the Registration Keys site!Telephone calls to their support numbers for the licensing program yield either busy signals, or a message saying one should "call back later!! mauriceh 2009-12-13T06:27:30+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1135686/Mozilla-Firefox-Mobile-will-kill-app-stores?from=rss Mozilla claims that its new Firefox Mobile browser could be the beginning of the end for the hugely popular app stores created by Apple and its ilk. Mozilla claims Firefox Mobile will have the fastest Javascript engine of any mobile browser, and that will allow developers to write apps once for the web, instead of multiple versions for the different mobile platforms. "As developers get more frustrated with quality assurance, the amount of handsets they have to buy, whether their security updates will get past the iPhone approval process... I think they'll move to the web," Mozilla's mobile VP, Jay Sullivan, told PC Pro. "In the interim period, apps will be very successful. Over time, the web will win because it always does." Barence 2009-12-17T08:12:28+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1136248/Obama-Backs-New-Launcher-and-Bigger-NASA-Budget?from=rss President Barack Obama will ask Congress next year to fund a new heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the Moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, ScienceInsider has learned. The president chose the new direction for the U.S. human space flight program Wednesday at a White House meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, according to officials familiar with the discussion. NASA would receive an additional $1 billion in 2011 both to get the new launcher on track and to bolster the agency’s fleet of robotic Earth-monitoring spacecraft. coop0030 2009-12-18T02:26:38+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133082/Hollywood-Sets-10-Billion-Box-Office-Record?from=rss Claims by the MPAA that illegal downloads are killing the industry and causing billions in losses are once again being shredded. In 2009, the leading Hollywood studios made more films and generated more revenue than ever before, and for the first time in history the domestic box office grosses will surpass $10 billion. kamikazearun 2009-12-13T12:42:09+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1134800/New-Zealand-Re-introduces-3-Strikes-Law?from=rss The New Zealand government has reintroduced a newly rewritten addition to the Copyright Act which will allow rights' holders to send copyright notices to ISPs, and force them to pass them on to account holders. Section 92A of the Copyright Act will allow rights holders to take people who they have identified as infrigners more than three times to be heard in front of the Copyright Tribunal. This law will allow the Copyright Tribunal to hand down either a $15,000 fine or six months internet disconnection. The law specifies that the account holder himself is responsible for what is downloaded via the account, and doesn't make allowances for identifying the actual copyright infringer if there are multiple computers tied to an account. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-16T04:21:44+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1136914/Chase-rips-off-charities-in-Facebook-Contest?from=rss As reported in the New York Times: Chase Community Giving of Chase Bank recently held a contest on Facebook in which users were encouraged to vote for their favorite charities. At the end of the contest, the 100 charities with the most votes would win $25,000 and advance to the next round to have a chance to win $1 million. Initially, the vote counts for each organization were made public, but two days before voting ended they were hidden, and the final totals have still not been released. While Chase had no official leader board during the voting, several organizations were keeping track of projected winners. Those projections were almost identical to the final results, yet several organizations including Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Marijuana Policy Project and several anti-abortion groups were not finalists. They had been performing very well (some within the top 20) until the vote counters were removed. Chase Bank has so far refused to discuss the issue with the organizations. SSDP has released a press release here and is calling for a boycott. ssv03 2009-12-19T03:59:32+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1136210/Netflix-sued-for-privacy-invasion?from=rss An in-the-closet lesbian mother is suing Netflix for privacy invasion, alleging the movie rental company made it possible for her to be outed when it disclosed insufficiently anonymous information about nearly half-a-million customers as part of its $1 million contest to improve its recommendation system. For instance, if a data set reveals a person’s ZIP code, birthdate and gender, there’s an 87 percent chance that the person can be uniquely identified. azoblue 2009-12-18T00:24:29+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1134970/ASCAP-Seeks-Licensing-Fees-for-Guitar-Hero-Arcade?from=rss According to a post on the Arcade-Museum forums, ASCAP is demanding an annual $800 licensing fee from at least one operator of a Guitar Hero Arcade machine, citing ASCAP licensing regulations regarding jukeboxes. An ASCAP representative allegedly told the operator that she viewed the Guitar Hero machine as a jukebox of sorts. The operator told ASCAP to contact Raw Thrills, the company that sells the arcade units. The case is ongoing and GamePolitics is currently seeking clarification of the story from ASCAP. Self Bias Resistor 2009-12-16T09:12:43+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133216/Office-2003-Bug-Locks-Owners-Out?from=rss A Microsoft Office 2003 bug is locking people out of their own files, specifically those protected with Microsoft's Rights Management Service. Microsoft has a TechNet bulletin on the issue with a fix. It looks like they screwed up and let a certificate expire. There's no information on when the replacement certificate will expire, though, or what will happen then. Anonymous Coward 2009-12-13T21:47:47+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133432/Is-console-gaming-dying?from=rss PC gamers love to obsess over whether PC gaming is dying, but bit-tech thinks it's time to look at the other side and examine if console gaming is really as secure as publishers would have us believe. All three console manufacturers suffered from the recession — this year, Sony announced its first net loss in 14 years; a stunning ¥989.9bn, which includes record losses of ¥58.5bn in its gaming sector. Microsoft also announced its first loss since it went public in 1986 in the second quarter of this financial year, with a $31 million US loss coming straight from the Entertainment and Devices division – i.e those responsible for the Xbox 360. Not even Nintendo has escaped the financial plague either, with sales of the Wii dropping by 67 percent in the US, 60 percent in Japan and 47 percent in the rest of the world. In addition to reduced profitability, casual games and the rise of the iPhone further suggest the current model is on its last legs. mr_sifter 2009-12-14T08:16:26+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1133312/Amazon-Introduces-Bidding-for-EC2-Compute-Time?from=rss It seems Amazon is introducing the concept of bidding for CPU time on EC2. They call these "Spot Instances" and as far as I can tell, the only documentation on it exists in the help content of the Amazon Web Console. ryanvm 2009-12-14T04:48:55+00:00