[Slashdot] Stories for 2008-03-18

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Analysts Forsee Another Banner Year For Videogame Industry
* Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop
* MIT Student Gets Artistic With LED Art
* Vista Service Pack One Almost Here
* What's Your Favorite Monster?
* How The Latest in High Tech Works
* The Net's Effect on Journalism
* Most Spam Comes From Just Six Botnets
* Berners-Lee Rejects Tracking
* Identifying Manipulated Image
* Single Photons Bounced Off Orbiting Satellite
* Young Employees Pose Increasing Risk to Networks
* 100-Year-Old Electric Car Design Makes a Comeback
* Supreme Court to Hear FCC Indecency Case
* Researchers Design Microchip Ten Times More Efficient
* Advanced Rails
* Settlement Reached in Verizon GPL Violation Suit
* Intel Details Nehalem CPU and Larrabee GPU
* Novell's 2004 Case Against Microsoft Moves Forward

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| Analysts Forsee Another Banner Year For Videogame Industry |
| from the banner-that-says-money-money-money dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday March 16, @21:23 (Businesses) |
|

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/16/2341250

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Analysts observing the videogame industry forsee [0]2008 being another
blockbuster year in sales. Sales during the month of February were
considerably up, according to the NPD group. Early in the year is
historically a very slow time in the game sales calendar, making the 34%
jump for the month highly significant. Grand Theft Auto IV is likely to
be an engine for sales throughout the year: "The game, which will be
available on the Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, is expected to
boost sales of both consoles. Pre-orders have been better than expected,
according to its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Michael
Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, expects the game to sell about 9
million units during the company's fiscal year, which ends in October.
Roughly 6 million of this, he added, will be to Xbox 360 owners."

Discuss this story at:

http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/16/2341250

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Video-Game-Sales.html?ref=technology

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop |
| from the swarm-of-hungry-hungry-hippos-not-helping dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday March 16, @23:19 (Biotech) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/16/2347253

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]RickRussellTX writes "The UN reports that a variety of the rust fungus
originally detected in Uganda in 1999 has already spread as far north as
Iran, [1]threatening wheat production across its range. The fungus
infects wheat stems and affects 80% of wheat varieties, putting crops at
risk and threatening the food sources for billions of people across
central Asia. Although scientists believe they can develop resistant
hybrids, the fungus is moving much faster than anticipated and resistant
hybrids may still be years away. Meanwhile, [2]national governments in
the path of the fungus are telling folks that there is nothing to worry
about."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/16/2347253

Links:
0. mailto:rickrussell@gmail.com
1. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25859&Cr=cereal&Cr1=

2. http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31327&Itemid=2

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| MIT Student Gets Artistic With LED Art |
| from the what-are-they-teaching-those-kids-up-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @01:43 (Education) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0347216

|
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Gibbs-Duhem writes "An MIT graduate student has up a page showcasing a
standout art project. [0]He's designed custom LED light fixtures which
are seven times brighter than the closest similar commercial models, and
include colors which can't be reproduced by a normal RGB cluster
(including two ridiculously bright UV LEDs). The result: some beautiful
mixed media artwork. The author's goal is to eventually publish a guide
to make getting into creating such artwork more accessible to the general
public. The site includes lots of great photos and a movie of the art in
action. It also has in depth descriptions of the theory involved in this
relatively new form of art, an explanation of how the paints were chosen,
and an in depth technical discussion of how such lights are designed with
schematics and board layouts for those who might wish to build their own
lights."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0347216

Links:
0. http://web.mit.edu/neltnerb/www/artwork/index.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista Service Pack One Almost Here |
| from the like-a-really-lame-christmas dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @03:38 (Windows) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0354211

|
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arogier writes "After numerous delays and [0]an actual release reversal,
the [1]official release date for Vista service pack one has been set for
Tuesday, March 18th on Windows Update and Microsoft Downloads. It will be
released as an automatic update on April 18th. 'It's unclear so far how a
February snafu will affect SP1's roll-out. Last month, after Microsoft
pushed a pair of prerequisite patches to users, some reported that their
machines refused to finish installing one of the fixes, then went into an
endless series of reboots. Several days later, Microsoft pulled the
update from automatic delivery, said it was working on a solution and
promised it would "make the update available again shortly after we
address the issue."' It would be a good time for those planning to adopt
early to perform requisite backups and locate their restore media."

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0354211

Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/21/1526225&tid=109

1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=windows&articleId=9068818&taxonomyId=125&intsrc=kc_top

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What's Your Favorite Monster? |
| from the always-been-a-fan-of-nessie dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @05:13 (It's funny. Laugh.) |
|

http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0638213

|
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[0]Pickens writes "Mankind has always had a fascination with monsters,
and mythologies from around the world include stories of strange and
terrifying creatures. Examples include the half-bull, half-human Minotaur
of Greek myths, the living clay Golem of Jewish traditions, British elves
and Chinese dragons. Live Science has an interesting photo essay on their
[1]ten favorite monsters that may have a basis in real life. Their
rogue's gallery includes the Ogopogo, a mysterious monster in Canada's
Lake Okanagan; the Chupacabra, that Latin Americans believe is the unholy
result of secret US government experiments in the jungles of Puerto Rico;
and the perennial favorite Bigfoot."

Discuss this story at:

http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0638213

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/

1. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/top-10-monsters-1.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How The Latest in High Tech Works |
| from the all-done-with-mirrors dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @07:29 (Toys) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0659230

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Popular Science has up a feature looking at "how it works", [0]examining
the innards of several new technology-based innovations. We've talked
about [1]the Sayaka endoscope in a pill, but did you know it [2]captures
images in 360 degrees? We've discussed the [3]adorable little Pleo
dino-bot, but did you know [4]how adaptive it is to stimuli? And what
about [5]the tank-burning laser that can be fired from an airplane? Well,
we haven't discussed that but I'm at a loss as to explain why. "A kind of
reverse telescope called the beam expander inside a retractable,
swiveling pod called the turret widens the beam to 20 inches and aims it.
The laser's computer determines the distance to the target and adjusts
the beam so it condenses into a focused point at just the right spot.
Tracking computers help make microscopic adjustments to compensate for
both the airplane's and the target's movement. A burst of a few seconds'
duration will burn a several-inch-wide hole in whatever it hits."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0659230

Links:
0. http://www.popsci.com/how-it-works/article/2008-03/popsci-presents-how-it-works

1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/25/1557214&tid=14

2. http://www.popsci.com/node/19963

3. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/07/1754245&tid=216

4. http://www.popsci.com/node/19959

5. http://www.popsci.com/node/19965

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Net's Effect on Journalism |
| from the no-not-that-way-the-other-way dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @08:13 (The Media) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0649200

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An Associated Press article about the impact of the internet on
journalism has a few interesting findings. A few years ago, it was
expected that the internet would democratize news coverage. While print
media is being rapidly reborn online, web-based news appears to be
[0]constraining the number of conversations instead of expanding them.
"The news agenda actually seems to be narrowing, with many Web sites
primarily packaging news that is produced elsewhere, according to the
Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media
report. Two stories - the war in Iraq and the 2008 presidential election
campaign - represented more than a quarter of the stories in newspapers,
on television and online last year, the project found. Take away Iraq,
Iran and Pakistan, and news from all of the other countries in the world
combined filled up less than 6 percent of the American news hole, the
project said."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0649200

Links:
0. http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_OF_JOURNALISM?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-16-16-32-59

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Most Spam Comes From Just Six Botnets |
| from the all-obsessed-with-your-wang dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @09:00 (Spam) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1230215

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ezhenito noted some research pointing out the (maybe) surprising bit of
research that [0]6 botnets are responsible for 85 percent of the world's
spam. That seems a bit high to me, but the only aspect of spam I am an
expert in is *getting* it.

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1230215

Links:
0. http://www.marshal.com/trace/traceitem.asp?article=567

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Berners-Lee Rejects Tracking |
| from the along-with-everyone-else dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @09:38 (Privacy) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1259234

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

kernowyon writes "The BBC has an interview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee
during his visit to the UK on their website currently. In it, he voices
his concern about [0]the practice of tracking activity on the internet ���
with particular reference to Phorm. Quotes Sir Tim with regard to his
data ��� "It's mine ��� you can't have it. If you want to use it for
something, then you have to negotiate with me.""

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1259234

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Identifying Manipulated Image |
| from the check-that-out dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @10:17 (Graphics) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1313213

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Jamie found a cool story at MIT Tech Review. (As an aside, it sits behind
an interstitial ad AND on 2 pages: normally I reject websites that do
that, but it's a slow news day, so I'm letting it through) Essentially,
software is used to [0]analyze light patterns in still photographs. Once
you can figure out where the light sources are, it becomes a lot easier
to determine if an image has been photoshopped.

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1313213

Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20423/?a=f

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Single Photons Bounced Off Orbiting Satellite |
| from the pling-pling-pling dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @11:00 (Communications) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1421219

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "If we're ever going to benefit from the perfect
security of quantum communication, we're going to need ways of
transmitting entangled photons around the globe and certainly further
than the current record of 144km through the atmosphere. Anton Zeilinger
at the University of Vienna and colleagues have taken an important step
towards this by [1]bouncing individual photons off the Ajisai geodetic
satellite (essentially a space-based disco ball) which is orbiting at
1400km. The group says the experiment is an important proof of principle
for satellite-based quantum communications."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1421219

Links:
0. http://www.arxivblog.com/

1. http://arxivblog.com/?p=317

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Young Employees Pose Increasing Risk to Networks |
| from the also-increased-chance-of-lohan dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @11:42 (Security) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1423249

|
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[0]buzzardsbay writes "Baseline is reporting on [1]an upcoming survey
from Symantec and Applied Research-West that confirms many suspicions
about the generation gap in the workplace, namely that younger workers
will use your corporate network to run most any device, technology or
social networking software they can get their hands on. Dubbed
"Millenials," these workers born after 1980 are nearly twice as likely to
use cell phones and PDAs at work, and half admit to installing
unauthorized software on their employer's computers. On the upside, the
Millenials are more security aware than their older co-workers."

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1423249

Links:
0. mailto:buzzardsbay@gmail.com
1. http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Security/Beware-a-Generation-of-Risk-Takers/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 100-Year-Old Electric Car Design Makes a Comeback |
| from the they-do-make-em-like-they-used-to dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @12:54 (Transportatio|
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1554249

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

CNet's Green Tech Blog is reporting that Detroit Electric plans to
release a small number of cars based around a car [0]designed nearly 100
years ago. Detroit Electric is a joint venture between Santa Rosa,
CA-based electric transportation specialist, Zap and China's Youngman
motors. "Back in 1917, a Detroit Electric cost anywhere from $1,775 to
$2,375--in other words, fit for the proletarian or plutocrat. The cars
could go 65 miles to 100 miles on a battery charge, but only go at speeds
ranging from 6 miles per hour to 25 mph."

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1554249

Links:
0. http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9894597-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Supreme Court to Hear FCC Indecency Case |
| from the arbitrary-standards dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @14:06 (The Courts) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1634214

|
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MachineShedFred writes "The Supreme Court of the United States has
announced that it will be [0]hearing the FCC's appeal to the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that the FCC has changed its policy on
fleeting expletives without adequate explanation. It's now on the FCC to
explain to the Supreme Court why its policy has changed. This is also the
first time the Supreme Court has heard a major 'broadcast indecency' case
in 30 years."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1634214

Links:
0. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080317/scotus_broadcast_indecency.html?.v=2

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Design Microchip Ten Times More Efficient |
| from the proof-of-concept dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @15:11 (Power) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1651249

|
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[0]WirePosted writes to mention that a new [1]highly efficient microchip
has been announced by researchers from MIT and Texas Instruments. The new
chip touts up to 10 times more energy efficiency than current generation
chips. "One key to the new chip design, Chandrakasan says, was to build a
high-efficiency DC-to-DC converter--which reduces the voltage to the
lower level--right on the same chip, reducing the number of separate
components. The redesigned memory and logic, along with the DC-to-DC
converter, are all integrated to realize a complete system-on-a-chip
solution."

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1651249

Links:
0. mailto:hound-dog@itwire.com
1. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17183/53/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Advanced Rails |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday March 17, @16:19 (Book Reviews) |
|

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/138205

|
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yukster writes "As Ruby on Rails rocketed into the development
community's hearts and minds a few years ago, the number of books on the
subject climbed with it. However, a lot of these books were introductory
in nature (Agile Web Development with Rails, Beginning Rails, Build Your
Own Rails Applications, etc.). What's a budding Rails-head to do once
they've gotten the basics down? Books like Advanced Rails, which was
released late last year by O'Reilly, aim to fill this void." Keep reading
below for the rest of Ben's review.

This story continues at:

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/138205

Discuss this story at:

http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/138205

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Settlement Reached in Verizon GPL Violation Suit |
| from the lifetime-of-clicking-i-agree-on-licenses-brought-to-a-ha|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @17:30 (The Courts) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1854252

|
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[0]eldavojohn writes "A [1]settlement has been reached in the [2]Verizon
GPLv2 violation suit. The now famous BusyBox developers, Erick Andersen
and Rob Landley, will receive an undisclosed sum from subcontractor
Actiontec Electronics. 'Actiontec supplied Verizon with wireless routers
for its FiOS broadband service that use an open source program called
BusyBox. BusyBox developers Andersen and Landley in December sued Verizon
-- claiming that the usage violated terms of version 2 of the GNU General
Public License.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1854252

Links:
0. http://tinyurl.com/hdng7

1. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206904096&subSection=News

2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/07/1953217&tid=123

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Details Nehalem CPU and Larrabee GPU |
| from the business-is-war dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @18:34 (Intel) |
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/2026220

|
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Vigile writes "Intel previewed the information set to be released at IDF
next month including details on a wide array of technology for server,
workstation, desktop and graphics chips. The [0]upcoming Tukwila chip
will replace the current Itanium lineup with about twice the performance
at a cost of 2 billion transistors and Dunnington is a hexa-core
processor using existing Core 2 architecture. [1]Details of Nehalem,
Intel's next desktop CPU core that includes an integrated memory
controller, show a return of HyperThreading-like SMT, a new SSE 4.2
extension and modular design that features optional integrated graphics
on the CPU as well. Could Intel beat AMD in its own "Fusion" plans?
Finally, Larrabee, the GPU technology Intel is building, was [2]verified
to support OpenGL and DirectX upon release and Intel provided information
on a new extension called Advanced Vector Extension (AVX) for SSE that
would improve graphics performance on the many-core architecture."

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/2026220

Links:
0. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534

1. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534&type=expert&pid=2

2. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534&type=expert&pid=3

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Novell's 2004 Case Against Microsoft Moves Forward |
| from the on-hold-since-2004 dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @19:41 (The Courts) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/2033204

|
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[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Novell's antitrust
lawsuit against Microsoft for destroying the market for WordPerfect and
QuattroPro [1]can now move forward. The Supreme Court denied certiorari
to Microsoft's appeal of an appeals court ruling, which is the fancy
legal way of saying they ignored Microsoft's appeal and let the previous
ruling stand. Novell's complaint is an interesting read, because some of
this sounds quite familiar, given how Microsoft is now forcing the
standardization of OOXML. Statements like, 'As Microsoft knew, a truly
standard file format that was open to all ISVs would have enhanced
competition in the market for word processing applications, because such
a standard allows the exchange of text files between different word
processing applications used by different customers,' and 'Microsoft made
other inferior features de facto industry standards,' sound a lot more
recent."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/2033204

Links:
0. http://www.eff.org/support

1. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080317124445613

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