http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2009, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2010-01-04T14:33:12+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/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8321252&from=rss Our enthusiasm for this particular walking robot is unfortunately a bit dampened by a lack of video, or any evidence of actual walking, but both of those are promised to be forthcoming, and the bot still has enough going for it to distinguish itself in the meantime. Proudly made in the USA by Futurebots, this so-called ATOM-7x robot is actually powered by not one but two Atom processors (a dual-core Atom 330 and an Atom 230), which themselves power two separate systems running Windows XP and Windows 7. Those, paired with slew of sensors, gyros and accelerometers, promises to give the bot a whole range of humanoid capabilities, including an advanced stereo vision system that its creators say will let it "take on real world problems." Complete details are otherwise still a bit light, but the bot can apparently operate autonomously in addition to being used as a telepresence robot, and it unsurprisingly wasn't cheap or easy to build ("2 mortgages and lots of sweat"). We'll be sure to keep an eye out for any sightings of this one in action. ATOM-7xp humanoid robot is indeed Atom-powered, Windows-based originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Futurebots |Email this|Comments engfeed 2010-01-04T13:52:07+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144286/How-to-apply-for-a-Washington-Identification-Card?from=rss The Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) issues non-driver identification cards to State residents who don't have a valid ID card, driver license or instruction permits from the State or any other jurisdiction. The ID card can be used to prove your identity, age, and residence in a variety of situations. The DOL also issues an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL) or Enhanced Identification Card, which acts as a viable alternative for a passport and can be used for entering the country by land or water. It is also an important identification to show citizenship of the US. The identification card is valid till your birthday, five years from the date that it was issued.[edit] APPLYING FOR A WASHINGTON ID CARD 1. Locate the driver's licensing service office nearest you, as you will have to apply for the ID card in person. You cannot apply online. Application for Enhanced Driver's License or Enhanced Identification has to be done by appointment at the local EDL/ID office by calling 1 866 520 4365. 2. Bring proper identification. You will be asked to present one piece of primary identification and two documents of secondary identification. 3. You must also provide proof of your social security number (SSN). If you have never been issued a SSN, you may be required to obtain one, or else sign a form declaring the same. 4. Provide proof of Washington residence. 5. Have your photograph taken by the authorities. 6. Pay the ID card application fee, currently $ 20, by money order, cash, traveler's check or check. The. Washington DOL does accept payments by credit or debit card (MasterCard and Visa only). The fee for Enhanced Identification it is $ 35 and can only be obtained in person. 7. You must also surrender any valid driver license or instruction permit issued by the state of Washington or any other jurisdiction. Anonymous Coward 2010-01-04T13:32:23+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144280/Debtors-Sue-Medical-System-over-Privacy-Breach?from=rss If you go bankrupt in the State of Wisconsin--make sure your ass is covered, literally! Patients who are inbankruptcy court are finding out their personal medical information is being placed in a public record databasethanks to Aurora Health Care, one of the state's largest health systems. Their electronic medical records not onlydisclosed the amount the debtor owed, but what kind of care they recieved, in direct violation of pattent privacy laws.In a class action lawsuit, the state is suing Aurora for $25,000 per violation. BarneyRabble 2010-01-04T13:19:18+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8320282&from=rss A few weeks back, we noted how some were freaking out over the fact that patent applications were down, without bothering to look behind the numbers at why. Instead, they jumped to the conclusion that innovation in the US was dropping. johnjac points us to an article where folks at Cisco suggests that it might just be tech companies realizing that patenting everything is a waste of time and money. In fact, the story states that Cisco recently changed its patent strategy from trying to patent everything to trying to focus on things that it believes is really innovative, rather than everything it can possibly get a patent on. I can already hear the usual crowd of patent holders in our comments. They hate Cisco and pretty much any big company. They'll interpret this statement as meaning that Cisco has become less inventive and is more focused on "stealing" inventions. Of course, what's amusing is that they'll never present any evidence for those accusations (though, I'm sure they'll accuse me of being on the take for Cisco even though we've never done any business with Cisco in any way whatsoever). That said, I do find some of the comments from Cisco odd and somewhat unsupportable: "The arms race approach doesn't pay off," he says. "It doesn't do you a lot of good to have a lot of patents." Why? The patent landscape has changed dramatically. Patents often land companies in court as they fight over who invented the idea first. Lawsuits still might involve competitors, but increasingly Cisco finds it is battling what Chandler calls "non-practicing entities." These are companies that exist only to acquire patents and then seek to extract money from big companies for infringing on them. The more patents you hold, the more likely one of these companies will sue you. The first part is true. Lots of companies find themselves being sued by non-practicing entities, but it's not because of the number of patents they hold. The NPEs (patent trolls, patent hoarders, whatever you want to call them) aren't suing those who have the most patents. They're suing whoever has (1) products on the market and (2) a large bank account. Cisco could have no patents at all, and it would still be getting sued just as much by NPEs. So, frankly, I don't buy the claim that the more patents you have, the more likely you are to get sued. Instead, my guess, is that Cisco has realized that getting patents (especially in such large numbers) is an expensive process, for little benefit. It may help in some lawsuits against competitors (when Cisco can threaten to counter sue over other patents), but you only need so many patents for that. So, it looks like Cisco is building up a stable of defensive patents, and has realized that you don't need the largest number. That's a good thing, but the claim that more patents makes you more of a target just doesn't make sense. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story techdirtfeed 2010-01-04T13:12:44+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8320270&from=rss Y2.01K bug invalidates cards A new year bug has scuppered card transactions at thousands of Australian shops for four days so far, because systems at the Bank of Queensland say it is now 2016. What is your recession sales strategy? registerfeed 2010-01-04T13:12:19+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8320262&from=rss May be imaginary, researchers conclude UK researchers have concluded that the legendary G-spot - the earth-moving button allegedly sited in the front wall of the vagina - "may be a figment of women's imagination, encouraged by magazines and sex therapists". What is your recession sales strategy? registerfeed 2010-01-04T13:12:07+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144264/Create-Webworks-Introduces-24-Hour-Customized-Web?from=rss Create Webworks has launched its customized Website design and development services aimed at helping professionals and businesses establish an online presence in as fast as 24 hours. createwebworks 2010-01-04T12:54:47+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144262/US-Tops-Other-Countries-in-IPv4-IP-Address-Ranges?from=rss From the data analysis (see Table 1 & Chart 1), the United States tops the allocation list by holding 37.46% of the total IP addresses worldwide. It is followed by the United Kingdom (9.94%), China (8.33%), Japan (7.13%), Germany (3.90%), France (3.41%), South Korea (2.99%), Canada (2.51%), Italy (1.78%) and the Netherlands (1.77%). If we compare the data from the year 2008, Italy has replaced Netherlands for the 9th position.A roundup of the report shows that the total number of IP addresses allocated for use in 2009 is 2,505,141,392 compared with 2,258,290,025 in 2010 which indicates a growth rate of 11% per annum. Anonymous Coward 2010-01-04T12:52:33+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144260/Which-is-the-laptop-with-the-least-bloatware?from=rss I once again am looking for a laptop running Windows(7). Everything I have been looking at seems to be bogged down with bloatware from the laptop manufacturers. I usually reinstall my machines to get rid of as much as I can; but to get power management, multi display, sound, cradle, wlan etc. up and running I have to download and install a number of unidentified drivers and apps from the manufacturer anyway. It is then impossible to figure out which is just a driver for the wlan card and which is the superduper network gizmo with at least three icons on the desktop and at least as many services autostarting.Is there a laptop manufacturer that has less bloatware than the others? LosManos 2010-01-04T12:46:10+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144258/Monty-wants-to-save-MySQL?from=rss It seems as if the MySQL author is trying hard to win back control over MySQL. In his blog he calls upon the MySQL users to "Help keep the Internet free" by signing his petition. He fears that if Oracle buys Sun they automatically get MySQL which would spell doom for the project. But I have have mixed feelings with this call for help because after all; who sold MySQL in the first place? Anonymous Coward 2010-01-04T12:45:43+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144256/The-greatest-decade-in-robotics-2000-09?from=rss In the last 10 years, we have witnessed the greatest robotics advances in human history. Today, we have robots cleaning our homes and pools and exploring space in our place. Researchers have constructed numerous humanoid and other legged robots of many different sizes and uses. We also have advanced exoskeletons that can turn ordinary humans into real-life Ironmen and magnificent medical prosthesis with the potential to improve the quality of life for thousands of disabled people.The achievements in robotics in the last 10 years cannot be understated. I am excited and curious to see how far we can take robotics in the 10 years. Anonymous Coward 2010-01-04T12:38:41+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144254/Non-Roman-Domain-Names-Could-Boost-Cyber-crime?from=rss The introduction of internet addresses in non-Roman scripts could offer fresh opportunities to cyber-criminals, experts have warned.Next year the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) will for the first time accept internet domain names in non-Roman scripts.The new internationalized domain names will open up the internet as never before to users whose native language does not use the Roman alphabet. But Roman-reading users face a possible deluge of phishing and e-mail scams.The problem for Western users is that the internet addresses of many well-known companies, such as Apple, Yahoo, Google and PayPal, can also be rendered to look identical in Cyrillic scripts, such as Russian.To a Roman-reading eye, an e-mail containing a link to any one of these sites might appear genuine, while to a Russian-reading eye, “paypal”, for example, reads as “raural”. An e-mail link could thus lead to a clone site constructed by unscrupulous thieves, who could then use it to harvest personal and financial details, or to steal cash.This is known as “phishing”, and Russia is such a known global centre for organised online crime that it has been the subject of special talks between the governments of Russian and the United States.TimesOnline : http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6971724.eceMashable : http://mashable.com/2010/01/01/idn-phishing/ suraj.sun 2010-01-04T12:37:33+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144252/Earn-up-to-Rs40-000--PM-through-simple-online-c?from=rss Earn up to Rs. 40,000 per month through simple online copy/paste work.100% Legitimate, Genuine & Scam Free Online Copy/Paste Jobs. Work at Home in your spare time. ID-SP031D2322-No work load, No Time Limit. Submit the work in your convenient time.-You can work anytime from your home. Get paid Rs. 1/- to Rs. 5/- per copy/paste.Please email us at info@dataentrygujarat.com or visit for more details. Work as much as you can. Work available worldwide.Hurry Up! Limited seats available.Candidate should have basic knowledge of computer.Location-India. sp031d2322 2010-01-04T12:37:27+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144248/Another-False-Flag-Operation-Black-Bloomer-Bomber?from=rss Following the preordained pathway and modus operandi of his predecessor, USA Puppet President Barack "MoDubya" Obama has declared that 23-year-old banker's son and black bloomer bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had ties in Yemen to "al-Qaeda", the CIA-fabricated global network of boogeymen whose "terrorist cells" conveniently pop up wherever and whenever "they"--the consortium of Wall Street Banksters, Peak Oil Gangsters, and Military-Industrial Profiteers who rule America--need an excuse to take away the rights, resources, livelihoods and lives of yet another sovereign nation. But choose your source, left or right, the message in the links below is the same: After secretly evacuating Yemen's Jews from harm's way (WSJ http://tinyurl.com/yhtf4mc), on Christmas Day 2009 "they"--most likely through intelligence operatives--staged the failed attempt at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to blow up Detroit-bound Delta Airlines flight 253, using that pitiful London-educated Nigerian patsy to provide the pretext for expanding our global war for peak oil and profit into Yemen.In the News:http://tinyurl.com/ybmatd4On the Web:http://tinyurl.com/y8dp623How They Can:http://tinyurl.com/ydjyg7hWhy We Can't:http://tinyurl.com/ydx5g5z###Tags: false flag operation, umar farouk abdulmutallab, yemen, nigeria, obama, cia, al-qaeda, al-qaida, terrorists, terrorism, yemeni, nigerian, peak oil, war profiteering, 9-11 truth.Promotion courtesy of Miami web design firm http://pervasivepersuasion.com/ miamifdx 2010-01-04T12:12:22+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144244/Newark-air-terminal-locked-down-over-security?from=rss NEWARK (Reuters) – A man bypassed a security checkpoint at Newark International Airport, prompting an hours-long lockdown of a terminal at one of the busiest U.S. airports, federal officials said. Cytalk 2010-01-04T12:07:45+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144242/How-is-Probability-applied-in-Computer-Science-?from=rss I loved Discrete Mathematics. I was very good at Probability. However, due to having incompetent teacher, I never could actually dive deep into the subject and learn. I just want to know , how is Probability applied in computer science. Please give some algorithms and programs and links to articles as examples. antisatani 2010-01-04T12:05:06+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144228/Buy-a-TPC-India-UPS-system-to-help-prevent-data-lo?from=rss Purchasing a TPC Uninterruptible power supply UPS system is one of the best ways to protect data from power failure. Loss of data or computer damage due to power failure can be a frustrating experience that is far from uncommon. Personal computer holders can take measures to protect computer from damage due to power failure. Besides taking frequent data backup, a common way to effectively protect data is using a TPC UPS system.What is a TPC UPS System?A Uninterruptible power supply or UPS or battery backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically the utility mains, fails. In case of power failure, a UPS system provides emergency power for minutes together; so that the user can safely turn off the computer.Total Power Conditioner TPC is a world class technology company. Started in 1994, as a small scale Power Electronics company to bring out innovative and quality ups system products. With a team of talented, experienced, energetic and dynamic Electronics engineers aimed to produce top quality and most reliable power products including online ups systems, solar ups systems, line interactive ups and inverters to Indian and Global market.Prevent data loss with TPC UPS System and Data backup solutionsA TPC UPS System / battery backup is a way to protect computer peripherals and the data contained within. However, uninterruptible power supply UPS system users should also consider offsite and onsite data backup options as redundancy is important when protecting data. Khharry 2010-01-04T11:40:14+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144222/Why-you-wont-recognize-the-Internet-by-2020?from=rss As they imagine the Internet of 2020, computer scientists across the country are starting from scratch and re-thinking everything: from IP addresses to DNS to routing tables to Internet security in general. They're envisioning how the Internet might work without some of the most fundamental features of today's ISP and enterprise networks. Their goal is audacious: To create an Internet without so many security breaches, with better trust and built-in identity management. Researchers are trying to build an Internet that's more reliable, higher performing and better able to manage exabytes of content. And they're hoping to build an Internet that extends connectivity to the most remote regions of the world, perhaps to other planets. This high-risk, long-range Internet research will kick into high gear in 2010, as the U.S. federal government ramps up funding to allow a handful of projects to move out of the lab and into prototype. Indeed, the United States is building the world's largest virtual network lab across 14 college campuses and two nationwide backbone networks so that it can engage thousands – perhaps millions – of end users in its experiments. alphadogg 2010-01-04T11:35:49+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144220/Gmail-Trounces-MS-Outlook-in-Unfair-Fight?from=rss Which is better Gmail or Microsoft Outlook? In a new poll, a lopsided number of email users said Google's Web-based email services is superior to Microsoft's client-side Outlook. But was it a fair question? Blogger Larry Walsh contends that it's an unfair comparison given the vastly different intents, architectures and platforms of the two email systems. dasButcher 2010-01-04T11:33:51+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8318160&from=rss chthon 2010-01-04T11:32:39+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144200/Lenovo-to-use-AMD-chips-in-low-end-ThinkPads?from=rss Lenovo is looking beyond long-term partner Intel and beginning to offer budget ThinkPad laptops — starting at under $500 — based on AMD processors, the company announced today. Lenovo's commitment to AMD chips comes only a few weeks after the FTC filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, accusing the chip maker of illegally using its dominant market position to stifle competition and limit consumer choice. netbuzz 2010-01-04T10:52:15+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144198/Honesty-box-the-way-to-stop-the-inkjet-rot?from=rss A company in Britain has found a novel solution to the increasingly problem of home inkjet printers being consigned to landfill. The firm has said that any member of staff can print personal documents on their pool of big refurbished printers, with “honesty boxes” left by the printers for them to drop some change into: a much better “green” approach, than investing in a personal printer with a short life-cycle. Could this work? Barence 2010-01-04T10:48:43+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144186/Privacy-Monitoring-in-New-Zealand?from=rss (Stuff.co.nz) New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone’s online life. Cytalk 2010-01-04T10:34:13+00:00 //slashdot.org/submission/1144184/UK-Gov-allowed-dangerous-Chinooks-to-fly---25-died?from=rss ComputerWeekly writes about documents released by the British MoD proving that the computer systems on the Chinook helicopter system were dangerously faulty, and resulted in the death of 25 people. bossanovalithium 2010-01-04T10:33:51+00:00 //slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=8317242&from=rss Cytalk 2010-01-04T10:31:53+00:00