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[osdn starter] December 30, 2002
Date: Mon Dec 30 2002 - 03:00:54 EST
O | S | D | N NEWSLETTER
December 30, 2002 STARTER SERIES
The 'Starter Series' Newsletter is developed to bring Open Source
related content to a user that may be new to Open Source. If you'd
like to receive more content relating to Open Source
subscribe at
http://www.osdn.com/newsletters/
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Slashdot
Finns To Use Cell Phones To Monitor Traffic Jams
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/1243247
Okko writes "The Finnish Road Administration announced it is going to
[0]use cellphone location data to find out about traffic jams. They say
they are using the location data available from the GSM base stations
to determine the locations and speeds of vehicles carrying mobile
phones. The information will be used to inform people about traffic
jams and peaks in traffic trough public FM radio stations. Until now,
the information about traffic has been gathered [1]using car sensors
embedded in the roads. The spokesperson of FRA, interviewed in the
evening news of [2]MTV3 Finland, seemed very pleased they can monitor
cell phones even when no calls are made, it is enough the phone has
power on. They said they are about to use the information anonymously
and thought people approve it as long as it is done in an anonymous and
"everyone-wins" way. It was told they do not currently tell the police
about the data they discover as the current law forbids this. So, it is
not, at least yet, possible to fine people carrying mobile phones in
their cars too fast on public roads (exceeding the speed limit of the
road). Unfortunately, probably because of vacations, [3]FRA has not
updated their website accordingly yet. There does exist an annoucement
about testing the technology from the summer. "
Links
0.
http://www.tiehallinto.fi/tied/2002/matkapuhelimet.htm
1.
http://www.tiehallinto.fi/alk/frames/liikenne-frame.html
2.
http://www.mtv3.fi/
3.
http://www.tiehallinto.fi/eindex.htmNew Study on Americans' Expectations of the Net http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/045233
radicalsubversiv writes "A new study from the [0]Pew Internet &
American Life Project reports on Americans' expectations about finding
information on the Internet. The (unsurprising) results reveal that
large portions of the public go to the net first for many kinds of
information. '16 percent of the nonusers say they would turn to the
Internet first the next time they need health care and government
information.' [1]AP story summarizing the results; and the [2]actual
report in PDF format."
Links
0.
http://www.pewinternet.org/
1.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021229/ap_on_hi_te/internet_expectations&e=1
2.
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=80
H2O/IP
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/0356212
AltImage writes "This interesting project uses [0]water as an organic network between two computers. It analyzes the color of each pixel and 'prints' out pulses to the electronically controlled water valve - a different pulse pattern depending on the color of the pixel on screen." Links
0. http://www.coin-operated.com/projects
Re-examining the Port Chicago Disaster
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/2355225
[0]GoneGaryT writes "Say chaps, this might be old hat, but there's a
fab site for conspiracy theory aficionados at [1]portchicago.org ; it's
a pdf book expounding the theory of Peter Vogel's that the Port Chicago
magazine explosion (1944) was a nuclear weapons test. It's actually
pretty thorough, like 20 years of research thorough. Would the US
really blow up their own people for the sake of global military
supremacy? Naaaah..." Chapter 9 of the book has a factual account of
the disaster (which I'd never heard of before); if you're not
interested in the rest of the theory, at least reading the historical
account is informative and will give you an appreciation of the
explosive power of several million pounds of military ordnance.
Links
0. mailto:banjo996@hotmail.com
Tolkien and the Beowulf Saga
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/2337232
[0]jackalski sent in this story about a [1]translation of the Beowulf
epic by J.R.R. Tolkien being discovered and which is now set to be
published next year. Tolkien found Beowulf [2]inspirational.
Links
0. mailto:jackal@irc.NOSPAM.pl
1.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5764569%255E13780,00html
2.
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/13/166207&tid=99
Top Ten Shameful Games
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/2131221
[0]Ant writes "Not necessarily the worst, but the most wrong -- here
are 10 of the [1]most seriously flawed titles of all time according to
GameSpy."
Links
Automakers and Crash Data Recorders
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/1952247
The New York Times has a decent story about [0]automakers not wanting to standardize car data recorders. There are a couple of nuances which the reporter mostly misses. The automakers want to avoid standardization because they can then sell access to the proprietary data format (NYT does cover this, but ignores the profit motive). The story mentions privacy issues but dismisses them as solved, yet notes that there are no privacy protections whatsoever for this data, and you can expect it to be used against you in any incident (and perhaps other times: wait until service under your warranty is refused because your car reported your bad driving habits to the dealer). That's not "solved" in my book (and I think the automakers realize that selling cars which report on their owners might backfire). Speculation about ambulance crews using crash data is just hype - no ambulance is equipped to do that, nor would I want an EMT to spend time decoding the crash data instead of, say, saving my life. The article repeatedly suggests that crash data would be used to enhance safety, without ever specifying how that is supposed to occur. Links
0. http://nytimes.com/2002/12/29/national/29CRAS.html
Putting A Lid On Chernobyl
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/199209
slicer622 writes "Chernobyl is finally getting a [0]containment structure (Washington Post). Billed as the largest moveable structure ever built, its designed to help take apart the wreckage and keep most of the radioactive material from spreading. It will be 800 feet across, and 300 feet high and will cost $800 mil." Links
0. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48331-2002Dec28.html
CDMA 2000 1x Comes to India
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/1710246
[0]nilesh writes "Yesterday, [1]Reliance Infocomm [2]launched one of
the largest CDMA networks in the world [[3]Google news]. This wireless
network will cover 90% of India's population on a backbone of 60,000
kms of optic fibre. They have dreams of providing an Internet-enabled
Java-powered [4]CDMA2000 1x phone to almost every Indian citizen for
around tariffs as low as 40 paise per minute or 0.8 cents per minute.
The Samsung/LG/Kyocera phones will be replete with [5]applications
ranging from internet banking to video on demand and online gaming. Now
all we need is Quake for Java and we'll have college kids playing
deathmatches with each other in classroom at 144kbps. The next game
revolution is in sight."
Links
0. mailto:mail@NOsPAm.nilesh.org
1.
http://www.relianceinfo.com/
2.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/stories/2002122801491600.htm
3.
http://news.google.com/news?q=reliance%20infocomm%20cdma
4.
http://www.relianceinfo.com/webapp/Infocomm/html/individual/consumer_indiamobile_sleekhandsets.html
5.
http://www.relianceinfo.com/webapp/Infocomm/html/individual/consumer_indiamobile_applications.html
Biggest IP cases of 2002
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/1545213
[0]scubacuda writes "[1]Law.com's article, [2]The Biggest IP Cases of
2002, has a nice summary of some of the intellectual property cases
that have caught our attention this last year. Of particular interest
to slashdotters: [3]Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. (regarding Arriba's
visual search engine), [4]Enzo Biochem Inc. v. Gen-Probe Inc.
(regarding a gene patent being invalid because it did not meet the
written description requirement), an Illinois federal court injunction
against Aimster, [5]United States v. Elcom Ltd a/k/a Elcomsoft Co. Ltd.
, and [6]Playboy Enterprises Inc. v. Welles (regarding Playmate of the
Year, [7]Terri Welles, using [8]Playboy's marks and metatags on her
website)."
Links
0.
http://.scubacuda. .at. .iname.com.
1.
http://www.law.com/
2.
http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1039054489470&t=LawArticleIP
3.
http://netcopyrightlaw.com/kellyvarribasoft.asp
4.
http://www.patentcribsheet.com/Cases/enzo.html
5.
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=Elcomsoft
6.
http://www.merchant-gould.com/news/articles/gaarticle/gapart3.html
7.
http://www.terriwelles.com/
8.
http://www.playboy.com/
Linux.com
Glass Panes and Software: Windows Name Is Challenged (by Lindows)
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/1031255
An upstart company, Lindows.com, is trying to persuade the Federal District Court in Seattle to invalidate Microsoft's trademark on Windows. (free registration required)
Book Review: Linux Apache Web Server Administration http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/1027217
We review three out of the eight books in the Craig Hunt Linux Library series published by Sybex Inc.
Mandrake 9.0 Review
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/1025217
Today we are looking at Linux Mandrake, a relative newcomer but which has picked up a large user base through the years which keep its development alive and well. The first version of Mandrake was based on Red Hat which is a fine distro in itself. The makers wanted too keep all that was good with Red Hat and get rid of all the bad, such as using KDE instead of GNOME as default desktop. Over the years, though, it has changed from simply being Red ...
Free Software at Rosenzweig and Maffia
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/1022249
A committee has been formed in NYLXS to try to take on first hand the task to driving sales for Free Software. We've dubbed this effort, 'The Free Software Chamber of Commerce'. The result of our efforts is bearing fruit, and we hope to be an anchor and a safe haven for both well trained consultants and businesses looking for innovative solutions to their business problems.
The most popular Linux article ever?
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/1856249
- By Robin 'Roblimo' Miller - You've seen a headline or two recently on NewsForge that said something like "Microsoft fights off Windows rival Linux." I say "headline or two" because we goofed up and and linked to this story at least twice, under different headlines. It was an easy mistake to make because this AP story has run in more newspapers and on more news Web sites than any other story I have ever seen with the word "Linux" in it.
Life in the trenches: a sysadmin speaks
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/1428251
As recently a decade ago, a systems administrator wasn't really needed in every medium- or large-sized corporation. There were motley assemblages of computers which were used for this task and that and if one or two broke down, then the supplier came in and fixed them.
Red Hat 8: A glimpse of the desktop future http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/29/0128220
Anonymous Reader writes "This article looks at Red Hat 8.0 and the direction that is sets for the future of the Linux desktop. It makes the case that Red Hat should produce the single best desktop environment that it can with its limited resources."
Open Source, Closed Documentation?
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/28/1510236
sunset asks: "Recently I was motivated to look at WebGUI which looks like a pretty cool open source project. However I was having trouble making it work..."
Interview with the Gnomemeeting Team
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/27/1627226
mangeli writes: We put the Gnomemeeting team in the Interview Chair to find out what, and who is behind the program.
A Peek at History, Piracy-Free
http://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/12/27/1354223
Media company British Pathe, which produced 3,500 newsreels between 1910 and 1970, puts its entire collection online. But rather than adding digital copyright protection, the company simply stamped its logo on each downloadable clip.
Thinkgeek
Gadgets: Forever Flashlight
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a9f/
Tshirts: Geek Invaders
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/5c34/
Interests: Linux French
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bc4/
Interests: O'Reilly 2003 Calendar
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/other/5c55/
Interests: Perl Gerl
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bcb/
Interests: I dig Mac OS X
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bcf/
Interests: Ninj4 Hooded Sweatshirt
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/altware/5c4e/
Interests: Megatokyo Blanket
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/coolthings/5b59/
Cube Goodies: Smart Mass Thinking Putty
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5ac8/
Electronics: Archos Jukebox Studio 20/ Radio FM 20 MP3 Players http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/5784/
Computing: Auravision EluminX Illuminated Keyboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5c3f/
Electronics: Universal System Selector
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/video/5c1b/
Other Apparel: Power Golf Shirt
http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/golfshirts/5b8f/
Computing: Auravision EluminX Illuminated Keyboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5c3f/
Other Apparel: The ThinkGeek Monkey Hoodie http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/hoodies/5b88/
Gadgets: Forever Flashlight
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a9f/
Electronics: Hitman 2 for PS2
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/ps2/ps2soft/5c6e/
Computing: Sylvania SF170 17" LCD
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/display/lcd/5c73/
Electronics: Splinter Cell for Xbox
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/xbox/xboxsoft/5c69/
Cube Goodies: Tiny R/C Digi Q Cars
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5ad6/
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email - info@osdn.com Received on Mon Dec 30 09:41:44 2002
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