[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-04-27 ======================================================================
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======================================================================

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
    * Are Web Ratings Dangerous To Sites?
    * Google, Intel, Microsoft Fund Robot Recipes
    * MySQL Hits $50 Million Revenue, Plans IPO
    * First Successful Demonstration of CO2 Capture Technology
    * Cancer Fighting Drug Found in Dirt
    * More Battery Problems for Sony
    * Major Anti-Spam Lawsuit To Be Filed In VA
    * MS Offers Vista Upgrade Pricing To All
    * Resolution To Impeach VP Cheney Submitted
    * Z Machine Advances Fusion Race
    * Adobe Open Sources Flex SDK Under MPL
    * Blu-Ray Drive For Apple Notebooks
    * MPAA Committed To Fair Use and DRM
    * Fair Use In Scientific Blogging
    * Andersen Vs. RIAA Counterclaims Challenged
    * IBM Adds Videogame Console Chips to Mainframes
    * Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm Your Enterprise Computer
    * Researchers Break Internet Speed Records
    * RIAA Wins In Court Against UW Madison
    * Linux Kernel 2.6.21 Published
    * Sony Takes on YouTube with Video-Sharing Site
    * Glitch Has Users Fuming, Google 'Frantic'
    * Dell Releases Flash-Based Laptops
    * A Succinct Definition of the Internet?

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Are Web Ratings Dangerous To Sites?                                |
|   from the a-million-different-ways-to-count dept.                 |
|   posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 25, @20:43 (The Internet) |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/25/2226206              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Freshly Exhumed writes "For website publishers, a poor web rating can be
disastrous. Bad television ratings mean television shows get canceled,
bad web ratings mean websites go out of business. For advertisers,
accurate web ratings are critical to optimize spending. Inaccurate
ratings data means advertisers will overspend on poorly performing sites
or not advertise on smaller sites whose numbers are really much higher
than reported. In the case of Canadian web site [0]Digital Home, already
hit with an [1]advertising boycott by Bell Canada over the site's
pro-consumer editorial content, the site's owner is now in danger of
ending operations, apparently due to the inaccuracies of [2]ComScore
rankings. For example, Google Analytics reported Digital Home served up
over 2.7 million page views in January to almost 250,000 unique visitors.
A web buyer at one of Canada's largest advertising agencies confirmed
that ComScore reported just 32,000 visitors. Added to this is ComScore's
[3]secretly-installed spyware troubles."

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/25/2226206

Links:
    0. http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1818/1/
    1. http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1800/206/
    2. http://www.comscore.com/
    3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/10/1857220&tid=158


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google, Intel, Microsoft Fund Robot Recipes                        |
|   from the cook-until-sentient dept.                               |
|   posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 25, @22:00 (Robotics)     |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/25/2232236     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Dotnaught writes "Google, Intel, and Microsoft [1]are funding what may
become a robot invasion. Money from the three tech companies has enabled
researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to [2]create a new series of
Internet-connected robots that almost anyone can build using
off-the-shelf parts. These "recipes" describe how to build a robot that
connects to the Internet using common parts and a $349 Qwerk controller
from Charmed Labs."

Discuss this story at:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/25/2232236

Links:
    0. http://www.lot49.com/
    1. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199201449
    2. http://www.terk.ri.cmu.edu/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MySQL Hits $50 Million Revenue, Plans IPO                          |
|   from the they-grow-up-so-fast dept.                              |
|   posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 25, @23:26 (Businesses)   |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0211210              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous coward writes "MySQL, purveyor of the open-source database
of the same name, is on the road to [0]becoming a publicly traded company,
bolstered by $50 million in revenue in 2006. "It's still in the
pipeline," Chief Executive Marten Mickos said of the plan to hold an
initial public offering of his company's stock. He declined to discuss
when the company planned to go public, but said, "We're making good
progress, doing all the things we need to get done.""

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/0211210

Links:
    0. http://news.com.com/MySQL+hits+50+million+revenue%2C+plans+IPO/2100-7344_3-6179290.html?tag=nefd.top


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Successful Demonstration of CO2 Capture Technology           |
|   from the scrub-that-global-warming-away dept.                    |
|   posted by samzenpus on Thursday April 26, @02:12 (Science)       |
|   http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0226222      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous coward writes "Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), a
technology research and development company, and Klaus Lackner from
Columbia University have achieved the successful demonstration of a bold
new technology to [0]capture carbon from the air. The "air extraction"
prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO2)
can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT's first step toward a
commercially viable air capture device."

Discuss this story at:
    http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/0226222

Links:
    0. http://www.physorg.com/news96732819.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cancer Fighting Drug Found in Dirt                                 |
|   from the a-shovel-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away dept.              |
|   posted by samzenpus on Thursday April 26, @05:17 (Biotech)       |
|   http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0231208      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

firesquirt writes "From an article in LiveScience, the bark of certain
yew trees can yield a medicine that fights cancer. Now scientists find
[0]the dirt that yew trees grow in can supply the drug as well,
suggesting a new way to commercially harvest the medicine."

Discuss this story at:
    http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/0231208

Links:
    0. http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070424_soil_drugs.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| More Battery Problems for Sony                                     |
|   from the not-again dept.                                         |
|   posted by samzenpus on Thursday April 26, @08:02 (Power)         |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0220200     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

nevillethedevil writes "Looks like more problems for Sony batteries.
According to pcmag, Acer is warning that some faulty batteries in its
laptops could overheat and cause a fire. They will be [0]recalling almost
27,000 Sony made lithium-ion batteries."

Discuss this story at:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/0220200

Links:
    0. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2122224,00.asp


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Major Anti-Spam Lawsuit To Be Filed In VA                          |
|   from the honey-pot-paying-off dept.                              |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @08:40 (Spam)            |
|   http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1233221           |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Rick Zeman sends us to the Washington Post, which is reporting that a
John Doe lawsuit will be filed in US District Court today in
spam-unfriendly Alexandria, Virginia. The suit will be filed by Project
Honey Pot, which is having [1]a week of big announcements. The suit seeks
the identity of individuals responsible for harvesting millions of e-mail
addresses on behalf of spammers. From the Post: "The company is filing
the suit on behalf of some 20,000 people who use its anti-spam tool. Web
site owners use the project's free software to generate pages that
feature unique 'spam trap' e-mail addresses each time those pages are
visited. The software then records the Internet address of the visitor
and the date and time of the visit. Because those addresses are never
used to sign up for e-mail lists, the software can help investigators
draw connections between harvesters and spammers if an address generated
by a spam trap or 'honey pot' later receives junk e-mail."

Discuss this story at:
    http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1233221

Links:
    0. mailto:sd27@pointyears.net
    1. http://www.projecthoneypot.org/5days_monday.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MS Offers Vista Upgrade Pricing To All                             |
|   from the sultan-Bill's-house-of-software dept.                   |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @09:21 (Windows)         |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1253224              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]SlinkySausage writes "With a vague whiff of desperation, Microsoft is
offering anyone who downloaded one of the betas or release candidates of
[1] Vista upgrade pricing for the full version. The 'special' deal is a
sweetener for the fact that the betas will start expiring and becoming
non-functional from May 31st. APC Magazine in Australia writes: 'Windows
Vista is starting to look like those Persian rug stores which are always
having a "closing down" sale... All stock has been slashed, save $$$, why
pay more?'" Perhaps Microsoft is cognizant of straws in the wind such as
a recent InformationWeek survey indicating that [2]30% of business have
no intention of moving to Vista, ever.

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1253224

Links:
    0. mailto:krispy78@gmail.com
    1. http://apcmag.com/5963/microsoft_vista_upgrades_for_everybody
    2. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199201492


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Resolution To Impeach VP Cheney Submitted                          |
|   from the domino-number-one dept.                                 |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @09:40 (Politics)        |
|   http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/133239      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has submitted a resolution, HR 333,
to impeach VP Dick Cheney on charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors."
The charges were submitted on 24 April 2007. Congressman Kucinich has
posted [0]his supporting documents online, including [1]a brief summary
of the impeachment procedure (PDF), a [2]synopsis (PDF), and the [3]full
text (PDF) of the impeachment resolution.

Discuss this story at:
    http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/133239

Links:
    0. http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm
    1. http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int4.pdf
    2. http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int2.pdf
    3. http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int3.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Z Machine Advances Fusion Race                                     |
|   from the collaborating-with-Siberians dept.                      |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @10:01 (Power)           |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1326214     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sandia Labs has announced a new milestone in Linear Transformer Driver
technology that aims to [0]solve one of the biggest obstacles to
practical fusion reactors. Getting the current needed to "spark" a burst
of fusion is doable; getting a constant series of sparks going to create
a continuous chain of fusion bursts has never been achieved. The LTD,
which allows the Sandia Z machine to fire once every 10.2 seconds, makes
it look achievable. The press release (which has been picked up in a few
places, but with no further analysis) says that practical fusion power
could now be 20 years off.

Discuss this story at:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1326214

Links:
    0. http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/rapid-fire-pulse.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Adobe Open Sources Flex SDK Under MPL                              |
|   from the for-real dept.                                          |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @10:36 (Software)        |
|   http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/140241    |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]andy_from_nc writes "Adobe announced that they are [1]open sourcing
their Flex SDK under the Mozilla Public License incrementally by
December. This move comes on the heels of Microsoft's announcement of
their [2]Silverlight and Adobe's CEO's criticism of it. Adobe's action
will likely [3]please other open source developers who use Flex, like me,
and offers hope that we'll see a full open source version of Flash one
day. You can read [4]Adobe's FAQ on the move as well."

Discuss this story at:
    http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/140241

Links:
    0. http://buni.org/
    1. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200704/042607Flex.html
    2. http://www.java-entrepreneur.com/50226711/adobe_ceo_questions_microsoft_silverlight_crossplatform_commitment.php
    3. http://blog.buni.org/blog/acoliver/2007/04/25/I-eat-crow-Flex-to-open-source-under-Mozilla-Public-License
    4. http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flex:Open_Source


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Blu-Ray Drive For Apple Notebooks                                  |
|   from the but-not-from-Apple dept.                                |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @11:12 (Portables (Apple)|
|   http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/151230         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Sean Jackson writes "Fastmac has beaten Apple to the Blu-Ray punch and
has a new [1]slimline Blu-Ray drive that works in PowerBooks, iBooks, Mac
Minis, the MacBook Pro 17", and a few other systems. It's pricey ($800),
but you have to admit that burning 45 GB is pretty sweet. Here are
[2]technical specs. Fastmac says that playing Blu-Ray movies isn't
currently supported since there is no software player. However, several
solutions are in the works and there is always a chance OS X 10.5 will
support playing movies. Perhaps this means that Apple isn't far behind
and will be offering Blu-Ray with the next MacBook and MacBook Pro
revisions."

Discuss this story at:
    http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/151230

Links:
    0. mailto:lacrossgambit@gmail.com
    1. http://fastmac.com/slim_bluray.php
    2. http://store.fastmac.com/product_info.php?cPath=10_2_52&products_id=195


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MPAA Committed To Fair Use and DRM                                 |
|   from the crack-in-the-wall dept.                                 |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @11:52 (Movies)          |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1529201          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Doctor Jay writes "At a LexisNexis Conference on DRM this week, MPAA's
Dan Glickman announced that the MPAA was [0]fine with consumers ripping
DVDs for portable video players and home media servers. 'In his speech to
industry insiders at the posh Beverly Hills Four Seasons hotel, Glickman
repeatedly stressed that DRM must be made to work without constricting
consumers. The goal, he said, was "to make things simpler for the
consumer," and he added that the movie studios were open to "a technology
summit" featuring academics, IT companies, and content producers to work
on the issues involved.'"

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1529201

Links:
    0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070426-mpaa-drm-must-be-interoperable-dvds-should-be-rippable.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fair Use In Scientific Blogging                                    |
|   from the add-a-little-alcohol dept.                              |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @12:28 (Censorship)      |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1549206          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]GrumpySimon writes "Recently, the well-read science blog
Retrospectacle posted an [1]article on a scientific paper that concluded
that alcohol augments the antioxidant properties of fruit. The blog post
reproduced a chart and a table from the original article and everything
was fully attributed. When the publisher [2]John Wiley & Sons found out,
they [3]threatened legal action unless the chart and table were removed.
Understandably, this whole mess has stirred up quite a storm of protest.
Many people see Retrospectacle's action as plainly falling under fair
use. There is a [4]call for a boycott of Wiley and Wiley's journals."

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1549206

Links:
    0. http://henry.simon.net.nz/
    1. http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/04/antioxidants_in_berries_increa_1.php
    2. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/
    3. http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/04/when_fair_use_isnt_fair_1.php
    4. http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/04/fair_use_piling_on_tomorrow_ta.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andersen Vs. RIAA Counterclaims Challenged                         |
|   from the schmisabled dept.                                       |
|   posted by kdawson on Thursday April 26, @13:05 (The Courts)      |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1538211          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The [1]RIAA is now challenging the
[2]counterclaims (PDF) in [3]Atlantic v. Andersen, for Electronic
Trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Invasion of
Privacy, Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, the tort of Outrage,
Deceptive Business Practices under Oregon Trade Practices Act, and Oregon
RICO, first [4]discussed here in October 2005. The RIAA has [5]moved to
dismiss the counterclaims (PDF) brought by a disabled single mother in
Oregon who lives on Social Security Disability and has never engaged in
file sharing, this after unsuccessfully trying to [6]force the
face-to-face deposition of Ms. Andersen's 10-year-old daughter. Ms.
Andersen's lawyer has filed [7]opposition papers (PDF)."

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1538211

Links:
    0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
    1. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/04/battle-rages-over-counterclaims-in.html
    2. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=atlantic_andersen_amendedansandcounterclaims
    3. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#Atlantic_v_Andersen
    4. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/02/1612238&tid=188
    5. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=atlantic_andersen_070412motdiscounterclaims
    6. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/24/2220222&tid=141
    7. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=atlantic_andersen_070423motdiscounterclaimsoppos


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM Adds Videogame Console Chips to Mainframes                     |
|   from the this-story-has-about-everything-i-love-in-it dept.      |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @13:48 (IBM)                |
|   http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/173231         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

GoIBMPS3 writes "Soon the powerful 'Cell' microprocessor that fuels
Sony's PlayStation 3 console [0]will be available in IBM mainframe
computers. The intent is to allow high-performance machines to run
complex online games and virtual worlds. 'The integration initially will
be accomplished by networking the mainframe with IBM's Cell blades, but
eventually the Cells will be plugged more directly into the mainframes
via PCI adapter cards, IBM said. It's the latest twist in IBM's
years-long effort to keep mainframes not only relevant but also
cutting-edge. IBM is touting the partnership as an example of hybrid
computing--a trend sweeping the high-performance computing industry as
companies augment general-purpose servers with special-purpose chips that
to accelerate particular tasks.'"

Discuss this story at:
    http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/173231

Links:
    0. http://news.com.com/IBM+to+wed+game+chip+with+mainframes/2100-1006_3-6179365.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm Your Enterprise Computer                    |
|   from the hey-there-mac dept.                                     |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @14:27 (Apple)              |
|   http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1748210        |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Esther Schindler writes "Not just another 'why big companies should
adopt Macs' article, CIO is running a piece assuming that Macs are
already on the way in the door. [1]Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm Your Enterprise
Computer offers advice to IT managers about how to integrate Apple
systems into the existing IT infrastructure, and offers hints from
leading Mac OS X experts on configuring those systems once they've
arrived. '[A] key element in corporate Macintosh adoption is the
importance of third-party software and custom solutions. They can help
smooth the way for integrating Macs onto the network. While specialists
say they wish third-party support were greater, the openness of the Mac
makes correcting issues possible. Don't discount the lure of the
well-worn path that draws and then traps your IT staff into familiar
habits.'"

Discuss this story at:
    http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1748210

Links:
    0. mailto:esther@bitranch.com
    1. http://www.cio.com/article/106350


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Break Internet Speed Records                           |
|   from the hey-you-yeah-you-using-firefox-pull-over dept.          |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @15:10 (The Internet)       |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/185221               |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

MosiMosi wrote to let us know about a new development on the Internet2
front. Researchers in Tokyo have advanced the speed of the network,
[0]breaking records twice in two days back in December of last year. "On
Dec. 30 [researchers] sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second, using
standard communications protocols. The next day, using modified
protocols, the team broke the record again by sending data over the same
20,000-mile path at 9.08 Gbps. That likely represents the current
network's final record because rules require a 10 percent improvement for
recognition, a percentage that would bring the next record right at the
Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps."

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/185221

Links:
    0. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/24/financial/f115859D57.DTL&type=business


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RIAA Wins In Court Against UW Madison                              |
|   from the when-you've-said-wisconsin-you've-said-it-all dept.     |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @15:56 (The Internet)       |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1928259          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Billosaur writes "A judge has ordered the University of
Wisconsin-Madison to turn over the names and contact information for the
53 UW-M students [1]accused of file sharing over the university's
networks by the RIAA. 'U.S. District Judge John Shabaz signed an order
requiring UW-Madison to relinquish the names, addresses, telephone
numbers, e-mail addresses and Media Access Control addresses for each of
the 53 individuals.' The ruling came as no surprise to the university,
which had previously rejected the request of the RIAA to hand out their
settlement letters to alleged copyright violators on their campus. The
school feels the RIAA will have a hard time tracking down who did the
file-sharing anyway, as the IP addresses the RIAA has for the violations
may be mapped to computers in common areas, making it difficult to
determine just which people may have made the downloads."

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1928259

Links:
    0. mailto:wgrother@optonline.net
    1. http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=131102


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Linux Kernel 2.6.21 Published                                      |
|   from the a-long-awaited-penguin dept.                            |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @16:36 (Linux)              |
|   http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/1932236        |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]diegocgteleline.es writes "Linus Torvalds [1]has released Linux 2.6.21
after months of development. This release improves the virtualization
with [2]VMI, a paravirtualization interface that will be used by Vmware.
KVM does get initial paravirtualization support along with [3]live
migration and host suspend/resume support. 2.6.21 also gets a tickless
idle loop mechanism called '[4]Dynticks', built in top of 'clockevents',
another feature that unifies the timer handling and brings true
high-resolution timers. Other features are: bigger kernel parameter-line,
support for the PA SEMI PWRficient CPU and for the Cell-based 'celleb'
Toshiba architecture, NFS IPv6 support, IPv4 IPv6 IPSEC tunneling, UFS2
write, kprobes for PPC32, kexec and oprofile for ARM, public key
encryption for ecryptfs, Fcrypt and Camilla cipher algorithms, NAT port
randomization, audit lockdown mode, some new drivers and many other small
improvements."

Discuss this story at:
    http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/1932236

Links:
    0. mailto:diegocg@teleline.es
    1. http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/4/25/561
    2. http://lwn.net/Articles/175706
    3. http://lwn.net/Articles/223839
    4. http://lwn.net/Articles/223185


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sony Takes on YouTube with Video-Sharing Site                      |
|   from the because-when-i-think-sony-i-think-wacky-video-clips dept|
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @17:14 (Sony)               |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/2027217              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

thefickler writes "According to Reuters, Sony has announced that it will
[0]launch a video-sharing site in Japan as part of its 'quiet software
revolution'. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Sony CEO Howard
Stringer said that the new site will be 'an opportunity to transmit
user-generated video anywhere you want to, anytime to anybody, in a
protected environment.' The new site, which will be called eyeVio, will
be first launched in Japan, although Sony hopes to also launch it
overseas should the Japanese version prove a success. It will be free to
users, and the idea is that Sony will eventually generate revenue through
advertising."

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/2027217

Links:
    0. http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2007-04-26T124749Z_01_TKU002801_RTRIDST_0_TECH-SONY-VIDEOSHARING-COL.XML


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Glitch Has Users Fuming, Google 'Frantic'                          |
|   from the look-before-you-goog dept.                              |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @17:53 (Google)             |
|   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/2030239              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]netbuzz writes "A problem with Google's Personalized Home Page feature
has apparently [1]cost a lot of users their carefully crafted doors to
the Internet. And Google, which says it is frantically searching for a
fix, also acknowledges that it is [2]not sure if it will be able to
recover the lost settings. 'The problem is the latest in what seems a
regular stream of technical glitches and availability problems affecting
Google's online services. In the past six months, Google services like
Blogger, Gmail and Google Apps have all experienced significant technical
issues that have left users fuming. The problems highlight one of the
risks of relying on hosted applications providers, which offer to house
software and its data for individuals and organizations. Google is one of
the biggest cheerleaders for this software provisioning model, which many
see as a viable option to the traditional approach of having users
install applications on their own PCs and servers.'"

Discuss this story at:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/2030239

Links:
    0. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=buzzblog
    1. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/042607-google-frantic-about-personalized-home.html
    2. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/14565


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dell Releases Flash-Based Laptops                                  |
|   from the welcome-to-the-world-of-tomorrow dept.                  |
|   posted by Zonk on Thursday April 26, @18:31 (Portables)          |
|   http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/2049235     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]joetheprogrammer writes "Dell has announced that they are going to
offer a special configuration option with its Latitude D420 laptop that
will [1]allow users to swap clunky old HDs in favor of a 32GB SanDisk
Flash hard drive. The only hitch comes with the price tag, which is set
at a rather expensive price of $549. This will definitely ensure the
laptop is set for a very high-profile consumer. 'The 1.8-inch 32GB
SanDisk SSD, which SanDisk announced in January, increases performance by
as much as 23 percent and is three and a half times less likely to fail
when compared with HDDs currently available for the Latitude line, Dell
said. The drive, currently available in North and South America, costs
$549 -- on par with the 32GB drive Sony is offering exclusively in Japan
for the Type-G Vaio. SanDisk will expand SSD availability to Europe and
Asia in the near future.'"

Discuss this story at:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/2049235

Links:
    0. http://righton.ath.cx/forums
    1. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/25/HNdellssd_1.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Succinct Definition of the Internet?                             |
|   from the indefinable dept.                                       |
|   posted by Cliff on Thursday April 26, @19:15 (The Internet)      |
|   http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0535200          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

magnamous asks: "Ever since Senator Ted Stevens used the phrase 'series
of tubes' to describe his understanding of the Internet, I've noticed
[0]several stories and comments referencing how silly that is. Although I
agree that that description is rather silly, each time I've found myself
trying to come up with a -succinct layman's definition- of what the
Internet is, and I come up short. Wikipedia has a [1]gargantuan page
describing the Internet, and [2]Google's definitions offer pretty good
descriptions of what the Internet is in a functional sense (with some
throwing in terms that the layman wouldn't understand, or take the time
to understand), but not really a good description of what it -is- in the
physical sense that I think Sen. Stevens was trying to get at. What are
your suggestions for a succinct layman's definition of the Internet?"

This story continues at:
    http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/26/0535200

Discuss this story at:
    http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/04/26/0535200

Links:
    0. http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/23/0127202&tid=123
    1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
    2. http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=define:internet&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8



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