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Movies

Ultimate DVDs for Parties? 84

Posted by Cliff
from the things-to-show-on-NYE dept.
Adore333 asks: "I'm hosting a party on new year's eve and was thinking of playing some DVDs in the background (party music over the original soundtrack). I've chosen Trinity and Beyond and Microcosmos as the movies. Even though its likely a bit too late for New Year's Eve, I'd like to hear what media other Slashdot readers would suggest. The films should have great emphasis on visual expression and it would be nice if they were enjoyable as movies as well (like Trinity and Microcosmos). So, what's your ultimate party DVD?"

Has The Poincare Conjecture Been Solved? 292

Posted by simoniker
from the let's-conject-together dept.
Zack Coburn writes "An article in the Boston Globe alludes to the Poincare Conjecture being solved, possibly. For those who are unfamiliar with the conjecture, the article gives a brief description: "To solve it, one would have to prove something that no one seriously doubts: that, just as there is only one way to bend a two-dimensional plane into a shape without holes -- the sphere -- there is likewise only one way to bend three-dimensional space into a shape that has no holes. Though abstract, the conjecture has powerful practical implications: Solve it and you may be able to describe the shape of the universe." Apparently Grigory Perelman may have proved it, which would mean a $1 million award from the Clay Mathematics Institute." We've previously discussed other possible Poincare proofs.
Security

Will Security Task Force Affect OSS Acceptance? 224

Posted by simoniker
from the your-name's-not-down dept.
An anonymous reader writes "An interesting article published by SD Times: "Application Security Goes National" discusses some of the talking points generated by a federal task force that will make recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security. One of these talking points is to license software developers and make them accountable for security breaches. Licensed developers would get paid more as well. The article also mentions that "Executives" might not wish to work with smaller undiciplined partners and a little further down that "Hobbyists create Web services [and] professionals create them" and that "companies relying on critical infrastructure Web services need confidence". Would OSS have to be writen entirely by licensed developers to be considered secure? . Yahoo Finance has another article on the subject." The SD Times article is current, despite the incorrect date on it.
Programming

Do We Need Another OO RPC Mechanism? 92

Posted by Cliff
from the variety-is-good-when-it's-necessary dept.
Paul68 queries: "I am looking for an RPC mechanism for a project. Granted, there are many to choose from, yet there seem none that meet my requirements! When one has toyed with the requirements the solution generaly becomes obvious. So, yeah sure, I can set out and create the next RPC mechanism, but it is a lot of hassle. But does the world need yet another OORPC, or have I simply not looked in the right corners?"
Encryption

Finding MD5 Collisions With Chinese Lottery 303

Posted by simoniker
from the soon-to-be-distributed-slashdotting dept.
Stanislav Shalunov writes "Jean-Luc Cooke posted a Usenet article describing a distributed webpage-based effort (Chinese Lottery) to find a collision in the MD5 function. All you need to do to participate in the effort is visit the URL that loads the code. The author comments: 'What is interesting about this approach - when we reach final release stage - is that any website that adds this small snippet of code to their pages will have their visitors working on the problem for the duration of their visit to the site'."
Classic Games (Games)

Building Your Own Skeeball Game? 36

Posted by Cliff
from the feed-me-weird-things! dept.
Squarepusher wonders "When a friend of mine started talking about building his own skeeball game, I knew exactly where to go for the scoop on this undertaking. Many people seem to be making their own arcade game cabinets now-a-days, but hows about skeeball? Does anyone have plans, tips/tricks, or knowledge of the inner workings? In short: Where does one begin and what exactly is my buddy getting himself into?"
Television

Introducing The Dave/Dina Multimedia Distro 167

Posted by timothy
from the more-the-merrier dept.
thomasvs writes "The Dave/Dina project is a small enthusiastic group of developers working on a complete open-sourced distribution for home entertainment systems. You can record and watch TV, watch DVD's, grab and listen to CD's, rate your music, videochat with other people, watch pictures, and all this on your TV set in the living room, with a remote control. The first .iso set has just been released. This is a beta release meant to attract new developers, testers, and hackers, who want to work towards a similar goal. It works fine for us, but it might need fixing on other hardware, which is our next goal. On a related note, Happy New Year to everyone !"
Education

Legal Music Distribution for Education? 58

Posted by Cliff
from the if-it-isn't-legal-it-should-be dept.
discstickers asks: "One of my classes next semester, 'Roots of Rock & Roll', has been canceled, because the professor isn't allowed to post the songs needed for the class, on a limited-access server ([which would] only be available to people registered for the class). So Slashdot, is there a legal way to get around this? The MP3s in question are old albums and individual songs. The cost shouldn't be too high, there are 100 people in the class with Macs and PCs, and we'd have to be able to burn the music to mix CDs for the final project."
The Internet

101 Ways To Save The Internet 490

Posted by timothy
from the good-luck-with-that-list dept.
captain igor writes "Wired news is running an editorial detailing 101 ways to save the Internet from spammers, crackers and smothering regulation. What does do Slashdot readers think of these suggestions, and what other options should be considered to keep the Internet from falling to evil forces?"
The Internet

Japan: VoIP for the Masses With 050 120

Posted by timothy
from the open-up-555-so-we-can-call-movies dept.
securitas writes "Red Herring has a brief article about wide-scale VoIP deployment in Japan with the introduction of the new 050 area code. The new area code 'allows plain old telephone service (POTS) to seamlessly transition to voice-over-IP (VoIP).' Japan is now the largest country to deploy VoIP. Six companies have bought 8.5 million VoIP phone numbers, with 68% (5.78 million) of the new numbers owned by Softbank BB Phone. At $.010 for a three-minute call, the cost is three to eight times less expensive than regular wireline service."
Space

Quadrantids Source Discovered 55

Posted by timothy
from the special-effects-department dept.
linuxwrangler writes "Man has observed the annual Quadrantid meteor shower since antiquity but its source has remained unknown. Astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute predicted that the source would turn out to be the burnt-out core of an ancient star. Now, just in time for this year's display, the source has been discovered right where Jenniskens predicted."
Software

FreeBSD Ports Collection Breaks 10,000 Ports 130

Posted by timothy
from the 10k-non-race dept.
sremick writes "After breaking the 9,000 mark in July, the FreeBSD ports collection was well on its way of crossing 10,000 by the end of 2003. Sure enough, we made it! According to freshports, the number of ports in the FreeBSD ports tree currently stands at 10,015. This little graph is also nice, though not completely current. Way to go, FreeBSD!"
Data Storage

Dell Throws In For The +R/+RW Standard 393

Posted by timothy
from the mike-thinks-positive dept.
srothroc writes "Dell has been selling DVD+R burners for a while, but now they're tossing them in on free deals with some decent everyday consumer systems. I wonder if this increased support from one of two companies to pull a profit on PCs is going to tip the scale towards the +R format... If not, what's going to happen to the Dell users who have all of these +R drives if it turns out that -R wins out in the long run?"

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. -- Alexander Pope

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