Slashdot Mirror

nebby writes "How Stuff Works is running an article regarding the "penny per page" model for web site compensation. It sounds like a very viable solution, being simple to understand, transparent to use, and fair to the webmasters and users involved. The only downside to it is that it would require a massive effort on the part of web sites, standards bodies, and/or ISPs to switch over. I know that methods of online payment have been brought up before, but in searching on Google I found no information about any groups or companies looking seriously into moving to this model. I was wondering if any such groups or initiatives have been put together, and if not, why not? :) It doesn't take much to imagine the possibilities of what the web could become if this were put in place ..." Penny-per-page actually sounds like one of the better micropayment ideas I've heard, but is just as vaporous as any of the others so far.

Troodon writes: The Register reports on Forensics Explorers' NetWitness. Rather than relying upon the FBI's 'fail-safe' separation of Carnivore Operators and Case Agents to discriminate between legitimate data and that inadmissably, incidentally siphoned up along with it and submitting to the installation of a mysterious black box within their network, ISP's can comply with CALEA in-house for approximately $2,500 per collector and between $35,000 and $45,000 for an analysis station. Should you fancy a little development, another cheaper alternative exists: Altivore." Not sure any of this is much comfort -- the lesser of two evils is still evil.

Timothy has compiled a good list of links related to this morning's terrorist attacks around America. Many photos and video clips. There's a lot of good links there and I highly recommend that you read them. And thanks to the Slashteam for keeping the servers up through this. Its not easy dealing with 3x the traffic. I apologize to readers that have been inconvenienced.

Two major news updates: the plane downed near Pittsburgh is reported not to have been shot down. A fifth plane which had been feared hijacked, this one a Korean Air jetliner, was forced down by Canadian Air Force planes over the Yukon. However, this plane is reported not to have been hijacked -- instead, its emergency beacon was triggered by a low-fuel indicator.

Importantly -- remember, blood is in demand. The Red Cross' site is mobbed, but here's the blood donation information on a the cached page at google.

More details of the attack and its aftermath: a report at at gnome.org, and a photo at indymedia.org. pajama links to NYC Police scanner traffic (winamp) streamed online, and an anonymous reader also points to another scanner feed.

Shadowwalker Delaforge writes "Hey guys: I'm submitting my web site to yours to get the word out. I've been compiling web sites, and info on the U.S. Attack. These sites are ones that work, and arent' swamped out of existence. I'm also adding new data about where people can donate money, blood, and other things dealing with this.

soccerdad writes "Due to the activities of today, the internet/networking experts at my firm have been asked by some of our clients to be on standby in case anything untoward occurs. They've been monitoring backbone activity, etc., in a "just in case" mode. They've described the activity they're seeing as somewhat strange. The backbone is, according to them, at about 80% utilization -- they've never seen it above 40% before. However, the main portal sites such as Yahoo aren't having substantively higher than normal traffic. They're working on doing some traffic analysis but haven't completed that effort yet."

A small piece of that bandwidth may be saved if you go to the link Kalak suggests: "William Shunn is collecting short notes from people in the terrorist affected areas so you can see who is OK." Look here (or post your name here if you're in an affected city) before tying up a phone connection. Alex Fabrikant submitted another personal information site at Berkeley

Thapthim writes "http://cbc.ca/ has all sorts of information, even in our own city buildings are being shutdown, all air traffic has been suspended. However Canadian Airports are taking in international flights heading into US so the air ports there are free for emergencies."

sn0wcrsh wrote to say that a "short blurb on Channel 7 Boston that the CTO of Akamai was on the fateful plane that hit the trade center" confirms the earlier reports that he was on board.

And ectrix writes: "The CFO of my company, Netegrity was on United Airlines Flight 175, which has been confirmed to us by United Airlines to have hit tower two of the WTC.

WAVY NBC - Norfolk, VA (among other local TV stations I'm sure) is reporting on the air the Threatcon levels at the area Naval, Air Force, and Army bases. They are all at Threatcon Delta. Their website currently only lists their status as of the beginning of the attacks, which was Threatcon Charlie. Norfolk, VA is the home port for the US Atlantic Fleet. Local TV stations also are showing armed (M16s, shotguns) guards patrolling the base grounds and perimeters."

There are updated photos and videos here, and CarbonFusion wrote with another good link to photos and videos.. eddiem writes: "http://www.flightexplorer.com/ will soon let you view the flight path of the planes." Explanations of airport security at How Stuff Works and Cryptome are an interesting read under the circumstances as well.

Bard, Andrew wrote with some updates as well:

"Just to let you know:

1. I heard a woman who was on the 92nd floor of the first WTC building when the plane hit it. She was able to escape and so was everyone "in her company" so it is assumed that virtually everyone from the 92nd floor down was evacuated successfully - an estimated 20,000 people of the 25,000 in the building.
2. the plane that went down in PA had a woman onboard who locked herself in the bathroom with her cellular phone - she was telling authorities about the hijacking when the plane crashed and killed her - that is the only way the authorities knew for sure what plane went down in PA so quickly, she gave her flight number
3. the Mexican border is completely closed and the Canadian border is still open - all International flights have been redirected to Northern Canada
4. the planes from Boston were presumably chosen because they were going on long flights (to LA) which would make them larger than average airliners with full tanks of gas
5. when the first WTC building crashed (which was the 2nd one to be hit), 125 firemen were down below fighting the fire on the first building to be hit... none of them have been heard from yet - 10,000 emergency personnel in NYC responded to the first WTC getting hit... it is unknown how many of those were crushed in the two collapsed buildings."

K4GPB writes: "Animated article shows inner workings of water pump guns capable of shooting 50 feet. In 1982, a nuclear scientist named Lonnie Johnson came up with an ingenious solution...In the late '90s, a new wave of Super Soaker guns came out that boasted higher pressure levels." Super soakers make great cat behavior-correction devices too.

K4GPB writes: "Animated article shows inner workings of water pump guns capable of shooting 50 feet. In 1982, a nuclear scientist named Lonnie Johnson came up with an ingenious solution...In the late '90s, a new wave of Super Soaker guns came out that boasted higher pressure levels." Super soakers make great cat behavior-correction devices too.

Scoria writes: "CNN dot com reports that the Houston based company Encounter 2001 will ship a part of your DNA to space in 2003 for $50. They're apparently hoping that aliens will find the "message" that they send. The ship will use solar sails the size of a football field as its primary accelerator and will take fifteen years to pass Pluto, at which point it will be travelling at 7.8 miles a second. Pioneer 10, alternately, is currently moving at 7.605936 miles (12.24 km)/sec. There are 4.5 million total slots, go make sure that there are in fact geeks in space!"

Gary writes "You can also learn more about How Solar Sails work. In mid-April 2001, The Planetary Society, in collaboration with several Russian space organizations, will test launch the deployment mechanism for the first solar-sail mission, Cosmos-1, in a sub-orbital flight. It is a rounded solar sail that is divided into eight triangular blades with inflatable booms for support. Maneuvering a solar-sail spacecraft requires balancing two factors: the direction of the solar sail relative to the sun and the orbital speed of the spacecraft."

Gary writes "You can also learn more about How Solar Sails work. In mid-April 2001, The Planetary Society, in collaboration with several Russian space organizations, will test launch the deployment mechanism for the first solar-sail mission, Cosmos-1, in a sub-orbital flight. It is a rounded solar sail that is divided into eight triangular blades with inflatable booms for support. Maneuvering a solar-sail spacecraft requires balancing two factors: the direction of the solar sail relative to the sun and the orbital speed of the spacecraft."

Gary writes "How does a Dippy Bird work? reveals methylene chloride in the abdomen! The temperature decrease in the head condenses the methylene chloride vapor, decreasing the vapor pressure in the head relative to the vapor pressure in the abdomen. The greater vapor pressure in the abdomen forces fluid up through the neck and into the head. If you hold a Dippy Bird upright in your hand, touching the abdomen, the following happens..."

Gary writes "How does a Dippy Bird work? reveals methylene chloride in the abdomen! The temperature decrease in the head condenses the methylene chloride vapor, decreasing the vapor pressure in the head relative to the vapor pressure in the abdomen. The greater vapor pressure in the abdomen forces fluid up through the neck and into the head. If you hold a Dippy Bird upright in your hand, touching the abdomen, the following happens..."

Science teachers from around the U.S. get together to discuss curricula and of course to be pitched by purveyors of classroom goodies. Gary points to this "photographic tour of this past weekend's convention. Palm demonstrated a science module and software that turns a Palm computer into a data logging and graphing machine. 33 color photos in all!" I'd like one of those USB-connected Intel microscopes, and a large barrel of LEDs ...

Science teachers from around the U.S. get together to discuss curricula and of course to be pitched by purveyors of classroom goodies. Gary points to this "photographic tour of this past weekend's convention. Palm demonstrated a science module and software that turns a Palm computer into a data logging and graphing machine. 33 color photos in all!" I'd like one of those USB-connected Intel microscopes, and a large barrel of LEDs ...

Gary writes: "Nintendo begins shipping its next-generation handheld game in Japan this week. Nintendo estimates that it holds a 90 percent share of the portable game market, though some analysts believe that percentage to be even higher. It is the first to have a horizontal alignment, and it is 17 times faster than the Game Boy Color, which was released in 1998." This is the first portable gaming system I'm really tempted by -- horizontal alignment is The Way Things Should Be on such things;) Update: 03/21 03:53 AM by T : And Prabhjeet "The One" Singh writes: "According to Gamespot, Activision will be releasing a version of DOOM for Nintendos upcoming Game Boy Advance. No game has given me more sleepless nights. Now its time for sleepless plane rides, mall trips, etc. I can't wait."

Gary writes: "Nintendo begins shipping its next-generation handheld game in Japan this week. Nintendo estimates that it holds a 90 percent share of the portable game market, though some analysts believe that percentage to be even higher. It is the first to have a horizontal alignment, and it is 17 times faster than the Game Boy Color, which was released in 1998." This is the first portable gaming system I'm really tempted by -- horizontal alignment is The Way Things Should Be on such things;) Update: 03/21 03:53 AM by T : And Prabhjeet "The One" Singh writes: "According to Gamespot, Activision will be releasing a version of DOOM for Nintendos upcoming Game Boy Advance. No game has given me more sleepless nights. Now its time for sleepless plane rides, mall trips, etc. I can't wait."

Gart points to this article on printable computers, an "Illustrated narrative [that] shows how users will simply download microchip designs from the Internet and print out a working ink-based, plastic processor on a desktop fabrication machine, similar to an ink jet printer." This is a nicely lucid account, and straightforward about the reasons that you probably won't start printing out a new motherboard this evening. Still, a glimpse of the future; this is one technology it will be cool to watch emerge from vapor.

Gart points to this article on printable computers, an "Illustrated narrative [that] shows how users will simply download microchip designs from the Internet and print out a working ink-based, plastic processor on a desktop fabrication machine, similar to an ink jet printer." This is a nicely lucid account, and straightforward about the reasons that you probably won't start printing out a new motherboard this evening. Still, a glimpse of the future; this is one technology it will be cool to watch emerge from vapor.

theancient1 asks: "Coming soon to MP3 players, PDAs, and digital cameras: DataPlay: a $10 coin-sized disc that holds 500 MB of data. The catch? The discs have content control implemented as part of the file system. If a file has the 'protected' bit set, you'll need a key to access it. Keys can expire after a given interval, and although you can transfer files to your friends, they'll need their own key. This proprietary, SDMI-ready device is the RIAA's dream -- if all music were distributed this way, services like Napster wouldn't exist." And the war over digitally control content escalates. Will this system be cracked as easily as SDMI, or might this be something to worry about?

"On CNNfn, the CMO says it's great for record companies that want to re-sell their old music in a new format. In their press FAQ, they essentially claim to have invented the CD-R. (Patents pending.) All new hardware technologies seem to come with content control strings attatched. Is CD-R the last truly open storage medium? Is DataPlay the next big thing, or something to avoid?"

Matthew Devost submitted a book review of Peter M. Black's Informatica 1.0. The book is an interesting one, and is sort of a collection of some of the coolest people, projects and resources around. Informatica 1.0: Access to the Best Tools for Masteringthe Info author Peter M. Black pages 398 publisher Random House, 09/1999 rating ? reviewer Matthew Devost ISBN 0-375-70637-2 (inclu summary Informatica is a fun and enlightening read and should appeal to a very broad audience, including the Slashdot community. Peter Black has scoured the net and the psyche of the scientific and geek communities to identify and document some of the coolest products, resources and initiatives in existence. When Peter first told me about this book project he described it as "The Whole Earth Catalog, 30 years later, without chemical toilets and backpacking gear". I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he exceeded his expectations. Informatica is an interesting and fun compendium of geek gadgets and resources.

The appeal of Informatica is not solely in the uniqueness of the items and concepts covered, but in the way they blend together to provide an extensive overview of the information age. The author doesn't focus exclusively on the bleeding edge, but rather weaves old and new together to provide the framework required to understand the historical and future implications of technology.

In addition, Peter has assembled relevant essays and other information that provide useful insights you wouldn't normally encounter. For example, on the pages that discuss FM radios, the book includes tables that list the frequencies used, expected signal ranges and an essay entitled "Creating the Motorola TalkAbout Two-Way Radio" by Frank Tyneski who actually designed them!

The layout of the book is intuitive and each page includes a useful sidebar providing an item description, date it was developed, price range, key features, recommended ages, obsolescence, and URL. While the layout allows for front-to-back reading, the book is best consumed in random order or used as a reference by making use of its table of contents or extensive index.

Most of the reviews are provided in the first person, adding an element of insightfulness and wit that book readers are not ordinarily subjected to. As a resident of Washington, D.C. I found Peter's review of Cloak and Dagger Books to be very entertaining and it provided a valuable pointer to replace a unique resource.
?Back in the eighties there was a wonderfully peculiar bookstore called the National Intelligence Book Center. It was hidden on the sixth floor of a non-descript building on K Street in Washington, D.C. You had to check your stuff (weapons? censors?) in lockers at the door and be buzzed in by someone who looked at you from behind bulletproof glass. It was weird, but it felt like it was for real. In the early nineties, the NIBC closed down?.now the best resource for these sorts of things is the Cloak and Dagger Bookstore"

The book is divided into five sections on hardware, sources, software, plasticware and paperware. Some sections are better developed than others. For example, the sections on hardware and sources are excellent, while the section on plasticware is lacking in both substance and insight. The listing below identifies a few of the items from each section that I found to be interesting:

HARDWARE:
Highly Portable Astronomical Telescope (pg. 8)
Pocket Thermo-Anemometer (pg. 19)
Sony VAIO (pg. 41)
Lego Mindstorms (pg. 48)
Sampling of Electronic Cars (pg. 54)
Empeg Linux-Powered Car Radio (pg. 63)
Suncatcher Solar Panel:Portable Power Source for Portable Devices (pg. 71)
Palm Pilot (pg. 75)

SOURCES:
www.howstuffworks.com (pg. 84)
The Obsolete Computer Museum (pg. 95)
National Cryptologic Museum and Web Site (pg. 102)
Tree of Life:Global Net-Based Distributed Database on Life (pg. 109)
The GPS Information Web Site (pg. 138)
Cloak and Dagger Books (pg. 142)
The Cathedral and the Bazaar (pg. 144)
The Coca Cola Formula (pg. 173)
The Slinky Physics Web Site (pg. 193)
Internet Mapping Project (pg. 211)
Slashdot (pg. 222)

SOFTWARE:
Digital Planetarium (pg. 240)
Enigma Cipher Simulator (pg. 246)
Truster:Software for Determining the Truth (pg. 256)

PLASTICWARE:
Powers of Ten VHS (pg. 265)

PAPERWARE:
The American Black Chamber (early crypto) (pg. 285)
The Puzzle Palace (pg. 286)
The Number Devil:A Mathematical Adventure (pg. 305)
A Spy's London: A Walk Book of 136 Sites in Central London Relating to Spies, Spycatchers, and Subversives (pg. 315)
Undercover Washington: Touring the Sites Where Infamous Spies Lived, Worked and Loved (pg. 320)
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (pg. 339)
Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century (pg. 378)

The book also serves as a useful time capsule for the turn of the Millennium. It documents current state of the art technologies that should make for interesting reading and reminiscing in twenty years or so. Some versions of the book also include a CDROM and there is a companion web site.

The author is the president of a software company in California and is known for his ability to track and understand new technologies. He was a contributor to Wired magazine during its first year of existence and was also one of the first multimedia publishers to provide content on DVD. Peter is an avid collector of eclectic knowledge and "cool" resources.He is notorious for carrying a small index card in his pocket on which he constantly notes new discoveries mined from casual conversations. In addition, he queried half a dozen friends in the industry and asked them to contribute items for inclusion in the book.

Informatica is a fun and enlightening read and should appeal to a very broad audience, including the Slashdot community.

Purchase this at fatbrain.

Andreas Pour sent linkage to a page where you can get the KDE mascot in T-shirt form (half the profits go to KDE). Hubert Figuiere sent us pictures from the Paris LinuxExpo if you weren't in France. Brian sent us How Stuff Works. Its actually not bad. cpfeifer wrote in to send us some spoofed book covers including Taking Down the Internet in 30mins for Dummies and IP Spoofing for Dummies. More here. An anonymous reader sent us Prozac Pez if you've been having a rough day. Dwonis sent us a point-form description of Geeks, Twits and Nerds, and the differences between them. aspodf wrote in to show us what happens when Red Meat and Star Wars come together at last. CowboyNeal sent us a link to Career Path which has a Personality Quiz that tells if you are a Jedi Master, or a Sith Lord. I think Neal ended up an Ewok *grin*.