Slashdot Mirror

kdawson writes "A year after voting unanimously to open 'white space' frequencies for unlicensed use, the FCC has now issued a public notice seeking database proposals (PDF). Howard Feld explains in his blog posting: 'At last! We can get moving on this again, and hopefully move forward on the most promising "disruptive" technology currently in the hopper. And move we are, in a very peculiar fashion. Rather than resolve the outstanding questions about how the database provider will collect money, operate the database, or whether the database will be exclusive or non-exclusive, the Public Notice asks would-be database managers to submit proposals that would cover these issues. ... I label this approach "good, but weird."'"

Tonight's Slashback arrives with updates on disappeared Intel contractor Mike Hawash, free Baen books, a new link for comparing space ship sizes, and more. Read on below for the details.

Yes, charges are nice after six weeks of unexplained incarceration. purdue_thor writes "The various news agencies (CNN, FoxNews) are reporting that after being held for six weeks, software engineer Mike Hawash has finally been charged. His detainment as a material witness and subsequent incarceration without formal charges was discussed previously on /. Friends of Mike Hawash have created a website to publicize his case and have released a statement regarding the charges."

Randolpho adds "The Free Mike Hawash website has released the following affidavit (PDF file) received from the Federal Terrorism Task Force. The affidavit states that Hawash traveled to China in 2001 with several co-conspirators 'in an attempt to enter Afghanistan to fight against United States forces.'"

This just in from the cork-topped bottle. danny writes "One of the disadvantages of living in Australia is that my review copies arrive late. But my review of Google Hacks may be of interest, even after honestpuck's earlier review."

Free as in books. Author John F.X. Sundman writes: "PDFs of the complete Acts of the Apostles and Cheap Complex Devices are available for free download from wetmachine.com under the Creative Commons license."

And Robotech_Master writes "Remember the Honor Harrington CD-ROM, which Baen packaged with its most recent Honor Harrington book? The one that included over three dozen e-books and came with explicit permission to copy and share but not sell?

Well, Baen's done it again. The new CD comes with the fourth book in John Ringo's Aldenata trilogy, Hell's Faire . It includes still more free e-books, mp3s, and even a D20 Aldenata roleplaying game in electronic form. The book hits the stands this month, and the ISO is already available on-line. (Scarywater guy, please take note. :) Download it, burn it, give it to your friends...or buy the book and support one of the most Internet-clueful publishers out there today."

Free as in "you pay money." An anonymous reader submits "The original Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, was first a book, then a radio series. Adams edited both. All 7 hrs and 30 minutes of the Radio series have been released by the BBC in MP3 CD format. If you only caught the TV series this is a must."

I wish more audio books would arrive like this (compressed, so as to occupy fewer disks), though I'd choose a better method of audio compression ;) If you want to hear the HHGttG, though, a few minutes on Google will probably turn up some fan sites with recordings from the BBC broadcasts. (innocent whistling)

Yeah, but there's no Epcot Center. Sacarino writes "Las Vegas is *almost* on par with Disney now. The regularly-updated Monorail Society website has tons of pictures of the progress. Vegas' monorails are the same type as Disney's (Bombardier Mark VI), only with inwardly opening doors... slick! Also mentions the old MGM-Bally's monorail that's getting absorbed into the new automated network."

Is this what Microsoft thinks of viral licensing? Vagary writes "One of my friends just got a Microsoft router and asked me to check the security features for it. The ping denial doesn't work, which is good because a port scan found some pretty interesting things, including this string in the TCP/IP fingerprint: 'i586-pc-linux-gnu'. Does that mean Microsoft must provide Linux source to purchasers of this product?"

Can anyone confirm, deny or explain this interesting claim?

Click here to discuss the size of a fictional spacecraft ... photozz writes "The infamously slashdotted site comparing the relative sizes of several hundred starships from various Sci-Fi series has been mirrored to a somewhat more robust server. So cool. It's in draggable format, so you can put King Kong on top of Deep Space 9 and re-create a dream I had last night......."

John F.X. Sundman is the author of Acts of the Apostles , an independently published, computer science, science fiction-attach-whatever-label-you-want-but-it's-good book, which we've reviewed on Slashdot before. Recently, he's taken his other work Cheap Complex Devices, updated, edited, and put together a package with Acts, available in PDF and dead tree version. I had the pleasure of reading both of them again -- read more to see my thoughts.Update: 09/09 16:11 GMT by T : Oops -- that should have read (as it now does) "Cheap Complex Devices" rather than "Cheap Computing Devices." That is all. Acts of the Apostles/Cheap Complex Devices author John F.X. Sundman pages 400 publisher Rosalita Associates rating 9 reviewer Hemos ISBN (see website for each) summary Two Sundman books combined for even greater power.

First of all, I'm not going to be doing another review of Acts, as I've already done that once. It is worth noting, however, that this is the first time both CCD and Acts have been brought together in an omnibus edition. I've got two different copies of Acts, but greatly enjoyed reading the two together again. Why? Because they fit together like two sides of the same coin -- or better yet, like Walther Matthau and Jack Lemmon.

Cheap Complex Devices's backdrop is that of being (supposedly) machine-written. (The foreword and descriptors of the book itself are greatly entertaining. It's that kind of writing that flows over into Acts.) While the scene may (or may not) have not even the slightest passing resemblance to reality, it's still something that grips your mind. You believe that the "Hofstader Prize for Machine Written Narration" could exist, and that the Society for Analytical Engines sounds pretty reasonable. Heck, it sounds at least as reasonable as the ACM.

BTW, if you can't be bothered to read Acts of the Apostles, take my advice and do it. I believe my standing quote on the book is that it's what Tom Clancy would write if he wasn't dumb. Essentially, it's a great techno-thriller, except the technology is something that a geek would appreciate -- but it's also written well enough that non-geeks will enjoy it. The hero of that book makes an apperance in CCD as one of the heroes in one of the automata written texts.

The actual text of the stories in CCD are just as amusing as the commentary about them, although oddly enough I think I actually like the commentary more then the stories. "Bees" is a commentary on what it means to be human, albiet with a peculiar focus on Gatorade. And the Bonehead Computer - well, just doing a little Googling for it.

I'm not sure what else to say about these books, other then read 'em. If you liked Naked Lunch, or any sort of thrillers, or thought GEB was an amazing work, or just like to read, these books will thrill ya.

To get them, John has a website to purchase CCD. He takes Paypal or checks in the mail. You can buy them in PDF or have dead tree versions sent, or both. Whatever -- you do what want. One caveat though: "Final 'truth in advertising' note: the version of CCD on my website is 87.9842% the same as the final book form (the book is better). I'll reconcile them soon. " (note from John)

Enjoy.

Back from his stint in juvenile detention, it's hemos with a review of John F. Sundman's technothriller Acts of the Apostles. And you don't even have to buy it until you're hooked. (Read more to find out why.) Acts of the Apostles author John F. Sundman pages 400 publisher Rosalita Associates rating 8/10 reviewer hemos ISBN 192975213X summary Fast-paced, impossible-odds story with a grasp of modern technology. The path that Acts of the Apostles took to get to me is an interesting path to start with -- and that should have been an indication to me what the book would be like.

Rob noticed this guy at April's Geek Pride Festival in Boston. The guy in question was obviously trying to reach Rob and talk to him, but was having a hard time getting there. (CT:I think John and I suffer from the same problem: We're both pretty shy, and this was a really crowded place) When he did finally reach Rob, he gave him the book, asking him to read it -- or pass it on to me for reading.

That's very similar to the opening of the book, in which the book's protagonist has a computer disk dumped into his world, after enduring some interesting testing times. From there, the thriller develops ranging the world, encompassing favorites like nanotechnology gone bad, mind control, multinational corporate intrigue, computer chip design, seances, and running from the law.

The book is purportedly about Gulf War Syndrome and its causes, but that's only the starting point: The plot itself is believable, for a thriller. I've described it to friends as "What Tom Clancy would write if he were smart." The plot devices, the characters and topics are all very familiar to the geek audience, and it's quite refreshing to read a book that understands the mindset its audience will have.

There a few drawbacks to the book -- as the author's bio states, this is Sundman's first book, and that is readily apparent. While it's well written, there are sections of the book that feel stilted and artificial, and portions of the dialogue feel unnatural. But in light of it being a first novel, I think these are forgivable. Lastly, the story line suffers from some too-familar devices, including the overused theme of an evil multinational corporation as bogeyman.

I salute the publisher and author for their decision to put the first 13 chapters online. Acts of the Apostles comprises 7 "books" with 62 total chapters, so the online chapters give you a very good feeling for the book. I will also say that the writing and story get better as the plot unfolds, something worth keeping in mind while reading the initial section of the book. One of the more amusing parts of the book's Web site is the section regarding John's travels. I would imagine he's quite a guy.

Summary: Good book. It's easy to pick up after being away from for a while, but good enough that you'll want to read it straight through. Support small publishing and purchase this book from fatbrain. With summer coming up, and a bit more free time, this is a good book to keep around to read during kernel compiles.

You can also grab the book from Softpro.

Back from his stint in juvenile detention, it's hemos with a review of John F. Sundman's technothriller Acts of the Apostles. And you don't even have to buy it until you're hooked. (Read more to find out why.) Acts of the Apostles author John F. Sundman pages 400 publisher Rosalita Associates rating 8/10 reviewer hemos ISBN 192975213X summary Fast-paced, impossible-odds story with a grasp of modern technology. The path that Acts of the Apostles took to get to me is an interesting path to start with -- and that should have been an indication to me what the book would be like.

Rob noticed this guy at April's Geek Pride Festival in Boston. The guy in question was obviously trying to reach Rob and talk to him, but was having a hard time getting there. (CT:I think John and I suffer from the same problem: We're both pretty shy, and this was a really crowded place) When he did finally reach Rob, he gave him the book, asking him to read it -- or pass it on to me for reading.

That's very similar to the opening of the book, in which the book's protagonist has a computer disk dumped into his world, after enduring some interesting testing times. From there, the thriller develops ranging the world, encompassing favorites like nanotechnology gone bad, mind control, multinational corporate intrigue, computer chip design, seances, and running from the law.

The book is purportedly about Gulf War Syndrome and its causes, but that's only the starting point: The plot itself is believable, for a thriller. I've described it to friends as "What Tom Clancy would write if he were smart." The plot devices, the characters and topics are all very familiar to the geek audience, and it's quite refreshing to read a book that understands the mindset its audience will have.

There a few drawbacks to the book -- as the author's bio states, this is Sundman's first book, and that is readily apparent. While it's well written, there are sections of the book that feel stilted and artificial, and portions of the dialogue feel unnatural. But in light of it being a first novel, I think these are forgivable. Lastly, the story line suffers from some too-familar devices, including the overused theme of an evil multinational corporation as bogeyman.

I salute the publisher and author for their decision to put the first 13 chapters online. Acts of the Apostles comprises 7 "books" with 62 total chapters, so the online chapters give you a very good feeling for the book. I will also say that the writing and story get better as the plot unfolds, something worth keeping in mind while reading the initial section of the book. One of the more amusing parts of the book's Web site is the section regarding John's travels. I would imagine he's quite a guy.

Summary: Good book. It's easy to pick up after being away from for a while, but good enough that you'll want to read it straight through. Support small publishing and purchase this book from fatbrain. With summer coming up, and a bit more free time, this is a good book to keep around to read during kernel compiles.

You can also grab the book from Softpro.