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Stories · 3,462
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Digital DJ Turntable
Daniel Gomez-Ibanez writes "I made a digital turntable - it stores digital audio and plays it back like a record player. This lets you scratch the audio from a CD. I like it because there's no 'computer' involved- a four year old can figure it out. There's a description here." Daniel also has a more descriptive web page on the inspiration and design of this beast.
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Cable Companies Saying No to WiFi Sharing
blastedtokyo writes: "According to this story from CNet, Time Warner Cable is going after people who share their wireless connections via NYC Wireless or other public share networks. All we need is a warchalking symbol that conveys 'I'm a lawyer who doesn't have time to figure out how to set up a WEP link.'" This might remind you of a story posted the other day about other ways cable ISPs are trying to lock down their networks.
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Quirky Open Source Convention Photos
Lisa writes "I don't know if you've seen Julian (SuperSnail) Cash's amazing photos from last year's O'Reilly Open Source Convention , but they are worth checking out." Julian also took some pictures of the 2000 OSCON too. We figured since OSCON 2002 is almost upon us that this would be a fun thing to post.
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Copyright Issues Surrounding 3D Shapes and Meshes?
soulhuntre asks: "A well known and respected company creates aftermarket 3D human figures for a popular rendering/posing system. Part of the value of these figures is that a large add on marketplace is thriving for clothing and props that will work with these characters. So far so good. Recently though there has been a controversy around the claims this company is making on what kind of work is derivative under US copyright law, and what they have to be asked for permission for. Can anyone cite any cases that might be of use in figuring this mess out?" It all boils down to how much deviation is allowed for a work to still be called "derivative". Even though a company may still own the models, does that mean they own the clothes, which were made by someone else for that model, used to "dress" it?
"It is a given that if I use their mesh to create a product I am violating their copyright.
It is a grey area in my mind if I use an automated process to make a product that will fit around their mesh; if for instance I take their human into a program like Rhino and let Rhino build a curve network over the surface to use in making my clothing mesh.
It seems completely clean to me to take their figure into Rhino or 3DS Max and hand fit a mesh that will conform to their figure, say in order to make a pair of pants that will fit their character. The mesh is mine, the shape is mine as well - it approximates their shape but their shape is also the shape of a human... not something they can copyright in broad terms.
Then there is the issue of fair use in my mind. The purpose of these figures is to be used with conforming accessories. it is the selling point and the primary goal. The value of the Daz figures is derived in the marketplace from the fact that they are the most popular figure to add aftermarket items to. it seems to me they have no claim that a work that fits on their figure is diminishing their value or revenue." -
Cryogenic Mouse Mod
mrsaggy writes "When you get sick of putting an aluminium case on your PC, and lighting up the keyboard, here is something you can do with your optical mouse. Does anyone know where I can get a Han Solo lego figure ?" Thats a pretty funny mod. Ya don't see many mouse mods, and that one is pretty cool.
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KDEvelopers on KDE Users
An anonymous reader writes: "KDE developers spent some time this week on their mailing list discussing what motivates them and the extent to which user concerns figure in their decisions. Dennis E. Powell's column on Linux and Main draws excerpts from the exchange, in which he participated, and says that he believes a lot more of this kind of discussion is needed."
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8128 miles Per (US) Gallon
idletask writes: "Yes, you read well. This is the new record established this year in the Shell International Mileage Marathon (NOTE: English link, their figures are calculated using UK gallons), held this year on June 1st and 2nd on the Circuit of Nogaro, by a team from Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. This yearly contest, sponsored by Shell since 1977, consists in travelling the longest distance with only one liter of gas (the record is therefore actually 3494km with 1 liter), at a minimum pace of 25kph (~15mph). Full results of the contest can be found in a PDF file. The only US team who participated this year scored 69th, with 1136mpg (483km with 1l)."
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Cheaper SMP AMD Motherboards?
[RNP]Venom asks: "With AMD prices as low as ever, it leaves several of my co-workers and I asking some common questions. With some 50+ Dual, Quad, etc.. Intel-based Motherboards/Chipsets, why is it we've not seen an influx of Dual-AMD equipment? I know we have at least 4 AMD Athlon cpu's sitting around the shop here that would be great to have in an SMP setup, however short of spending $200-$500 on a Tyan Product, or around the same mark for one of the few other products with dual-Athlon Support, what can one do? Where are the $50-$100 Dual-AMD CPU boards that Intel users enjoy? A Google search reveals little but Tyan and more Tyan. I thought their 'exclusive' was only 6 months? I figure the Slashdot readers would be the best to query on current or upcoming 'affordable' products in this area."
- One Billion Computers Sold Worldwide
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News Sites Getting to Know You
The Online Journalism Review has a story about more and more news sites requiring registration. Has assorted facts and figures, including how much sites' traffic dropped when registration was required. Even though a fair percentage of people just make up the data they are asked to provide, I'd guess that as a statistical measure it's probably pretty accurate - many people would tell the truth without caring that they're being tracked.
As a general matter, Slashdot's policy on linking to registration-required websites goes something like this:
The New York Times is okay, because they've got a lot of high-quality stories and they were essentially grandfathered in;
Other registration-required sites are not okay, and we won't post stories linking to them.
Kind of a shame, because the LA Times has some good content too, and we've posted lot of links to them in the past, before they went registration-required. Oh well.
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IBM Dropping Laptop Linux Support
Bjarne Bula writes "In a message to the linux-thinkpad mailing list, Keith Frechette, former (as of Monday, June 24th) lead developer of Linux support on ThinkPads, reported that IBM has decided to no longer fund that project." I've been using Linux on a ThinkPad for some time now. If it stops being compatible, my next laptop won't be a ThinkPad. Too bad, because the machines are solid. Update: In an interesting counter-point, Information Week tells us that IBM will be opening a manhattan based "Linux Center of Competence" to show off Linux. Go figure.
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Optical Fiber for a Small Community?
wildsurf asks: "I live in a small community of about 70 homes, which has been on a septic-tank system for many years, soon to be replaced with a sewer system. Not too exciting, except that this opens up the possibility of laying fiber-optic cable alongside the sewer lines, which could add significant value to the properties, as well as ultra-broadband. (It seems a shame to dig up all the trenches and NOT lay cable.) DSL doesn't work out here, and the cable provider is a bit sketchy, but there's an ultra-high-bandwidth pipe running nearby that we could possibly tap into. Anyway, I figure this would be the perfect audience to ask for recommendations, since I'm not quite sure how to approach this. The homeowner's meeting is next month, and I'd like to know what to suggest to them. Thanks in advance!" Well, if your local media company isn't going to wire your community, the community may just have to foot that bill itself. What would it need to do: what forms would they need to complete; what contractors would they need to hire (especially when piggy-backing on other municipal works); and most importantly, how much would something like this cost?
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Cheap Cell Phone Cameras
prostoalex writes "Apparently an Israeli company figured out the way to put a 376x296 digital camera into cell phones for less than $15." We've done previous stories about a PDA/phone with included camera, but this could be integrated into a regular phone so that your conversation partner could get a nice real-time view of your ear.
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Distributing Unix Knowledge Among Admins?
chadworthman asks: "I work in a server support role with 6 other sys admins. We are all responsible for 10 to 25 servers each (various flavours of Unix), mostly grouped by project. The person who is responsible for a server is called prime. We also identify a sys admin as secondary. This system is not working out well. Most sys admins are only familiar with the environments that they are prime for, and when a prime contact is not in the office or leaves the company, the rest of us try to figure out the environment. We are currently trying to figure out the best way to transfer knowledge of environments between sys admins. We have considered a plan that would involve partnering with another co-worker while you trade knowledge, then after a certain number of months, trade with someone else. I was wondering what other techniques for knowledge transfer between sys admins Slashdotters have encountered."
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P2P Television?
An Anonymous reader submits a link to this "very interesting article on TVP2P," writing: "While the author doesn't really mention "P2P," think of the permutations of having TV's becoming Napster-like file servers. The tech can't be too hard to work out, since CATV systems are now piping Net access into millions of homes (anyone doing this hack yet?). If you thought the RIAA raised hell, wait until the MPAA and the relevant TV lobby groups figure this out. Of course, if history teaches us anything, they won't figure it out until way after the genie is out of the bottle ..."
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Terapin Mine Review
Ian Bell writes: "Designtechnica has just posted a review of the Terapin Mine. This handheld device has a 10gb hard drive, ethernet port, PCMCIA port, USB 2.0 and a front display. On top of all this it has a Linux OS installed complete with scandisk and defrag. You can hook this unit up to your television to view pictures as well. I know that the stats on this unit sound great, but you would be surprised by just how usable it is. Click Here for the full review." Whether it's 10 or 20 gigs (the review mentions both figures) doesn't really affect the reviewer's conclusion.
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UCSD Students Tracking Their Friends' Locations
An Anonymous Coward writes: "The location-tracking software, developed by a 15-year-old student at the university, draws upon triangulation technology. The PDAs figure out their locations by comparing the strength levels of signals traveling from the devices to various Wi-Fi antennas. No GPS Required. Article from Salon here..."
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Internet Friendly Cruise Lines?
ttyp0 asks: "The team of upper management at my company, including myself want to take a week long cruise vacation together. Unfortunately, being away from the office and unable access the Internet is terrifying in the case of an emergency. Are there any cruise lines that provide internet access in the cabins (ethernet jack)? If you've been on a cruise recently, who do you recommend?" Those boats are big enough, you figure at least one of the larger cruise lines have thrown a modest satellite and a small Internet cafe on one by now.
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A "Black Box" For Space Debris?
jonerik writes: "Space.com has this piece on engineers at El Segundo's Aerospace Corporation, who are trying to create a black box - similar to those used in civilian, commercial, and military aircraft - for satellites and other pieces of equipment bound for space, with the aim of trying to figure out why certain pieces of space debris survive reentry largely intact while others burn up in the atmosphere. The box - about the size and shape of a paperback book - would sit dormant perhaps for years and reactivate when a thermal switch senses the temperature rising, signalling reentry. 'Loaded with ultra-small sensors, including accelerometers and a Global Positioning System navigation chip, the box would record the stresses and strains on the hardware during its fall from space.'"
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Linux and the Smile.D Virus keeps us Smiling
pstreck writes "News Forge is running a humor filled satire on the the recent Smile.D cross platform virus. It's a good read and just another reminder of why that other operating system needs to figure out a new security policy."