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Slashback: Dilemma, Privacy, Chess

Slashback tonight with updates on Deep Fritz, the interaction of Microsoft service packs and privacy laws, and the view from the shuttle tank-cam, and a depressing update on the Nissan squatting case. Read on for the details.

Front-row seats. zer0vector writes "The previously mentioned camera that was attached to the external fuel tank on Atlantis gave some great shots of launch this afternoon on NASA TV. During the feed, it looked like the ejection of the solid rocket boosters damaged or obscured the camera, leading to a fuzzy image during the fuel tank separation stage."

SkyNet has not yet achieved consciousness. DrEnter writes "According to this Yahoo article, Vladimir Kramnik has defeated 'Deep Fritz' (apparently the world's most powerful chess computer) to take the lead, 2.5-0.5 (the first game was a draw). You can find out more details at the contest site."

Damned if you do, but also if you don't. cybaea writes "A recent article in InfoWorld argues that the latest Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Packs may be illegal for health care providers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. To make matters worse, not installing the Service Packs may also be illegal. Damned if you do, damned if you don't ..."

Dad, please switch to a real operating system. It's still spreading. deego writes " An e-mail-borne computer virus that lets crackers control infected Windoze machines remotely continues to spread and constitutes the most severe attack this year. The worm, known as W32.Bugbear, or I-Worm.Tanatos, infects computers that use Microsoft's Windows operating systems. It was first spotted a week ago and has spread to dozens of countries. Article here."

Please sit down first. calib0r writes "CNN.com is running an article on the most recent events dealing with the nissan.com lawsuit. Salon.com ran an article about this a few months ago. More information can also be found here."

149 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Big surprise about Hipaa by Brento · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just about EVERYTHING is illegal under HIPAA. I've never seen such ridiculously stringent specs. If you want a good laugh, check out www.hipaacomply.com and read through the technology FAQ's. Even faxing is restricted.

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?
    1. Re:Big surprise about Hipaa by unicron · · Score: 2

      Homer, have you ever actually sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not allowed to go to the bathroom.

      --
      Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
    2. Re:Big surprise about Hipaa by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 2

      Not only is everything illegal under HIPAA, any technology you want to use in healthcare is antiquated.

      Suicide is looking better and better every day.

    3. Re:Big surprise about Hipaa by gmhowell · · Score: 2

      That's why everyone is applying for whatever extensions they can, and they are almost all being allowed.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    4. Re:Big surprise about Hipaa by davidyorke · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From HIPPAComply.com

      HIPAA & Common Sense

      If we followed HIPAA to the letter then the home health Service's van parked in my mom's driveway would likely be a "no-no." But, if we inject a dose of reality, which HIPAA left out, no one would know the exact services my mom would be receiving, hence there really would be no breach of privacy in relation to a diagnosis. Of course, maybe the Dept of Defense could develop stealth vans for home health agencies and then no one would ever see them and there would be no breach of HIPAA rules ....

      It's all about risk assessment and reasonable decisions. I don't think changing the van characteristics is something that would be high on list of issues in the risk analysis. On second thought, the stealth van approach may be applicable to this and other serious risks along the same line. There could be significant risk involved with the identification of ambulances, paramedic and rescue units, and even "Life Flight" helicopters. What if a neighbor of a person involved in an automobile accident drove by the accident scene, spotted both the neighbor's car and an identifiable ambulance parked nearby? What could happen if there was an emergency unit in a person's driveway and their neighbors inferred that there was a medical problem at their house? It becomes obvious under HIPAA that we can't possibly allow these types of transportation units to continue to display identifying signage, paint motif, or other equipment such as lights and siren that could create the risk of identifying a person or household as having a medical problem. Stealth emergency units would eliminate this risk. A stealth emergency unit would be devoid of all signage or identifying markings, including lights or siren. Also, emergency unit personnel would not be allowed to wear uniforms, emblems or badges that would identify them as medical personnel. What if someone saw his or her neighbor walk into a building that was clearly identified as a clinic or hospital? Obviously, we should also consider prohibiting signage for physician offices, clinics and hospitals, especially Emergency Rooms. Stealth medical facilities are the answer. (Posted 5/2/01)

    5. Re:Big surprise about Hipaa by PD · · Score: 2

      Why not just live a good life, love your neighbor, and be productive and happy? You still end up dead. No need to go through the trouble of killing yourself if your goal is to end up dead.

  2. I have a dilemma by Burritos · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do I get privacy while playing chess on the internet while making sure I don't get the bugbear virus?

    1. Re:I have a dilemma by TotallyUseless · · Score: 4, Funny

      use a camera attached to the shuttle to look down and make sure no one is peeping in the windows of your house!

      --

      Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!
  3. What a deal... by LaDanserie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Kramnik gets $1,000,000 if he wins, $800,000 if he draws, and $600,000 if he loses. I knew I wasn't spending all that time on Yahoo! Chess for nothing...

    1. Re:What a deal... by unicron · · Score: 5, Funny

      The people behind Deep Fritz are paying him to go down in the 4th.

      --
      Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
    2. Re:What a deal... by targo · · Score: 5, Funny

      It is actually $1m-$700k-$500k.
      But the interesting fact is that for Fritz these numbers are $500k-$300k-$0(zero).
      I guess that even though computers are getting close to humans when playing chess, humans are still way better negotiators ;)

    3. Re:What a deal... by timeOday · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that a lot? Tyson got $17 million for losing.

    4. Re:What a deal... by mav[LAG] · · Score: 2

      Of course, he may feel a slight sting...

      --
      --- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
    5. Re:What a deal... by nutshell42 · · Score: 2, Funny
      What do you expect?

      "Ok, Deep Fritz, here's the Deal Mr. Kramnik suggested, what's your opinion?"

      Deep Fritz: "e4 e5 2.Sf3 Sc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Sxd4 Lc5 5.Sxc6 Df6 6.Dd2 dxc6 7.Sc3 Se7 8.Df4 Le6 9.Dxf6 gxf6 10.Sa4 Lb4+ 11.c3 Ld6 12.Le3 b6 13.f4 0-0-0 14.Kf2 c5 15.c4 Sc6 16.Sc3 f5 17.e5 Lf8 18.b3 Sb4 19.a3 Sc2 20.Tc1 Sxe3 21.Kxe3 Lg7 22.Sd5 c6 23.Sf6 Lxf6 24.exf6 The8 25.Kf3 Td2 26.h3 Ld7 27.g3 Te6 28.Tb1 Txf6 29.Le2 Te6 30.The1 Kc7 31.Lf1 b5 32.Tec1 Kb6 33.b4 cxb4 34.axb4 Te4 35.Td1 Txd1 36.Txd1 Le6 37.Ld3 Td4 38.Le2 Txd1 39.c5+ Kb7 40.Lxd1 a5 41.bxa5 Ka6 42.Ke3 Kxa5 43.Kd4 b4 44.g4 fxg4 45.hxg4 b3 46.Kc3 Ka4 47.Kb2 f6 48.Lf3 Kb5 49.g5 f5 50.Kc3 Kxc5 51.Le2 0-1"

      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
  4. Chess by MutantEnemy · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's laughable to say that Deep Fritz is the strongest computer programme - Deep Blue (that defeated Kasparov) evaluated 200 million positions per second compared to Deep Fritz's 3-4 million. Deep Blue was running on an IBM-made supercomputer. Fritz isn't.

    --
    Grr! Arg!
    1. Re:Chess by cbv · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yea, that's why Fritz won the Computer Chess World Championship in 1995 against Deep Blue. SCNR.

    2. Re:Chess by MutantEnemy · · Score: 2, Informative

      The Deep Blue that Fritz beat was an earlier model than the one that took on Kasparov later, wasn't it? (not sure, so I'm asking)

      --
      Grr! Arg!
    3. Re:Chess by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 4, Insightful

      First off, I believe Deep Fritz has beaten Deep Blue head to head.

      Second, the program and the computer it runs on are two different things even if they are closely tied together. In fact, I'm kinda surprised Deep Fritz doesn't run on a more powerful computer. I would imagine that if it scaled well to 8 processors they would at least be able to scale to 16 or 32.

    4. Re:Chess by Zeinfeld · · Score: 5, Funny
      It's laughable to say that Deep Fritz is the strongest computer programme - Deep Blue (that defeated Kasparov) evaluated 200 million positions per second compared to Deep Fritz's 3-4 million. Deep Blue was running on an IBM-made supercomputer. Fritz isn't.

      Deep Blue has been broken up and sold off in bits. It was not so much a computer as a temporary assembly of parts. So Deep Fritz would be the strongest living chess computer. After all we don't expect Kasparov to beat dead grandmasters.

      I think that it is time to introduce weight categories like they have in boxing. So neither competitor would be allowed to weigh more than 1000 pounds. Otherwise the game is a bit like watching an industrial robot beat the crap out of Mike Tyson, OK so it might be fun to watch but it is not real sport.

      --
      Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
      Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
    5. Re:Chess by Jouster · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Deep Blue (that defeated Kasparov) evaluated 200 million positions per second compared to Deep Fritz's 3-4 million.
      Let's run with your comparison of computing power based solely on number of evaluated positions per move.

      If evaluating a chess position takes 150 units of processor time, and eliminating a position from consideration takes 1 unit of processor time, we shouldn't prune the decision tree at all! Never mind that as we get a little above a dozen moves into the future, we are considering (and tracking in some sort of memory) more moves than there are molecules in the universe. Posh! All that matters is the number of moves evaluated.

      Also:
      1. Kramnik defeated Kasparov.
      2. A supercomputer from ten years ago is compressed into a $2,000 box under my desk as I type this.

      Jouster
    6. Re:Chess by Espectr0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It won because the chess algoritms on Deep Fritz are a lot better than the ones on Deep Blue

      What use will 200 millon moves per second give if mostly they are wrong or repeated?

    7. Re:Chess by _LFTL_ · · Score: 3, Informative
      It's laughable to say that Deep Fritz is the strongest computer programme

      Hrmm... I guess you should be laughing at Kramnik then. From the article:

      "Deep Fritz is simply a stronger program than Deep Blue" - Vladimir Kramnik

    8. Re:Chess by MutantEnemy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmm, and why would the person who's about to play Deep Fritz want to claim that Deep Fritz is really strong? :)

      --
      Grr! Arg!
    9. Re:Chess by laxian · · Score: 3, Informative
      Sorry, Could Not Resist

      ALWAYS check Everything2 first! :)

      --

      our written thoughts are gifts to our future selves

    10. Re:Chess by damiam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So? Kramnik can only evaluate three moves per second, and he's kicking Fritz's ass. Moves per second has very little to do with how good a player is.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    11. Re:Chess by FyRE666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Otherwise the game is a bit like watching an industrial robot beat the crap out of Mike Tyson, OK so it might be fun to watch but it is not real sport.

      I think you'll find the robot's name was Lennox Lewis...

    12. Re:Chess by aminorex · · Score: 2

      Okay, so Blue beats a grandmaster, Fritz beats Blue,
      and a grandmaster beats Fritz. Why does this remind
      me more of paper-scissors-rock than chess.

      Clearly, mastery in chess has more than one-dimension.

      --
      -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
    13. Re:Chess by evilviper · · Score: 2
      A supercomputer from ten years ago is compressed into a $2,000 box under my desk as I type this.

      In that case, a hi-end Ford car from about 15 years ago, is compressed into a (about) 2' x 2' cube, sitting under my workbench. I'd say it's worth a lot less than $2,000 at this point... :-)
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    14. Re:Chess by Scarblac · · Score: 2

      Deep Blue (that defeated Kasparov) evaluated 200 million positions per second compared to Deep Fritz's 3-4 million.

      But DB did that on processors that didn't communicate with each other.Many transpositions occur when you build a tree of moves from some position (say, 1.e4 e6 2.d4 and 1.d4 e6 2.e4 are the same position). DF calculates such positions only once because the results are cached, DB didn't. It's quite possible that DF actually looks at more *distinct* positions, and it's certainly the stronger program.

      --
      I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
    15. Re:Chess by Peter+Harris · · Score: 2

      If there's any sport that couldn't be improved by the introduction of powered armour, I've certainly never heard of it.

      --

      -- What do you need?
      -- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
    16. Re:Chess by zbuffered · · Score: 2

      If there's any sport that couldn't be improved by the introduction of powered armour, I've certainly never heard of it.

      Chess.

      --
      Synergy is your friend
    17. Re:Chess by Peter+Harris · · Score: 2

      I stand by my assertion.
      a) I'm not sure that chess is a sport as such.
      b) Powered armour would facilitate chess played with much larger chesspieces, which could be removed from the board in more interesting ways:
      B - C6
      N x B (gauss cannon)

      --

      -- What do you need?
      -- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
    18. Re:Chess by tony_gardner · · Score: 2

      Here's an interesting piece of math.
      Take the worst case:
      You have 32 pieces, therefore, at each move there are 32 factorial board arrangements.
      =2.6e35 positions
      Assume 50 moves
      =1.32e37 positions

      How do you get out of this more moves than molecules in the universe?

    19. Re:Chess by gmarceau · · Score: 2

      Kramnik can only evaluate three moves per second

      The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim. -- E. W. Dijkstra

      Kramnik doesn't evaluate per say, just as much as Fritz doesn't think per say. It doesn't prevent either from playing terrific chess.

      --
      This post was compiled with `% gec -O`. email me if you need the sources
    20. Re:Chess by Jouster · · Score: 2

      Continuing worst-case analysis, since I can't find the @&#* study that I got that number from:

      301 309 179 332 784 502 514 402 979 667 664 187 135 209 603 582 101 168 009 310 992 942 894 084 306 464 257 791 616 978 959 106 972 094 262 188 212 773 093 369 530 542 149 391 004 619 850 600 361 748 231 525 303 460 046 359 965 848 444 199 182 910 992 606 341 732 440 164 322 812 685 599 534 024 221 380 481 129 796 699 004 750 048 273 820 205 189 760 193 429 828 216 852 565 547 604 736 092 945 728 634 190 578 916 707 383 762 344 226 233 484 010 864 437 423 856 116 262 707 775 428 410 543 760 846 938 904 699 475 747 547 018 680 832 993 653 094 083 560 424 110 322 766 842 835 610 593 379 503 862 907 149 961 854 609 978 717 105 133 754 689 778 685 461 329 310 211 164 710 919 378 704 376 259 432 981 026 128 485 975 726 968 323 480 663 879 683 934 701 739 205 516 241 031 667 406 900 490 027 371 337 495 052 713 573 432 107 976 896 624 167 911 517 979 837 592 089 713 663 627 864 723 420 042 025 774 603 599 380 227 979 966 161 285 169 468 512 543 061 521 124 126 177 323 748 065 758 540 663 066 465 807 710 896 888 554 614 609 594 468 809 141 607 811 005 667 025 531 818 524 822 642 248 378 499 713 906 607 388 108 655 297 165 860 023 709 531 633 461 883 503 498 775 369 674 168 489 844 409 684 233 291 501 724 043 451 626 905 261 447 673 050 442 927 250 617 330 053 333 829 119 589 665 043 154 882 951 246 692 722 413 908 612 462 764 173 991 672 239 844 325 170 643 318 870 523 845 275 584 280 787 345 002 522 223 705 055 368 269 339 660 642 759 466 085 467 866 512 923 830 294 486 907 655 039 386 052 776 495 092 364 814 458 732 171 495 855 099 804 218 199 017 847 361 861 678 678 057 529 525 946 083 708 354 943 571 175 795 505 710 095 129 868 355 714 917 481 880 167 154 011 897 600 197 698 978 535 270 982 605 472 006 399 676 826 454 764 526 485 420 159 836 031 075 007 631 299 901 689 846 853 456 839 037 376 795 144 518 318 392 839 847 672 107 236 742 191 541 158 599 866 682 552 742 148 352 786 432 934 420 857 117 526 825 346 836 053 559 224 478 051 682 055 142 736 894 489 695 507 208 886 793 667 089 662 308 570 531 352 907 811 991 606 811 750 577 517 315 195 569 967 634 813 657 530 004 965 228 950 266 336 348 007 603 102 536 250 535 352 161 170 075 192 296 079 832 594 649 213 812 028 102 029 368 277 369 549 430 955 424 533 245 540 712 754 733 395 491 762 051 682 288 675 650 050 568 616 199 593 550 172 026 716 618 684 212 236 139 111 921 945 401 096 108 814 452 817 419 124 938 644 975 023 737 395 175 628 125 389 825 693 380 207 047 954 085 500 033 420 861 629 158 668 101 520 517 686 387 734 434 962 779 730 530 380 445 209 878 579 861 194 226 288 290 924 601 337 478 704 726 441 724 740 888 485 405 065 411 293 267 073 686 539 579 142 297 006 319 066 281 477 423 676 922 127 969 923 002 034 073 666 763 609 249 393 925 890 638 380 505 659 148 181 279 064 505 323 116 159 207 083 998 158 054 093 929 378 763 975 832 501 997 431 216 726 253 339 758 838 495 252 180 496 597 586 171 312 182 740 674 110 868 168 678 451 408 485 838 468 115 009 610 651 659 771 475 099 132 249 199 764 007 736 703 027 798 803 650 984 958 534 615 040 followed by 342 zeroes after fifty moves. Here's why:

      64 board positions. One of 32 pieces on each. Thus, 64(P)32, or
      64!
      ---
      32!
      Equals: 482 219 923 991 114 978 843 459 072 919 892 677 776 312 893 440 000 000
      or 4.821 992 399 111 497 884 345 907 291 989 267 777 631 289 344 * 10^53

      Since we know the starting position, that means that, after 50 completely random rearrangements of the pieces, we have (x)^49 possible board positions, where x is the number computed above.

      The number of molecules is the universe is generally accepted to hover somewhere around a google (10^100).

      Jouster
  5. Great... english is the only language in the world by pVoid · · Score: 4, Interesting
    From the Nissan case:

    But Uzi Nissan, whose family name is also the name of a month in Hebrew and Arabic[...]

    "We've always seen this case as protecting the Nissan brand and not about money," he said. "What we are saying is the word Nissan by itself is our registered trademark and we're the only ones with the right to use the name Nissan by itself."

  6. Re:Great... english is the only language in the wo by beebware · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It gets better - Nissan Motor has registered the domain name nissancomputer.com which they'll "give" to Nissan Computers if Nissan Motor get given the nissan.com domain name. Now, if they've brought nissancomputer.com with the express purpose of squatting on it for exchange of monies, services or goods (for example, a domain name) - surley that's a blatant case of cybersquatting by Nissan Motor?

  7. Nissan vs. Nissan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If Nissan Motors wanted to have an exclusive name, they should have made one up.

    They took an existing word (in 2 languages, nonetheless) which also happens to be a surname. Now, they can't expect exclusive rights over that name.

    1. Re:Nissan vs. Nissan by chris_mahan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly.

      I start a line of cosmetics called June.

      I then make tons of money because my stuff makes old women feel young.

      I then say:
      Oh, now I am famous, and I ought to be able to use
      june.com exclusively because any other use would dilute my brand.

      And, oh, by the way, all women named June need to pay me royalties.

      And, The Month of June will be renamed in the english language as "The Month formerly known as June".

      Nissan is being fucking ridiculous... If they want a unique name that no one else in the world has, why don't they get a catchy IP address?

      --

      "Piter, too, is dead."

    2. Re:Nissan vs. Nissan by sulli · · Score: 5, Informative
      In Japanese, it means "Made in Japan." Other Japanese companies (e.g. Nissan Stainless) also use the name.

      Now it's not the same word as that used on other products to mean "Made in Japan" (that word is kokusan, "made in our nation") but it is definitely somewhat generic.

      --

      sulli
      RTFJ.
    3. Re:Nissan vs. Nissan by Havokmon · · Score: 2
      Nont only is Nissan somewhat generic in Japanese, but the article says Mr. Nissan has used his name for businesses for the past 20 years.

      Anyone remember what year Datsun changed to Nissan "because we liked the car so much, we named the company after it"?

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
    4. Re:Nissan vs. Nissan by armb · · Score: 2

      > The name "Datsun" was only used in North America

      They were sold in the UK as Datsuns too (hence the old "raining Datsun cogs" joke). I don't know about the rest of Europe.

      Similarly Mitsubishi used to use the Colt brand.
      Fuji Heavy Industries still use Subaru.

      --
      rant
  8. Deep Fritz by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While this isn't man vs machine as the casual observer may think, but chess playing man vs programming man, how long until programming man is able to win soundly all the time? I don't mean to offend the chess players out there, but I find it very hard to believe that the advances in both processing power and programming knowledge will eventually catch up to chess knowledge. According to Moore's law processing powers is doubling every 18 months, and I would venture that programming knowledge of AI's is progressing faster than chess knowledge given the youth of the former's frield and the extensive history of the latter's.

    That said, even while as a programmer I'm somewhat rooting for Deep Fritz, as a fellow man I can't help but be in awe of the fact that Kramnik is able to think better than a machine that "thinks" millions of times faster than him.

    1. Re:Deep Fritz by egomaniac · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That said, even while as a programmer I'm somewhat rooting for Deep Fritz, as a fellow man I can't help but be in awe of the fact that Kramnik is able to think better than a machine that "thinks" millions of times faster than him.

      Why? I can, for instance, look at a picture of my wife and identify her as my wife in a fraction of a second. The best image-recognition software in the world can't reliably do even that simple task.

      I'm not the least bit surprised to see a human beating a computer in a complex activity like chess, and that's with lots of handicaps in Fritz' favor (it doesn't have to analyze an image of the board in order to determine where the pieces are, for instance). The amazing part is not the human beating the computer, but the computer beating the human (which won't happen in this case, but it's getting close).

      --
      ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
    2. Re:Deep Fritz by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 2

      Moore's law states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every 18 months, not the processing power.

      An increase in the number of transistors does not equate the same increase in processing power.

      --
      There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    3. Re:Deep Fritz by Alomex · · Score: 2

      While this isn't man vs machine as the casual observer may think, but chess playing man vs programming man,

      Daily affirmations by Stuart Smiley....

    4. Re:Deep Fritz by DEBEDb · · Score: 2

      This is, in fact, man vs. machine. If this
      is a chess player vs a programmer, then
      it's the same as an engineer who designed
      a crane vs world champion weightlifter. Come on.

      --

      Considered harmful.
    5. Re:Deep Fritz by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 2

      Why? I can, for instance, look at a picture of my wife and identify her as my wife in a fraction of a second. The best image-recognition software in the world can't reliably do even that simple task.

      Why? There are so many different things computers can do better than us, just as there are so many things that we can do better. I thought that by now computers would be able to win at chess merely by going deep enough through all potential trees to find the most advantageous move combination.

      Or maybe it's all just because GNU Chess always kicks my ass, heh.

    6. Re:Deep Fritz by mikec · · Score: 2

      What's impressive to me is that Kramnik is beating Fritz quite handily (2.5-0.5 at the moment) at a task for which Fritz is immensely better than the average human. Comparing Fritz to the average chess player is like comparing a Formula One race car to the average horse. (Imagine if there were a few dozen horses in the world who could run 250 mph.)

    7. Re:Deep Fritz by God!+Awful · · Score: 2


      I'm not the least bit surprised to see a human beating a computer in a complex activity like chess, and that's with lots of handicaps in Fritz' favor (it doesn't have to analyze an image of the board in order to determine where the pieces are, for instance).

      Oh come on... it would take a relatively simple image recognition system to recognize the layout of pieces on a board. Designing a robotic arm to move the pieces would me a much bigger challenge.

      Face it, the absolute biggest advantage is the fact that Kramnik got a copy of Fritz to play with and Fritz doesn't have a copy of Kramnik to play with. With a computer, you don't just have access to your opponent's playing style; you can keep trying minor variations of the same line until you find one where the computer consistently makes a mistake (I wonder how much randomness there is in Fritz's move selection algorithm). I wonder if the unusual choice of openings was an attempt to avoid lines that Kramnik might have prepared for in this manner.

      -a

    8. Re:Deep Fritz by wunderhorn1 · · Score: 2
      I believe you underestimate the difficulty in image recognition, because you have that backwards.

      Getting computers to perform even the most basic image recognition accurately is still an elusive problem in computer science/AI research. I highly doubt an algorithm could be developed today that would take an image of the board from some inclination above the horizon pick out each of the pieces in their various distances and stages of rotation and determine which was a queen and which was a bishop. One advantage, though, would be in looking at the relative heights of the various pieces.

      OTOH, it's fairly easy to develop a mechanical arm capable of moving precise distances, grasping an object of known size and shape, and depositing it at another location. It doesn't require much more sophicstication than those games at arcades where you try to grab prizes out of the plexiglass bin. (It would have a fair bit of trouble righting a piece that slipped or got knocked over on its side, though. That would be an interesting problem.)

      --
      Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
    9. Re:Deep Fritz by God!+Awful · · Score: 2


      But that's how the GMs play the game.
      Your reviewing every game of your opponent before starting the match.

      It's not the same thing. GMs don't get a move oracle to play with before the game. It would have been more fair if Fritz had played a bunch of games against grandmasters and Kramnik had been given a transcript of the results. (And the team had been allowed to tweak the program afterwards.)

      -a

  9. A couple corrections to the article... by Jouster · · Score: 5, Informative
    Just a few quick things to throw in:
    1. Bugbear actually uses one of forty different subject lines. It also sometimes throws in some random data, just for fun.
    2. Bugbear is a descendant of Badtrans, a nasty but not particularly widespread virus from earlier this year. The keystroke logger seems to have been borrowed bit-for-bit (at least in the copy I isolated and analysed).
    Jouster
    1. Re:A couple corrections to the article... by M.+Silver · · Score: 2

      All I'm seeing is Klez (and a lot of it), at least from a rough scan of the Phoenyx' logs... you wouldn't happen to have a nice pattern-suitable-for-grepping-for, would you?

      --

      Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
    2. Re:A couple corrections to the article... by Jouster · · Score: 2

      Alas, no such love at this point.

      Do what I do - send e-mails to all users that say, "Please reply to this email once your have updated your anti-virus software." Hold back all email with attachments until they reply.

      There are two division heads in my company who haven't received email with attachments since January because they haven't replied from the first time I used the system.

      Jouster

    3. Re:A couple corrections to the article... by richie2000 · · Score: 2
      I would probably hold back ALL email to the people who actually read and responded to your mail. You do realize it looks just like scamspam with a bad cold, don't you?

      "Please respond to this mail so we can harvest all e-mail addresses that work and sell them to evil spammers on eBay."

      --
      Money for nothing, pix for free
    4. Re:A couple corrections to the article... by M.+Silver · · Score: 2

      Do what I do - send e-mails to all users that say, "Please reply to this email once your have updated your anti-virus software."

      Um... I run a mailing list server. I don't *send* my users attachments, and I can't control what other email comes in (if I could, I'd make 'em stop using Hotmail, for one thing).

      The chief problem seems to be users of active mailing lists send each other viruses (with names of *other* mailing list members in the From field, of course), and it just keeps getting passed around. Just when you think you've educated everybody, somebody pops up and says "I got it because I use Outlook, which automatically opens attachments! It's not my fault!" And then they get testy when you ask what rock they've been living under.

      --

      Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
  10. Link to shuttle cam video by dsanfte · · Score: 2, Informative
    --
    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
    1. Re:Link to shuttle cam video by ashitaka · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why is this video only 1:44?

      Why cut off before SRB sep?

      Why did live TV coverage switch to long-range cameras right at SRB sep?

      What is wrong with this whole picture?

      It may be that before launch they realized that the camera would be smoked by the SRB separation rockets but being too late to fix they gave instructions to cut away at that point.

      Conspiracy freaks will come up with plenty of other explanations.

      --
      If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
    2. Re:Link to shuttle cam video by ashitaka · · Score: 2

      After posting I found another, more complete video with the SRB sep and yes, bright flash followed by blurriness.

      They might have assumed that at 2,800m/h the slipstream would blow back any rocket exhaust away from the camera. Those SRB rockets must be STRONG.

      --
      If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
  11. Bugbear by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is no way to save users from themselves. If a sizable part of the population need to use computers, there will always be a significant number of those who do stupid things from them. These problems will continue no matter how secure Windows becomes. These problems will occur on any software platform that is simple enough for the general population to use.

    Actually, with a certain class of user, Windows' automatic updates make Windows more secure than Linux. Amoung windows users, that class is rather large. We may see less of the Code Red Viruses, but the Shoot Yourself in the Foot Viruses will continue.

    Linux does have one advantage though. It is intensely hard to install programs for Linux. It is so complicated that it is very hard to automate. And as long as users have to install viruses by hand, and download the correct libraries to get them to run, you can be sure that Linux users won't have to worry much about a Linux virus spreading like wildfire across the net.

  12. Nissan.... by BrodieBruce · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Prior to my hearing about this case, if you had asked me

    Can I register a domain name SomeCompany.com and then do the following:

    • Talk about how much I dislike the company
    • Feature ad banners for sites related to that company
    • Talk trash about the management of the company
    • Post numerous comments on the low quality of the company's products (thereby "diluting their image")

    My response would have been, "damn right, freedom of speech..."

    But now, I'm just confused.

    What did he do that violated any laws?

    He's paid $2.2 million in legal fees. It's not like he had a choice about showing up in court to defend himself.

    Now Nissan motors can take his domain name after all the legal bills? And if not, he'll be ordered to give them financial reparations for "diluting their brand name?"

    1. Re:Nissan.... by BrodieBruce · · Score: 2, Informative
      btw,

      I know he didn't do all those things, just the second one. But I may as well clear that up before 50 people post on my inaccuracies in delineating the situation at hand.

    2. Re:Nissan.... by chriso11 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe the U.S. Constitution should be changed to something like:
      "We, the Corporations of the United States (and other countries), in order to have a more perfect customer base, establish commerce, insure domestic profits, provide for our CEOs, promote the use of tax shelters, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

      --
      No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
    3. Re:Nissan.... by dargaud · · Score: 2

      The words capitalism and profit are not in the US constitution. Oversight? Mistake? Good thing? Maybe the founding fathers just didn't know better, or maybe they did. You be the judge.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
  13. Crap... by Myuu · · Score: 3, Funny

    "During the feed, it looked like the ejection of the solid rocket boosters damaged or obscured the camera, leading to a fuzzy image during the fuel tank separation stage."

    Bring on anti-NASA the conspiracy theories...

    --

    forget it.
    1. Re:Crap... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      According to a small video piece run on the canadian "Space" channel (www.spacecast.com) the camera was sprayed with fuel when the solid rocket boosters disengaged. Maybe that's something in the SRB ejection system (beats me how that works)

    2. Re:Crap... by kzinti · · Score: 2, Informative

      Maybe that's something in the SRB ejection system (beats me how that works)

      Small rocket motors in the boosters - "separation motors".

  14. camera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does it annoy anyone else that NASA spent $750,000 on the technical equivalent an X-10 webcam?

    And it failed! I mean, what the hell?

    Private space enterprises deserve to eat NASA's breakfast, dinner AND lunch once they get started.

    1. Re:camera by zer0vector · · Score: 2, Informative

      The camera did not fail, up to SRB separation the footage is amazing, go look at it on NASA's site. I may not have clarified this, but after separation, there is still footage and the camera is still running, but it seems to be severely fogged over. It was probably just a miscalculation about how much debris would be ejected by the SRB separation motors.

      --

      ----
      Striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap ho
    2. Re:camera by HeghmoH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ok, let's see if you can design a camera that can withstand eight minutes of 3G acceleration, along with intense vibration, speeding through at atmosphere at high multiples of the speed of sound, and a high vacuum, while broadcasting its image to a receiver a couple of thousand miles away.

      Also, I watched it live and I must have missed the part where it failed. It lost signal here and there, but given the conditions I think that's only fair.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    3. Re:camera by ethereal · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, I thought NASA was supposed to spy on hot chicks with that camera? Don't they read label directions?

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  15. From the CNN Nissan Article by ksw2 · · Score: 3, Informative
    "We've always seen this case as protecting the Nissan brand and not about money," he said. "What we are saying is the word Nissan by itself is our registered trademark and we're the only ones with the right to use the name Nissan by itself."

    Interesting. I wonder if they'll be requiring Uzi Nissan to change his last name as well... after all, Nissan owns it...

    Also, it bear mentioning that Uzi has spent well in excess of one million dollars defending his own last name from these assholes who didn't even use the name "Nissan" in the States until well after Uzi had registerred the domain and used it for his own business.

    The corporate swines have also been using dirty tricks like filing suit across the county from where Uzi lives, in an attempt to sap his finances so he can't defend himself. (These are things Uzi himself talked about at H2K2, if you're curious about my sources)

    1. Re:From the CNN Nissan Article by kzinti · · Score: 2

      My 1990 Nissan says, quite plainly, "Nissan" on the back.

      If I'm not mistaken you could find "Nissan" on my old Datsun 240Z too... but you had to look under the hood.

      --Jim

    2. Re:From the CNN Nissan Article by mentin · · Score: 2
      $ whois nissan.com@whois.networksolutions.com ... Record created on 04-May-1994. My 1990 Nissan says, quite plainly, "Nissan" on the back.
      Well, this guy also has a passport that says "Nissan" on the front, and it is older than 1990. So what?

      Nissan Motors did not think about internet when this guy opened his business. So why his business should suffer just because they awaked now?

      --
      MSDOS: 20+ years without remote hole in the default install
  16. Re:Bugbear by Psx29 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The problem that bugbear exploits was patched back in march. Only retards are susceptible

    That is a ridiculous statement! If you read through all the things listed maybe you would realise some people _can't_ install microsoft's patches because of there EULA requirements.

  17. Deep Fritz... by Espectr0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    ... is NOT a computer. It's just a software program than can run on your local pc, and if you know where to look, you can get it.

    Deep Blue was a real computer, much more powerful than the 8 cpu Compaq that is running Deep Fritz, although the chess algorithms were less efficient.

    Btw, i don't think computers will conquer the world as much ppl think it. Remember, computers are made by humans. Until computers can think on their own (no, computers don't think, they just execute instructions, they can emulate thinking but it's not really that) human race will always win.

    Now, the end of the world will be probably when the viruses exterminate the human race, but that's another topic...

  18. The most worrying thing... by SmileyBen · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...the scariest part has to be that they let a Windows operating system anywhere near brain surgery....

    1. Re:The most worrying thing... by unicron · · Score: 5, Funny

      Would you prefer Linux? Immensely stable but they keep having to re-administer the anasthesia because you keep waking up while your neurosurgeon reads the FAQ?

      --
      Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
    2. Re:The most worrying thing... by rodgerd · · Score: 2

      This is an underexamined part of the problem. Microsoft specifically disclaim that Windows is in any way suited to use in nuclear reactors and for sundry other critical uses. Why the fuck are people building operating theatre systems on it?

    3. Re:The most worrying thing... by einhverfr · · Score: 2

      Would you prefer Linux? Immensely stable but they keep having to re-administer the anasthesia because you keep waking up while your neurosurgeon reads the FAQ?

      I WOULD prefer Linux, ideally running on an embedded system. There would be a limited user interface and everything else would be automated.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    4. Re:The most worrying thing... by einhverfr · · Score: 2

      You think such a system would be networked or exposed to the internet?

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  19. SRB Debris by kzinti · · Score: 5, Interesting

    During the feed, it looked like the ejection of the solid rocket boosters damaged or obscured the camera...

    That can be a problem for the crew too, or used to be. Each SRB has rocket motors that separate it from the external tank at around two minutes MET. Debris from these motors can get on the forward orbiter windows. Not too many years ago the shuttle flight software was changed - a "window washer" mod - to fire the FU RCS jets for a few seconds at SRB seperation to keep the windscreen clear of debris.

    Just thought you'd be interested to know...

    --JIm

  20. HIPAA vs. MS by Kefaa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe Clark has the right idea
    "...the health care industry needs to go to Microsoft with a joint NDA (nondisclosure agreement) and indemnification agreement, requiring Microsoft to hold their HIPAA-compliant customers harmless should patient information be leaked via this mechanism."

    Not a prayer that MS would agree, but it will be interesting when they get pulled into court the first time a provider claims it was the update and MS forced them to allow it.

    The regulatory oversight may do more to open MS software than the DOJ. Logic, reason, and innovation are not the watch words of these organizations. Regulations were passed, comply or be destroyed.

    It is hard for me to decide who I want to win. MS or the regulators...

  21. Results by MutantEnemy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The real test of playing strength is results, of course. Although we have too small a sample size (for both chess computers) to be truly scientific, so far it looks like Deep Blue was stronger than Deep Fritz.

    --
    Grr! Arg!
    1. Re:Results by buzzdecafe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A crucial difference in this match is that Kramnik was able to study Fritz's playing style beforehand. Kasparov was not afforded that opportunity in his match vs. Deep Blue. Also, Kramnik's positional style may be better suited to defeating a computer opponent than Kasparov's aggresive style. It's tough to write an algorithm that identifies positional advantages and disadvantages in any position and evaluate a plan based on that. Hell, it's hard for human beings to do that, that's what makes the greats so great.

  22. Re:Great... english is the only language in the wo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Agreed on this. You're not allowed to trademark common words, like orange, hand or March. If your company name happens to be the name of a month in another language, you shouldn't be allowed to go into a fit everytime someone uses it.

    Further,

    The auto company didn't sue until 1999, but the judge said that five-year wait wasn't too long because Nissan didn't initially know the impact the Internet would have on business.

    Then looks like Nissan should have had a little more foresight. IANAL but if you don't defended your trademark when you become aware of someone else using it, then it's become diluted.

  23. licensing agreements by Parsec · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We've been told at my University that we (as system administrators) can go ahead and click the "I accept" on any Microsoft service pack or hotfix, our licensing agreement with M$ overrides anything they put in a EULA.

    Microsoft could actually wind up violating their own agreement if they take action not specified in the big license.

    1. Re:licensing agreements by mmol_6453 · · Score: 2

      Funny that saying "I accept" when installing software is equivalent to signing a more recent agreement.

      So Microsoft violates the big agreement, University sues, stating that Microsoft violated their agreement.

      Microsoft argues that installing software is tantamount to rewriting the old agreement, and countersues for libel. (Saying that such a major company violated a major agreement will cause a major reduction in stock values.)

      Oh, how the legal system is so...

      --
      What's this Submit thingy do?
  24. Re:Moderation of "Dad, please switch to a real os" by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2

    Lol!!

    I see you ran across my post here!

  25. Give me a break... by Heynow21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone honestly beleive that this guy wasn't trying to take advantage of Nissan's trademark? That he didn't cackle with glee when he registered the address? If you aren't going to use English as the standard for judging common words then you need to use common sense. For all I know "Kodak" is the most common surname in Mongolia. The fact that this has gone to court tells me that Mr. Nissan played hardball when they were negotiating a payoff; I'm guessing he demanded seven (maybe eight?) figures like most cybersquatters instead of just taking a fair settlement for his lucky last name.

    1. Re:Give me a break... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong. I've purchased computers from Uzi for years. I live in Raleigh and I can honestly say that Uzi owns a respectable business. He had a homepage for Nissan Computers YEARS before Nissan motor ever decided to hop on the Internet bandwagon. Oh yeah, Uzi also started his own ISP years before Nissan tried to grab the domain name.

      Nissan is his name. He registered it first. It's his.

    2. Re:Give me a break... by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course, he might actually have a spine (or independant wealth), and wanted the domain more than the money.

      This strikes me as no different than the McDonalds (the junk-food chain) vs McDonalds (the family owned restaurant that predates the fast food chain) a while back. The bigger business considers itself more important, and has the money to throw at lawyers to make that delusion a reality.

      If *you* had a family domain, and some company offered you what you consider a pittance for it, how would you feel? Would you consider yourself an informed "hardball" player? Would you "cackle with glee" at your great luck in having a valuable name?

      It really disgusts me that companies consider themselves more important than individuals. It disgusts me even more that the legal system mostly agrees with them. Neither of those comes *close*, however, to the disgust I feel about actual individual *humans* who agree that companies have more rights than everyone else, and actually criticize other humans for standing up for what few rights we have left.

    3. Re:Give me a break... by Heynow21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As I mentioned in another email: The overwhelmingly majority of people typing nissan.com into their browser are looking for Nissan Motors, not some dinky little computer store in nowheresville. Good point. It reminds me of stories you hear about elderly couples who own homes in the path of superhighway construction. Suppose they don't want to sell, should everyone have to drive an extra mile around them, or should the couple accept that progress happens? That's not even a good analogy, because in this case the guy bought the house knowing the highway would have to come through it. Bully for him, pay the man. Oh, and yeah that "15 million" comment is a laugh, if he were serious about not wanting to sell he would have gone Dr. Evil on them. "ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS."

    4. Re:Give me a break... by sconeu · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fact that this has gone to court tells me that Mr. Nissan played hardball when they were negotiating a payoff;

      Or maybe Mr. Nissan said, "No. I'm not selling it at all. It's MY name!"

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    5. Re:Give me a break... by n9hmg · · Score: 2

      He sounds like a self-made man. He's probably (justifiably) proud of what he's done. He's had several careers, several businesses, and is doing well (as attested by the previous testimonial(a few posts up)). Some big company declares his property, his name, to be their property, and demands that he stop using it as he sees fit. If he's not desperate for the money, I can easily see somebody like that saying "fuck you, you enormous hard-on, put your cash where your boyfriend will find it" to the Nissan Motors rep.
      Besides, at least in America, they definitely have a shorter history with the name than Uzi does. Until fairly recently, they were calling themselves "Datsun". Let them have nissan.co.jp.

  26. Re:Bugbear by ajakk · · Score: 3, Funny

    And then for 99% of a REAL operating systems programs...

    Double click.
    Yes.
    Next.
    Next.
    Next.

    wait...

    Next.
    Finnish.


    So after clicking "Next" we turn into Linus? GREAT!

  27. Or, Japanese. by Perianwyr+Stormcrow · · Score: 2

    Of course, Japanese people with that name are just as SOL.

    These guys are like aliens- just remember that.

    --

    What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey

  28. Boycott Nissan (Motors) and tell them why! by WEFUNK · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While plenty of web sites, blogs, and usenet discussions informatively describe and criticize the heavy handed tactics of companies like Nissan, Molson Canadian, and Gateway (2000), these companies need to start hearing vocally from consumers who will not buy their brands based on their overbearing legal tactics and we should compile and distribute a list of companies to target. More important than a boycott itself, the average joe and especially these company's dealers, sales, and marketing people need to know WHY we're upset.

    Whenever these cases come up we read the lawyers and spokespeople telling us they have to do this to "protect the brand", or to "prevent consumers from being confused". Real squatters aside, this is generally total crap. Consumers in any demographic able to buy a car will quickly realize Nissan Computer != Nissan Motors and while brands need to be protected to a certain extent in order to avoid becoming generic (like kleenex, or xerox) the chance of "nissan" becoming a generic term is slim to none (and not just because it doesn't have an 'x'). Trademarks apply to specific categories only, and this limitation should help to prevent dilution happening from unrelated uses of the same mark. Companies that try to over extend their marks should do so only at their own risk, and I bet that willy nilly suing other users probably does more to imply dilution than just leaving things be (Ob.IANAL but this should be true even if it's not the actual law).

    Actually, I doubt any of these cases stem from the marketing department, more likely the lawyers are trying to justify their salaries and budgets. But if the sales and marketing people thought these tactics were hurting their brand they could override legal in a second. Enough slashdotters are young professionals with a well paying job and interest in new products to present a very attractive demographic to these people. Let them know you're pissed!

    --
    My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
    1. Re:Boycott Nissan (Motors) and tell them why! by Guppy06 · · Score: 2

      "Enough slashdotters are young professionals with a well paying job"

      How many of us will be buying a new car in the next month? The next year? I know I won't be looking for a new car until at least after the warranty on my Hyundai wears out. And even then I won't be looking at Nissans anyway as they design their cars for Japanese drivers (and I'm a bit larger than the average Japanese driver). And I sure as hell won't be buying one of their "trucks" because I know that real trucks don't have sparkplugs (they're actually proud of helping to introduce the "light truck" class?).

      At worst your boycott idea will rob Nissan of what, half a dozen vehicle sales in all the North American market?

    2. Re:Boycott Nissan (Motors) and tell them why! by timeOday · · Score: 2
      these companies need to start hearing vocally from consumers who will not buy their brands based on their overbearing legal tactics
      I disagree that market forces are the cure for this problem - after all, the litigants are abusing the law, not the market. It's the *government* that's making bad decisions (at the promptings of big business, of course).

      What these cases really need is a judge to say, "sorry McDonald's, this one's easy. You lose."

    3. Re:Boycott Nissan (Motors) and tell them why! by WEFUNK · · Score: 2

      What these cases really need is a judge to say, "sorry McDonald's, this one's easy. You lose."

      You're right, but few of these cases actually make it to a judge. The heavy handed tactics usually lead to out of court settlements and altered consumer behavior. Sometimes the threats might not hold up in court but the process is too expensive and the outcomes are too uncertain for many people to risk a battle.

      Sometimes the companies are even technically in the right but are just overbearing in their behavior. I don't reward sloppy service, and even if the customer isn't always right I don't want to deal with companies that are abusive with their customers or anyone else. I'm not actually going to go out and organize a boycott, but this consideration is definitely a part of my decision making process and I'm simply encouraging others to make it part of theirs. I think market forces are an appropriate avenue for exercising this opinion but I feel it's also important to let companies know why you're not buying their products because the real decision makers probably often have no clue that their reputation is being tarnished by overzealous lawyers.

      Similarly, if you agree with me, it's even more important to reward companies that are respectful of their customers, fans, and even third parties, and again, it's important to tell them why. Hopefully they'll keep it up and eventually put the bad guys out of business.

      --
      My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
  29. nissan.com by garcia · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What I don't understand about the whole lawsuit is how Nissan (motors) can prove that they own the rights to that name. Uzi was apparently around before Nissan became any sort of MAJOR advertising spender ($400 million last year).

    The judge decided that the Internet wasn't that big of a deal in 1994, so the 5 year span between the registration of nissan.com and 1999 when they sued was ok. WHAT? Explain to me how this is ok? Uzi had it first, tough shit if they didn't decide that the Internet wasn't all that important.

    Early bird gets the worm. Money should have no bearing on who gets what domain.

    If I were Uzi, I would tell them to use nissancomputer.com for themselves.

    Just my worthless .02

  30. Deep Fritz vs Deep Blue by Optical+Voodoo+Man · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I read this article over at USNews.com about Deep Fritz. It said that Deep Fritz did beat the same Deep Blue that beat Kasparov, but a stripped down, castrated version of it. The article claimed:

    Press releases touting this week's match boast that Fritz has beaten both Kasparov and Deep Blue. The win over Kasparov came, however, in a super fast kind of chess, where computers have a decided edge. And Fritz didn't really beat Deep Blue-it beat an early version of its software running on slower hardware.

    Do I think that there is an added value to better algorithms and pruning methods over pure computational firepower? Sure, but you need to keep in mind that now that Deep Blue has been disassembled, there is no way to get an honest, head to head comparison.

    As if it matters, I still get my but kicked by good old GNU Chess.

    1. Re:Deep Fritz vs Deep Blue by jackb_guppy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One thing to remember...

      Deep Blue was being "adjusted" nightly. So a computer plus 6 people were playing on one side of the board.

      Yes, Deep Blue won, but to me, it was not a machine vs man... Deep Blue was being debugged.

  31. more Weird info by Monkelectric · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The entry in Symantec is "W32.Bugbear@mm" ... My brother saw me looking at the symantec alert and told me that "mm" stands for Monster Manual (some kind of D&D book), and that Bugbear is a specific monster in that manual ...

    So who is naming these viruses? :)

    --

    Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    1. Re:more Weird info by scubacuda · · Score: 2
      So who is naming these viruses? :)

      Nerds like us...

    2. Re:more Weird info by bfree · · Score: 2
      I hate to say that this doesn't make much sense: from the Monster Manual
      Bugbear
      FREQUENCY: Uncommon (20% likelyhood of encounter in a region or area it is likely to inhabit)
      NO. APPEARING: 6-36
      NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
      SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
      INTELLIGENCE: Low to Avergae (low)
      ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
      SIZE: L (7'+ Tall)
      They also live in loose bands, have a leader when in groups of over 12. They look clumsy but are able to move with great speed and stealth surprising their opponents 50% of the time! They live for about 75 years.
      So the only aspects of our virus that appear to be shared with the AD&D monster is that they are surprising (50% of the time), chaotic, evil and have only a low level of intelligence! If it is named after this monster they goofed bigtime. May I suggest they do as I do and find that old photocopied version of the Monster Manual they still have lying around though they haven't looked at it for 12 Years!
      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  32. Re:Bugbear by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 2

    Automation is insanely simple, yes, but you try writing a script that will install something big without problems on all Linux platforms. You have the apt-get solution, which isn't a solution, because all you are really doing is limiting packages to old stuff. And you have the rpm solution which winds up being pretty complicated. If you have something better, there are quite a few distribution companies that would really like to hire you.

  33. the human formerly known as nissan by reconn · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, at least his first name isn't already taken or anything.

    I wish there was a band called Uzi Nissan. I'd totally be into them.

    --
    Everything that was once directly lived has receded into a representation. -debord
  34. Re:Bugbear by M.+Silver · · Score: 2

    If a sizable part of the population need to use computers, there will always be a significant number of those who do stupid things from them

    You don't have to do "stupid" things anymore... "somewhat clueless" will suffice. I just got a faux bounce message, sent to the error address of one of the Phoenyx' mailing lists. Looks perfectly normal, except that it alleges that the bounced message is contained in the attachment. (Maybe it is, but so is Klez or a variant thereof, so I didn't look further.) Even if you "don't open attachments, even from people you know," I suspect that one might slip under the radar. It certainly got past someone somehow, unless I happen to be the lucky recipient of a first-gen distribution.

    (Of course, perhaps "running a computer without a virus checker" itself "stupid." In which case, some of us stupid people have still never gotten a virus.)

    --

    Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
  35. Re:Great... english is the only language in the wo by Cato+the+Elder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since neither Hebrew nor Arabic is written with Latin characters, I find the "it's the name of a month" argument rather weak. Furthermore, the owner of www.nissan.com is incorporated in the United States, where "Nissan" cannot be considered a common word

    As far as the "waiting until 1999" argument goes, it sounds like Nissan is claiming he didn't infringe until 1999 when he started linking to car sites, meaning he was generating revenue based on visitors who were looking for www.nissanmotors.com.
    I think this argument holds water.

    However, the remedy the company is asking for is way out of proportion. Nissan Motors should be granted an injunction against www.nissan.com being used to adverstise cars.

  36. Re:Bugbear by langed · · Score: 2, Insightful
    dependency issues really only come into play from the distribution of binary-only packages, a la the .rpm or .deb.

    There is a nice and simple way around this, though; gcc has a -static flag that compiles required library functions into the binary, removing library dependencies.
    Thus, if you were designing a compiled-only, work-for-almost-all-linux-distros, you keep your binaries (relatively) small, and compile them statically.

    So--if you can find a good remote-root linux exploit that's rather common, write your virus and compile it with no machine optimizations, ELF binary format, stripped, and static. That should be sufficient to get your payload down to a few kb, if you're not being really extreme. (No optimizations because you don't want to limit yourself to a specfic processor--why target only a Pentium III or higher, when you could target the whole i386/ia64 architecture family? :)
    Disclaimer: I do not advocate virus-writing; nor do I, or have ever in the past, actually written malicious code. I am only stating that there's a workaround for dependency issues, even if you aren't gonna pass around the sources. (The virus reference is mostly to keep on topic.)

    But '-static' does still make for a larger binary.... This is where you can still shrink it down, though, by specifying that you originally compile your code using the -I/{path-to-library}/ form; use a smaller library, like uClib.

  37. Japanese... by hackwrench · · Score: 2, Informative

    nissan can mean "daily output" or "daily visit" or, and this may be a stretch "2, 3" I searched for it here: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/ wwwjdic?1C

  38. Re:Bugbear by NumberSyx · · Score: 2

    As far as email viruses are concerned, I say long live difficult installation.

    I'm with you, if it takes a "Difficult Install" to maintain a virus free system, then I am there. Long Live the difficult install.

    --

    "Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
    -Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development

  39. Entire Shuttle video here by ChrisCampbell47 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Quicktime from space.com (6.7 MB)

    Just the tank camera, no cutaways, all the way from launch to SRB seperation.

    Play it fast (hold the frame advance button down) for another cool view of the whole launch in about 15 seconds.

  40. That's OK. by (void*) · · Score: 2

    It's for lobotomies.

  41. A rundown of the various options by yerricde · · Score: 2

    If you read through all the things listed maybe you would realise some people _can't_ install microsoft's patches because of there EULA requirements.

    Let's see...

    Unpatched windows: Bugbear.

    Patched windows: No bugbear, but all your file are belong to Microsoft.

    LindowsOS: Different enough from the Win9x and WinNT lines that it may not catch the same viruses. Definitely comes with a mailer that's not susceptible to the iframe bug.

    Fourth option. Fifth option. Sixth option. Seventh option.

    Choose the one most appealing to you.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  42. Re:Bugbear by foobar104 · · Score: 2

    If ./configure says clearly that I need a library and I can go to freshmeat or the application's website and download and install that library, I don't consider that to be a "problem".

    Reconsider your definition of "problem." What you're describing is most definitely a dependency problem. It's just that you're happy with solving dependency problems.

  43. What would a judge say? by kylef · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just because his name is Nissan doesn't mean that he has the exclusive rights to any property with "Nissan" attached to it. He already owns nissan.net as well. Let's look at it from an independent judge's perspective:

    Both sides want nissan.com. Why? They either feel that:
    A. nissan.com will get more traffic and thus generate more revenue than some alternative, or
    B. nissan.com is more representative of their company's name

    As for A, what would cause nissan.com to get more traffic than "nissanmotors.com" or "nissancomputer.com"? People around the world recognize the Nissan brand name. Common sense would dictate that an overwhelming percentage of traffic seen to nissan.com [i]stems from that recognition, which Nissan (the car company) has carefully cultivated and paid for since 1933 when Nissan was incorporated in Japan[/i]. To continue to grant Mr. Uzi Nissan a monopoly on the domain "nissan.com" to promote his own company would be to allow his company to capitalize on the name recognition he did not establish. This fact does not seem to be in dispute. (Mr. Nissan would add, however, that the coincidence of his name should not be held against him.)

    As for B, both sides feel THEY have the right to use the name Nissan, and they do. As it happens, Mr. Nissan was first to claim nissan.com. Nissan Motors, however, was clearly the first to stake out recognition of "Nissan" as a brand name. Which one should legally be priority?

    It is fair to say that Mr. Nissan knew that registering nissan.com would be disputed by Nissan Motors. He chose to register nissan.com anyway, and it must be assumed that he did so because he felt he would be better served by nissan.com than nissancomputers.com or something else. It is also fair to say that he knew that by picking nissan.com he would receive more traffic to his address than a small computer store in North Carolina would normally receive, and that this traffic is a result of the name conflict with Nissan Motors.

    Nissan Motors clearly has more at stake in its name than Mr. Nissan has in his company. Forcing Mr. Nissan to relocate to a different address will have some cost, but this cost is small compared to the potential commerce that is being impeded by the naming mismatch. Clearly, the public does not expect to get Nissan Computer Corp of Raleigh, NC when they type "www.nissan.com" into their web browsers.

    The cost to commerce as a whole must be taken into consideration, and weighed against the cost to Mr. Nissan for relocation.

    Judgment? plaintiff [Nissan Motors] may use nissan.com, but must pay a reasonable fee for costs of relocating Mr. Nissan's site.

    1. Re:What would a judge say? by sconeu · · Score: 2

      I'm not arguing the merits of the case. I'm disputing the OP's comment that he obviously held out for large amounts of money, since it went to court. Even the court agreed he wasn't a 'squatter.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:What would a judge say? by PurpleBob · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've only taken Japanese for five weeks, but that's enough to know that your analysis of "Datsun" is BS. You may not have made it up, but someone obviously did.

      "Datsun" is three characters in hiragana: da tsu n. "Dat" is not a well-formed Japanese word. "sun" is not pronounced like English "sun", and does not mean "son". Amazingly enough, you seem to be correct that "son" means something like "to lose money" (WWWJDIC has it as "loss; disadvantage"), but if the name were "Datson" it would break up as "da tso n", and there's no such syllable as "tso".

      --
      Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
    3. Re:What would a judge say? by Skjellifetti · · Score: 2, Informative

      The DAT part comes from the names of the original backers: Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama and Meitaro Takeuchi when the company was formed in 1911. The son part was the name of their 2nd car (1918) the Datson which was an amalgam of DAT and the English word son so the 2nd car was named "Son of DAT." And dat, according to the business press at the time, can mean either "very fast" or "fast rabbit." The problems with the name stemmed from this mixture of Japanese and English. This was very well reported in the US car mags and business newspapers at the time of the name switch from Datsun to Nissan as would be expected. A car like the Datsun Z having its makers name change is a very big deal in automotive circles. One reason why they sold under the original Datsun name in the US was that they did not know how the US market would react to their cars and did not want to risk the Nissan mark if their cars had been a failure. But they had a very savvy exec (Yutaka Katayamain) in the US who understood US consumers and had the Z series designed from the ground up for the US market. Katayamain had earlier started Nissan's racing program. I'll stand by my earlier post.

  44. Re:Chess (OT) by HorsePunchKid · · Score: 2
    I use AcronymFinder. I'm sure E2 has this kind of thing, but when you're just looking for an acronym, AF is probably quicker ;).

    --
    Steven N. Severinghaus
  45. Deep Fritz? by thelinuxking · · Score: 2

    Is this some kind of "trusted computing"/Palladium version of Earth, created by Microsoft, to answer the question "What is the meaning of life, the universe, and Microsoft?

    If it is...I want a copy of that OS...it doesn't crash for seven billion years! However, a product flaw causes lazers to vaporize the hardware when it does crash...

  46. Re:Great... english is the only language in the wo by sasami · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since neither Hebrew nor Arabic is written with Latin characters, I find the "it's the name of a month" argument rather weak.

    Erm... if you want to take that tack... "Nissan" in Japanese isn't written with Latin characters either.

    ---
    Dum de dum.

    --
    Freedom is not the license to do what we like, it is the power to do what we ought.
  47. Re:stooopid users by mgblst · · Score: 2

    I remember telling people that you could only get viruses from running an exe or com file. You can't get it from reading a text document. Then boot sector viruses came out. Then macro viruses came out. Then email viruses came out.

  48. Nissan Motors - cybersquatters? by B.D.Mills · · Score: 2

    From the article:

    [The car company] has registered the domain name nissancomputer.com, and Dutcher said the company will give that Web address to Uzi Nissan if he's ordered to turn over his domains to the car company.

    Looks like Nissan Motors are cybersquatting to me ... what do you think?

    --

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
  49. Datsun by Perdo · · Score: 2

    "Datsun was used for passenger cars. However in 1982 the corporate name "Nissan" started being used for all new lines for passenger vehicles too"

    "U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson is expected to decide by November whether the coveted Internet addresses go to the automaker or stay with the man who's used his family name on a succession of businesses -- from mobile auto repair to exporting to computers _ since he came to Raleigh two decades ago."

    Who started using the name first? I'll bet this guy is more than 20 years old, which is how long Datsun has been using the name Nissan.

    If Datsun changed it's name to Nissan after this guy went into business, he could have a case for taking the entire use of the name from them.

    --

    If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

  50. Actually, they both have rights to it by SupahVee · · Score: 2
    IIRC, Nissan motors has been around for quite a long time in Japan, since the 40's I think. And the only reason that some of us remember it as 'Datsun' was that the original Nissan management decided not to use their prestigious Nissan name when the idea of shipping imports to America came up. The Daughter Company (Datsun) was given nissan's blessing, but they had to use their name instead. Then, after quite some time of acheiving moderate success in America, Nissan took back the Datsun name, and they all became Nissan cars.


    So technically, they BOTH have rights to the name, perhaps even equal rights to it. The guy should probably get to keep it, but come on, he should have known Nissan would come calling when he hit 'submit' on NetSol's website way back when. The judge should do something creative - like disallowing BOTH of them from using the name, he gets to use www.nissancomputers.com, and Nissan has to use www.nissancars.com.

    --
    "See, we plan ahead! That way, we never have to do anything now."
    1. Re:Actually, they both have rights to it by swordgeek · · Score: 2

      It's true that both have approximately equal rights to the name. Given that, it seems like access to a domainname should be allowed on a first come, first served basis.

      Furthermore, consider the nature of the web in 1994. Netscape 0.9 BETA was only released in October of that year, and was optimised for 14.4kb modems. Microsoft was busy trying to write Windows 4.0, which still (at that point) didn't have a built-in TCP/IP stack. Not many people were expecting the web to be much more than then next generation of usenet. Corporate trampling of individuals seemed to be a lot less aggressive (and a lot less) than it is now. Cybersquatting didn't even exist yet, and if the possibilty occurred to someone, it certainly didn't seem likely that the ruling bodies would be owned by corporate interests in five years.

      Furthermore, Nissan Cars didn't twig onto the internet for five years! Things picked up very quickly, and they should have taken action before 1999, if they wanted to be taken seriously.

      FURTHERMORE, this is not, and never has been a cybersquatting issue, since Uzi Nissan has, since the very beginning, acted in good faith. In other words, the names have been used to promote his businesses of the same name, and those businesses have strung back to before he registered the domains.

      On his website, Uzi Nissan has a pointer to the Nissan Motor Co. Nowhere in my brief perusal could I see the huge rant against Nissan that I'd be tempted to post.

      Basically, both entities started with roughly equivalent rights to the name. Uzi Nissan has done everything right; whereas Nissan Motor has done everything wrong, and is now trying to use the courts to fix their blunders.

      My verdict goes 100% to Uzi Nissan.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  51. Nasa Footage by Drath · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is probably posted already buy you can view this video on Space.com Here.

    It's pretty sweet.

  52. I thought that if a domain name WAS your name... by Newer+Guy · · Score: 2

    I thought that if you registered your last name as a domain name that no one else could take it from you..because it's YOUR NAME! Am I wrong here? Seems to me that HE has more right to HIS OWN NAME then some car comapny does...especially when they were Datsun for many years BEFORE they changed their name to Nissan!

  53. Any common sense or respect left out by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    there ? A REALLY simple HONEST answer would be for BOTH sites to place a nice visible link on each site with a little goodwill plug for each other. They are not in competition, and if the issue is not REALLY money but name recognition and family honor that should suffice. But of course we all realize common sense went the way of the dodo and the tazmanian tiger....

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  54. That's an unfair comparison. by fmaxwell · · Score: 2

    I can, for instance, look at a picture of my wife and identify her as my wife in a fraction of a second. The best image-recognition software in the world can't reliably do even that simple task.

    That's extremely unfair since no computer has a wife (or husband). We all know that computers can't get married to people -- possibly explaining why so many of the guys on Slashdot are single.

  55. A true geek... by scubacuda · · Score: 2
    ...would ask for more mod points. :b

  56. There's a long history of NASA doing this by hayden · · Score: 2
    When they discovered that ball point pens don't work in micro-gravity, NASA spent millions developing one that did.

    The Russians, when faced with the same problem used a pencil.

    --
    Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
    1. Re:There's a long history of NASA doing this by wossName · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, right.

      --
      Someone is wrong on the Internet!
  57. Clicking 'I accept' ... by vrai · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... doesn't not a legally binding contract make. Mainly because there is no way to prove whether you were the one who clicked it. This is why EULAs have never stood up in court (at least in the EU). The only way they could be made legally binding is for the software company to insist you return a signed form before allowing you to run setup.exe.

  58. Latinised spellings. by N+Monkey · · Score: 2

    Since neither Hebrew nor Arabic is written with Latin characters, I find the "it's the name of a month" argument rather weak.

    FWIW, in Turkish which does use Latin characters, the word for April is also pronounced "Nissan" but is spelled "nisan". (English obviously needs the double 'S' to stop the "i" from becoming a long sound).

    Besides, the guy is not trying to sell cars under the name of Nissan, just computers. Seems to me to be similiar to the Apple (records) vs Apple (computer). It's easy enough to distinguish the companies because they are in totally different markets.

  59. Apologies.... by N+Monkey · · Score: 2

    As far as the "waiting until 1999" argument goes, it sounds like Nissan is claiming he didn't infringe until 1999 when he started linking to car sites, meaning he was generating revenue based on visitors who were looking for www.nissanmotors.com.

    Oops! Sorry, I missed that bit in the OP (makes note to self to drink some more coffee).

  60. Wasn't a fair match. by TheLink · · Score: 2

    In the Deep Blue vs Kasparov match, they had _people_ tweaking and tuning Deep Blue between matches.

    That's unfair. It's like playing against a different unknown opponent for each game. Worse it's actually playing against a team of people aided by a powerful machine.

    The Kramnik vs Fritz match seems fairer.

    --
  61. Why is "cybersquatting" wrong? by mangu · · Score: 2
    In the beginning, corporations didn't know about the web, they just ignored it. Then someone invented a way of making money on the web. How is that different from any other invention?


    The rules for registering domain names have been made public since the beginning. Companies had the option of defending their trademarks from the start, if some of them didn't believe the internet could be a source of profits, that's their problem. If company managers have been too lazy to keep abreast of the technology, they should pay for it now, registered domain names are "intellectual property" and should be treated as such.

  62. Yes, but... by tkrotchko · · Score: 2

    Deep Fritz uses the G4 processor.

    As Apple keeps telling us, you can't compare simply by specs. Some computers are just faster no matter what the numbers say.

    --
    You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  63. Re:The problem with domain names by AB3A · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A friend of mine pointed out that Domino.com could be easily claimed by any one of several companies: A pizza company, a sugar company, or a software company.

    This is a very sordid and very nasty issue. If you want a view from the front lines look here.

    --
    Nearly fifty percent of all graduates come from the bottom half of the class!
  64. What really scares me is.. (Nissan vs Nissan) by Hut_Mul · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "We've always seen this case as protecting the Nissan brand and not about money," he said. "What we are saying is the word Nissan by itself is our registered trademark and we're the only ones with the right to use the name Nissan by itself."

    Our society has come to the point where a corporate name that has been around only 20yrs or so can come along and demand that a person cannot use his last name, which has been around for 100's of years.

    That's sick

  65. Re:Great... english is the only language in the wo by the+bluebrain · · Score: 2

    From the Salon acticle, Nissan-the-man's POV on the advertising:

    "In 1999 we had 23 advertisers on our site," he continues. "Three of them were auto-related companies. [Nissan Motors] is claiming they were automotive companies. But none of them were selling or were in the business of selling cars or car accessories."

    Dunno it it's true, of course, but that's what the judiciary is for.

    --
    yes, we have no bananas
  66. Re:Bugbear by spitzak · · Score: 2
    Really stupid troll there, folks. If "installation" was why virus were hard to make for Linux, then Windows virii would use InstallShield or whatever. Obviously they don't.

    In reality the ability of a virus to install itself is about equal on both platforms and is trivial. The trick is to get to a position where the virus has the ability to do the installation. Supposedly this is harder on Linux than Windows and this is the real difference.

    Automatic update has it's good and bad points. Although it gets bug fixes installed, it also means a great deal more uniformity for the machines that makes virii easier to spread. It is also possible that a virus will disable it or hijack it for it's own purposes, thus leading people to believe they are in better shape than they really are. However these are minor, the big worry about automatic update is it really is a mechanism for MicroSoft (or Apple, or RedHat) to exert final control over your machine and absoutely should not be trusted by anybody. You should be able to easily turn it off, get a list of the updates, and be assurred they are not installed until you have confirmation from other sources that "update x.y.z is ok".

  67. Progress by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 2

    So as you see, Microsoft did innovate!

    RMN
    ~~~