[Slashdot-mailer] Slashdot Daily Report (11/3/2000)
David Jacoby
jacoby@ecn.purdue.edu
Fri, 3 Nov 2000 11:00:02 -0500 (EST)
Slashdot Daily Report ( http://slashdot.org/ )
News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters.
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The Net as the New Jerusalem
A features article from the "last-days-of-politics-(cont.)" department
sent by JonKatz
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/31/2247209
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Fun With Nanotechnology Advances
A science article from the "a-bucket-full-of-nanites" department
sent by Hemos
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/1537230
wieselwerkstatte sent us a link to a Nature
article that talks about the possibilty for
self-soldering molecular wires. In related news,
demon-cw sent us a C't story about .2 buckyballs
that they are using to create nanotubes. Use the
fish for those who don't speak German.
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Death March
A books article from the "it's-an-important-subject!" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/23/1526221
Jason Bennett contributed this review of the
depressingly named Death March : The Complete
Software Developer's Guide to Surviving " Mission
Impossible" Projects. But if you're ever part of a
software project which seems to be going nowhere
fast, and over very rocky roads, perhaps the words
he's written will point you to a source of solace.
This book seems to have some decent strategies for
dealing with impossible demands and even more
impossible deadlines. And while no book will give
you a better boss or timetable, at least you'll
know you're not the only one. [TABLE NOT SHOWN]
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Gartner Group Squints At Future OS Growth
A articles article from the "something-to-think-about" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/1638230
Icebox writes: "Cnet is offering up this bit from
GartnerGroup that includes their predictions for
the next few years in the OS market. Their
predictions are aimed stricly at the business side
of this but it is interesting to see how their
ideas stack up against what Slashdot's readership
expects. Pay particular attention to Factor #9."
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Will 'Web Services' Take Off?
A askslashdot article from the "does-anyone-find-this-useful" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/01/2224239
NoInfo writes: "You've heard a lot about XML,
SOAP and the idea of Web services. All of which
have been intriguing me a great deal lately. Sun,
Big Blue, MS, Ariba and others have teamed up to
create UDDI.org. The site describes a bit about
their idea of companies publishing the electronic
services they provide. They will also eventually
let you search a registry of those businesses and
their offered services, including any exposed 'Web
services' they provide. With all these forces
behind it, perhaps it's not even a question, but
will UDDI and/or Web services 'fly'? Are there any
Slashdotters aiming to provide Web services,
despite its heavy backing by Microsoft?" If this
lives up to its promise of platform independence,
then may turn out to be something incredibly
useful. Are there any readers involved in UDDI who
can comment further on how things are progressing?
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Hubble Captures Colliding Galaxies
A articles article from the "like-a-blind-date-gone-wrong" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/1829249
ackthpt writes: "I used to enjoy simulating model
galactic collisions on my desktop but, CNN is
featuring a find for the Hubble Space Telescope --
a collision between two galaxies 206 million
lightyears away in the direction of the
constellation Lyra. The picture is spectacular."
It's this sort of thing that makes the Hubble's
continued success, in light of it's famous earlier
misadventures.
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Mandrake 7.2 in Wal-Mart: A Good Idea?
A features article from the "penguins-for-the-masses" department
sent by Roblimo
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/2324224
You've got to give Linux-Mandrake publisher
Mandrakesoft credit; their distribution deal with
MacMillan Software is spreading their latest
release to places Linux has never gone before,
including Wal-Mart and other major retail chain
stores.
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Quickie Twister
A articles article from the "i-am-the-red-worm" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/1710241
Start this one off with a creative hack:
tim.kerby sent in just that: using a tortilla as a
bread board when your local radio shack is out.
Future creative hacks may involve i4u's link to
camborg which tracks wearable cameras. Ant found
cats and robots. You can practice by playing Kitty
Lick 3, an FPS you play as a feline (thanks
bjorky) But If cats aren't your pet of choice, how
about pigs? Rookie sent in linkage to a story
about a one in first class that you'll swear is
fiction (but it isn't). radiator sent in a
hilarious parody: first aid for a dying dot com.
Some auctions worth noting: drDugan sent a picture
autographed by Linus being sold on eBay (and
donated to charity). Dirty Yanni noted that
Metallica/Napster parody t-shirts are for sale on
eBay. And the last auction (but not on eBay) is
Spock's original ears from the original trek. Oh,
and how about t-shirts mocking the MS breakin &
source code theft? CArnesen noted that Anime Expo
2001 has been scheduled for this summer. I'm
seriously considering going. Mothy notes that
famed Rubber Chicken vendor Archie McPhee is now
selling the Linux Voodoo Penguin (however the ad
features a "Sysadmin" wearing a tie! Have to much
free time? Ant does! He sent us a reflex tester
(I've managed a .24) but thats nothing compared to
Am I Hot or Not which is fun for hours on end if
you're the type that amuses easily. And finally,
tshell noted that that now that there is a
complete O'Reily ate my balls site, the Internet
is now complete. You can all go home now.
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BSDi is Livin' On the Edge!
A bsd article from the "bsdi-infusions" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/2333227
Again, from Daily Daemon News, it looks like the
Japanese ISP, Livin' On The Edge has infused BSDi
with a 5 million dollar strategic investment to
keep developing the iExtreme line of servers and
provide backing to the FreeBSD project. The actual
press release is here.
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Do Penguins Topple When Planes Fly Over?
A articles article from the "inside-penguins-are-pots-of-seething-rage" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/193204
dannyspanner was among the teeming masses to
point out that: "The BBC has a short story about
some research that will be carried out to see if
penguin colonies fall over when aircraft fly
overhead. I hope they get some footage if they
prove it's true ..." I secretly believe that news
outlets like stories like this because penguins
look so comical already -- thinking of them
rolling around like duckpins (rather than the
ultra-coordinated hero of Tuxracer) makes
everybody laugh.
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Kasparov King No More
A articles article from the "can-kramnik-handle-deepest-blue?" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/03/032241
soccerdad writes: "After 15 years as world
champion, Garry Kasparov has been beaten by
Vladimir Kramnik. Kasparov is generally
acknowledged as the greatest chess player of all
time, but he was unable to beat Kramnik in the
16-game match. Kramnik won twice as white.
Kasparov needed to win the final two games to come
out 8-8 (which would have retained the title).
However, he agreed to a draw in the 39th move of
game 15, giving the championship to Kramnik. For
detailed match information, check out FT.com Match
Centre."
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Demos, Screenshots of Cyan's Next Projects
A articles article from the "lotta-linkage" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/03/0519258
Stop Making Sense! writes: "First, an overview:
To put it simply, Cyan, ies, has been a very busy
little adventure game company lately. So busy, in
fact, that it has left the job of a third Myst
sequel, Myst III:Exile, to the notorious Presto
Studios. With the impending release of realMyst, a
realtime 3D version of Myst, and the accompanying
Demo and Trailer, quite a few revelations about
Cyan's long-term project have been woefully missed
by most. A word about this project, before we get
to the sweetness:creators of the first two
chapters in the notoriously controversial Myst &
Riven Series, has been a very busy little
adventure game company lately. So busy, in fact,
that it has left the job of a third Myst sequel,
Myst III:Exile, to the notorious Presto Studios.
With the impending release of realMyst, a realtime
3D version of Myst, and the accompanying Demo and
Trailer, quite a few revelations about Cyan's
long-term project have been woefully missed by
most. A word about this project, before we get to
the sweetness: It is codenamed MUDPIE." (Read on
for more.) "It is going to be an organic, realtime
multiplayer game running on the same 'Headspin' 3D
engine (which Cyan bought from the now-defunct
Headspin Technologies along with a bunch of
Headspin's programming staff)as realMyst and is
going to take place in the Myst/Riven universe. In
the blizzard of Myst information, the sweetest
snippet of all has basically gotten lost in the
shuffle: a Screenshot of MUDPIE. People think at
first it's a small chamber until the realize that
the blob front and center is a person. The engine
is very pretty and relatively low on bugs, if a
bit slow. Some people think the edges of the front
pillars aren't soft enough, but they look fine to
me :). For more info and clarification, see [this
info page on Cyan's site]."
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US IP Law Comparisons with Other Countries?
A askslashdot article from the "is-there-any-place-better" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/0145222
jpalk asks: "Something I've been wondering about
lately is how US intellectual property laws stack
up with those from other industrialized nations?
Specifically, I've been wondering about things
like the durations of copyrights and patents and
the number of works that are patented/copywrighted
every year vs. the number of such that expire. I
know where to find (some) of that information for
the US, but I'm clueless about where to find that
for other countries." How many countries have IP
laws that differ significantly from the framework
established by the International Copyright Laws?
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Review of the BSD part of MacOS X Beta
A articles article from the "bashing-your-way-through-macos" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/03/1346201
gbooker writes " Deamon News has an interesting
article about the BSD core of MacOS X Beta. They
talk about how it differs from the traditional
MacOS AND how it differs from BSD. This is the
first installment of what could be an interesting
series."
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The info is Rob Malda's
The code is mine
MOTD: -----------------------------------
I am no longer associated with Purdue, except for being a former
student, former employee, and active member of the Linux Users Group.
As such, I'll either be moving this service to another server or
killing it entirely. Your input is requested as to what you'd like.
Then again, when was the last time I changed the MOTD? And when was
last time it was read?