[Slashdot-mailer] Slashdot Daily Report (11/25/2000)
David Jacoby
jacoby@ecn.purdue.edu
Sat, 25 Nov 2000 11:00:03 -0500 (EST)
Slashdot Daily Report ( http://slashdot.org/ )
News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters.
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Golden Rice
A articles article from the "magically-delicious" department
sent by michael
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/1459221
thue writes: "According to this story (reg.
required) in the NY times "golden rice", ie
genetically modified rice which contains beta
carotene, could save a million children each year
who would otherwise have died from malnutrition.
The main reason golden rice is not yet in use is
that the methods used in the creation was covered
by patents, and getting a deal with the patent
holders has delayed them one year (1,000,000 dead
as a result!?). But the article also describes
great resistance to everything GMO, even something
as harmless and beneficial as this. Caution is
understandable when dealing with powerful traits
such as various kinds of resistance, but beta
carotene...?" What I liked about it was that the
developers hadn't crippled the strain's ability to
reproduce. Genetically-engineered wheat is
generally crippled, forcing farmers to buy new
seed from the company year after year.
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New YOPY Cousin To Use Head-Mounted Display
A articles article from the "when-when-when-" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/1528238
Dan Mønster writes: "G.mate, the company behind
the Linux based YOPY PDA, have given details on a
new PDA -- this one with a head mounted display,
but otherwise similar to the YOPY. The site also
has a lot of new pictures of the YOPY." Check out
the neat swoopy camera module, too. Question is,
can they make the Yopy similar or lower in price
than the similarly-spec'd iPAQ? And when can we
get our hands on one?
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Stranger In a Strange Land
A books article from the "not-william-j-bennett's-top-choice" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/02/2111244
Contributed by readers FooBard and Scrymarch, the
pair of reviews below ought to either bring back
memories or spark some curiosity. Stranger In a
Strange Land may not be everyone's favorite book
-- even among Heinlein fans -- but it certainly
strikes a chord. If you haven't read it, these
reviews should give you a good idea of whether
you'd like to. [TABLE NOT SHOWN]
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PlayStation 2 Launched In Europe
A articles article from the "pow!-zap!-bam!-bleeeeeep!" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/1610210
Hougaard writes: "The PS2 release for Europe is
today ... I went down to my local store to buy
one. This is a store a lot like a CompUSA
(sizewise). They will only get six from Sony???.
The rumour has it, that Sony is only releasing
8000 PS2 for Denmark thruout 2000 :-( But I was
guy number five -- So hopefully ..." Can any
European readers comment on the launch? Were lines
stretched around the block like they were at some
U.S. stores? Who's got one already?
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Mobile Videophone
A articles article from the "can-you-see-what-I'm-thinking?" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/1910202
alecbrown writes: "Orange, a mobile phone service
in the UK is about to release a Mobile Videophone
coming out in 2001. As far as I know it uses
Microsoft's PocketPC platform, and works on
GSM1800, since as Orange has a HSCSD service and
no GPRS service yet it is probably based on the
former technology. I hate to think how expensive
calls will be on that."
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Furby Bounty Paid
A articles article from the "now-can-I-just-make-him-shut-up" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/1913221
donpardo writes "The Furby has been successfully
hacked and the money has been paid. (Here is the
original /. story.) By Xmas a modified Furby
should be on the way to the autistic child who
inspired this. Kits are on the way."
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Project Pengachu: Handheld Linux for $50?
A articles article from the "i'll-believe-it-when-i-see-it" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/2010245
ContinuousPark writes: "The folks at the MIT
Media Lab have been working on a $50 handheld
Linux computer. 900MHz, 1mW, 200Kbps peering or
hub-and-spoke internet gateways for wireless mode
and a RS-485 wired LAN: 1Mbps multidrop. Loads of
software on less than 1Mb footprint. They've
called it the Pengachu Project: Cheap Wireless
Linux for Everyone. Read about it here, an article
on the kickoff event for the Digital Nations
project."
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What Would Your Dream Calendar Program Look Like?
A askslashdot article from the "get-your-features-in-now-folks" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/2255239
srl sends in this query: "I'm on a project team
for Reefknot, which is building an
open-source/free shared calendar server. This is
not a replacement for Evolution; this is a server
that any iCal-capable client can talk to, to do
group scheduling and event planning. It may also
include project-management features. In short, we
want people to have a free alternative to MS
Exchange's calendaring features. We are in the
pre-alpha design stages, and we want input from
end users of calendar software. This might be you,
it's definitely your boss. So, we want to know:
What does your enterprise calendaring software do
that you like? What do you hate about it? Why?
What features should we implement to be
competitive with existing commercial software?"
We've recently talked about Exchange, and
calendaring functionality is one of the reasons
that it keeps finding its way into the enterprise.
If you've ever wanted an alternative, now is your
chance to speak up.
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P2P, Firewalls And Connection Splicing
A articles article from the "looking-at-the-inevitable" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/24/2359231
dbarclay10 writes: "There's an interesting
article over at Byte about what happens when
nobody accepts incoming connections any more, like
when more people start using firewalls or NAT.
Specifically, it talks about peer-to-peer
networking(a la Napster), and how it would be
affected. Good read."
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New 8-Node PPC Cluster From Terra Soft
A articles article from the "heck-on-wheels" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/25/0338219
Ben Mesander writes: "Check out the cool looking
iDitarod' parallel PPC Linux machine the folks at
Terra Soft Solutions just shipped." This yellow
rack actually packs a lot of power into a
relatively small, mobile enclosure You don't even
have to build a beowulf cluster out of this, but
it's for deeper pockets than I've got -- as they
suggest, though, it sounds like an easy way for a
company or school to get a sweet little turnkey
PPC cluster.
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FSF Europe Founded
A articles article from the "grab-a-soapbox" department
sent by michael
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/25/139252
senfman writes "The German News Service Heise
Onilne writes in this article, that the Free
Software Foundation Europe was founded. The four
founding members are Germans who look for people
in other european countries to support them. The
FSF Europe is going to cooperate with Richard M.
Stallman to make sure that there are no
differences between this institutions." Excellent.
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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?