SlashdotNews for nerds, stuff that mattersPimp My Datacenter- June 18, 2008 snydeq writes "InfoWorld has put together an in-depth, hands-on feature detailing the complete pimp-out makeover of Hawaii Institute of Geophysics' 1950s-era server room into a bona-fide 21st century datacenter equipped with 'some of the glitziest and most functional gear known to datacenter-building man.' The project — completed neither on time nor on budget — resulted in improved rack and cable management, more efficient cooling, higher security, and a wealth of remote management..http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314239944/article.pl Understanding Privacy- June 17, 2008 privacyprof writes "Slashdot readers familiar with Professor Daniel J. Solove's essay, 'I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy,' might be interested in his new book, Understanding Privacy, which develops many of the ideas in that essay. As rapidly changing technology makes information increasingly available, there has been a great struggle to define privacy, with many conceding that the task is virtually impossible. The book argues there are multiple forms of privacy,...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314180065/article.pl The Impact of Low Salaries At Apple- June 17, 2008 orenh writes "Recent data indicate that Apple engineers have significantly lower salaries than their Silicon Valley peers: $89,000 at Apple, versus $105,000 at Yahoo and $112,000 at Google. Paying lower salaries had a major impact on Apple's bottom line when it was struggling in the market up until 2004. But now that Apple is highly profitable, these lower salaries are no longer a factor in Apple's success. Will Apple have to raise salaries to match the market rate, or face defections"Read more.http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314152122/article.pl Philadelphia's Wi-Fi Back Online, Privately- June 17, 2008 muellerr1 writes "A group of local Philadelphia investors is picking up where Earthlink left off last week. Earthlink abandoned their effort to provide municipal Wi-Fi access because they couldn't lure enough paying customers. The project won't use any additional taxpayer dollars, and the new investors are thinking of using advertisements and fees for business use to support free access for ordinary citizens." The private group won't estimate when the network might be completed (it's at 80%),...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314122668/article.pl Mass Effect DRM Still Causing Issues- June 17, 2008 An anonymous reader writes "There was some discussion last month about the proposed DRM for Mass Effect and Spore that required the game to phone home every ten days. They backed down from that, but have left in that a user is only allowed 3 activations per license key. A license key is burned up when the OS is reinstalled, when certain hardware is upgraded (EA refuses to disclose specifics of what), and possibly when a new user is set up in Windows. Only in its first month, some users are...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314085170/article.pl California Cracks Down On Genetic Testing- June 17, 2008 genie-out-of-the-bottle writes "California's Department of Public Health has sent cease-and-desist notices to 13 companies that market genetic testing directly to consumers. (We discussed these services when they launched.) Allegedly, under state law, California residents must submit a doctor's order to have a genetic test run. It will be interesting to see if the government will actually succeed in putting the genetic genie back in the bottle, given that all you need for testing is a few drops.http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314075714/article.pl PhD Research On Software Design Principles- June 17, 2008 cconnell writes "I am working on a PhD in software engineering at Tufts University. My interest are the general principles of good software design, and I am looking for linksreferences on this topic. The question is: What designarchitecture qualities are shared by all good software Good software means lacking in bugs, maintainable, modifiable, scalable, etc... Please don't tell me 'use object oriented methods' or 'try extreme programming.' These answers are too narrow, since there is good...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314058429/article.pl FCC Revises Broadband Penetration Metrics- June 17, 2008 joelt49 writes "Ars Technica reports that the FCC has revised its broadband penetration metric. Previously, if only one subscriber in a zip code received connectivity at 200 Kbps, then the entire zip code was considered to have broadband access. Now, the FCC will count the number of subscribers in census tracts. The FCC has also revised its definition of broadband; previously, it was anything over 200 Kbps. Now, speeds between 200 and 768 Kbps are considered 'First-Generation' broadband, and...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/314027344/article.pl US Court Disconnects Canadian Domain Name Scammers- June 17, 2008 coondoggie writes "A US District Court today ordered a halt to the illegal practice of Canadian companies who the Federal Trade Commission said deceptively posed as domain name registrars and sent bogus bills to thousands of US small businesses and nonprofit organizations for their annual 'Website Address Listing.' The FTC said many of the businesses believed they would lose their Web site addresses unless they paid the bill, so they paid but in most cases the defendants did not provide domain..http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/313999720/article.pl Anatomy of a Runaway Project- June 17, 2008 JCWDenton recommends a piece by Bruce Webster revealing some insights into a failed multi-million-dollar IT project. "The following document is the actual text — carefully redacted — of a memo I wrote some time back after performing an IT project review; names and identifying concepts have been changed to preserve confidentiality (and protect the guilty). The project in question was a major IT re-engineering effort for a mission-critical system; at the time I did this review, the...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/313969284/article.pl |