An anonymous reader writes "And you thought software patents were going to far? How about geography patents? Apparently, as a part of the weird fight over what place in Europe represents the "geophysical center of Europe," the Austrian town of Frauenkirchen has received a patent (Austrian patent AM 7738/2003) declaring it the center of Europe. Not clear how one 'infringes' on such a patent, but t
Published News
Town Gets Patent On Being the Center of Europe
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
75% Use Same Password For Social Media & Email
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
wiredmikey writes "Over 250,000 user names, email addresses, and passwords used for social networking sites can easily be found online. A study of the data collected showed that 75 percent of social networking username and password samples collected online were identical to those used for email accounts. The password data was gathered from blogs, torrents, online collaboration services and other
"Dislike" Button Scam Hits Facebook Users
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
An anonymous reader writes "A message saying 'I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!' is spreading rapidly on Facebook, tempting unsuspecting users into believing that they will be able to "dislike" posts as well as "like" them. However, security researchers say that it is just the latest 'survey scam', tricking Facebook users into into giving a rogue Fac
Happy 17th Birthday, Debian!
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
An anonymous reader writes "Debian turns 17 today. Yes it has really come a long way from being Murdock's pet project back in 1993 to being the distribution on which the most popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu, is based on now." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Geek Squad Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter To God Squad
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
An anonymous reader writes "A Wisconsin priest has God on his car but Best Buy's lawyers on his back. Father Luke Strand at the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac says he has received a cease-and-desist letter from the electronics retailer. From the article: 'At issue is Strand's black Volkswagen Beetle with door stickers bearing the name "God Squad" in a logo similar to that of Best Buy's Geek Sq
Microsoft's Adaptive Touchscreen Keyboard
Posted by clementw 23 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
ramandeeps noted a Microsoft research project on an adaptive keyboard that is essentially a touch screen that updates to make it easier to keep complex keybindings to a minimum. This is part of the 2010 Student Innovation Contest, so if you want one, and happen to be a student you can sign up to do research on the device. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Internet Explorer Turns 15
Posted by clementw 24 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
An anonymous reader writes "Software giant Microsoft's internet explorer turned 15 years on Monday. The company recently said it would launch the internet explorer 9 public beta version on September 15, 2010. The software giant launched the first version of the browser internet explorer 1 on August 16, 1995. It was a revised version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft had licensed from Spyglass I
Keith Elwin Wins Pinball World Championship
Posted by clementw 24 days ago (http://rss.slashdot.org)
Yesterday, writes reader woohoodonuts, "Keith Elwin won the world pinball championship in Pittsburgh, PA for the third consecutive year. The weekend-long event fielded 406 players from all over the world and distributed over $36,000 in prizes. The three games chosen in the final round were Stern Cheetah, Bally The Addams Family, and Bally Creature from the Black Lagoon. Keith scored over 500 mill
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