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Google Offers Encrypted Web Search Option 288

Posted by Soulskill
from the helping-you-hide-your-pokemon-obsession dept.
alphadogg writes "People who want to shield their use of Google's Web search engine from network snoops now have the option of encrypting the session with SSL protection. In the case of Google search, SSL will protect the transmission of search queries entered by users and the search results returned by Google servers. Google began rolling out the encrypted version of its Web search engine on Friday. 'We think users will appreciate this new option for searching. It's a helpful addition to users' online privacy and security, and we'll continue to add encryption support for more search offerings,' wrote Evan Roseman, a Google software engineer, in an official blog post."

Comment: Isn't this just plain begging (Score 1) 121

by bkmiictian (#31658406) Attached to: Raleigh Councilman Offers Child Naming Rights To Google
Every other day there is a story describing how yet another b/w starved city/town is 'begging' google in an innovative way. Is begging the defining characteristic of our generation? Maybe, if someone can highlight a story wherein a town/city highlights how they can stand up on their feet with the extra b/w (not a bplan!), instead of a crazy marketing gimmick, google might actually initiate some action and live upto their motto of 'do no evil'. (Note that it doesn't necessarily mean 'do good')

+ - Your definition of Freedom?->

Submitted by
bkmiictian writes "I have been feeling very suffocated living in today's society.

So, I would like to ask

What is freedom to you?
What level of freedom do you think is needed in this society?
Why is freedom essential?
Which is the best form of society structure that can give this (the one that you ask for) freedom — Capitalism, Communism; Monarchy, Democracy, etc?
Slashdot discusses a lot of issues and a lot of them usually have freedom at their core/fundamental level (NSA, GNU/Linux, OSS, Piracy vs patents, etc) but I have never seen a discussion on the meaning of freedom.

Also, given the fact that the number of funny quips on posts has been very high off late, (at the cost of some karma) I request the jokers to try and contribute something meaningful and let the funny quips be meaningful for a change.

Message to the mods: I do not know of a better link on this topic. If you are aware of one, please change it (assuming the story is put up). Also, I am not sure whether this topic has been taken up in the past, hence I am posting this (I have been visiting slashdot since a year now but that doesn't qualify me as a knowledgeable reader)."

Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:the supercomputers advantage... (Score 1) 368

by bkmiictian (#20237357) Attached to: 10 Years After Big Blue Beat Garry Kasparov
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7342.html This book is written by the creator of Deep Blue. He describes the Deep Blue project (This was not the original name) from his time at Stanford to the games played with Kasparov. The tweaking of Deep Blue did not happen in game but only before and after games. The so called opponents of Deep Blue (a couple of GM level players) were recruited only to help in the preparation of opening book. Kasparov had asked for the log of Deep Blue because he thought that the move was not thought by the computer but by some human sitting behind the terminal (basically he wanted to verify Deep Blue's moves), but the event co-ordinators rightly judged it as unfair as Kasparov was asking for the complete thought process of Deep Blue. The Deep Blue team was asked to show the move list to the co-ordinators who were satisfied with the logs. The book is a good read and the review that I have quoted above describes the development in a very lucid language.

+ - Symantec sig updates causes chaos in China

Submitted by Hello Kitty
Hello Kitty writes "According to Computerworld, a signature update to Symantec's anti-virus software has knocked out thousands of Chinese PCs. Apparently the latest update for the AV component of the various Norton packages mistook two system files in the Chinese edition of Windows XP SP2 for the "Backdoor.Haxdoor" trojan. Piracy issues may complicate recovery, since once the "updates" are installed Symantec says the only hope for reviving an affected system is to re-copy the affected DLLs from the Windows restore disks. You... do have your official restore disks, don't you?"

Linus Torvalds to Microsoft: put up or shut up->

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Media PCs

Aw snap. Just when you thought the Microsoft / open-source relationship was getting bad, it's now getting even worse, as yet another turn has been taken in the on-again, off-again love affair between the two. Soon after Microsoft's General Counsel claimed that free and open-source software (FOSS) -- a bundle of which related to Linux -- violated precisely 235 of its patents, Linus Torvalds decided to fire back on behalf of the little guy. In an interview with InformationWeek, Mr. Torvalds retorted by suggesting that it is actually "a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does," and even noted that if "the source code for Windows could be subjected to the same critical review that Linux has been, Microsoft would find itself in violation of patents held by other companies." Of course, he backed his statements by stating that the "fundamental stuff was done about half a century ago and has long, long since lost any patent protection," and closed things up by insinuating that Redmond should put its cards on the table so that Linux users prove 'em wrong, or better yet, "code around whatever silly things they claim." As if you couldn't tell, them's fightin' words, folks.

[Via IDM, image courtesy of TACTechnology]

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+ - Is Modeling Science?

Submitted by
DanielMarkham writes "I've been watching the flame wars on Global Warming on Slashdot for a few months now. In an effort to ask a simple question without all the flame wars, is modeling science? That is, is creating a computer model the same as coming up with a new law of physics?

I've just got through posting a blog entry in which I make the case that the types of modeling we read about in the news is not science at all, or science as we know it.

This topic has all the nerd stuff you could ever want. Cellular Automata, Turing Tests, Philosophy of Science, nature of chaotic systems, modeling complex software systems in UML. If I've missed something, I'm sure you guys will let me know about it and I appreciate the critique. So what say you? Is modeling science or not? Can we at least agree on this point?"

Journal: Software patents, what is innovation? 1

Journal by ancientt

Recipes for chemistry are patented regularly. Consider dyes and solvents, there are dozens of easy examples. The question is whether they should be, not whether they can be, and that answer probably applies to software patents as well.

What Would Happen To Fanboys Remaking Raiders Of The Lost Ark Today?->

From feed by techdirtfeed
Wired is running a fascinating story about a set of three 12-year-old friends, who became so obsessed with the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, that they spent the next seven summers refilming the movie shot for shot. It's a great story (in fact, so great, that there's actually a real movie being made about these three friends making this movie), but you have to wonder what would happen if the same thing were tried again today. You'd have to think that the three kids would end up in an awful lot of trouble, rather than being celebrated. Let's run through the list...
  • Illegal taping: The friends were able to learn the entire movie by sneaking a videocamera into the theater and taping it. As you know, the industry has been passing stricter and stricter laws for anyone found video taping a movie. The latest law in NY would lead to a $5,000 fine (the boys made their entire movie for $4,500) and 6 months in jail.
  • Copyright infringement: By copying the entire film, clearly they could be accused of copyright infringement. In fact, just last year, Paramount sued an amateur filmmaker who downloaded the script for an Oliver Stone movie and tried to film his own version using acting students. Ironically (or maybe it's just sad), it's Paramount that's making the film about these boys recreating Raiders.
  • Music rights: The film apparently makes use of the original score, which is obviously a no-no for the recording industry, as witnessed by the fact that the famed sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati had to dub in generic music as it couldn't afford the rights to use the music it had licensed for the original show.
  • Public performance: Despite being infringing, this film hasn't just been for private use. It was first shown in a Coca-Cola factory auditorium upon completion, as well as at a variety of underground film festivals since then.
Everyone seems to acknowledge that this film probably violates all sorts of intellectual property rules -- though both Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas appear to be fine with it. However, a set of kids trying to do the same thing today would actually find it more difficult. While the tools to do so have become much more powerful and much cheaper -- the legal regime has become much worse. And, frankly, doesn't it seem like something is wrong with the system when a bunch of kids can't do something like this? It wasn't just a tremendously fun project for the trio, but apparently a great learning experience. All three of the "kids" now work in the entertainment industry. On top of that, the film has a huge cult following and has made many people extremely happy. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a way that this "cost" the original creators of the content a dime (and, if anything, probably encouraged a few more people to watch or rewatch the original). So why is it that these same kids today would potentially face time in jail, both criminal and civil lawsuits and huge fines for doing the same thing?
Link to Original Source

+ - Is 40 to old for IT or Software Development?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "I have read some stuff on Dice.com's message boards where some people are claiming that after age 40 or so that jobs become very scarce in the IT profession. I was wondering how prevalent this really is, and in particular I was wondering how hard it would be to actually start a career in IT or Software Development at age 40 or even later.

I recently finished up a degree in physics, and I have done some very basic IT support as well as some programming as part of my job working in an environmental testing lab. How difficult would it be to start a computer career at age 40, and what industries and fields will have the most problem with my age and which will have the least problem with my age?"

+ - Robot to journey to the center of the earth

Submitted by

+ - Molecular matcher could lead to 3D search engine

Submitted by Plasma Droid
Plasma Droid writes "NewScientistTech has a story about a 3D molecular search engine that is a thousand times faster than anything previously developed. The researchers, from Oxford University, developed a lightning fast way to quickly match 3D shapes mathematically. This could not only speed up searches for new drugs, but lead to 3D search engines, for finding objects uploaded to platforms such as Google Earth, they say."
