no interfaces found with wireshark

This is actually the solution to the above problem. It came from http://packetlife.net/blog/2010/mar/19/sniffing-wireshark-non-root-user/

my exact sequence is:
sudo usermod -a -G wireshark john
newgrp wireshark
sudo chgrp wireshark /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo chmod 750 /usr/bin/dumpcap
sudo setcap cap_net_raw, cap_net_admin=sip /usr/bin/dumpcap

restart Ubuntu

I think I am using ubuntu 11.?? alpha 3 to get the latest wireshark version.

I suggest that some variation of the above be added to the installation of wireswhark.