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Education

Submission + - Ask slashdot for open source/free software to help manage students grades

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I have been assigned the task of finding a software package to automatize the The management of grades in a high school. It does not need to be a complete system, but rather just manage grading calculations and printing of report cards. The management of grades is currently done using spreadsheets. What are some open source options to handle this situation?
Java

Submission + - Rootbeer GPU Compiler allows almost any Java code to run on the GPU (github.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today the source code to the Rootbeer GPU Compiler was released open source on github. This work allows for a developer to use almost and Java code on the GPU. It is free, open source and highly tested. Rootbeer is the most full featured translator to convert Java Bytecode to CUDA. It allows arbitrary graphs of objects to be serialized to the GPU and the GPU kernel to be written in Java.
Space

Submission + - Lauch Escape System to be tested for Apollo like capsule in the Baltic sea (copenhagensuborbitals.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Danish amateur rocket group Copenhagen Suborbitals are readying to test their Launch Escape System for the Tycho Deep Space capsule in the Baltic Sea east of the island Bornholm Sunday 12th August. Live coverage can be found at http://rocketfriends.org/?page_id=13 , http://www.livestream.com/csscph , http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop and http://www.raketvenner.dk/

Live transmissions are expected from 8 am localtime (UTC+2). Live transmissions, audio commentary as well as VHF audio are expected to be available. The Tycho Deep Space is the intended capsule for a later planned suborbital shoot to the edge of Space lead by Peter Madsen and Christian von Bengtson.

Submission + - Pixar's OpenSubdiv Tech demo (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last week at SIGGRAPH, Pixar Animation Studios announced OpenSubdiv, an open source implementation of the Renderman subdivision surface technology, thus releasing the patents to the long standing Pixar "secret sauce". In addition to the offline subdivision scheme, it also includes a GPU implementation. This video demonstrates a realtime deforming subdivision surface running at 50 FPS in Maya (though it is freely available to use anywhere). The source code is available on Pixar's GitHub account.
Wikipedia

Submission + - Let The Campaign Edit Wars Begin

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Megan Garber writes that in high school, Paul Ryan's classmates voted him as his class's "biggest brown noser," a juicy tidbit that is a source of delight for his political opponents but considered an irrelevant piece of youthful trivia to his supporters. "But it's also a tension that will play out, repeatedly, in the most comprehensive narrative we have about Paul Ryan as a person and a politician and a policy-maker: his Wikipedia page," writes Garber. Late last night, just as news of the Ryan choice leaked in the political press — the first substantial edit to that page removed the "brown noser" mention which had been on the page since June 16. The Wikipedia deletion has given rise to a whole discussion of whether the mention is a partisan attack, whether "brown noser" is a pejorative, and whether an old high school opinion survey is notable or relevant. As of this writing, "brown noser" stands as does a maybe-mitigating piece of Ryan-as-high-schooler trivia: that he was also voted prom king. But that equilibrium could change, again, in an instant. "Today is the glory day for the Paul Ryan Wikipedia page," writes Garber. "Yesterday, it saw just 10 [edits]. Today, however — early on a Saturday morning, East Coast time — it's already received hundreds of revisions. And the official news of the Ryan selection, of course, is just over an hour old." Now Ryan's page is ready to host debates about biographical details and their epistemological relevance. "Like so many before it, will be a place of debate and dissent and derision. But it will also be a place where people can come together to discuss information and policy and the intersection between the two — a town square for the digital age.""
Apple

Submission + - Apple offered expensive licensing option to Samsung in 2010 (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The treasure trove of documents from the ongoing Apple-Samsung dispute continue to flow on. The latest startling revelation touches on Apple and Samsung’s licensing discussions pre-litigation.

In October 2010, 6 months before Apple said “enough is enough” and initiated its lawsuit against Samsung, Apple offered Samsung a licensing deal for its patented technologies. As part of its offer, Apple said it was willing to offer Samsung a royalty rate of $30 per Android smartphone and $40 per Android tablet. Apple also indicated that it would wipe 20% off of its royalty asking price if Samsung was willing to cross license its own patents with Apple.

As part of its presentation, Apple explained: "Samsung chose to embrace and imitate Apple’s iPhone archetype. Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device."
Communications

Submission + - Curiosity Transmits First 360-Degree Panorama From Mars (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "Five days after NASA's Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars, the one-ton robot sent another postcard back to Earth, this one a 360-degree doozy. Curiosity's first panorama, albeit black-and-white, gives Earthlings a great high-quality glimpse at the surface on Mars, specifically within the 96-mile Gale Crater."

Submission + - Huge pumice rock 'island' seen floating in South Pacific (msn.com)

Submitted by ZombieBraintrust
ZombieBraintrust writes: Pumice, the lightweight stone used to smooth skin, is usually found in beauty salons, but on Thursday sailors from New Zealand's Royal Navy found nearly 10,000 square miles of the lava rock bobbing on the surface of the South Pacific Ocean.
Open Source

Submission + - Open source MORPG Stendhal 1.02 released (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by wassersturm
wassersturm writes: Stendhal releases version 1.02 "Overcoming darkness" of the completely open source role playing game. Stendhal 1.02 features new NPCs and quests. Project lead kymara is especially proud of the new amazing light effects in dreamscape and the vampire dungeon, that contribute a lot to the atmosphere. Furtheremore a reworked tutorial will make it easier for new players to find their way around the world of Stendhal.

Submission + - What is the best position to work for long hours?

Submitted by
damitr
damitr writes: "What is the most ergonomic position if you are working with a laptop or a desktop (with or without wireless keyboard and mouse) for long hours at stretch. Is bean bag for sitting with a laptop a good option? What is the better way to use a desktop without causing tennis elbow and backache/neck problems?"
Science

Submission + - Researchers Invent Microparticles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing (gizmocrazed.com)

Submitted by Diggester
Diggester writes: A group of researchers led by Dr. John Kheir, from the Department of Cardiology at Boston Children's Hospital, developed microparticles that quickly oxygenate the bloodstream and allow a person to stay alive for 15 to 30 minutes without drawing a breath.
The concept of keeping a patient alive without breathing is not that new, however other attempts at this almost miraculous medicine have all but failed. The sheer determination to succeed in this endeavor came in 2006, when Dr. Kheir lost young patient after her lungs hemorrhaged during a case of pneumonia. That hemorrhaging led to brain damage and eventually death soon after because the good doctor couldn't was unable to keep her alive long enough to give her a heart-lung machine.
Google

Submission + - Google Improving Search Quality, Lists 86 Changes to Search Algorithm (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Google has announced a list of changes, totaling 86 in numbers, for the month of June and July that it is going to release for its search algorithm most of which are meant to influence the quality of search results. On its Inside Search blog post, Google has listed 57 changes for the month of June, 22 changes for the month of July and 7 other changes. The changes that Google is making include 6 “Page Quality” changes that will try and bring out more high-quality and unique material from trusted source. Changes under project codenamed “Answers” will incorporate detection of natural language and will address things whereby people search for things like “What is the time in India?”, "When is Mother's Day?", "What is $500 in euros?", etc. Google has also worked on how relevant images are being showed in results. Adult content filtering is also a focus in the current list of changes under project codenamed “SafeSearch”.
Australia

Submission + - Australian Government drops Internet plan to spy on public... for now (smh.com.au)

Submitted by CuteSteveJobs
CuteSteveJobs writes: Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has been forced to back down on her government's unpopular plan to force ISPs to store the web history and social networking of all Australians for two years. The plan has been deeply unpopular with the public, with hackers attacking the government's spy agency. Public servants at the spy agency promoting the scheme been scathing of the government saying: "These reforms are urgently needed to deal with a rapidly evolving security environment, but there isn't much appetite within the government for anything that attracts controversy," but a document on the scheme released under the Freedom of Information Act had 90% of it redacted to prevent "premature unnecessary debate." Roxon hasn't dropped the unpopular scheme entirely, but only delayed it until after the next election

Submission + - A simplified internet and communications appliance for seniors (kickstarter.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A Seattle-based startup called Pure Devices are attempting to build a simplified appliance targeted for seniors and the elderly. We are attempting to raise funds via kickstarter. We believe a focussed, targeted and limited device, built on the Raspberry Pi would enable a large frustrated population to connect with simplicity and easy. The frustration of explaining to grandparents and parents how they can video-chat at the tap of a button, or how they can browse safely, led us to this initiative.

We plan to manufacture most of it in the USA.
Science

Submission + - Disney Uses Plants to Make Music (msn.com)

Submitted by
SchrodingerZ
SchrodingerZ writes: "Designers of Disney Research in Pittsburgh Pa, have turned the average household plant into a musical device and remote control. Called the Botanicus Interacticus project, this new program can turn any household plant into touch-sensitive computer system. "The system is built upon capacitive touch sensing — the principle used on touchscreens in smartphones and tablets — but instead of sensing electrical signals at a single frequency, it monitors capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies. It’s called Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing." This works by putting a pulsating electrode into the soil around a plant, which excites the plant, making any touch to the parts of the plant a repayable signal. The signal could be translated to do or mean anything . This could mean soon swatting at your household plant could change the television channel or turn up the volume."
Microsoft

Submission + - Nathan Myhrvold, Do-Gooder

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Perturbed by a GigaOm item which likened him to 'Darth Vader doing some charity work as he completes the Death Star', Intellectual Ventures CEO Nathan Myhrvold talks about the goals of his 'Global Good'program and fires back at critics in an interview with GeekWire's Todd Bishop. The technology industry is a little too obsessed with 'sending little messages to each other and having fun on a social network' for Myhrvold, who hopes to tackle bigger problems like malaria, polio, and HIV with the help of funding from buddy Bill Gates. 'I don’t mean to call Zynga out in a negative way,' says Myhrvold, 'but is Zynga doing God’s work? Is Facebook doing God’s work? Even setting aside what God's work means, I think it’s pretty easy to say, those companies are doing wonderful things, but they are for-profit ventures. It’s either tools or toys for the rich.' BTW, if you're ready to do God's work, IV's looking for a Vice President, Global Good
Politics

Submission + - Arrested Man Sues Under Anti-Slavery Amendment (yahoo.com)

Submitted by OopsIDied
OopsIDied writes: Finbar McGarry is suing the state of Vermont for $11 million after being forced to work washing other inmates' laundry at 25 cents an hour while being held for trial. McGarry claims that prison officers threatened to place him in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day if he refused to work. McGarry was eventually tried, and his charges were dropped.
Science

Submission + - 7,500 square mile floating rock shelf in the Southern Ocean (cnn.com)

Submitted by EdIII
EdIII writes: Sailors from New Zealand's Royal Navy found more than 7,500 square miles of the lava rock bobbing on the surface of the South Pacific Ocean, which is slightly smaller than New Jersey, but more interesting.

It has been initially determined to be from underwater volcanic eruption, possibly from Monowai.

Submission + - Crowd fails to fund how-to book about crowdfunding (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
netbuzz
netbuzz writes: "Talk about painful ironies: Veteran technology writer Glenn Fleishman saw opportunity in proposing to write a how-to book with the backing of $35,000 in Kickstarter funding that would carry the title: “Crowdfunding: a Guide to What Works and Why.” Unfortunately, his solicitation attracted only about $4,000 after 17 days, and, reading the handwriting on the wall, he pulled the plug on the Kickstarter appeal. Undeterred, however, he says he’s gearing up to try again."

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