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Submission + - Nokia to Cut 10,000 Jobs and Close 3 Facilities

Submitted by parallel_prankster
parallel_prankster writes: NY Times reports that Nokia said on Thursday that it would slash 10,000 jobs, or 19 percent of its work force, by the end of 2013 as part of an emergency overhaul that includes closing research centers and a factory in Germany, Canada and Finland, and the departures of three senior executives.

The company also warned investors that its loss was likely to be greater in the second quarter, which ends June 30, than it was in the first, and that the negative effects of its transition to a Windows-based smartphone business would continue into the third quarter.Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, posted a loss of €929 million, or $1.2 billion, in the first quarter as sales plummeted 29 percent. Once the undisputed global leader in the mobile phone business, Nokia has been outcompeted by Apple, as well as by Samsung and other makers of handsets running Google’s Android operating system.
Windows

Submission + - Adjusting your PC set-up to cope with sudden sight loss (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "PC Pro's Davey Winder has written a first-hand account of how he overhauled his PC workstation to cope with a sudden deterioration of his eyesight. Winder contracted wet macular degeneration, a progressive disease that strikes very quickly, and turns items in the field of vision into a grey smudge.

He explains how he continued his work as a journalist by changing his word processor, swapping his desktop monitor for a touchscreen, and by replacing his keyboard with an Accuratus Monster keyboard (or Big Freaky Yellow Keyboard, as he's renamed it).

He also explains why he had to swap his favourite Chrome browser for Internet Explorer, and how a £3.99 iPhone app saved him from spending hundreds of pounds on a dedicated hardware reader."
Australia

Submission + - Aussie telco lays new fibre for microsecond trading boost (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by schliz
schliz writes: Australian data centre and telecommunications provider Vocus has installed two new underwater fibre links across the Sydney Harbour in a bid for the lowest connection latency between the city's financial district and the Australian Securities Exchange's recently opened data centre, north of the CBD. The project involved 1.6 kilometres of custom, 312-core single-mode optical fibre cable, and was expected to deliver a route that is 400 metres shorter than existing links. RTFA for pretty installation photos.
Android

Submission + - Android not ready for multi-core? (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by dgharmon
dgharmon writes: 'CHIPMAKER Intel has claimed that system-on-chip (SoC) vendors have not done enough to optimise Android for multi-core processors`

"The way it's implemented right now, Android does not make as effective use of multiple cores as it could, and I think — frankly — some of this work could be done by the vendors who create the SoCs, but they just haven't bothered to do it."

"Right now the lack of software effort by some of the folks who have done their hardware implementation is a bigger disadvantage than anything else,"
Hardware

Submission + - Australia's first digital computer (pcauthority.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Sometimes, it's the oldest machines that are the most fascinating. PC & Tech Authority has posted this gallery of photos of the first automatic electronic stored-program computer in Australia and one of the first in the world — CSIRAC. The photos show a machine massive in size — the main system comprised nine steel cabinets containing 2000 valves that weighed over 7000kg. Using valve technology and World War II radar systems as a starting point, the machine was used for various purposes including weather forecasting, forestry, loan repayments and building design. It boasted a 1000Hz memory clock and a serial bus that transferred one bit at a time. The system generated so much heat, cool air needed to be blown up through the cabinets from the basement below. In addition to being Australia's first computer, it is also said to have been the first computer to play digital music anywhere in the world. When CSIRAC was turned off for the last time, a witness described it as "like something alive dying".
Linux

Submission + - Linux And Foss Are Extremely Selfish: It's OK To Be Selfish (muktware.com) 1

Submitted by
sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: "Renowned free software journalist Carla Schroder did not like the use of term selfishness and wrote an interesting piece. She took it as an insult of the thousands of free software developers. She wrote, "Let's stop insulting the many thousands of contributors to Linux and FOSS by calling them selfish, because that it is untrue and unfair. How about a bit of well-deserved praise and appreciation instead?"

A counter to her opinion is published here which clearly states, I think it's totally fine to be selfish, what is important is the motive behind that selfishness. In fact all of us are selfish and no matter how 'selfless' our deeds are they are driven by selfishness."
Opera

Submission + - Opera 12 out without hardware acceleration (cnet.com)

Submitted by battleforevermore
battleforevermore writes: Sad but true, The latest opera still has "Experimental hardware acceleration WebGL support" , while their focus is on speed. They are " still working on that competitors have moved forward with is hardware acceleration, which is when the browser uses the graphics processor to render animations faster and more smoothly."

Submission + - Chumby Industries out of business (chumby.com)

Submitted by
kriston
kriston writes: "Chumby Industries informally announces via Facebook and their blog that they re out of business.

Duane has taken possession of remaining stock and is selling it off.

Very sad."
Australia

Submission + - Online retailer adds IE7 tax (kogan.com)

Submitted by benz001
benz001 writes: Australian online retailer Kogan today introduced a surcharge on anyone checking out using internet explorer 7 "anyone buying from the site who uses IE7 will be lumped with a 6.8% surcharge — that's 0.1% for each month IE7 has been on the market".

Strangely enough IE6 users don't get charged any extra, but perhaps he just feels sorry for them.
AMD

Submission + - Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 All Get Benchmarked! (tomshardware.com)

Submitted by
zackmerles
zackmerles writes: "Tom's Hardware gets very early access to three of AMD's unreleased Trinity-based desktop APUs. Although mobile Trinity APUs should be shipping soon and OEMs have access to desktop chips for the upcoming back-to-school season, enthusiasts will have to wait until Q3 or maybe even Q4 to get their hands on Trinity and the requisite Socket FM2 motherboards.

The follow-up to the Llano APUs that debuted last summer, Trinity carries the long-awaited Piledriver CPU architecture which will be in the next generation of FX chips. Trinity also boasts the VLIW4 graphics architecture from Radeon HD 6900-series GPUs, whereas Llano used Radeon HD 6800-class VLIW5 graphics.

The three APUs tested are the A10-5800K @ 3.8 GHz (AMD's soon-to-be flagship APU) as well as the A8-5600K and A6-5400K, each @ 3.6 GHz. Both the A10 and A8 are quad-core parts with a 100 W TDP, while the A6 is a dual-core chip with a 65 W TDP. Overall, the benchmarks show Trinity only holding a modest gain over Llano and Bulldozer (AMD FX CPU) in general processing power, but an approximately 25% increase over Llano in graphics performance."
Microsoft

Submission + - Aussie retailer slaps IE7 users with tax (delimiter.com.au)

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Bad news, Internet Explorer users. If you're using version 7 of IE and want to buy goods from major Australian online retailer Kogan, you'll be paying 6.8 percent more than those using alternative browsers or IE8 or IE9. Kogan this week said it was fed up with the high costs of keeping its web site compatible with IE7, so it's passing the cost onto those who use the browser. Sounds like it's about time to switch ;)
The Internet

Submission + - Australian online retailer is 'taxing' IE7 users

Submitted by Dexter Herbivore
Dexter Herbivore writes: Australian online retailer Kogan has announced that it will charge 6.8% extra to users of IE7, due to the amount of time required to make pages appear correctly in IE7.

CEO and founder Ruslan Kogan said the business had been spending too much time and money making the site compatible with IE7.

"Internet Explorer 7 has long since passed its use-by date," Mr Kogan said. "It’s a constant source of frustration for our web guys and we’re sick of burning cash on a browser that hit the market nearly six years ago. It goes against everything Kogan stands for."
Windows

Submission + - Why is Window Phone getting such a beating? (blogs.com)

Submitted by occasional_dabbler
occasional_dabbler writes: Reviews by 'commentators' such as the link predict certain doom for both Nokia and Microsoft on the basis of the OS being a failure, yet whenever the Lumia handsets are reviewed in the mainstream press they are often highly praised. Windows phone is an immature OS, certainly, but it does pretty much everything you need in a smartphone, is getting better with each update and it is beautiful. I have a Lumia 800 and now I'm used to how it and the WP OS works I find it a painful process to go back to an Android or iPhone for some obscure app not yet supported on WP.
WP gave me the same feeling I got when I bought my first iBook, fired up OSX 10.1 and realised I had just been shifted up a decade.
So why so serious? What do slashdotters who have really tried WP think of it?

Submission + - How to sell a broken Prius (motortrend.com)

Submitted by
aisnota
aisnota writes: "Ok, where on the Internet is best to sell a Prius for an engineer, motorhead to fix with their sweat equity or a more hardcore power train fascinated individual that wants a motor generator, the manuals and so forth of a 2002 Prius. Ok, my circumstance is that a job to lower pay scale forces me to forego this project with spouse pressures plus economics. Where do the hardcore Prius engineer types hangout that want this kind of potential at low cost? Since it is potentially runable, but the need to sell is motivated, help me find a win-win situation here.

It would really be cool if this were used to either help another Prius fan fix theirs or for a plug-in Hybrid or educational/demonstator experimental science zoned project.

It should be low enough cost for most of those into the topic to consider. Plus please make sure these are people that appreciate the electrical system as well. They should appreciate amperage and so forth.

photobucket.com/fixableprius"

Submission + - Blogging For Business (empowernetwork.com)

Submitted by
Guy Swinburne
Guy Swinburne writes: "These are terms that you must be familiar with, as are other online business owners. A blogger is someone, who literally writes about anything and everything under the sun.whether they are blogging for business or just for pleasure. The writings are meant for expression of thoughts and opinions; so, any topic or subject can be taken up for blogging. Many use this concept to create an online diary or journal, to record personal life experiences. They make it public, since they wish others to read and learn from them. The website or platform where they post their writings, is referred to as a blog or mini website. We do not call the published material, articles, but posts. Thanks to advanced technology, there is even space provided for readers to comment upon these posts, or even add value to them by posting fresh content."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's Penis Song Faces Stiff Criticism at NDC (pingzine.com)

Submitted by Deekin_Scalesinger
Deekin_Scalesinger writes: “I got the skills to impress, I’m a computer genius. The words “Micro” and “Soft” don’t apply to my penis,” beamed the vocals of a bubblegum dance song during an entertainment break at the annual conference last week. Meanwhile, the lyrics were flashed karaoke style in the front of the stage for the crowd to sing along to as dancers moved to the beat erratically.

The performance itself was given by the dancing Windows Azure girls.

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