Arathon - Slashdot User

Submission + - Don't Like DeadLocks? Kill the Threads (blogspot.com)

Submitted by on Tuesday September 18, 2007 @01:06PM

An anonymous reader writes: Don't like deadlocks, data races and traffic accidents? Kill the threads. If we want to get rid of all the nasty problems that plague concurrent software, then we must get rid of the threads. Multithreading is the second worst thing to have happened to computing. The worst is the algorithm proper, the mother of all threads and of everything that is bad with software. We have become addicted to a hopelessly flawed paradigm. Our multithreaded software systems are full of bugs (hidden or otherwise) and they are hard to program. But the problem is far more serious than this. The algorithmic model is the reason that we can't prevent over 43,000 people from dying in traffic accidents every year. And that's just the US statistics. There is a better way to do things. Let me explain.

Submission + - First Open Source ATI Drivers Now Available (opensuse.org)

Submitted by

apokryphos

on Tuesday September 18, 2007 @12:29PM

apokryphos writes: "After AMD partnered with SUSE to release open source specs, they have now made some alpha ATI Radeon 5xxx/6xxx drivers available, supporting initial mode settings. The next steps are adding support for more hardware, RandR 1.2 support, video overlay support and 2D acceleration. The source and packages for Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE and SLED are available in the openSUSE Build Service, with Debian and Ubuntu packages following shortly."

Submission + - OLPC cost rises from $100 to $188 per laptop (cnn.com)

Submitted by

Arathon

on Friday September 14, 2007 @09:53PM

Arathon writes: "Turns out that the amazing "$100" laptop designed by the "One Laptop Per Child" program isn't going to make it out the door for that price. CNN reports that the laptops are now expected to cost $188 apiece when they come out later this fall. This is expected to make the program's appeal potentially much smaller, since the developers were relying on the mind-bogglingly low-price to hook governments into the concept of buying laptops for their people. OLPC's spokesman guarantees that the price won't rise further, to "above $190". The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation.
Is this the end of the OLPC's newsworthiness, or should we continue to hope that it will make the difference that so many have said it will?"

Submission + - Saltwater for fuel

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @12:18AM

An anonymous reader writes: RIE, Pa. — An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel. Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations. The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said. The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said. "This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills." Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding. The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen — which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery. "We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge. http://www.post-gazette.com/

Submission + - iPhone Unlocked! (unlock.no)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @12:13AM

An anonymous reader writes: Only 74 days after its release, the iPhone has been unlocked, with a free, software-only solution from the iPhone Dev Team! Bravo Zulu — Job well done. Gentlemen, start your terminals!

Submission + - hydrogen energy from salt water (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by spatz noogle on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @12:12AM

spatz noogle writes: John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Submission + - Free Hackers Defeat Commercial iPhone Unlocking (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @11:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: Gizmodo had exclusive live coverage on the first free iPhone Software Unlock. They broke the news of the first free unlock at 7:10PM EST, when the iPhone Dev Team tried it for the first time. This marks the beginning of the end for iPhone Sim Free, the company who used the hackers' tools to develop their own commercial unlock. Their software was in the market for barely 24 hours before the free unlock hit. Absolutely beautiful and bitch-slapping poetic justice. The software and the source code is available directly from the article and other mirrors.

Submission + - ISO rejects OOXML (computerworld.com)

Submitted by jcatcw on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @10:31AM

jcatcw writes: Microsoft's Office Open XML was rejected by the International Standards Organization today. To be accepted as a standard, a proposal must pass two hurdles, and this one failed both of them. Now, Microsoft will have to respond to negative comments and hope it can get a positive vote in early 2008. In the meantime, MS may be losing revenue to open source competitors, according to Computerworld.

Submission + - Windows Media Player, still on top (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

Teominator

on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @08:53AM

Teominator writes: "The last BlogAboutTheWeb poll shows that Windows Media Player is still the most used media player out there."

Submission + - Microsoft Fails to Gain Approval for OOXML (consortiuminfo.org)

Submitted by

Andy Updegrove

on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @08:44AM

Andy Updegrove writes: "Microsoft's bid to gain approval for its OOXML specification in the first round of global voting has failed. I now have official confirmation of that fact, and expect to have final numbers soon. In the meantime, Microsoft has just issued a press release, putting the best spin it can on the results. That release is titled "Strong Global Support for Open XML as It Enters Final Phase of ISO Standards Process."The release focuses on the degree of participation (51 National Bodies), and level of "support" (74% of all qualified votes, without differentiating between P and O countries).It also refers to this level of support at "this preliminary stage of the process," and compares it "favorably" to the number of countries participating in the votes to consider ODF and PDF, but without mentioning percentage levels of support, which would include Observer as well as Participating member votes.The drama will now switch to the long run up to the February 25 — 29 Ballot Resolution Meeting, and to how much Microsoft will be willing to change in OOXML in order to convert a sufficient number of no votes to yeses, in order to finally gain approval, if it can, for its beleaguered specification."

Submission + - My Afternoon in Wal-Mart's MP3 Download Hell (medialoper.com) 2

Submitted by

Lopy

on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @02:01PM

Lopy writes: "Everything about the process of buying DRM-free music from Wal-Mart is wrong. At one point they actually asked me to reveal my "baby's due date"! And that wasn't even the absurd part. I had to install support for Windows WMA protected music files just to download an MP3. The whole sad story is detailed on Medialoper.com"

Submission + - Bioshock PC is defective by design 4

Submitted by ringbarer on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @01:41PM

ringbarer writes: Kotaku reports that the long-awaited spiritual successor to System Shock has a few shocks for any PC gamers who want to buy it. Customers are discovering that the 'SecuROM' anti-copying technology will only permit them to install the game twice, after which the DVD becomes nothing more than an expensive coaster. As PC Gamers are renowned for rebuilding and reinstalling their machines on a regular basis, it is clear that this will only hurt legitimate players.

Submission + - OEM won't support own Vista release (infoworld.com) 2

Submitted by Jim Johnson on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @11:31AM

Jim Johnson writes: Averatec sells PCs with Vista Express Upgrade, then claims purchaser violates warranty, then lies to California Attorney General that they support Vista on these PCs.

Submission + - BitTorrent Closes Source Code (slyck.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08, 2007 @01:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: "There are two issues people need to come to grips with," BitTorrent CEO Ashwin Narvin told Slyck.com. "Developers who produce open source products will often have their product repackaged and redistributed by businesses with malicious intent. They repackage the software with spyware or charge for the product. We often receive phone calls from people who complain they have paid for the BitTorrent client." As for the protocol itself, that too is closed, but is available by obtaining an SDK license.

Submission + - How to turn a Mini Maglite into a powerful laser (lifehacker.com) 3

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Wednesday August 08, 2007 @11:20AM

Lucas123 writes: "Using the laser from a DVD burner, this instructional video shows you how to create a hand-held laser that is powerful enough to light a match and pop a balloon. There's some soldering involved and the Maglite's bulb housing needs to be drilled out to fit the new laser diode, but with some basic skill, most people could do this. Just plain cool."

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