akerasi - Slashdot User

Submission + - Bitcoin currency surpasses 20 national currencies in value (foxnews.com) 1

Submitted by Velcroman1 on Friday March 29, 2013 @11:45AM

Velcroman1 writes: More than $1 billion dollars worth of bitcoins now circulate on the web – an amount that exceeds the value of the entire currency stock of small countries like Liberia, Bhutan, and 18 other countries. Bitcoin is in high demand right now — each bitcoin currently sells for more than $90 U.S. dollars — which bitcoin insiders say is because of world events that have shaken confidence in government-issued currencies. “Because of what's going on in Cyprus and Europe, people are trying to pull their money out of banks there,” said Tony Gallippi, the CEO “BitPay.com,” which enables businesses to easily accept bitcoins as payment. “So they buy gold, they put it under the mattress, or they buy bitcoin,” Gallippi said.

Submission + - Your Code May Work, But It Still Might Suck (smartbear.com)

Submitted by

Esther Schindler

on Friday March 29, 2013 @11:43AM

Esther Schindler writes: "Has no body ever described your code for its "exceptional beauty," which is how the Doom source code has been described. Wouldn’t you like to learn that someone praised the software you wrote in that manner? In Your Code May Work, But It Still Might Suck, Andy Patrizio looks at the significance of keeping your code clean and making it literature, not gibberish. Because you cannot take the attitude that “No one will see it.”

With, I should mention, some active suggestions, which you may or may not agree with. Such as:
Part of the Doom 3 code "beauty" was its minimal use of comments. The teachers find that comments are often used as compensation for poor code.

When he teaches, Makarowski forces students to use common-sense variable names and common-sense module names. “And I am not a commentator. There seems to be an anti-commenting movement a few pros are on. A few well-placed comments can make a program easy to modify and easy to improve.” Think of the poor schnook taking your place, when you move on to greater glory. "That's why you name variables with common-sense names and use comment codes to place enlightenment on what you have done."
"

Submission + - ZFS hits an important milestone, version 0.6.1 released (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy on Friday March 29, 2013 @10:56AM

sfcrazy writes: ZFS on Linux has reached what Brian Behlendorf calls an important milestone with the official 0.6.1 release. Version 0.6.1 not only brings the usual bug fixes but also introduces a new property called 'snapdev'. Brian explains, "The 'snapdev' property was introduced to control the visibility of zvol snapshot devices and may be set to either 'visible' or 'hidden'. When set to 'hidden', which is the default, zvol snapshot devices will not be created under /dev/. To gain access to these devices the property must be set to 'visible' This behavior is analogous to the existing 'snapdir' property.

Submission + - A Computer Inside a Cell (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit on Friday March 29, 2013 @10:42AM

sciencehabit writes: For the first time, synthetic biologists have created a genetic device that mimics one of the widgets on which all of modern electronics is based, the three-terminal transistor. Like standard electronic transistors, the new biological transistor is expected to work in many different biological circuit designs. Together with other advances in crafting genetic circuitry, that should make it easier for scientists to program cells to do everything from monitor pollutants and the progression of disease to turning on the output of medicines and biofuels.

Submission + - PostgreSQL Repositories Locked Down as Security Vulnerability Gets Fixed (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec on Friday March 29, 2013 @10:35AM

hypnosec writes: PostgreSQL database has a ‘sufficiently bad’ security vulnerability because of which its developers have announced that they have locked down access to database’s repositories while they are fixing the issue. Developers have also revealed that the lock down is only temporary and during this phase committers will have access to the repositories. The reason for the lockdown is to ensure that malicious users don’t work out an exploit by monitoring the changes to the source code while it is being implemented to fix the flaw. The lockdown is definitely an exceptional one and the core committee has announced that they "apologize in advance for any disruption" adding that "It seems necessary in this instance, however".

Laser Fusion's Brightest Hope 115

Posted by samzenpus on Friday March 29, 2013 @05:36AM from the coming-together dept.

First time accepted submitter szotz writes "The National Ignition Facility has one foot in national defense and another in the future of commercial energy generation. That makes understanding the basic justification for the facility, which boasts the world's most powerful laser system, more than a little tricky. This article in IEEE Spectrum looks at NIF's recent missed deadline, what scientists think it will take for the facility to live up to its middle name, and all of the controversy and uncertainty that comes from a project that aspires to jumpstart commercial fusion energy but that also does a lot of classified work. NIF's national defense work is often glossed over in the press. This article pulls in some more detail and, in some cases, some very serious criticism. Physicist Richard Garwin, one of the designers of the hydrogen bomb, doesn't mince words. When it comes to nuclear weapons, he says in the article, '[NIF] has no relevance at all to primaries. It doesn't do a good job of mimicking secondaries...it validates the codes in regions that are not relevant to nuclear weapons.'"

Roku Finally Gets a 2D Menu System 80

Posted by samzenpus on Friday March 29, 2013 @04:06AM from the new-look dept.

DeviceGuru writes "Many of us have griped for years about Roku's retro one-dimensional user interface. Finally, in conjunction with the release of the new Roku 3 model, the Linux-based media streaming player is getting a two-dimensional facelift, making it quicker and easier to access favorite channels and find new ones. Current Roku users, who will now begin suffering from UI-envy, will be glad to learn that Roku plans to push out a firmware update next month to many earlier models, including the Roku LT, Roku HD (model 2500R), Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD, Roku 2 XS, and Roku Streaming Stick. A short demo of the new 2D Roku menu system is available in this YouTube video."

Gartner Says 3D Printers Will Cost Less Than $2,000 By 2016 170

Posted by samzenpus on Friday March 29, 2013 @12:25AM from the get-you-one dept.

colinneagle writes "Widespread adoption of 3D printing technology may not be that far away, according to a Gartner report predicting that enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016. 3D printers are already in use among many businesses, from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to consumers goods, and have generated a diverse set of use cases. As a result, the capabilities of the technology have evolved to meet customer needs, and will continue to develop to target those in additional markets, Gartner says."

Ship Anchor, Not Sabotaging Divers, Possibly Responsible For Outage 43

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 28, 2013 @10:01PM from the who's-to-blame dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "This week, Egypt caught three men in the process of severing an undersea fiber-optic cable. But Telecom Egypt executive manager Mohammed el-Nawawi told the private TV network CBC that the reason for the region's slowdowns was not the alleged saboteurs — it was damage previously caused by a ship. On March 22, cable provider Seacom reported a cut in its Mediterranean cable connecting Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Asia to Europe; it later suggested that the most likely cause of the incident was a ship anchor, and that traffic was being routed around the cut, through other providers. But repairs to the cable took longer than expected, with the Seacom CEO announcing March 23 that the physical capability to connect additional capacity to services in Europe was "neither adequate nor stable enough," and that it was competing with other providers. The repairs continued through March 27, after faults were found on the restoration system; that same day, Seacom denied that the outage could have been the work of the Egyptian divers, but said that the true cause won't be known for weeks. 'We think it is unlikely that the damage to our system was caused by sabotage,' the CEO wrote in a statement. 'The reasons for this are the specific location, distance from shore, much greater depth, the presence of a large anchored vessel on the fault site which appears to be the cause of the damage and other characteristics of the event.'"

United States Begins Flying Stealth Bombers Over South Korea 567

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 28, 2013 @09:01PM from the nice-day-for-a-flight dept.

skade88 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the United States has started flying B-2 stealth bomber runs over South Korea as a show of force to North Korea. The bombers flew 6,500 miles to bomb a South Korean island with mock explosives. Earlier this month the U.S. Military ran mock B-52 bombing runs over the same South Korean island. The U.S. military says it shows that it can execute precision bombing runs at will with little notice needed. The U.S. also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting its allies in the region. The North Koreans have been making threats to turn South Korea into a sea of fire. North Korea has also made threats claiming they will nuke the United States' mainland."

GNOME 3.8 Released Featuring New "Classic" Mode 267

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday March 28, 2013 @06:32PM from the extend-freely dept.

Hot on the heels of the Gtk+ 3.8 release comes GNOME 3.8. There are a few general UI improvements, but the highlight for many is the new Classic mode that replaces fallback. Instead of using code based on the old GNOME panel, Classic emulates the feel of GNOME 2 through Shell extensions (just like Linux Mint's Cinnamon interface). From the release notes: "Classic mode is a new feature for those people who prefer a more traditional desktop experience. Built entirely from GNOME 3 technologies, it adds a number of features such as an application menu, a places menu and a window switcher along the bottom of the screen. Each of these features can be used individually or in combination with other GNOME extensions."

Submission + - 3D printers will cost less than $2,000 by 2016, Gartner says (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle on Thursday March 28, 2013 @04:27PM

colinneagle writes: Widespread adoption of 3D printing technology may not be that far away, according to a Gartner report predicting that enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016. 3D printers are already in use among many businesses, from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to consumers goods, and have generated a diverse set of use cases. As a result, the capabilities of the technology have evolved to meet customer needs, and will continue to develop to target those in additional markets, Gartner says.

Comparing the impact of 3D printing to that of ecommerce, Gartner says the technology holds the potential to fundamentally change how business transactions are conducted. Businesses can create physical prototypes and architectural models much easier, and in some cases could enable customers to print the final purchased product from their own 3D printers, Gartner says. This potential will drive the cost of 3D printers down as businesses look to take advantage of new business models, Gartner says.

Submission + - Ship Anchor, Not Sabotaging Divers, Possibly Responsible for Outage (slashdot.org)

Submitted by

Nerval's Lobster

on Thursday March 28, 2013 @01:37PM

Nerval's Lobster writes: "This week, Egypt caught three men in the process of severing an undersea fiber-optic cable. But Telecom Egypt executive manager Mohammed el-Nawawi told the private TV network CBC that the reason for the region’s slowdowns was not the alleged saboteurs — it was damage previously caused by a ship. On March 22, cable provider Seacom reported a cut in its Mediterranean cable connecting Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Asia to Europe; it later suggested that the most likely cause of the incident was a ship anchor, and that traffic was being routed around the cut, through other providers. But repairs to the cable took longer than expected, with the Seacom CEO announcing March 23 that the physical capability to connect additional capacity to services in Europe was “neither adequate nor stable enough,” and that it was competing with other providers. The repairs continued through March 27, after faults were found on the restoration system; that same day, Seacom denied that the outage could have been the work of the Egyptian divers, but said that the true cause won’t be known for weeks. “We think it is unlikely that the damage to our system was caused by sabotage,” the CEO wrote in a statement. “The reasons for this are the specific location, distance from shore, much greater depth, the presence of a large anchored vessel on the fault site which appears to be the cause of the damage and other characteristics of the event.”"

Submission + - The Open Source Solution for Cross Platform Development (gstreamer.com)

Submitted by

BlackSwansMedia

on Monday March 25, 2013 @09:58AM

BlackSwansMedia writes: "According to a study from Visionmobile, AT&T, and Nokia 74% of developers use 2+ platforms concurrently. The Android-iOS duopoly his increased the demand for a multiscreen scalable solution.

Nowadays, the average time required to build and application is 4 months. scalability prolongs apps launch to market while increasing costs significantly. Although the developer community has found quick fix solutions in the form of HTML5, graphical tool kits, APIs, and Plug-ins- these are not the best approaches long term.

The open source GStreamer project provides a framework to scale applications cross-platfrom-- reducing production time and helping launch apps to market faster. At 10 years young GStreamer has expanded its ' digital footprint powering the latest set-top-box designs while running Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Android with iOS GA on the way. Using GStreamer developers can now push applications cross platform quicker by adding multimedia services such as video, audio, and streaming capabilities all at once.

Check out more at www.gstreamer.com."

Submission + - FAA pushed to review ban on E-readers during takeoff/landing (nytimes.com)

Submitted by sfm on Monday March 25, 2013 @09:39AM

sfm writes: Ever tangle with a grumpy flight attendent over turning off your Kindle Fire before takeoff? This may change if the FAA actually reviews thier policy for these devices. The NYT article http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/disruptions-f-a-a-may-loosen-curbs-on-fliers-use-of-electronics indicates the FAA is under extremem pressure to either change the rules or give a good reason to keep them in place.

Slashdot Top Deals