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Microsoft

Submission + - MS releases new concurrent programming language (microsoft.com)

Submitted by zokier
zokier writes: Microsoft has released new programming language Axum based on the actor model. It's meant to ease development of concurrent applications and thus making better use of multi-core processors. Axum does not have capabilities to define classes, but as it runs on the .NET platform, Axum can use classes made with eg. C#. Axum is in an incubation phase of development and needs feedback from developers.
Communications

Submission + - Time for Voice-Mail to Throw in the Towel? 1

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Slate's Farhad Manjoo feels the end of voice-mail is nigh, and it won't be missed. Since March, Farhad's been using Google Voice to transcribe his voice-mail messages into text that he gets as skimmable e-mail. No more listening to at least a bit of each voice-mail message, hearing the same instructional prompts between each, and worrying about whether it's 9-to-archive and 7-to-skip (or vice versa). Goodbye and good riddance, says Manjoo, to an 'absurdly backward mode of human-computer interaction' that he half-jokes must violate the Geneva Conventions."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Apple to Buy EA? 1

Submitted by yerktoader
yerktoader writes: There are rumors abound that Apple might buy EA, but some interesting counterpoints abound. Film at eleven(via Yahoo):

File this one firmly under "unconfirmed," but it's nevertheless a tantalizing rumor.

According to Fast Money's Guy Adami, via TheStreet.com, Apple is "eyeing Electronic Arts as a takeover target." EA's currently the second-largest games publisher in the world and owner of the smash hit NFL-licensed series of football games. Could we be facing the possibility of a Mac-only iMadden?

Well, probably not. Apple has indeed been bolstering its games know-how, hiring a major Xbox strategist away from Microsoft in recent weeks. And EA is no stranger to Apple platforms: in the last year it's brought several of its major franchises to the iPhone, including Sim City, Tiger Woods, and Spore, with considerable success. But it's a far cry from there to a takeover, and that's putting it mildly.

Specialist video games analyst Michael Pachter seems to agree. Speaking to Gamasutra, he pointed out that if Apple was looking to make some entertainment acquisitions, it could buy Warner Music — which controls 20% of the music industry — for roughly half of EA's estimated price. However, the doubt didn't stop EA's stock from bucking the market trend to climb 1.63% at closing.
Mars

Submission + - Google Releases Earth 5.0 1

Submitted by trianglecat
trianglecat writes: Today is Pi Day (3.14) and Albert Einstein's 130th birthday. It is also the 174th birthday of Giovanni Schiaparelli who famously observed structures on Mars which he called "canali" or channels. This was later mistranslated as "canals" leading to speculation about life on Mars — most famously supported by astronomer Percival Lowell.
To celebrate, Google Earth has released 5.0 which has a number of new features for Mars including:

-Historical Maps — View antique maps by Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, Nathaniel Green, and Antoniadi overlaid on the Mars surface

-'Live from Mars' — View the most recently captured images from NASA's THEMIS camera on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, directly on the Mars in Google Earth surface. A continuous stream of fresh satellite imagery of Mars has never been made available to the general public faster than this.

-Guided Tours — Narrated tours of Mars from Public Radio's Ira Flatow and Bill Nye, the Science Guy
Music

Submission + - Sonos: 'We're rooting for Spotify' (cnet.co.uk)

Submitted by
CNETNate
CNETNate writes: "Spotify, the free music streaming start-up gaining massive popularity in Europe and Scandinavia, has a new would-be evangelist: Sonos. "We're rooting for them," said Mieko Kusano, Director of Product Management at Sonos in a meeting with CNET UK. "They are one of the companies we're interested in working with." It'd be an awesome move. Sonos already supports unlimited streaming from Napster, but for a cost. Imagine a Sonos music system with unlimited music, but for free. That's something Apple can't currently threaten with its iTunes/AirPort Express/iPhone Remote app ecosystem, and nor can the Squeezebox. But Spotify's ad-supported streaming service can."
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - The Realities of Selling on the App Store (streamingcolour.com)

Submitted by
Owen Goss
Owen Goss writes: "Everyone is familiar with the story of the iPhone developer who spends two weeks of spare time making a game that goes on to make them hundreds of thousands of dollars. The reality is that with the App Store now hosting over 25,000 apps, the competition is fierce. While it's true that a few select apps are making developers rich, the reality is that most apps don't make a lot of money. Owen Goss, from Streaming Colour Studios, took a hard look at the first 24 days of sales data for their first game, Dapple, and posted about it on the company blog. The post reflects what is more likely the norm for developers just getting into the iPhone development game."
Quickies

Submission + - Chimp demonstrates weapon stockpiling

Submitted by SputnikPanic
SputnikPanic writes: According to a Washington Post article, a scientific paper being published today describes a chimpanzee that demonstrates a rather interesting capacity: the forethought to stockpile stones to be used as weapons. The chimp, which is at a zoo in Sweden, collects rocks prior to the zoo's opening so that he may have them ready for use later in the day when he becomes agitated by visitors. "Many animals plan. But this is planning for a future psychological state. That is what is so advanced," says Mathias Osvath, a researcher and author of the paper. In another example of sophisticated behavior, "About a year after his storing and throwing began ... the animal began tapping stones against the concrete artificial rocks, listening for a hollow sound that indicates a fissure. He would then hit the concrete harder until a piece chipped off, occasionally then hitting it again to make it fist-sized."
Security

Submission + - Password cracked for secret NATO document (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by
thomasdn
thomasdn writes: "The encryption password for a secret document relating to the war in Afghanistan has been cracked. The password is revealed on the Wikileaks website. 'NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative' is the title of the secret document that instructs NATO representatives on which 'story' to give journalists — and which story to avoid giving. The document could be found in encrypted form on the Pentagon Central Command (CENTCOM) website. However, it seems that the entire site has been taken offline in response to the revelation of the password. Parts of the site can still be seen in Google's cache."

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