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Submission + - How DraStic (DS Emulator for low-power ARM devices) was developped (pandoralive.info)

Submitted by ekianjo
ekianjo writes: This is an article based on an interview with Exophase (who previously developed gPSP, the famous GBA emulator for PSP) about his latest production: DraStic, a Nintendo DS Emulator working on Open Pandora (an open mini-computer running Linux, based on ARM hardware). It's impressive at many levels since noone thought this would be feasible on such a device until he released the first beta. In the articles he comes back on the development process, the problems with the DS hardware and further optimizations he is considering to reach full speed emulation for all games in the future.

Submission + - 'Focus Aware Marketing' Startup Helped Identify The Boston Bombers (securityledger.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: There was lots of buzz this week about how Redditors and 4Chan were crowdsourcing the identity of the Boston Marathon bombers. In the end though, those efforts didn't amount to much. Sure, the collective eyeballing and Google dorking of the Internet masses yielded some clues — once images of the bombers had been released. Folks identified the brand of clothing worn by the suspects, as well as new and unseen photos of the two at the scene of the bombing.

Mostly, though, they sowed chaos and confusion, accelerating the spread of inaccurate information and fingering innocent spectators as possible bombers. None of the “suspects” singled out by crowdsourced analysis as “suspicious” are believed to have played a role in the attack.

So how did authorities pick out the two bombers to begin with? That was accomplished, in no small part, with technology by the startup firm CrowdOptic (http://crowdoptic.com), a purveyor of what it describes as “focus-based services.”

CrowdOptic's software correlates geospatial and compass data from smart devices and combine that with photos and other metadata (i.e.photo EXIF information) associated with images. Built in analytics then use triangulation and other algorithms to identify “points of focus” in a crowd.
“Send me 100k images of the Super Bowl and in 1 second (of) server time I can send you the picture/s containing (for example) the halftime show wardrobe malfunction representing the most views,” CEO Jon Fisher told The Security Ledger back in October.

With the Boston bombings, CrowdOptic’s technology played a key role in helping authorities to sift through the photo evidence and metadata collected from the bombing scene. (http://technorati.com/technology/article/crowdsourcing-approach-leads-to-arrest-of/) In that situation, the bombs’ locations acted as a magnet for all other photos containing bomb location in the photographs of the area before and after the explosions. CrowdOptic’s technology was used to piece together that visual information and give investigators a time lapse not just of the scene, but of people who could have captured an image of the points of interest – even from some distance. That’s information that wouldn’t show up just by collecting geospatial data of those around the bombing site at the time of the blast. That, in turn, quickly revealed the figures of the alleged bombers: Dzhokhor A. Tsarnaev, 19 and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.

Submission + - Amazon nears debut of original TV shows (indystar.com)

Submitted by bakerharis
bakerharis writes: Amazon’s foray into TV production is unique in the way it saves money. Every spring, traditional TV networks like ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox order dozens of pilots and show them to focus groups. Executives pick just a handful to make into series. Then, they commission 13 episodes of each promising show, with each one potentially costing a few million dollars. Many episodes won’t ever air if the first few don’t attract big audiences.

Comment Re:You know... (Score 1) 351

by ron-l-j (#43501753) Attached to: Google Gets Consumer Service Ultimatum From German Consumer Groups
That is what I mean by not free, but I do not see anything of benefit from Google supporting a few million people that need the equivalent of "Where did my desktop shortcut's go? Now I cannot use my computer." questions answered. In your road analogy the road is paid with tax dollars. Which equates to Google's road being paid with free content. Such as Google plus profiles, and youtube channels that drive the page views for advertising. Gmail is constantly loading text ads when you are checking your mail.

Submission + - Gunfire at MIT's Stata Center, Officer Dead 13

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Earlier tonight, The Tech broke news that gunshots were reported at MIT near 32 Vassar Street (the Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences), and one officer was shot and taken to Mass General Hospital. MIT's Emergency Information page also reports that injuries have been reported. From the midnight update, 'Police are sweeping the campus at this time, please continue to stay indoors and remain inside until further notice.' Sadly, CNN is now reporting that the university police officer has died. Look for updates on Twitter.

Comment Good place for web UI, and designdocs. (Score 1) 1

by ron-l-j (#43459423) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Any examples of a proper website plan/spec. document?
I built web pages for a few years, but I did not get into the usability, and design side until years later when working for an e-commerce business. What I have found is the page has to be attractive, and fast. No one will sit around waiting for you page to load. A quick check on Google Analytics will show you where your people are leaving, and giving you a reason why. The best source I have found for UI in an easy to read, and informative, reasoned content are the smashing magazine books, one and two. These books are pulled from authors over the course of the magazine's history. They are full color, and explain design and usability in an easy to understand and example based approach.

Comment Asking for permission to lul you into an agreement (Score 1) 2

The source article says "I don't think Google is doing anything wrong here. These units were made available under a special programe where only a few were able to gain early access to the device". So who is to stop google to from continuing the tos? The author is wording the story to read that it is OK for google to take advantage of people with this predatory tos contract, and is making the case that it is special. I would like to say no it is not special, and it violates the first sale doctrine. I would however feel that if the product is severely discounted, and labeled beta, that it would qualify for the authors label of special.

Submission + - Free Software Webmailer Roundcube Saved By Commercial Investment (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today Roundcube 0.9 was released. Three years ago, the main developer thought about stepping down. Then, a commercial Free Software company came around and hired him to do exactly what he was doing in his spare time. This company is now offering services and support around the popular webmailer. Can this Open Source busines model work?

Comment Let us run some numbers. (Score 0) 116

by ron-l-j (#43459257) Attached to: British Regulator Investigated Over Low 4G Auction Revenue
Going off of the numbers supplied from statista.com the number of US smartphone users is around 119 million. With 2016 numbers predicted to be 192 million. I now my monthly bill for my phone, and data plan hovers around $100 dollars a month. So today that's eleven billion nine hundred million dollars a month, or around 9 billion euros. The the price change of a billion euros is small when compared to the income.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Any examples of a proper website plan/spec. document? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ideas fly through the tech community in droves. Many startups were born/died because of great/poor website planning and design. I have yet to see a smart document that effectively describes a website plan to both the designers and then the programmers (who may or may not be founders or employees). It's clearly quite important in the case of SAAS or web apps.

I have seen rainforest sized boxes of stapled together jargon submitted by corporations and non-profits as 'web design specs.' I find these to be gobbledygook. There must be something that strikes a balance between functional descriptiveness and readability.

Does anyone have any samples of GOOD QUALITY documents which can guide personnel through this critical task? With so much frank and open dialog these days, perhaps someone has seen a good example posted in a blog post which I missed?

Submission + - You can't resell Google Glass, Is Google violating first sale doctring? (muktware.com) 2

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Google has started shipping Google Glass to those who pre-ordered it or applied for it through the Explorer program. Some user's have pointed out that : 'If you resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person without Google's authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the Device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the Device will be entitled to any refund, product support, or product warranty.'

From what I see this is applicable only to those who applied through the Explorer program. The question is if Google is violating the first sale doctrine by refusing users to resell the device they paid for and bought?

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