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Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Mechanism of Supernova Detonation Gets a New Twist (makeahistory.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Type Ia supernovae, often used to calibrate cosmological measurements, may arise from merging white dwarfs, after all. Their brightness and consistency allow astronomers to use them as so-called standard candles to measure cosmological distances. But a new study presents evidence that, for at least one kind of galaxy, the binary-accretion model should not be more than a minor contributor to the observed type Ia supernovae population.

Submission + - Whose tube is in anyway? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by luehringf
luehringf writes: Damian Kulash Jr complains that EMI is preventing his fans from embedding his latest video on their sites.

Submission + - Dolphins can turn diabetes on and off (cosmosmagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Healthy bottlenose dolphins appear to turn on and off a diabetes-like state: a trick that may open to door to a treatment for the disease in humans.
Open Source

Submission + - FreeBSD "Could have been a contender" (itpro.co.uk)

Submitted by uassholes
uassholes writes: An article on the ITPro web site says: The first free Unix-like operating system available on the IBM PC was 386BSD, of which Linus Torvalds said in 1993: 'If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never have happened."

Some highlights:
Alan Cox tells a similar story. When he saw the 386BSD announce[d] he thought "Woah! — finally there is something worth running on a PC."
Lars Wirzenius, a student friend of Linus Torvalds, recalled: "FreeBSD didn't exist then. 386BSD did, but it wouldn't have worked on my computer, since it required a 387 co-processor. I used SCO Xenix from fall 1991 to spring or summer of 1992, until Linux matured enough to be a usable environment for writing code."
So it is interesting to speculate why Linux, and not FreeBSD, became the flag bearer, not only for free software, but for Unix-like operating systems.
Censorship

Submission + - Aussies hit the streets to protest net censorship (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Anti-censorship protesters descended on Australian capital cities today to rally against the Government’s controversial internet filtering plans. While the contingent in Sydney was smaller than expected, there were unconfirmed reports of up to 100 protesters in other capital cities. These protests were "organised" by Project Freeweb, a faction of the Anonymous collective. A different faction of Anonymous was said to be behind DDoS attacks on Government servers to protest the introduction of filters. More nationwide protests are planned in March, but these are backed by Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), which has distanced itself from today's protests, believing it was not the right time to hit the streets.
IBM

Submission + - Joe Stack's IBM Connection

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: On Thursday, Joe stack intentionally crashed a plane into an Austin office building. Villains abound in the suicidal pilot's final rant, but Salon's Andrew Leonard notes a 1986 tax code change targeting contract software engineers is enemy No. 1. One might dismiss Stack's rant as paranoia, but the NY Times also blamed Section 1706 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 for 'creating taxpayer woes, particularly for tens of thousands of computer programmers,' adding that the law helped insure a scarcity of programmers. The law, which targeted independent technical contractors to the tune of $60 million, was introduced by Stack nemesis Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan to make up a deficit caused by tax concessions granted to IBM for its overseas operations.
Microsoft

Submission + - Should Microsoft Charge For Windows Phone 7? (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Considering Android and Symbian are open source platforms and BlackBerry and the iPhone software is not available to third parties, Windows Phone 7 Series will be the only major smartphone platform on the market that will be available on a paid basis. For manufacturers, a free platform, especially one that users seem to like, is definitely more attractive than a paid platform, even if the license fee for each phone is small. Many believe Windows Mobile does not account for a substantial portion of revenue for the Microsoft and therefore think that forgoing the license fee could help make Windows Phone 7 Series more competitive. What do you think?"

Submission + - Another attack, on law firm suing China

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the wake of the attack on Google, another company claims to be the victim of a similar attack. Gipson Hoffman & Pancione is a Los Angeles law firm whose client, CYBERsitter is suing the government of China and several Chinese companies for using their intellectual property in the infamous Green Dam censorship filter. According to the firm, they have been targeted by a spear phishing attack from China. I think I'll submit this story anonymously.

Comment Turnabout may be a fair remedy to bad policy... (Score 1) 457

by Lokinator (#30626036) Attached to: Canada's Airlines Face a Privacy Dilemma
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin, c. 1775 Might I suggest the right answer for Canada (and I say this as an American) is to deny use of Canadian Airspace and/or landing rights to U.S. carriers until this demand is withdrawn? And on the U.S. side, to simply state that Canada can take whatever measures it wishes to guarantee aviation safety, but any damages that involve flights departs from Canadian airports that resulting from failures in whatever aviation safety system Canada may choose to implement will then be paid from randomly seized Canadian assets in the U.S.? Let Canada figure it out, and if they get it wrong, let Canada pay!

Submission + - Need: Fake Polaroid Paper (flickr.com) 1

Submitted by RecycledElectrons
RecycledElectrons writes: I've seen images that look like polaroids on the web, and anyone can GIMP one up. My question is not about a fake that can be seen on a PC. My question is: Where can I get inkjet or laser paper that looks like old Polaroid Instant Film? I'd love to drop a photo of bigfoot into mom's yellowstone vacation album.
Windows

Submission + - Chinese pirates launch Ubuntu that looks like XP (downloadsquad.com) 1

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Just as the title suggests: Ylmf, famous for pirating Windows XP, have just released a version of Ubuntu that looks JUST like Windows XP. Really, really similar. Apparently because Microsoft were cracking down on the actual Windows XP pirating — though, I think they will still suffer for ripping off the GUI _exactly_."
Government

Submission + - NY Times, LA Times Call for Amazon Tax Collection 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Recalling that CEO Jeff Bezos originally explored placing Amazon.com on an Indian Reservation near San Francisco to "have access to talent without all the tax consequences," the NY Times argues it's time to put an end to the e-tailer's 'entity isolation' tax-avoidance games. The LA Times chimes in, saying Amazon's claims that collecting sales tax constitute an undue burden are 'worth a horselaugh', noting that Amazon boasts it has no problem keeping track of millions of unique products.

Submission + - Help! My former employer lies to my new employers! 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As a relatively new graduate, I was hired at a small startup software company that produced e-commerce websites. (There are thousands of these companies) I did not have many options for employment, and this was better than flipping burgers. The owners/employers were your typical geek squad type without formal training. They did not believe in a business plan, client/employee contracts, or contacting lawyers. The coding was on par with CS 101, 2nd week and was a string of legal liabilities. I did not expect this company to last long, but the paychecks were not bouncing. I kept looking for new jobs, but I could not find any. Finally, I was released since they could not find any work for me to do.

Here is my problem, the company has not completely failed. I have listed this company on my resume, and I have been unintentionally slandered by the owners. I am positive the owners are not aware of slander, nor do I want to pursue legal action. However, it has cost me at least one job already. How do I list this company on my resume? How would I explain the gap in my employment? I am relatively young, so everyone checks my employment history. What do I do? I just want a job and my mom not to be my landlord/roommate!

I'm posting this as AC because I bet my former employers are reading this post while avoiding clients.

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