Barabul - Slashdot User

Submission + - TV Shack shut down, again... (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by RangerArch on Thursday December 02, 2010 @12:51AM

RangerArch writes: The Fed has once again brought down a site for copyrighted content. TV Shack, which was taken down back in July, quickly resurfaced on some Australian servers under a .cc domain. However, the company which manages that domain is based in the USA, and once again TV Shack has been put down. How long will it last? Likely not long, TV Shack recovered within a few days the last time, rumor has it this next incarnation will be a .es domain. It is quite clear that even without a bill like COICA, many judges will sick the police on infringing websites. Lets all hope it at least stays in due process.

Submission + - Adobe Flash 10.2 Brings GPU Acceleration To Linux (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02, 2010 @12:44AM

An anonymous reader writes: Mac OS X and Windows users have already had GPU video acceleration with Adobe's Flash plug-in, but now Linux users can have in on this support too. Adobe has released Flash 10.2 beta and it introduces Stage Video for complete video acceleration across all supported operating systems, faster Internet Explorer rendering, text improvements, and proper multi-monitor support. The Stage Video support on Linux is implemented with OpenGL and NVIDIA VDPAU. Phoronix tests of this new Flash plug-in show the CPU usage now dropping sharply when playing 1080p H.264 content on a netbook.

Submission + - Wikileaks competitor in the works (spiegel.de)

Submitted by airfoobar on Thursday December 02, 2010 @12:01AM

airfoobar writes: From TFA "A group of former members of WikiLeaks is planning to launch its own whistleblowing platform in mid-December, according to a German newspaper. The activists criticize WikiLeaks for concentrating too much on the US and want to take a broader approach."

In a capitalist world, competition makes perfect.

Submission + - Preview: Ubuntu's Unity Interface (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @10:03PM

itwbennett writes: In late October we learned that starting with the next release (11.04), Ubuntu would use Unity instead of GNOME as its default desktop interface. Now we know a bit more about what that will (and won't) mean for users. The move to Unity doesn't mean that Ubuntu is abandoning GNOME. It also doesn't mean that users will be forced to use Unity; they'll still be able to revert to the old GNOME interface. What it does mean, mainly, is that users will be presented with a simple interface — probably too simple for nuts and bolts types. The more 'radical shift' will be switching Ubuntu's base graphics system from the X Window System to Wayland. There users can expect that it will take some time before things are in working order. 'In other words,' says Steven Vaughan-Nichols who reviewed Unity for ITworld, 'Wayland will be an option, and one that only people who don't mind having their desktops blow up on a regular basis should fool with, in Ubuntu 11.04. By Ubuntu 11.10, it will be workable, and come the spring release two years from now, Ubuntu 12.04, we should, if all goes well, see a stable Wayland-based Unity desktop.'

Submission + - Samuel T. Cohen, Neutron Bomb Inventor, Dead at 89

Submitted by

bgood

on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @09:20PM

bgood writes: "Samuel T. Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb, a small tactical nuclear weapon, died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 89. The neutron bomb was controversial due to its design, which was meant to kill enemy troops with subatomic particles but leave battlefields and cities relatively intact. From the NYTimes.com article:
While doubters questioned the usefulness, logic and ethics of killing people and sparing property, Mr. Cohen called his bomb a “sane” and “moral” weapon that could limit death, destruction and radioactive contamination, killing combatants while leaving civilians and towns unscathed. He insisted that many critics misunderstood or purposely misrepresented his ideas for political, economic or mercenary reasons.
"

Submission + - Wikileaks booted from Amazon (abc.net.au) 1

Submitted by dakameleon on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @09:01PM

dakameleon writes: Wikileaks has been booted from its Amazon hosting, and has now shifted to being hosted in Europe. Senator Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement."This morning Amazon informed my staff that it has ceased to host the WikiLeaks website," which raises the question whether this was requested by the government. Senator Lieberman said Amazon's decision to cut off WikiLeaks "is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material". Wither free speech and reporting?

Submission + - Chevron WP7 jailbreaking devs strike deal with MS (techeye.net)

Submitted by tenori on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @08:04PM

tenori writes: The developers behind the Chevron WP7 jailbreaking tool have discontinued the tool after striking a deal with Microsoft to integrate homebrewing options directly into the OS. There's not a cease and desist in sight — a marked change with how Microsoft initially dealt with the recently hacked Kinect controller

The ChevronWP7 developers, which include Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh and Long Zheng, were contacted by Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7 at Microsoft about the possibility of bringing some of the jailbreak features into the main OS.

The developers decided to discontinue the tool in order to “fast-track” discussions with Microsoft on how homebrewing can become a pivotal aspect of Windows Phone 7.

Submission + - xbox modding trial goes wonky, (wired.com) 1

Submitted by mrbongo on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @07:45PM

mrbongo writes: Opening statements in the first-of-its kind Xbox 360 criminal hacking trial were delayed here Wednesday after a federal judge unleashed a 30-minute tirade at prosecutors in open court, saying he had “serious concerns about the government's(TM) case.” Makes for a nice read.

Submission + - Microsoft invests in open source software company (networkworld.com)

Submitted by joabj on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @07:31PM

joabj writes: In what may be its first investment in an open source software company, Microsoft has quietly invested in TurboHercules, which maintains the Hercules open source IBM mainframe emulator. Perhaps the potential for purloining customers from the juicy mainframe market outstrips any misgivings Microsoft may have about open source. You might remember TurboHercules: In March, it filed an antitrust complaint with the EU over IBM's tying of its mainframe OSes with its hardware.

Submission + - Microsoft (probably) didn't just buy Unix (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruhlinger on Monday November 22, 2010 @02:01PM

jfruhlinger writes: Word came down this morning that, when Attachmate bought Novell, certain intellectual property rights were sold to a Microsoft-led consortium as part of the deal. Since Unix is the most valuable piece of IP Novell owns, there was a certain amount of panic that suddenly Redmond is in charge of this foundational technology for Linux and a number of other open source projects. But, while MS is being cagey, Brian Proffitt doubts that Unix was part of the IP package that was sold — and believes that Linux would be safe even if it were.

Submission + - Do you really need a discrete sound card? (techreport.com)

Submitted by crookedvulture on Monday November 22, 2010 @01:37PM

crookedvulture writes: Integrated audio has become a common freebie on motherboards, causing many to question whether there's any need to have a sound card. The Tech Report takes a closer look at the issue by testing the latest integrated Realtek codec against a couple of sound cards: Asus' $30 Xonar DG and its considerably more expensive $280 Xense cousin. Everything from gaming performance to signal quality is explored, and it's the blind listening tests that prove most revealing. The integrated solution is obviously flawed, and in a bit of a surprise, the cheaper Xonar is the one most preferred. Discrete sound cards certainly have their benefits, and you don't need to spend a lot to get something that sounds a lot better than the average motherboard.

Submission + - Have I lost my gaming mojo?

Submitted by danabnormal on Monday November 22, 2010 @12:53PM

danabnormal writes: Increasingly I'm being frustrated in my attempts to find a game I want to play. In an effort to catchup, I've been using my bog standard Dell laptop to dig out treasures I have missed, such as American McGee's Alice, Grim Fandango and Syberia.

I don't often get the time to play games so I like to have the opportunity to dip in and out of a title without feeling like I'm loosing something by not playing it for periods. But when I find a title I like... that time gets made. Heavy Rain is the last game that gripped me, that truly engaged me and made me want to complete in a sitting. I'm tired of the GTA formulas, bored of CODs and don't have the reaction to think on my feet for AOEIII.

Is it about time I tossed in the controller and resigned myself to the fact that the games I want only come out once in a blue moon? Or have I just not found 'that' one great title that will open me up to a brand new genre? Lords of Ultima is going OK at the moment, is there anything of that ilk I've missed?

What are your thoughts? Do you stick to a genre or have you found that you're finding it harder as you get, um, more mature, to find something you want to play?

Submission + - Novell Agrees to be Acquired by Attachmate Corpora

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 22, 2010 @11:13AM

An anonymous reader writes: As a customer of Novell, I just received an email that says "that Novell has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Attachmate Corporation would acquire Novell for $6.10 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion."

Submission + - 5 pilots needed to bring down damaged Airbus A380 (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by superapecommando on Monday November 22, 2010 @11:04AM

superapecommando writes: The four-engined Airbus A380 "superjumbo" is designed to be flown by computer with minimal human interference. But it was the expertise of the pilots that was needed when their 6" by 8" cockpit displays filled with alerts, and were replaced by new screens of warnings, after an engine exploded on a Qantas flight on 4 November 2010.

The pilots might have known that another Airbus, an Air France A330-200, crashed on 1 June last year, with the loss of 228 passengers, after multiple computer alerts. The incident aboard Qantas Flight QF32 from Singapore to Sydney had a happy ending, and many lessons can be learnt from it. Airbus is likely to investigate how large numbers of alerts of diverse, simultaneous failures should be displayed to pilots.

Submission + - The software that failed to compete with Windows (technologizer.com)

Submitted by harrymcc on Monday November 22, 2010 @09:49AM

harrymcc writes: When Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0 back in November 1985--it turned 25 on Saturday--it wasn't clear that its much-delayed windowing add-on for DOS was going to succeed. After all, it was a late arrival to a market that was already teeming with ambitious competitors. A quarter-century later, it's worth remembering the early Windows rivals that didn't make it: Visi On, Top View, GEM, DESQview, and more.

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