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Submission + - MicroSoft sues LinuxFest NW

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Wednesday April 25, 2007 @02:10AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "With LinuxFestNW, (http://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/) scheduled to start this Saturday, April 28th, in Bellingham, WA., M$ took an unprecedented step to stop the conference in its `backyard'. A spokesperson for M$, who declined to be identified, told us that their beef wasn't with Linux, but instead was about the lunch menu to be served on Saturday and Sunday.

M$ claims to have a patent on macaroni and cheese mixed with ketchup, and the trademark, `Southwest Style Mac&Cheese'. "It's an egregarious violation of our intellectual property", the spokeperson says. Not only are they using the term `west', but there are several references in their flyer about 'mac', and their use of 'mouse' is an obvious pointer to cheese.

The two-day Linux festival has offered to change their luncheon menu to BBQ'd fresh salmon but thinks that the use of `west' in linuxfestnorthwest is fair usage. M$ counters with the suggestion that BBQ salmon contributes to global warming, making Linux fair game for Sheryl Crowe. Karl Rove declined to comment on this breaking news story."

Submission + - LinuxFest Northwest 2007

Submitted by

Hunter Gatherer Peng

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @01:31AM

Hunter Gatherer Peng writes: "LinuxFest Northwest 2007, http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/ is just seven days away. Hear speakers from Red Hat, Google, SuSE/Novell, OLPC project, MySQL, Sofware Freedom Law Center, Linden Labs, OSTG, Linux Fund, over 40 speakers, 42 exhibitors per day and several exhibitors will be actively recruiting. Admission and parking are free for both days, April 28th and 29th in Bellingham Wash. This is a huge free Linux/OSS community event, don't miss it."

Submission + - Statistical Accuracy of Internet Weather Forecasts

Submitted by

markmcb

on Thursday February 08, 2007 @11:52PM

markmcb writes: "Brandon Hansen considers the statistical accuracy of popular on-line weather forecast sources and shows who's on target, and on who you probably shouldn't rely. Motivated by a trip to a water park that was spoiled with hail despite a 'clear sky' forecast, he does a nice job of depicting deviations, averages, and overall accuracy in a manner that stats junkies are sure to love. From the article, 'Accuweather was the clear leader in anything greater than 10 days in advance ... many of the other less accurate weather forecasts seem[ed] to be practically worthless for all but the most optimistic.'"

Submission + - Quantum computer to debut next week

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08, 2007 @11:46PM

An anonymous reader writes: Twenty years before most scientists expected it, a commercial company has announceda quantum computer that promises to massively speed up searches and optimisation calculations. http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?news ID=7972

Vendor Proxim packs Wi-Fi and WiMAX in one mesh access point 11

Submitted by OSTG Marketing Dept. on Thursday February 08, 2007 @11:27PM

Proxim Wireless has combined Wi-Fi and WiMAX radios in a low-cost, outdoor wirelss-mesh access point called MeshMAX . MeshMAX makes it possible for many of the nodes in a mesh network to have a backhaul connection to a base station and the Internet. The configuration boosts the capacity of these networks dramatically because the client devices connecting to each node share a much larger broadband pipe t

Submission + - Converting Desktops to Thinclients

Submitted by tfiedler on Thursday February 08, 2007 @11:26PM

tfiedler writes: I manage about 3500 desktop computers and was recently asked by my CIO to begin looking into thin client computing, something like WYSE terminals.

I'd like to know, what are some good functional, and more importantly, manageable options to convert existing desktop computers into what would essentially be a Citrix terminal? I was thinking some brand of Linux that pops up on X, starts the Citrix client and connects to our server farm... The user would see a windows logon, our apps would function as normal and I'd get the benefit of performing a LOT LESS client-side maintenance.

Any suggestions?

Submission + - For women nothing's like the smell of men's sweat

Submitted by

gollum123

on Thursday February 08, 2007 @10:56PM

gollum123 writes: "From CNN, Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley said women who sniffed a chemical found in male sweat experienced elevated levels of an important hormone, along with higher sexual arousal, faster heart rate and other effects ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/08/men.sweat.reu t/index.html ). They said the study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, represents the first direct evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley, average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated for up to an hour. Consistent with previous research, the women also reported improved mood, higher sexual arousal, and had increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. The study did not determine whether the increase in cortisol levels triggered mood or arousal changes or whether those changes themselves caused the cortisol elevation."

Microsoft Not Dropping Hotmail Name 202

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 08, 2007 @10:25PM from the rose-is-a-rose-is-a-rose dept.

EveryNickIsTaken writes "CNET News.com is reporting that despite planning for months to ditch the name 'Hotmail' for 'Windows Live Mail,' Microsoft will keep the Hotmail name, renaming the service 'Windows Live Hotmail.' Along with the slight name change, MS will be modifying the interface to look more like Outlook's GUI."

Submission + - Brain scanner can read people's intentions

Submitted by Vainglorious Coward on Thursday February 08, 2007 @10:21PM

Vainglorious Coward writes: Reality continues to catch up with Nineteen Eighty-Four with the announcement of the development of a brain scanner that can read a person's intentions. 'It's like shining a torch around, looking for writing on a wall,' said the leader of the project, Professor John-Dylan Haynes . Demonstrating his own mastery of doublethink, Haynes continued 'We see the danger that this might become compulsory one day, but we have to be aware that if we prohibit it, we are also denying people who aren't going to commit any crime the possibility of proving their innocence.'

Submission + - Sweedish Doomsday Seed Bank

Submitted by millermiller on Thursday February 08, 2007 @10:13PM

millermiller writes: From the BBC: The Arctic vault will act as a back-up store for a global network of seed banks financially supported by the trust. Dr Fowler said that a proportion of the seeds housed at these banks would be deposited at Svalbard, which will act as a "living Fort Knox". Although the vault was designed to protect the specimens from catastrophic events, he added that it could also be used to replenish national seed banks.

Submission + - Apple TV A Gaming Platform?

Submitted by

Anonymous Reader

on Thursday February 08, 2007 @09:57PM

Anonymous Reader writes: "According to MacRumors, an interview with Wired, Greg Canessa, indicates that the Apple TV is being targetted as a gaming device, and that Apple "will begin to compete in the video game console market to counter pressure from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to dominate the living room." However, there are a lot of mixed remarks as to whether this is really true or not, and if it is even possible. It's now Apple, Inc, so I suppose anything is possible!"

Submission + - Gecko 1.9 Alpha 2 released

Submitted by on Thursday February 08, 2007 @09:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: Gecko 1.9 Alpha 2 has been released. This version includes significant changes to the layout engine, including support for inline-block and inline-table, resolution of all remaining issues with the ACID2 test, incremental rendering of XML, and more.

Submission + - A Different Way To Do 10 Gig Ethernet

Submitted by sohan on Thursday February 08, 2007 @09:17PM

sohan writes: The register carries an interesting article on doing 10 Gig Ethernet without offloading it to the network card. Solarflare, a recent startup, seems to have created a controller that splits packet processing between the host CPU and the network card. They claim an 80% savings in power consumption which can only mean good news for air-conditioners worldwide!

Submission + - ARM Performance Monitoring Made Easy with Eclipse

Submitted by IdaAshley on Thursday February 08, 2007 @09:17PM

IdaAshley writes: This tutorial describes the newly released Eclipse Test & Performance Tools Platform (TPTP) project and explains how Application Response Measurement (ARM) V4.0 has been implemented with TPTP. Also learn the trade-offs and challenges involved in getting to this point and moving forward.

Submission + - USB Telephone That Works With EVERYTHING?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08, 2007 @09:16PM

An anonymous reader writes: I've been looking around for a good USB telephone, and completely unimpressed with what I've seen and tried lately. But I ran across a pretty amazing telephone and software package that I think is so unique that I haven't found anything else like it, and wanted to share. It's called the ZiPhone II from 'Simple Simon' in the US. Their website goes on to tell how this thing works with a ton of different voice/video chatters with special integration with each, and say it works with everything. Is this possible?

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