pamri - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Abused but Necessary (Score 1) 378

by pamri on Thursday July 16, 2009 @12:16PM (#28718191) Attached to: Typography On the Web Gets Different

I think it has its uses as a replacement for Dynamic fonts. Dynamic fonts was mostly useful for Indic and other complex scripts at a time when Unicode was still nascent and there were still challenges in getting Indic and other scripts rendered properly. Publishing houses (all of them earlier and most of them now) use an ASCII based font and push dynamic fonts to IE users while expecting other browser users to download them. While Unicode should make this moot, slow adaption of Unicode by publishers and users and the fact that by default, most Windows XP installs did not come with Indic pre-configured means there is still market for this hack. Publishers could push either their ASCII hack font or Unicode font to users this way at least until there is more mainstream adoption of Unicode and in the process help non-technical people, especially those not using IE, access to content with less issues.

Comment Re:Isopropl Alochol spray (Score 1) 359

by pamri on Thursday July 02, 2009 @12:17AM (#28553851) Attached to: Ant Mega-Colony Covers the World

Another effective and greener solution is to use Turmeric. It does not kill ants, but just deters them.

Submission + - India elects ruling party to power (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by pamri on Saturday May 16, 2009 @10:25AM

pamri writes: In elections held in the worlds largest democracy, United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is the ruling coalition, has won a second term in India's general elections. The Election commission of India held the election using nearly 1.368 million electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Submission + - The dangers of being really, really tired. (slate.com) 1

Submitted by Sleepy Dog Millionare on Saturday May 16, 2009 @08:37AM

Sleepy Dog Millionare writes: Brian Palmer writing for Slate asks Can you die from lack of sleep? and shockingly the answer may very well be yes you can. Palmer points to "ground breaking experiments" in the areas of sleep research. It turns out that sleep deprivation can actually be deadly in rats. The obvious conclusion is that it is probably deadly in all mammals. So the next time you think you need to pull multiple all-night hack-a-thon ask yourself if it's worth risking your life for?

Submission + - NASA Astronaut Watches Star Trek Movie in Space (nasa.gov)

Submitted by suraj.sun on Saturday May 16, 2009 @08:09AM

suraj.sun writes: Many moviegoers likely will have to sit in crowded theaters to watch the new "Star Trek" movie, but not NASA astronaut Michael Barratt. He got the opportunity to watch the film aboard the International Space Station while he and two crewmates fly 220 miles above Earth.

The film's production company, Paramount Pictures, transferred "Star Trek" to NASA's Mission Control in Houston, which then uplinked the film to the space station. Barratt watched the film Friday on a laptop computer inside the Unity module.

There is a collection of DVDs and uplinked movies aboard the space station. The DVDs were delivered during previous shuttle and station missions and will remain aboard for the enjoyment of future crews.

Films, books and music are important aspects of psychological support for astronauts on long-duration missions.

NASA : http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/star_trek.html

Submission + - DisplayLink Releases LGPL USB Graphics Code (displaylink.org)

Submitted by

iso

on Saturday May 16, 2009 @06:18AM

iso writes: "USB graphics should be coming to Linux soon: DisplayLink has released an LGPL library that talks to one of its graphics chips over a USB connection. DisplayLink aren't one of the big guys in graphics, but it's always nice to see a hardware manufacturer go the open source route. Now, when can I get one of these touchscreen MIMOs on my Linux HTPC?"

Submission + - Sony Pictures CEO Thinks The 'Net Wasn't Worth It (current.com) 2

Submitted by

rossturk

on Saturday May 16, 2009 @04:29AM

rossturk writes: "Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said "I'm a guy who doesn't see anything good having come from the Internet, period." Why? Because people "feel entitled" to have what they want when they want it, and if they can't get it for free, "they'll steal it." It's become customary to expect a somewhat limited perspective on things from old-world entertainment companies, but his inability to acknowledge that the Internet has changed everything makes me think he's a very confused man. Is this when we all give up hope that companies like Sony Pictures can adapt? Will we look back on this as one of the defining moments when the industrialized entertainment industry lost touch for good?"

Journal Journal: Open Source software you have never heard of... 2

Journal by inasity_rules on Saturday May 16, 2009 @04:20AM

As an electronic engineering student, I used to believe that I still required windows for some software. Thankfully, it turns out not. I have discovered a really cool project; PiKdev. An all in one solution for writing code for the Microchip PIC family including a powerful built in programmer. And it works almost flawlessly. My only complaint is that I had to compile it from source(and install KDE3 libraries) - there is no Mandriva 2009 package. When I get

Submission + - Danger Mouse Releases Blank CD-R To Spite EMI (techdirt.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15, 2009 @05:20PM

An anonymous reader writes: DJ Danger Mouse famously fought with EMI of his Beatles/Jay-Z mashup "The Grey Album" seems to be battling with the label again. Rather than release his latest album and face legal issues with EMI, Techdirt is reporting that Danger Mouse will be selling a blank CD-R along with lots of artwork, and the buyer will be responsible for finding the music him or herself (and, yes, it's findable on the internets) and burning the CD.

Submission + - India's first university made satellite

Submitted by pamri on Sunday March 22, 2009 @03:15AM

pamri writes: Anusat, India's first satellite made by a university is set to be launched in April as a payload on ISRO'S RISAT satellite. Anusat, a micro-satellite designed and built by Chennai's Anna University at a cost of INR 5.5 crores (1.088 Million USD) has a digital store and forward payload and other planned payloads (PDF link).

Submission + - SPAM: Power Grid Is Found Susceptible To Cyberattack

Submitted by

narramissic

on Saturday March 21, 2009 @09:35PM

narramissic writes: "Researchers with security consultancy IOActive have created a worm that could quickly spread among Smart Grid devices, small computers connected to the power grid that give customers and power companies better control over the electricity they use. '[The worm] spread from one meter to another and then it changed the text in the LCD screen to say 'pwned',' said Travis Goodspeed, an independent security consultant who worked with the IOActive team. In the hands of a malicious hacker, this code could be used to cut power to Smart Grid devices that use a feature called 'remote disconnect,' which allows power companies to cut a customer's power via the network. The robustness of U.S. power networks has been a hot-button issue after a technical glitch in 2003 caused a cascading power failure in the eastern United States and Canada that affected 55 million people."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Prepare for the inevitable with scripted backups

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21, 2009 @09:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: The loss of critical data can prove devastating. Still, millions of professionals ignore backing up their data. This article will show you how to allow your scripts to execute on remote servers and how to perform secure and automated file transfers. I hope you'll feel, with these simple solutions, inspired to start thinking about protecting your own valuable data and building new solutions using open source tools like OpenSSH and Snort.

Spore, Call of Duty 4 Confirmed for OSX 125

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 16, 2008 @03:30PM from the we'll-make-gamers-out-of-you-yet dept.

1up is reporting that, along with the big announcements from yesterday's MacWorld event, the welcome news trickles down that OSX will be getting some more games. The much-delayed Spore has been confirmed for the platform, as has the hit FPS title Call of Duty 4. "In Spore's case, the magic of cross-platform portability is achieved through the use of a special software layer supplied by Toronto-based TransGaming Technologies. This software is capable of interpreting hardware calls to Windows DirectX into Mac-capable instructions. Through use of this technology, Electronic Arts (and others) seem hopeful about bringing even more games to mac in the coming months."

Oracle Buys BEA 115

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 16, 2008 @02:41PM from the consolidate-much dept.

In an event not as surprising as this morning's buyout announcement, but still noteworthy, Oracle has purchased BEA Systems. The middleware maker was snapped up for the sum of $8.5 billion, the second offer Oracle put forward. "BEA had long been considered a prime takeover target in an industry that has been consolidating for several years, but BEA executives had repeatedly dismissed Oracle's overtures, saying the company could perform better independently. Mr. Icahn began buying up BEA shares last summer, and today owns 13 percent of the company. The deal makes Oracle the undisputed leader in the market for middleware, business software that gets its name from its role as a layer of programming code that resides between a company's database system and the payroll, human resources and inventory systems that use the same data."

New Hampshire Primaries Follow-Up Analysis 315

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 16, 2008 @01:54PM from the still-quite-dodgy dept.

Dr. Eggman writes "Ars Technica has posted a lengthy follow up analysis of the 2008 New Hampshire Primaries outcome. The article deals with the O'Dell machine/hand-count table that has been circulating through emails. It also points out the combination of factors that resulted in such an odd symmetry of numbers, although the article notes that these numbers have been corrected. The corrections still indicate a discrepancy among the tallies. The article also goes on to talk about the nature of the communities that arrived at these numbers and what/how the handcounts proceeds. This process has been inconclusive; something that does not bode well for the rest of the primaries and indeed the election itself, as only 16 states currently mandate both a voter-verified paper trail (VVPT) and a random manual audit of election results."

Slashdot Top Deals