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Submission + - The new CEO of Microsoft is ... Bill Gates? 3

Submitted by MouseTheLuckyDog
MouseTheLuckyDog writes: The New York times is speculating that the new CEO of Microsoft could be Bill Gates

Now a lot of people have been saying that it was Ballmer's assumption to the CEO job that has led Microsoft's decline. I have always maintained that while Ballmer has not been the best of CEOs that the decline was not his fault and is more of a result of forces put into play at Microsoft a long, long time ago.

So what do you think would BG's return signal a reemergence of MS?

Submission + - Crowdfunding campaign for a new $249 PengPod. (indiegogo.com)

Submitted by Splintercat
Splintercat writes: You may remember a story from almost a year ago about a Linux tablet called the PengPod. The same people are at it again with a much better tablet that has a 9.7" IPS — 2048 x 1536 display, a 1 Ghz quad-core A31 processor, 2 GB of ram, 16 GB of built in storage with an open micro SD card slot, and can boot into many different distros of Linux as well as Android.

It appears that the tablet hardware already exists and the crowdfunding campaign is for funding software development and support for the device, though of course, backing at a high enough level will get you the tablet and possibly some other goodies.

Unfortunately this campaign has received very little attention so far, though the upshot is that if you're quick, you can snag one of the early bird specials and get one for less than a new Nexus 7, and should have better support for flavors of Linux besides Android.

Also, if you're considering these for your business, ViewTouch has made a deal with the PengPod folks to make their POS available at a discount on 100 Peng Pods.

Submission + - Anonymous to March on DC on November 5th - 13 Anonymous Members Indicted (freebeacon.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Washington Free Beacon reports, "Demonstrators involved with Anonymous, a loose collective of online “hacktivists,” will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 5 to march for a vast, nearly innumerable number of causes and issues. Flyers began appearing around downtown D.C. over the weekend advertising the “Million Mask March,” which will take place on Guy Fawkes Day. ... According to the event’s Facebook page, the march is being held “to remind this world what it has forgotten, that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than just words.” “There are quite a few things on the list of ‘topics’ for this event,” the page read. “This will include but not limited to Government ..., Reform, Education, Pharmaceutical companies pushing meds, War, Constitutional rights, Freedom, Unity, Drug abuse, Respect for all of mankind, Corruption, Food – GMO’s, Nutrition and health, Children, Violence worldwide, Waking the people. ...” Currently, more than 13,000 people have RSVP’d for the event. " — In related news, the US has indicted 13 suspected members of Anonymous for participation in "Operation Payback." Operation Payback was retaliation by Anonymous over the shutdown of Pirate Bay.

Comment Re:Never gonna happen. (Score 1) 472

by drachensun (#45063905) Attached to: How long before most automobile driving is done by computers?
Real time under Embedded hardware? If you need more processing power, why not switch to a more powerful, non embedded processor? If you switched to the latest 8 core pentium, would that allow you to detect this things clearly? I paid $25k for my last vehicle, and it doesn't drive itself. If I had to buy a $1k PC to be the brain of my robot chauffeur instead of an arm processor, I think the funds could have been found. All the applications you mention are replacing skilled workers who would be making $20 an hour or more (maybe a lot more for really good drivers). Seems like each week you don't need that driver you could buy such a computer along with any standard related accessories. I realize your company has overhead and profit and all as well for these systems but its seem like the hardware cost would be a small vs the savings. The cost and space of modern processor power is tiny next to the worker you are replacing.

Submission + - Next generation dual boot Linux/Android tablet available

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PengPod, the company who brought the first commercial dual-booting GNU/Linux-Android tablet is now crowd funding a quad core tablet the PengPod1040

PengPod1040. The PengPod1040 can now boot three different OS options from internal memory, select-able with a built in bootloader. This 9.7" high resolution tablet can run Android, GNU/Linux and now Ubuntu Touch . Ubuntu touch is made so one can have the same friendly Ubuntu experience, but is touch friendly, which has the ability to navigate the Ubuntu desktop without having to use a mouse and keyboard.

PengPod has pledged to make all source and tools used to build the images available so users can build their own OS top to bottom and guarantee it free tracking from the NSA or others. The PengPod has previously found some success as a low cost touch platform for industrial/commercial control systems and is partnered with ViewTouch, the original inventors of the graphical POS to offer PengPods as restaurant register systems.

The Crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo is $349,000, with the tablets starting at $249. There is an Early Bird special with some still available for at $220.

Submission + - How Entrepreneurs Overturned California's Retroactive Tax on Startup Founders (xconomy.com)

Submitted by waderoush
waderoush writes: Startup founders in California can breathe a little easier today — they won't be getting bills from the state for up to $120 million in back taxes. On Friday California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill prohibiting the state from levying retroactive taxes on founders and other small-business investors who took advantage of a tax break invalidated last year by a state appeals court. California Business Defense, a coalition of entrepreneurs, spent most of 2013 trying to reverse the California Franchise Tax Board's interpretation of the court ruling, under which it planned to hit Californians with new tax bills on the sale of small-business stock going back to 2008 (a story that Slashdot picked up on January 24). Two bills on the matter reached Governor Brown's desk in September, one fully restoring the investment incentive through 2016, the other partially restoring it. Brown signed AB1412, the bill granting full relief. 'For a bunch of political greenhorns operating in an environment where political partisanship is at an all-time high, we did all right,' writes Brian Overstreet, one of the co-founders of California Business Defense. 'But it should never have been this hard.'

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Hope left for /.?

Submitted by sjwt
sjwt writes: So, after the recent story about publishing legal advice given by someone with a master's degree in mathematics that contradicts the advice given by a law professor I am left wondering if any hope is left for /.

It is not often I see a major story on /. before I see it in a bottom rung news feed such as news.com.au and at worst its only 1 day behind, but /. can lag by days if not weeks. We see articles that read more like paid ads, and often the "summary" that is submitted in stories is just a copy past with no effort put in, is any hope left?

Submission + - Improved Dual-Booting Android/Linux PengPod Tablets Unveiled

Submitted by bismuthide
bismuthide writes: Peacock Imports, the makers of the PengPod dual-boot-capable Android/Linux tablet released early in 2013, is currently holding a crowdfunder for the next generation of hardware. The PengPod 1040, a 9.7" tablet with 2048x1536 resolution (on par with the iPad) and a quad-core processor, currently dual-boots an open source version of Android 4.1 and Linaro Linux, with Ubuntu Touch also recently becoming operational on the device. The operating systems are installed on internal storage, eliminating the need to flash new ones to an external SD card. PengPod tablets have been successfully integrated by users in applications such as 3D printing, point-of-sale systems, and GPS navigation. The crowdfunder effort seeks to raise $349,000, offering the tablets for $249 each.

Submission + - Dual boot Linux/Android Tablet with an OS you can build from source (reuters.com)

Submitted by drachensun
drachensun writes: The PengPod, a second generation product offering Linux/Android dual boot has begun releasing source and instructions to build complete OS images. The device currently supports Linaro, ArchLinux, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Android and Ubuntu Touch. The company is currently marketing the device as an industrial touch control system and for hackers who want to try out different systems.

Submission + - It's Time to Stop Lionizing Steve Jobs (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Steve Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011 after a long battle with cancer. As seemingly everyone on the planet is well aware, Jobs started a quirky little company named Apple that eventually morphed into a massive technology behemoth. Apple helped popularize PCs as a home device, kicked off the current obsession with tablets and smartphones, and made investors very rich in the bargain. When he died, Jobs was lionized as the greatest chief executive of the past twenty years. In many ways, that hyperbole was justified: having returned to Apple in 1996 after a long absence, he took a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and gave it a renewed sense of focus, which in turn resulted in a series of market-defining products, including the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. But it pays to remember that, whatever his strengths, Jobs wasn’t a perfect CEO. Apple under his watch released some notable flops, including the Power Mac G4 Cube and MobileMe; throw in controversies over working conditions in factories producing Apple products, as well as Jobs' legendary temper, and it's clear that his veneration as something close to a Tech God may be premature. To make a rough sports analogy, he was more like a Major League baseball player with excellent stats who, every three to five years, managed to hit a 100-mile home run.

Submission + - Dogs 'Feel' Like Humans (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by minty3
minty3 writes: They may not speak English or know how to walk on two legs – but dogs may have more in common with humans than previously believed.

According to research conducted by Gregory Berns, a professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and author of “How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain,” dogs may use the same part of the brain as humans do to “feel.”

Submission + - How to build a human brain (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Velcroman1
Velcroman1 writes: What if you could build a computer that works just like the human brain? You could invent new forms of industrial machinery, create fully autonomous thinking cars, devise new kinds of home appliances. And a new project in Europe hopes to create a computer brain just that powerful in the next ten years — and it’s incredibly well-funded. The Human Brain Project kicks off Oct. 7 at a conference in Switzerland. Over the next 10 years, about 80 science institutions and at least 20 government entities in Europe will figure out how to make that computer brain. The project will cost about $10 billion euros — or about $1.3B in US dollars. The research hinges on creating a super-powerful computer that’s 1,000 times faster than those in use today.

Submission + - Gnu/Linux tablet hits the market

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A completely open source tablet, free of restrictions and NSA spy software called PengPod 1040 is now on the market. The consumer chooses how they want the device to function. The tablet is capable of running one, two, or three OS/Distributions internally. The PengPod 1040 is the most versatile open source tablet to hit the market.

A list of supported Linux OS/Distribution options:

        â Android 4.1 (4.2 Source available, should be ready soon)
        â Linaro (Based on Ubuntu for Arm with LXDE)
        â Fedora
        â ArchLinux
        â OpenSUSE
        â Ubuntu Touch

Submission + - Scientist Develops Graph That Depicts Differences Between Geeks And Nerds (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This is too fun to not report. The Daily Mail reports, "The debate about the differences between geeks and nerds has been raging for years but a scientist believes he has come up with a mathematical equation that may finally put the argument to rest. Software engineer Burr Settles from Pittsburgh studied the language used in 2.6 million tweets, and also sampled tweets that appeared when he searched for the terms 'geek' and 'nerd'. By comparing tweets in each query, Settles devised a mathematical equation that established the probability of a particular word appearing in a geeky tweet, or a nerdy one. Put more simply, Settles worked out which words were used and associated most by geeks or nerds, and what the differences in subjects and topics were. These words were then plotted on a graph; the further along the horizontal, or x-axis, a word appeared, the more nerdy it was. .... Commenting on his findings, Settles said: 'In broad strokes, it seems to me that geeky words are more about stuff, while nerdy words are more about ideas. 'Geeks are fans, and fans collect stuff; nerds are practitioners, and practitioners play with ideas. Of course, geeks can collect ideas and nerds play with stuff, too. 'Plus, they aren’t two distinct personalities as much as different aspects of personality.'"

Submission + - The End of the Power User

Submitted by Daniel Dvorkin
Daniel Dvorkin writes: Sadly, Charlie Warzel's analysis hits the nail on the head. It's becoming harder and harder to make your computer (particularly, but not exclusively, when online) behave the way you want it to rather than the way some anonymous MBA thinks it should behave, and this trend is only going to continue. We the geek-people, who made the whole thing possible, are out of the loop. After decades of decentralization, we're slowly moving back toward the classic sci-fi vision of The Computer being a giant centralized machine which users can only access when and how the powers that be want.

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