baronben - Slashdot User

Submission + - New York taxi drivers to strike over GPS

Submitted by Stony Stevenson on Saturday August 25, 2007 @12:30AM

Stony Stevenson writes: New York City taxi drivers are split on whether they should strike in opposition to a new GPS requirement. One taxi group plans to strike from 5 a.m., Sept. 5, through 5 a.m., Sept. 7, in opposition to New York City's requirement that all cabs be equipped with GPS technology beginning Oct. 1. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which claims more than 8,400 members, announced the strike dates this week, saying GPS infringes on drivers' privacy.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission passed a rule stating that all New York City cabs must have touch-screen display panels, credit card readers, and GPS beginning this year. Many taxis already are equipped with the technologies, which allow passengers to get news, route data, and other information. The TLC claims that the technology will not be used to invade drivers' privacy but will provide real-time maps and help passengers recover lost property.

Submission + - The Economics of Open Source

Submitted by

Alice White

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @06:46AM

Alice White writes: "Mayank Sharma has put together an article discussing the economics of open source and what the projects do with their donations.

"So why are donations important? Since it seems to bother so many people, I thought I'd ask someone in the know. Fabio Erculiani, lead-developer of the two-man development team that churns out the popular Gentoo-based Sabayon Linux lists some common expenses of running a FOSS project. "We have hosting bills," explains Erculiani who has passed on a job offer by Google to complete his studies,"backup systems such as NASs, RAID arrays (hard drives tend to break often here... I had two breakages in around 6 months)..."

Taken from http://www.packtpub.com/article/the-economics-of-o pen-source-donations"

Submission + - Any 'pretty' code out there?

Submitted by andhow on Saturday July 14, 2007 @12:31PM

andhow writes: Practically any time I see large software discussed I hear "X is a #%@!in mess" or "Y is unmanageable and really should be rewritten". Some of this I know is just fresh programmers seeing their first big hunk o' code and having the natural reaction. In other cases I've heard it from main developers, so I'll take their word for it. Over time, it paints a bleak picture, and I'd be really like to see a counterexample. Getting to know a piece of software well enough to ascertain its quality takes a long time, so I submit to the experience of the readership: what projects have you worked on which you felt had admirable code, both high-level architecture and in-the-trenches implementation? In particular I am interested in large user applications using modern C++ libraries and techniques like exception handling and RAII.

Submission + - Monsanto's Monopoly patent to be challenged

Submitted by jimsnail on Saturday April 28, 2007 @09:03PM

jimsnail writes: In the last decade agbiotech giant Monsanto has risen to top dog position in agriculture by leveraging a very wide patent on soybeans (that it originally opposed!). After a 13 year battle Monsanto is back in court this week — challenged by Greenpeace and ETC Group to drop the patent as an unfair monopoly. This article at Gristmill by Hope Shand of ETC Group gives the background to the case and reveals new stats showing just how far Monsanto now dominates the seed industry.

Submission + - Is donated computing power tax deductible?

Submitted by janneH on Sunday April 08, 2007 @04:48PM

janneH writes: With the Folding@home now on Playstation 3 and talk about Rosetta@home on Xbox, I was wondering if this donated computing power was tax deductable? I am not a lawyer, but assuming that it is the Universities that house the projects that are the recipients, it would seem that something of value given to them would be tax deductible (cash certainly is). There is a commercial market for network based computing power, and it does not seem it would be too difficult for someone to determine a fair market value. It would seem likely that this value might be enough to pay for the machine before it was too old. For that matter, this would be true for any computing power provided to a non-profit.

Submission + - OneGeology project launches

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 08, 2007 @10:13PM

An anonymous reader writes: A project bringing together scientists from more than 55 countries, start next week, will pool national geological survey information and present it on the Internet for all to see. From the article: "The geological data exists. What we are trying to do is unlock it and make it universally available," Ian Jackson of the British Geological Survey told a news conference on Thursday. "It is like piecing together a global jigsaw puzzle." "We believe that increasing the availability of geological data will increase our knowledge of environmental factors that affect human health and welfare," he added. One aim will be to start to identify deep geological structures that might be used for the safe long-term storage of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity."

Submission + - Looking inside the Second Life data centers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 08, 2007 @04:17PM

An anonymous reader writes: InformationWeek looks inside the data centers that power the game Second Life. Tidbits from the article: The software architecture is an extension of the virtual world metaphor of Second Life. At any time, it's possible to walk into one of Second Life's two data centers, pat one of the rack-mounted servers, and say that particular server is running virtual New York, or San Francisco, or ancient Rome, and imagine itty-bitty people and buildings inside the 1U rack-mounted servers. Linden Lab, which develops and maintains Second Life, runs 2,000 Intel- and AMD-based servers in two co-location facilities in San Francisco and Dallas. And, contrary to widespread belief among Second Life users, Linden Lab has not decided whether to open-source the Second Life server software.

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