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Submission + - Protesters Are Dodging Sudan's Internet Shutdown with a Phone-Powered Crowdmap (vice.com)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Motherboard's Africa correspondent, Amanda Sperber, has a great piece just posted on how protestors in Sudan are getting around the government's shutdown of the internet. Good read: 'Since Wednesday afternoon, Sudan's internet has been sporadically shut off amid a fifth day of protests against President Omar al Bashir’s regime. Despite the attempt to cut off communications and limit organization and reporting on the ground, a group of tech-savvy people based in Khartoum have developed a map for recording key data about the protests that's powered by cell networks. '

Submission + - The new whiteboard -- a Chromecast display in every office?

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: Augmented meeting rooms, in which participants have connected computers at their fingertips, were invented by Doug Engelbart in the 1960s. During the 1980s, researchers at Xerox PARC, the University of Arizona and elsewhere developed LAN-based decision support rooms in which meeting participants had networked computers and shared a large screen to brainstorm ideas, rearrange document outlines, edit documents, vote, conduct polls, etc.

These systems were very expensive — for wood paneled board rooms only — and interest in them has waned. But, what about implementing those decision support/collaboration applications using a low cost display or TV set with a Chromecast dongle? For $35 it might become the decision support room for (small groups of) the rest of us.

Submission + - Lauren Beukes: Let the poor pirate books (htxt.co.za)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: South African speculative fiction author Lauren Beukes is currently finishing off her fourth book, Broken Monsters. She talks about it a bit in this interview, but also has an interesting idea about how to get poor children to read:

...just let them pirate. Obviously I would like people to pay for books because that’s how I make my living, but I’d rather have piracy that leads back to a culture of literacy which leads back to more people buying books in the future. But people who are living on R2 000 a month are not going to spend R200 on a book.

Submission + - Nissan's Autonomous Car Is Road Legal in Japan (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: The current test vehicle uses what Nissan calls its "Advanced Driver Assist System," which isn't fully autonomous, but rather can be thought of as a really advanced cruise control system. According to the company, the system can keep a car in its own lane, while automatically changing lanes to pass slower vehicles or prepare to exit a freeway, which it can also do automatically. Along with that, the car automatically slows for congestion, and—most impressively in my opinion—can automatically stop at red lights.

In other words, the car isn't fully automatic in that you can't simply type in a desination and have it do all the work, but the bulk of driving load is taken care of. Curiously, Nissan's goal appears to be to take sloppy human drivers out of the equation to eliminate road fatalities.

Comment Re:All? (Score 4, Insightful) 491

by dunng808 (#44878481) Attached to: Can Internet Pseudonymity Be Saved?

Also seen today on /.

"As part of a broader, chilling Chinese crackdown on Internet dissent, Chinese blogger Charles Xue appeared on Chinese state television in handcuffs on Sunday, denouncing his blog and praising government censorship."

Doubleclick Cofounder Responds to Patent Troll by Filing Extortion Lawsuit ... "The patent troll's attorney also made the claim that calling someone a 'patent troll' was actually a 'hate crime' under 'Ninth Circuit precedent' and threatened to file criminal charges"

Freedom of speech is constantly under attack, especially by those who want their freedom at the expense of yours.

Comment Re:As soon as the smart car counts as the driver (Score 2) 662

by dunng808 (#44648233) Attached to: Concern Mounts Over Self-Driving Cars Taking Away Freedom

Where I live we have a leash law. When you take your dog beyond your property it must be on a leash. But many people have small lots, or live in high-rises. People wanted dogs to have a bit of freedom, so the city built dog parks. Inside a large, fenced-in area a dog can run around free, just like they could always do when I was a boy. The dogs are happy, their owners are happy.

I foresee the day, not too far off, when all cars on city streets must be computer controlled. Folks who want to enjoy driving will trailer a car to a track.

BTW, I disagree with the post's use of "self-driving." If a self-made computer is one I built myself, then a self-driving car is one I drive myself. But where do we draw the line? Shifting gears? In my grandparents day, ignition advance was manual. No electric starter. So do the new crop of self-braking, accident avoiding cars still self-driven? They are certainly not autonomous.

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