Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Portables

Submission + - Inside The Asus Eee PC, A Full Retail Evaluation (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "The Asus Eee PC is now available for sale in the US as of today and there is more than enough buzz about this new, low-cost, ultra-portal computer that ships with a custom KDE-built interface for Linux. Though the machine has been positioned by some as a response to the XO-1 laptop from OLPC, it appears to be a bit more and much less toy-like in its design. This full evaluation shows the Eee PC is built on Intel's mobile Celeron and the 910GML Express chipset. Power consumption was measured at a miserly 15 Watts idle and 18 Watts under load with battery life in excess of three hours. There is also an abundance of software pre-installed on the machine, like Open Office applications, Skype and Pigeon."
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Vista Corrupts Database Files

Submitted by
Major General Ist
Major General Ist writes: ""Time for a rant. If ever there was proof that Vista was rushed out the door, this is it. If ever there was proof that there is slow uptake of Vista by enterprise clients, this is it. Let me explain..." This blog article goes on to discuss how the much hyped Bitmap Differential Transfer (BDT) feature of Windows Vista's Folder Redirection corrupts databases! It seems that the new block synchronization needs some work. I'm amazed this hasn't been discussed everywhere."
Communications

Submission + - South Africa adopts ODF as Government standard. (tectonic.co.za)

Submitted by eugene_roux
eugene_roux writes: Tectonic reports:

The ODF standard is included in the government's Mininimum Interoperability Standards for Information Systems in government (MIOS) released yesterday.

In the foreword to the document, department of public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, says that "this updated version of MIOS contains an explicit definition of open standards as well as the inclusion of the ISO Open Document Format".
Patents

Submission + - Patent case against red hat and novell

Submitted by raffe
raffe writes: From Groklaw: IP Innovation LLC has just filed a patent infringement They claim against Red Hat and Novell. It was filed October 9, case no. 2:2007cv00447, IP Innovation, LLC et al v. Red Hat Inc. et al, in Texas. You might recall the patent was used in litigation against Apple in April 2007, and Beta News reported at the time that it's a 1991 Xerox PARC patent. But ars technica provided the detail that it references earlier patents going back to 1984 claim to have the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,072,412 for a User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects issued Dec. 10, 1991 along with two other similar patents. So in July one Microsoft executive arrives; then as of October 1, there is the second, a patent guy. October 9, IP Innovation, a subsidiary, sues Red Hat. And Novell. So much for being Microsoft's little buddy. I think SCO II has arrived
Windows

Submission + - Dutchconsumer boycott against Windows Vista.

Submitted by rootnl
rootnl writes: Here in The Netherlands the Dutch Consumer bond is calling for a consumer boycott consumer boycott against Windows Vista.

The Dutch Consumer Bond (Consementenbond) is an organization that tests products for quality and safety. Recently they had an internet poll about the problems experienced with Windows Vista. About 4200 complaints were submitted of which 59% is software problems, 46% hardware peripheral problems, 34% complaints about bad performance and computer crashes, 17% about network problems, especially wireless networks and 12% complained about long startup times.

The results were publicly published and subsequently picked up by the press. Microsoft was not very happy about this and complained about the fact that they (Consementenbond) published the information instead of dealing directly with Microsoft.

Last Thursday, the two parties had a meeting to discuss the problems resulted from the poll. In the meeting, the Consumer bond insisted that Microsoft must help consumers having problems with Vista by offering Windows XP. Microsoft refused with a big no. Because of this, the Consumer bond is calling a consumer boycott against Windows Vista.

Microsoft Netherlands will issue a press statement today about the actions of the Consumer bond.
Robotics

Submission + - Computerised pillow stops snoring (news.com.au)

Submitted by
HOTTILA.COM
HOTTILA.COM writes: "A scientist has created a solution for snoring — a computerised pillow that shifts the head's sleeping position until the noise stops. "The pillow is attached to a computer, which is the size of a book, rests on a bedside table, and analyses snoring noises," Daryoush Bazargani, professor of computer science at the University of Rostock, Germany and the pillow's inventor, said. "The computer then reduces or enlarges air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimize snoring as the user shifts during sleep," he said. The ergonomic pillow can also be used for neck massages. Mr Bazargani said several US firms were interested in manufacturing the pillow. "I invented it because I snore," he said. "I tried all sorts of products, but nothing worked. I hope people who use it will sleep more peacefully." Mr Bazargani was displaying a prototype of his pillow at a health conference in Germany."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Ubuntu Disappoints, Breaks Promises As It Grows (osweekly.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OSWeekly.com's Matt Hartley is disappointed in Ubuntu. Why? Because he thinks Ubuntu has broken promises of quality along the way after its rapid growth. He continues: "It's time to stop adding beta features and start looking at those which only partially work. Not for the sake of my hardware (my Linux PCs are extensive in number), but for those who are using different hardware combinations that are also sick of it. Consistent OS behavior, not cube spinning nonsense with half-done utility pipe-dreams, please.
Space

Submission + - Falcon HTV-3X hypersonic cruiser tested

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have successfully tested a sub-scale combustor for a dual-mode ramjet engine. This could power the Falcon HTV-3X (financed by DARPA) hypersonic cruiser to Mach 6 and beyond. With the Dual-mode, the engine can function both at subsonic speeds and then speed up to supersonic scramjet speeds (greater than Mach 5). This engine technology was developed for Lockheed Martin's Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology (FaCET) program.
AMD

Submission + - First Open Source ATI Drivers Now Available (opensuse.org)

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "After AMD partnered with SUSE to release open source specs, they have now made some alpha ATI Radeon 5xxx/6xxx drivers available, supporting initial mode settings. The next steps are adding support for more hardware, RandR 1.2 support, video overlay support and 2D acceleration. The source and packages for Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE and SLED are available in the openSUSE Build Service, with Debian and Ubuntu packages following shortly."

Feed Engadget: EU rules on Microsoft antitrust appeal: Bad news for Microsoft (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

The 15-month deliberation into Microsoft's appeal to the European ruling in their anti-trust case is over. The news is pretty bad for Microsoft as their appeal has been dismissed. As such, the $688 million fine imposed in 2004 stands and Microsoft must pay 80% of the Commission's legal costs as additional insult. Microsoft did succeed at abolishing the independent monitoring trustee established to supervise Microsoft's behavior. Microsoft can still appeal to the highest court in Europe so this isn't over by any stretch of the imagination.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Rejecting Safari on the Mac? 1

Submitted by
iMouse
iMouse writes: "Recent changes to Microsoft's Hotmail service appears to have left Safari-using Mac users out of luck. Currently, logging into Hotmail with a Safari browser causes an infinite redirect loop (or stops when Safari has said "enough redirects!"). Some users on the Apple Support Forums state that they have experienced the login problem beginning 5 days ago, while others are seeing their accounts become inaccessible with Safari as of this morning. http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?objID=f876&search=Go&q=safari+and+hotmail

This may be related to a change in Windows Live or a gradual migration to a new configuration as more and more Mac users are finding themselves unable to access their accounts using Safari. Some users have commented that they have contacted Microsoft, to which Microsoft responds with a generic statement that their Hotmail system is not experiencing any technical issues at this time."
Debian

Submission + - Compiz gets thumbs-up for Gutsy Gibbon (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Da Chronic
Da Chronic writes: After a vigorous debate at the last Ubuntu Technical Board meeting, the board decided to ship Ubuntu 7.10 with Compiz enabled by default. The decision was made despite the fact that Compiz still has some significant issues relating to drivers and Xorg. 'For instance, there are some problems — like accelerated video playback issues with Intel drivers — that can only be resolved by using the EXA accelerated rendering framework which is still not ready yet. When asked why Intel isn't addressing the driver issue, technical board member Mathew Garrett explained that "Intel are working on the basis that composited desktops won't be ready for rolling out until EXA is stable enough anyway, so it's not a concern [for them].' In the end, all but one member voted to include Compiz in Gutsy.

Feed Engadget: Solar Bottle solar-powered water purification bottle kills germs dead (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Water purification is generally an energy-intensive, wasteful operation, but designers Alberto Medo and Francisco Gomez Paz have done a neat end-run around those problems with their Solar Bottle, a portable water bottle that purifies water using the sun. The bottle, which holds just over a gallon of water, uses a purification process called SODIS that takes six hours to kill off a whole host of baddies, including Oregon Trail favorites cholera, typhoid and dysentery. Just a concept for now, but the design has been well-received and won several awards, so hopefully someone will step up and take it into production soon.

[Via Inhabitat]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Slashdot Top Deals

He who has but four and spends five has no need for a wallet.

Close