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Submission + - Does the world need another programming language? (oreilly.com) 1

Submitted by blackbearnh
blackbearnh writes: It seems like boutique languages have become all the style, and not a week doesn't go by that someone isn't promoting some new languages as the next great hope to save the industry. So you might be excused if you wrote off Go as just another new language. But Go has an impressive parentage, counting among it's creators Robert "Commander" Pike, one of the early Unix pioneers at Bell Labs who worked with greats such as Brian Kernighan and Ken Thompson, and now works at Google. In an OSCON preview, Pike talks about Go at Google, and compares the work environment of Google and Bell Labs. According to Pike, Go is an attempt to produce a robust programming language that is easy to parse and compile, and produces small binaries. " A lot of the ideas and changes in hardware that have come about in the last couple of decades haven't had a chance to influence C++. So we sat down with a clean sheet of paper and tried to design a language that would solve the problems that we have: we need to build software quickly, have it run well on modern multi-core hardware and in a network environment, and be a pleasure to use."
Security

Olympus Digital Camera Ships With a Worm 249

Posted by kdawson from the do-not-get-too-close-to-the-viewfinder dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Olympus Japan has issued a warning to customers who have bought its Stylus Tough 6010 digital compact camera that it comes with an unexpected extra — a virus on its internal memory card. The Autorun worm cannot infect the camera itself, but if it is plugged into a Windows computer's USB port, it can copy itself onto the PC, then subsequently infect any attached USB device. Olympus says it 'humbly apologizes' for the incident, which is believed to have affected some 1,700 units. The company said it will make every effort to improve its quality control procedures in future. Security company Sophos says that more companies need to wake up to the need for better quality control to ensure that they don't ship virus-infected gadgets. At the same time, consumers should learn to always ensure Autorun is disabled, and scan any device for malware before they use it on their computer."

Comment Interesting..... (Score 5, Insightful) 289

by LordPhantom (#31148072) Attached to: 'Iceman' Gets 13 Years For 2nd Hacking Offense
"It is a shame that someone with so much ability chose to use it in a manner that hurt many people," Dembosky said in an e-mail message."

That in light of

"Butler served an 18-month prison term for the crime and fell on hard times after his 2002 release, he said in a sentencing memorandum filed Thursday. "I was homeless, staying on a friends couch. I couldn't get work," he wrote. In desperation, he turned again to cybercrime."

I'm not saying he's right, but it does highlight something interesting about finding work as an ex-con.

Comment Re:heating element (Score 1) 839

by LordPhantom (#30597552) Attached to: Midwest Seeing Red Over 'Green' Traffic Lights

I was up in Fargo, ND visiting family for Christmas (yah shoor ya betcha) and a traffic light was out on a 6-lane intersection. Guess what? Everyone was calmly proceeding as if it was a 4-way stop. No drama, no retardation.

This whole thing is a non-problem. It's just that lazy journalists love it because it's "irony". It's not really ironic unless you're Alanis Morissette, but it makes for an easy, shitty space filler. Notice how in that story the SIGN is also covered in snow? ZOMG! We need heated road signs! Woe is me! Signs can sometimes become obscured by snow, the horror! The HORROR!

You don't get it. The problem here is *one* direction is out or misleading. The drivers coming from any other direction have no idea that there's a problem, thus the issue.
Google

Google Nexus Rumored To Cost $530 Or $180 w/Plan 284

Posted by CmdrTaco from the it-better-be-good dept.
wkurzius writes "The new Google phone, the Nexus One, is rumored to cost $530 unlocked and will work on any GSM network. A subsidized version is also available for $180 and will get you a T-Mobile Even More Individual 500 Plan for 2-years with a $350 termination fee. Access to the phone is supposed to be invite only at first, with January 5th being the supposed release date."
Power

Midwest Seeing Red Over 'Green' Traffic Lights 839

Posted by CmdrTaco from the do-you-see-what-i-see dept.
theodp writes "Many municipalities have switched to LED traffic signals because they burn brighter, last longer and use 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs. But they also emit less heat, meaning they sometimes have trouble melting snow, causing problems across the Midwest. In Wisconsin, snow blanketed LED traffic lights in some towns, leading to crashes at intersections where drivers weren't sure whether to stop or go. The unintended consequences of the green technology were also identified as a 'contributing factor' in the death of an Illinois woman hit by a driver who blamed the snow-covered energy-efficient signal for giving the appearance of a normal green light instead of a left-turn signal. 'We can remove the snow with heat, but the cost of doing that in terms of energy use has not brought any enthusiasm from cities and states that buy these signals,' said the CEO of an LED traffic-signal manufacturer. 'They'd like to be able to take away this issue, but they don't want to spend the money and lose the savings.' In the meantime, some towns are addressing sporadic problems by dispatching crews to remove snow or ice from signals using poles, brooms, and heating devices." We were discussing these recently at the office — several folks in the building are red/green color blind and different street lights are differently distinguishable.

Comment Re:Its justified price (Score 2, Insightful) 536

by LordPhantom (#29542821) Attached to: Why Games Cost $60
Frankly, to some degree I think the current cost of games is a bargain, especially if you compare the price point versus development costs of games of even 5-10 years ago. Paying $60 for a 40-100 hour RPG experience complete with full score, FMV and incredible rendering that took thousands of man-hours to produce is actually pretty cheap.

Comment Re:Put into another way (Score 1) 220

by LordPhantom (#24673269) Attached to: Watchmen Delayed, Or Worse
Copyright law exist to protect the original author from abuses, so that the result of their hard working and sweating aren't used without proper compensation. This isn't the case.

Wrong Keep in mind Company A (Fox) originally paid for the transferal of rights for exclusive publication, the original author being the beneficiary of that transaction. If you don't protect the rights of Company A, you're restricting the free market and causing author's selling of their publication rights to have much less value. Just because company B is willing to pay for that franchise *now* doesn't mean that if company A hadn't footed the original bill in return for future profits that there'd even be anything to sell at this point.

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