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Comment India (Score 5, Funny) 136

by rite_m (#26100653) Attached to: Google Zeitgeist 2008
My countrymen are confused. The top ten how-to lists has most people trying to figure out "how to reduce weight" (#1) while some are trying to find "how to gain weight" (#6). Men are trying "to impress a girl" (#9), while women are trying "to get pregnant" (#4).

And everyone else wants to learn to play guitar, learn english, create a website, make money and kiss (in no particular order).
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Free Wifi in BP gas stations

Submitted by rite_m
rite_m writes: NYT reports that BP will start offering free Wifi in its gas stations. The business model? Quote: The gas stations can "use Wi-Fi as a way to cause consumers to be more sticky", said David Callisch, a spokesman for Ruckus Wireless, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. He's not talking about the restroom floors. "People go to the gas station and you can get them to stay longer," he said. "Wi-Fi quickly becomes a money-making opportunity for them."
Google

Submission + - Chrome out of Beta, plans to support extensions

Submitted by rite_m
rite_m writes: Google has taken of the 'beta' label out of Chrome with the latest update. Their blog lists major improvements like: speed, stability and better bookmark management. More interestingly, they seem to have plans to support Firefox-like extensions. The listed use-cases for extensions include content flitering (Adblock, Flashblock, Privacy control, Parental control).
Google

Submission + - Are staff "hiding" the new Google OS? (pcpro.co.uk) 3

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Rumours that Google is working on its own operating system have been given fresh momentum: US internet metrics firm Net Applications claims that a third of Google's staff are masking the operating system being used on their computers, sparking speculation that they are using a new Google OS. "We have never seen an OS stripped off the user agent string before, I believe you have to arrange to have that happen, it's not something we've seen before with a proxy server. All I can tell you is there's a good percentage of the people at Google showing up [at web pages] with their OS hidden.""
Programming

What Programming Language For Linux Development? 997

Posted by kdawson from the let-slip-the-dogs dept.
k33l0r writes "Recently I've been thinking about developing (or learning to develop) for Linux. I'm an IT university student but my degree program focuses almost exclusively on Microsoft tools (Visual Studio, C#, ASP.NET, etc.) which is why I would like to expand my repertoire on my own. Personally I'm quite comfortable in a Linux environment, but have never programmed for it. Over the years I've developed a healthy fear of everything Java and I'm not too sure of what I think of Python's use of indentation to delimit blocks. The question that remains is: what language and tools should I be using?"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - SPAM: Why Clearwire's 4G network plan is no slam dunk

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Clearwire recently announced the completion of its Sprint Nextel transaction and the formation of the new Clearwire Corp. In addition, it received $3.2 billion from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks. As expected, Clearwire's conference call emphasized all the positive aspects of the deal. Namely, it owns lots of spectrum, is building an all-IP network that is "open," and will use fourth-generation (4G) mobile WiMAX technology (IEEE 802.16e). I'd love to see a nationwide 4G mobile network, but let's be clear about some of the challenges facing Clearwire, including cost, device and competitive ones.
Link to Original Source
Transportation

Study Confirms That Cars Have Personalities 213

Posted by kdawson from the disney-is-unsurprised dept.
Ponca City, We love you writes "A study has confirmed that many people see human facial features in the front ends of automobiles and ascribe various personality traits to cars. Forty study participants assessed cars based on a system known as geometric morphometrics by viewing high-resolution, 3D computer reconstructions and printed images of 38 actual 2004-06 car models and rating each model on 19 traits such as dominance, maturity, gender, and friendliness, and if they liked the car. Study participants liked best the cars scoring high in the so-called power traits — the most mature, masculine, arrogant, and angry-looking ones. Researchers theorized that over evolutionary time, humans have developed a selective sensitivity to features in the human face that convey information on sex, age, emotions, and intentions. The lead researcher explained, 'Seeing too many faces, even in mountains or toast, has little or no penalty, but missing or misinterpreting the face of a predator or attacker could be fatal.'"
Programming

Avoiding Mistakes Can Be a Huge Mistake 268

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the joys-of-corporate-overlordship dept.
theodp writes "No doubt many will nod knowingly as they read Paul Graham's The Other Half of 'Artists Ship', which delves into the downside of procedures developed by Big Companies to protect themselves against mistakes. Because every check you put on your programmers has a cost, Graham warns: 'And just as the greatest danger of being hard to sell to is not that you overpay but that the best suppliers won't even sell to you, the greatest danger of applying too many checks to your programmers is not that you'll make them unproductive, but that good programmers won't even want to work for you.' Sound familiar, anyone?"
Image

Rocketman Crosses Colorado Gorge 71

Posted by samzenpus from the up-up-and-away dept.
nandemoari writes "Remember the 1991 film, 'The Rocketeer,' where a young pilot uses a jetpack prototype to become a masked vigilante and win the heart of Jennifer Connelly? That scenario isn't as far-fetched as it once was, given that an American stuntman recently used a jetpack to soar over Colorado's Royal Gorge. The stuntman in question is one Eric Scott, who recently appeared on CBS' Early Show and a variety of local cable channels after making his daring leap. Scott has been testing jetpack devices for 16 years, and was confident that he wouldn't plummet to his untimely death when he straddled the Gorge above the Arkansas River earlier this week. Despite an enormous gulf between the two sides — 1,500 feet across and 1,000 feet down — Scott made the trip safely."
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun to cut up to 6,000 Jobs

Submitted by no-more-HB1s-needed
no-more-HB1s-needed writes: Looks like the IT jobs market might be getting harder real soon. According to an article over at Bloomberg:

Sun plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs as the company tries to cope with plunging sales of server computers to financial firms, market-share losses to bigger competitors and a spiraling stock price. ... Sun is the third company in Santa Clara, at the heart of California's Silicon Valley, to cut jobs this week as technology companies cope with the worst sales slump since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000. Applied Materials Inc., the largest maker of chip-production machinery, announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs, and mobile-phone chip builder National Semiconductor Corp. said it will shed about 5 percent of the staff.
Space

India's Chandrayaan Lands Impact Probe On the Moon 203

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the peacock-has-landed dept.
yaksha writes to tell us that the Indian Space probe, Chandrayaan, has become only the fourth nation to land a probe on the Moon. The 35-kg Moon Impact Probe touched down in what officials are describing as a "perfect operation." "Developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. The probe will help qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP."

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