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Submission + - Should AWS spin out of Amazon? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Brandon Butler
Brandon Butler writes: Last week when Amazon released financial figures for Amazon Web Services ($6 billion annual revenue run rate, $680 million in annual profit) and in doing so it proved its cloud division is big enough to be its own company. But would Amazon ever spin AWS out? Amazon.com lost $50 million in the first quarter of this year, and that's with AWS contributing a $165 million profit. It's doubtful Amazon would shed the AWS cash-cow any time soon, but some analysts are calling for it.

Submission + - DSLreports new bufferbloat test (internetsociety.org)

Submitted by mtaht
mtaht writes: While I have long advocated using professional tools like netperf-wrapper's rrul test suite to diagnose and fix your bufferbloat issues, there has long been a need for a simpler web based test for it. Now dslreports has incorporated bufferbloat testing in their speedtest. What sort of bloat do slashdot readers experience? Give the test a shot at http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Has anyone here got around to applying fq_codel against their bloat?

Comment Re:TIL (Score 1) 124

by dissy (#49557953) Attached to: When Exxon Wanted To Be a Personal Computing Revolutionary

Personally I do consider both examples before as portables.

But the only other comparison would be to non-portables, which was most everything else available at the time.

I would say both my PC Jr and AT&T 4400 were pretty small and light compared to most micro-computers before that. But either of those was still three trips to the car, or five trips total for both by putting all the cables and such in a box together.

The Compaq portable was a single trip, as was my first //c with LCD.

Most older micro's, even the ones called "small", required moving equipment and multiple people.

Comment Re:TIL (Score 3, Insightful) 124

by dissy (#49557605) Attached to: When Exxon Wanted To Be a Personal Computing Revolutionary

The Apple //c was only 7.5 pounds, which is FAR more portable than the original Compaq portable which was 28 pounds.

I believe the term you are claiming this isn't would be "laptop".
But for the time these were as portable as you got.

You didn't need packaging material due to the slightest shock breaking something, they could be disconnected and moved by a single person without any safety registrations (usually requiring one to lift at least 50 pounds), and could be transported as a single unit.

Of course adding extra peripherals limits that portability - just like now - but the most common hardware was built in and self contained.

The only big downside for portability the Apple //c had was that the display was an option, and you could choose between the attachable LCD or an external black and white (well, green) CRT that was much cheaper. The CRT was not very portable, although I remember being able to carry it by the built in handle as a child, but it was just as fragile as any other CRT at the time.

Submission + - Apple's Next Frontier Is Your Body (fastcompany.com)

Submitted by Lashdots
Lashdots writes: Amid the unveiling of the Apple Watch, Tim Cook's wrist distracted from another new product last month: ResearchKit, an open source iOS platform designed to help researchers design apps for medical studies—and reach millions of potential research subjects through their iPhones. Alongside the company's new frontiers, like the car and the home, Cook told Jim Cramer last month that health "may be the biggest one of all." As Fast Company reports, Cook says Apple's devices could could help pinpoint diseases within decades—and position the company at the center of a "significantly underestimated" mobile-health industry. Given the medical history of Silicon Valley, however, the prognosis for Apple remains unclear.

Submission + - Obama unveils 6-year-old report on NSA surveillance (ap.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: With debate gearing up over the coming expiration of the Patriot Act surveillance law, the Obama administration on Saturday unveiled a 6-year-old report examining the once-secret program to collect information on Americans' calls and emails.

They found that while many senior intelligence officials believe the program filled a gap by increasing access to international communications, others including FBI agents, CIA analysts and managers "had difficulty evaluating the precise contribution of the PSP to counterterrorism efforts because it was most often viewed as one source among many available analytic and intelligence-gathering tools in these efforts."
Government

Think Tanks: How a Bill [Gates Agenda] Becomes a Law 165

Posted by Soulskill from the daily-dose-of-cynicism dept.
theodp writes: The NY Times' Eric Lipton was just awarded a 2015 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting that shed light on how foreign powers buy influence at think tanks. So, it probably bears mentioning that Microsoft's 'two-pronged' National Talent Strategy (PDF) to increase K-12 CS education and the number of H-1B visas — which is on the verge of being codified into laws — was hatched at an influential Microsoft and Gates Foundation-backed think tank mentioned in Lipton's reporting, the Brookings Institution. In 2012, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings hosted a forum on STEM education and immigration reforms, where fabricating a crisis was discussed as a strategy to succeed with Microsoft's agenda after earlier lobbying attempts by Bill Gates and Microsoft had failed. "So, Brad [Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith]," asked the Brookings Institution's Darrell West at the event, "you're the only [one] who mentioned this topic of making the problem bigger. So, we galvanize action by really producing a crisis, I take it?" "Yeah," Smith replied (video). And, with the help of nonprofit organizations like Code.org and FWD.us that were founded shortly thereafter, a national K-12 CS and tech immigration crisis was indeed created.

Submission + - Think Tanks: How a Bill [Gates Agenda] Becomes a Law

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The NY Times' Eric Lipton was just awarded a 2015 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting that shed light on how foreign powers buy influence at think tanks. So, it probably bears mentioning that Microsoft's 'two-pronged' National Talent Strategy to increase K-12 CS education and the number of H-1B visas — which is on the verge of being codified into laws by the President and lawmakers — was hatched at an influential Microsoft and Gates Foundation-backed think tank mentioned in Lipton's reporting, the Brookings Institution. In 2012, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings hosted a forum on STEM education and immigration reforms, where fabricating a crisis was discussed as a strategy to succeed with Microsoft's agenda where earlier lobbying attempts by Bill Gates and Microsoft had failed. "So, Brad [Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith]," asked the Brookings Institution's Darrell West at the event, "you're the only [one] who mentioned this topic of making the problem bigger. So, we galvanize action by really producing a crisis, I take it?" "Yeah," Smith replied (video). And, with the help of nonprofit organizations like Code.org and FWD.us that were founded shortly thereafter, a national K-12 CS and tech immigration crisis was indeed created. Last December, as Microsoft-backed Code.org 'taught President Obama to code' at a White House event to kick off the nations's Hour of Code (as a top Microsoft lobbyist looked on), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was also in D.C. publicly lobbying for high-skilled immigration and privately meeting with White House officials on undisclosed matters. And that, kids, is How a Bill [Gates Agenda] Becomes a Law!

Submission + - Which smartphone is stable these days?

Submitted by janimal
janimal writes: It used to be true that the iPhone was the smartphone that "just works". Ever since the 4S days, this has been true less and less with each generation. My wife's iPhone 6 needs to be restarted several times per week for things like internet search or making calls to work. An older 5S I'm using also doesn't consistently stream to Apple TV, doesn't display song names correctly on Apple TV and third party peripherals (like a Mercedes Benz). In short, the mainstay of Apple that is quality is fast receding. In your opinion, which smartphone brand these days is taking up the slack and delivering a fully featured smartphone that "just works"?

Submission + - Microsoft, Chip Makers Working on Hardware DRM for Windows 10 PCs (pcworld.com) 1

Submitted by writertype
writertype writes: Last month, Microsoft began talking about PlayReady 3.0, which adds hardware DRM to secure 4K movies. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm are all building it in, according to Microsoft. Years back, a number of people got upset when Hollywood talked about locking down "our content". So how important is hardware DRM in this day and age?

Comment Re:The Government Should Continue Investigating (Score 1) 112

by DickBreath (#49545641) Attached to: Comcast Officially Gives Up On TWC Merger
> I don't see them getting out of the NBC obligations

I didn't expect to see a lot of things earlier in my life.

But Corruption. And Congress.

Believe me, anything could happen if the right palms are greased and enough grease is used. Simply not pushing the merger any further may avoid scrutiny into how they already may not be honoring those obligations.

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