berboot - Slashdot User

Submission + - Women are fleeing IT jobs

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Friday April 20, 2007 @04:31PM

Lucas123 writes: "An alarming number of women are currently abandoning IT jobs that require workers to be on-call at all hours, according to a story in Computerworld. One study cited in the article states that by 2012, 40% of women now working in IT will leave for careers with more flexible hours. 'I think women in that regard are at a real disadvantage,' said Dot Brunette, network and storage manager at Meijer Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer and a 30-year IT veteran. She noted that companies can fail to attract female workers, or see them leave key IT jobs because they fail to provide day care at work, or work-at-home options for someone who leaves to have a child.'"

Submission + - AMD reports $611 million loss

Submitted by mpfife on Friday April 20, 2007 @04:30PM

mpfife writes: Toms hardware reports that "Declining microprocessor sales as well as dropping average selling prices for its microprocessors have pushed AMD deeper into the red. The company reported a net loss of $611 million on revenues of $1.233 billion, which is more than 20% below the guidance the company expected at the end of Q4 2006. The loss includes charges related to the ATI acquisition in the amount of $113 million, but is mainly a result of the increasing competition with Intel in the microprocessor market."

Submission + - "Dark Side" of the H1-B Program

Submitted by TheGrapeApe on Friday April 20, 2007 @04:21PM

TheGrapeApe writes: Froma Harrop examines the "Dark Side" of the H1-B Visa program, and the subtle ways that corporations are using it to dismantle and extract American programming, graphic design and other service-sector jobs to overseas economies in this piece from the Seattle Times:

Ron Hira has studied the dark side of the H-1B program. A professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, he notes that the top applicants for visas are outsourcing companies, such as Wipro Technologies of India and Bermuda-based Accenture.

The companies bring recruits in from, say, India to learn about American business. After three years here, the workers go home better able to interact with their U.S. customers.

In other cases, companies ask their U.S. employees to train H-1B workers who then replace them at lower pay. "This is euphemistically called, 'knowledge transfer,' " Hira says. "I call it, 'knowledge extraction.' "

Submission + - Splitting CO2 using Solar Energy

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20, 2007 @02:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: From the article: "Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have demonstrated the feasibility of exploiting sunlight to transform a greenhouse gas into a useful product." The device "splits carbon dioxide to generate carbon monoxide and oxygen in a three-step process. The first step is the capture of solar energy photons by the semiconductor. The second step is the conversion of optical energy into electrical energy by the semiconductor. The third step is the deployment of electrical energy to the catalysts. The catalysts convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide on one side of the device and to oxygen on the other side." While not powerful enough on its own they are hoping to pair it with a better solar panel soon.

Submission + - Black Xbox 360 Confirmed

Submitted by

scott666

on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @01:28PM

scott666 writes: "Kotaku.com has a story repeating the April issue of Game Informer magazine confirming the existance of the Black Xbox 360. The new console with retail for $479, and include a HDMI port, HDMI cable and 120GB hard drive. It does not include an HD-DVD drive, as has been rumored because the "format's not proven.""

Submission + - Is Google planning a national wireless network?

Submitted by eastbayted on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @12:41PM

eastbayted writes: Amid the buzz surrounding Google's rumored plans to release a mobile phone, the Daily Wireless has posted an interesting article citing eight reasons why the search behemoth may very well be planning to build a nationwide wireless network. Among them: Google has made hefty investments in dark fiber; it's already offering free wireless in Mountain View and has offered to do the same in San Francisco; and it's fighting hard to maintain Net neutrality.

Submission + - Pics of the New Logitech G5 Rev2

Submitted by

Dampeal

on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @12:33PM

Dampeal writes: "Here's some pics of the new Logitech G5 mouse, I guess it could be called Version 2.0, It has an all new look, and an added side button! Link to blog HERE"

Submission + - Prius more environmentally damaging than a Hummer

Submitted by on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @12:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: According to this story from Central Connecticut State University the Prius takes more energy to manufacture than a Hummer, requiring 50% more energy to produce. In addition, they calculate that the Prius costs $3.25 per mile over it's expected lifespan of 100,000 miles compared to $1.95 per mile for the hummer.

Journal Journal: DC Gun Control Violates Amendment II of the Constitution 1

Journal by GMontag on Friday March 09, 2007 @04:37PM

A post by 'mediageek' at Reason's Hit & Run informs us of a surprisingly sensible decision by the DC Circuit Court. In part:

Wind, Solar & Biofuels to Power Remote Cell Towers 119

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 09, 2007 @03:48PM from the go-juice dept.

tcd004 writes "How do you set up a cell network when there's no power grid? Namibia, India and Nigeria are building towers using localized power sources to provide critical cell phone access to the most remote parts of their countries. Wind/solar hybrids, and biofuel power plants will power the radio towers, peripheral communications, and even the protective fencing around the installations."

Submission + - FBI Admits Abuse of Patriot Act to Obtain Info

Submitted by SydShamino on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:50PM

SydShamino writes: CNN, the Associated Press and others are reporting that an independent audit of the FBI revealed "serious misuse" of power to acquire private information granted in the Patriot Act. FBI Director Robert Mueller has accepted responsibility for problems and says they are being corrected, but Congress has already called for hearings. There's no word yet on criminal charges against anyone in the FBI who might have broken the law.

Submission + - Whatever Happened To The Electronics Hobbyist?

Submitted by plcurechax on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:39PM

plcurechax writes: Louis Frenzel asks Whatever Happened To The Electronics Hobbyist? at Electronics Design, a magazine for EE designers. The article touches on kits, radio, Moore's Law, economics, education, and robotics.

The History of Computer RPGs 77

Posted by Zonk on Monday February 26, 2007 @01:39PM from the welcome-to-the-dnd-world dept.

Gamasutra is running a series of articles about the history of CRPGs. The first piece covers the early years, from 1980 to 1983, and deals with with games like mainframe dnd, Wizardry, and Ultima. The follow-up, The Golden Years, touches on the gold box Dungeons and Dragons titles, as well as the Bard's Tale games. "The first Gold Box game is Pool of Radiance, a game which marked an important turning point in CRPG history. The game shipped in a distinctive gold-colored box (hence the nickname for the series), which sported artwork by celebrated fantasy illustrator Clyde Caldwell (Caldwell also designed the covers for Curse of the Azure Bonds and several other TSR-licensed games and books). It was initially available only on the Atari ST and Commodore 64 platforms, though soon ports were available for most major platforms, including the NES."

Microsoft 'Refocusing on Fun', Alien Hominid Comes to XBLA 33

Posted by Zonk on Monday February 26, 2007 @12:30PM from the what-were-they-focusing-on-before dept.

C&VG offers up some news on Microsoft's next-gen games platform today. Most interesting are comments from Peter Moore indicating the company will be refocusing on fun, inspired by the financial and mass-market success of Nintendo's Wii. Says Moore "From a first-party point of view, it's not just about E-rated games, it's going to be about the experience that, quite frankly, Nintendo has done a tremendous job in capturing, in bringing back fun - if you will - to the gaming platforms." He's quick to point out that this is something they've had on the back burner for some time, and they intend to aim for 'experiential' games. The article wonders out loud, questioning whether this means Microsoft is planning to roll out a motion-sensing controller, or just more E and T rated games? Additionally, CVG points out that this week's Xbox Live Arcade release is The Behemoth's Alien Hominid . It's a tremendous side-scrolling 2d shooter, and well worth checking out.

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