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Submission + - Palm is up for sale (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by leetrout
leetrout writes: Bloomberg is carrying the story. From the article "Palm Inc., creator of the Pre smartphone, put itself up for sale and is seeking bids for the company as early as this week, according to three people familiar with the situation."
Software

Submission + - IPad is making cross platform development harder (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by imapopsensation
imapopsensation writes: There have been articles here and elsewhere about the closed development platform for the IPad and the IPhone (iEtc) stores. This article from the Washington Post really sums up some of the problems I have with the limitations on software development Apple has been putting out there. I am nervous about the negative implications for small business and entrepreneur startups who rely on the freedom of the web and the various platforms for delivering rich content to all platforms. Using Flex and HTML/JS I have been building very scalable affordable applications for medical professionals. The IPad could be such a great asset for getting these applications into people's hands in doctor's offices and hospitals but instead it is just muddling things up with new rules and limitations.
Cellphones

Submission + - Cell Phones to Sniff Out Deadly Chemicals 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Science Daily reports that Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate's Cell-All is an initiative to equip cell phones with a sensor capable of detecting deadly chemicals. A chip costing less than a dollar would be embedded in cell phones and programmed to either alert the cell phone carrier to the presence of toxic chemicals in the air, and/or a central station that can monitor how many alerts in an area are being received. While one alert might be a false positive, hundreds would indicate the need for evacuation. "Our goal is to create a lightweight, cost-effective, power-efficient solution," says Stephen Dennis, Cell-All's program manager. Does this always-on surveillance mean that the government can track your precise whereabouts whenever it wants? On the contrary, DHS says Cell-All will operate only on an opt-in basis and will transmit data anonymously. "Privacy is as important as technology," says Dennis. "After all, for Cell-All to succeed, people must be comfortable enough to turn it on in the first place." Dennis hopes to have 40 prototypes in about a year, the first of which will sniff out carbon monoxide and fire and commercialization may take several years."

Comment No Software Will Replace Therapy (Score 4, Interesting) 145

by leetrout (#29945352) Attached to: Computer Activities for Those With Speech and Language Difficulties?
I am the son of an SLP here in the states and a patient of hers as well. This was a fortunate situation for me because I got good therapy and I had parents that were involved. No software will ever replace good therapy with a good therapist / pathologist.

That being said, there are video and board games to be used as therapy tools and they are all geared toward children from preschool through high school. I created a video game about a year ago for just this purpose. The games require the player to get a speech bubble which cues a visual and auditory stimulus, then the player should repeat the stimulus with their best effort. You can even use it with a microphone so that the game continues after you say the word. It does not, however, do any speech recognition, just merely detecting audio activity.

You can download a small demo (Flash projector, demo is Win only but the game is Win / Mac) at the website, http://www.2galsspeechproducts.com/

Feel free to contact me directly if needed. leetrout _at_ gmail _dot_ com

Comment Is it really that popular? (Score 2, Interesting) 275

by leetrout (#29579807) Attached to: Cracking Open the SharePoint Fortress
We have Share Point here at my office but my team doesn't use it because it is so hard to navigate. It is extremely difficult to figure out where you just posted something if you happen to stumble back to the main landing page. I'm shocked to hear that anyone considers that package a "success". I, for one, will not be giving up on any OS tools / apps for SP.
The Internet

Submission + - Opera Brings Tabs and More to Mobile Browsing (opera.com)

Submitted by leetrout
leetrout writes: Opera announced today that they are releasing a beta of their new mobile browser. Calling it "The next generation of mobile browsing", the new browser touts some great features including tabs, speed dial, touch screen and keypad optimization, and a password manager.

"In this fifth-generation version, Opera Mini is staying true to the company's promise of a superior Web experience on any device. Introducing a new, sleek look and feel, Speed Dial bookmarks and tabs — together with Opera's renowned speed — make this new version of Opera Mini the easiest-to-use Web browser on a phone. Simply direct your phone's existing Web browser to http://m.opera.com/next, and download the Opera Mini 5 beta free of charge."
Games

Submission + - 250GB drive coming to the Xbox? (gamesindustry.biz)

Submitted by NexusTw1n
NexusTw1n writes: Microsoft and Activision have revealed a new Xbox 360 console which ships with a 250GB hard-drive and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 branding. The unit will ship for $399. While game branding of consoles isn't new, what is interesting is the drive size. Are MS finally going to sell a decent drive for those of us stuck on 20GB? If so, what price will it be?

Submission + - Johns Hopkins student kills man with samurai sword (baltimoresun.com) 1

Submitted by hjames
hjames writes: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.samurai16sep16,0,114199.story

Hours earlier, someone had broken into John Pontolillo's house and taken two laptops and a video-game console. Now it was past midnight, and he heard noises coming from the garage out back.

The Johns Hopkins University undergraduate didn't run. He didn't call the police. He grabbed his samurai sword.

With the 3- to 5-foot-long, razor-sharp weapon in hand, police say, Pontolillo crept toward the noise. He noticed a side door in the garage had been pried open. When a man inside lunged at him, police say, the confrontation was fatal.

"He was backed up against a corner and either out of fear or out of panic, he just struck the sword with force," said Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "It was probably with fear for his life."

Pontolillo, who rents the house in the 300 block of E. University Parkway in the Oakenshawe neighborhood, struck the intruder no more than twice, police say, nearly severing his left hand and inflicting what police termed a "spear laceration."

The intruder, Donald D. Rice of Baltimore, a 49-year-old repeat offender who had been released from jail only Saturday, died at the bloody scene.

Comment Re:Incredible (Score 1) 173

by leetrout (#28722371) Attached to: NASA Releases Restored Apollo 11 Video, But Originals Lost
Dick Natger from Goddard representing NASA said that most of the previous video footage was stored on video tapes, not telemetry tapes, and that yes it was a shame no one made any effort to note which tapes had the footage, but it was only 1 track on a 14 track tape that no one would normally expect to have video on anyway.

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One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting as an advisor... is to discourage... from expecting too much from mathematics. -- N. Wiener

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