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Mars

Submission + - What happens when we make it into space?

Submitted by klwood911
klwood911 writes: I would like to pose this question to the Slashdot community. It is not a technical question, but will have technical impacts. If and when we get to outer space, what time will we base our civilization on? Here is why I ask. We submit our taxes on April 14th. We have our religious holidays on their respective days. We have our birthdays on, well our birthdays. Now translate this to a new planet where hours in the day and days in the year will differ. A person on earth might be 30 years old, but on another planet would be only 18. Would that person still be legal to drink? I ask as these don't seem to be questions that are brought up when we talk about inhabitting another planet. The technical part comes in when judging time and location. Imagine picking your time zone based on the planet you are on. This would have huge implications in software design, almost like the watches that were specifically designed for the engineers working on the Mars rovers. What are yuor thoughts?

Submission + - New robotic hand 'can feel.' But can it love? (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Dyne09
Dyne09 writes: The BBC has just run an article about a group of Swiss and Italian scientists who have created a robotic hand with forty sensors that "connect directly to the brain." Though fuzzy on the details, the hand provides sensor feedback to a willing test subject who lost his arm to disease early in life. How long until we have access to Star Wars-esque robotic limbs?

Submission + - A Critical First Look at Ubuntu 9.10 4

Submitted by BrendaEM
BrendaEM writes: Easily installed from a live USB, and fortified with no-delayed-write patched EXT4 goodness, I installed the Ubuntu 9.10 beta. Upon booting, I noticed that the new Ubuntu 9.10 splash screen gives little information on how far the boot progress is. The useful old status bar was removed, and replaced by a useless Cylon throbber.

The 9.10 new login screen is quite busy for the eye. Even for someone who does 3D and graphic design, it takes a moment to understand the nesting of boxes and blocks. There must be some geometric meaning to them. If I can sort out a 15,000 brush Quake map, and add nuts and bolts to a 700 part CAD'ed machine, I know I can figure out the nesting order of the login boxes and squares--just give me more time, please.

When a multi-boot is updated, the user still needs to remove accumulated kernels manually, with Synaptic, or install the Gnome Startup Manager. While it is not an imperative, the multi-boot menu still looks bad. It is not imperative because we do not expect other operating systems to Linux aware at all, yet we do expect Linux to be aware of other operating systems. A text cursor still sneaks in to show itself while booting with the graphic loader--sneakie little things, aren't they?

Once booted, Ubuntu boots on my computer with only 120mb of memory used, and no swap spent; other operating systems take note--especially Microsoft.

In this version, it appears that the sound works, and in fact everything else seems to work on my Ubuntu S10, cheers! In Ubuntu 9.04, I had to run a script to update the Alsa, which is used by not only Gnome's streaming framework API de'jour, but JACK, which I hope will take its places as Linux's streaming solution, but that won't happen because there are too many companies trying to implement DRM on Linux, and they will want a single point to control the audio streams. Myself, I just use the SMPlayer GUI for Mplayer, but I wish SMPlayer was GTK instead.

Perhaps someday, Gnome designers may become aware of the fact that dual menu-bars waste valuable real estate. This can be remedied with some effort, and swapping out the Ubuntu text menu bar with original Gnome menu applet, unlocking and moving the widgets, and deleting 2nd menu bar, sending it to the bit-bucket where it belongs. While doing this, you may notice that the individual check-boxes that lock each launch icon must go. Use only one lock for the whole bar works fine, thank you. The user switching applet, and new communication widgets also take up valuable room, but they can be removed for netbook use. While help is available as an icon is on launch bar, it is not on the first tier of the Gnome menu, for some reason. The occasional help needer will need to look for help longer. I can't seem to take a screenshot while Gnome's are open, which cannot make the creation of tutorials easy.

The twin desktop switcher is still too large. It should be smaller horizontally. Gnome's multiple desktops work so well, it is a shame not to use it on small monitors. It would also be nice to able to double click Workplace switcher to minimize / un-minimize all. It would also be nice to be able to drag an application's menubar to a workspace by the widget. Even though it's big, you still can't do it. I seem to remember using the 4-desktop workspace switcher, is actually smaller than the twin one, for some unknown reason. If I can hit little boxes on one, I can hit them on the other.

New Wi-fi Dialog is poorly designed, relying on little more than font style only to indicate user is connected or not to anything.

Delving deeper into the menus, it should be apparent to almost anyone that "Recent Documents" are not really "Places," and so they should not be placed there. Was there not a nice sweep icon to clear this just in the last version? Where did it go?

Gnome menu editing itself is still not integrated, and still requires a separate application. You cannot drag icons in the menus, and the separate application feels separate--not slick, but I'm sure people are still reeling from the idea that people might want to arrange their menus--at all.

Upon installation, the context/click create document menu is empty on installation. Does no program know about this menu, or how to use it?

The Evolution daemon still starts on default. I use Thunderbird, and so, I notice the subtle things such as Evolution being attached to Gnome like an Alien face-hugger.

The new icons and themes look nice. There are additional wallpapers to be had, also nice.

There is still GUI font installation method? Nautilus still not patched for Fonts:// as that was too easy for the user to add fonts?

Fortunately, the lid/power thing is fixed, as the older default of not shutting off a notebook when the lid is closed was quite dangerous in a machine stuffed in a bag along with angry lithium batteries. One rushed and forgetful afternoon, I almost toasted both of my laptops after doing installs on them, and putting them in their cases--unthinking of that they were still running.

While most people would think that "Documents" makes more sense than "My Documents," I still prefer to have folders such as these on the bottom of my desktop, so that files can be sorted as a sieve. Now they are speced to be out of sight in the home folder where most people won't see them as much as they would be seen on the desktop. If you were going to have any folder on your desktop, would you not want it to be your documents?

The current method of breaking up multimedia into movies, sound, and photos is useless for those people who create multimedia content. I create a folder for project, and then put all the associated files for that project in that folder. I also like my music in folders--so when the databases become corrupted I can still sort things out.

The Nautilus preferences dialog is still too large for my netbook. I filed a few bug reports for large menus, but perhaps not enough. Tabbed Nautilus is a great improvement, thanks : )

Given the amount of updates in a beta version of an operating system, the update manager did very well, better than any solution in the Windows or Mac world. Update Manager progress bar was replaced with yet another useless throbber. Okay, the old progress indicator went backwards once in while when it didn't find the servers, but why pull the engine out of the car because it backfires sometimes. Ubuntu software "Center" should be under system. While the thrice reinveted Synaptic knock-off doesn't seem bloated yet, still, "Center" is a marketing term which equates to bloated high-level idiot resistant ware. Just because there's a new software installation tool doesn't mean we need to trip over it in the menus, like an attention starved dog.

Rather than "Ubuntu One," I would rather have a GUI for easy SSH and SFTP server setup, as people might like to use their Ubuntu systems also as servers. I do not want Ubuntu One to search through my documents, nor do I want to see checkmarks next to all my icons. I had hoped that Linux would not be as nosy as its competitors. To me, "Cloud" means: someone owes someone money--when the bombs fall, I'll loose my stuff--when your company has competition, I'd better do free advertising for you, or I'll lose my data should you go out of business. Cloud computing is the antithesis of a personal computer. We need to keep coming out with marketing ideas, "Cloud computing," "Web 2.0." Here's a marketing idea: "Own your stuff."

Sigh, OpenOffice's grammar checker Language Tool is broken again, wait don't tell me, let me guess-- it is a Java version issue right? I am all for removing Java as a depend for OpenOffice, but that will not happen without a split. I noticed that OpenOffice Gnome integration icons are good for created documents, better than the original OpenOffice launch glyphs. Having written hundreds of thousands of words in OpenOffice, made spread sheets, and charts, I've been quite pleased with it. Now, I dread seeing the ribbon bar mock up I saw for OpenOffice; two wrongs do not make a right, but no one can stop an infatuated programmer who looks to reinvent a wheel that's too big for the car. Often, when I write, I do so with only, with the style bar, right elevator/scroll box, and a status bar. Sometimes the best GUI is no GUI. When I get down to writing, I use full screen, and only a vertical scroll box, and that damn close button they now made sure I cannot shut off in OpenOffice.

Lastly for now, in this release, Gnome/Ubuntu 9.10 separates certain games into "Logic" to make some people feel better about wasting their time, so they feel better about doing so, in a more intelligent manner. Nudge, Tetris is a logic game, as well. Where do you draw the line, but more important--why?

--BrendaEM
Education

Submission + - Interest on Loans Rankles College Grads 3

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Like many recent college grads, Steven Lee finds himself unemployed in one of the roughest job markets in decades and saddled with a big pile of debt, owing about $84,000 in student loans for undergrad and grad-school. But what's really got Lee angry are the high interest rates on his government-backed student loans. 'The rate for a 30-year mortgage is around 5%,' Lee said. 'Why should anyone have to pay 8.5%? The government has bailed out homeowners. It's bailed out big businesses. Why can't it also help students?' Not only that, federal student loans are the only loans in the nation that are largely non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, have no statutes of limitations, and can't be refinanced after consolidation, so Lee can forget about pulling a move out of the GM playbook. And unlike mortgages on million-dollar vacation homes, student loans have very limited tax deductibility. A spokeswoman for the Department of Education blamed Congress for the rates which she conceded 'may seem high today' (especially compared to the deal Wall Street banks get), but suggested that students are a credit-unworthy lot who should thank their lucky stars that rates aren't 12% or higher. Makes one long for the good-old-days of 3% student loans, doesn't it?
Amiga

Submission + - Amiga and Hyperion Settle ownership of AmigaOS (hyperion-entertainment.com)

Submitted by HKcastaway
HKcastaway writes: Amiga Inc and Hyperion Entertainment announced the settlement over ownership and licensing over AmigaOS 4.0 and future versions. Since the bankruptcy of Commodore Amiga's history has been littered with lawsuits which have affected the development of Amiga hardware and software. Having a lawsuit free OS is probably will help a great deal to the continuity and recovery of the Amiga heritage. Hyperion also provides AmigaOS SDKs for developers.

Submission + - Jessica Watson sets sail (jessicawatson.com.au)

Submitted by DarkOx
DarkOx writes: Jessica Watson has begun her round the world voyage, if successful she will be the youngest person, age 16, to circumnavigate the globe by sail unassisted and non-stop.

She will 23,000 nautical miles (about 38,000 kilometres), departing and returning to Sydney as required to set the record. This will be a journey lasting around 240 days, during which she may not acquire any outside supplies or receive any assistance with repairs.

She will have internet access, e-mail, and her position will be continuously tracked and monitored. This is a pretty high tech undertaking both in the electronics sense and as in sailing kit. Her yacht is a S&S (Sparkman and Stephens) 34 a boat that has successfully been used in other solo circumnavigation bids.

Much more information can be found at her website: http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Submission + - Airport tests full-body X-ray system (takefreetime.com)

Submitted by slreboy
slreboy writes: Future passenger security checks at airports may no longer include ‘pat-downs’ with a new full-body imaging technology undergoing trials at Manchester Airport.

Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 is trialling the Secure 1000 Single Pose, which uses backscatter technology and proprietary image processing software to produce a ghost-like outline of an individual’s body. A concealed threat such as a knife or gun would be clearly detectable on the image.

The US-based developer of the technology, Rapiscan Systems, believes that the technology could, one day, replace metal detectors in airports.
Power

Submission + - Swedes Burn Bunnies for Biofuel

Submitted by
The Narrative Fallacy
The Narrative Fallacy writes: "Der Spiegel reports that thousands of rabbits living in the center of Stockholm are being culled, deep frozen and converted into biofuel for heating homes. "We are shooting rabbits in Stockholm center, they are a very big problem," says Tommy Tuvunger who hunts rodents for the Stockholm city administration. "Once culled, the rabbits are frozen and when we have enough; a contractor comes and takes them away" shipping them to a heating plant in Karlskoga in central Sweden which uses them as biofuel and incinerates them to heat homes, The practice of killing rabbits and incinerating has been criticized by Sweden's Society for the Protection of Wild Rabbits. "Those who support the culling of rabbits surely think it's good to use the bodies for a good cause. But it feels like they're trying to turn the animals into an industry rather than look at the main problem," says Anna Johannesson. Animal control authorities employ a special rifle to shoot the excess rabbits, with most of the culling taking place at dawn when the animals peek out from their holes. The rabbits, not native to Sweden, are mainly the offspring of pets released by owners, and are said to be destroying parks in the capital. "In the town where they are burning them the reaction of the residents is quite relaxed," says James Savage. "But in Stockholm there's the big city attitude of the rabbits being cute."
Games

Submission + - World of Goo Birthday Sale

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As mentioned previously on Slashdot, World of Goo was ported to Linux. For one more day only, there is a World of Goo Birthday sale. "World of Goo just turned one year old! For this week... pay whatever you think it's worth (normally 20 USD)" For those who game (or wish there were more games) on Linux, now is a good time to show some support to the developers.
Earth

Submission + - Maldives Government Holds Undersea Cabinet Meeting

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The president of the Maldives and 11 ministers, decked in scuba gear, held a cabinet meeting 4m underwater to highlight the threat of global warming to the low-lying Indian Ocean nation. While officials said the event itself was light-hearted, the idea is to focus on the plight of the Maldives, where rising sea levels threaten to make the nation uninhabitable by the end of the century. President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet spent half an hour on the sea bed, communicating with white boards and hand signals and signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon emissions. The Maldives has already begun to divert a portion of the country's billion-dollar annual tourist revenue to buy a new homeland as an insurance policy against climate change that threatens to turn the 300,000 islanders into environmental refugees. Emerging out of the water, a dripping President Nasheed removed his mask to answer questions from reporters and photographers crowded around on the shore. "We are trying to send a message to the world about what is happening and what would happen to the Maldives if climate change isn't checked," he said, bobbing around in the water with his team of ministers. "If the Maldives is not saved, today we do not feel there is much chance for the rest of the world.""
Games

Submission + - The Dark Mod

Submitted by cha0t1c
cha0t1c writes: THE DARK MOD is a total conversion for Doom 3, turning it into a dark and moody stealth game inspired by the Thief series by Looking Glass Studios. We have created a toolset with revamped gameplay, AI, graphics, HUD and weapons to allow fans to create missions in a gothic steampunk universe. The Dark Mod went beta on October 17th, 2009. http://www.thedarkmod.com/
Idle

Submission + - 'Ho White' Australian Beer Ad Angers Disney (slashfood.com)

Submitted by xkcdFan1011011101111
xkcdFan1011011101111 writes: From the article:

"An Australian beer advertisement has reportedly ticked off Disney because it features a Snow White lookalike lying in bed blowing smoke rings with seven undressed dwarves. The ad campaign for Jamieson Brewery's Raspberry Ale was created by the Australian advertising agency The Foundry to promote the beer as "anything but sweet" with a maiden they call "Ho White" and seven dwarves.

The Walt Disney Co., who licenses the usually wholesome character, quickly noticed The Foundry's online and print marketing, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Foundry said it had "a little bit of contact" with Disney over this adults-only version of Snow White.

The official Web site, anythingbutsweet.com.au, can no longer be accessed. The Foundry's Web site reportedly featured pictures of "Ho White" earlier this week but no longer does."

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