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Books

Submission + - ask /.: best book for 11yr old who wants to teach himself to Program 1

Submitted by waferthinmint
waferthinmint writes: what is the best book for my son to use to teach himself to program? He wants to study on his own but everything seems to assume an instructor or a working theoretical knowledge. he's a bright kid but the right guide can make all the difference.
Also, what language should he start with? When I was in HS it was Basic or Pascal. Now I guess C? He has access to an ubuntu box and an older macbook pro. Help me Slashdot, you're our only hope.
Google

Submission + - Study Links Google Search Behavior to GDP

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Internet users from countries with a higher per capita gross domestic product (GDP) are more likely to search for information about the future than information about the past, a quantitative analysis of Google search queries has shown. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest there may be a link between online behaviour and real-world economic indicators.

Submission + - LHC at 4TeV (web.cern.ch)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists from CERN announced a new world record in the energy beam.The collision energy of 8 TeV is a new world record, and increases the machine’s discovery potential considerably. Although the increase in collision energy is relatively modest, it translates to an increased discovery potential that can be several times higher for certain hypothetical particles. Though it is suspected supersymmetry may not be a fortunate approach, operation at 4 TeV will likely rule out or confirm the existence of Higgs boson.
Technology

Submission + - Nvidia Rails Against Intel's Many-Core Architecture (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Nvidia isn't happy with what it sees as the free pass Intel's upcoming Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture has gotten on the software front, and the company taken to the blogosphere to challenge it. What Nvidia takes issue with, is the idea that using an x86-compatible product like Knights Corner, will offer an inherent software advantage. Steve Scott, Nvidia's Chief Technology Officer, writes: "I’m perplexed when I hear some people say that there’s no need to change your existing code to run on MIC because it uses the x86 instruction set... . Functionally, a simple recompile may work, but I’m convinced it’s not practical for most HPC applications and doesn’t reflect the approach most people will need to take to get good performance on their MIC systems." According to Nvidia, Intel's Knight's Ferry / Knight's Corner is hamstrung by issues like its shared memory pool, a NIC-based communication system between cards that's susceptible to data logjams, and the upper bounds of efficient code execution as defined by Amdahl's Law."
Idle

Submission + - BlodeJazz lets you hear your web traffic (sparkfun.com)

Submitted by
PerlJedi
PerlJedi writes: "There is an interesting write up, and demonstration on sparkfun today of a system which takes the analytics data from traffic on a website, and presents it not as a graph, but as a sound. Not that it is terribly usefull in and of itself, but I like the twist on how statistical and real time traffic can be presented.

blodeJazz is a Node.js blode client that parses the stream of events sent from sparkfun.com's web servers and turns those events into Open Sound Control messages which correspond to notes in the current key of a jazz chord progression. These OSC messages are then parsed in Max/MSP and sent as MIDI notes to a software synth for playback. Max/MSP also handles forwarding the OSC messages to a monome 256 and arc 4 for display, and also handles the arc 4 and 256 user interaction.

"

Submission + - Mitch Altman parts ways with Maker Fair over DARPA Grant (facebook.com)

Submitted by
SWroclawski
SWroclawski writes: "Well known hacker and hackerspace advocate, Mitch Altman has decided to temporarily part ways with Maker Faire over their involvement with DARPA (as reported on Twitter and Facebook). This public parting of ways raises the question of what role government, especially the military, should play in working alongside hackers and educators."
Businesses

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How Have You Handled Illegal Interview Topics (salary.com) 1

Submitted by kodiaktau
kodiaktau writes: Salary.com profiles 14 questions that interviewers may or may not ask during the interview process such as the standards of age, gender and sexual orientation. They also profile several lesser known illegal or border line questions like height/weight, military background, country of origin and family status.

With the recent flap over companies asking potential employees for passwords during the interview process it is important to know and review your legal rights before entering the interview.

Have you been confronted with borderline or illegal interview questions in the past? How have you responded to those questions?
Android

Submission + - Samsung solves Android security flaw with bat of an eyelid (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
nk497
nk497 writes: "Samsung has boosted the security of an Android feature with the blink of an eye. Android Ice Cream Sandwich features a security gimmick allowing users to unlock their smartphones using their face — but some have managed to make it work with photos. Samsung is bringing the Face Unlock feature to the Galaxy S with a firmware update, but has improved upon the system by making users blink to prove they're real."
Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla releases HTML5 MMO BrowserQuest (mozilla.org)

Submitted by rasmuswikman
rasmuswikman writes: BrowserQuest is a tribute to classic video-games with a multiplayer twist. You play as a young warrior driven by the thrill of adventure. No princess to save here, just a dangerous world filled with treasures to discover. And it’s all done in glorious HTML5 and JavaScript.

Even better, it’s open-source so be sure to check out the source code on GitHub!
NASA

Submission + - Inside the Mummification of Space Shuttle Discovery (nycaviation.com)

Submitted by
longacre
longacre writes: "When Space Shuttle Discovery goes on display at the Smithsonian next month, it will be a shell of its former self, with most of its critical systems removed. Here's a behind the scenes look at the removal of the engines and their replica replacements, as well as photos of the orbiter in various states of deconstruction."

Submission + - Electric Hot Tubs are Cooling GPU Supercomputers (datacenterknowledge.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Green Revolution Cooling (GRC), an Austin, Texas-based startup is announcing details surrounding one of its largest fluid submersion cooling systems at CGGVeritas in Houston, TX. Supermicro is producing submersion-ready servers for the system. It's a big deal because submersion in a managed dielectric environment allows these extremely dense and hot GPU-accelerated servers to be cooled at a ridiculous 1.12 PUE — and servers are using ~20% less server power than usual because they don't have fans. This bizarre space-age technology may turn out to be the new gold standard for high density cooling.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What are your top work-from-home tips? 2

Submitted by
ichard
ichard writes: "In a couple of months I'm going to start working from home full-time. I've been thinking about the obvious things like workspace ergonomics, but I'm sure there are more subtle considerations involved in a zero-minute commute. What are other Slashdot readers' experiences and recommendations for working from home?"

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