dr_strang - Slashdot User

Video Bunnie Huang Shows Off His Open Source Laptop (Video) 24

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 28, 2014 @04:54PM from the something-we've-been-waiting-for-since-1995 dept.

Bunnie Huang is both a hardware and software hacker, but that's greatly understating the case: renaissance man is more like it. Bunnie doesn't just tinker with one-off system modifications or console mods (though he's done that, too) -- he creates and repurposes at scale. (He's also an author, respected researcher with interesting thoughts on a wide range of topics, like how to think of the H1N1 flu from the point of view of a security researcher.) Bunnie's latest long-term project has been mentioned a few times on Slashdot: It's an open-source laptop computer that goes much farther than some other open-source hardware projects, and as a bonus includes an FPGA as well as a conventional -- but unusual -- processor. (Bunnie grants that there are still bits that aren't quite open source, but points out that we also don't have the software that runs the fabs; there's a point of diminishing returns.) A crowd funding campaign (via CrowdSupply) was successful enough to also fund several stretch goals, including a general purpose breakout board. I talked with Bunnie at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire. (Expect more from that show in coming weeks.) He walked us through the state of the hardware, and talked about some of the design decisions that go into making a computer that is of, by, and for hackers. (Alternate video link)

Video Printed Circuits as Part of a 3-D Printed Object (Video) 42

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 27, 2014 @05:33PM from the next-thing-you-know-we'll-be-printing-electronic-ray-guns dept.

Affordable 3-D printing is still young; just a few years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to have an arbitrary three-dimensional piece of plastic (or resin, or sometimes metal) created from a software description in a box that fits on your desk. But in the several years the printing of *things* has moved fromquaint, quixotic, futzing-about hobby into something that works (fairly) reliably in ever more garages, schools, and hackerspaces, it's gotten good enough that you can now download and print quite a few objects that are available for download, or scan small items to replicate, or scan your friends to print out as statuettes. However, for the most part, these printed pieces are static, and finished. With care, you can print things like a chain, or even a ball joint, but you're still limited mostly to one basic material at a time. (Printing with multiple colors is getting easier, though.) If you want to print a flashlight or a robot, you'll need to add wires and other circuitry as a separate step. That's what the folks at Rabbit Proto (get it?) are trying to change. With the system they're working on, a filament printer is used to fabricate the object itself, but at the same time, both capacitive and conductive features can be baked -- or rather printed -- right in, with a separate print head. We talked with Alexandre Jais and Manal Dia of Rabbit Proto about how the system works, and why you might want to use it. (Alternate video link.)

Comment Re:rebranding (Score 1) 182

by Roblimo on Sunday May 25, 2014 @08:15PM (#47089939) Attached to: HP Delivers a Big-Name, 7-inch Android Tablet For $100: Comes With Compromises

Maybe not for himself or herself. Bu I got cheapie Nextbook tablets for preteen granddaughters because they didn't have cameras, and almost all the trouble a young girl can get into with a tablet or smarty phone starts with a camera and a boy. I can't do much about boys from 1000 miles away, but I sure can prevent cameras in cellphone and tablets. Give them a shared (household) HP printer & bluetooth keyboards, and their tablets aren't just toys, but homework machines. And for $80 each, loss or breakage (which happens) isn't a huge tragedy.

Comment Re:No bluetooth? (Score 1) 182

by Roblimo on Sunday May 25, 2014 @08:05PM (#47089899) Attached to: HP Delivers a Big-Name, 7-inch Android Tablet For $100: Comes With Compromises

I'm a devout bluetooth keyboard user. I have no use for a tablet without bluetooth.

Video Printing 3-D Replicas of Human Beings with a Home Brew Printer (Video) 41

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 22, 2014 @04:34PM from the honey-i-shrunk-the-gamers dept.

When I bumped into Abram Thau at Metrix Createspace in Seattle's Capitol Hill, he showed me a few printed figurines, including a Storm Trooper (of the Star Wars variety), and I thought at first that he had printed them as duplicates of similar-sized commercial products. Not so: It turns out these are made-from-life, specifically from cos-players who have stood on Abram's human-suitable turntable (powered by a chicken rotisserie motor hooked to a 3-D printed pulley) while he scanned them in. Thau's apartment is practically shouting distance from Metrix, but that pulley was made on a large Deltabot filament printer in the corner of his living room. (A living room usefully cluttered with tools, bottles of resin, projectors in various states of repair, and more printed objects.) More interesting still, Thau's figurines are produced with a home-built resin printer. Resin is messier to work with than the filament feedstock of RepRap/Makerbot style printers (and the resin itself has a slight odor), but it allows different results. Overhanging pieces are possible without requiring elaborate support pieces built into the mesh, and the resulting product can be noticeably smoother than typical filament printing, though all 3-D printing techniques are getting better. Thau didn't buy one of the commercially available resin printers, though (like FormLabs's), but instead decided to build his own out of scavenged and off-the-shelf components. Budget concerns and improvisation rule the day (Thau is also a grad student, studying to be a middle school teacher): That means there's a book holding up the projector which is vital to curing the resin, and the printer's case is recycled from a previous one. The results look as good as the affordable commercial ones I've seen, and he's excited to teach others to make their own. Third-party resin makers and a robust market in used projectors mean that other hobbyists can follow his lead and turn their friends into figurines. (Alternate video link)

Video Victoria Livshitz, Cloud Pioneer and Serial Entrepreneur (Video) 36

Posted by Roblimo on Wednesday May 21, 2014 @04:48PM from the the-network-is-the-grid-computer-in-the-cloud dept.

Victoria is someone we'd all like to sit down with and learn from. She's worked as a software engineer for Ford, as an engineer for Sun, as founder and CEO of a company called Grid Dynamics, and as founder and CEO of her latest company, Qubell. Before that, she and her husband taught chess. Here's an article in which Victoria talks about "Envisioning a New Language" back in 2005 when she was still at Sun. Because of this and other early musings on what came to be called network computing, grid computing, and later cloud computing, Victoria has been called "the mother of the cloud." Maybe, maybe not. In any case, she knows a great deal about cloud developments. For this conversation she brought along Qubell's CTO, Stan Klimoff, who also knows his stuff.

This interview doesn't cover all we learned from Victoria and Stan, just all we could fit into our new "keep videos under 10 minutes" mandate, which we don't mind because, in return, there's a new button that lets you skip preroll ads longer than 30 seconds after only five seconds. Yay! We'll post another conversation with Victoria next week or the week after. We're looking forward to it and hope you are, too.

Video Linux Sucks (Video) 293

Posted by Roblimo on Monday May 19, 2014 @04:50PM from the to-learn-how-badly-linux-sucks,-you-need-to-use-it-for-at-least-five-years dept.

How do we know Linux sucks? Because Bryan Lunduke says so. How did he become a Linux authority? By using Linux, of course. He has also written a kids Linux book, Linux for Hank, and a grown-up Linux book, Linux is Badass. But wait! That's not all! Bryan is also one of the people behind the infamous Bad Voltage podcast.

And now, for something slightly different: In moments of weakness, Bryan admits that maybe Linux suckage isn't total, and Linux may have a good point or two and maybe some of the suckage could be removed. Zounds! Is that possible? Watch our video chat with Bryan (and/or read the transcript) and see. Or watch the entire 44 minute speech he gave at the 2014 LinuxFest Northwest, which was the 5th (or maybe 6th) "Linux Sucks" speech he's given at LFNW. That makes this a tradition, not just a speech. So if you find yourself in or near Bellingham, Washington, in 2039 you might want to pop in and see if Bryan is still updating his "Linux Sucks" speech. He'll be the geezer hobbling to the front of the room with help from his AutoCane, a device sure to be developed between now and then -- which will no doubt run Linux. (Alternate video link)

Video Don't Be a Server Hugger! (Video) 409

Posted by Roblimo on Thursday May 15, 2014 @03:53PM from the old-stewball-was-the-most-loyal-server-horse-we-ever-done-had dept.

Curtis Peterson says admins who hang onto their servers instead of moving into the cloud are 'Server Huggers,' a term he makes sound like 'Horse Huggers,' a phrase that once might have been used to describe hackney drivers who didn't want to give up their horse-pulled carriages in favor of gasoline-powered automobiles. Curtis is VP of Operations for RingCentral, a cloud-based VOIP company, so he's obviously made the jump to the cloud himself. And he has reassuring words for sysadmins who are afraid the move to cloud-based computing is going to throw them out of work. He says there are plenty of new cloud computing opportunities springing up for those who have enough initiative and savvy to grab onto them, by which he obviously means you, right?

Video The Foundry Will Soon be a Makerspace in Bellingham, Washington (Video) 35

Posted by Roblimo on Tuesday May 13, 2014 @05:14PM from the maybe-one-day-we'll-have-4-D-printing-from-recycled-quantum-plastic dept.

The Foundry has people, tools, machines, and a place to operate. The only thing it lacks is insurance, and insurance is a problem because Chief Creative person Mary Keane's vision for The Foundry includes children instead of limiting membership and machine use to people over 18. Other makerspaces have managed to allow children, so it's likely that Mary will find appropriate insurance before long and get the doors open. Besides being a creative space for children, not just adults, Mary is excited about having The Foundry use recycled plastics in its 3-D printers, which hardly any makerspaces do right now, although many are surely interested in this way to lessen their impact on the Earth. (Alternate Video Link)

Video The Mifos Project Makes Software To 'Accelerate Microfinance' (Video) 39

Posted by Roblimo on Monday May 12, 2014 @04:02PM from the sometimes-little-things-can-help-as-much-as-big-ones dept.

You think you have problems getting a bank loan? It's much harder for a small-town woman in Uganda or India. But Indian microfinance provider ASOMI has more than 50 branches and over 40,000 clients, and is an active Mifos user. The loans ASOMI makes are absurdly small by U.S. bank (or Indian bank) standards. Ugandans in the same "I just need a little bit of money to start (or expand) my business" predicament can turn to RedMutual Microfinance. And so on around the world, with the bulk of microfinance operators who use open source Mifos concentrated in S. and S.E. Asia and India. "But," you say, "I'm an IT person. I don't want to go into the microfinance business, and one of the little loans (often less than $100) they deal with wouldn't help me." True. But you can become a Mifos Specialist, which Mifos defines as "a consulting firm that provides technical support and consultation for microfinance institutions evaluating and deploying Mifos, and for ongoing use and customization." You won't get rich doing this, but it looks like there's a decent living (by Kenyan or Indonesian standards) in working with Mifos. They can use volunteer help, too. So check out Mifos and see if it has anything to offer you -- or if you have anything to offer Mifos. Either way, you can help poor people in poor countries become entrepreneurs and break the cycle of poverty that holds them down. (Alternate video link)

Percentage of Elderly In Japan Continues to Grow as Number of Children Drops 283

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday May 11, 2014 @10:30AM from the older-every-day dept.

First time accepted submitter Cornelie Roe (3627609) writes in with some bad news about the population of Japan. "The number of children in Japan has fallen to a new low, while the amount of people over 65 has reached a record high as the population ages and shrinks, the government said. There were an estimated 16.33 million children aged under 15 as of 1 April, down 160,000 from a year earlier, the internal affairs and communications ministry said on Sunday. It was the 33rd straight annual decline and the lowest level since records began in 1950. Children accounted for 12.8% of the population, the ministry said. By contrast, the ratio of people aged 65 or older was at a record high, making up 25.6% of the population. Jiji Press said that, of countries with a population of at least 40 million, Japan had the lowest ratio of children to the total population – compared with 19.5% for the United States and 16.4% for China. Last month, the government said the number of people in the world's third largest economy dropped by 0.17% to 127,298,000 as of 1 October 2013. This includes long-staying foreigners. The proportion of people aged 65 or over is forecast to reach nearly 40% in 2060, the government has warned."

Comment Re: The historical cycle (Score 1) 255

by Roblimo on Thursday May 08, 2014 @04:55PM (#46953557) Attached to: Melbourne Uber Drivers Slapped With $1700 Fines; Service Shuts Down

"they do not have the power to arrest and kill you..." they used to, before unions. Now the loons are getting rid of the working people's only real voice, wages are dropping, and I suspect that it's only a matter of time until they can kill you again!

Oh, wait.... didn't BP kill 11 workers because they skated safety regs? And mine owners got a bunch of miners killed not long ago? And a Texas company blew up half a town?

Did any of the execs involved in these killing go to prison? No? so they have the power to kill you. Arrest, no. Unless they can get local LEO to help. But yeah, they can kill you, and all that might happen is a company fine that doesn't come out of the criminal executives' pockets.

Ain't America grand? :)

Comment Re:Death sentence (Score 2) 255

by Roblimo on Thursday May 08, 2014 @04:49PM (#46953487) Attached to: Melbourne Uber Drivers Slapped With $1700 Fines; Service Shuts Down

In Baltimore, you had (and maybe still have) "hack clubs" that were groups of (generally older) black men who would pick you up at the store with your bags or run other short errands cab drivers didn't want. The fare was always "whatever you feel like paying," a dodge that kept them from legally being cabs. Sort of. And if you shorted a driver, you'd go on the hack club list of bad fares, and they'd never pick you up again.

Comment Re:Death sentence (Score 2) 255

by Roblimo on Thursday May 08, 2014 @04:45PM (#46953415) Attached to: Melbourne Uber Drivers Slapped With $1700 Fines; Service Shuts Down

Yep. Those overpriced medallions are why NYC has a strong gypsy cab business, some licensed and some not. Don't believe me? Call a cab by phone, and you will NOT get a yellow car. You'll get a black one. Or maybe white. Depends on the company. And if a hotel doorman or concierge makes the call, you can bet he hit the driver up for 10% or 15%, just like he's a mini-Uber.

Comment Re:Death sentence (Score 2) 255

by Roblimo on Thursday May 08, 2014 @04:41PM (#46953387) Attached to: Melbourne Uber Drivers Slapped With $1700 Fines; Service Shuts Down

Exactly. And the Maryland Public Service Commission didn't blackball potential cab & limo drivers because they had criminal records. Violent crimes were the no-no for good reasons that most non- libbienuts understand.

Other crimes, you get an appeal hearing. Bring some friends who say you're a good person, wear decent clothes, have a drivers license with 2 points or fewer, don't call the hearing officer a motherfucker -- basic stuff like that, and they'd give you a license to carry passengers.

And the cab company garages? A den of criminals. I swear, the body shop/paint guys all smoked crack on their breaks. How do I know? They were nice people, offered to share with me. Plus they happily used company facilities and material for private "side" work. Which is how I got my wife's car painted for $20.... ...which was actually okay with the company. I ran the dispatch, and it was like a fringe bennie.

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