Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Operating Systems

Submission + - Why do we use x86 CPUs?

Submitted by bluefoxlucid
bluefoxlucid writes: With Apple having now switched to x86 CPUs, I've been wondering for a while why we use the x86 architecture at all. The Power architecture was known for its better performance per clock; and still other RISC architectures such as the various ARM models provide very high performance per clock as well as reduced power usage, opening some potential for low-power laptops. Compilers can also deal with optimization in RISC architectures more easily, since the instruction set is smaller and the possible scheduling arrangements are thus reduced greatly. With Just-in-Time compilation, legacy x86 programs could be painlessly run on ARM/PPC by translating them dynamically at run time, similar to how CIL and Java work. So really, what do you all think about our choice of primary CPU architecture? Are x86 and x86_64 a good choice; or should we have shot for PPC64 or a 64-bit ARM solution?
AMD/OSTG

Journal Journal: OLPC Gearing Up for Prime Time

Journal by OSTG Marketing
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project will begin to ship its XO laptops worldwide this July. The machines are being produced by Quanta Computer Inc. and powered with a 366-megahertz AMD processor. "At the core of the XO interface, developers are now announcing the first details of Sugar, the OLPC Human Interface. Sugar provides chat and sharing functions for the core applications featured on the OLPC. Christopher Bli
Slashdot.org

Submission + - Browsers Should Support Ad Filtering

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Most people have accepted that web advertising is here to stay. Banners, animated ads, flash, pop-unders, etc, have all been debated and now tolerated. Ad filtering (not ad blocking), at the browser level, would give more power to the average user and improve the browsing experience.
Software

Submission + - Apple logos and slogans bring back memories

Submitted by
jhoward
jhoward writes: "It is funny to see how the Apple logos and slogans have evolved over time as Apple continues to swoop up some of Microsoft's market share. I had never even seen the logo with Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree but my friends and I got a kick out of it (of course we're PC users). Thank goodness that isn't what's used today! For as many different slogans that Apple has had I am a little surprised that they haven't had more logos."

Starbucks Responds In Kind To Oxfam YouTube Video 492

Posted by kdawson from the better-latte-than-never dept.
Kligmond writes "Last week, Starbucks placed a video on YouTube responding to a video posted by the Oxfam Charity. The Oxfam video was launched in conjunction with 'Starbucks Day of Action,' held December 16th, when activists visited Starbucks locations across the world in protest of the coffee retailer's alleged mistreatment of Ethiopian farmers. The Starbucks video calmly addresses the Oxfam allegations, citing an impasse over Ethiopian trademark legalities. Starbucks claims the refusal to sign a trademark agreement with Ethiopia is a stumbling block they hope to resolve on behalf of the farmers. The coffee chain's representative goes on to refute the contention that Starbucks refuses to pay a fair price for its coffee reserves and, in fact, routinely pays well above commodity price, and above fair trade price. Unlike many recent ineffectual corporate reactions to social journalism and networking eruptions, Starbucks' response is unique in that the corporation managed Oxfam's unconventional assault in a very unconventional way, via YouTube. Regardless of the outcome of this particular incident, the move on Starbucks' part comes off as unmistakably in touch with today's communication modes and methods."
Security

Submission + - GMail Exploit To Steal Contact List Is Fixed

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "If you're visiting the page and it still give your contact's information, you need to log out of all Google services, and then log back in. Doing so will now result in the error. However the exploit will fail to work despite the fact that you haven't logged out. It was fixed at around 8 EST."
Data Storage

Submission + - New Data-Archiving Rules: 'The Enron Effect'

Submitted by
4foot10
4foot10 writes: "New rules that compel companies to produce electronically stored information for civil litigation could boost demand for solution providers who sell systems for tracking and archiving e-mail, electronic documents, digital images and spreadsheets. The rules, aka Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, are also likely to drive demand for solution providers with expertise in developing policies and business processes for retaining, protecting and disposing of electronic records."
The Internet

Submission + - Wising Up About The Dumbing Down of The Web

Submitted by
DG
DG writes: "Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, on the dumbing down of the web and why we should embrace it — One of my heroes is The New Yorker's longtime movie critic Pauline Kael, who had the gift of discernment. She cared nothing for any pre-established categories of film (action, art-house, independent, foreign, etc.), trusted her own judgment, and always wrote with insight, clarity, and punch. In her review of "The Road Warrior" (which she called 'terrific junk food' ) she talked about why she went to movies: "to experience all the worlds that all the hacks and craftsmen and artists who worked in the movies could bring into being." Web 2.0 is empowering all kinds of creators: hacks to be sure, but also craftsmen and artists. Shouldn't we be truly excited to experience the best of the worlds they'll put up on the World Wide Web? Full Story"
Portables

Submission + - One Laptop Per Child Launches in 2007

Submitted by
Penguinshit
Penguinshit writes: "$100 laptop project launches 2007. "The first batch of computers built for the One Laptop Per Child project could reach users by July this year. The computer runs on a cut-down version of the open source Linux operating system and has been designed to work differently to a Microsoft Windows or Apple machine from a usability perspective [and] comes with a web browser, word processor and RSS reader, for accessing the web feeds that so many sites now offer.""
Networking

Submission + - New Molecule for Optical Networks of the Future?

Submitted by Svd007
Svd007 writes: The internet could soon shift into overdrive thanks to a new generation of optical molecules developed and tested by a team of researchers from Washington State University, the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Chinese Academy of Science in China. The new materials, organic molecules known as chromophores, interact more strongly with light than any molecules ever tested. That makes them, or other molecules designed along the same principles, prime candidates for use in optical technologies such as optical switches, internet connections, optical memory systems and holograms. The molecules were synthesized by chemists in China, evaluated according to theoretical calculations by a physicist at WSU and tested for their actual optical properties by chemists in Belgium. According to physicist Ivan Biaggio of Lehigh University, the work "is a very important contribution that may help the community to finally deliver the all-optical switching performances that are needed for tomorrow's all-optical data-processing networks, an aim that has eluded researchers for 20 years.
Intel

Submission + - 2007 desktop CPU road map

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: A series of articles at Computerworld address AMD and Intel plans for desktop chips in the coming year. In early 2006, AMD was the CPU darling in terms of performance and price-performance ratio, but that ended in the summer of 2006 when Intel released the Core microprocessor architecture.

Intel's plans for increasing desktop market share will revolve around the Core microprocessor architecture, formerly code-named "Merom." One of the most significant releases will be a brand-new chip set foundation, code-named "Bearlake." In late November, Intel stated that it had produced a prototype and that it was now hoping to release 45nm processors by the second half of 2007. This will manifest itself in a microprocessor architecture known only by the code name "Penryn."

In 2007, AMD will release two more 65nm processors, continue to build on the Quad FX line, release a brand-new performance-oriented 65nm CPU architecture code-named "Agena," which 'sounds like a high-performance dream,' and in Q3 2007, release a new series of 65nm native dual-core processors aimed squarely at the mainstream consumer market.

Slashdot Top Deals

The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected. -- The Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd Edition, June 1972

Close