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Businesses

Journal Journal: Wal-Mart goes for zero waste 3

Journal by smooth wombat
Wal-Mart is the butt of many jokes and derided by many who consider the mega-lo-mart's businesses practices unethical and detrimental to local businesses. However, even I, one who only goes to Wal-Mart for film and camera batteries, must admit that their effort to achieve zero waste is a great idea.
Music

Submission + - The RIAA's worst nightmare or just some wannabes?

Submitted by nagora
nagora writes: The BBC is reporting that next week's UK music chart may have the first sign of the end of the recording industry as we know it. From this week (7th Jan, 2006), all downloaded music sales are counted in the official UK chart, not just tracks which have had a physical media release. Now, a group of unsigned kids is poised to enter the top 40 without any old-world recording, distribution, or production deals. Koopa have their own web site, and of course their own My Space home.

But they're not acting on principle; band member Joe Murphy says "If someone comes along and gives us an offer, we'll talk to them." before continuing on to add the words the recording industry has been having nightmares about since the introduction of the mp3 format: "If we can get enough exposure and get in the top 40 by the end of the week, do we necessarily need a large label? Probably nowadays, no you don't." Is this finally the crack in the dam we've all been waiting for to wash away the entrenched monopolies of 20th century music production? Or just a sell-out waiting to happen?
Programming

Submission + - Whistle while you work

Submitted by
BlueVoodoo
BlueVoodoo writes: "Use Linux or Microsoft Windows, the open source sndpeek program, and a simple Perl script to read specific sequences of tonal events — literally whistling, humming, or singing at your computer — and run commands based on those tones. Give your computer a short low whistle to check your e-mail or unlock your screensaver with the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Methods of learning to build electronic circuitry?

Submitted by Peristaltic
Peristaltic writes: I've seen some cool articles in Instructables detailing how to create various electronic gadgets. A couple of these as well as the odd DIY kit have come to life on my kitchen table. While it's satisfying to see the things work after time spent soldering, I would love to be able to take the next step beyond the basics of component functionality, i.e. a resistor does this; a capacitor does that. Forest Mimm's books have been helpful towards this end...but it's time to move forward. Every month or so, I read here on Slashdot a plea for help getting started with, or expanding someone's knowledge of programming. O.k., I'd like to make that plea for help with electronics theory & circuit building. I've found plenty of references on the web, Amazon, etc., but can someone who's already taken this trip outline what has and hasn't worked for them?
Media (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone and Apple TV annoucement

Submitted by
twofish
twofish writes: "The Times on-line has details of the long expected announcement of the iPhone accounted by Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday. The new mobile phone downloads and plays music. Jobs said Apples iPhone would reinvent the telecommunications sector and leapfrog past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything, he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. Its very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. ... Apples been very fortunate in that its introduced a few of these."

Job's also announced the Apple TV. More details at ars technica."
Space

Submission + - Pillars of Creation Destroyed

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: The "Pillars of Creation," made iconic by the Hubble Space Telescope in one of the most widely recognized astronomy image ever taken, may already have toppled. A new image suggests a supernova has likely torn the pillars down, but the light from the event hasn't gotten here yet. From the story: 'Astronomers think the supernova's shock wave knocked the pillars down about 6,000 years ago. But because light from that region of the sky takes 7,000 years to reach us, the majestic pillars will appear intact to observers on Earth for another 1,000 years or so.'
Portables (Apple)

Journal Journal: Apple Introduces iPhone!

Journal by dailyplanet
Looks like the much anticipated iPhone is official. It currently works with AT&T/Cingular networks. Cost not known yet... "Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday introduced an eagerly-anticipated Apple-branded mobile phone with a touch-screen that combines features from the company's popular iPod music player. Jobs did not give immediate details on the pr
Unix

Submission + - Scheduling large scale server upgrades/outages

Submitted by thesandbender
thesandbender writes: I've inherited my companies DST patching project and I have to schedule upgrades for 7000+ servers over the course of the next few weeks. Of course each group inside the company has different SLA's and outage windows. I need to somehow turn the pile of spreadsheets I have into a database and create a schedule that spreads the load over our pool of system administrators. There is no way I can reasonably accomplish this by hand and there will be updates every day I'm sure. Does anyone know of a rule based scheduling system where I provide the available outage windows and a priority ranking for each system and the scheduler will recommend the order in which they should be upgraded? Even software for other industries/applications that could take a few steps out of the process would be appreciated.
Announcements

Submission + - Jobs Announces iPhone, AppleTV & Movies

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced made some much anticipated announcements in his keynote address at Macworld Expo today. Along with the previously previewed AppleTV (formerly known at the iTV), Jobs announced that Apple struck a deal to sell Paramount movies through the iTunes store. He also announced the much-anticipated iPhone, which he boasts will "leap frog" ahead of other mobile phones. Jobs believes that usability will set this phone apart. Instead of a keyboard or stylus, it uses "multitouch" for touch screen navigation. This smart phone runs OS X, so you can access email, the web, and text message through a familiar interface. One of the most interesting features is "visual voicemail" that lets you navigate through your voicemail directly to the message you want. It synchronizes with both Macs and PCs through iTunes.
Graphics

Submission + - Open nVidia linux drivers pledge near completion

Submitted by
Ciarán Mooney
Ciarán Mooney writes: "The Pledgebank drive to get $10,000 raised for Project Nouvaeu is almost complete and currently only needs 199 people to sign up to finish. Started by David Nielsen, heres a link to his blog explaining what he hopes will happen. If it reaches completion then thats a big plus for the Linux community, not just for Project Nouveau but who ever said that you needed big company backing to get money raised?"
Google

Submission + - Google SketchUp 6 Released

Submitted by
Lord Satri
Lord Satri writes: "Google announced today's release of Pro and Free versions of SketchUp 6, with very interesting features. The Photo Match feature feels like a preemptive strike against Microsoft's Photosynth. From this AECNews article: "In sharing the news of SketchUp 6 with AECnews in a pre-release briefing, Google SketchUp Product Manager John Bacus emphasized the "virtuous circle" that Google sees between Google Earth, Google 3D Warehouse, and Google SketchUp. One additional tool required for this virtuous circle becomes available tomorrow, a "Collections" feature in 3D Warehouse, where "groups of like-minded people can come together on projects like modeling cities," said Bacus. "If you turn on the 3D Warehouse layer in the latest release of Google Earth, you can see that many cities have a fair number of buildings in them already. A large community of SketchUp users are already making and creating and posting to the 3D Warehouse; the best will go to Google Earth." Collections will make this process even easier, Bacus added.""
Media (Apple)

Submission + - WSJ: Apple signs with Cingular

Submitted by
fistfullast33l
fistfullast33l writes: "Last night a blog post on Business 2.0's new blog pointed to a Wall Street Journal article (paid subscription required) reporting that Apple has apparently signed up with Cingular to provide the service for a new iPhone. If the WSJ story is true, more details should be given in today's Macworld Expo keynote by Steve Jobs. What's more interesting are the points that the blogger makes. From the article: "The first is that Verizon (VZ) Wireless and Sprint (S) are left out in the cold by this move, since Cingular uses GSM, a standard that's incompatible with Verizon and Sprint's CDMA technology. Verizon has the Chocolate and Sprint sells the Fusic music phone, but neither has proven to be an iPod substitute yet.""

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