folstaff - Slashdot User

Submission + - One-Laptop-Per-Child - 300 laptops, but no power 1

Submitted by

SK

on Saturday June 30, 2007 @10:55AM

SK writes: "Galadima Primary is the first school in Nigeria where each pupil has his own laptop. The school received a gift of 300 laptops unfortunately it has no electricity to power them."

Submission + - Navigating the Legal Risks of Open Source

Submitted by jammag on Monday May 21, 2007 @11:09AM

jammag writes: In this article, a lawyer with the Software Freedom Law Center and other experts talk about the legal ramifications of the GPL. "We don't intend to police the GPL," says the Law Center attorney. "In fact, we don't really do that much violations work. Most of our clients need to figure out how to handle licenses. Plenty of developers have used GPL but don't know what it means."

Submission + - Fujitsu's H.264 chip encodes/decodes in Full HD

Submitted by

RareButSeriousSideEf

on Monday May 21, 2007 @11:06AM

RareButSeriousSideEf writes: "Fujitsu's H.264 chip encodes/decodes in Full HD
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/21/fujitsus-h-264- chip-encodes-decodes-in-full-hd-a-worlds-fir/

Might this chip finally power a workaround for PC-based PVR users being unable to access most cable HDTV programming? Could it assist in fixing problems like "Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV"? (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/21/0 138255)

From the article:
"Fujitsu just announced a world's first H.264 chip capable of encoding/decoding 1920 x 1080 (60i/50i) video in real time. The chip features 256MB of onboard FCRAM and ultra low 750mW power draw when encoding video. That means lickity quick, MPEG-2 quality processing with only a third, or half the required storage. The ¥30,000 ($247) MB86H51 chip is available to OEMs starting July 1st after which you'll find it bunged into the latest up-scale, consumer-class video recorders."

(I imagine someone could easily command $1500/unit or better by being the first to run YPbPr component inputs into one of these, put the whole thing on a PCI-Express 1x board, and write working Linux and Windows drivers. I'd shell that much out myself. Anyone else?)"

Submission + - GoogleDocs, OpenOffice or Microsoft Office?

Submitted by

E. Stride

on Monday May 21, 2007 @10:44AM

E. Stride writes: "An office suite expert explains the differences between GoogleDocs, OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, and goes deeper into the OpenXML vs. OpenDocument debate."

Submission + - PC World 100 Best Products of 2007

Submitted by

Beth Schechner

on Monday May 21, 2007 @10:21AM

Beth Schechner writes: "Hi, So that you don't have to, the editors of PC World Magazine have ranked the best PCs, HDTVs, components, sites, and services of 2007 so far. I thought you might be interested in reading the complete article, and checking out some of the online-only features. Let me know if you have any questions, and check out the links below. Best, Beth Schechner (212.725.2295 ext. 28) 100 Best Products of the Year: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131935/article.h tml?tk=pr_BP2007 Top 20 Slideshow: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131925-page,1/ar ticle.html?tk=pr_BP2007top20ss Reader Favorites Slideshow: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131926-page,1/ar ticle.html?tk=pr_BP2007rfss Most-Anticipated Products Slideshow: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131927-page,1/ar ticle.html?tk=pr_BP2007mapss Top Products Video: http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,512-page,1-bid,0/v ideo.html?tk=pr_BP2007video"

Submission + - Paying for Better Math and Science Teachers

Submitted by

Coryoth

on Monday March 05, 2007 @03:40PM

Coryoth writes: "While California is suffering from critical shortage of mathematics and science teachers, Kentucky is considering two bills that would give explicit financial incentives to math and science students and teachers. The first bill would provide cash incentives to schools to run AP math and science classes, and cash scholarships to students who did well on AP math and science exams. The second bill provides salary bumps for any teachers with degrees in math or science, or who score well in teacher-certification tests in math, chemistry and physics. Is such differentiated pay the right way to attract science graduates who can make much more in industry, or is it simply going to breed discontent among teachers?"

Submission + - Windows Vista Cracked by Paradox

Submitted by

AlienWarrior75

on Monday March 05, 2007 @03:39PM

AlienWarrior75 writes: "I have verified and tested the Paradox crack that allows OEM manufacturers to embedded their pre-activated certificates into the system, essentially activating the software, making the operating system fully genuine and able to receive Windows Updates."

Submission + - Who to thank for the Daylight Savings Time Change

Submitted by steverar on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:38PM

steverar writes: If you're in IT and having "fun" making sure everything's (OS, phone system, patient monitors, Blackberries, etc. ) updated/patched for the new Daylight Saving Time change coming March 11th, please thank Rep. Ed Markey. He sponsored and attached the amendment to the Energy Act of 2005. Read about him here http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=2624&Itemid=141

Diebold to Withdraw from E-Voting? 329

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:03PM from the lots-of-polishing-to-do dept.

ICA writes "It appears after years of criticism, Diebold may be ready to withdraw from electronic voting entirely. The company is concerned that this relatively small and marginally profitable unit is hurting the company's overall image."

Submission + - New BBC documentary claims global warming is lies.

Submitted by myside on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:55PM

myside writes: 'The Great Global Warming Swindle', a documentary set to air on BBC on Thursday, claims that man-made global warming is a scam. http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CZ434669U &news_headline=global_warming_is_lies_claims_docum entary

Submission + - Vista Drivers Listing

Submitted by

RadarSync

on Monday February 19, 2007 @03:49AM

RadarSync writes: "Check out this page of free links to Vista drivers: http://www.radarsync.com/vista In many cases it has drivers that Microsoft doesn't have and that aren't easily found on the manufacturer's site: For example, see what this guy wrote: http://www.onemetal.com/neotoxic/blog/?p=13 "I have an on-board C-media High Definition surround sound Audio system. Again after hunting for drivers on the manufacturer sire I was having no luck. There was mention of Vista Drivers but nothing to download. After hunting on the net I eventually found this site http://www.radarsync.com/vista/ that and downloaded there driver.. and after a reboot... I had sound!""

Possible 25 Million Year Old Frog Found 151

Posted by Zonk on Monday February 19, 2007 @03:44AM from the ancient-froggie dept.

dispatch writes "A small frog, found preserved in amber, has been found by researchers in Mexico City. The frog, according to the scientists, may be some 25 million years old! According to the article: 'The chunk of amber containing the 0.4-inch frog was uncovered by a miner in southern Chiapas states in 2005 and was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study.' Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though the scientists will be allowed to drill into the rock, at the owner's request."

Submission + - Journalist arrested for taking photo of CT Governo

Submitted by reub2000 on Monday February 19, 2007 @12:38AM

reub2000 writes: Journalist Ken Krayeske was arrested for taking a photograph of Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell during a parade. Krayeske a pacifist, was on a list of "potential troublemakers" and his photo had been sent to cops on the parade route.

Submission + - GPL click-through licenses?

Submitted by Kuciwalker on Sunday February 18, 2007 @10:47PM

Kuciwalker writes: It seems that every other open-source program I download includes the GPL as a click-through license during the install. What's the point of this? If the GPL is a distribution, not use license then I don't do anything by agreeing to it during installation. Are we just so acclimated to clicking "yes" to an EULA, or are there valid legal reasons it's put there?

Submission + - How do you change careers into programming?

Submitted by on Sunday February 18, 2007 @09:14PM

An anonymous reader writes: I have worked in tech support for the last several years, but find myself wanting to move on to something else — programming. I've written some small programs in my limited spare time but nothing particularly impressive; just functional stuff to make my life easier. I've spent a lot of time recently working through programming books, and feel I'm ready to make the switch in my career. That said, I don't have a CS degree, and find that responses to my resume have been along the lines of "Thanks, but we aren't hiring for tech support positions." Surely someone from the slashdot crowd has been in the same position — what would you recommend?

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