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Media

BBC Trust to Meet With OSC Over iPlayer 125

Posted by CowboyNeal from the open-to-suggestions dept.
Virgil Tibbs writes "With the Launch of the BBC's iPlayer imminent, the BBC trust has agreed to hear the Open Source Consortium's concerns regarding the BBC iPlayer's tie in with Microsoft's software. The move by the BBC to use Windows Media DRM & their apparent lack of commitment towards other platforms has caused outrage in many circles and prompted several online petitions."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Quantum dots might do wonders for teleportation (physorg.com)

Submitted by
prostoalex
prostoalex writes: "Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore created a model teleportation system using quantum dots. PhysOrg reports that "tiny clusters of atoms known as quantum dots may be excellent media for quantum teleportation, a physics phenomenon in which information — in the form of a quantum state, a very specific mathematical signature of an atom — can be transmitted almost instantaneously to a distant location without having to physically travel through space.""
Operating Systems

Submission + - LoseThos V3.03 Operating System Released (losethos.com)

Submitted by
Terry A. Davis
Terry A. Davis writes: "LoseThos is a free, open source, 64-bit PC operating system supporting MultiCore designed for programming as entertainment. It's for home computing. It's intended as a secondary operating system you might duel boot to tinker with programming. It has many innovative features, not found elsewhere, but suffers from limited hardware support. The latest news is that the graphics rendering is now done by XORing layers from each core, so you can break-up the task of updating the screen. One thing that separates a home computer from a server or mainframe is that on a home system only one task matters 99% of the time. Therefore, shifting non-focus-task applications to other cores doesn't gain much compared to assisting the focus task with what it wants to do. With LoseThos, you must break-apart tasks by hand to utilize MultiCore, but it is unique in that it grants access to page tables and protected instructions to allow you to deal with the main multicore difficulty — unshared CPU caches."

Feed Engadget: Phoebus 3G router converts PCMCIA data card into WiFi (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Networking

Yeah, this trick most certainly has a thin layer of dust on it, but there's just something special about a portable pyramid that turns your average PCMCIA data card into WiFi. The 3G Phoebus MB6000 purportedly plays nice with "most cellular PCMCIA cards on the market today" sans drivers or complicated software installations, which enables plug 'n play access to your data network regardless of current location. Aside from turning your card into a wireless access point for multiple users to connect to, it also enables wired Ethernet connections and a security suite that will only allow authenticated users to view the network. Such a fine convenience, however, was bound to come at a rather steep price, so you should probably make sure you'll be spending an awful lot of time surfing on the go before shelling out $299.95.

[Via ChipChick]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Sci-Fi

Purdue Unveils a Tricorder 177

Posted by kdawson from the beam-me-up dept.
aeoneal writes "According to Science Daily, mass spectrometry is no longer limited to what can be taken to the lab. Purdue researchers have created a device they liken to a tricorder, a handy 20-lb. device that combines mass spectrometry with DESI (desorption electrospray ionization), allowing chemical composition to be determined outside of a vacuum chamber. Purdue suggests this could be useful for everything from detecting explosive substances or cancer to predicting disease. Researcher R. Graham Cooks says, 'We like to compare it to the tricorder because it is truly a hand-held instrument that yields information about the precise chemical composition of samples in a matter of minutes without harming the samples.'"
Encryption

AACS Device Key Found 351

Posted by kdawson from the dominoes dept.
henrypijames writes "The intense effort by the fair-use community to circumvent AACS (the content protection protocol of HD DVD and Blu-Ray) has produced yet another stunning result: The AACS Device Key of the WinDVD 8 has been found, allowing any movie playable by it to be decrypted. This new discovery by ATARI Vampire of the Doom9 forum is based on the previous research of two other forum members, muslix64 (who found a way to locate the Title Keys of single movies) and arnezami (who extracted the Processing Key of an unspecified software player). AACS certainly seems to be falling apart bit for bit every day now."
IBM

Submission + - IBM Pares Speed Gap in Memory Circuitry

Submitted by
Carl Bialik from WSJ
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes: "IBM researchers are claiming a breakthrough in developing circuitry to store data on future microprocessor chips, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'Exploiting a manufacturing technology called silicon-on-insulator, the company has developed unusually fast DRAM circuitry for use as cache memory. Subramanian Iyer, a director of IBM's manufacturing-process development, estimates it takes 1.5 nanoseconds — or billionths of a second — to fetch data from its enhanced DRAM technology, compared with 10 to 12 nanoseconds for conventional DRAMs and 0.8 to 1 nanoseconds for SRAMs. Mr. Iyer said three times more data can be stored in the same amount of space by switching from SRAM to DRAM circuitry; he expects the technology to be incorporated on microprocessors that will be manufactured next year using a new production process.'"
Businesses

Submission + - IT Spending Up

Submitted by
Techdag
Techdag writes: "CIO Insight says that "optimism about the economy and anxiety about security are leading companies to increase IT spending." Its survey of 429 IT executives reveals that IT spending will increase in 2007, despite other reports to the contrary. From the article: "We're predicting a higher rate of spending growth than Gartner Inc., Forrester Research Inc. and IDC; their forecasts for 2007 increases range from 2.8 to 6.5 percent, while we expect a 7.6 percent increase, the largest we've ever reported. But that shouldn't be surprising, given what we've learned in our recent surveys: CIOs are focusing more on growth and improving service than on cost reduction; the current economic expansion has proved resilient; and security worries and regulations require more purchases toward IT protection. And as companies make infrastructure investments, they are updating older systems and installing new applications that can take advantage of these investments.""
Software

Submission + - .cdr file extensions

Submitted by
doormandave
doormandave writes: "I am looking for a free open source viewer for .cdr (corel draw) file extensions. I do not wish to purchase Corel.
Thanks in advance."
Programming

Submission + - Breaking into the C++ software engineer field

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I have been working for about 4 years (mostly with Microsoft SQL Server and some VB.NET) but it is my desire to get a job as a software engineer doing C++ or even C. The only interviews I seem to get are those for Microsoft Jobs, which of course do want to hire me. Once I did get an interview for a real software engineering job, when switching my last job, but by the time the company got back to me with a decision (over a month and a half) I had already accepted another job.

I have seen many posts saying specific language skills aren't important but it is important to get a candidate who can think. I have also seen that some interviewers will have candidates write sample code...but all of these assume you get the interview. How can I even get the interviews so that I will have a shot at proving my worth and being hired?

I do know both C and C++ very well (intermediate level), but since I have never worked at a job using them, recruiters and human resources do not seem to care. They only care about skills they read in the bulleted point of work experience. Also, I refuse to lie on my resume, so I will not say I did something for work experience when I did not.

Finally, I think that if I do want to be really good at development in C and C++, doing it in my own time (which is less and less) is nowhere near as effective as doing it in my daytime job for 8-10 hours a day.

So short of lying, how can I score the interview for C and C++ programming jobs (while most of them not only want work experience, they are citing 5+ years of C++ experience, plus usually other misc skills as well (XML, Oracle, Java, etc.). Most of the other misc skills (short of Oracle) are easy to learn (XML is relatively simple, Java is similar to C++/VB.NET [and I know an older version...so it is just learning the new stuff]). Oracle would take some doing, but SQL Server is somewhat similar (TSQL -> PL/SQL, SQL, relational database skills, PRO*C is just embedding SQL in the host program, etc.). I have seen some C/C++ jobs up for months, so it would make sense that the month or two I spend learning the additional technologies while putting a dent in the work they have to be done, is better than not filling the job and having the work undone, isn't it?
Programming

Submission + - The Next Big Programming Language

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "In a recent ITworld article, Sean McGrath muses on the future of software development, speculating that the next programming language may not be 'so much a language as a language for creating languages.' From the article:

... Outbreaks of this sort of thinking can be seen in the programming community, typically under the moniker of Domain Special Languages or DSLs. Programming languages are again starting to sprout DSL capabilities. Ruby and Fortress — of the two languages already mentioned — are examples.

I think the time is right for this sort of thinking to become mainstream. The industry is at the point where the irrational exuberance surrounding using XML as a DSL for programming languages has passed (thank goodness!). Something needs to take its place which is significantly — not just incrementally better. I think a DSL-enabling programming language will fit the bill.
"
Communications

Submission + - Is mobile TV a white elephant?

Submitted by Cam
Cam writes: I've been following the words of the 'great and the good' at this week's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. Reports of a speech by David Willan from market research company Circle Research caught my eye (a collage of relevant news stories and the report on which the speech is based can be found at their website). Willan's company have just completed a study on behalf of the GSMA which concludes that mobile TV is unlikely to have mass market appeal — current market penetration is only 7% and it is ranked outside of the top ten high potential services for the future. Smells a bit like a re-run of the WAP incident and will no doubt worry operators currently pumping millions into developing these services. Also interesting to note that mobile gambling only just makes the top ten of high potential services and services related to naked ladies are nowhere to be seen!
Privacy

Submission + - U.S. group wants Canada blacklisted over piracy

Submitted by Kaneda2112
Kaneda2112 writes: Again with the

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20070214.wblacklist14/BNStory/National/home

Canadian piracy thing! How can these groups continue to spread misinformation and FUD? It is so irritating for those of us up here! Micheal Geist has debunked this baloney (http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1656/159/ ) "While the reports have succeeded in attracting considerable attention, a closer examination of the industry's own data reveals that the claims are based primarily on fiction rather than fact." Aarrgh!
Graphics

Submission + - NVIDIA Launches Lower Cost GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB

Submitted by Spinnerbait
Spinnerbait writes: This week NVIDIA launched a significantly lower cost version of their powerful new GeForce 8800 series graphics cards, dubbed the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB. As the branding suggests, these cards come equipped with only 320MB of on-board frame buffer memory. They're also clocked at 500MHz for the GPU core and 1600MHz DDR on their GDDR3 memory interface, versus the top-of-the-line GeForce 8800 GTX with its 575MHz core and 1800MHz memory respectively. All told, for a $299- $329 price range, these new cards offer up excellent performance in current games, at high resolutions, with all eye candy turned on and at a more attractive cost with future DX10 capabilities to boot.

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