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Submission + - Break Microsoft Up

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Tom Worstall writes in Forbes that the that the only way to get around the entrenched culture that has made Microsoft a graveyard for the kind of big ideas that have inspired companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon is to split the company up so as to remove conflicts between new and old products and with Ballmer's departure instead of finding someone new to run the company, bring in experts to handle the legal side and find suitable CEOs for the new companies. "The underlying problem for Microsoft is that the computing market has rapidly left behind the company's basic strategy of controlling the machines that people use with operating-system software," says Erik Sherman. "The combination of mobile devices that broke Microsoft's grip on the client end, and cloud computing that didn't necessarily need the company in data centers, shattered this form of control." Anyone can see how easily you could split off the gaming folks, business division, retail stores, and hardware division says John Dvorak. Each entity would have agreements in place for long-term supply of software and services. "This sort of shake up would ferret out all the empire builders and allow for new and more creative structures to emerge. And since everyone will have to be in a semi-startup mode, the dead wood will be eliminated by actual hard work."

Submission + - Top 10 Internet Cities Worldwide (ubmfuturecities.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new report today has ranked the Top 10 "Internet Cities" around the globe, based on a set of five criteria: connection speed, availability of citywide WiFi, openness to innovation, support of public data, and security/data privacy. One might expect high-tech cities like San Francisco and Tel Aviv to appear on a list of "Internet Cities," but they don't. Indeed, no Middle Eastern cities appear here at all, and — due, largely, to the United States' poor Internet speeds — the only US city to make this ranking is Seattle.

Submission + - The World Fair of 2014 according to Asimov (from 1964) (nytimes.com) 2

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: If you ever needed evidence that Isaac Asimov was a genius at extrapolating future technology from limited data, you'll enjoy this 1964 article in which he predicts what we'll see at the 2014 world's fair. For instance:

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence. The I.B.M. exhibit at the present fair has no robots but it is dedicated to computers, which are shown in all their amazing complexity, notably in the task of translating Russian into English. If machines are that smart today, what may not be in the works 50 years hence? It will be such computers, much miniaturized, that will serve as the "brains" of robots. In fact, the I.B.M. building at the 2014 World's Fair may have, as one of its prime exhibits, a robot housemaid*large, clumsy, slow- moving but capable of general picking-up, arranging, cleaning and manipulation of various appliances. It will undoubtedly amuse the fairgoers to scatter debris over the floor in order to see the robot lumberingly remove it and classify it into "throw away" and "set aside." (Robots for gardening work will also have made their appearance.)

General Electric at the 2014 World's Fair will be showing 3-D movies of its "Robot of the Future," neat and streamlined, its cleaning appliances built in and performing all tasks briskly. (There will be a three-hour wait in line to see the film, for some things never change.)

It's really fun (and sometimes sigh-inducing) to see where he was accurate and where he wasn't. And, of course, the whole notion that we'd have a world's fair is among the inaccurate predictions.

Submission + - Book Review: "The Internet Police" and the Online Surveillance State (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: When Ars Technica editor Nate Anderson sat down to write The Internet Police (W.W. Norton & Company, 320 pp.), Edward Snowden hadn’t yet decided to add some excitement to the National Security Agency’s summer by leaking a trove of surveillance secrets to The Guardian.

As a result, Anderson’s book doesn’t mention Snowden’s escapade, which will likely become the security-and-paranoia story of the year, if not the decade. For anyone unaware of the vast issues highlighted by Snowden’s leak, however, The Internet Police is a handy guide to the slow and unstoppable rise of the online security state, as well as the libertarian and criminal elements that have done their level best to counter that surveillance.

Anderson starts off his book in 2000, with an exploration of HavenCo. The people behind HavenCo had a fascinating idea: build a datacenter on a rusting naval fort in the North Sea, and use it to hold data for customers concerned about the government sniffing around. But the company’s dream of constructing a “true libertarian paradise” eventually sank, thanks to a toxic combination of infighting and infrastructure challenges.

HavenCo was an early entrant in a longtime attempt to place a large swath of the Web beyond the reach of governments and corporations, and it definitely wasn’t the last: from Silk Road to MegaUpload, the properties dedicated to a “liberated Net” have proliferated in recent years. Some people founded such sites out of high principle; others for the LULZ; and many because they simply wanted to download movies and music and possibly highly illegal drugs for free.

Anderson does an excellent job of tracing the push-and-pull between these Websites and various government and corporate entities. People form peer-to-peer networks to swap copyrighted content, and corporations sue to shut them down; others set up networks to trade pornography or drugs, and law-enforcement agencies unleash all sorts of surveillance tools to track down the perpetrators; spam networks rise, and governments pass legislation (boosted by corporations) to nuke them off the Web, with varying degrees of success. These attempts at control usually prove successful, at least until new and improved versions of those Websites rise from the smoking ruins of the old.

To his credit, Anderson wears his journalist hat to the proceedings, never tipping his sympathies to one side or the other. He acknowledges that government and law enforcement really do want to keep people safe above all else, even as certain legislatures and police departments run roughshod over citizens’ privacy; he also details how many software creators built their security and privacy tools out of a genuine desire for people to have as much freedom as possible online, only to watch as criminals and others twisted those tools to their own nefarious ends.

Anderson’s conclusion is that society needs an Internet police in order to keep some degree of peace, but that “we need to keep a close eye on them.” In this post-Snowden era, when it seems increasingly clear that governments have the ability to monitor virtually every single aspect of our electronic lives, this bit of advice seems more important than ever.

Submission + - V8 developer quits "downright shameful" Google JavaScript engine 3

Submitted by rjmarvin
rjmarvin writes: Stephan Beal has maintained V8--the beating heart of Google Chrome--since 2009, but left the project today http://sdt.bz/64018 over frustration with an incompetent staff, lack of respect and constant changes he referred to as "a direct kick in the balls." The senior developer revealed a culture of disorganization and incompatibility within the vital Google engine, run by a team refusing to even document their own code...

Submission + - Netflix Comes To Linux Web Browsers Via "Pipelight" (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With Netflix continuing to rely upon Microsoft Silverlight, the video streaming service hasn't been supported for Linux users as the Mono-based "Moonlight" implementation goes without Netflix support. However, there is now Netflix support for Linux-based web-browsers via the open-source Pipelight project. Pipelight supports Netflix and other Silverlight-based web applications by having a Netscape plug-in that in turn communicates with a Windows program running under Wine. The Windows program then simulates a browser to load the Silverlight libraries. Netflix then works as the Pipelight developers implemented support for the Netflix DRM scheme within Wine.

Submission + - The Steve Jobs Story Not Told In 'Jobs'

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: While it does well in portraying the founding of Apple, the development of the Mac, and the return of Steve Jobs to a struggling Apple, 'Jobs' the movie falls short of telling the story that should have been made into a movie about Jobs the man. 'The movie portrays the man as a brilliant but difficult visionary who had the cunning and force of will to get what he wanted and to inspire people to deliver beyond their own expectations — which is true, as far as it goes,' writes Galen Gruman. 'Missing are the explosions of abuse he would hurl on friends and coworkers, as well as the utter ruthlessness he would use to hurt his enemies. Instead, the mean scenes in the movie are ultimately used to set up a "why Jobs was ultimately right" segment. ... The most interesting part of the Steve Jobs story occurs after Jobs was fired from Apple, and that's where I wish the movie had focused its attention. It would have provided rich material for a more compelling drama.'

Submission + - Woz tells Bloomberg that "Jobs" is not entertaining, accurate or fair. (bloomberg.com) 2

Submitted by N!NJA
N!NJA writes: In this interesting 15-minute interview to Bloomberg, Woz speaks of his disappointment at the movie, which, covers Steve Jobs first stay at Apple. According to Woz, the movie got a lot of things wrong and was unfair to other people who worked with Jobs at that time. When asked what was the biggest mistake of the movie, Woz answered: "Kutcher has too much of this fan thing — like a cult leader — and could not see that he [Jobs] had a lot of flaws in knowing how to run things and execute to make products that were worthwhile". He also said that the movie over-glorifies Jobs and "it makes it look like he [Jobs] was forced out of the company for no good reason." Woz also said he loved "Pirates Of The Silicon Valley".

Submission + - Apple board tells Tim Cook to innovate faster

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Has the "What have you done for me lately?" mentality seeped into Apple's board room? According to a recent report from Fox Business News, Apple's board of directors are concerned about Apple's pace of innovation.

Citing "reliable sources", Fox reported that the board is worried that Apple hasn't had a major product announcement in quite some time.

"What we are able to confirm is that the board is worried about what is in the pipeline. Do they have the right stuff in the pipeline? Do they have innovative stuff in the pipeline? Do they have stuff to keep the momentum going?"

While time will of course tell if Apple, under the helm of Tim Cook, can continue its impressive track record of innovation, it's important to remember that innovation isn't simply something you can turn on and off. Often times, a truly innovative product can only come along when a number of external factors align, paving the way for a product that can have a fundamental and far-reaching impact on the marketplace.

Comment Re:Quite misleading (Score 2) 170

by zarmanto (#44455877) Attached to: iPhone Hacked In Under 60 Seconds Using Malicious Charger

The charger is a mini linux machine what needs to use an apple developer account to dynamically add the devices UDID to the developer portal. It then signs the malicious app and installs it. It takes advantage of ad-hoc distribution and would require a new Apple developer account every 100 devices.

Everything that Ernest said, plus one more important note: Your phone must be either unlocked or not passcode/password protected, in order for this exploit to function. (Just another good reason to use what should be common sense security precautions, really.)

Comment Salary caps (Score 1) 355

First, I will preface my comment by saying that I am not actually in favor of government regulation of the internet... but if we were to actually go down that road, I would opine that the only step necessary to dramatically improve US broadband, would be to incorporate salary caps into the C- level positions at the existing telcos. If the money can't be siphoned up the chain to the bank account of those money-hungry CEOs, then it seems to me that the most likely places for all that cash to go would be a) back into the company, (as in, both the lower level employees and the infrastructure) or b) back to the customers and stockholders.

I mean, I'm all for a free market and the capitalistic system and all that... but good grief! Salaries at the top are positively obscene!

Submission + - JavaScript Is Way Too Slow – for What?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Simon St. Laurent suggests a little clarification when it comes to the use of JavaScript in mobile web apps "I keep finding that programmers—even web programmers—frequently think “web application” means “JavaScript application.” Programmers are, of course, used to working with programming languages, and often see application environments from the perspective of the programming language in use.

These blinders derail Drew Crawford’s detailed rant on Why mobile web apps are slow. It turns out that “slow for what?” is a key part of the question, as Crawford reveals near the very end"

Submission + - iPhone 5S: New photos, full specs point to biggest 'S' upgrade ever (bgr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5S enters mass production, we’re seeing all of the puzzle pieces fall into place. Photos are leaking, new details are trickling out, and rumors of production issues and possible delays are spreading like wildfire, just like they do every year. Now, a new report may reveal full specs for the iPhone 5S alongside new images of the device’s case assembly seemingly taken inside Foxconn’s factory...

Submission + - Virtual Reality Allows Adults to See World Through a Child's Eyes (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When adults inhabit the body of a child in virtual reality, they really do begin to see the world through the eyes of a child. Researchers found that volunteers in such a scenario viewed objects as much larger than they really were. The effects persisted after the simulation was over: Adults who had inhabited a child's body were more likely to identify themselves as someone who was still in primary school.

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