Feed New Scientist: 'Snakebot' navigates its way round slippery problem (pheedo.com)
Snake-like robots move in a way that creates problems for their designers, but a new design can successfully guide itself around objects
Feed ITerating: A new twist on software comparison shopping (feedburner.com)
For IT managers researching software purchases, the Internet is both a blessing and a curse. While there is an abundance of information available on virtually every piece of software on the market, knowing which software -- or whose -- to trust is...
Feed VMware Workstation 6 virtually trounces the competition (feedburner.com)
Newly released VMware Workstation 6 has lots of new features and improvements to ease collaboration between the host and guest operating systems. Add to that improved support for USB devices and rock solid performance and VMware Workstation 6 easily...
Feed Desktop publishing with OpenOffice.org (feedburner.com)
"Do you offer a program like Microsoft Publisher?" Some version of this question appears regularly on the OpenOffice.org mailing lists. Many people automatic answer "no," and say that Scribus is more suitable for desktop publishing. But, in fact,...
Feed Getting started with GRUB (feedburner.com)
When you power on your computer, the first software that runs is a bootloader that invokes the computer's operating system. GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader, is an integral part of many Linux systems. It starts the Linux kernel. Here's some...
Submission + - How to Design Software With Bad Requirements (slickedit.com)
Jason Jones writes: "There are many articles about developing good software up front. There are many more articles on refactoring bad code to make it better. However, there are very few resources about the common necessity of having to fully implement bad requirements. It goes against the very nature of a good developer, yet is a necessity that most run into at some point. This article discusses some of the strategies that can be used when you are asked to create a hula dancing piece of software."
Submission + - Controversy threatens 100G Ethernet work (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "A debate within the IEEE threatens to stall work on a 100Gbps Ethernet standard and the very existence of the working group defining it. Participants in the Higher Speed Study Group (HSSG) within the IEEE are divided on whether to include 40G Ethernet as part of their charter or stay the course with 100G. Proponents for 40G argue that it is a necessary, simple and cost-effective step that has broad market potential; opponents say it will unnecessarily bog down progress on 100G which, they claim, also has broad market potential addressing different applications — aggregation and long-haul vs. server interconnect. Seven months ago, HSSG's focus seemed like a done deal. But in January, 40G proponents became more vocal. Now, the integrity of HSSG itself is threatened by the row. The group's future hinges on a meeting next month in San Francisco where HSSG leaders will attempt to build consensus among members on the 40G/100G issue.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/061407-100g- standards-work.html"
Submission + - Projectionist fired for online review
mcgrew writes: "CNN is reporting that movie projectionist Jesse Morrison has been fired for panning the new 'Fantastic Four' movie on the Ain't It Cool web site, allegedly after Fox threatened the chain he worked for. There was no non-disclosure agreement. 'If they had sat me down and told me that this has caused such a stink and that we would like you to sign some waiver, I probably would have signed it,' CNN quotes Mr. Morrison as saying. There is more on CNN's site."
Intuit Finally Offers Some Support For Linux 108
walterbyrd sends us to the ZDNet blog, where Dan Farber & Larry Dignan write: "Intuit said Wednesday it will allow QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions to operate on Linux servers. For Intuit, the move is a bit of a milestone — QuickBooks is the first of its products [to] work on open source software."
Submission + - Major Attack
ssargs writes: iPower.com appears to be the victim of a major attack that has crippled the DNS services that support hundreds of thousands of sites. The service outage is still taking place at Noon E.S.T. — June 14.
iPower has always been a very reliable service provider for our projects, and this problem may be revenge for their attempt to prevent malware sites.
But this is speculation on our part, while we await resolution.
Submission + - Cleaning your keyboard in a dishwasher
i_like_spam writes: Computer keyboards are a breeding ground for bacteria. Studies have shown that keyboards often contain more bacteria than toilet seats. While the common cleaning methods of using pressurized-air canisters and damp rags help, they leave behind plenty of dirt and grime. As reported on NPR, an alternate technique that is starting to catch on is to clean your keyboard in the dishwasher. Plastic Bugs advises not to use the heated dry cycle, to pop off all of the keys, and to thoroughly air dry for a few days. For those not bold enough to try this with a standard keyboard, dishwasher-safe varieties are now available.
Feed Australian TV Show Says Free Downloads And Fan Uploads On YouTube Increase DVD S (techdirt.com)
Remember the producers of a TV show in Australia who were pissed off when YouTube took down their show, The Chasers, when some kid sent in a fake DMCA request? Want to know why they were pissed? Because they actually understood the promotional value of having the show on YouTube. David writes in to let us know that the producers are thrilled with having the show online (they offer it on their own site and encourage people to upload it to YouTube) because it's helped them sell a lot more DVDs to people in Australia and has also helped the sell the show to networks in other countries around the world. Yes, giving it away free is helping them make more money -- who would have thought that was possible? Oh, right... lots of folks who don't work for the American entertainment industry. Yet, the American entertainment industry will continue to insist that this is not only impossible, but that sites like YouTube need to put in place filters that will block unauthorized content. However, this clearly shows how useless those filters will be. How will they know what content is "unauthorized" when producers of shows like this one want it on YouTube and every other platform and want people to share it -- knowing that it's helping them make a lot more money?
In the meantime, since they seem to encourage it, and we love it when smart companies know how to use content properly to make money, here's a random clip from an episode of The Chasers:
In the meantime, since they seem to encourage it, and we love it when smart companies know how to use content properly to make money, here's a random clip from an episode of The Chasers:
Feed Australia Weighs In To Make The Perfect Kilogram (sciencedaily.com)
Australian scientists and optical engineers will be making a perfect sphere that may one day redefine the kilogram -- and they have taken delivery of the cylinder of silicon from which it will be made.
Submission + - Kilimanjaro's shrinking snow not Global Warming
phantomfive writes: Although it's obvious that not all warm summers can be attributed to global warming, apparently not all shrinking glaciers can be either. Mt. Kilimanjaro's snowpack has been shrinking for at least 100 years, before global warming really picked up. The shrinking is due to a number of factors, including reduced snowfall. Pictures here.
Feed Leopard dock resembles Sun's Project Looking Glass? (engadget.com)
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
While yesterday's WWDC may have been relatively uneventful for those keeping an eye out for hardware refreshes, Steve made sure he showed off the desktop of Leopard in as much detail as possible. Interestingly, the newfangled dock he managed to brag about may have looked a tad familiar, and as a clever user over at Maxasia points out, it is. According to him, the dock revealed yesterday sports a "troubling resemblance" to Sun's Project Looking Glass. Of course, Apple's icons do look a bit less grainy, but especially when you consider the silver platter that the shortcuts seem to hover over in both iterations, you can certainly start to to see the similarity. But hey, it's not like Apple hasn't been down this road before, right?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
