Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Technology

Submission + - TV Ownership Declines 2

Submitted by bs0d3
bs0d3 writes: Every year, the estimated number of U.S. households owning TV sets goes up. Until now. This year, for the first time since 1970, tv ownership has gone down; by about 1%. TV ownership among the key adult 18-49 demo also declined even steeper, down 2.7 percent and percentage of homes without a TV is at the highest level since 1975. The reasons behind this appear to be online media content and the recession.
 
Operating Systems

Submission + - OS.js - JavaScript Operating System (wordpress.com)

Submitted by
Anti-S
Anti-S writes: "A (semi) based Operating System written in JavaScript. A short excerpt from the description on the web-page:

OS.js started out as a tool to use on my home server so i could run GUI applications to configure services without installing X and a window manager (including VNC or similar remote management) and connect from anywhere in the world just using a web-browser. But lately I’ve also found some other uses for it, mainly HTML5 application development.

Includes a window manager and a simple desktop environment (similar to most Linux envs out there). Standards are inspired by GTK and freedesktop.org.

Applications are developed using Glade Interface Designer (GTK+3 XML) and (optionally) an SQL database XML-scheme.

A built-in compiler creates JavaScript, CSS, SQL and PHP templates from the projects including support for events (signals). One can also create static applications from raw HTML, JS and CSS.

A Virtual Filesystem(VFS) is included. It works with local files, block devices, network connections, compressed files etc.

Applications uses a public API that consists of simple OS operations and calls to the application server-side script and the core libraries (File-system (with restrictions), Networking, Services, Configuration files etc.)."

Submission + - How To Get A Siri Experience For Android (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: It is possible to get a Siri-like, voice-command experience with Android-powered smart phones. Unlike iPhone 4S users, though, Android users will need to gather together a couple of different apps if they want to issue a wide range of voice commands on their device. Computerworld's Sharon Machlis ran more than half a dozen apps through their paces, testing them for various functions to communicate (make calls, send messages), organize (keep track of appointments) and find information. There are a couple of things Android voice-activated apps do that Siri can't, and overall, she found she was able to get a good chunk of the functionality that Siri offers.
Intel

Submission + - 50 Ultrabooks to be launched at CES (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "As many as 50 Intel Ultrabooks will be launched at next January's CES, according to the show's organisers. Until now, only a handful of manufacturers have announced Ultrabooks, with many rumoured to be waiting for the 22nm Ivy Bridge processor refresh before releasing their devices. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is due to give a keynote speech at the show where Ivy Bridge will likely be officially unveiled alongside a host of new laptops. "We expect to see 30 to 50 new Ultrabooks launched at CES," the CEA's research director Shawn DuBravac told journalists at CES Unveiled in London."
Intel

Submission + - MacBook Air Apparents (technologizer.com)

Submitted by
harrymcc
harrymcc writes: "The PC market is stagnant. The MacBook Air is selling like hotcakes. So Intel and PC makers have hatched the Ultrabook, an Air-like form factor that's being used for everything from shameless clones to machines with some of their own personality. At Technologizer, Jared Newman looked at current and upcoming competitors."
Science

Submission + - Wolfram Alpha Answers To What Planes Are Right abo (wolframalpha.com)

Submitted by
TheNextCorner
TheNextCorner writes: ""Try the simple query “flights overhead” and you’ll get information on aircraft that should be visible to you, assuming a clear sky and unobstructed view. If you’re on a location-aware mobile device, the results should be based on your precise latitude and longitude—otherwise, Wolfram|Alpha will use the best available location information from your browser.""

Submission + - Computing pioneers share their first tech memories (silicon.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Major names from the world of computing and technology such as Vint Cerf, William Gibson, Richard Stallman, Michael Dell and Hermann Hauser have shared their memories on their first computers and what inspired them to get involved with the computer. Highlight's include Cerf recalling his experience with the valve-based US air defence network Sage — as seen in Dr Strangelove — and Acorn co-founder Hauser building an eight bit computer out of marbles and a shoebox.
Iphone

Submission + - Sprint iPhone pre-sales will be handled online; n (bgr.com) 1

Submitted by hazytodd
hazytodd writes: Sprint has confirmed that iPhone pre-sales will be accommodated entirely online. Sprint’s retail stores will not have the ability to take iPhone pre-orders, and the carrier also confirmed to BGR that Sprint stores will not offer “Device Wait Lists,” meaning customers cannot add their names to a list in order to be guaranteed a device on launch day.
Apple

Submission + - An Interview With Jobs During Exile From Apple (digg.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: As part of a computer industry oral history project, in 1995 Computerworld performed an extensive interview with Steve Jobs, then head of NeXT Computer. Jobs talked openly about his life and work during from his early years — when he says he's sure that except for a few key adults 'I would absolutely have ended up in jail' — to how he felt about Apple in the mid-'90s — 'The Macintosh will die in another few years [under John Sculley]' — to his predictions about the Internet.
The Courts

Submission + - Civil suit filed, involving the time zone database (gmane.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Arthur David Olson, the creator and maintainer of the timezone database used in about every unix/linux platform in use on the planet, just sent the message to the timezone mailing list: — From: "Olson, Arthur David (NIH/NCI) [E]" Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 11:16:02 -0400 Subject: Civil suit; ftp shutdown; mailing list shutdown A civil suit was filed on September 30 in federal court in Boston; I'm a defendant; the case involves the time zone database. The ftp server at elsie.nci.nih.gov has been shut down. The mailing list will be shut down after this message. Electronic mail can be sent to me at @gmail.com. I hope there will be better news shortly. --ado — A Google search does not yet reveal anything about this; does someone know what is going on?
Power

Submission + - A better lithium-ion battery on the way (isgtw.org)

Submitted by
AG_2011
AG_2011 writes: "Lithium-ion batteries power a wide variety of consumer electronics, including smartphones, laptops, and the electric cars that are increasingly attractive as gas prices soar. Inevitably, the limitations of lithium-ion batteries also limit the devices we use.

Ultimately, those limitations come down to how much energy can be safely packed into a small battery, and how rapidly that battery’s capacity to store energy will decrease with each cycle of charge and discharge. Now, researchers have designed a new type of anode — a critical battery component — that could vastly improve lithium-ion batteries on both fronts.

The new anode type, developed by a team of scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with the help of high-performance computing systems, is capable of absorbing eight times the lithium of current designs. This in turn translates into a battery that can store a great deal more energy. The new type of anode has also maintained that larger energy capacity after many hundreds of charge-discharge cycles."
Television

Submission + - Are the Simpsons going to die? (yahoo.com)

Submitted by beschra
beschra writes: The future of animated TV comedy "The Simpsons" was up in the air on Tuesday after 20th Century Fox Television said it could no longer afford to produce the show without a huge pay cut for its cast.

Fox Television, a unit of News Corp, issued a tough statement after a report that it had threatened to end the subversive series unless the voice actors take a 45 percent pay cut.

"We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model," Fox said.

"We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows 'The Simpsons' to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come," the statement added.
Security

Submission + - After Six Days of Outages, BofA Claims It Hasn't B (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: After six days of spotty service and outages with its online and mobile sites, Bank of America today said it has not been the victim of a denial of service attack, hacking or malware. Yet, the bank has set up a new homepage that it says will help customers navigate to the proper online service. Internet monitoring service Keynote said the outage is unprecedented in banking. 'I don't think we've seen as significant and as long an outage with any bank. And I've been with Keynote for 16 years now,' said Shawn White, vice president of operations for web monitoring service Keynote Systems. In the meantime, a BofA spokeswoman continued to devulge what might be happening, saying 'We're not going to get into the technical details. We're not going to comment on the technicalities of what we do.' Speculation among experts has been that the site is under attack.
HP

Submission + - Cisco memo slams HP strategy (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Cisco is gearing up its sales force to exploit the turmoil currently enveloping rival HP. Cisco sales EVP Rob Lloyd apparently circulated an eight-page internal memo detailing what Cisco views as the impact of HP exiting the tablet, smartphone and PC businesses on the company. HP will hurt not only its own bottom line but that of its partners, the memo claims. Lopping off the PC business specifically will hurt sales of other HP hardware, such as low-end servers, by reducing purchasing power and economies of scale with customers and partners. The move, if it happens, might also render HP's enterprise software and networking businesses as point product solutions lacking an overall end-to-end IT infrastructure play.

Slashdot Top Deals

What this country needs is a good five cent microcomputer.

Close