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Education

Econophysicists Develop and Test "Bubble Index" 221

Posted by samzenpus from the the-laws-of-bursting dept.
eldavojohn writes "Oh if only we could identify the bubble markets as they appear, but with all the random variables, it would take some sort of econophysicist to build predictions for that! Well, a team has released a definition of a 'bubble index' that led them to make predictions of bubbles six months ago that would pop between then and now. The four bubbles they selected were the IBOVESPA Index of 50 Brazilian stocks, a Merrill Lynch Corporate Bond Index, the spot price of gold, and cotton futures. Two out of the four were bubbles, with Merrill Lynch being a bubble already popping and cotton continuing to soar into even bubblier status. Still, for your first try, 50% isn't bad. The team learned a lot of new things from the first run, revised their method, selected their predictions for the next six months, and sealed them. Only time will tell if they are truly onto predicting crashes."
Government

India Attempts To Derail ACTA 162

Posted by timothy from the derail-defang-deny dept.
Admiral Justin writes "Ars Technica is reporting that India is attempting to gather support from other large countries that have been intentionally left out of the ACTA process to actively protest it. India fears that ACTA will eventually be used against it and other countries that were given no chance to be a part of the process of drafting it. Among the primary concerns are the possibility of medical shipments being seized if they use a port in transit that is controlled by a country with a patent on the pharmaceuticals."
Medicine

Caffeine Addicts Get No Additional Perk, Only a Return To Baseline 506

Posted by timothy from the aren't-all-perks-relative? dept.
Dthief writes "Bristol University researchers found that coffee drinkers develop a tolerance to both the anxiety-producing and the stimulating effects of caffeine, meaning that it only brings them back to baseline levels of alertness, not above them. 'Although frequent consumers feel alerted by caffeine, especially by their morning tea, coffee, or other caffeine-containing drink, evidence suggests that this is actually merely the reversal of the fatiguing effects of acute caffeine withdrawal,' wrote the scientists, led by Peter Rogers of Bristol's department of experimental psychology."
Graphics

Visualizing System Latency 68

Posted by timothy from the picture-says-1000-64-bit-words dept.
ChelleChelle writes "Latency has a direct impact on performance — thus, in order to identify performance issues it is absolutely essential to understand latency. With the introduction of DTrace it is now possible to measure latency at arbitrary points; the problem, however, is how to visually present this data in an effective manner. Toward this end, heat maps can be a powerful tool. When I/O latency is presented as a visual heat map, some intriguing and beautiful patterns can emerge. These patterns provide insight into how a system is actually performing and what kinds of latency end-user applications experience."
Programming

Objective-C Enters Top Ten In Language Popularity 351

Posted by timothy from the narrowly-missed-prom-king dept.
bonch writes "Objective-C has entered the top 10 of the Tiobe Programming Community Index. Last year, it was at #39. The huge jump is attributed to its use in iPhone and iPad development. C, of which Objective-C is a strict superset, has reclaimed the #1 spot from Java, which slides to #2. Tiobe also explains how it determines its rankings."
Handhelds

Hands-On Demo Shows Asus E-Reader Tablet In Action 108

Posted by timothy from the daylight-readable dept.
MojoKid writes "Mobile computing is making its mark at Computex 2010, with tablet PCs and e-readers of all sorts coming out for the first time as rivals to Apple's iPad. After announcing its Eee Pad tablet PC, Asus offered some hands-on time with its new e-Reader/e-Writer, designed for students and mobile business professionals. The little slate's features include 10-hour battery life, 2,450 dpi resolution touch screen, pen writing and input controls, 2MP camera, USB port, and a MicroSD slot. In addition, Asus also has strong ties with Amazon, so it wouldn't be a reach to see some sort of partnership between Asus and Amazon with the Kindle bookstore as a content provider."
Google

Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall 375

Posted by timothy from the wish-chrome-would-work-for-my-gmail dept.
Kidfork writes "On Wednesday Google's vice president of product management said that this fall Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows. More than 70 million users already use the Chrome Browser, and Google expects at least 1 million users of the OS by day one of release."
Iphone

iPad Bait and Switch — No More Unlimited Data Plan 670

Posted by kdawson from the nice-while-it-lasted dept.
_KiTA_ writes "AT&T announced today that the iPhone will gain tethering, finally, at an extra $20 a month, but only for people on a new 2GB a month plan. They also quietly announced at the same time the real news — that the $30 Unlimited Data plan on the iPad 3G will be axed in lieu of the same data plan. Yes, this would be the same 'revolutionary data plan' that Steve Jobs was so proud of during the iPad unveiling — it lasted just a month after the 3G model was delayed to May 7. People feeling vibes of previous Apple iDevice releases are not alone. Existing accounts will be allowed to grandfather in, although Apple has removed the ability to purchase the iPad from the online store at this time, and AT&T has a history of changing its plans without warning. Finally, there is no word on what happens if you ever let your Unlimited plan lapse for a month at this time."
The Internet

Washington Wants 10,000 Web Surfers 147

Posted by kdawson from the you-only-have-to-wire-money-to-this-account dept.
crimeandpunishment writes "This one sounds too good to be true: surf the Web, and you'll be helping the government. The FCC is looking for 10,000 volunteers to take part in a study to determine if broadband providers are really providing Internet connections that are as fast as advertised. The broad look at broadband will involve special equipment installed in homes across the country to measure Internet connections and compare them to advertised speeds." Here's where to go to apply.
Space

Rumor of Betelgeuse's Death Greatly Exaggerated 356

Posted by kdawson from the holding-out-for-twenty-twelve dept.
The Bad Astronomer writes "A rumor is spreading on the Net like wildfire that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is about to explode in a supernova. This rumor is almost certainly not true. First, it's posted on a doomsday forum. Second, it's three times removed from the source, and is anonymous at each step. Third, the evidence is shaky at best. Plus, even if true, the supernova is too far away to hurt us. But other than that ..."
Businesses

iPad Is Destroying Netbook Sales 911

Posted by CmdrTaco from the good-for-someone dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Fortune magazine reports that sales growth of low-cost, low-powered netbooks peaked last summer at an astonishing 641% year-over-year growth rate but netbook sales fell off a cliff in January and shrank again in April — collateral damage, according to Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty, from the January introduction and April launch of the iPad. In support of Huberty's theory, she offers a Morgan Stanley/Alphawise survey conducted in March which found that 44% of US consumers who were planning to buy an iPad said they were buying it instead of a netbook or notebook computer. In related news, Apple announced that it sold its one millionth iPad last week, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. 'One million iPads in 28 days — that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,' says Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. 'Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.'"
Censorship

Submission + - South Park Censored (southparkstudios.com) 1

Submitted by penguinman1337
penguinman1337 writes: Apparently, all is not well over at comedy central. The heavily censored version of "201" that aired last night has a lot of people angry, including the show's creators. Apparently its ok to make fun of a religion as long as its followers don't carry AK-47's and plastic explosive.

Submission + - Cross-platform equivalent to Roland Versaworks? (rolanddga.com)

Submitted by Tufriast
Tufriast writes: Hello all, I work in the IT field and support a large company that is very cross-platform and into publishing/advertising. I was wondering is there a cross-platform equivalent to Roland's Versaworks software that will output to Roland printers? I've been searching high and low for an answer. We've got a network of Macs, PCs, and a few Linux boxes across a few subnets that need to be able to print to this fancy printer. Any open source or closed source ideas would be helpful. Cross-platform is a must though as many would like to print to it. If we must depart from Roland, describe some good alternatives! Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Apple

Submission + - Apple Tech Note Details H.264 Decoding Framework (apple.com)

Submitted by
MBCook
MBCook writes: "On March 29th, Apple added Technical Note 2267: Video Decode Acceleration Framework Reference. The note describes

...a C programming interface providing low-level access to the H.264 decoding capabilities of compatible GPUs [...] intended for use by advanced developers who specifically need hardware accelerated decode of video frames.

, an issue Adobe has been citing as one of the main reasons for the slow performance of Flash video on OS X."

Submission + - Whitehouse CIO on Open Source in Government (drupal.org)

Submitted by kbahey
kbahey writes: The North American DrupalCon 2010 was held in San Francisco from 19 to 21 April with about 3,000 attendees. The highlight of the conference was the keynote by David Cole, CIO for the Whitehouse, on Open Source in government. The link has a video of the talk and a panel with the New York State Senate CIO, Andrew Hoppin.

As reported before on Slashdot, the Whitehouse is a Drupal user since October 2009.

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