Comment Re:Just proves the point (Score 2) 1262
How do you know they are 40 year olds with wives and kids?
Submission + - GNOME foundation runs out of money
Motor writes: The GNOME foundation has run out of money after spending it all on "The Outreach Program for Women (OPW) helps women (cis and trans) and genderqueer get involved in free and open source software. " In possibly related news, Karen Sandler, the executive director during the financial fiasco leaves.
Comment Re:are you kidding? (Score 2) 192
Free Kevin!
Oh wow... sorry... had a slashback to like... 1999.
Comment Re:Oh the horror! (Score 1) 268
No... I'm right.
You need to look at what this scheme actually is... not what they say it is.
It's standardising breakage... as I've already said, let the content companies and their flunkies do their own work. It shouldn't be part of HTML 5 and it is fundamentally at odds with open source browsers.
Comment Re:Oh the horror! (Score 1) 268
You've put the layer into the browser... and insisted that the browser be closed source.
And that's not pushing the infrastructure onto us?
Not thought this through have you?
Comment Re:Oh the horror! (Score 2) 268
You can put what you want on the web.
But why do you expect everyone else to pay the technical cost of it (the DRM infrastructure, lock in and lack of choice and innovation)?
If you want DRM... then you maintain your own infrastructure and the associated costs.
Comment Re:Yet more fragmentation (Score 2) 252
Hookers and blow... obviously
Emscripten and New Javascript Engine Bring Unreal Engine To Firefox 124
MojoKid writes "There's no doubt that gaming on the Web has improved dramatically in recent years, but Mozilla believes it has developed new technology that will deliver a big leap in what browser-based gaming can become. The company developed a highly-optimized version of Javascript that's designed to 'supercharge' a game's code to deliver near-native performance. And now that innovation has enabled Mozilla to bring Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to the browser. As a sort of proof of concept, Mozilla debuted this BananaBread game demo that was built using WebGL, Emscripten, and the new JavaScript version called 'asm.js.' Mozilla says that it's working with the likes of EA, Disney, and ZeptoLab to optimize games for the mobile Web, as well."
Emscripten was previously used to port Doom to the browser.
Google Pledges Not To Sue Any Open Source Projects Using Their Patents 153
sfcrazy writes "Google has announced the Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge. In the pledge Google says that they will not sue any user, distributor, or developer of Open Source software on specified patents, unless first attacked. Under this pledge, Google is starting off with 10 patents relating to MapReduce, a computing model for processing large data sets first developed at Google. Google says that over time they intend to expand the set of Google's patents covered by the pledge to other technologies."
This is in addition to the Open Invention Network, and their general work toward reforming the patent system. The patents covered in the OPN will be free to use in Free/Open Source software for the life of the patent, even if Google should transfer ownership to another party. Read the text of the pledge. It appears that interaction with non-copyleft licenses (MIT/BSD/Apache) is a bit weird: if you create a non-free fork it appears you are no longer covered under the pledge.
Comment Re:overly dramatic. (Score 1) 278
1. The UJ site works like Monster.com. In fact it's run by monster.com. Cookies are not an issue.
2. The part of UJ that is controversial is the tick box when you create a profile that says "Allow the DWP to access this account". Your Jobcentre plus personal adviser can then access the UJ account and look at any CVs you've uploaded... what jobs you've applied for via the site and any free text notes you've recorded, and any feedback from employers you've had. Ticking the box is voluntary and it can be unticked later. Whether you tick the box or not - you are required AS SOMEONE GETTING JSA to show what you have done to look for work when you sign on every two weeks. Whether you do it via UJ or via a written form called an "ES40JP" is up to you. Nothing has changed in that regard.
Submission + - ARM investing heavily in Trusted Computing (theinquirer.net)
Motor writes: Doubtless most of slashdot is familar with Trusted Computing — a package of anti-consumer hardware measures that allow software makers to ensure that you are only running approved code that has been digitally signed by them (along with remotely attesting to that fact), and also encrypt their code so that it is only decoded and run within the processor itself. Ross Anderson's FAQ from 2003 still applies, even if the code names are now a little out of date.
It's a controversial idea — with some security benefits, but enormous potential for abuse. It an idea that Intel/Microsoft in particular have worked towards since the late 1990s. It has generated a lot of heat for them... so much so that they still tread carefully in the area. Not so ARM — they are going full steam ahead to ensure that your devices are properly locked down against any unapproved use by you.
Aren't you glad that Intel has some competition?
It's a controversial idea — with some security benefits, but enormous potential for abuse. It an idea that Intel/Microsoft in particular have worked towards since the late 1990s. It has generated a lot of heat for them... so much so that they still tread carefully in the area. Not so ARM — they are going full steam ahead to ensure that your devices are properly locked down against any unapproved use by you.
Aren't you glad that Intel has some competition?
Submission + - Google maps for the 8-bit NES (youtube.com)
Motor writes: Google innovation continues unabated with the release of Google maps for NES. 3d graphics, voice control... it's got the lot. This is what backwards compatibility is all about — no system left behind.
Submission + - UK man jailed for "offensive tweets" (bbc.co.uk)
Motor writes: "A UK judge has jailed a man for 56 days after he posted offensive comments on twitter about a footballer who had a heart attack during a game. He's also been thrown out of his university degree course weeks from graduating. His comments may have been offensive... but do they really justify a prison sentence and ruining his life?"
Comment Re:Entrenched Interests (Score 1) 199
This isn't about piracy.
It's about all the legally made TVs/videos having to obey bullshit rules - unskippable bits, not allow you to record a show, only keeping it for X amount of time.
It won't do a damned thing to stop copying. If you make TVs you'll need to sign a legal agreement in order to "decrypt the content" however trivial that encruption is. It'll just allow content companies to ensure that THEY control the people who make TVs - and will sue any of them who don't hop into line. They make the rules - and the BBC is a content company
Submission + - UK Goverment pushing for 'Trusted Computing' (guardian.co.uk)
Motor writes: As has long been expected — we are now beginning to see governments pushing for the use of so-called 'trusted computing'. Chips installed in all computers that effectively remove control of the PC from its owner. While there may be security advantages to some of the ideas — few can doubt that it represents a fundamental shift in the IT world. A radical move away from an open technology landscape and towards a system that denies all access unless you have the right credentials. Governments will demand the right credentials to access their services — meaning approved software stacks (i.e Windows) with the right digital signatures. Vernor Vinge had it right .
