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Programming

Submission + - JavaScript Is Slow (i-programmer.info)

mikejuk writes: The battle lines are drawn up — JavaScript v Native. Some programmers are of the opinion that only Native code will do and C++ is the language to use. Is this a reasonable position given how much faster JavaScript has become? Some data to talk about.
KDE

Submission + - Review: Fedora Linux 16 with KDE (dedoimedo.com)

jrepin writes: "Dedoimedo.com have taken a look at the latest release of Fedora Linux operating system with KDE Plasma desktop and written an extensive review. They conclude that Fedora 16 with KDE is a surprisingly high-quality product, which looks good, runs fast and can be tamed easily. For all the details check out Fedora 16 Verne with KDE — Rather nice, actually."
Cellphones

Submission + - How to install linux on a cellphone/tablet?

An anonymous reader writes: Remembering the late 90s, when I removed MS Windows and installed Linux on my PC, I would like to ask an intentionally naive question: How should I go about installing Linux on my cellphone or tablet? Does X work with touch based screens? Is there a special KDE/Gnome like free (as in speech) software out there? A repository (not store!) of free apps/RPM-s to install? Slackware for tablets edition?
Security

Submission + - Rare Earth Magnets Pose Threat to Children

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Many of today's toys contain rare-earth magnets which are much more powerful than the magnets of yesteryear and the magnets pose a serious threat to children when more than one is ingested because as the magnets attract one another they can cause a range of serious injuries, including holes through internal organs, blood poisoning and death (PDF). Braden Eberle, 4, swallowed two tiny magnets from his older brother's construction kit on two successive days last spring and his mother's first reaction was that the magnet would pass through her son's system without a problem. "People swallow pennies of the same size every day," said Jill Eberle. "They're smaller than an eraser." But next morning, with Braden still in pain, the family's doctor told them to go straight to the emergency room where an X-ray revealed two magnets were stuck together. "They were attracted to each other with the wall of each segment they were in stuck together," said Dr. Sanjeev Dutta, the pediatric surgeon at Good Samaritan Hospital who would operate on Braden later that day. "Because they were so powerful, the wall of the intestine was getting squeezed, squeezed, squeezed, and then it just necrosed, or kind of rotted away, and created a hole between the two." The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says at least 33 children have been injured from ingesting magnets (PDF) with a 20 month-old dying, and at least 19 other children requiring surgery."

Submission + - DING DONG THE FLASH IS DEAD (adobe.com)

An anonymous reader writes: http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html

"We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook."

Good riddance to bad rubbish

Sony

Submission + - Sony unveils tablets (techradar.com)

vegiVamp writes: Sony seems to have come up with their own tables. Android-based, and I particularly like the idea of a fold-in-two tablet.
No news on whether they'll consider the hardware yours after they sold it to you.

Android

Submission + - Sony Announces Android-based Tablets

trawg writes: "Sony have officially announced a new line of "Sony tablets". There are two models, both offering 3G/4G and WiFi running Android 3.0 — one is a typical tablet with a 9.4 inch screen and the other is an "unprecedented dual screen" type. Digital content is a big focus: music, books and first generation PlayStation titles will all be available (subject to the usual region restrictions for content)."

Comment Re:Use cases? (Score 1) 716

#1 -- everything you would do on a touch-based smartphone (minus making calls), except with 4x the screen real-estate. It makes a huge difference, especially in web browsing.
#2 -- consume content in comfort. I hate watching TV or movies on my computer, but in bed or on the couch, it's a pleasure. It's also a decent book reader (unless you are outside in the sun). Yes, you can do this with a laptop, but when you compare the two, the pad is way more comfortable, portable and easier to set aside.
#3 -- Apps, apps, apps. You will likely find 2-3 apps that you can't live without. I have Ampkit+, which is an amp and effects simulator and recording device that replicates thousands of dollars' worth of equipment for about $50, including the input dongle. Many of the games rival console games in graphics and immersion, most for under $10. There are plenty of SSH, VNC and other network apps for very cheap (compared to desktop software).

On top of those three reasons, the convenience of instant-on cannot be over emphasized.

Comment Re:Why America withers (Score 1) 795

"Most of them could care less about the man."

If they could care less, that means that they care some. I think you meant to say they couldn't care less.

"I understand there's sort of a holy aura around the president, where he's viewed as some sort of quasi-deity because he's not George W. Bush"

Nobody claims these things except people who don't like him.

"People that are watching Mythbusters are already interested in science and that sort of thing, why is bringing politics into the show going to influence people to like science?"

The whole point is to get people to watch Mythbusters who don't normally watch the show. Then they might see that science doesn't have to be boring and develop an interest in it.

Comment Re:Subscription service (Score 1) 274

Shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Firefly cost $3 - $4 million per episode to produce, so you'd need 4 million people willing to pay $1 per episode. According to Wikipedia, the average weekly viewership for Firefly was 4.4 million, so the only barrier to this working is distribution. Hey, maybe Apple could help with that...

Comment Re:Hey look, damage reduction! (Score 1) 125

Another anecdote to offer support to what you're saying. I was at a poker game the other night and noticed that two of the other guys also had iPhone 4s. I asked them about their reception and both said they hadn't had any problems and couldn't replicate the problem -- neither one was using a case. I have a case on my phone now, but I used it without a case for 3 weeks and was able to reproduce the bar drop one time when I was in a fairly weak signal area. It dropped from 3 bars to 1. I haven't dropped a call in the month that I've owned the phone.

I think this is a real issue that affects a very small percentage of owners of the phone.

Comment Re:Tosser (Score 1) 175

How in the world does "I can hear it now..." followed by your fantasy imaginings of things that no one actually posted constitute "valid criticism" of Apple, who in this case did nothing other than release the source code of 27 year old software for the general public to play with?

I wouldn't go so far as to call it hate, but there's something going on behind your post beyond criticism. It comes across as a bit pathological.

Businesses

Submission + - Apple Reports Record Revenue

adeelarshad82 writes: Apple reported record revenue for its fiscal third quarter of 2010, on the back of its newly-launched iPad and record Macintosh sales. Apple reported a net profit of $3.25 billion on revenue of $15.7 billion, both of which shot up dramatically from a year ago, when Apple reported profits of $1.83 billion on revenue of $9.73 billion. According to predictions by Thomson Reuters poll, Apple could surpass Microsoft in revenues who are expected to report revenue of $15.25 billion. Apple Macintosh computer sales were up by 33% from a year ago, and iPhone sales increased by 61% compared to a year ago. However, iPod sales dropped by 8%.

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