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Submission + - Rick Astley Discovers the Rickroll 1

Pickens writes: "Over the last year or so, Rick Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as "Never Gonna Give You Up" has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts. "If this had happened around some kind of rock song, with a lyric that really meant something — a Bruce Springsteen, "God bless America" ... or an anti-something kind of song, I could kind of understand that," Astley said. "But for something as, and I don't mean to belittle it, because I still think it's a great pop song, but it's a pop song; do you know what I mean? It doesn't have any kind of weight behind it, as such. But maybe that's the irony of it." Astley, who will be touring the U.K. in May with a group of other '80's acts, including Bananarama, and Nick Heyward, Heaven 17, Paul Young and ABC, sums up his thoughts on his unexpected virtual fame with characteristic good humor: "Listen, I just think it's bizarre and funny. My main consideration is that my daughter doesn't get embarrassed about it.""

Comment Cool ! (Score 1) 400

The first thought I had reading this was "hey, this is coool !" Honestly, what is better than to be destroyed by a huge cosmic gamma-ray beam ? It's even better than to be wiped out by huge vogons spaceships to make room for a galactic highway !
Java

Submission + - SPAM: Head First JavaScript

stoolpigeon writes: ""Head First JavaScript" is one of the latest entries in O'Reillys Head First series. Like the other Head First books, it takes a somewhat unique approach in conveying information. The stated intent of the series is to help readers learn and retain material by formatting it in a manner that assists in meeting those goals. This means that the book is full of graphics, exercises and humor. There is also a refreshing note on who will benefit from the book. I've pretty much always thought of these sections in books as entertaining, in that I get to see what new way a publisher has found to say, "Everyone should buy this book!". Head First Javascript actually does a decent job of describing who this book will help, and who it will not help. That alone had me intrigued right from the start.

And who is this book for? It is for someone looking to learn JavaScript, with access to a computer and a desire to learn the material through writing code and working through a variety of written exercises. The book begins with the very basics of scripting and as it states, is probably not going to be enjoyed by an experienced programmer who is looking for a JavaScript reference guide. There is a lot of white space, drawings, pictures and opportunities to do the exercises I mentioned as well as the answers to those exercises. For the experienced coder just looking for an api or methods and properties, this will probably feel like a bloated waste of time.

Someone like me on the other hand, who would like to take a JavaScript class but just doesn't have the time, this book was just what I needed. I have done some programming, so I did breeze through some portions of the book, but in others I didn't mind the review. I like having new information and ideas soak in over time. This book is paced just for that kind of learning. It is possible though for someone to be too new to the topic. Some understanding of html and css would really be helpful. Someone who doesn't have at least an idea of how those technologies work may struggle a bit. Though I would think a little time with google would provide everything necessary to be up to speed.

There is an 8 page introduction that explains the reasoning and methods behind the books approach. The "Read Me" portion gives some great insight into just what this book is like. It begins, "This is a learning experience, not a reference book." and follows that up with seven main points. To summarize them, the book teaches what someone needs to know to get up and running. It is not exhaustive, it does not go over the history of the language. There are many finer points not addressed. Using multiple browsers would be helpful to the reader working through the book. Skipping activities will greatly reduce the value of the experience. There is quite a bit of redundancy, it is on purpose and beneficial. The examples are as slim as possible to focus on what matters and finally, not all exercises have definitive answers. If any of that turns your stomach, this really may not be for you.

The format does pretty much make reading straight through the book without working the exercises a waste of time. This was my biggest challenge with the book. If I wanted to read it I needed a pencil, my laptop, free time and somewhere I could work through at least a whole exercise at a time. This wasn't something I could fit in 20 minutes a night before bed. The authors recommend making it the last thing read before bed, but the end of my days are too busy to fit an exercise in. I found that a lunch hour, or a quiet week-end afternoon were my best opportunities for learning.

When I found those times, the book was thoroughly enjoyable. The humor was corny at times but almost always funny. I even chuckled out loud more than once. The exercises are widely varied as are the interspersed scenarios and stories that accompany the examples. I downloaded the necessary images for examples from the books web site though I avoided using downloaded code. It caused more errors due to typos, but I felt like I did better typing in the examples myself. I enjoyed working the cross-word puzzles and reading the 'interviews' with various pieces of technology. The time invested was much greater than for any other tech book covering similar ground, but I felt like the return justified the added time.

The style and humor reminded me quite a bit of the Dietel and Dietel How to Program books. I think that the scope is similar as well, as far as beginning from the very basics and building with each chapter. Head First starts with a basic description of just what JavaScript is and what it adds in the form of interactivity and finishes with a chapter that gives a good introduction to Ajax. In between the reader learns about all the basics like variables, looping, user input, validation, control flow, functions, code reuse, objects, etc.

As a hobbyist I felt like this was a great introduction to JavaScript. I think it gave me a foundation to build on and the ability to use more of the materials freely available on the web. Sometimes there is just so much of that out there, that it is difficult to know where to start. One of my primary goals in reading this book was to put together a couple simple web apps for myself as well as to get a better understanding of using the DOM for some Firefox plugins I would like to write. This book met those needs.

I think it is good to mention though, one last time, this is not a no-nonsense reference manual. In fact there is lots of non-sense and it is actually quite a bit of fun. But if the idea of 2 or 3 pages of big pictures to get across a couple simple ideas about data types bothers you, don't spend the money on this book. It will just annoy you and you will probably feel ripped off. On the other hand, if you've picked up hefty programming manuals and found that you didn't make it a quarter of the way through, and didn't remember much of the quarter you did finish, this approach may be much more friendly and give you a taste of success. And what good is a more information dense book if you don't read it or learn from it?

The table of contents gives a short summary of each chapter and a breakdown by section. The section titles are good for finding a place you read or stopped but wont always help find a topic. They are often named with the name of the exercise, not the subject they address. The index is good though and will help quickly track down topics. Like many new O'Reilly books, this one comes with 45 days free access to the electronic version of the book on Safari. The books site, linked above, has the table of contents, index, code examples and the complete second chapter available for viewing and/or download."
Programming

Submission + - Complexity and Programming (blogspot.com)

phomer writes: "We've finally gotten beyond the basic dialog about which computer languages are better and which features we should use in our technologies. Several major software development bloggers, including Steve Yegge, Jeff Atwood and Reg Braithwaite have turned their attention towards the underlying nature of software complexity. Important reading if your want to understand how to write better programs. I've tossed in my two cents with an exploration of the nature of simplifications, another fundamental issue for building elegant systems."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Vulnerability Numerology: Defective by Design?

rdmreader writes: RDM has a point by point disassembly of why the security vulnerability story George Ou of ZDnet regularly rehashes is wrong. Ou condemns Linux and Mac OS X by tallying up reported flaws and comparing them against Microsoft's. What he doesn't note is that his source, Secunia, only lists what vendors and researchers report, selectively includes or excludes component software seemingly at random, and backhandedly claimed its data is evidence of what it now tells journalists they shouldn't report. Is Secunia presenting slanted information with the expectation it will be misused, or is it just bad journalism at ZDnet?
Power

Submission + - Toshiba Builds Household Nuclear Reactor (peswiki.com)

sterlingda writes: "Toshiba has developed a new class of nuclear reactor 100 times smaller than a standard reactor. These micro sized nuclear reactors could be used to power large houses, apartment blocks or some city blocks. The new 200 kilowatt reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. The new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction, but uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy. Toshiba expects to install the first reactor in Japan in 2008 and to begin marketing the new system in Europe and America in 2009."
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates foundation deathly side-effects (latimes.com) 3

HuguesT writes: An long and detailed article from the L.A. Times points out severe, unintended side effects of the health policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. This foundation has given away almost 2 billions US$ to the fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria worldwide. Thanks in no small measure to this effort, the death toll from AIDS in most of Africa are finally levelling off. However, the money from the foundation is earmarked to the fight against these three diseases, to the detriment of global health. Sick people can also be hungry and not able to ingest healing drugs. Doctors in these countries prefer to be well paid working against AIDS than poorly working against all the other health problems, which creates a brain drain. Numerous children also suffer from diarrhea or asphyxia due to lack of basic care. The paradox is that countries where the foundation has invested most have seen their mortality rate increase, whereas it has improved in countries where the foundation was least involved.
Windows

Submission + - The pros of upgrading from Vista to XP! (dotnet.org.za) 4

An anonymous reader writes: A reviewer takes on the daunting task of upgrading [sic] from Vista to XP, and gives a very nice breakdown of the Pros and Cons (yes, there are a couple...;)
Space

Submission + - Cold patch found in the cosmic background (arxivblog.com)

KentuckyFC writes: "Astronomers have found a cold spot in the cosmic microwave background radiation. This patch is huge: in terms of angular size, it's several times bigger than moon. And it represents a significant puzzle because no current scenario for the origin of the universe can explain it. For the moment theorists are just struggling to understand its properties (abstract on the physics arxiv)."
AMD

Submission + - OLPC - A childs view 1

Finallyjoined!!! writes: A (UK) childs view of OLPC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7140443.stm

Still, Rufus is widening his social circle. " I have three friends. It's nice to talk to them. They don't speak much English but I can understand them." The conversation is not exactly sparkling, but Rufus has learned to say "Hola".

Unlike the monopoly view from Dvorak, this reviewers child has actually used one. Does Dvorak have kids? If he does they should get to play with one, if he doesn't, maybe Dvorak should play with one.
Music

Submission + - EMI may cut funding to IFPI, RIAA (arstechnica.com) 1

Teen Bainwolf writes: Big Four record label EMI is reportedly considering a big cut in its funding for the IFPI and RIAA. Each of the labels reportedly contributed over $130 million per year to fund industry trade groups, and EMI apparently believes that money could be better spent elsewhere. 'One of the chief activities of the RIAA is coordinating the Big Four labels' legal campaign, and those thousands of lawsuits have done nothing but generate ill will from record fans, while costing the labels millions of dollars and doing little (if anything) to actually reduce the amount of file-sharing going on. In fact, the RIAA freely admits that the legal campaign is a real money pit, and EMI's new ownership may be very leery of continuing to pour money down that particular rat hole.
Google

Submission + - Google Ordered To Reveal Blogger's Identity (aviransplace.com)

Aviran writes: "Israeli court ordered Google to reveal the identity of a blogger that uses Google's own blogging platform, Blogger.
The blogger accused a Shaarei Tikva comity member of illegal acts all through his blog posts. Google objected to the request claiming freedom of speech, however the court sided with the plaintiff and said that since the plaintiff is a public figure running for reelection, he is allowed to confront his accuser and clear his name."

OS X

Submission + - Java 6 available on OSX thanks to port of OpenJDK (bikemonkey.org)

LarsWestergren writes: Many Mac users have been upset that Apple has not made Java 6 available on the platform. Landon Fuller posts that there is a developer preview release available of Java JDK6 on Mac OSX, Tiger and Leopard. It is based on the BSD port of Sun's Java 6 and is made available under the Java Research License. Charles Nutter posts about impressive JRuby performance gains using Java 6 on his Mac.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft, Autodesk lose patent appeal (nwsource.com)

harsha_c writes: Z4 Technologies Inc. sued Microsoft and Autodesk Inc., maker of drafting software, in 2004, claiming the technology they used to activate newly installed software and deter piracy infringed on patents created and owned by David Colvin, the owner of privately held z4. Commerce Township, Mich.-based z4 argued that Microsoft's Windows XP and Office 2003 suite of productivity software used its patented method of asking computer users to supply two passwords, or authorization codes, before they could fully use new software.In April 2006, a federal jury in East Texas ordered Microsoft to pay $115 million to z4, plus attorney fees and $25 million for willful patent infringement.The jury also ordered Autodesk to pay $18 million to z4.

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