The Genius of the Lego Printer 187
Barence writes "If you've ever struggled to build anything more complex than a cube of Lego, this will blow your mind. It's a fully functioning Lego printer, complete with felt tip print head."
Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Benchmarked and Reviewed 164
tc6669 writes "Tom's Hardware just posted an interesting review of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It includes an expanded set of OS benchmarks that they also performed on the previous LTS release (8.04), to see just how much the mainstream Linux distro has progressed in two years."
Why Windows 7 "Slate" Tablets Won't Happen 467
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Galen Gruman questions the viability of Windows 7 on tablets in the wake of the news that HP will use Palm's WebOS as the foundation for iPad rivals, rather than follow through with the previously hyped Windows 7-based Slate. 'The iPad proved a tablet shouldn't be a portable computer that happened to have its screen always exposed. Even though technical components are shared between the Mac OS and the iPhone OS, the irrelevant Mac OS functions aren't gumming up the iPhone OS, and Apple's development environment doesn't let you pull through desktop approaches into your mobile applications. You're forced to go touch-native,' Gruman writes, adding that, when it comes to touch capabilities, Windows 7 leaves much to be desired. 'Sure, a few Windows 7 slate-style tablets will ship — Asus and MSI are said to have models shipping later this year. But those products will go nowhere, because Windows 7 is simply not the right operating system for a slate.'"
Please Do Not Change Your Password 497
cxbrx writes "Mark Pothier's Boston Globe article, 'Please do not change your password,' covers a paper by Microsoft Researcher Cormac Herley, 'So Long, and No Thanks for the Externalities: the Rational Rejection of Security Advice by Users,' from the 2009 New Security Paradigms Workshop. Herley argues 'that user's rejection of the security advice they receive is entirely rational from an economic perspective.' Herley discusses 'password rules,' 'teaching users to recognize phishing sites by reading URLs,' and 'certificate errors.' Users obviously choose bad passwords, but does password aging actually help? There was some discussion on TechRepublic. I'm especially interested in hearing about studies about password aging."
Submission + - Open Video Alliance want Ogg Theora video on Wikip (h-online.com)
suraj.sun writes: In an move designed to kickstart the widespread adoption of Ogg Theora video, the Open Video Alliance ( http://openvideoalliance.org/ ) has launched "Let's get video on Wikipedia" with a videoonwikipedia.org ( http://videoonwikipedia.org/index.html ) web site.
The OVA, which is comprised of Mozilla, Kaltura, the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) and the Yale Law School's Information Society Project, wants to see video on Wikipedia, encoded in the open source and patent-free Ogg Theora format. The website offers step by step instructions on how to create video in Ogg Theora format, complete with links to the PCF's Miro Video Converter for Mac and Windows.
The debate over video formats has become more divisive recently as Mozilla decided to only support Ogg Theora video in Firefox's implementation of the HTML5 video tag. Video sharing sites such as YouTube support the HTML5 video tag but use the patent encumbered h.264 standard.
H-Online.com : http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Open-Video-Alliance-want-Ogg-Theora-video-on-Wikipedia-958327.html
The OVA, which is comprised of Mozilla, Kaltura, the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) and the Yale Law School's Information Society Project, wants to see video on Wikipedia, encoded in the open source and patent-free Ogg Theora format. The website offers step by step instructions on how to create video in Ogg Theora format, complete with links to the PCF's Miro Video Converter for Mac and Windows.
The debate over video formats has become more divisive recently as Mozilla decided to only support Ogg Theora video in Firefox's implementation of the HTML5 video tag. Video sharing sites such as YouTube support the HTML5 video tag but use the patent encumbered h.264 standard.
H-Online.com : http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Open-Video-Alliance-want-Ogg-Theora-video-on-Wikipedia-958327.html
Submission + - Server room smells can be an early warning (pcpro.co.uk)
Barence writes: As embarrassing as it may seem, an eggy smell in a server room needn't mean broaching the delicate subject of hygiene with a colleague. It can actually be a signal that something is about to go wrong with your server setup, as this consultant discovered after days of assuming questionable personal habits were to blame. The culprit? An expiring UPS device, sending out its own unique warning signal.
Submission + - SPAM: Multicore requires OS rework, Windows expert says
alphadogg writes: With chip makers continuing to increase the number of cores they include on each new generation of their processors, perhaps it's time to rethink the basic architecture of today's operating systems, suggested Dave Probert, a kernel architect within the Windows core operating systems division at Microsoft. The current approach to harnessing the power of multicore processors is complicated and not entirely successful, he argued. The key may not be in throwing more energy into refining techniques such as parallel programming, but rather rethinking the basic abstractions that make up the operating systems model. Today's computers don't get enough performance out of their multicore chips, Probert said. "Why should you ever, with all this parallel hardware, ever be waiting for your computer?" he asked.
Probert made his presentation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Universal Parallel Computing Research Center.
Link to Original Source
Probert made his presentation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Universal Parallel Computing Research Center.
Link to Original Source
Comment Digital signatures might be the future (Score 1) 896
I like AVG and have sold it to most of my clients, but it is getting to the same level of bloatware as Norton and Mcafee that it is starting to not be competitive. The problem fer me is that now a days classic viruses are no longer the problem in fact I no longer find any value in an antivirus product for my personal use, Windows 7 and UAC have been great in controlling threads, and my laptop runs great without any antivirus software. I still don't get why all the antivirus software with all the bloat they bring can't properly fight malware which is really what is affecting our computers today. They seem to just want to collect subscription fees to fight threats that no longer exist. At the end what may fix all the problems is requiring digital signatures for all software available, and only allow white listed products to be installed. Obviously Microsoft will be attacked for doing this.
Comment His only personal interest is to remain in power (Score 2, Insightful) 452
Hugo Chavez is a totalitarian with only the personal interest to remain in power. He is not even communist or socialist. Chavez does not worry about destroying his own country as long as he has the power. Over the past 11 years he has been wasting the money of what should have been a booming economy based on the high oil prices. Now an energy rich country even has power problems, and is proposing to have businesses close one day of the week to "save power". Chavez is just a total failure, and he wants to close any media or communication medium to avoid for the truth to be known.
Comment Re:Incredibly dissappointed at wikileaks (Score 1) 313
Chavez is a public employee to whom at least every Venezuelan should be able to audit.
