Comment Re:The new graphics (Score 5, Informative) 305
Hm, sry to reply to myself but according to Wikipedia it seems that the drivers have to be rewritten to support GEM. Still not sure about user-land software tho...
Comment The new graphics (Score 1) 305
Haven't read read the article yet but it does it require doing things differently in drivers or user-land software?
The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast 279
Barence writes "The deplorable speed of British broadband connections has been revealed in the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec. More worryingly, the ONS statistics are based on the connection's headline speed, not actual throughput, which means that many more British broadband connections are effectively below the 2Mb/sec barrier. Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway."
Good Cross-Platform Speech-Recognition Programs? 175
CryoStasis writes "I am a graduate student getting my degree in biomedical sciences. Because my work often requires me to maintain a local sterile environment (under a biological hood) I find that I am unable to physically touch my computer, which sits beside me, in order to open my notes, protocols, etc. while I'm working. As a result, I have begun to search for a voice-recognition program that will allow me to tell the computer what files/programs to launch. I know that the general field of voice recognition has come a long way, but I find that the built-in speech recognition systems in both OS X and Vista are clunky and difficult to use. Are there any good, cross-platform speech-recognition programs available that might fit the bill?"
Comment Re:And the morale of the story is: (Score 1) 547
"And the morale of the story is:"
Apparently it is not very confident anymore...
Fastest-Ever Flashgun Captures Image of Light Wave 175
loconet writes to tell us that a team of researchers have created the shortest-ever flash of light. Weighing in at just 80 attoseconds, this flash has already been used to capture an image of a laser pulse and could possibly be used in the future to capture the electron movement around large atoms.
Machine Prints 3D Copies Of Itself 341
TaeKwonDood writes "Automated machines have been around for decades. They have basically been dumb devices that do simple assembly tasks. But RepRap takes that a step further because, instead of assembling pre-fabricated parts, it creates 3-D objects by printing them — squirting molten plastic in layers — and then building them up as the plastic solidifies. It works on coat hooks, door handles and now it can even make working copies ... of itself. The miracle of additive fabrication, coming soon to a robotic overlord near you."
Singapore Firm Claims Patent Breach By Virtually All Websites 481
An anonymous reader writes "A Singapore firm, VueStar has threatened to sue websites that use pictures or graphics to link to another page, claiming it owns the patent for a technology used by millions around the world. The company is also planning to take on giants like Microsoft and Google. It is a battle that could, at least in theory, upend the Internet. The firm has been sending out invoices to Singapore companies since last week asking them to pay up."
Cisco To Open-Source New Messaging Protocol 118
Esther Schindler writes "Do you use SOAP, CORBA or EJBs? You might want to take a look at Etch, writes James Turner for CIO.com. It's language-, platform- and transport-agnostic, and Cisco is planning to release it as open source. Certainly, it offers some technical benefits: 'In addition to a simplified configuration, Etch also promises less overhead over the wire, compared to SOAP. In a testbed environment where SOAP was managing around 900 calls a second, Etch generated more than 50,000 messages in a one-way mode, and 15,000 transactions with a full round-trip, company officials stated.' And the open source part? Cisco is in the process of deciding what license to use. 'The intent is to use a less restrictive license than GPL, perhaps Apache or Mozilla. This is to allow commercial developers to incorporate Etch into products without licensing issues. A final announcement on the licensing decision will be available in the next month.'"
Submission + - Coding error responsible for Moody's debt ratings
An anonymous reader writes: The Financial Times has the story that billions in incorrect AAA ratings given out by Moody's were the result of a coding error in its computer models. "Internal Moody's documents seen by the FT show that some senior staff within the credit agency knew early in 2007 that products rated the previous year had received top-notch triple A ratings and that, after a computer coding error was corrected, their ratings should have been up to four notches lower." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c82561a-2697-11dd-9c95-000077b07658.html
Submission + - Apple Under Pressure to Fix 'Carpet Bomb' Flaw
picking sixth writes: "The Google-backed StopBadware.org coalition has called on Apple to rethink its stance on whether the Safari "carpet bomb" issue reported by researcher Nitesh Dhanjani constitutes a serious security risk. Apple has classified Dhanjani's findings as more of an annoyance than a Safari security vulnerability but StopBadware is applying pressure on Apple to "reconsider its stance and treat this as the security issue that it is.""
New Linux Distribution — Exherbo, Announced 322
An anonymous reader writes "Former Gentoo developer Bryan Østergaard recently announced a new linux distribution aptly named Exherbo. The distribution, which has been underway for a couple of months and is based on ideas and experiences from his long work with Gentoo, features a new packaging format and several subprojects, such as a redesigned init system. Currently no installation medium is available but their package tree is public for the daring ones who want to play with the upcoming distribution. The developers strongly discourage any serious use though, as it's still highly experimental."
Fedora 9 a Bit Behind the Curve On Installation 110
bsk_cw writes "Today, many Linux users are getting blasé about the ease with which they can install Linux. Possibly, they've been spoiled by distributions such as Ubuntu, which is actually easier to install than Windows. Unfortunately, Fedora 9, the latest version of this community edition of Red Hat, was a bit too much of a blast from the past for Computerworld's James Turner." (Except for bits about the installation, the review is actually quite positive.)
Submission + - Briefs Made Public in AMD v. Intel Anti-Trust Case
chunk08 writes: The Register reports that heavily-censored versions of the "preliminary pre-trial briefs" in AMD's anti-trust suit have been made public. AMD alleges that Intel engaged in a number of anti-competitive practices, including price-fixing, paying OEMs to be Intel-exclusive in either their whole business or in certain market segments, and distributing a compiler designed to degrade the performance of programs running on AMD processors.
Submission + - Scholarships for a Computer Science degree
chunk08 writes: I am a graduating high school senior who will be attending a highly ranked national college in the fall to pursue a BS in Computer Science. I have excellent grades and standardized test scores. I am looking for scholarships, especially corporate-sponsored scholarships. Can the slashdot crowd suggest any scholarships I should apply for? I am a white male, which precludes many of the IT related scholarships. I am in no way adverse to writing essays/code.
