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Linux

Submission + - Whitehouse.gov petitions (whitehouse.gov)

Submitted by technosattva
technosattva writes: The Whitehouse has a section on their website for petitions. I was referred to this today because a friend in the scientific community would like to get more attention for opposition to HR-3699 .

"HR 3699, the Research Works Act will be detrimental to the free flow of scientific information that was created using Federal funds. It is an attempt to put federally funded scientific information behind pay-walls, and confer the ownership of the information to a private entity. This is an affront to open government and open access to information created using public funds."

There are other petitions worthy of consideration there too... I would like to encourage every American to take their opportunity to participate in democracy . Please contact them if it does not work with your OS (like it did not for me).

Submission + - Best language for experimental GUI demo projects 1

Submitted by
GrantRobertson
GrantRobertson writes: "I am not a professional software developer and never have any aspirations to become one. I've been through a generic university computer science degree-program and I can tolerate C++ begrudgingly. I do OK with Java and prefer it, though I still have to look up every API before I use it. Most of the code I want to write will be not much more than prototypes or proof of concept stuff for the research I will be doing, rather than full-on applications ready for distribution and use. I can learn any language out there, if need be, but these days it is more about the ecosystem than the core language. IDEs, libraries, cross-platform compatibility, user support, open source licensing.

My research/tinkering will be along two main lines:
1) Devising entirely new graphical user interface elements, mostly in 2-D, though often in a true or simulated 3-D space. I am working on ways to visualize, navigate, and manipulate very, VERY large data-sets of academic research information.
2) Computer based education software, though of a type never seen before. This will combine some of the GUI elements invented in (1) as well as displaying standard HTML or HTML5 content via a browser engine.

My requirements are:
A) A decent IDE ecosystem.
B) A decent set of libraries, but ones that don't lock me in to a particular mind-set like Swing does in Java. (Boxes in boxes in boxes, Oh My!)
C) An ability to easily draw what I want, where I want and make any surface of that 3-D object become a source for capturing events.
D) Ease of cross-platform use. (So others can easily look at my examples and run with them.)
E) No impediments to open-source licensing my code or for others to go commercial with it either (as I have seen when I looked into Qt).

So, should I just stick with Java and start looking outside the box for GUI toolkits? Or is there something else out there I should be looking at?"
Businesses

Submission + - Samsung Spins Off Its Display Business (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "Samsung Electronics announced Monday that it will spin off its LCD business division to launch a new entity, provisionally called Samsung Display Co., set to go live on April 1, 2012. The new business will launch with about $668 million in capital, but Samsung plans to invest about $5.8 billion in 2012 to develop better displays. The move, which now awaits shareholder approval, has been rumored for months since Samsung's LCD business announced operating losses of $666 million in 2011, citing sluggish TV sales. The company's spin-off display business may eventually merge with Samsung Mobile Display, which makes the company's organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels that are currently in high demand. Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for Samsung, said the company is reviewing a merger of its LCD and OLED operations."
Space

Submission + - What would REAL space combat look like? 13

Submitted by c0mpliant
c0mpliant writes: Me and two friends of mine were up until the wee hours of the morning at the weekend debating what REAL space combat would look like. I've spent the days looking it up online from a few sources and there doesn't seem to be any general concensus. So I thought I'd ask a community of peers what they think it would look like. Give our current technology and potential future technology, what shape would any future space battlefield look like? Would capital ships rule the day, cruisers, fighters and bombers or would it be a mix of all?

Submission + - Sopa-II : H.R. 1981 "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act" (businessinsider.com) 7

Submitted by
TaoPhoenix
TaoPhoenix writes: "Here we go! As many of you predicted, SOPA would be rebuilt worse than ever by switching the Copyright flavor to a "Protect the Kiddies" flavor. You were right. H.R. 1981, entitled "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act", has just been sponsored by Lamar Smith, the same lead proponent of SOPA. That was fast! Unfortunately it has a built in cheapo argument ready as a talking point. It also has some nasty and costly data retention clauses that weren't even in SOPA. Are we ready to do another Blackout Day? I don't think we have too many of those left before the fragile Internet coalition becomes exhausted. So, two questions: How do we stop this bill, and how do we win a victory permanent enough that we don't have to do this every single month?
Business Insider version: http://www.businessinsider.com/anonymous-and-internet-advocates-wheres-your-hr-1981-outrage-2012-2
David Seaman's Youtube videocast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBVqm2W56c8"
Windows

Submission + - VLC 2.0 with Experimental BluRay Support Now Available for Windows, Mac [Downloa (thetechnologytimes.com)

Submitted by
Prabhakaran
Prabhakaran writes: "VideoLan has just released the most awaited version 2.0 of open source VLC media player and it’s now available for download. Case of changes it has plenty, yes VLC 2.0 has revamped with new UI, 10bits codecs, new video rendering pipeline, high-quality subtitles, and also supports new experimental BluRay discs, more HD file formats and bunch of bug fixes. Especially the Mac version has"

Comment WebOS (Score 5, Interesting) 761

by slashgrim (#38812875) Attached to: Apple Announces Most Profitable Quarter in History

As a WebOS fan, this makes me sad. Why would HP give up on such an incredibly profitable market after only investing $3.3billion http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/21/hps-failed-webos-experiment-cost-them-3-3-billion-but-whats-next/ ? The iOS and Andriod user experiences still have not passed WebOS smoothness, in my opinion, though the notification systems are catching up.

Although HP's management style of WebOS reminded me of: "They say you gotta spend money to make money. I don’t know what went wrong. We spent all our money." - Tom Haverford

Comment Re:SHOULD "Apps" Cost Something? (Score 5, Funny) 523

by slashgrim (#38521288) Attached to: Why We Agonize Over Buying $1 Apps

I agree, and it's not just remorse over the $1, it's the time wasted. When you need ONE good app and search results give you 20 hits, what do you do? Spend all weekend playing with 20 apps? Then you ask on a forum and some joker says, "what's wrong with you, I just googled and there are 20 hits!"

That's why I prefer WebOS...there's only those 5 apps, and you know which ones are good because they've been on iOS and Android for like 2 years longer. ;)

Comment Re:the electric vehicle (Score 1) 503

by slashgrim (#38465134) Attached to: Tesla Motors Announces Prices For Their Upcoming Models

Maybe it's not the automobile, but Los Angeles that is unsustainable...

You're only saying that because LA has a 70 year backlog of sidewalk repairs http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/28/local/la-me-sidewalks-20111128 and is looking to borrow $1.6billion (with a B) for repairs while teetering on bankruptcy http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/villaraigosa-warns-of-bankruptcy-if-la-council-blocks-power-rate-hike.html ...

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