palantir - Slashdot User

Submission + - Why ISS Computers Failed (ieee.org) 1

Submitted by

Geoffrey.landis

on Monday October 15, 2007 @08:50PM

Geoffrey.landis writes: "It was only a small news item four months ago: all three of the Russian computers that control the International Space Station failed shortly after the Space Shuttle brought up a new solar array. But, why did they fail? James Oberg, writing in IEEE Spectrum, details the cause."

Submission + - New propulsion method may shorten Mars trip (photonics.com)

Submitted by Chroniton on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @01:33AM

Chroniton writes: An article at photonics.com describes a new propulsion method, known as a "photonic laser thruster" could potentially shorten the trip to Mars from six months to one week, while also being useful for "highly precise satellite formation flying configurations for building large synthetic apertures in space for earth or space observation, precision contaminant-free spacecraft docking operations, and propelling spacecraft to unprecedented speeds"

Submission + - Microsoft .NET patch makes PCs go "haywire"

Submitted by yuna49 on Thursday July 12, 2007 @11:52PM

yuna49 writes: Various people are reporting that the MS07-040 patch for .NET released on Tuesday can cause a variety of seemingly unrelated problems. According to the SANS Internet Storm Center "the reports we got so far seem not to lead to any specific thing that happens in many cases, just various things going haywire." Some commentators on The Register's report of this story indicate that the patch failed to install at all, while others report things like the mouse suddenly failing to work or long periods of hard drive thrashing. In some cases a hard reboot seems to fix the problem, but other reports suggest that a reinstallation of the .NET framework itself is required. The problems may be related to the MSCORSVW.EXE process which recompiles all the .NET assemblies when the patch is downloaded. While the recompilations are supposed to run as a background task, in some instances the recompilation will drive the processor to 100% usage.

Submission + - tin foil hats tested for effectiveness (mit.edu)

Submitted by

wcanevari

on Sunday July 08, 2007 @09:04PM

wcanevari writes: "tin foil hats tested in three configurations at MIT. They were found to actually enhance the power of electromagnetic waves at frequencies used by government agencies."

Submission + - Free energy device delayed indefinitely (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by on Sunday July 08, 2007 @05:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: Irish technology company Steorn have announced that the unveiling of their 'Orbo' free energy device, discussed in a previous article here on Slashdot, has been indefinitely delayed due to technical problems. Apparently even the cameras streaming to the web have been taken down.

Submission + - Mandriva adds a semantic layer to the KDE4 desktop (mandriva.com)

Submitted by

AdamWill

on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @08:37PM

AdamWill writes: "Mandriva has sent out a press release giving some information on the NEPOMUK semantic framework (think metadata) being developed by Mandriva and several other partners, and its integration into the upcoming KDE 4. Includes a link to a video demonstrating NEPOMUK integration into Dolphin, the KDE 4 file manager."

Submission + - Some in Silicon Valley Begin to Sour on India

Submitted by

theodp

on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @02:19PM

theodp writes: "The WSJ reports that some Silicon Valley tech companies are beginning to turn away from India for low-cost labor to do sophisticated tech work. Faced with 50% wage inflation, 25% turnover, higher management costs and time zone complications, companies are stepping up U.S. hiring, bringing Indian employees to the States on visas, or finding other lower-wage foreign locales. 'The wage inflation rate for engineers in India is four times what it is here' in America, complained CEO Paul Otellini of Intel (and Google), which is stepping up hiring in Vietnam."

Submission + - The National Archives dance with the devil

Submitted by Colin Smith on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @07:26AM

Colin Smith writes: The chief executive of the UK National Archives has declared that proprietary file formats are a "ticking timebomb". I has been clear to IT professionals for decades years that reading old formats gets more and more difficult with every passing year.

However, in a bizarre move, the National Archives are partnering with Microsoft, the primary proponent of proprietary formats to try to solve the problem.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6265976.stm

In an amazing display of unctuousness, the head of Microsoft UK, Gordon Frazer "warned of a looming digital dark age".

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Submission + - Trouble remembering the basics of computing

Submitted by john_malloc on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @05:27AM

john_malloc writes: I'm having a hard time trying to remember the very basics of computing and maths (algorithms, data structures, algebra). I had a master degree from an elite university, but nowadays I rely too much on Google to find answers in everyday programming. I screwed up very ridiculous in my last job hunting attempt.

The questions were not hard at all (string conversions, simple sorting, linked lists, concurrency and even basic geometry) but I was totally stuck and ashamed of not remembering the foundations, making the situation even worse. I have plans to do a PhD at the same uni in vision research.

I have one more interview in a few days in a leading company, but at the moment I have lost my confidence on my skills and even plan to drop the idea of doing a PhD in a few years.

Is this something normal that happens to everybody in the field? Should I have to worry about my memory? Or the tech interviews are bad designed? By the way, the last time I was exposed to those basic topics was on my 1st year as undergrad (about 6 years now).

Thanks
John

Submission + - Elaine Chao: US workers are smelly complainers 1

Submitted by Tablizer on Wednesday July 04, 2007 @03:10AM

Tablizer writes: According to Parade Magazine, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says American employees are rude and have B.O., and this is allegedly why foreign workers are preferred. "U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work. 'American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,' says Chao. 'They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.'" Do we need to reshape ourselves into compliant borg?

Submission + - Royalties for embedded Linux based products

Submitted by demiurg on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @07:25PM

demiurg writes: Is it technically possible to collect royalties for Linux based embedded product ? I'm not talking about Microsoft/Novell/SCO/etc, the company in question does not claim to have any patents on Linux code — they just created an embedded product based on Linux and are selling it for a fixed price + royalties. I believe that while it may be perfectly legal, it simply won't work because after the first copy is sold, anybody will be free to redistribute it anyway they want, with or without paying royalties to that company. Is that correct ? Any links to relevant discussions, etc ?

Submission + - Vista Security Still Besting Linux 6 months later (csoonline.com)

Submitted by

Martin

on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @03:43PM

Martin writes: "Great report on security vunerabilities for MS/Linux/Mac OS X. A revised version of the one Jeff Jones did back on March 21, 07, Windows Vista — 90 Day Vulnerability Report, http://blogs.csoonline.com/node/218. This time he did what the linux community asked, everyone complained that he did the report based on a FULL linux distro including optional components not just a base OS install, so he did both this time, base OS and standard install, MS still comes out on top. I was shocked that Apple was even on the list as I believed all those Mac commercials stating they don't get virus's and security problems! ;)"

Submission + - How Uses, Not Innovations, Drive Human Technology

Submitted by Strudelkugel on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @11:52PM

Strudelkugel writes: The NewYorker magazine has book review describing our common misunderstanding of the value of technology and its ultimate use: "The way we think about technology tends to elide the older things, even though the texture of our lives would be unrecognizable without them. And when we do consider technology in historical terms we customarily see it as a driving force of progress: every so often, it seems, an innovation — the steam engine, electricity, computers — brings a new age into being. In "The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900", by David Edgerton, a well-known British historian of modern military and industrial technology, offers a vigorous assault on this narrative. He thinks that traditional ways of understanding technology, technological change, and the role of technology in our lives, have been severely distorted by what he calls "the innovation-centric account" of technology." This is also the first /. topic I know of that is linked to the NewYorker magazine!

Submission + - Perceptive post compares Microsoft now to IBM then (red-bean.com)

Submitted by

kfogel

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @10:33PM

kfogel writes: "Ben Collins-Sussman wrote a very perceptive blog post after reading the "Microsoft Pleads With Consumers to Adopt Vista Now" story today. He notes that a similar situation spelled the beginning of the end of IBM's dominance in the 1980's: although IBM set the hardware standards for a while, the market eventually moved beyond them, and the day came when IBM introduced a standard and *everybody ignored it*. Ben was in high-school then, and writes: "I remember thinking to myself 'Wow, this is a big deal. It's the beginning of the end for IBM.' And I was right! ... Well, I just had that same moment again [about Microsoft]". An excellent read and a spot-on analogy, IMHO. The URL is: http://blog.red-bean.com/sussman/?p=69"

Submission + - Global Cooling - The other shoe drops (canada.com)

Submitted by

fyngyrz

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @06:40PM

fyngyrz writes: "As always, there are rumbles of discontent from the scientific community with regard to global warming. This article from R. Timothy Patterson, professor and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, lays the overriding mechanism of climate change squarely at the feet of the various solar cycles. In the article, he explains that solar energy impacting the earth is part of the mechanism, while the sun's solar wind drives cloud formation in a complementary cycle that enhances the effect of the actual heat input. But that's not the kicker. The interesting part is he is predicting global cooling, rather than warming."

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