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Comment Teachers Love Snow Days Too. (Score 1) 223

by Kernel Corndog (#36179042) Attached to: Internet Could Mean End of "Snow Days"

I can't remember ever hearing my parents (both teachers) being disappointed about snow days. They love the break away from baby sitting other people's kids too. I doubt this will happen any time soon... what about the poor kids who don't have internet or can't afford broadband? Maybe if the internet were a public utility....

Comment Does anyone remember DEC | Compaq | HP? (Score 1) 325

by Kernel Corndog (#35210892) Attached to: AMD Sale to Dell Rumored

DEC Alpha just died ... Compaq couldn't execute with it and HP probably didn't care to. Furthermore, I would bet the patent portfolio sharing contracts between AMD and Intel have so many conditional clauses that should AMD get bought out, their access might dry up. As ARM emerges as a direct competitor to Intel and challenge their monopoly, Intel probably would welcome finally getting rid of the competition who's existence has been beneficial to only for regulatory purposes...

Personally, I'd hate to see ATI's tech be gobbled up and made to wither more than anything else. So far they are the only one's who are publishing their specs for open source developers.
Security

Submission + - World's smallest RFID microchip created

Submitted by zemien
zemien writes: The world's smallest RFID microchip with a built-in antenna has been successfully developed under the Malaysia Microchip (MM) Project. The smallest version measures 0.7 millimetres by 0.7 millimetres.

The chip, which cost US$50mil (RM180mil) to develop, uses Japanese technology and is the first with multi-band frequencies. The microchip is so tiny that it can be embedded on paper. Each chip has its own serial number.

The Malaysian Government plans to start embedding it in marriage certificates, and maybe even bank cheques and university diplomas. Another hope is to replace the barcodes in baggage handling systems with the chip. Is the Malaysian government's faith in RFID chips to provide authentication and security misplaced? Or logical?
Operating Systems

Submission + - FreeBSD SMP greatly outperforms Linux under MySQL

Submitted by
shocking
shocking writes: "The recent work on moving FreeBSD to a new framework dealing with SMP issues (SMPng) has been finished, so developers have been benchmarking & profiling the code to find performance bottlenecks. After correcting a few, they found that a multithreaded MySQL benchmark performed extremely well under high load, maintaining throughput in situations where Linux throughput collapsed. The write-up is at http://people.freebsd.org/~kris/scaling/mysql.html "
Microsoft

Submission + - VMware attacks Microsoft?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: On Monday VMWare will release a white paper detailing its concerns with license changes on Microsoft software that may limit the ability to move virtual-machine software around data centers to automate the management of computing work. This was reported by Steve Lohr of the New York Times in an article published on February 24, 2007. Two choice quotes: "Microsoft is looking for any way it can to gain the upper hand," said Diane Greene, the president of VMware. ... "This seems to be a far more subtle, informed and polished form of competitive aggression than we've seen from Microsoft in the past," said Andrew I. Gavil, a law professor at Howard University. "And Microsoft has no obligation to facilitate a competitor."
Security

Submission + - Interview with Kurt Sauer, CSO of Skype

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: HNS is running an interview with Skype's CSO where he talks about the technology challenges that Skype faces with the constant evolution of threats, VoIP security in general, what's it like to be the CSO of such a large company, and more.
Power

Submission + - Plasma To Produce Clean Energy From Waste

Submitted by
kbox
kbox writes: "Mention trash incineration to most people and the image that usually springs to mind is a dirty, smelly practice that is about as far from 'green' as you can get. However, this isn't the case with a technology called Plasma Gasification, which is not only very eco-friendly, it's also powered by the very garbage that it processes. It also produces clean energy and commercially useful byproducts.

While the technology of processing materials with plasma has been around for some time now, Joseph Longo, CEO and founder of Startech Environmental Corporation has developed a device that can handle pretty much any type of waste put into it and turn it into a clean source of energy."
Security

Submission + - Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

Submitted by
atanas
atanas writes: "A security camera is under development which will decide PREEMPTIVELY if you have criminal or otherwise untoward intentions. "Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the way you walk to see if you are hiding something." http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMART_SURVE ILLANCE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT"
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - Storytelling in Games: Wizardry I

Submitted by
MrNash
MrNash writes: "The Armchair Empire has posted the first in a series of features discussing storytelling in games. In this installment, the article talks about Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, and how the lack of a story was actually a good thing.

In modern narrative games it can feel as though there is an invisible barrier between the player and the game. At the back of one's head there's the thought that we're being guided on an adventure that is being controlled by a game designer. He wants us to do things at certain points, and will tell a story as we go. With Wizardry I, this isn't the case. It's like Woodhead and Greenburg said to the players, "There's an evil wizard at the bottom of that maze over there. If he isn't stopped, he'll cause all sorts of trouble in town. Why don't you rustle up a posse, and go kick his ass," after which point they patted players on their collective bottom and sent them on their way. From here on in, we were on our own, and would have to figure out just about everything for ourselves. Our imaginations helped to temper the experience while playing. We didn't worry about narrative cues to tell us what to do, or add context to the game. We created our own context as we went.
"

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