Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - XBMC Bridges the communications gap with the TV (tested.com)

Malard writes: "Home theatre systems have forever suffered from the bain of multiple remote controls. One for the HTPC and at least one other for the TV. Pulse-Eight working with XBMC have built a USB — CEC Adapter allowing users to consolidate their remotes and even throw out HTPC specific remotes in favour of their TV or Blu-Ray remote control."
Apple

Submission + - XBMC released for Apple TV2, iPhone 4, iPad (xbmc.org) 1

philj writes: The XBMC team is proud to present our first ARM-based release, and it’s a big one. Scott Davilla, with the help of several other developers and testers, is finally ready to pull the curtain off of his fun little secret.

You know that $99 tiny form-factor powerhouse that would be just perfect if it could only run XBMC? Now it can.
Or how about that iPad that is just begging to be used as a real portable media center? Now it can.
And while we’re at it, put your iPhone4 to work using XBMC as well. Why? Because we can.

These are not initial ports, and they are not early development snapshots. Here they are: full XBMC installs and source code, ready for consumption.

Submission + - XBMC Dharma Released (xbmc.org)

0100010001010011 writes: XBMC Dharma (10.0) has finally been released over a year since the last update, Camelot. Numerous change have taken place: Support for XBOX was officially dropped. Addon Manager added with official XBMC repository. Improved GUI engine & Skinning Framework. Improved hardware acceleration with VDPAU, VAAPI, Apple VDADecoder, Windows DXVA2, and Broadcom Crystal HD. Bit stream pass through support of MP1, MP2, MP3, and AAC audio tracks. A new webserver and JSON-RPC API. A full list of changes can be found on the trac roadmap.

Team XBMC also met for XBMC DevCon 2010 and discussed numerous things, including improving communication and usability, PVR support, the next release Eden, and an XBMC Appliance based on OpenELEC.tv.

Software for your platform can be downloaded at http://xbmc.org/download/

Feed Engadget: XBMC 9.11 'Camelot' now available for download, huge changelog in tow (engadget.com)

Frankly, we haven't heard much noise coming from the XBMC camp in quite some time. All that changes today, as the project has just launched its latest major update in v9.11. The so-called Camelot build is now available for download on Windows, OS X and Linux, with the most notable changes including a revamped user interface, DirectX support by default in Windows, a "complete reorganization of the settings menus, automatic video information extraction, and smoother video playback." You'll also find updated scrapers, expanded remote control support and updated codecs. Tap that source link for the download and condensed changelog -- though, we should caution you that the live installer seems to be causing issues for some, so try and stay positive, okay?

XBMC 9.11 'Camelot' now available for download, huge changelog in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | XBMC |Email this|Comments



Comment Points wrong/missing in summary (Score 5, Informative) 123

1. XBMC on ARM Branch can be viewed here: http://xbmc.org/trac/browser/branches/xbmc_on_arm
2. Discussion about XBMC on ARM with a lot more background info is going on here in the official forum: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35139&page=14
3. You might want to link to the first source i.e. the official xbmc webpage: http://xbmc.org/theuni/2009/10/23/xbmc-on-arm-gles-2-0/
4. XBMC is not called Xbox Media Center anymore, just XBMC.
Software

New XBMC Port Promises ARM-Powered HD In the Palm of Your Hand 123

Engadget has a recent teaser video promising HD content via XBMC running on a 600MHz Beagleboard. This could mean great things for home theater putterers, with the Beagleboard tipping the scales at a modest $150 and the ability to fit in the palm of your hand. Already running on everything from MIDs to AppleTVs and now moving to ARM-powered devices like the Beagleboard, it looks like XBMC needs to be renamed from "Xbox Media Center" to "ubiquitous media center."

Submission + - XBMC running on ARM Processor (xbmc.org)

TheUni writes: XBMC's ARM support is improving quickly, as it is seen here running on a BeagleBoard. Even more impressive, the rendering is done via OpenGL ES 2.0.
Transportation

Submission + - The electrification of motoring (economist.com)

donj writes: IN 1995 Joseph Bower and Clayton Christensen, two researchers at the Harvard Business School, invented a new term: "disruptive technology". This is an innovation that fulfils the requirements of some, but not most, consumers better than the incumbent does. That gives it a toehold, which allows room for improvement and, eventually, dominance. The risk for incumbent firms is that of the proverbial boiling frog. They may not know when to switch from old to new until it is too late. The example Dr Bower and Dr Christensen used was a nerdy one: computer hard-drives. But unbeknown to them a more familiar one was in the making. The first digital cameras were coming on sale. These were more expensive than film cameras and had lower resolution. But they brought two advantages. A user could look at a picture immediately after he had taken it. And he could download it onto his computer and send it to his friends. Fourteen years on, you would struggle to buy a new camera that uses film. Some of the leading camera-makers, such as Panasonic, are firms that had little interest in photography when Dr Bower and Dr Christensen published. And an entire industry, the manufacturing and processing of film, is rapidly disappearing. Substitute "car" for "camera" and you have a story that should concern thoughtful bosses in the motor and oil industries.

Comment Re:Now what about (Score 5, Insightful) 602

Sorry, but this post being moderated 5 completely discredits the competence slashdot's user base. I used to work in the financial institutions group (advising banks & insurers) of a major US Investment Bank for the last two years and witnessed the impact of the Lehman Brothers collapse on the financial system and especially other banks first hand. The global financial systems are too interlinked that ANY significant bank would have survived the collapse of even Lehman Brothers without significant government intervention - and no being a prudent bank would NOT have helped! Being prudent only impacts the asset side of the banks balance sheet i.e. a prudent bank will take less losses, however, this really doesn't help in staying solvent. The business model of banks is very simple. They borrow money from - investors - other banks - from customer deposits - central banks (repo'ing assets) add a charge (spread) on top of their funding costs (i.e. what they pay for the above) and lend it to out again. Sure, they can also trade themselves and do advisory business but borrowing and lending is really the core. Quite simply, after the Lehman collapse banks weren't able to borrow money any more: - investors were not willing to buy bank bonds any more - banks stopped lending to each other - customers withdraw money from their bank accounts - Central banks tried to relax requirements to borrow money from them but this doesn't make up for the above (moreover, this already is government intervention) This happens because investors & customers lost faith in the banking system and were afraid of another insolvency. Moreover it's a vicious circle, as soon as people are aware a bank has issues they withdraw their money making it even harder for the bank to survive. As banks have to continuously refinance themselves (as bonds they issued mature etc), not being able to borrow money any more will let a bank that is perfectly fine on the asset side go belly up within days or weeks. I've seen it, post Lehman every other week a new (PRUDENT) bank almost went bankrupt and could only survive with government intervention. You see being a prudent bank helps on the asset side and in the medium term on the liability side but in the short term after a major bank collapsed EVERY bank can go bankrupt within days given that they are extremely vulnerable on the liability side.

Slashdot Top Deals

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. -- Plato

Working...