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Submission + - Bristol prints its own local currency (independent.co.uk)

Submitted by c0lo
c0lo writes: The West Country city launched its own local currency to great fanfare yesterday with the Lord Mayor handing over a £B1 note in symbolic exchange for a round loaf of granary bread made by local baker Joe Wheatcroft, who said he would put his first piece of Bristolian cash towards buying a dairy cow.

Independent mayor candidate George Ferguson says if he is elected he would be happy to be paid in Bristol Pounds.

The 5 Bristol pound denomination is Banksy note, featuring a design tribute to the renowned graffiti artist.
Linux

Submission + - ScummVM 1.5.0 "Picnic Basket" Released (scummvm.org)

Submitted by
YokimaSun
YokimaSun writes: "Fans of classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, will be happy to learn that a new version of ScummVM has been released with support for new games such as Once Upon A Time: Little Red Riding Hood, Backyard Baseball 2003, Blue Force, Darby the Dragon, Dreamweb, Geisha, Gregory and the Hot Air Balloon, Magic Tales: Liam Finds a Story and more. ScummVM not only supports Windows, Linux and new platforms such as iPhone and Android but also consoles such as Dreamcast, Gamecube and Nintendo 64 and rarer handhelds such as Openpandora and Dingoo."
Cellphones

Submission + - Fighting the iCrime Wave

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: 'What's the point of a mobile device,' asks WSJ reporter and iPad-beatdown-victim Rolfe Winkler, 'if people don't feel safe using it while they're mobile?' A lucrative secondhand market for today's electronics devices — a used iPad or iPhone can fetch $400+ — has produced an explosion in 'Apple picking' by thieves. So, how big is the iCrime wave? In New York City alone, there were more than 26,000 incidents of electronics theft in the first 10 months of 2011 — 81% involving mobile phones — according to an internal NYPD document. And plenty of the crimes are violent. The best way to deter theft is to reduce the value of stolen device — the wireless industry is moving to adopt a national registry that would deny service to such devices. A remote kill switch has been discussed as another approach. For its part, Apple says the company 'has led the industry in helping customers protect their lost or stolen devices,' although some are unimpressed. Could the estimated $575 in profit per iOS device be part of the problem?"

Submission + - 6 IT Projects are $8 Billion Over Budget at the Dept of Defense (federaltimes.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: The Federal Times has the stunning but not surprising news (http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120723/DEPARTMENTS01/307230001/At-DoD-6-projects-8-billion-over-budget) that a new audit has found that Six Defense Department modernization projects are a combined $8 Billion — or 110 percent — over budget. The projects are also suffering from years-long schedule delays.

In 1998, work began on the Army’s Logistics Modernization Program (LMP). In April 2010, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued their report "Actions Needed to Improve Implementation of the Army Logistics Modernization Program" (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-461) about the status of LMP. LMP is now scheduled to be fully deployed in September 2016, 12 years later than originally scheduled, and 18 years after development first began! (Development of the often-maligned Duke Nukem Forever (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_Forever) only took 15 years.)

Prime contractors Computer Sciences Corp, Accenture, IBM and CACI obviously have learned the "If you're not a part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem" lesson! (http://www.despair.com/consulting.html)
Games

Submission + - Games could predict whether you're color blind, a gambler, or have ADD (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lukasz Twardowski, a young Polish entrepreneur, recently made an unexpected discovery. By analyzing data from video games, he thinks he’ll be able to predict whether players are color blind, have Alzheimer’s disease, or suffer from various learning and development disorders. He can already use this data to tell whether players are gamblers, cheaters, or minors, so the profiling of medical conditions is not that distant, Twardowski claims.

“Games are the richest and the most meaningful form of human computer interaction,” said Twardowski in an interview with VentureBeat. “We can use [them] to build a full user behavioral profile.”
Android

Submission + - Groklaw analyzes the Apple vs Samsung case. (groklaw.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As Samsung and Apple have been fighting over patents from one end of the earth to the other, most of the coverage, with few exceptions, seems to present Apple's point of view. We know how much money Apple is asking for, we know it's claiming treble damages for willfulness, we know it thinks FRAND patents are not deserving of injunction enforcement, and that Samsung is asking too much money for them.

But now that we have the redacted trial briefs from the parties, I thought you'd like to see Samsung's side. Litigation has two sides, two stories, not just one.

Did you know that Apple wants a royalty rate of $24 per unit from Samsung for its alleged use of Apple's design patent, the notorious tablet shape with rounded corners? $24! But when Samsung asked Apple for a much lower amount per unit that everybody else in the market pays for Samsung's standards patents, Apple refused, offered no counter-offer, and sued instead. To date, it's paid nothing at all for those patents or for the other regular patents Samsung is accusing Apple of infringing."

The claims made against Samsung are discussed inside.
Microsoft

Submission + - OpenBSD's de Raadt slams Red Hat, Canonical over 'secure' boot (itwire.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt has slammed Red Hat and Canonical for the way they have reacted to Microsoft's introduction of "secure" boot along with Windows 8, describing both companies as wanting to be the new Microsoft.
Ubuntu

Submission + - Windows 8 Catastrophe Pushed Valve To Linux (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Gabe Newell, Valve co-founder and Managing Director, doesn't hold very high opinion of Microsoft's Windows 8. He calls it "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space" during a videogame conference Casual Connect in Seattle. Linux distribution Ubuntu's popularity and young user base may actually help these companies in finding the right audience they are looking for. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is also working on enhancing the user experience by introducing technologies like HUD and Web Apps.
Games

Submission + - Will Wright, other gaming greats talk about the future of gaming (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNN has run a story interviewing Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, and other gaming luminaries talking about the future of gaming in a more mobile world. Among what they and other gaming insiders had to say:

* Multi-screen is starting to be designed into games from the start. Your big screen TV and game console, your smart phone, and your iPad will all participate in the gaming experience. You will be able to continue playing a game on your mobile device after you leave your living room, and you will be able to use your mobile device to enhance the gaming experience as you play on your large screen.

* There is an influx of new gaming experiences coming online as touch becomes integrated into the gaming experience.

* Younger gamers are more likely to adopt mobile devices as their primary gaming environment. "Smartphones, tablets and smart TVs are the first devices that the new generation will adopt rather than old PCs or gaming consoles."

* Console game makers are "aggressively expanding" their efforts to expand their offerings to include mobile devices.

* The graphics capability of tablets is quickly expanding to "equal current console offerings", and this will allow rich gaming experiences on mobile devices.

Submission + - Bank Robbing a terrible business (wsj.com)

Submitted by
isoloisti
isoloisti writes: "Three UK economists get access to national data on bank robberies. The conclusion is that robbing banks pays, but not very much. Average take is about $19k per person per robbery. But, there's a 20% chance of being caught per raid. To make a below average income a robber needs to do two jobs per year, and has greater than 50% chance to be in the slammer after 2 years."
China

Submission + - CNSA vs NASA: The new space race? (patexia.com)

Submitted by
sarfralogy
sarfralogy writes: "China, in matters both domestic and international, has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Part of this independence relates to the country's tumultuous relationship with the numerous western powers — by whom it was once occupied. A second factor is that China's governing party — namely the Chinese Communist Party — does not need to ask for the public's opinion. The leaders of China can declare goals, regardless of public support or dissent, even during times of economic uncertainty. So, to many, it comes as no surprise that the Chinese are pursuing their own plans toward space exploration. There are a number of reasons for this — some economic and some military — but the largest reason is because the United States has given them little choice but to forge their own path.
China decided to build its own space station after it was not invited to join the other 16 countries that make up the International Space Station, launched in 1998. The US had a large role in this exclusion due to concerns over sharing information and technology with a rival country, which is interesting considering it had no issues working with Russia. Regardless, despite this and other obstacles, China became the third country to send a man into space in 2003. As part of their "Five Year Plan" the Chinese have announced their intent to put a person on the moon by 2020. Of course, the United States accomplished this decades earlier, but China's landing would be the first in 40 years since the Apollo 17 in 1972."
Windows

Submission + - Adjusting your PC set-up to cope with sudden sight loss (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "PC Pro's Davey Winder has written a first-hand account of how he overhauled his PC workstation to cope with a sudden deterioration of his eyesight. Winder contracted wet macular degeneration, a progressive disease that strikes very quickly, and turns items in the field of vision into a grey smudge.

He explains how he continued his work as a journalist by changing his word processor, swapping his desktop monitor for a touchscreen, and by replacing his keyboard with an Accuratus Monster keyboard (or Big Freaky Yellow Keyboard, as he's renamed it).

He also explains why he had to swap his favourite Chrome browser for Internet Explorer, and how a £3.99 iPhone app saved him from spending hundreds of pounds on a dedicated hardware reader."
Security

Submission + - Israel demanding access to tourist email

Submitted by tick-tock-atona
tick-tock-atona writes: Israel's airport security has long been known for being among the most stringent in the world. However, in a disturbing new development passengers suspected of being involved in political activism are being asked to login to their webmail accounts so that security agents can rifle through personal correspondence. One US tourist with a history of involvement in the BDS movement was held overnight before being flown back home, after she refused to login to her gmail account at the border.
Is this just the action of paranoid state? Or a taste of what's to come in other parts of the world?
Censorship

Submission + - Swear in public? Pay $20 fine in Mass. town (google.com) 2

Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid
PolygamousRanchKid writes: Residents in Middleborough have voted to make the foul-mouthed among them pay fines for swearing in public. Officials insist the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teens and other young people in the downtown area and public parks. The measure could raise questions about First Amendment rights, but state law does allow towns to enforce local laws that give police the power to arrest anyone who "addresses another person with profane or obscene language" in a public place.

Another local merchant, Robert Saquet, described himself as "ambivalent" about the no-swearing proposal, likening it to try to enforce a ban on the seven dirty words of George Carlin, a nod to a famous sketch by the late comedian. "In view of words commonly used in movies and cable TV, it's kind of hard to define exactly what is obscene," said Paquet, who owns a downtown furniture store.

What about if they say 'Jehovah' . . . ?

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