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Submission + - Question: Good open source project management software

Murdoch5 writes: Hey Everyone

So I work at a small, super busy company. We have two full time developers, myself included and about twelve active projects at anyone time with varying degrees of complexity, we develop code for desktop, web, server and embedded products.

Recently I've been getting more frustrated by the lack of any real management at this company. I was wondering if the slashdot community can recommend any good open source, preferably web based technology to help me organize and assign development tasks.

What I would ideally want is a clean interface where I can input a project, divide it into smaller modules and assign / delegate those modules between myself and my co-worker. It would also be great to have some bug tracking and feature planning modules built in.

Submission + - ReactOSinches closer to becoming true Windows XP clone and releases 0.3.17 (reactos.org)

jeditobe writes: "ReactOS is an open source operating system designed to be compatible with Windows XP (and later) apps. It’s been in development for nearly two decades (it actually predates Windows 2000 and grew out of a project called FreeWin95) and it’s still very much a work in progress.

ReactOS was most recently talked about for one of its developers coming up with an open-source AMD SI ISA compatible GPU design while the latest accomplishments from this open-source developer group has came to light.

The developers unveiled two interesting milestones this week. First, ReactOS can now read files from NTFS volumes on a hard drive. Pierre Schweitzer of ReactOS shared, "ReactOS now supports reading files from NTFS volume. This was a long awaited feature people were asking for." A new ReactOS ISO re-spin is now available containing this support.

Second, ReactOS 0.3.17 was released with an early build of NTVDM, a tool that adds support for 16-bit Windows apps for folks that want to run legacy software.

Also huge bunch of font problems was fixed making possible to run without problems Gimp, Wireshark , Java, Winrar and IntelliJ IDEA.

Submission + - Bats jam each other's ultrasonic signals (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: Just before nabbing an insect, a bat emits a rapid series of ultrasonic calls whose echoes back pinpoint the prey’s exact location. Scientists call these sounds “the feeding buzz,” and they’re known to attract other bats presumably in search of a meal. When another bat arrives, it can jam the hunter’s buzz, according to a new study, much like someone blocking a radio signal. That causes the original bat to miss its meal, allowing its competitor to swoop in to grab the insect instead. This is the first time that this type of competitive interference among individuals of the same species has been discovered in animals, the scientists say.

Submission + - Salt Water Powered Car Gets European Approval (subfeed.net) 1

schwit1 writes: In a breakthrough that is bound to catch the attention of the oil industry and even electric car makers, a company has just gained approval for its ‘salt water’ powered car in Europe.

A car called the Quant e-Sportlimousine that was presented at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show is the first electric car powered by salt water and is now certified for use on European public roads.

The e-Sportlimousine, built by the German company Quant, runs on an electrolyte flow cell power system made by NanoFlowcell that generates a staggering 920 horsepower, goes 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds, and propels the car to a top speed of 217.5 mph.

Submission + - Physisists observer the Majorana fermion for the first time (phys.org)

Charliemopps writes: For the first time Princeton University scientists have observed a Majorana fermion. A long predicted but never observed exotic particle that acts as both matter and anti-matter. The material is surprisingly stable. Being in both states at once seems to make it act very weakly with its surrounding. This could also be a major step towards quantum computing.

Submission + - U.S. Scientists See Long Fight Against Ebola (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Despite recent advances in medicine to treat Ebola, epidemiologists are not hopeful that the outbreak in west Africa will be contained any time soon. Revised models for the disease's spread expect the outbreak to last 12 to 18 months longer, likely infecting hundreds of thousands of people. "While previous outbreaks have been largely confined to rural areas, the current epidemic, the largest ever, has reached densely populated, impoverished cities — including Monrovia, the capital of Liberia — gravely complicating efforts to control the spread of the disease. ... What worries public health officials most is that the epidemic has begun to grow exponentially in Liberia. In the most recent week reported, Liberia had nearly 400 new cases, almost double the number reported the week before. Another grave concern, the W.H.O. said, is 'evidence of substantial underreporting of cases and deaths.' The organization reported on Friday that the number of Ebola cases as of Sept. 7 was 4,366, including 2,218 deaths." Scientists are urging greater public health efforts to slow the exponential trajectory of the disease and bring it back under control.

Submission + - FAA grounds all UPS flights, blames UPS computer issues

witherstaff writes: The FAA has sent an alert to ground all UPS flights regardless of destination. The Official reason is "AIRLINE COMPUTER ISSUES". My tinfoil hat wearing self wonders about something bad happening on 9/11. My tech self wonders what sort of computer problem UPS could have that would warrant stopping all traffic.

Submission + - Murder suspect asked Siri where to hide a dead body (networkworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes: A Florida man currently on trial for murder reportedly attempted to use Siri to garner ideas about where to bury the body of his dead roomate. According to police allegations, a University of Florida student named Pedro Bravo murdered his roomate via strangulation in late September of 2012 over a dispute involving Bravo's ex- girlfriend.

According to a detective working the case, Bravo subsequently fired up Siri on his iPhone and asked it "I need to hide my roomate."

Comment Re:correlation, causation (Score 1) 387

No, what you've done in going in the other direction of un-"poisoning" feminism is to commit the same crime. Feminism is not ONLY what you say it is -- a light philosophical statement of social equality -- especially:

"Unless you believe women deserve less respect or fewer opportunities, simply for being female, congratulations, you are a feminist. "

In fact that part of it is a very SMALL part of it. And I'm sure you don't believe thats all it is, just as I don't. Its OBVIOUS to almost anyone on the street that this is not what feminism is only about. Feminism is an umbrella term from a myriad of things relating to female status, experience and political power in society, many of which move well beyond your above statement. Not only is it not as simple as this, but there are many factions of it that are antagonistic towards men -- that move politically and when possible legally -- and that do NOT believe in having equal social and egalitarian relationships with men.

Thus its not surprising that parts of it would be very WELLl described as poisonous -- and rightly so -- if you consider the objective here to be positive and equal collaboration between both genders for the betterment of humanity in total.

Submission + - Secret Serum' Used To Treat American With Ebola

mrspoonsi writes: Both of the Ebola-infected U.S. citizens in Liberia received a rare dose of what news reports called a "secret serum" to treat the virus before being transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, according to a CNN report. And while some people do fight off the disease on their own, in the case of the two Americans, that experimental serum may have saved their lives. As Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol waited in a Liberian hospital, someone from the National Institutes of Health reached out to Samaritan's Purse, one of the two North Carolina-based Christian relief groups the two were working with, and offered to have vials of an experimental drug called ZMapp sent to Liberia, according to CNN's unnamed source. Although the Food and Drug Administration does allow experimental drugs to occasionally be distributed in life-threatening circumstances without approval under the expanded access or "compassionate use" conditions. It's not yet clear whether that approval was granted in this case or not.
Brantly, who had been sick for nine days already, as his condition worsened, he asked for the first dose and had it given to him through an IV. Within an hour, he was able to breathe better and a rash on his body started to fade. The next day he was able to shower without help before boarding the air ambulance that flew him to Atlanta.

Submission + - Law Repressing Social Media, Bloggers Now in Effect in Russia

An anonymous reader writes: On Friday, Russia implemented a new law that significantly limits its citizens' online free speech. Under this new law, social media sites must "retain user data for at least six months...within the country's boundaries so it can be available for government inspection." Also, "bloggers with at least 3,000 daily readers must register with Roskomnadzor, the regulator that also oversees Russia's main media outlets." This, of course, means that popular bloggers will no longer be able to remain anonymous.

Submission + - Hitchbot, the hitchhiking robot, bums 1st ride (www.cbc.ca)

bayduv1n writes: It didn't take long for a little robot attempting to hitchhike across the country relying on the kindness of strangers to get its first ride.

The little traveller, about the size of a six-year-old child, was made using pool noodles, an old bucket, Wellington boots, rubber gloves, solar panels and a computerized "brain."

Hitchbot is entirely dependent on human beings for its survival. It's part of a Canadian research project looking into the evolving relationship between people and technology.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Where can I obtain resources to program for Palm OS 5?

baka_toroi writes: I got a Tungsten E2 from a friend and I wanted to give it some life by programming for it a little bit. The main problem I'm bumping with is that HP thought it would be awesome to just shut down every single thing related to Palm OS development. After googling a lot I found out CodeWarrior was the de facto IDE for Palm OS development... but I was soon disappointed as I learned that Palm moved from the 68K architecture to ARM, and of course, CodeWarrior was just focused on Palm OS 4 development.

Now, I realize Palm OS 4 software can be run on Palm OS 5, but I'm looking to use some of the "newer" APIs. Also, I have the Wi-fi add-on card so I wanted to create something that uses it. I thought what I needed was PODS (Palm OS Development Suite) but not only I can't find it anywhere but also it seems it was deprecated during Palm OS's lifetime. It really doesn't help the fact that I'm a beginner, but I really want to give this platform some life.
Any general tip, book, working link or even anecdotes related to all this will be greatly appreciated.

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