ACorvus - Slashdot User

An Optimized GUI Based On Users' Abilities 114

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 29, 2008 @06:11AM from the how-about-a-difficulty-slider dept.

Ostracus writes "Researchers at the University of Washington have recently developed a system, which, for the first time, offers an instantly customizable approach to user interfaces. Each participant in the program is placed through a brief skills test, and then a mathematically-based version of the user interface optimized for his or her vision and motor abilities is generated. The current off-the-shelf designs are especially discouraging for the disabled, the elderly and others who have trouble controlling a mouse, because most computer programs have standardized button sizes, fonts, and layouts, which are designed for typical users."

Low-Bandwidth, Truly Remote Management? 215

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 04, 2008 @04:58PM from the going-old-school dept.

kaiser423 writes "I'm looking to integrate some highly critical solutions into what would essentially be a remote, moving datacenter. No operators will be allowed at the site, and we may be able to have a high-speed INMARSAT data link. As a backup, we're planning to have multiple redundant low-speed Iridium data links. Essentially, we're looking to be able to power up/down and reboot some computers, and be able to start/stop some programs. We're willing to write the terminal interfaces necessary for our programs, and possibly do the remote desktop thing with some of our 3rd-party programs. But what is out there that would give us this type of access, work robustly over a high-latency, low-bandwidth stream, and would be tolerant to intermittent network outages? Please hold the pick 2 of the 3 jokes, I know they're contradictory goals; I'm looking for a compromise here! These boxes would regrettably nearly all be running Windows (with some VxWorks). Does anyone out there remember those days, and have any solutions that they preferred?" Read on for a few more details of this reader's requirements.

Microsoft Working For Samba Interoperability 221

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday October 23, 2008 @10:50AM from the this'll-end-well dept.

JP writes "Andrew Bartlett of Samba fame has written a document describing their recent collaboration with Microsoft's Active Directory team. In brief, it would seem that the sky is falling, as Microsoft's engineers seem to be really committed to making Samba fully interoperable with AD. They have organized interoperability fests and have knowledgeable engineers answering technical questions without legal or marketing drones getting in the way. However according to Andrew the Samba AD team is currently very short on manpower, so if you have network experience, now is the time to get coding."

Comment Re:Yes young padawan... come over to the dark side (Score 1) 191

by ACorvus on Thursday October 23, 2008 @07:24AM (#25480113) Attached to: Red Hat CEO Says Economic Crisis Favors Open Source

Linux got me into the business and I'm going to stick with it. I agree there are a lot of weenies out there, but there are just as many on the Windows side. Every time I want to recruit to my team, I get dozens and dozens of CVs (after the initial HR weeding process) of obvious fresh-out-of-high school applicants who've got a couple of Diplomas (largely MS/Visual Studio based) but no real interest in IT of any sort - they see it as a stepping stone to Management (invariably the m-word is one of the courses they've done) and only shoved Linux on the CV because it was in the advert and they're chancers.

The very, very few that I employ are people who've tried stuff at home (doesn't have to be Linux, just something that shows curiosity, drive and a broader mindset - eg hacking their Xbox or deploying a media network) and are really enthusiastic to learn and progress their skills in the field. Even if some of these people are only partially aware of FOSS I can easily see their interest piqued once it's fully explained to them. Getting them to see the bigger picture in terms of enterprise integration is a matter of nurturing that as their experience grows.

The management-wannabees sometimes slip through when they're really sly but we have this thing called a probation period for a reason ;-)

Oh, and just to brag, my personal record for setting up a Samba domain with LDAP and an authenticated Squid proxy with an IMAP mail server (LDAP auth) stands at 2 hours and 40 minutes (it was an offshore business and I had little time before my flight home after installing all the boxes in a rack and setting up the 5 workstations and 3 printers). Much caffeine was consumed - but I guess that's a given!

Gates Issues Call For "Creative Capitalism" 464

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday August 03, 2008 @10:05AM from the evidently-foss-is-a-little-too-creative dept.

theodp writes "Bill Gates makes his case for Creative Capitalism in TIME, citing projects like a Text-Free UI for illiterate computing, the use of Multimouse technology to allow fifty kids to share one computer display, cell phone billing by the second, and Bono's RED campaign as examples of the type of corporate creativity that can make the world a better place for the billion or so people scraping by on less than a dollar a day. Michael Kinsley, a former Microsoft employee whose wife still advises the Gates Foundation, says it's hard to object to Gates' goals, but notes that creative capitalism does have its share of skeptics, and points out that there was not a whole lot of energy devoted to lifting up the world's poor during Bill's three decades at Microsoft."

The Journey of Radios From Hardware to Software 114

Posted by Zonk on Saturday September 22, 2007 @11:15PM from the wave-of-the-future dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times is carrying a story all about the process of replacing radios with software. The article tells the tale of Vanu Bose, son of the man who started the Bose company, and his quest to bring software to what was previously a hardware-only enterprise. He met a lot of resistance in the 90s to his ideas, because processor technology was not up to the task. Now that technology has caught up with Vanu, his software (and other products like it) are increasingly replacing now-outdated hardware components. 'Well-established companies like Motorola and Ericsson now use elements of software-defined radio for their base stations. But Mr. Bose was the first to come to market with software that could handle multiple networks with the same equipment. Software radio appears to offer an elegant solution to what has been a vexing problem: how to have a single handset, like a cellphone, communicate across multiple networks. For instance, the G.S.M. standard, for global system for mobile communications, is used broadly in Europe, and most notably in the United States by AT&T.'"

Another Way To Erase Memories 232

Posted by kdawson on Friday August 17, 2007 @02:17PM from the science-is-cool-i-forget-why dept.

amigoro writes "Neuroscientists have discovered that long-term memories are not etched in a stable form, like a 'clay tablet,' as once thought. The process is much more dynamic, involving a miniature molecular machine that must run constantly to keep memories going. Jamming the machine briefly can erase long-term memories." A few months back we discussed a similar removal of rat memories by a different method.

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