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United States

DoD Ditches Open Source Medical Records System In $4.3B Contract 186

Posted by samzenpus from the changing-things-up dept.
dmr001 writes: The US Department of Defense opted not to use the Department of Veterans Affairs' open source VistA electronic health record system in its project to overhaul its legacy systems, instead opting for a consortium of Cerner, Leidos and Accenture. The initial $4.3 billion implementation is expected to be the first part of a $9 billion dollar project. The Under Secretary for Acquisition stated they wanted a system with minimum modifications and interoperability with private sector systems, though much of what passes for inter-vendor operability in the marketplace is more aspirational than operable. The DoD aims to start implementation at 8 sites in the Pacific Northwest by the end of 2016, noting that "legacy systems are eating us alive in terms of support and maintenance," consuming 95% of the Military Health Systems IT budget.
Windows

In Windows 10, Ad-Free Solitaire Will Cost You $10 -- Every Year 296

Posted by timothy from the pitchforks-and-battering-rams dept.
Wired UK reports that the pre-installed Solitaire on Windows 10 capitalizes on the long-cultivated addiction that some users have to the game with an interesting bargain: rather than being an ordinary included application like it used to be, what may be the world's most pervasive on-screen office time-sink of a game now comes with ads, unless a user wants to pay (by the month, or by the year) to remove those ads. Notes the linked piece: "To be entirely fair, this is the same as on the Windows 8 version, which wasn't installed by default but could be downloaded from the Windows Store."

At $1.49/month or $10/year, this might be enough to drive some people who otherwise would not to check out some of the free, open-source games out there; PySolitaire is one of many in this incomplete list.
Microsoft

Microsoft Taps PBS To Advance Its National Talent Strategy With 'Code Trip' 43

Posted by timothy from the public-access dept.
theodp writes: You don't have to be Mitt Romney to question PBS's announcement that it will air the Microsoft-funded 'reality' show Code Trip, in which Roadtrip Nation and Microsoft YouthSpark will send students across the U.S. for a "transformative journey into computer science." Of the partnership, Roadtrip Nation co-founder Mike Marriner said, "Roadtrip Nation is proud to partner with Microsoft's YouthSpark initiative not only to inform others of the many career routes one can take with a computer science background, but also to engage in the much-needed conversation of diversifying the tech field with more pluralistic perspectives." YouthSpark is part of Microsoft's National Talent Strategy (pdf), which the company describes as "a two-pronged approach that will couple long-term improvements in STEM education in the United States with targeted, short-term, high-skilled immigration reforms." The Official Microsoft Blog reports that filming of Code Trip began this week, with the three students traveling around the country to speak with leaders including Hadi Partovi, the co-founder of Code.org and 'major supporter' of FWD.us, who coincidentally once reported to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and is the next door neighbor of Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and a jogging partner of Steve Ballmer.

Comment Re:How is this a "robot" (Score 1) 39

by Tough Love (#50226641) Attached to: A Robot That Can Walk and Jump On Water

It's a robot locomotion design. It's part of a robot design. It walks on water and jumps on water. It's impressive as hell to anybody with the slightest clue. Are you happy now, or do you want to litter slashdot with more of your nonfunctional tripe?

Question: when you have trouble with your bowel movement does it eventually come out if you really try?

Comment Re:How is this a "robot" (Score 1) 39

by Tough Love (#50225925) Attached to: A Robot That Can Walk and Jump On Water

That's the problem with getting our tech news from a place called "popsci". They failed to link the actual research. It seems apparent that the robot has been designed, and the mechanical part has been prototyped and successfully tested. Say, do you regard yourself as a technical person? (Not looking good at the moment.)

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Thus spake the master programmer: "After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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