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Ubuntu

Submission + - Ubuntu 13.04 Will Allow Instant Purchasing, Right From The Dash (muktware.com) 1

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Ubuntu is becoming a shopping center. Instead of addressing the queries rasied by Stallman and EFF, Canonical is now pushing for making Ubuntu a shopping cart. " With Ubuntu 13.04 Canonical is going one step forward, and soon you will be able to purchase software and music right from the Dash without opening the software center or web browser. This is intended to make the whole experience even more interactive and useful for the end user."
Apple

Submission + - iPads for all causes parental backlash (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by NGTechnoRobot
NGTechnoRobot writes: In a bid to bolster Apple's order book during the festive season Rossett School in Harrogate, North Yorkshire has mandated that each student should see their way clear to purchasing an iPad, without giving too much thought to the UK Government procurement and tendering guidelines the school seem set to continue down the one to one iPads for students programme leaving many parents angry and exasperated. The headteacher sent this http://www.rossettschool.co.uk/pages/embed.php?name=pdf/ipad/20121203_ipad_faqs letter out to parents to explain the decision.

Submission + - USB NeXT Keyboard with an Arduino Micro (adafruit.com)

Submitted by
coop0030
coop0030 writes: "Ladyada and pt had an old NeXT keyboard with a strong desire to get it running on a modern computer. These keyboards are durable, super clicky, and very satisfying to use! However, they are very old designs, specifically made for NeXT hardware:, pre PS/2 and definately pre-USB. That means you can't just plug the keyboard into a PS/2 port (even though it looks similar). There is no existing adapter for sale, and no code out there for getting these working, so we spent a few days and with a little research we got it working perfectly using an Arduino Micro as the go between."
Android

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Where do you draw the line on GPL v2 derived works and fees? (google.com) 12

Submitted by Shifuimam
Shifuimam writes: I downloaded a DOSBox port for Android recently to get back into all the games of my childhood. Turns out that the only free distribution available hasn't been updated in nearly two years, so I looked for alternatives.

There are two on Google Play — DOSBox Turbo and "DOSBot". Both charge a fee — DOSBox Turbo is $3.99; DOSBot is $0.99. The developer of DOSBot says on his Google Play entry that he will not release the source code of his application because it's not GPL, even though it's derived from source released under GPL v2 — this is definitely a violation of the license. The developer of DOSBox Turbo is refusing to release the source for his application unless you pay the $3.99 to "buy" a license of it.

The same developer explicitly states that the "small" fee (although one might argue that $3.99 is pretty expensive for an OSS Android app) is to cover the cost of development. Unless I'm misreading the text of GPL v2, a fee can only be charged to cover the cost of the distribution of a program or derived work, not the cost of development. And, of course, it doesn't cost the developer anything for someone to log in to Google Play and download their app. In fact, from what I can tell, there's a one-time $25 fee to register for Google Checkout, after which releasing apps is free.

Where do you draw the line on this? What do you do in this kind of situation?
Cloud

Submission + - Cornell researchers release OpenReplica, a toolkit for replication in the cloud (openreplica.org)

Submitted by hackerween
hackerween writes: It's difficult to build and deploy distributed systems. Replicating components for fault-tolerance requires mastering a system like ZooKeeper (or Chubby if you're at Google). A new open source system called OpenReplica aims to make this a lot simpler for regular developers.

OpenReplica is a new service that takes care of replication and synchronization needs. In essence, you provide a Python object to OpenReplica, and the system automatically creates replicas, and keeps them in sync using the Paxos consensus algorithm. To the rest of the application, the replicated ensemble appears as a regular Python object. It also supports well-known synchronization primitives (semaphores, locks, barriers, condition variables) and lets users update their replica sets on the fly for easy maintenance. The open web service allows you to deploy fault-tolerant objects on universities around the world on PlanetLab, while the open source code lets you run it easily anywhere you like.

Submission + - Intellivision's early Christmas celebration (indiegames.com)

Submitted by
dzfoo
dzfoo writes: "From the article: "Brand new Intellivision games have been pretty rare those past 20 or so years, but the holiday season of 2012 is bound to be different, as the venerable console has just had Christmas Carol vs. The Ghost Of Christmas Presents released for its elegantly ageing self. The game seems to be a cute looking platformer starring Carol (heh), some maze-like caverns and an intriguing menagerie of baddies. Oh, and it does come with 8 whole levels and, uhm, seems pretty fun too."

They're also running a high-score championship during December. The grand prize is a one-of-a-kind, personalized edition of the game cartridge. And the ROM is now available for free!"
Businesses

Submission + - Nationwide Google Fiber Deployment Would Cost $140 Billion (businessinsider.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For a lot of U.S. internet users, Google Fiber sounds too good to be true — 1Gbps speeds for prices similar to much slower plans from current providers. Google is testing the service now in Kansas City, but what would it take for them to roll it out to the rest of the country? Well, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs, the price tag would be over $140 billion. Not even Google has that kind of cash laying around. From the report: '... if Google devoted 25% of its $4.5bn annual capex to this project, it could equip 830K homes per year, or 0.7% of US households. As such, even a 50mn household build out, which would represent less than half of all US homes, could cost as much as $70bn. We note that Jason Armstrong estimates Verizon has spent roughly $15bn to date building out its FiOS fiber network covering an area of approximately 17mn homes.' Meanwhile, ISPs like Time Warner aren't sure the demand exists for 1Gbps internet, so it's unlikely they'll leap to invest in their own build-out.

Submission + - Photographer lives by Web, caught by Web - Copyright Infringement Central (dpreview.com) 1

Submitted by
Lew-the-nerd
Lew-the-nerd writes: "A well known Montreal photographer, dba Studios of Hera Bell, is the center of a firestorm of discussion in the photography world as a huge number of her postings and supposed sales have been of other people's work. Evidently she prowls Flickr and other sharing sites, downloading good high resolution images, modifies them slightly (often by flipping them on axis, perhaps to confuse image search engines). There is a multiple page discussion of this at http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50397989 and 20+ examples of her infringement at http://whotookthisphoto.blogspot.ca/2012/12/example-19-hera-meets-her-match.html.
Several of the photographers who have had their work stolen, and perhaps resold, are talking of a joint law suit and a Canadian newspaper is ostensibly preparing an article.
Theft and infringement are a huge problem as people try to expose their work to a great audience. The amazing part is that photographers are naively and unnecessarily uploading full res images to public sharing sites such as Flickr, essentially leaving their property out in the open for unscrupulous people to take and use."
Robotics

Submission + - DARPA drone has load placing arm (suasnews.com)

Submitted by
garymortimer
garymortimer writes: "The research team designed and developed a low-cost vision system to estimate the target’s position relative to the hovering vehicle in real time. This vision system enables the UAV to search and find the target for the emplacement autonomously and then perform the action.

DARPA’s precision emplacement technology demonstration paves the way for precise long-range delivery of small payloads into difficult-to-reach environments."
Transportation

Submission + - FCC Chief Urges FAA to Ease Airplane Electronics Ban

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "AFP reports that Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski is calling for an easing of the ban on using mobile phones and other electronic devices on airplanes during takeoff and landing saying devices such as smartphones "empower people" and can boost economic productivity. "I write to urge the FAA to enable greater use of tablets, e-readers and other portable electronic devices during flight, consistent with public safety," the FCC chief said in the letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. "They empower people to stay informed and connected with friends and family, and they enable both large and small businesses to be more productive and efficient, helping drive economic growth and boost US competitiveness." The ban is in place based on the assumption that devices could interfere with an airplane's navigation equipment. But a number of news stories have questioned the validity of this claim, and many point out that some people forget to turn off their devices during flights. The FCC studied the question several years ago but found insufficient evidence to support lifting the ban at the time. But not everyone has been forced to put their gadgets away. Earlier this year the FAA approved iPads instead of paper flight manuals in the cockpit for pilots, but the agency still refuses to allow passengers to read Kindles and iPads during takeoff and landing."
Businesses

Submission + - How corruption is strangling US Innovation (hbr.org) 1

Submitted by
hype7
hype7 writes: "The Harvard Business Review is running a very interesting piece on how money in politics is having a deleterious effect on US innovation. From the article:

if you were in any doubt how deep inside the political system the system of contributions have allowed incumbents to insert their hands, take a look at what happened when the Republican Study Committee released a paper pointing out some of the problems with current copyright regime. The debate was stifled within 24 hours. And just for good measure, Rep Marsha Blackburn, whose district abuts Nashville and who received more money from the music industry than any other Republican congressional candidate, apparently had the author of the study, Derek Khanna, fired. Sure, debate around policy is important, but it's clearly not as important as raising campaign funds.

"
Government

Submission + - Black boxes in cars raise privacy concerns (foxnews.com)

Submitted by
hessian
hessian writes: "In the next few days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose long-delayed regulations requiring auto manufacturers to include event data recorders — better known as "black boxes" — in all new cars and light trucks. But the agency is behind the curve. Automakers have been quietly tucking the devices, which automatically record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop, into most new cars for years.

Data collected by the recorders is increasingly showing up in lawsuits, criminal cases and high-profile accidents. Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray initially said that he wasn't speeding and that he was wearing his seat belt when he crashed a government-owned car last year. But the Ford Crown Victoria's data recorder told a different story: It showed the car was traveling more than 100 mph and Murray wasn't belted in."

Submission + - Nintendo blocking 18+ Wii U content in Europe (gamespot.com)

Submitted by kc67
kc67 writes: Nintendo of Europe is blocking Wii U content in the region that is rated PEGI 18+ between the hours of 3 a.m. and 11 p.m., according to a Eurogamer report. Under these stipulations, the four-hour window of 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. is the only time users can purchase games like ZombiU or Assassin's Creed III or even view trailers for such games. The story originated from a NeoGAF forum user, which reportedly received an email from Nintendo saying the following:

"Dear customer, we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries. We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11 p.m.- 3 a.m. time window." Eurogamer has since verified the claim. It received a message stating "You cannot view this content" and "The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted."

Nintendo has yet to comment on the matter.

Comment Re:About time (Score 3) 602

by wherrera (#42165917) Attached to: No More "Asperger's Syndrome"

Unfortunately, decreasing the number of people said to have a condition is a good way to decrease its funding chances in the government subsidies to researchers.

That's bad news for those who actually have the condition--lessening the chances for their eventual cure.

The move itself is akin to splitting off persons who have compulsive tendency in their personalities from those diagnose-able with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and as such seems to be a reasonable change in categorization.

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