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Comment Tumbleweed User Here (Score 1) 24

by davidshenba (#48238509) Attached to: OpenSUSE Factory To Merge With Tumbleweed
I am a Tumbleweed user for past 2 years. It is a hassle free experience. Just "zypper update" can handle everything! Latest Kernel (as of now, I am running 3.17) with stability is what I want, which Tumbleweed delivers constantly! Switching to Tumbleweed is very simple. Just need to set those repos and do an update.

Submission + - Music Training's Cognitive Benefits Could Help "At-Risk" Students

Submitted by AthanasiusKircher
AthanasiusKircher writes: In recent years, emphasis on standardized testing and basic skills has forced many schools to cut back on things like arts and extracurricular activities. A study out this week from Northwestern University hints that schools may be hurting "at-risk" kids even more by cutting such programs. Just two years of music lessons were shown to have significant effects on brain activity and language processing which the researchers argue could help close achievement gaps between at-risk students and more affluent students. Aside from better brain response to language observed in the lab, practical effects of the interventions were readily apparent: 'Leaders at Harmony Project approached the researchers after the non-profit observed that their students were performing much better than other public school students in the area. Since 2008, over 90 percent of high school seniors who participated in Harmony Project’s free music lessons went on to college, even though the high school dropout rates in the surrounding Los Angeles areas can reach up to 50 percent.' Note that this is only one of several ongoing studies showing significant cognitive benefits for music training among at-risk students; an article last year from The Atlantic gives a more detailed summary of related research.

Submission + - 4chan Imposes DMCA Policy

Submitted by davidshenba
davidshenba writes: In the wake of leaked private photos of celebrities, 4chan has added Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown policy to its rules and policies. Under this new policy, the site will remove any notified and verified "infringement". It is not clear how effective this could be and how 4chan is going to handle the inflow of notifications or restrict the contents provided by users.

Submission + - Researchers Harness E. Coli to Produce Propane

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: A team of British and Finnish scientists have used the common bacteria, Escherichia coli, to produce the environmentally-friendly fuel, propane. By introducing enzymes to modify the bacteria's process for producing cell membranes, they were able directly produce fuel-grade propane. While commercial application is some years off, the process is being hailed as a cheap, sustainable alternative to deriving the gas from fossil fuel production. As researcher, Patrik Jones, is quoted as saying, "Fossil fuels are a finite resource and...we are going to have to come up with new ways to meet increasing energy demands."

Submission + - $33 Firefox Phone Launched in India (mashable.com)

Submitted by davidshenba
davidshenba writes: Intex and Mozilla have launched Cloud FX, a smartphone powered by Mozilla's Firefox OS. The phone has a 1 GHz processor, 2 Megapixel camera, dual SIM, 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen. Though the phone has limited features, initial reviews say that the build quality is good for the price range. With a price tag of $33 (2000 INR), and local languages support the new Firefox phone is hitting the Indian market of nearly 1 billion mobile users.

Submission + - Breathable Clothing with Hagfish Slime (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by davidshenba
davidshenba writes: Scientists are looking in to hagfish slime or similar proteins as a replacement for synthetic fibers like nylon and spandex, thus providing a natural and renewable alternative. Though farming hagfish is currently not possible as very little is known about their breeding, research is on the way to produce similar proteins in lab. Previously spider web was researched for the same purpose but due its larger proteins, it is hard to produce artificially.
Patents

Submission + - Indian Supreme Court rejects Novatris patent on cancer drug 1

Submitted by damitr
damitr writes: In a landmark judgement, India’s Supreme Court today rejected a patent plea by Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG for cancer drug Glivec, boosting the case for cheaper drugs for life-threatening diseases. http://www.firstpost.com/business/sc-rejects-novartis-patent-plea-on-blockbuster-cancer-drug-glivec-680460.html A patent on the new form could have give Novartis a 20-year monopoly on the drug.During the hearing, the apex court had questioned the pharma company on the high price of the cancer drug. A month's dose is around $ 2200 much higher than $150 which is the price of the generic drug. The firm had tried to dispel the impression that its drug would be beyond the reach of poor cancer patients, which sounds like familiar Newspeak . "The purpose is not to make money from the poor. This is not the purpose, but am I not entitled for patent for our drug? We are fighting the case on principle," senior advocate for the company. www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/novartis-plea-for-cancer-drug-patent-sc-verdict-tomorrow_844565.html If remains to be seen what the implications of this judgement are, and meanwhile Novartis had threatened that a refusal by India’s Supreme Court to grant patent protection for the medicine would have repercussions for multinational drug companies’ activities in the country, meaning they will be no longer giving new medicines in India. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c377e20a-99eb-11e2-83ca-00144feabdc0.html
GNOME

Submission + - GTK+ 3.8 Released with support for Wayland (gmane.org)

Submitted by kthreadd
kthreadd writes: Version 3.8 of the GTK+ GUI framework has been released in version 3.8. A new feature in GTK+ 3.8 is support for Wayland 1.0, the display server that will replace X on free desktops. Among the other new featurs are improved support for themeing, fixes to the geometry management and improved accessibility. There is also better support for touch, as part of a long going effort in making GTK+ touch-aware.

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