Comment Secret? (Score 1) 244
I defy anyone of sound mind to read the set up to this play and *not* guess the surprise ending.
Submission + - Nokia phones to be DRM'd to death (itpro.co.uk)
Anonymous Coward writes: "I see in this report by IT PRO that Nokia has taken the Microsoft shilling and will put DRM into its Symbian-based cell phones. This is a bad idea and needs to be stopped! I think we should embrace Linux phones!"
Submission + - Where are all the Ferrari Acer/Vista reviews?
An anonymous reader writes: What happend to all the Ferrari Acer/Vista reviews that Microsoft had hoped for? This is what ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley Hughes is wondering.
So where did all the notebooks go?The funny thing it, nearly two months on, I've yet to see a single review. Now, there's a chance that an odd review or two has slipped past me under the radar, but given the number of bloggers who got their hands on Acers, I'm surprised that I've managed to miss ALL the reviews (I have well over 1,000 RSS feeds in my reader). Even after a quick Google I can't find a single review (the only story that I can find is that of Scott Beale who auctioned his off on eBay and sent the proceeds to the EFF).
Submission + - Hotbasic 5.1a for Windows & Linux
PB8 writes: "Hot Basic has come along way from a compiler delivering only console based applications for Windows. It's fast, creates itty bitty fast executables, and compares very well with fastest compilers. Is it worth leaving the OSS world to use it? Hot Basic for Windows and Linux now supports threading on Duo-Core chips, and has libraries for Windows API and can hook into whatever Linux libraries you have. It can be used to write web apps, GUIs, services, DLLs, and libraries, pretty much wherever you'd use C or C++. Many programmer's editors now support syntax checking for it. Creator James Keene (aka "Dr. Electron") wants Apache rewritten in Hot Basic so it's more efficient. Is this a language whose time has come? It's not a free language like Gnu tools, Gambas or Mono. There is a trial license version. It's $69 for Windows license, $59 for Linux, and if you have the Linux version it's another $29 to get the Windows license. It's nearing that stage Borland's Turbo Pascal or Turbo Basic was when they became quite popular and has a growing fan-base. How much does the need for speed and tight small binaries still drive language and compiler selection in these days of multi-threading, multi-core multi-gigahertz CPUs? How big a factor is not using an OSS language? A non-ANSI or ECMA language? [My singular unpaid role in this venture was enabling porting to Linux by shipping Dr. Electron a bunch of Linux distributions on CD and pointing out the documentation on Linux's binary executable format and library APIs.] Ok, for some out there there may be a social issue — Dr. Electron's erstwhile mascot is 'HotBabe', Miss Compiler 2006, and some may find this sort of political incorrectness a bit much. Ok, and I also know, that for some of you weak-willed slashdotters, that item will actually pique your interest. Maybe you all can find more to debate about than what I've layed out, but you can start by reading more here: http://www.hotbasic.org/ And there's a yahoo group for it: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hotbasic/
And you can test Hotbasic's speed and compilation output here, online compiler at your service: http://204.188.170.145/hotcomp.html"
Submission + - Wireless net neutrality
313373_bot writes: The article raises an interesting issue, since people seem to tolerate much more corporate abuse and restrictions when services (such as cellular phone and now net access) are perceived as a "luxury" instead of as a basic necessity (such as, for instance, plain old telephonic service.)
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070214-8839 .html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070214-883
Submission + - The Next Big Programming Language
narramissic writes: "In a recent ITworld article, Sean McGrath muses on the future of software development, speculating that the next programming language may not be 'so much a language as a language for creating languages.' From the article:
"... Outbreaks of this sort of thinking can be seen in the programming community, typically under the moniker of Domain Special Languages or DSLs. Programming languages are again starting to sprout DSL capabilities. Ruby and Fortress — of the two languages already mentioned — are examples.
I think the time is right for this sort of thinking to become mainstream. The industry is at the point where the irrational exuberance surrounding using XML as a DSL for programming languages has passed (thank goodness!). Something needs to take its place which is significantly — not just incrementally better. I think a DSL-enabling programming language will fit the bill.
Submission + - Is mobile TV a white elephant?
Cam writes: I've been following the words of the 'great and the good' at this week's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. Reports of a speech by David Willan from market research company Circle Research caught my eye (a collage of relevant news stories and the report on which the speech is based can be found at their website).
Willan's company have just completed a study on behalf of the GSMA which concludes that mobile TV is unlikely to have mass market appeal — current market penetration is only 7% and it is ranked outside of the top ten high potential services for the future. Smells a bit like a re-run of the WAP incident and will no doubt worry operators currently pumping millions into developing these services.
Also interesting to note that mobile gambling only just makes the top ten of high potential services and services related to naked ladies are nowhere to be seen!
Submission + - Heavy criticism of "Linux Driver Development F
Stephan A. Rickauer writes: "The newly announced "Free Linux Kernel Driver Development FAQ" initiated by Linux Kernel Developer Greg Kroah-Hartman, working for Novell, has provoked more negative reactions from prominent Free Software projects, e.g. OpenBSD. Project leader Theo de Raadt writes to Greg: "It is a fucking farce. You are trying to make sure that maintainers of code — ie. any random joe who wants to improve the code in the future — has LESS ACCESS to docs later on because someone signed an NDA to write it in the first place. You are making a very big mistake."
Though the short term goal of getting Linux drivers more easily seems to be understandable in the first place, signing NDA's will hurt all Free Software projects in the long run. This short-sighted strategy will lead to the situation where companies are even less motivated to reveal free programming documentation. They will point with fingers to NDA'ed GPL code, which needs to be reverse engineered agin. Theo summarizes: "It is people like you who are closed."."
Submission + - D-Wave unveils 16-qubit quantum computer
Coucho writes: "An article on The Register gives the scoop on D-Wave System's latest quantum computer with the processing power of 16 quantum bits (or qubits). D-Wave's CTO Geordie Rose stated that "Even millions of qubits today today would consume less power than off-the-shelf processors," but then added "The cooling systems used for past computers are far harder to build and more complicated". Is this a farce? Or is this straight out of science-fiction? You decide.
Article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/13/dwave_quan tum/"
Submission + - GPS in your shoes
nithinraju writes: "Introducing Quantum Satellite Technology, a new line of $325 to $350 sneakers arriving in stores next month. Whats so special about these high-priced shoes? Because of embedded GPS technology, the wearer can be located anywhere in the world."
Submission + - Quantum Computers to Debut Commercially 2008
* * Beatles-Beatles writes: "http://news.com.com/Start-up+demos+quantum+compute r/2100-1008_3-6159152.html
Quantum computers, which researchers have experimented with for years but which haven't yet existed outside of the laboratory, are radically different than today's electronic computers. D-Wave's computer is based around a silicon chip that houses 16 "qubits," the equivalent of a storage bit in a conventional computer, connected to each other. Each qubit consists of dots of the element niobium surrounded by coils of wire."
Quantum computers, which researchers have experimented with for years but which haven't yet existed outside of the laboratory, are radically different than today's electronic computers. D-Wave's computer is based around a silicon chip that houses 16 "qubits," the equivalent of a storage bit in a conventional computer, connected to each other. Each qubit consists of dots of the element niobium surrounded by coils of wire."
