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Submission + - DARPA-Funded Software Could Usher in the Era of Open-Source Robotics (popsci.com)

Submitted by malachiorion
malachiorion writes: The best thing to come out of the DARPA Robotics Challenge, so far, isn't the lineup of nifty rescue bots being developed by teams around the world, or even Boston Dynamics' incredible Atlas humanoid. It's the pumped-up version of Gazebo, the free, open-source robotics simulation software whose expansion and further development is being funded by DARPA. Here's a quick look at how the software was used in the recent virtual leg of the competition, as well as how it could change the way robotics R&D is conducted (and create more roboticists, with its low-cost, cloud-based architecture).

Submission + - What Would You Choose to Update Your Technical Skills Inventory this Summer

Submitted by Proudrooster
Proudrooster writes: As technologists, developers, and programmers it is essential to keep moving forward as technology advances so that we do not find ourselves pigeonholed, irrelevant, or worse unemployed. If you had to choose a new technology skill to add to your personal inventory this summer what would it be and why? Also, where would you look for the best online training (iTunesU, Lynda.com)? The technologies that immediate jump out as useful are HTML5, XCODE, and AJAX. Thank you for sharing.

Submission + - VMware is virtualizing Hadoop (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Brandon Butler
Brandon Butler writes: This week VMware announced the public beta of VMware vSphere Big Data Extensions, which will let the company’s popular infrastructure management software vSphere control Hadoop clusters that customers set up. The extensions still require an underlying Hadoop platform, which vendors like HortonWorks, MapR, Cloudera or VMware’s partner, Pivotal each distribute based on the open source Apache code. VMware has enabled the features though its work on Project Serengeti, which has been aimed at optimizing Hadoop clusters to run on virtualized infrastructure. Some say it's a potentially significant move for the big data project, and especially companies deploying it. Running Hadoop nodes on virtual machines instead of bare metal brings many of the same advantages as virtualizing compute servers: More efficient use of hardware resources and additional flexibility in managing the system.

Submission + - UK government backs three-person IVF (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: The UK looks set to become the first country to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people, after the government backed the IVF technique.

It will produce draft regulations later this year and the procedure could be offered within two years.

Experts say three-person IVF could eliminate debilitating and potentially fatal mitochondrial diseases that are passed on from mother to child.

Opponents say it is unethical and could set the UK on a "slippery slope".

They also argue that affected couples could adopt or use egg donors instead.

Mitochondria are the tiny, biological "power stations" that give the body energy. They are passed from a mother, through the egg, to her child.

Defective mitochondria affect one in every 6,500 babies. This can leave them starved of energy, resulting in muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and death in the most extreme cases.

Submission + - New Zealand ISP offers 'global mode' so users can circumvent geo-restrictions (brw.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many content sites restrict access from different markets or have variable pricing for downloads in different markets. New Zealand-based ISP Slingshot is now offering a 'global mode' that lets customers hide their location. This means they can access overseas online services that would normally be restricted to specific markets.

Submission + - The DNA Data Deluge (ieee.org)

Submitted by the_newsbeagle
the_newsbeagle writes: Fast, cheap genetic sequencing machines have the potential to revolutionize science and medicine--but only if geneticists can figure out how to deal with the floods of data their machines are producing. That's where computer scientists can save the day. In this article from IEEE Spectrum, two computational biologists explain how they're borrowing big data solutions from companies like Google and Amazon to meet the challenge.

An explanation of the scope of the problem, from the article: "The roughly 2000 sequencing instruments in labs and hospitals around the world can collectively generate about 15 petabytes of compressed genetic data each year. To put this into perspective, if you were to write this data onto standard DVDs, the resulting stack would be more than 2 miles tall. And with sequencing capacity increasing at a rate of around three- to fivefold per year, next year the stack would be around 6 to 10 miles tall. At this rate, within the next five years the stack of DVDs could reach higher than the orbit of the International Space Station."

Submission + - Netflix Ditches Silverlight With Support For HTML5 Video In IE11

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Netflix today announced that it has finally taken the first step towards ditching Silverlight for HTML5, largely thanks to Microsoft, no less. The company has been working closely with the Internet Explorer team to implement its proposed "Premium Video Extensions" in IE11 on Windows 8.1, meaning if you install the operating system preview released today, you can watch Netflix content using HTML5 right now.

Back in April, Netflix revealed its plans to use HTML5 video in any browser that implements its proposed “Premium Video Extensions.” These extensions allow playback of premium video (read: with DRM protection) directly in the browser without the need to install plugins such as Silverlight or Flash.

Submission + - 7 Signs Your Project is Headed for Failure (intuit.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: How can you recognize that your project is headed for disaster? Look for these warning signs.

For example: Everybody is “the Vision Guy.”: "Another political landmine is the flip side of nobody being in charge: Everyone thinks he is in charge. To demonstrate the need to be “part of” this important, career-defining project, every single stakeholder sees himself as a dog that needs to mark his territory by peeing on it."

Submission + - Activists top 2013 class of Internet Hall of Fame inductees

Submitted by gnujoshua
gnujoshua writes: The Internet Hall of Fame inducted 32 new members, today. This years class had a number of "policy innovators" and activists including Aaron Swartz (posthumous), John Perry Barlow, Jimmy Wales, and Richard M. Stallman.

Stallman had this to say upon his induction, "Now that we have made the Internet work, the next task is to stop it from being a platform for massive surveillance, and make it work in a way that respects human rights, including privacy."

Submission + - ICANN working group seeks to kill WHOIS (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: An Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) working group is seeking public input on a successor to the current WHOIS system used to retrieve domain name information. The Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services (EWG) has issued a report that recommends a radical change from WHOIS, replacing the current system with a centralised data store maintained by a third party that would be responsible for authorising "requestors" who want to obtain domain information.

Submission + - Why Study Humanities? What I Tell Engineering Freshmen (scientificamerican.com)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: This is great. Here's a quote: 'But it is precisely because science is so powerful that we need the humanities now more than ever. In your science, mathematics and engineering classes, you’re given facts, answers, knowledge, truth. Your professors say, “This is how things are.” They give you certainty. The humanities, at least the way I teach them, give you uncertainty, doubt and skepticism.'

Submission + - Windows 8 killing PC sales

Submitted by yl-roller
yl-roller writes: IDC says Windows 8 is partly to blame for PC sales suffering the largest percentage drop ever.

"As if that news wasn't' troubling enough, it appears that a pivotal makeover of Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows operating system seems to have done more harm than good since the software was released last October."

Another article said IDC originally expected a drop, but only half the size.

I think people going to buy new PCs as often as they do cars — or even refrigerators. They're appliances. Microsoft should have realized it, and innovated in a new field instead of trying to update the old stuff. Maybe it's scroogled.

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