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Programming

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Best way to jump back into programming?

FractalFear writes: 15 years ago I was programming in BASIC, and doing some C++, after a serious car accident barely making it out alive, my memory went to crud. I have no recolection of how to do anything in either of those languages any more. I've suffered some damage, and my memory isn't all that great. However if I do repetitive work it sticks to me. I've been in IT for 17 years as desktop support, and I fear I won't ever get much further in life due to my handicap. I am hard working and dedicated, I have been reading slashdot regularly for many years now, and I have faith in the Slashdot community advice. I recently bought Head First C#: 2nd Edition(A friend of mine that programs for a living suggested C# as an easier alternative to C++) the first 4 chapters were great, but after that everything just didn't make any sense. My question(s) to you guys is: What was the best way for you to get back into programming? School? Self taught? And what would be the best language for someone like me to get into? My goal is to make games as a hobby for now, but would like to enter into the market of XBOX Arcade, Steam, mobile etc, particularly 2D TBSRPG games like Shining Force. If you prefer self taught what are some really good books you suggest?
The Internet

Submission + - Sale of IPv4 Addresses Hindering IPv6 adoption (datacenterknowledge.com)

hal9000(jr) writes: While IPv6 day was a successful marketing campaign, is anyone really moving to IPv6? On World Launch Day, Arbor Networks noted a peak of only .2% of ipv6 network traffic. It appears that IPv4 addresses are still valuable and are driving hosting acquistions. Windows 8 will actually prefer IPv6 over IPv4. If you want IPv6, here's what to do about it.
Google

Submission + - Google Fiber to launch next week (gigaom.com)

vu1986 writes: ""Google announced plans to build the gigabit network back in February of 2010 and thousands of municipalities competed to be the future home of the planned network. In March, it selected Kanas City as the first location for Google Fiber.

Google said it wanted to build out the network so it could see what people might do with a full gigabit connection, but I also think this is Google’s answer to the ISP’s continued whining about how much networks cost to operate and how providers like Google or Netflix should pay them for delivering traffic across the ISP’s networks."
http://gigaom.com/2012/07/18/google-fiber-to-launch-next-week/"

Censorship

Submission + - How Close Is America to a Closed Internet? (vice.com)

pigrabbitbear writes: "Three years after Facebook-friendly dissidents took to the streets of Tehran and made techno-optimists giddy about the Internet’s liberating potential, things have gotten bleak. Once again, the mullahs are taking on democracy-minded netizens — but nowadays, the government is the one getting creative with technology. And they’re winning, doing things to Internet access that makes China’s “Great Firewall” seem tame."
Programming

Submission + - Twitter Is Officially Killing the API (silicon-news.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: Several blog posts on the Twitter development blog, statements issued, app updates and the now-tarnished Twitter-LinkedIn deal following the micro-blogging service cutting LinkedIn off from using its API all strongly support the fact that Twitter is phasing out its API in lieu of forcing users to use its own access methods to drive ad clicks and monetization. But is the service shooting itself in the foot by killing off custom user-facing apps, automated publishing methods and other niche apps in favor of the bland stock app?
Operating Systems

Submission + - Open Source OS's That Aren't Linux

hal9000(jr) writes: The words free and open source operating system usually bring one stock answer to mind: Linux. But Linux isn't the only FOSS OS out there, and in fact hasn't been for some time now — it's just the one that's most immediately associated with the label. Here's a survey of other operating systems that have also been built as open source products, are free to use, and generally come with little to no restrictions over their use.

Comment Re:So this implies... (Score 1) 390

The problem is that Newspapers don't want Google news to link to specific pages, but the want the "normal" Google to link to their main page, and Google said they can't have both.

Nor should they have both. It comes down to news papers not figuring out a business model that works and thus are trying everything to keep relevant and remain in control.

Comment Transport based on level (Score 3, Insightful) 337

I played EQ for a while and I never acheived an uber level--traveling was still risky for me. I could buff up and avoid the worst of it, but yeah, getting from here to there was often a difficult choice. For the areas where I felt no risk traveling through, those were short.

I think what would make sense is to base a teleport on the players level, the area level, and distance. If you are at a high enough level that the area doesn't pose much risk, then let them transport over it, especially if you have to go from one place to another through easy levels. It makes the game play better for high level players and gives an extra benefit for long term play.

Comment Re:The point he is making (Score 2, Interesting) 162

Disclaimer: I don't necessarily agree with Doctrow's position, but I also have looked into it very deeply, either.

His claim, however, is that Google settled with the Authors Guild to pay a one time fee to authors if their books are indexed. I know this because my wife, who is a novelist, filled out the form for her publisher. The settlement was going to be quite small. Anyway, Doctrow's position is that Google, being a big honking company with deep profits negotiated with the Authors Guild to Google benefit *because* it was cheaper and IMHO, not Doctrow's, better PR. The Authors Guild, on the other hand, was not funded enough for a prolonged legal battle, so too the settelment. The Guild gets some press.

Now lets say you have an innovative idea to do something with book text. Maybe it falls into "Fair Use", maybe not. You haven't thought of that because your spending time developing your idea. So you build a service and start indexing books. Uh oh, the Authors Guild gets their dander up and gets their lawyers on your ass. Your start-up company is in a vastly different position than Google. You don't have deep pockets and you don't have market power to throw around, nor are probably going to be able to fund a prolonged legal battle which you may or may not win. In Doctrow's view, you won't be able to negotiate a favorable settlement and you will close up shop. Thus, you and your innovative idea are stifled.

Comment The point he is making (Score 2, Insightful) 162

Here is what he is talking about:
  • Copyrighted material (books, music, video, etc) is distributed by a relatively few number of distributors
  • The distributors etc are the gatekeepers to copyrighted material both directly by only buying the things that they think they can sell and indirectly becuase if they don't buy something, the producers and publishers will stop producing said stuff.
  • In some cases,Walmart, etc, the retail outlets have asked, and received, modified content
  • In some cases, upstarts have thumbed their noses at the incumbents (record companies to sheet mnusic, radio to record companies, internet radio to over the air radio, Apply iTunes to record companies, etc) continued to take what they wanted and let congress decide,often in their favor. This usually included some negotiated licensing fee.
  • The distributors and search engines have raised, or attempt to raise, the barrier to entry into retailing and content distribution to effectively lock out competition.

These things, Doctrow, says combined has led to a stifled market. I don't know if I agree, since each evolution has been innovative and I hope Doctrow isn't making the claim that Google et al are going to be the last and final stage.

Unfortunately, Doctrow isn't an economist or a social researcher, he is an author and blogger of some repute. That doesn't give him the innate ability to investigate the market and social dynamics taking place.

Comment Re:The keyboard (Score 1) 144

I like my Treo 700P, but I hate the keyboard. The rounded buttons are hard to hit authoritatively. I find I have to use the edge of my thumb. I much prefer flatter or even cupped keys like the Blackbarry (earlier ones).

Comment Re:vs iPhone (Score 1) 144

I've never personally come across anyone who's bought a Mac or iPod/iPhone because of the supposed "cool" factor.

I certainly wouldn't expect people who buy stuff for the cool factor would either admit it or even are aware of it. But I bet if you spent some time talking to them about why they bought an iPhone, or any hot gadget for that matter, you could discern whether they bought the device for primarily practical reasons. I'd even go so far as to say in my unqualifed opinion, the most of the people who stood in-line for hours after the iPhone release where motivated by the cool factor.

And I am not an iPhone hater. I think it is great technology and if they were weren't ATT exclusive and if Apple wasn't so draconian in locking the damn thing down, I might get one for myself. I find that fact that I have to jailbreak and violate the ToS appalling. Hell, I even tried to talk my sister into one because she would benefit from the ease of use and applications.

Comment Re:vs iPhone (Score 0, Flamebait) 144

Devices similar to it have been around quite a bit longer than first-generation iPhones. Just like most any palm, they've never been cool, though. So even if Palm would've gotten out a TX cell, it's extremely unprobable that this would've changed anything. They might've gotten a few percentage points out of RIM's market share. Maybe some of Microsoft's. But an Apple product's hype isn't based on features, or the price, or the design. It's marketing coupled with hordes of rabid fanboys.

Much applause. Very well said.

Comment Re:could someone explain what the issue is here? (Score 1) 264

Luckily, it isn't that busy a thread.

The IT guy would have to intercept all DNS requests over the VPN and proxy them to his own DNS server. That's not a bad answer. Too bad I'm buried in the middle of this thread.

You're right. If the VPN is set-up to send all traffic over the tunnel, then the host *should* resolve using the company DNS servers. If the VPN is set-up for split tunneling, then the DNS will goto the ISP DNS. However, few VPN clients have the option to capture all DNS requests.

The solution is to put your internal server records in your public DNS or modify the hosts file.

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