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Submission + - What Will It Take to Make Automated Vehicles Legal in the U.S.?

Submitted by ashshy
ashshy writes: Tesla, Google, and many other companies are working on self-driving cars. When these autopilot systems become perfected and ubiquitous, the roads should be safer by orders of magnitude. So why doesn't Tesla CEO Elon Musk expect to reach that milestone until 2013 or so? Because the legal framework that supports American road rules is incredibly complex, and actually handled on a state-by-state basis. The Motley Fool explains which authorities Musk and his allies will have to convince before autopilot cars can hit the mainstream, and why the process will take another decade.

Submission + - Why America Won't Match Sweden's Cheap, Fast, Competitive Internet Services

Submitted by ashshy
ashshy writes: Swedish Internet services run both cheaper and faster than American ones. For example, many Swedes can pay about $40 a month for 100/100 mbps, choosing between more than a dozen competing providers. It's all powered by a nationwide web of municipal networks in direct competition with ex-government telecom Telia's fiber backbone. The presence of regional government in the Swedish data stream makes many Americans uncomfortable, to say nothing of the very different histories between these backbone buildouts. The Motley Fool explains how the Swedish model developed, and why the U.S. is unlikely ever to follow suit.

Comment Re:International Copyright (Score 4, Informative) 172

by ashshy (#47918213) Attached to: Quickflix Wants Netflix To Drop Australian VPN Users

"Licensing issues" seems to be the standard reply. But, why would licensing in Australia be different from licensing elsewhere? Isn't a show streamed to Australia is just as profitable as a show streamed to Europe or America?

Yes, but Netflix must sign and *pay for* a license in each separate territory. The company pays per show/movie, per market, per year (or whatever licensing timeframe), and it doesn't make sense to roll out an actual service until you have the rights to a decent content library in that new territory.

Netflix is working on licenses for Australia, but doesn't have a service yet. And whatever agreements it did sign so far likely don't become active until Launch Date X.

So as usual, it all boils down to costs. Follow the money.

Submission + - Quickflix Wants Netflix to Drop Australian VPN Users

Submitted by ashshy
ashshy writes: 200,000 Australian residents reportedly use Netflix today, tunneling their video traffic to the US, UK, and other Netflix markets via VPN connections. A proper Netflix Down Under service isn't expected to launch until 2015. Last week, Aussie video streaming company Quickflix told Netflix to stop this practice, so Australian viewers can return to Quickflix and other local alternatives. But Quickflix CEO Stephen Langsford didn't explain how Netflix could restrict Australian VPN users, beyond the IP geolocating and credit card billing address checks it already runs. Today, ZDNet's Josh Taylor ripped into the absurdity of Quickflix's demands. From the article: "If Netflix cuts those people off, they're going to know that it was at the behest of Foxtel and Quickflix, and would likely boycott those services instead of flocking to them. If nothing else, it would encourage those who have tried to do the right thing by subscribing and paying for content on Netflix to return to copyright infringement."

Comment Perl, anyone? (Score 1) 387

by ashshy (#47862163) Attached to: Unpopular Programming Languages That Are Still Lucrative

I'm still getting paid for some Perl 5 work. Learned some when it was still hot, built something with passing value, and now I'm pulling a small but significant monthly fee for supporting it.

It's still what I do best, thanks to all this regular practice. Coding is otherwise more of a hobby than a job for me. Can't say that I see a lot of demand for Perl code monkeys out there, though.

Submission + - How Argonne National Lab Will Make Tesla Cars Cheaper

Submitted by ashshy
ashshy writes: Argonne National Lab is leading the charge on next-generation battery research. In an interview with The Motley Fool, Argonne spokesman Jeff Chamberlain explains how new lithium ion chemistries will drive down the cost of electric cars over the next few years. Tesla Motors picked a terrific time to get into battery manufacturing.

Comment Mainstream ain't what it used to be (Score 1) 65

by ashshy (#47630471) Attached to: Red Hat CEO: Open Source Goes Mainstream In 2014

Some commenters say that Linux and Open Source have been mainstream tools for a while. That's true -- in the tech world. Whitehurst mentions this, then goes on to explain that more traditional industries are accepting FOSS now. Things like railroads and power utilities, where open source remained a scary, newfangled, and unproven security hole as recently as last year.

RTFA, please.

Submission + - Red Hat CEO: Open Source Goes Mainstream In 2014

Submitted by ashshy
ashshy writes: Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst likes to post "state of the union" addresses at the end of every year. Last December, he said that open source innovation is going mainstream in 2014. In an interview with The Motley Fool, Whitehurst matches up his expectations against mid-year progress. Spoiler alert: It's mostly good news.

Comment Someone needs to mash up a Google Map tool here (Score 1) 558

by ashshy (#43539769) Attached to: Average latency to Slashdot.org?

This was fun! Starting with my little router here in Tampa, the signal bounces to Washington DC, New Jersey, Atlanta, back up to Virginia, across to California. back to New York, before finally landing in Slashdot's native Illinois. Either that, or my IP geolocator is lying to me about the California piece. Ping times don't seem to increase enough to make it all plausible.

  1 router (192.168.1.1) 0.415 ms 0.658 ms 0.731 ms
  2 L100.TAMPFL-VFTTP-75.verizon-gni.net (173.65.42.1) 10.180 ms 10.310 ms 10.368 ms
  3 G0-5-4-5.TAMPFL-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net (130.81.110.226) 13.401 ms 17.740 ms 18.155 ms
  4 ae2-0.TPA01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net (130.81.199.82) 17.794 ms 17.863 ms 17.921 ms
  5 0.xe-11-1-0.BR2.ATL4.ALTER.NET (152.63.4.41) 30.529 ms 33.033 ms 33.157 ms
  6 63.137.84.17 (63.137.84.17) 35.762 ms 35.573 ms 35.569 ms
  7 cr2-te-0-0-0-0.atlanta.savvis.net (204.70.200.2) 36.872 ms 25.998 ms 61.362 ms
  8 206.28.96.234 (206.28.96.234) 54.209 ms 56.239 ms 56.389 ms
  9 hr2-tengigabitethernet-12-1.elkgrovech3.savvis.net (204.70.195.122) 56.506 ms 56.580 ms 56.730 ms
10 das5-v3032.ch3.savvis.net (64.37.207.158) 59.489 ms 59.562 ms 59.623 ms
11 64.27.160.194 (64.27.160.194) 58.696 ms 58.770 ms 58.846 ms
12 slashdot.org (216.34.181.45) 58.912 ms 58.976 ms 58.970 ms

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