Comment No Hurd option? (Score 1) 340
Is there a Hurd installer?
Comment Is there an OSS player that will do iTunes libs? (Score 1) 317
At one point, one of the OSS iTunes replacements could actually properly handle an iTunes Library XML file, assuming you regex replaced the pathing appropriately, but at a certain point it became an unsupported feature. I think it was in early builds of Songbird with iTunes plugin.
Are there any OSS apps that play nice with a live iTunes Library file with playlists, count, rating, etc. support? I currently migrated my iTunes repo to my home NAS and repointed my Macs to it by option-starting iTunes. I'd like to be able to point an OSS app on Linux (or even Windows!) to that same NAS repo and have it Just Work Properly.
Any recommendations on something that actually works well and isn't some buggy pre-beta kludgefest?
And Now For Something Completely Different: Monty Python Reunion Planned 168
cold fjord writes with this report from The Telegraph: "The original members of Monty Python will reunite more than 30 years after the comedy troupe last worked together. John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin will officially announce their reformation at a London press conference on Thursday. The five surviving members have reportedly been in months of secret talks about getting the Flying Circus back on the road. The reunion comes after several failed attempts to reform by the group. However, according to The Sun, the surviving members realised 'it was now or never,' and had decided to embark upon 'a fully-fledged reunion.'" Related stories include this commentary, one take on the best of Python and this negative reaction, too.
US Electrical Grid On the Edge of Failure 293
ananyo writes "Facebook can lose a few users and remain a perfectly stable network, but where the national grid is concerned, simple geography dictates that it is always just a few transmission lines from collapse, according to a mathematical study of spatial networks. The upshot of the study is that spatial networks are necessarily dependent on any number of critical nodes whose failure can lead to abrupt — and unpredictable — collapse. The warning comes ten years after a blackout that crippled parts of the midwest and northeastern United States and parts of Canada. In that case, a series of errors resulted in the loss of three transmission lines in Ohio over the course of about an hour. Once the third line went down, the outage cascaded towards the coast, cutting power to some 50 million people. The authors say that this outage is an example of the inherent instability the study describes. But others question whether the team's conclusions can really be extrapolated to the real world. 'The problem is that this doesn't reflect the physics of how the power grid operates,' says Jeff Dagle, an electrical engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, who served on the government task force that investigated the 2003 outage."
Death of the Car Salesman? BMW Makes AI App To Sell Electric Cars 168
cartechboy writes "You thought Willy Loman had it bad. BMW is launching an artificial intelligence app allowing consumers to ask questions about its new BMW i3 electric car without the hassle of having to pick up the phone or go into a dealership. Potential customers can text a simple question about the i3 and the system builds an appropriate response in real-time using AI — interpreting words, sentiment, and context. The futuristic robo-car salesman was developed by 19-year-old entrepreneur Dmitry Aksenov and operates around the clock. No word on whether the app says, 'Wait here — I'll check with my sales manager,' like human car dealers often do."
Comment Jonnycab 1.0 (Score 1) 282
EOM
Dispatch From the Future: Uber To Purchase 2,500 Driverless Cars From Google 282
First time accepted submitter Dave Jurgensen writes "Uber has said it will be purchasing 2,500 of Google's self driving GX3200 cars to be used around America. They are hoping to have their first set of driverless cars on the road by the end of the year. From the article: 'Uber has committed to invest up to $375 million for a fleet of Google’s GX3200 vehicles, which are the company’s third generation of autonomous driving cars, but the first to be approved for commercial use in the U.S. The deal marks the largest single capital investment that Uber has made to date, and is also the first enterprise deal that Google has struck for its new line of driverless vehicles.'" Update: Yes, this is a piece of speculative fiction.
Fusion Rocket Could Take Us To Mars 171
New submitter imikem writes "University of Washington researchers and scientists at a Redmond-based space-propulsion company are building components of a fusion-powered rocket aimed to clear many of the hurdles that block deep space travel, including long times in transit, exorbitant costs and health risks. 'Using existing rocket fuels, it's nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth,' said lead researcher John Slough, a UW research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics. 'We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace.' 'The research team has developed a type of plasma that is encased in its own magnetic field. Nuclear fusion occurs when this plasma is compressed to high pressure with a magnetic field. The team has successfully tested this technique in the lab. Only a small amount of fusion is needed to power a rocket – a small grain of sand of this material has the same energy content as 1 gallon of rocket fuel.'"
Comment Excelsior! (Score 1) 57
'Nuff said.
China's Controversial Brain Surgery To Cure Drug Addiction 385
kkleiner writes "A small handful of doctors in China are using a highly controversial procedure to rid people of drug addiction by destroying a part of patients' brains. The procedure involves drilling small holes into the skulls of patients and inserting long electrodes that destroy a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. This area, often referred to as the "pleasure center" of the brain, is the major nucleus of the brain's reward circuit. Is it worth being cured of addiction if, losing the addiction, we also lose part of who we are?" The practice has been officially banned, but apparently continues nonetheless.
Comment Re:Progress! (Score 1) 215
Err, there's a reason luxury vehicles are RWD.. FWD overburdens the front wheels with both steering and propulsion tasks, which can lead to lower peak traction in emergency situations, oversteer and torque steer. Weight distribution is also a factor that affects handling as well. FWD was far more useful in snow and ice prior to the advent of traction control, and having an unbalanced-heavy front helps in that situation at the expense of driving dynamics in normal conditions. FWD also provides more interior room typically, which makes it ideal for building lower-cost vehicles (less material for the same space).
IMO the ideal vehicle would be driven by an under-the-floor rear electric motor (or separate electric motors in the rear and front for AWD) along with under-the-floor high-capacity batteries, and a gasoline-powered SOFC, turboshaft or optimized 1l H6 motor (scaled-down Gold Wing, say) with direct injection, a turbo and variable cycle capabilities. Keep all the weight as low as possible, and with batteries you can spread them out to get perfect weight distribution.
Comment Plenty of xenon.... (Score 1) 225
... as a fission product. With LFTR, it can be collected as it bubbles out of the core.
Comment Re:SimpleMobile (Score 1) 288
I have the same plan, along with Vitelity paygo setup for using the internal SIP client. Works fairly well, though I wish the internal client had more and selectable codecs based on available bandwidth. I'm considering Bria with G729a, but from what I've read it's not up to snuff given the price.
Microsoft Drops 'Metro' Name For Windows 8 UI 356
hawkinspeter writes "The BBC is reporting that Microsoft is dropping the 'Metro' name for the new Windows 8 UI. Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI!' This has happened due to a (potential) trademark dispute with Metro AG, a German retail giant. Microsoft said, 'We have used Metro style as a code name during the product development cycle across many of our product lines. As we get closer to launch and transition from industry dialogue to a broad consumer dialogue we will use our commercial names.' I'm wondering if Microsoft planned this to get publicity for their new OS and UI or whether they just forget to check on how 'Metro' is used around the world."
DirecTV Drops Viacom Channels 378
An anonymous reader writes "DirecTV has dropped all of Viacom's channels. This includes channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The drop is reported to be over a carrier fee dispute. It appears programming content can magically disappear from satellite, too, and not just from streaming services. Viacom said it was 'because contract talks with DirecTV had “reached an impasse.” DirecTV, in turn, said in a statement that it had offered Viacom “increased fees for their networks going forward; we just can’t afford the extreme increases they are asking for.”' I guess pirating and physical media is the only way to make sure the content we pay for doesn't disappear."
