S.Gleissner - Slashdot User

Submission + - Half of European calls to be mobile by 2008 (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by

Tech.Luver

on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @03:10AM

Tech.Luver writes: "theRegister reports, " Mobile calls are replacing fixed-line usage across Europe, according to a new report from Analysys, but people aren't talking more, they're just using fixed-lines less. The change has been most stark in Finland, where 2006 saw another 10 per cent of calls migrate onto mobile networks; bringing the total to 74.6 per cent at the end of the year. Even in Germany, where fixed-lines still dominate, 24.3 per cent of calls originate on a mobile handset: a rise of 6% during 2006, which increased voice use of mobiles by 23%. ""

Submission + - U Delaware breaks solar power efficiency record (renewableenergyaccess.com) 1

Submitted by

mdsolar

on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @02:43AM

mdsolar writes: "Renewable Energy Access is reporting that a consortium led by researchers at the University of Delaware has achieved 42.8% efficiency with a silicon solar cell. The method uses lower concentration (factor of 20 magnification) than the previous record holder Boeing-Spectrolab made cell (40.7% efficiency) so that it may have a broader range of applications since tolerances for pointing the device will be larger. They are now partnering with DuPont to build engineering and manufacturing prototypes under DARPA's Very High Efficiency Solar Cell program which supports work towards achieving 50% efficiency. It is expected that these cells can help improve the military battery logistics pipeline, providing "soldiers with more power at reduced weight." They expect to be in production in 2010. On a roof, such cells would require less than half the surface area to produce the same amount of power as today's standard solar panels. This might leave room for panels to power plugin hybrids for cases where roof area is too limited to do this with standard panels."

Submission + - Blue Blu-ray?

Submitted by TopSpin on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @01:44AM

TopSpin writes: According to this story, at Japan's recent euphemistically named Adult Treasure Expo 2007, adult filmmakers said Sony had begun offering technical support — which was later confirmed by Sony PR, which stated that Sony would offer support to any filmmaker working on the format, no matter their industry. Apparently, Blu-ray is now the preferred media for Japanese porn.

Submission + - NASA building largest single-kernel Linux system

Submitted by wellingj on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @01:39AM

wellingj writes: NASA and SGI are building a new Linux super computer that contains a total of 1024 Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processors, resulting in 13.1 TFLOPs. This computer would rank as the 64th fastest computer. As some may know, 1024 cores is the current max for SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) support. SGI has therefor developed the necessary modifications and submitted them upstream.

Submission + - Firm Sues Sony Over Cell (next-gen.biz)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @01:26AM

An anonymous reader writes: On July 26, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Parallel Processing filed a complaint against Sony Corp. of America, alleges the PS3's Cell processor infringes on an existing patent, and demands the "impounding and destruction" of all of Sony's infringing processors .

Submission + - Linus Torvalds Explains Scheduler Decision (kerneltrap.org)

Submitted by Firedog on Saturday July 28, 2007 @01:18PM

Firedog writes: There's been a lot of recent debate over why Linus Torvalds chose the new CFS process scheduler written by Ingo Molnar over the SD process scheduler written by Con Kolivas, ranging from discussing the quality of the code to favoritism and outright conspiracy theories. KernelTrap is now reporting Linus Torvalds' official stance as to why he chose the code that he did. "People who think SD was 'perfect' were simply ignoring reality," Linus is quoted as saying, going on to explain that he selected the Completely Fair Scheduler because it had a maintainer who has proven himself willing and able to address problems as they are discovered. In the end, the relevance to normal Linux users is two part: one is the question as to whether or not the Linux development model is working, and the other is that with the recently released 2.6.23 kernel we should all notice an improved desktop experience.

Submission + - Robbie Williams to play Captain Kirk

Submitted by AxminsterLeuven on Saturday July 28, 2007 @10:15AM

AxminsterLeuven writes: After yesterday's announcement that Leonard Nimoy will be playing Spock again, reports are coming in that none other than Robbie Williams will be cast as Captain Kirk. Here's just one example, that quotes director J.J. Abrams as saying: "I think (Williams)'d be a good Captain Kirk. The Kirk in my movie is quite young, it's like the early years."

Submission + - How Microsoft beat Linux in China (com.com)

Submitted by kripkenstein on Saturday July 28, 2007 @09:09AM

kripkenstein writes: An analysis on TechRepublic details how Microsoft beat Linux in China, and the consequences of that victory:

Linux has turned out to be little more than a key bargaining chip in a high stakes game of commerce between the Chinese government and the world's largest software maker
[...]
The fact that [...] Linux failed to gain a major foothold in China is yet another blow to desktop Linux. After nearly eight years of being on the verge of a breakthrough, Linux seems more destined than ever to be a force in the server room but little more than a narrow niche and an anomaly on the desktop.

With the soon-to-be largest economy standardized on Windows desktops, desktop Linux does seem to have an uphill battle ahead of it.

Submission + - Cross-OS file system that sucks less?

Submitted by on Saturday July 28, 2007 @08:16AM

An anonymous reader writes: I recently got an external harddisk with USB 2.0/Firewire/Firewire 800/eSATA to be used for backup and file exchange — my desktop runs Linux (with a Windows partition for games but no data worth saving), and the laptop is a MacBook Pro.

So the question popped up: what kind of filesystem is best for this kind of situation? Is there a filesystem that works good under Linux, MacOS X and Windows? Linux has HFS+ support but apparently doesn't support journaling and there's also an issue with the case-insensitivity of HFS+.

Are we stuck with shitty VFAT forever or are there efforts underway to bring a modern filesystem (I'm thinking something like ZFS, BeFS, or XFS) to all platforms our there? Or are there other clever solutions like storing ISO images and loop-mounting those?

Submission + - New carbon-based paper stronger than nanotubes (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by

LynnwoodRooster

on Saturday July 28, 2007 @04:42AM

LynnwoodRooster writes: "Science Magazine reports that a group from Northwestern University in Illinois has a new process for creating carbon-based paper that's stronger than nanotubes, and incredibly easy to use to make sheets of any desired sizes. Huge implications for aircraft, automobiles, and the ever-sought-after space elevator? Forget that, I want to make some new speaker cones with this technology..."

Submission + - Funny quotes related to software engineering (nus.edu.sg)

Submitted by

damithc

on Saturday July 28, 2007 @02:07AM

damithc writes: "... find "The software isn't finished until the last user is dead" and other funny quotes related to software engineering in my quotes collection at http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~damithch/pages/SE-quot es.htm?type=funnyQuotes"

Submission + - Researchers Crack All CA State Voting Machines

Submitted by

ewhac

on Saturday July 28, 2007 @01:38AM

ewhac writes: "The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that computer security researchers throughout the University of California system managed to crack the security on every voting machine they tested that has been approved for use in the state. The researchers are unwilling to say how vulnerable the machines are, as the tests were conducted in an environment highly advantageous to the testers. They had complete access to the devices' source code and unlimited time to try and crack the machines. No malicious code was found in any of the machines, but Matt Bishop, who led the team from UC Davis, was surprised by the weakness of the security measures employed. The tests were ordered by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who has until Friday of next week to decide whether to decertify any of the machines for use in the upcoming Presidential primary election."

Submission + - Dump using Vista but not XP and wait for Windows 7 (blorge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous on Saturday July 28, 2007 @12:58AM

Anonymous writes: In hopes of providing the best guide to users and enterprises in choosing the best Windows OS, the article articulates three critical aspects one should look into: (1)the advantages of using XP over Vista; (2) the disadvantages of moving now to Vista; and (3)the worth of waiting for the release of Windows 7.

Now that Microsoft has finally set a date for Windows 7 in 2010, and since Windows XP is proving to be more stable than Vista, it seems to make more sense to avoid Vista altogether, keep Windows XP, and just wait until Windows 7.

Submission + - Slashdot References in Popular Culture? 1

Submitted by

The Living Fractal

on Friday July 27, 2007 @10:04PM

The Living Fractal writes: "So I'm reading Century Rain, a great SF book by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, and at about page 80 or so I stumble onto a hidden Slashdot reference. Reynolds' character "Niagara" runs a finger diagonally across his chest then 'dots' next to the slash, then goes on to talk about a community of progressive thinkers on one of the earliest computer networks (today's internet) who eventually founded his society. They're even called Slashers! Maybe old news to some of you, but a nice surprise for me nevertheless.
Does anyone else have /. easter eggs they've found that they can share with us?"

Submission + - JKRowling, Goblins and *IAA

Submitted by 140Mandak262Jamuna on Friday July 27, 2007 @09:30PM

140Mandak262Jamuna writes: In the latest book, The Deathly Hallows by JKR I came across a very interesting passage. Don't worry, this is not a spoiler. It does not reveal any plot details.

"You don't understand, Harry, nobody could understand unless they have lived with the goblins. To a goblin, the rightful and true master of any object is its maker, not the purchaser. All goblin-made objects are, in goblin eyes, rightfully theirs."

"But if it was bought — "

" — then they would consider it rented by one who had paid the money. They have, however, great difficulty with the idea of goblin-made objects passing from wizard to wizard. [snip] I believe he thinks, as do the fiercest of his kind, that it ought to have been returned to the goblins once the original purchaser died. They consider our habit of keeping goblin-made objects, passing them from wizard to wizard without further payment, little more than theft."

I thought it is remarkably similar to the way a slashdotter would describe the mind set of *IAA people about CDs and DVDs! Has JKR expressed any opinion about *IAA and its tactics?

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