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Apache

Submission + - What is the best file/photo uploader for my web application? 3

Submitted by
51mon
51mon writes: "I work on a web application, we have a Java file/Image uploader. It is very like the one Facebook had, it has issues very like the Facebook photo uploader had. The biggest issue is it requires Java Runtime, and I've disabled Java in my browser to save Firefox the trouble of doing it every 5 minutes, so I can't act surprised if our users don't have it or want it. Also the Java detection isn't very good, Java detection is harder than it should be.

I'd like an uploader that; uploads regulars files, will scale images down client side (JPEG, GIF, PNG), can upload and resize a bunch of photos in one go with some sort of progress indicator. Free software (as in freedom) preferred. If it spots a mobile browser or phone and does something plausible that would be brilliant. Needs to work in current browsers (that includes IE8 still — no really some people still use it), but otherwise latest stable Chrome, and Firefox (We have no issue with telling people to upgrade their browser if a newer version would work better AND is available for their platform). Drag and drop highly desirable but if it opens the appropriate (native) multi file select dialog box then we can survive without drag and drop.

Best candidate so far is "plupload" — doesn't appear to have a switch for setting upload resizing client side — but that looks fixable as long as all the images in one upload are the same size, which is probably acceptable for our purposes. "plupload" can fall back to all sorts of exotic backends, but that is fine, as long as if I have a modern browser it "works" without them. Fall back to something for IE8/IE9/IE10(?) is almost mandatory. We already fall back to a simple HTML form when the users despair of Java or we don't detect Java.

I've looked at: Uploadify (no resize of images), SWF-Uploader (dying), GWT-Uploader (seems to be revamped SWF-Uploader), Silverlight File Uploader (obvious issue here), ThinFile Upload (Java and demo died), Agile-Uploader (seems to lack love), FineUploader (No image resize), and some other less notable uploaders.

Can /. reader tell me if I've missed one worth examining. Or should I look to browser plugs and mobile Apps."
Android

Submission + - Finding every power socket in every airport in the world (google.com) 4

Submitted by avleen
avleen writes: One of the most stressful things when you travel: Your phone or laptop is low on power and you can't find an outlet to charge it! They're almost always subtle, hidden away.
No more! We released an app to map out every power socket in every airport in the world. Ambitious? Sure. Feasible? Definitely.
If you're travelling, check this out. We still need help finding power sockets — if you see one at an airport, it's very easy to submit it for everyone to see, right from the app. Join us, help us out!
Programming

Submission + - Kickstarter to fund an Open Source Augmented Reality Toolkit Called Palimpsest (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by
PhoenixT
PhoenixT writes: "For the past four years I have been working on a system called Palimpsest, for creating dynamic Augmented Reality (AR) applications. This started as my MFA project for the Digital Arts and New Media program at UC Santa Cruz, and has continued under the auspices of my startup company, Augmented Mountain Ltd. This is a true DIY project, I wrote most of the code myself, and a labor of love that I hope will be able to grow into something big. In Spook Country, William Gibson describes the potential of AR by stating "Cyberspace is everting", or turning itself inside out. We wish to see this reality come to fruition, but it is difficult to do without low-cost, powerful, and accessible tools available to make it happen. Most of the AR solutions out there right now are either costly, encumbered by restrictive licenses, or otherwise exist in a controlled environment. The desire of my partner's and myself, is to make our Palimpsest project Open Source and free to the community to use and contribute to. Palimpsest is a powerful tool with a low barrier to entry, so that anyone can begin to play in the realm of location aware Augmented Reality. We are looking for funding to be able to finish up some of the final bits of the code, resolve some licensing issues, test, and otherwise make it ready for the larger community to participate. Please check out what we are doing, and consider helping us out!

You can check out some of the (free) apps that we have made with Palimpsest by going to http://www.augmentedmountain.com/products.html

Thank you!"
Power

Submission + - Fukushima cooling knocked offline by...a rat

Submitted by necro81
necro81 writes: The cooling system at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, responsible for keeping the spent fuel pools at an appropriate temperature, lost power early on March 18th. During the blackout, the temperature in the spent fuel pools gradually increased, although TEPCO officials indicated the pools could warm for four days without risking radiation release. Power was restored earlier this morning, and the pools should be back to normal temperature in a few days. During the repairs the charred remains of a rat were found in a critical area of wiring, leading some to believe that this rodent was the cause of this latest problem. At least it wasn't a mynock — then we'd really be in trouble.

Submission + - Feds investigate Microsoft bribery allegations .. (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Federal authorities are examining Microsoft’s involvement with companies and individuals that are accused of paying bribes to overseas government officials in exchange for business, according to a person briefed on the inquiry.

Microsoft’s practices in those countries are being looked at for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal law passed in 1977 that prohibits American companies from making payments to government officials and others overseas to further their business interests.
Microsoft

Submission + - Making a Case for Security Optimism (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The information security industry is known for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. We are bombarded with depressive statistics and buzzwords on a daily basis and those can overshadow the real progress that's being made. Jeff Jones, Director at Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, takes a broad view of the industry and talks about making a case for security optimism.
Cloud

Submission + - Apple Hires Former Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, Destroyer of iPhones (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "Why did Apple hire former Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch as vice president of technology? Adobe and Apple spent years fighting a much-publicized battle over the latter’s decision to ban Adobe Flash from iOS devices. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was very public in his condemnation of Flash as a tool for rich-content playback, denigrating it in an April 2010 letter posted on Apple’s Website as flawed with regard to battery life, security, reliability and performance. Lynch was very much the public face of Adobe’s public-relations pushback to Apple’s criticism; in a corporate video shot for an Adobe developer conference in 2009, he even helped run an iPhone over with a steamroller. (Hat tip to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber for digging that video up.) As recently as 2010, he was still arguing that Flash was superior to HTML5, which eventually surpassed it to become the virtual industry standard for Web-based rich content. It’s interesting to speculate whether Steve Jobs would have hired someone who so publicly denigrated Apple’s flagship product. But Jobs is dead, and his corporate successors in Cupertino—tasked with leading Apple through a period of fierce competition—obviously looked at Lynch and decided he’d make a perfect fit as an executive."
DRM

Submission + - WHSmith Putting DRM in eBooks without permission from the authors (simon-royle.com)

Submitted by
sgroyle
sgroyle writes: "DRM had, without my knowledge, been added to my book. I quickly checked my other books; same thing. Then I checked the books of authors who, because of their vocal and public opposition, I know are against DRM – Konrath, Howey, and Doctorow, to name a few – same result. ALL books on WHSmith have DRM in them.

Rather than assume WHSmith where at fault, I checked with my distributor, Draft2Digital. They send my books to Kobo, who in turn send my books to WHSmith. D2D assured me the DRM was not being added by them and were distressed to hear that this was the case. Kobo haven’t replied to any of the messages in this thread: “WHSmith putting DRM in books distributed via Kobo”. I’m not holding my breath."
GNU is Not Unix

Ubuntu Community Manager: RMS's Post Seems a Bit Childish To Me 529

Posted by samzenpus from the war-or-words dept.
spacenet writes "As a response to RMS speaking out against Ubuntu about its privacy-violating integrated Amazon search results, which he considers to be spyware, Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon has addressed RMS's statements. In his reply, Jono claims that Stallman's views on privacy do not align with Canonical's, that some of his statements are worded in order to 'generate fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Ubuntu' and that 'it just seems a bit childish to me.' The comments on the post itself are well worth a read."

Comment A solution (Score 2) 260

by byolinux (#42222785) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Laptop With Decent Linux Graphics Support?

I found its actually hard to get a machine that's decent these days, unless you're prepared to put up with a bit of crap.

The solution is to build your own custom laptop -- http://www.avadirect.com/gaming-laptop-configurator.asp?PRID=25095

If you go for the "VISIONTEK Killer" wireless card, it has an Atheros chipset, so you can distro-hop to your hearts content. They also ship it with no OS if you like.
DRM

Richard Stallman: 'Apple Has Tightest Digital Handcuffs In History' 515

Posted by Soulskill from the taking-applications-for-digital-houdini dept.
jrepin points out a discussion with Richard Stallman in which he talks about how the Free Software movement is faring in light of companies that have been successful in the long term with very different principles, like Microsoft and Apple. Stallman had this to say: "I would say the free software movement has gone about half the distance it has to travel. We managed to make a mass community but we still have a long way to go to liberate computer users. Those companies are very powerful. They are cleverly finding new ways to take control over users. ... The most widely used non-free programs have malicious features – and I’m talking about specific, known malicious features. ... There are three kinds: those that spy on the user, those that restrict the user, and back doors. Windows has all three. Microsoft can install software changes without asking permission. Flash Player has malicious features, as do most mobile phones. Digital handcuffs are the most common malicious features. They restrict what you can do with the data in your own computer. Apple certainly has the digital handcuffs that are the tightest in history. The i-things, well, people found two spy features and Apple says it removed them and there might be more. When people don’t know about this issue they choose based on immediate convenience and nothing else. And therefore they can be herded into giving up their freedom by a combination of convenient features, pressure from institutions and the network effect."

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