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Comment Who uses app engine? (Score 1) 66

by perbu (#37642110) Attached to: Google Apps Engine Gets SQL
I think this is a good thing, but I'm still baffled by people actually using it. AFAIK there is no escape hatch, no way of getting a little special component to run. Say, your app suddenly needs Stunnel, Varnish or HA-Proxy, what do you do? I'm guessing you don't want to tie the app down across two data centers. Anyone ever used App Engine that might supply us with some actual experience?

Comment Re:Too pricey. (Score 1) 395

by perbu (#35893118) Attached to: The Tablet Debate: 3G Or Wi-Fi?
I can get an extra SIM on for my unlimited data plan for 20-25 NOK per month (~3-4 USD). I'd gladly pay that to have unlimited data on my tablet. However, I'm a bit more hesitant shelling out at least 1000 NOK (190 USD with todays currency) extra to have the 3G chips there in the first place.
Open Source

The Biggest Legal Danger For Open Source? 161

Posted by Soulskill from the peta's-penguin-division dept.
itwbennett writes "Brian Proffitt is blogging about the undercurrent of legal issues troubling the open source world these days and offers up this question: Are patents or copyright a bigger threat to the open source community? Patents are the obvious choice, with inflicting fear being the 'obvious intention of those who have instigated the various legal troubles on open source practitioners.' But the issue of copyright and copyright assignments is no less troublesome, argues Proffitt. And copyright assignment can be confusingly Machievllian, even in open source land."

Comment Re:Lots of reasons (Score 1) 336

by perbu (#34002794) Attached to: In the Face of Android, Why Should Nokia Stick With MeeGo?

The rest of the world gets Android code when Google feels like releasing it.

The open source world has TONS of excellent APIs, no sense in not using them.

What sort of APIs are your talking about? Much of what existed pre Android was software built primarily for desktop use, disregarding things like battery and memory usage and implementing a feature set far greater then what is needed on a phone - like the X window system. Nokia tried porting a true GNU system to a phone with Maemo, but it looks like it wasn't much of a success.
Science

Morphing Metals 121

Posted by samzenpus from the forge-ahead dept.
aarondubrow writes "Imagine a metal that 'remembers' its original, cold-forged shape, and can return to that shape when exposed to heat or a magnetic pulse. Like magic out of a Harry Potter novel, such a metal could contract on command, or swing back and forth like a pendulum. Believe it or not, such metals already exist. First discovered in 1931, they belong to a class of materials called 'shape memory alloys (SMA),' whose unique atomic make-up allows them to return to their initial form, or alternate between forms through a phase change."

Comment Re:Video (Score 0, Redundant) 1671

by perbu (#31737400) Attached to: Wikileaks Releases Video of Journalist Killings
Back when I was given my training (std. mil. subscription, Norway) we where clearly told not to use our .50 M2 gun at human targets - it would be in violation with the Geneva convention. The M2 was always loaded with MP round - but I'm fairly sure you not suppose to use large calibers like that on human targets. The chances of collateral are way to big.
The Internet

Wikipedia Approaches Its Limits 564

Posted by CmdrTaco from the time-to-start-over-i-guess dept.
Reservoir Hill writes "The Guardian reports that a study by Ed H Chi demonstrates that the character of Wikipedia has changed significantly since Wikipedia's first burst of activity between 2004 and 2007. While the encyclopedia is still growing overall, the number of articles being added has reduced from an average of 2,200 a day in July 2007 to around 1,300 today while at the same time, the base of highly active editors has remained more or less static. Chi's team discovered that the way the site operates had changed significantly from the early days, when it ran an open-door policy that allowed in anyone with the time and energy to dedicate to the project. Today, they discovered, a stable group of high-level editors has become increasingly responsible for controlling the encyclopedia, while casual contributors and editors are falling away. 'We found that if you were an elite editor, the chance of your edit being reverted was something in the order of 1% — and that's been very consistent over time from around 2003 or 2004,' says Chi. 'For editors that make between two and nine edits a month, the percentage of their edits being reverted had gone from 5% in 2004 all the way up to about 15% by October 2008. And the 'onesies' — people who only make one edit a month — their edits are now being reverted at a 25% rate.' While Chi points out that this does not necessarily imply causation, he suggests it is concrete evidence to back up what many people have been saying: that it is increasingly difficult to enjoy contributing to Wikipedia unless you are part of the site's inner core of editors. Wikipedia's growth pattern suggests that it is becoming like a community where resources have started to run out. 'As you run out of food, people start competing for that food, and that results in a slowdown in population growth and means that the stronger, more well-adapted part of the population starts to have more power.'"
The Courts

Examining Software Liability In the Open Source Community 241

Posted by timothy from the three-letters-starting-f-u-d dept.
snydeq writes "Guidelines from the American Law Institute that seek to hold vendors liable for 'knowingly' shipping buggy software could have dramatic impact on the open source community, as vague language around a 'free software' exemption could put open source developers at litigation risk. Meant to protect open source developers, the 'free software' exemption does not take into account the myriad ways in which vendors receive revenue from software products, according to a joint letter drafted by Microsoft and the Linux Foundation. As such, the guidelines — which, although not binding, are likely to prove influential on future lawsuits, according to attorneys on both sides of the issue — call into question the notion of liability in the open source community, where any number of coders may be responsible for any given defect."

Windows 7 Will Be Free For a Year 528

Posted by CmdrTaco from the still-to-expensive dept.
Barence writes "Microsoft is effectively giving away Windows 7 free for a year with the launch of the Release Candidate. The Release Candidate is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and will go on unlimited, general release on 5 May. The software will not expire until 1 June 2010, giving testers more than a year's free access to Windows 7. 'It's available to as many people who see fit to use it, although we wouldn't recommend it to just your average user,' John Curran, director of the Windows Client Group told PC Pro. 'We'd very strongly encourage anyone on the beta to move to the Release Candidate.'"
The Almighty Buck

High Tech Misery In China 876

Posted by kdawson from the dawn-of-the-industrial-age dept.
theodp writes "Think you've got a bad job? Think again. You could be making keyboards for IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP at Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a Chinese hardware factory. Prompted by the release of High Tech Misery in China by a human-rights group, a self-regulating body set up by tech companies will conduct an audit of working conditions at the factory. In return for take-home pay of 41 cents per hour, workers reportedly sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Overtime is mandatory, with workers being given on average two days off per month. While on the production line, workers are not allowed to raise their hands or heads, are given 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, and are encouraged to 'actively monitor each other' to see if any company rules are being transgressed. They are also monitored by guards. Workers are fined if they break the rules, locked in the factory for four days per week, and sleep in crowded dormitories. Okay, it's not all bad news — they're hiring."
Graphics

Moonlight 1.0 Brings Silverlight Content To Linux 346

Posted by timothy from the cue-the-brouhaha dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Novell has unveiled some of the fruits of its technical collaboration with Microsoft in the form of Moonlight 1.0, a Firefox plug-in which will allow Linux users to access Microsoft Silverlight content. Officially created by the Mono project, it is available for all Linux distributions, including openSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Red Hat and Ubuntu. Also included in Moonlight is the Windows Media pack, with support for Windows Media Video, Windows Media Audio and MP3 files."

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