Comment Re:Also there is simply a weight consideration (Score 1) 782
Actually, the AK-74 uses the 5.45x39mm round, just a tad smaller than the M16's 5.56x45mm round.
The AK-47 is chambered for the 7.62x39mm.
Submission + - Cellphone Carriers Try to Control Signal Boosters (nytimes.com)
digitaldc writes: To boost signal reception, you may need a cellular signal booster, or repeater.
"The devices, which cost from $250 to $1,000, depending on how much they increase a signal, work by first capturing cell signals through an external antenna, ideally affixed to the roof of a dwelling. A coaxial cable then transmits the signal inside the house to an amplifier and internal antenna, which strengthen and retransmit it to cellphones. Before, Mr. Kirkland said, he might have had one or two bars indicating signal strength.
“I can walk around my whole home now with full strength reception,” Sean Kirkland said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
But will Mr. Kirkland’s solution remain legal? In March, CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents cellular service providers, filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission demanding stricter regulation of signal boosters. The commission is considering whether to let Mr. Kirkland and an estimated one million other homeowners continue to use them.
"The devices, which cost from $250 to $1,000, depending on how much they increase a signal, work by first capturing cell signals through an external antenna, ideally affixed to the roof of a dwelling. A coaxial cable then transmits the signal inside the house to an amplifier and internal antenna, which strengthen and retransmit it to cellphones. Before, Mr. Kirkland said, he might have had one or two bars indicating signal strength.
“I can walk around my whole home now with full strength reception,” Sean Kirkland said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
But will Mr. Kirkland’s solution remain legal? In March, CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents cellular service providers, filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission demanding stricter regulation of signal boosters. The commission is considering whether to let Mr. Kirkland and an estimated one million other homeowners continue to use them.
Submission + - Paper questions whether gravity is a force (nytimes.com)
couch_warrior writes: An article in the NYTimes describes a paper by physicist Erik Verlinde, in which he questions whether gravity is a fundamental force at all. Instead he appears to propose that the effects of gravity are simply the accumulated effects of increases in entropy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html
While it is not stated in the article, an analogy might be made to the former belief that "fire" was an element. It was easy to observe that when you let the fire out of wood, you were left with ashes (earth). Therefore fire+earth=wood. However, "fire" is simply the aggregate release of energy as the carbon and hydrogen in the wood combine with oxygen and are reduced to a lower entropic state. Gravity, like fire, may not be a "thing" all by itself, but rather a cumulative effect of a net reduction in entropic states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html
While it is not stated in the article, an analogy might be made to the former belief that "fire" was an element. It was easy to observe that when you let the fire out of wood, you were left with ashes (earth). Therefore fire+earth=wood. However, "fire" is simply the aggregate release of energy as the carbon and hydrogen in the wood combine with oxygen and are reduced to a lower entropic state. Gravity, like fire, may not be a "thing" all by itself, but rather a cumulative effect of a net reduction in entropic states.
Submission + - Wireless PCIe to enable remote graphics cards (techreport.com) 1
J. Dzhugashvili writes: If you read Slashdot, odds are you already know about WiGig and the 7Gbps wireless networking it promises. The people at Atheros and Wilocity are now working on an interesting application for the spec: wireless PCI Express. In a nutshell, wPCIe enables a PCI Express switch with local and remote components linked by a 60GHz connection. The first applications, which will start sampling next year, will let you connect your laptop to a base station with all kinds of storage controllers, networking controllers, and yes, an external graphics processor. wPCIe works transparently to the operating system, which only sees additional devices connected over PCI Express. And as icing on the cake, wPCie controllers will lets you connect to standard Wi-Fi networks, too.
Submission + - Silent recall of iPhone 4 by Apple? (tekgoblin.com) 1
tekgoblin writes: With all of the reception issues and now proximity sensor issues with the iPhone 4, who wouldn't expect a company to recall a defective product. Well Apple has made no mention of a recall but Gizmodo has gotten a report of something like this actually happening. This is a transcript of the actual letter that they received:
I've been following all of the iPhone 4 stuff since I got mine the day before release. I was able to replicate the signal issue. I also had the proximity sensor issue, causing inadvertent mute button pushing. There were a few other software issues I was experiencing so I consulted Apple at the Fifth Avenue store in New York. They replaced my phone. The diagnostic showed that the OS was corrupt and certain utilities were failing. [They claimed that] all phones with a proximity sensor issue were being sent back to Apple for further study. Well, when I got the new phone it was different. It was different hardware. The black [plastic] bezel isn't as black on the new one. I couldn't see the proximity sensor at all on the previous iPhone 4, now I can. The stainless steel band on the new phone is less 'steel-y' and more matte. I've also tried to replicate the signal drop and failure. While I can't say for sure that it is entirely fixed, there is certainly huge improvement. I'm guessing they coated the steel with something, took some black out of the bezel and sent them out without saying too much about it. I also think Apple is willing to warranty a phone for any reason except the signal issue. The guy next to me said that he had to press the home button several times before the phone would come back from stand-by. This happened once. The Apple tech ran the diagnostic, everything was fine. They still replaced his phone. I think they're doing a 'silent recall'.
It would be nice for Apple to publicly apologize for the mistakes they made with the iPhone 4, both their attitudes and non-acknowledgment of the problem in the first place. And to then offer free replacement to people that actually have both of the problems, being reception and proximity. I do not see Apple doing this in the near future, but I do hope that they are still investigating the cause of the issue and not relying on a 'software' fix.
Submission + - Pink Floyd manager: don't stop file-sharing (pcpro.co.uk) 1
Barence writes: The former manager of Pink Floyd has labelled attempts to clamp down on music file-sharing as a "waste of time". "Not only are they a waste of time, they make the law offensive. They are comparable to prohibition in the US in the 1920s," said Peter Jenner, who's now the emeritus president of the International Music Managers' Forum. "It's absurd to expect ordinary members of the public to think about what they're allowed to do [with CDs, digital downloads, etc]... and then ask themselves whether it's legal or not." The comments come as Britain's biggest ISP, BT, said it was confident that Britain's Digital Economy Act — which could result in file-sharers losing their internet connection — would be overturned in the courts, because it doesn't comply with European laws on privacy.
Submission + - BlackBerry copies iOS 4 feature in server upgrade (infoworld.com)
GMGruman writes: The iPhone usually takes the knocks for not being a secure as a BlackBerry and urged to catch up to BlackBerry capabilities. But it turns out that sometimes the iPhone is ahead in this game and it's BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion that is playing catch-up: RIM today announced an update to its BlackBerry Enterprise Server that adds a feature that Apple's iOS 4.0 already offers: the ability to distinguish between corporate and personal information and manage them separately. That way, if you leave your company and keep your BlackBerry, your pesonal accounts, contacts, and so forth aren't wiped out even as your corporate data is removed.
Submission + - Does encryption work? (lewrockwell.com) 1
SonicSpike writes: Does encryption (against the government) work?
Submission + - Inside the Fake PC Recycling Market (osnews.com) 1
snydeq writes: "OSNews' Howard Fosdick reports on the 'fake recycling market' — one in which companies exploit cheap shipping, inexpensive labor, and a lack of safety and environmental law to export computers and other e-waste to China and Africa where it is 'recycled' with a complete lack of environmental and safety rules. 'This trade has become a thriving business. Companies called "fake recyclers" approach well-meaning organizations — charities, churches, and community organizations — and offer to hold a Recycling Day. The charity provides publicity, legitimacy, and a parking lot for the event. On the designated day, well-meaning residents drop off their old electronics for recycling. The fake recycler picks it up in their trucks, hauls it away for shipping, and makes money by exporting it to Chinese or African "recycling" centers. Nobody's the wiser,' Fosdick writes. Of course, the international community has, in fact, devised a set of rules to control e-waste disposal under the Basel Conventions, but the U.S. — 'the international "bad boy" of computer recycling — is one of four countries that have not ratified and do not adhere to these international agreements."
Submission + - Android 2.2 Bests iOS 4 in JavaScript performance (linuxpromagazine.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Ars Technica pitted an iPhone 4 against a Froyo-enabled Nexus One and the results are overwhelmingly in Android 2.2's favor. For the test Ars ran both devices through both the SunSpider and V8 benchmarks. Android outperformed iOS 4 in both instances, several times over.
Adobe (Temporarily?) Kills 64-Bit Flash For Linux 272
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that with the release of the 10.1 security patches, Adobe has, at least temporarily, killed 64-bit Flash for Linux. The statement says: 'The Flash Player 10.1 64-bit Linux beta is closed. We remain committed to delivering 64-bit support in a future release of Flash Player. No further information is available at this time. Please feel free to continue your discussions on the Flash Player 10.1 desktop forums.' The 64-bit forum has been set to read-only."
Why No Billion-Dollar Open Source Companies? 487
Glyn Moody writes "If open source is such a success, why aren't there any billion-dollar turnover open source companies? A recent briefing by Red Hat's CEO, Jim Whitehurst, to a group of journalists may provide an answer. Asked why Red Hat wasn't yet a $5 billion company, as he suggested it would be one day, he said getting Red Hat to $5 billion meant 'replacing $50 billion of revenue' currently enjoyed by traditional computer companies. If, as is likely, that's generally true for open source companies, it means they will need to displace around $10 billion of proprietary business in order to achieve a billion-dollar turnover. Few are likely to do that. Perhaps it's time for managers of open source startups to stop chasing the billion-dollar dream. If they don't, they will set unrealistic ambitions for themselves, disappoint their investors, and allow opponents of free software to paint one of its defining successes — saving money — as a failure."
Submission + - HTML5 vs. Flash: The Case for Flash (infoworld.com) 4
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner offers 7 reasons why Web designers will remain loyal to Flash for rich Web content, despite 'seductive' new capabilities offered by HTML5. Sure, HTML5 aims to duplicate many of the features that were once the sole province of plug-ins (local disk storage, video display, better rendering, algorithmic drawing, and more) and has high-profile backers in Google and Apple, but as Wayner sees it, this fight is more about designers than it is about technocrats and programmers. And from its sub-pixel resolution, to its developer tools, to its 'write once, play everywhere' functionality, Flash has too much going for it to fall by the wayside. 'The real battle is in the hearts and eyes of the artists who are paid to create incredibly beautiful objects in the span of just a few hours. The designers will make the final determination. As long as Flash and its cousins Flex and Shockwave remain the simplest tools for producing drop-dead gorgeous Websites, they'll keep their place on the Internet.'"
Submission + - Apple was only months from the abyss in 1996 (pcauthority.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Jobs has revealed the company was a mere 90 days from bankruptcy in 1996 when the board asked him to retake the reins. This was after Jobs joined the elite, and possibly single-member-club, of people to have been fired and then rehired by their own company. At the time Microsoft famously threw Apple a US$150 million lifeline, a gesture which was thrown into almost comical relief last week when a spike in Apple's share price saw it surge past Microsoft to become the world's biggest technology company — and second overall — by market capitalisation. Asked at the D: All Things Digital conference how he felt about that, Jobs replied "surreal". Other revelations included the fact that the wildly popular iPad was ready for release as far back as 2007 when it was mothballed to make way for the iPhone.
Shuttle Atlantis Lands Safely After Final Official Mission 125
saintory writes "Shuttle Atlantis landed this morning after flying its final official mission. In its 25-year service, the shuttle Atlantis has logged over 120 million miles." After a successful mission to deliver a research module to the International Space Station, the craft landed at Kennedy Space Center, and will "go through the normal flow of prelaunch preparations in order to serve as the 'launch-on-need' vehicle for Endeavour's STS-134 mission, the last scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle Program." Congratulations to the people aboard and on the ground who engineered the shuttle's successful return.
