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Apple

Submission + - Skyfire Flash-Enabled Browser Coming to iPad (cmswire.com)

Submitted by Goffee71
Goffee71 writes: Skyfire proved a hit on the iPhone and an improved version is coming to the iPad but will people really splash out for an extra browser? The new features include Facebook Connect and other social additions, not a million miles away from what Rockmelt offers, without the natty sidebars — is the browser wars ready for a reboot and is Skyfire prepared for the demand this time?

Comment There is an alternative (Score 1) 532

by Goffee71 (#34551644) Attached to: Why Special Effects No Longer Impress
Go watch the Ong Bak trilogy where the stunts are all real. Or watch Alien where all the ships and systems looked like they could be from the future but were just parts of Vulcan bombers and other stuff lumped together. Human imagination is being made lazy by cheap fx.

Hopefully we'll see a backlash against FX and see directors building some great sets and models again.

If I recall Bill Hicks correctly, we'll soon be sending in the terminally ill as stuntmen to make death scenes more realistic. "Chuck Norris just kicked my grandma's head clean off!" - I'd pay to see that.

Comment Re:Rear touch pad? Tell that to a naughty Yakuza (Score 1) 49

by Goffee71 (#34389070) Attached to: Patent Supports PSP2 Rear Touch Pad Rumor
What if you're a low-ranking Japanese mafioso who has screwed up a few times and are missing a digit or two. Or a fisherman who's had a harsh life at sea, or a particularly clumsy ex-chef. There are a lot of people missing digits (I know two, one boat accident and one animal-related). http://goffee-freelance.blogspot.com/2010/11/psp2-reverse-touchpad-to-annoy-stumpy.html

Submission + - Righthaven To Explain Why Reposting Isn't Fair Use

Submitted by
Ponca City, We love you
Ponca City, We love you writes: "TechDirt reports that a judge has asked Righthaven to explain why a non-profit organization reposting an entire article isn't fair use. The case involves the Center for Intercultural Organizing of Portland, Oregon, which was sued by Righthaven in August after an entire 33-paragraph Review-Journal story about Las Vegas immigrants was posted on the center's website, crediting the Review-Journal. The nonprofit says it was founded by Portland-area immigrants and refugees to combat widespread anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11 and it works to strengthen immigrant and refugee communities through education, civic engagement, organizing and mobilization and does not charge subscription fees or derive any income from its website. The interesting thing is that the defendant in this case didn't even raise the fair use issue. It was the judge who brought it up suggesting that the Nevada judges are being inundated with hundreds of Righthaven cases, and that Righthaven has already lost once in a case that was found to be fair use so judges may want to set a precedent to clear their dockets. "Considering how many of the sites sued were small, non-profit sites where the use was clearly not intended to compete or to take money away from Righthaven, if those conditions satisfy a fair use ruling, Righthaven may watch a bunch of these cases fall like dominoes," writes Mike Masnick. "Of course, that would be quite fitting, in that in bringing nearly 200 lawsuits against various sites, the end result could be that various sites receive clearer guidelines stating that they actually can copy entire articles onto their websites, given certain other conditions." In the meantime TechDirt recommends that bloggers and web sites that allow posting register with the copyright office for DMCA protection as it appears that RightHaven has been careful to only sue websites without a registered DMCA agent."
Movies

Submission + - Oliver Stone Invests in Online Video (cmswire.com)

Submitted by Goffee71
Goffee71 writes: Movie Director Oliver Stone casts his lens in a different direction, investing in an online video platform, Vzaar. The company is aiming upmarket at professionals after starting out selling to eBay users. If nothing else, the company gets a great video advert featuring the man himself; Vzaar is one of those lightning bolts that hit me right between the eyes." Stone commented. Vzaar's system helps users create custom players and content sizes, including HD, and compile playlists and analytics. Content can be run on the user's site with various storage options across a range of price points.
Businesses

Submission + - Innovating With Cross Functional Teams (ncsu.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Getting ahead and staying ahead in today's highly competitive business environment requires companies to take an integrated view of team management. Whereas business units could once operate within their own silo, today its clear that innovation often comes from team cross-pollination; especially among technical and core business teams.
Space

Submission + - SpaceX gets 1st private FAA space reentry license (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Space Exploration Technologies (Space X) got the first ever Federal Aviation Administration license allowing the reentry to Earth of a privately developed spacecraft.
The license was needed because the Space X Dragon space capsule is scheduled to launch atop Space X's Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 7 and return to earth. The Launch of the rocket had already been approved by the FAA. The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation noted that it has licensed over 200 successful launches.
Power

Submission + - Nuclear Fusion Possible Within 2-3 Years? (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Even with all the developments taking place in the areas of alternative energy such as solar and wind power, nuclear fusion still remains the holy grail of clean electricity generation. However, after decades of worldwide research costing billions of dollars, the goal of achieving “net-gain,” where more energy is produced than is required to trigger the fusion chain reaction, still remains elusive. Now researchers at Sandia Labs are claiming a breakthrough that could see break-even fusion reactions in as little as two to three years.
Open Source

Submission + - LibreOffice Talks About the Breakaway from Oracle (cmswire.com)

Submitted by Goffee71
Goffee71 writes: Breaking up is never easy to do, but the split between Oracle and the new LibreOffice team has been one of the more traumatic recent events in IT. CMSWire asked the new team's Italo Vignoli what went on behind the scenes and what can we expect to see now from Libre/OpenOffice.

Example Q: Did the process of separation feel like a "rush for the exits" or was it a hard decision for some people?

A: It has been a hard decision for most people, as they have been instrumental for building the OOo brand in most countries. We still believe in OOo, although we do not believe in a corporate-sponsored free software project.

We feel that corporate-sponsored free software projects belong to previous decades, as free software was not perceived as good enough to be self-sustaining. After 20 years, free software is mature enough for a self-sustaining business model, with corporate sponsors as members of the community.
Software

Submission + - Amazon Web Services Blog: New EC2 Instance Type - (typepad.com)

Submitted by
jamie
jamie writes: "If you have a mid-range or high-end video card in your desktop PC, it probably contains a specialized processor called a GPU or Graphics Processing Unit. The instruction set and memory architecture of a GPU are designed to handle the..."
Graphics

Submission + - Interview with Head of Pixar Animation (acm.org)

Submitted by CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: Stanford professor Pat Hanrahan discusses graphics with Pixar Animation Studios President Ed Catmull. Hanrahan and Catmull share an Oscar award for developing RenderMan.
"Among the many things that are inspiring about Pixar, and one way you've had a huge impact on the world, is that you changed many people's views of what computing is all about. A lot of people think of computing as number crunching whose main application is business and engineering. Pixar added an artistic side to computing. I've talked to many students who realize that art can be part of computing; that creativity can be part of computing; that they can merge their interests in art and science. They think of computing as a very fulfilling pursuit."

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