Comment Re:Get off my lawn? (Score 1) 459
... but I HATE the caps lock key. I NEVER use it
What you said about the caps lock key, reminded me of this keyboard: "Do you think the Caps Lock key is pointless, and would be more useful as Ctrl?"
Comment Re:A US Coast Guard Icebreaker? (Score 4, Informative) 382
Why would the US Coast Guard own any icebreakers?
According to a Wikipedia article:
Polar Star has a variety of missions while operating in polar regions. During Antarctic deployments, the primary missions include breaking a channel through the sea ice to resupply the McMurdo Research Station in the Ross Sea. Resupply ships use the channel to bring food, fuel, and other goods to make it through another winter. In addition to these duties, Polar Star also serves as a scientific research platform with five laboratories and accommodations for up to 20 scientists. The "J"-shaped cranes and work areas near the stern and port side of ship give scientists the capability to do at-sea studies in the fields of geology, vulcanology, oceanography, sea-ice physics and other disciplines.
Comment Re:But... why? (Score 4, Interesting) 430
So, my question really is why they are doing this? I'm betting the answer is not one where they have actual usecases in mind.
There was a keynote done by Herb Sutter this past September and at roughly the 57 minute mark of his presentation Keynote: Herb Sutter - One C++ he shows a 15 LOC example of numbers being input and then output sorted. He then said, "We need to get past the VT100 era." He continued saying that the standard C++ program cannot even exercise the abilities of the VT100 which has underscore and bold, etc. Pure, portable C++ code cannot even drive a 1970s era VT100.
If you continue watching you'll see the point Herb is trying to make and that point may help explain why they are looking to do this.
Comment Re:The closed source story is the same, except wor (Score 1) 321
If it is open source, then at least you can recompile and/or port to a new OS.
The OP says, "I can't code in any meaningful way, nor do I aspire to"
You have the option of paying someone to fix a problem.
The OP says, "I could easily pay for a supported version of icewm, but I can't personally pay someone enough to keep it alive."
You have none of those options if the closed-source producer of a package arbitrarily decides to drop it.
What you've written is true, there are more options for open source projects. However, exercising those options just may not be feasible, as the OP points out in this particular case. If resources for continued development cannot be found, the open source project is effectively just as dead.
Submission + - X11 Window System Turns 25 Years Old (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The widely used X11 Window System has turned 25 years old today. Version 11 of the X Window System is likely to remain in use for many years to come for backwards compatibility with the many legacy applications, BSD/Solaris systems, and Enterprise Linux distributions. Meanwhile, Wayland is still working to unseat the X Server for the common Linux desktop.
Submission + - Google Pressured Acer/Alibaba Because Of Android Compatibility Issues (thenextweb.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Thursday we discussed news that Google pressures Acer and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to cancel the launch of a phone running the Aliyun OS. Google has now addressed the issue, speaking out on the importance of compatibility for Android devices. Andy Rubin, who runs Android development at Google, said Aliyun was a non-compatible version of Android, which weakens the ecosystem. He pointed out that the Open Hardware Alliance provides all the tools necessary to make it compatible. An Alibaba exec fired back, saying, 'Aliyun OS is not part of the Android ecosystem so of course Aliyun OS is not and does not have to be compatible with Android. It is ironic that a company that talks freely about openness is espousing a closed ecosystem.'
Submission + - People Shown a Fake iPhone 5 Claim it's "Way Better" (geekbeat.tv)
phonewebcam writes: "Oops! "The Jimmy Kimmel Live show took to the street with an iPhone 4S, but told people it was an iPhone 5 to get their opinions. We don’t know how many thought it was worse, but as you can see from the video plenty of people fell for it and started talking about how much better it was. One guy who even claimed he has a 4S went on and on about how much better the new iPhone 5 was.""
Submission + - Europe Rationing Last IPv4 Address Block (bbc.com)
Techmeology writes: "As IPv4 exhaustion draws ever nearer, European ISPs are now unable to acquire more than a handful (1024) of new IPv4 addresses. The measures are being brought in to ration the last /8 available to RIPE NCC, with 400,000 address previously being allocated every day. In addition to the limit, organizations applying for IPv4 addresses will be required to demonstrate that they are deploying IPv6."
Comment Re:Strange names (Score 4, Informative) 276
According to this paper, they are called bgrep and bdiff.
John Carmack Not Enthused About Android Marketplace 163
An anonymous reader writes "During an in-depth and informative interview, Doom creator and id Software co-founder John Carmack opines on iOS game development, the economics of mobile development vs. console development, why mobile games lend themselves to more risk-taking and greater creativity, and finally, why he's not too keen on the Android Marketplace as a money-making machine. '...I'm honestly still a little scared of the support burden and the effort that it's going to take for our products, which are very graphics-intensive.'"
1928 Time Traveler Caught On Film? 685
Many of you have submitted a story about Irish filmmaker George Clarke, who claims to have found a person using a cellphone in the "unused footage" section of the DVD The Circus, a Charlie Chaplin movie filmed in 1928. To me the bigger mystery is how someone who appears to be the offspring of Ram-Man and The Penguin got into a movie in the first place, especially if they were talking to a little metal box on set. Watch the video and decide for yourself.
Submission + - Google Freight Train Drops Chrome 6 Preview (conceivablytech.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Chrome 4 is the official version of Chrome at this time, Chrome 5 is still in its beta version and there is already a Chrome 6 preview. Is it just me or is this an insanely fast upgrade pace? Google has changed the version number of its browser from 2 to 3 to 4 within the past year and will soon launch Chrome 5. It may not make a lot of sense to users, but it surely makes sense for Google: It appears that that the fast upgrade rate creates the perception of an always fresh browser that invites more and more people to install the browser. I wonder how long Google can sustain this rate. Oh, in case you wonder, there is no hardware acceleration in Chromium 6 and no obvious feature additions yet. ConceivablyTech has a first look and charts that visualize Chrome's update cycles.
Submission + - 1 Molecule Computes 1000s Times Faster Than PC (popsci.com) 1
alexhiggins732 writes: A Single Molecule Computes Thousands of Times Faster than Your PC
A demo of a quantum calculation carried out by Japanese researchers has yielded some pretty mind-blowing results: a single molecule can perform a complex calculation thousands of times faster than a conventional computer.
A proof-of-principle test run of a discrete Fourier transform — a common calculation using spectral analysis and data compression, among other things — performed with a single iodine molecule transpired very well, putting all the molecules in your PC to shame.
A demo of a quantum calculation carried out by Japanese researchers has yielded some pretty mind-blowing results: a single molecule can perform a complex calculation thousands of times faster than a conventional computer.
A proof-of-principle test run of a discrete Fourier transform — a common calculation using spectral analysis and data compression, among other things — performed with a single iodine molecule transpired very well, putting all the molecules in your PC to shame.
Submission + - Ceph: A Linux petabyte-scale distributed file syst
An anonymous reader writes: A recent addition to Linux's impressive selection of file systems is Ceph, a distributed file system that incorporates replication and fault tolerance while maintaining POSIX compatibility. Explore the architecture of Ceph and learn how it provides fault tolerance and simplifies the management of massive amounts of data.
Submission + - NASA space habitat research goes undersea (nasa.gov) 1
PSandusky writes: "NASA is preparing to make use of Aquarius, the underwater laboratory off Key Largo, for an extended period of time to research the effects of isolation in habitats situated in extreme environments. Planned areas of research include extravehicular activity logistics and crew health and performance. According to NASA's factsheet, the mission will include some communication with schools and social media sites. (Found via Ars Technica's Twitter feed.)"
