Comment Re:sudo !! (Score 1) 2362
!?<term> executes the first matching statement in bash history
user@host:~$ !?Album
xmms2 radd
Mono 2.0 and .NET On Linux 405
Several readers noted the release of Mono 2.0, which is compatible with Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0. According to Miguel de Icaza, "... users can move over server applications built for .NET and client applications built with Windows Forms." InternetNews points out that only about half of the .NET apps out there will work on Mono 2.0, for a variety of reasons including (but not limited to) legacy Windows-only libraries and Microsoft's progress on .NET 3.0 and 3.5 APIs.
Submission + - Michael Chabon Tops 2008 Hugo Winners (denvention3.org)
Erbo writes: "The 2008 Hugo Award winners have been announced tonight at Denvention 3, the 66th Annual World Science Fiction Convention, in Denver, Colorado. Best Novel goes to Michael Chabon for his alternate-history detective novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Stardust, the movie adaptation of the Neil Gaiman book, won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Doctor Who took the award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, for the third year running with Steven Moffat's episode "Blink." John Scalzi won the Hugo, controversial in some circles, for Best Fan Writer, based on the writings on his blog, Whatever. The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer, with accompanying tiara, went to Mary Robinette Kowal."
Submission + - Google accidently revealed as eBay critic (theage.com.au)
Xiroth writes: In what could cause an escalation of tensions between the two internet giants, an anonymous critique of eBay's upcoming move to accepting only PayPal as the payment method in Australia has accidently been revealed to have been submitted by Google thanks to PDF meta-tags.
Submission + - Open Sound System now also Open Source (opensound.com) 2
Timothy Farrar writes: "The Open Sound System has now also been released with a BSD license for open source development on BSD based systems. Starting in 1995, Finland's Hannu Savolainen and California's Dev Mazumdar, founders of 4Front Technologies single handedly build what was to become the standard portable audio API for all the major Unix and BSD incarnations, the Open Sound System (OSS). In June of 2007 they started open sourcing a decade of proprietary development by releasing OSS v4.0 with a GPLv2 and CDDL license. Over the past 13 years when Windows has had over four major rewrites of its core audio APIs, the Unix/BSD based Open Sound System is still going strong, providing modern surround sound audio drivers for popular Unix applications like MPlayer. Dev and Hannu undoubtedly deserve our gratitude and thanks for all they have done, and especially now that they have fully open sourced their work!"
Submission + - Wind-powered data center for Google 3
TT writes: Google is considering building a wind-powered data center in Greensburg, Kan. In addition to the huge solar-panel project it's building in Mountain View, this 20-megawatt data center in Greensburg would go a long way toward helping Google get carbon neutral, as is its goal. The company, like the entire universe today, is on the green kick. It announced last month that it wants to make renewable energy cheaper than coal.
Submission + - Microsoft deprecating some OOXML functionality (fanaticattack.com)
christian.einfeldt writes: "According to open standards advocate Russell Ossendryver, Microsoft will be deprecating certain functionality in its Microsoft Office Open XML specification. Ossendryver says the move is an attempt to quiet critics of the specification in the run up to the crucial February vote as to whether Microsoft OOXML will be included as a second standard for e-documents, along with the existing ODF ISO standard. ECMA, the Microsoft-led industry standards group formally offering OOXML to ISO, confirms in a 21 December 2007 announcement that issues related to the "leap year bug", VML, compatibility settings such as "AutoSpaceLikeWord95" and others will be "extracted from the main specification and relocated to an independent annex in DIS 29500 for deprecated functionality." Ossendryver is not convinced that deprecation will work, calling the deprecation proposal a 'smoke screen' and a 'bomb disguised as a standard' because 'every application will need to support the deprecated features in order to read files with the deprecated features.' Ossendryver also points out that legacy formatted Microsoft Office documents will still remain non-standard under the new proposal for deprecation."
China Anti-Corruption Web Site Crashes On First Day 169
An anonymous reader tips us to news out of China that the Web site of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention crashed on Tuesday, just hours after its launch, as droves of people logged on to complain about corruption among officials. "The number of visitors was very large and beyond our expectations," an anonymous NBCP official said.
Submission + - The Queen of England launches a YouTube Channel (youtube.com)
gihan_ripper writes: "Fifty years ago, the Queen began broadcasting her Christmas message via television. To celebrate this anniversary, the Royal Channel has been launched. It will show this year's Christmas message and currently contains a smattering of old clips, including the first Christmas message from 1957."
Submission + - Norway mandates government use of ODF and PDF
siDDis writes: Earlier this year Slashdot mentioned that Norway moves towards mandatory use of ODF and PDF. Now it's confirmed that the Norwegian government has mandated the use of open document formats from January 1st, 2009.
There are three formats that have been mandated for all documentation between authorities, users and partners. HTML for all public information on the Web, PDF for all documents where layout needs to be preserved and ODF for all documents that the recipient is supposed to be able to edit. Documents may also be published in other formats, but they must always be available in either ODF or PDF.
There are three formats that have been mandated for all documentation between authorities, users and partners. HTML for all public information on the Web, PDF for all documents where layout needs to be preserved and ODF for all documents that the recipient is supposed to be able to edit. Documents may also be published in other formats, but they must always be available in either ODF or PDF.
Submission + - 300-MPG Jetsons Car for $30K by End of '08 (popularmechanics.com)
An anonymous reader writes: You may have heard some of the hype last month when California-based Aptera let out first word of its allegedly super fuel-efficient (and cheap) Typ-1 electric vehicle. Well this video test drive and gee-whiz specs breakdown proves that this thing is for real: 120 miles on a single lithium-phosphate pack charge for 2008, with a 300-mpg model to follow by 2009. Aptera is also mentioned in Wired's new cover story as one of several early front-runners for the Automotive X Prize.
Submission + - Guantanamo deleted detainee IDs from Wikipedia (ljsf.org) 1
James Hardine writes: The New York Times and The Inquirer are reporting that Wikileaks, the transparency group that published two manuals leaked from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba earlier this month has now caught US armed forces personnel there conducting propaganda attacks over the Internet. The activities uncovered by Wikileaks include deleting Guantanamo detainees' ID numbers from Wikipedia, posting of self-praising comments on news websites in response to negative articles, promoting pro-Guantanamo stories on the Internet news focus website Digg, and even altering Wikipedia's entry on Cuban President Fidel Castro to describe him as "an admitted transexual". Guantanamo spokesman Lt. Col. Bush blasted Wikileaks for identifying one "mass communications officer" by name, who has since received death threats for "simply doing his job — posting positive comments on the Internet about Gitmo". In response Wikileaks has posted independent confirmation of their analysis by security expert Bruce Schneier.
Submission + - XKCD Artist Randall Munroe speaks at Google (youtube.com)
def writes: XKCD Artist Randall Munroe gives a pretty amusing talk at Google recently. Munroe on Munroe: "I'm just this guy, you know? I'm a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before starting xkcd, I worked on robots at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. As of June 2007 I live in Massachusetts. In my spare time I climb things, open strange doors, and go to goth clubs dressed as a frat guy so I can stand around and look terribly uncomfortable. At frat parties I do the same thing, but the other way around."
Submission + - Microsoft finally announce IE8 (msdn.com)
dave writes: "After many months of silence on the IE blog, Microsoft have finally announced IE8, they've not yet mentioned any details, just the name and the fact that they're working on it. Al Billings, the person behind the frequent IE7 blogging, now works for Mozilla and has been frequently critical of the IE teams silence."
Japan's Melody Roads Play Music as You Drive 335
Krishna Dagli writes "The road works by using grooves, which are cut at very specific intervals in the surface. Just as traveling over small speed bumps or road markings can emit a rumbling tone throughout a vehicle, the melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes."
