74358793
submission
jones_supa writes:
The Core Infrastructure Initiative, a Linux Foundation effort assembled in the wake of the Heartbleed fiasco to provide development support for key Internet protocols, has opened the doors on its Census Project — an effort to figure out what software projects need support now, instead of waiting for them to break. Census assembles metrics about open source projects found in Debian's package list and on openhub.net, and then scores them based on the amount of risk each presents. Risk scores are an aggregate of multiple factors: how many people are known to have contributed to the project in the last 12 months, how many CVEs have been filed for it, how widely used it is, and how much exposure it has to the network. According to the current iteration of the survey, the programs most in need of attention are not previously cited infrastructure projects, but common core Linux system utilities that have network access and little development activity around them.
74280895
submission
jones_supa writes:
Microsoft is about to announce another round of layoffs. A company press release confirms the plan, saying that it will target up to 7,800 employees and will be aimed mostly at the hardware division. The hardware division includes the lion's share of former Nokia employees, which became part of Microsoft last year. In an e-mail to employees, chief executive officer Satya Nadella reiterated the company's commitment to its phone business, though he also said that some refocusing was necessary and that Microsoft's phone business would reflect the overall Windows strategy: "We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family," the e-mail reads.
74260315
submission
jones_supa writes:
Fans of The Simpsons will find this turn of events nothing short of excellent: seven weeks after telling that he was exiting the Fox's forever-running animated comedy, Harry Shearer has agreed to rejoin the show. Shearer has now signed the same four season contract as the other five primary voice actors. He previously tweeted "I wanted what we've always had: the freedom to do other work." Executive producer Al Jean found that tweet confusing, saying, "Everybody on the show does lots of outside projects. He actually gets to record on the phone and do the [table] reads on the phone. So we've never kept him from doing that stuff."
74244691
submission
jones_supa writes:
A study of people has uncovered a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies age. The report, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tracked traits such as weight, kidney function, gum health and brain function. The research group followed 954 people from the same town in New Zealand who were all born in 1972 or 1973. The scientists looked at 18 different ageing-related traits when the group turned 26, 32 and 38 years old. Most people's biological age was within a few years of their chronological age. Some people had almost stopped ageing during the period of the study, while others were gaining nearly three years of biological age for every year that passed. Some of the 38-year-olds were ageing so badly that their biological age was on the cusp of retirement. It is unclear how the pace of biological ageing changes through life with these measures.
74102207
submission
jones_supa writes:
Windows 7 has quickly started increasing its market share of desktop operating systems, nearing 61%. If you are wondering how come this is happening when Windows 10 is almost here, the reason is a simple trick people are using. Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade for those running Windows 7 and 8, and the new OS will have the exact same hardware requirements as its predecessor, so the majority of PCs should be able to run it flawlessly. Because Windows 7 was launched in 2009, a license is more affordable than for Windows 8, so many users are switching to this version to take advantage of the Windows 10 free upgrade offer.
74081369
submission
jones_supa writes:
There is an indie game port in works which certainly cracks a smile on one's face. Vblank Entertainment is bringing Retro City Rampage — its homage to 8-bit games and Grand Theft Auto — over to one of the influential gaming operating systems of all time: DOS! Retro City Rampage 486 is a port of Retro City Rampage DX, an enhanced version of the game featuring a story mode, arcade challenges, and free roaming. As the name suggests, if one wants to run the game natively, a beefy 486 CPU is required, along with 3.7 MB of disk space and 4 MB of RAM. But of course, DOSBox can be used as well. A release date for the DOS version of the game is not yet known.
74074965
submission
jones_supa writes:
Windows 10 is expected to launch in less than a month, and Microsoft hopes that most Windows 7 and 8 users will use their free upgrade offer. In the coming years, this would help to avoid another "Windows XP moment", with users clinging to a legacy operating system with their teeth and nails. Interestingly, a Gartner analyst still predicts that Windows 7 will continue to be the preferred operating system for the majority of users, and despite the aggressive marketing that tries to push Windows 10 to all devices across the world, many consumers would still prefer to hold on to their existing software rather than upgrade. "We're looking forward to a good replacement cycle around Windows 10. There is still going to be that wide histogram of reactions between people who want to move right now verses those who are still on Windows 95, but it's not going to be the damp squib Windows 8 was," adds John-David Lovelock, head of forecasting at Gartner. Ultimately, the extended support for Windows 7 will end in 2020, and for Windows 8 in 2023.
74043837
submission
jones_supa writes:
Magnus Glantz, IT manager at IKEA, revealed that the Swedish furniture retailer has more than 3,500 Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers. With Shellshock, every single one of those servers needed to be patched to limit the risk of exploitation. So how did IKEA patch all those servers? Glantz showed a simple one-line Linux command and then jokingly walked away from the podium stating "That's it, thanks for coming". On a more serious note, he said that it took approximately two and half hours to upgrade their infrastructure to defend against Shellshock. The key was having a consistent approach to system management, which begins with a well-defined Standard Operating Environment (SOE). Additionally, Glantz has defined a lifecycle management plan that describes the lifecycle of how Linux will be used at Ikea for the next seven years.
73935403
submission
jones_supa writes:
Skyrocketing rents and multiple roommates — these are the kinds of war stories you expect to hear in space-constrained cities such as New York and San Francisco. But the rental crunch has been steadily creeping inland from coastal cities and up the economic ladder. Bloomberg takes a look at the vicious cycle that keeps rents spiraling higher. People paying high rents have a harder time saving for a down payment, preventing tenants from exiting the rental market. Low vacancy rates let landlords raise rents still higher. Developers who know they can command high rents (and sales prices) are spurred to spend more to acquire developable land. Finally, higher land costs can force builders to target the higher end of the market. The interesting question is how long can this last before we reach a level that is not affordable to the majority of the demographic that is being serviced.
73925621
submission
jones_supa writes:
According to a report by German website WinFuture, which cites people close to the matter, Microsoft is planning to launch Windows 10 on USB memory sticks too, in addition to the traditional DVDs, thus offering another install medium for users worldwide. The same stick would bundle x86-32 and x86-64 versions of the operating system. This is a welcome improvement, as many people prefer to not use optical media anymore, and many laptops have dropped optical drives. The installation time will also be shortened due to advantages of solid state medium.
73923749
submission
jones_supa writes:
If we were to tell you that your machine downloaded a file called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe, you would probably think that we are talking about malware. This is actually an helper utility by Samsung, for which their reasoning is: "When you enable Windows updates, it will install the Default Drivers for all the hardware no laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates." Too bad that the solution means disabling all critical security updates as well. This isn't the first time an OEM goes against its users. From earlier this year, we remember the Superfish adware from Lenovo, and system security being compromised by the LG split screen software.
73910583
submission
jones_supa writes:
A GMail feature that Google has been testing for years is one you might not even know exists: Undo Send. It artificially delays sending your e-mail for a few seconds after you click Send, so you can take the message back if you realize that there is a mistake. Google announced in a blog post this week that Undo Send is becoming an official feature. For users who already had the Undo Send beta enabled, the feature will remain on, and those who didn't, can turn it on via the General tab under Settings. Users can choose if they want to hold their mail for 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
73880939
submission
jones_supa writes:
Couple of months ago Linux received an extensive x86 assembly refresh to make code easier to understand and maintain. According to some Linux developers, the assembly code of the kernel is still complicated and poorly maintained. Thus, Linux 4.1 will receive another cleanup, in which a lot of assembly code is rewritten in C. The first big batch of x86 asm-to-C conversion patches, as Andy Lutomirski details on LKML, will focus on the exit-to-userspace code. That particular code is currently copied in several places, is written in a nasty combination of asm and C, and is just hard to work with.
73828031
submission
jones_supa writes:
North Korea has created a wonder drug which not only cures AIDS, but also eradicates Ebola and cancer, if the latest proclamation from the country's news agency is to be believed. An announcement says that the miracle cure consists of ginseng grown from fertilizer and rare earth elements. The drug's website cites a medical study in Africa where the product was tested on HIV positive patients. It records that every single participant in the trial noted an improvement, with 56% being completely cured and 44% noting a considering improvement in their condition. Among other benefits, the North Korean scientists also revealed that the drug is capable of curing a number of cancers, but did not provide details of the medical trials which support this claim. It's also good to remember that the state has previously claimed that Kim Jong Il invented the hamburger.
73730381
submission
jones_supa writes:
Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, and Scroogled mastermind Mark Penn, are leaving Microsoft as part of a fresh company reorganization. "We are aligning our engineering efforts and capabilities to deliver on our strategy and, in particular, our three core ambitions," says CEO Satya Nadella in an e-mail to employees today. Alongside Elop and Penn, Microsoft executives Kirill Tatarinov and Eric Rudder will also leave as part of a transition period. Tatarinov used to head up Microsoft's business solutions group, and Ruder was responsible for the company's advanced strategy. The reorganization will see Windows chief Terry Myerson take on more responsibility. Myerson will take over a new team called Windows and Devices Group. He will be focused on Microsoft devices and the engineering of Windows.