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Bug

Linux 4.0 Has a File-System Corruption Problem, RAID Users Warned 226

An anonymous reader writes: For the past few days kernel developers and Linux users have been investigating an EXT4 file-system corruption issue affecting the latest stable kernel series (Linux 4.0) and the current development code (Linux 4.1). It turns out that Linux users running the EXT4 file-system on a RAID0 configuration can easily destroy their file-system with this newest "stable" kernel. The cause and fix have materialized but it hasn't yet worked its way out into the mainline kernel, thus users should be warned before quickly upgrading to the new kernel on systems with EXT4 and RAID0.
Sci-Fi

Secret Files Reveal UK Police Feared That Trekkies Could Turn On Society 214

An anonymous reader writes: Scotland Yard was worried that fans of shows like the X Files and Star Trek might run amok during the Millennium according to secret files. The file, called UFO New Religious Movements (NRMs) And The Millennium, reveals that anti-terrorism experts were also concerned about the brain-washing effect of Dark Skies, Roswell, Millennium and The Lawnmower Man on viewers. According to the Telegraph: "The secret briefing note was obtained from the Met under the Freedom of Information Act by Sheffield-based British X-Files expert Dr Dave Clarke while researching a new book, How UFOs Conquered the World. Dr Clarke, who teaches investigative journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, said: 'The documents show the police and security services were concerned about the export of some new religious movements concerning UFOs and aliens from the USA in the aftermath of the mass suicide by followers of the Heaven's Gate.'"

Comment And? Are people buying more digital content? (Score 1) 224

Because that is the real kicker: The copyright industry believes every infringed copy is a lost sale. Quite a bit of research found that it is actually the other way round: Copyright infringement increases legitimate sales. Hence these more effective practices to reduce copyright infringement should also reduce legitimate business.

Will be interesting to see, especially if this turns out to be happening and the content mafia cannot believe it.

Comment Re:...unless you rule Australia (Score 1) 71

The Australians will either come to their senses of find themselves squarely in the second world in the long run. Some researchers already left the country and a lot more will be thinking about it. It will be interesting to see what will happen.

However, if recent history is any indication, Australians like to get screwed over by their government, hence they keep voting for anti-citizen politicians. Must be some kind of collective masochism going on down under.

Education

Microsoft To Teachers: Using Pens and Paper Not Fair To Students 387

Freshly Exhumed writes: Pens and paper have no place in the modern classroom, according to Lia De Cicco Remu, director of Partners in Learning at Microsoft Canada. "When was the last time you used a piece of chalk to express yourself?" De Cicco Remu, a former teacher, asked the Georgia Straight by phone from Toronto. "Kids don't express themselves with chalk or in cursive. Kids text." Given the Microsoft Study Finds Technology Hurting Attention Spans story posted to Slashdot in the last few days it would seem that Redmond's Marketing and R&D people are at cross-purposes.

Comment Re:No self driving trains? (Score 1) 393

There are not enough train-drivers to make this a hot research item for a general solution. Self-driving trains exist, although usually local installations or subways or the like or just some modes of operation. For example, at speeds > 160km/h an ICE may not be driven manually anymore and goes to fully automatic as humans cannot do anything worthwhile anymore.

Also, from a perspective of the western world sans US, Amtrack is using historic tech.

The Almighty Buck

Stock Market Valuation Exceeds Its Components' Actual Value 335

An anonymous reader writes: James Tobin, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, developed a concept called "Q-value" — it's the ratio between two numbers: 1) the sum of all publicly-traded companies' stock valuations and 2) the value of all these companies' actual assets, if they were sold. Bloomberg reports that the continued strength of the stock market has now caused that ratio to go over 1 — in other words, the market values companies about 10% higher than the sum of their actual assets. The Q value is now at its highest point since the Dot-com bubble. Similar peaks in the past hundred years have all been quickly followed by crashes.

Now, that's not to say a crash is imminent — experts disagree on the Q-value's reliability. One said, "the ratio's doubling since 2009 to 1.10 is a symptom of companies diverting money from their businesses to the stock market, choosing buybacks over capital spending. Six years of zero-percent interest rates have similarly driven investors into riskier things like equities, elevating the paper value of assets over their tangible worth." Others point out that as the digital economy grows, a greater portion of publicly traded companies lack the tangible assets that were the hallmark of the manufacturing boom.

Comment Re:Not sure if smart or retarded (Score 2) 204

Actually, it is the other way round: There are a lot of customers Blizzard wants to keep doing business and hence has decided to get rid off about 1.5% bad apples that really piss off the other ones by breaking the rules of the game. Quite akin to banning people that post offensive content.

The only thing that may be surprising is the size of the wave. But that also makes sense because cheater-tech is usually bought by the cheaters (most cannot code themselves one bit) and if they were to bann often, cheater-tech makers could easily determine what Blizzard does to identify cheaters.

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