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HP

Submission + - WebOS goes Open Source (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After dropping billions into Palm and WebOS, HP contributes it to the open source community. Company officials told ZDNet that open sourcing WebOS was the best move after the company reviewed the various possibilities for the mobile operating system. There are two reads on the WebOS news: HP couldn’t find a reasonable buyer or the company is betting it can take off on its own.

Comment Why hasn't she gotten used to it? (Score 5, Insightful) 898

by thinbits (#35633200) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop?
You say "she hasn't gotten used to it, and wants a Windows machine". Do you mean she hasn't gotten used to Mac OS X and wants to use Windows? Just use Boot Camp and install Windows on your MacBook, problem solved. If you mean she is using Windows on your MacBook and there is something about the MacBook itself she doesn't like, perhaps you should elaborate on what specifically it is she doesn't like about the hardware as that's probably something you should take into account in your next purchase.
United States

Submission + - US Almost Nukes Itself? (Again??) (military.com)

Submitted by macduffman
macduffman writes: Although not the first time we've heard about nuclear near-misses, the latest one makes this dyslexic agnostic wonder if there really is a doG. Speaking in direct violation of Defense Dept. regulations, several officials have confirmed that a B-52 was accidentally flown over several states in the US last week, complete with a nuclear payload. From the article:

A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of the weapons "deeply disturbing" and said the committee would press the military for details.
Probably the most alarming thing is that this was an accident. The most important question: who let Jar Jar fly the B-52, anyway?
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - New iPod and other toys (ilounge.com)

Submitted by Foldarn
Foldarn writes: The new iPod has been announced today at Apple's event. Details over on iLounge that give a play by play. Looks like the new iPod (and old ones) are pretty cool. The new iPod, called the iPod Touch is an iPhone without the phone capabilities. The picture and demo showed a nice wi-fi icon. Looks like the iPod is going to be the Zune killer contrary to Microsoft's initial intention! The screen is a widescreen that switches to full screen in a single tap and the overall interface is said to be pretty impressive with smooth 3D graphics. It sounds like a regurgitated iPhone, but I don't think you'll hear too many complaints. The older iPods are going to start going out with what looks like twice the battery capacity as before.
Networking

Submission + - Cisco access point at fault for Duke's WiFi issue (macworld.com)

Submitted by bobrk
bobrk writes: From an article at Macworld:

After blaming Apple's iPhone for its wireless networking problems, Duke University said earlier today that it hadn't been able to pinpoint what the problem was. Now, it has been confirmed that a Cisco wireless access point was at fault for the networking issues. "Cisco worked closely with Duke and Apple to identify the source of this problem, which was caused by a Cisco-based network issue," said Cisco in a statement provided to Macworld. "Cisco has provided a fix that has been applied to Duke's network and the problem has not occurred since." In a statement posted to the universities Web site late Friday Tracy Futhey, Duke's chief information officer, said that "Earlier reports that this was a problem with the iPhone in particular have proved to be inaccurate."
DOH!
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone Not the Cause of Duke's WLAN Problem

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A few days ago, Slashdot covered the news of Apple iPhone flooding the WLAN at Duke University. Kevin Miller, assistant director, communications infrastructure, with Duke's Office of Information Technology, blamed the built-in 802.11b/g adapters on several iPhones periodically flooding sections of Duke's pervasive wireless LAN with MAC address requests, which temporarily knocked out anywhere from a dozen to 30 wireless access points at a time. Today, Macworld quoted Julian Lombardi saying the iPhone may not be the problem after all.

Duke University is taking a softer stance on the cause of its wireless networking problems on Friday. Earlier in the week Duke administrators put the blame squarely on Apple's iPhone, but a report due today from the university may exonerate the iPhone. "We are presently looking into it and we have not been able to conclusively pinpoint where the problem is," said Julian Lombardi, assistant vice president of academic services technology support for Duke University. "We hope to have a resolution in the next few hours."
Oops! Shame on Duke's IT people for going public with hastily drawn conclusion and blaming Apple for "one-way communication".
Privacy

Submission + - Seeing Yellow: fighting printer tracking dots (miscmeta.com)

Submitted by
jkrobin
jkrobin writes: "MIT's Computing Culture research group has established the 'Seeing Yellow' project, which wants to preserve the right to anonymous communication by fighting both printer tracking dots and the government bullying used to sustain them.

We've known for years that color laser printers can embed a series of tiny yellow dots on pages they print. The dots — almost invisible under normal circumstances — can be used to determine which particular printer produced the image. Essentially, each printer outputs its own serial number. This is great for busting counterfeiters but raises all sorts of privacy concerns. Now, MIT students are getting involved in the campaign against the dots with the new Seeing Yellow project.

Imagine that every time you printed a document, it automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the printer — and potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like something from an episode of "Alias," right?

Unfortunately, the scenario isn't fictional. In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you're using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what's worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.

More at: http://www.shadowmonkey.net/articles/privacy/seein g-yellow.html"
Media

Submission + - Sony Atones for Early Blu-ray Sins

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When it was originally released on Blu-ray's launch day back in June 2006, 'The Fifth Element' seemed to represent all that was wrong with the next-gen format. Featuring a sub-standard video transfer, fans and reviewers alike agreed that the disc looked no better than standard DVD. A year later, riding a wave of good press for the Blu-ray format, Sony has returned to the scene of the crime, offering up a new remastered Blu-ray edition of 'The Fifth Element' as the format's first re-issued disc, and even going so far as to offer a free disc replacement program for consumers who felt burned the time around. In a just-posted review, High-Def Digest compares the two editions — complete with screengrabs from both.
Operating Systems

Submission + - ZFS port in Leopard confirmed by Sun CEO (wired.com)

Submitted by
Rossi
Rossi writes: "Jonathan Schwartz today confirmed that Apple has ported ZFS from the Open Solaris project and that the file system will be available in OS X 10.5. He also mentioned that Apple would make this announcement at the WWDC next week. Does this spoiler arrive suspiciously after Steve Jobs announced Java wouldn't be available on the iPhone?"
Music

Submission + - Apple hides account info in DRM-free music

Submitted by
Mike
Mike writes: "Songs sold by the Apple iTunes store without DRM still have a user's full name and account e-mail embedded in them, reports Arstechnica. After examining the files Arstechnica noticed their names and e-mail addresses in the files, and they've found corroboration of the find at TUAW, The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Since the entertainment industry is obsessed with the idea of "casual piracy," or the occasional sharing of content between friends it see,s likely that this information will be used to keep tabs on who buys what, and more importantly, where it ends up. Although spoofing the data is trivial, shouldn't the idea that your account name and email address are contained in the files make you uneasy, to say the least?"
Music

Submission + - Apple Launches iTunes Plus (DRM-Free/256kbps)

Submitted by
BlueDjinn
BlueDjinn writes: "I'm surprised this hasn't shown up here yet — with just one day to go in May to make good on their pledge, Apple released the previously-announced DRM-free, 256kbps EMI songs under the "iTunes Plus" name this morning. As promised, the DRM-free songs are double the bitrate, cost 30 more apiece (except for albums, which are the same price as the DRM versions), and so on. You can upgrade your existing library for the 30-per-song difference, plus some other nice touches. Interestingly, it's set up so that you can ONLY view either the DRM or no-DRM versions of a particular song at any given time, not both simultaneously (you can switch the entire store back and forth, however)."
Music

Submission + - iTunes Plus and iTunes U launch

Submitted by
drhamad
drhamad writes: "Apple today launched iTunes Plus and iTunes U. iTunes Plus is what they're calling their 256k AAC's sans-DRM, as announced previously. These are available for $1.29 per song, or regular album price. Upgrades of already owned songs are available for $0.30 per song, or $3 per album.

iTunes U is a new, University section of iTunes."

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