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Media (Apple)

Submission + - Hey, Linux Fanboys: Stop Giving Apple a Free Ride (pcworld.com) 3

Submitted by
Death Metal
Death Metal writes: "Yet in important ways, Apple is more closed than Microsoft. Apple controls not just software, like Microsoft does, but its hardware as well. Try to sell a non-Apple computer with Apple's OS on it, and you'll get hauled into court by Apple lawyers. Apple has also taken legal action against bloggers who report on upcoming hardware and software releases. There's a long list of ways in which Apple is far more closed than Microsoft.

Yet the Free Software Foundation, and many other open source proponents, conveniently ignore these facts, and regularly attack Microsoft, while giving Apple a free ride. Apple, after all, has the "coolness" factor in its favor, and it's fashionable and easy to attack Microsoft."
The Military

Submission + - India's first stealth fighter to fly in 4 months (ndtv.com) 1

Submitted by xmpcray
xmpcray writes: In less than four months from now, India's first stealth fighter will fly for the first time. It is called the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft or FGFA being developed in Russia by Sukhoi. Several of the technologies being developed for the stealth fighter have evolved from those used in the Sukhoi 30 MKI. Considered the most maneuverable fighter in the world, the Sukhoi 30 MKI uses thrust vectored engines which deflect the exhaust from its engines to extreme angles which enable the jet to pull off violent maneuvers like a flat spin where the jet literally spins around on its axis.
The Military

Open Source Software In the Military 91

Posted by kdawson from the keep-it-stupid-stupid dept.
JohnMoD writes With the advent of forge.mil, etc. the military seems to be getting on board with free and open source software. A working group meeting is going to be held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, August 12-13, 2009. There's a pretty good lineup of speakers including a Marine from the Iraq-Marine Expeditionary Forces, who was on the ground and saw the agility open source gave to him and his soldiers. A number of OSS projects are going to be meeting there: Delta 3D, OpenCPI, FalconView, OSSIM, Red Hat, etc. Looks like there will be some good discussions."
The Internet

Submission + - New program for unfiltered internet in Iran (austinheap.com) 2

Submitted by GeekFreak
GeekFreak writes: According to Austin Heap's blog:

"In the upcoming days, Daniel Colascione and I will release a new program to provide unfiltered internet access to the people of Iran. A software package for Windows, Mac and Unix systems, called Haystack, will specifically target the Iranian government's web filtering mechanisms.

Similar to Freegate, the program directed against China's "great firewall," once installed Haystack will provide completely uncensored access to the internet in Iran while simultaneously protecting the user's identity. No more Facebook blocks, no more government warning pages when you try to load Twitter, just unfiltered Internet."

Monitor his blog for release date. If you have the resources or time to help... do it. The protests on 09 July were organized by email alone. Iran needs the internet to help in its struggle for freedom.
Space

Submission + - Space Station Marathon (spacefellowship.com)

Submitted by
RobGoldsmith
RobGoldsmith writes: "If you've never seen a spaceship with your own eyes, now's your chance. The International Space Station (ISS) is about to make a remarkable series of flybys over the United States. Beginning this 4th of July weekend, the station will appear once, twice, and sometimes three times a day for many days in a row. No matter where you live, you should have at least a few opportunities to see the biggest spaceship ever built."
Music

Submission + - Cheap Trick brings back the 8-track 2

Submitted by JamJam
JamJam writes: Cheap Trick new "album" is being released not only in CD and vinyl, but in a long-departed format as fashionable as Tang, bell-bottoms and porn-star mustaches — 8-track. Unsurprisingly, finding a manufacturer for an obsolete-format release of the Seventies superstars' latest wasn't easy.
Cellphones

Submission + - GPS-Located, Scannable Coupons Coming To iPhone (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Njection who already provides speed trap alerts on the iPhone via a free app, is launching a new GPS-based coupon service in July. Basically just drive by or enter a store with a deal and the coupon will show up in the app via GPS location services. The cashier can then scan the barcode directly from the iPhone screen to give the discount. The Njection app is free, so say goodbye to newspaper insert flyers. NMobile also claims to be developing the app for Windows Mobile, Android, Blackberry and Palm devices."
Upgrades

Submission + - Humans can develop echolocation like bats

Submitted by schnucki
schnucki writes: According to the Times of India, researchers at a Spanish University have shown that human beings can develop echolocation, the system of acoustic signals used by dolphins and bats to explore their surroundings.

"In the first study, the team analyses the physical properties of various sounds, and proposes the most effective of these for use in echolocation.

"The almost ideal sound is the palate click, a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards, although it is often done downwards, which is wrong," Martinez explained."

Comment excuses are like old diapers (Score 1) 865

by CaptYossarian (#28551275) Attached to: Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule?
they all stink and noone wants em that sounds like a regular day in a busy armory like mine. its all about time management. i love to sleep in as late as possible (0610 usually for me) so i prep my stuff to the point where when its time to get up, im out the door in a minute tops. adjust your diet to include a healthy breakfast and many small healthful snacks. if you cant find the intestinal fortitude to sacrifice some of that me time for some real productive time, then do something to up your heartrate every time you get up to get a drink, a snack, a smoke, or go to the bathroom. as mentioned earlier, find a way to get a pullup bar near you and bang out a max set every time you do something. the better shape youre in the more energy youll have and the better youll sleep, so you can use those as building blocks to help you jump outta bed and do a quick workout-maybe a mile or two on the eliptical/exercise bike (if youre not already used to working out id advise against running because its high-impact), some situps, flutter kicks, jumping jacks, pushups....the process is continuous.
The Media

Submission + - Infomercial King Billy Mays Found Dead (foxnews.com)

Submitted by CaptYossarian
CaptYossarian writes: "Television pitchman Billy Mays who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday" Fox News reported today that Mays, 50, was found dead earlier this morning. Foul play is not suspected.
Image

NIH Spends $400K To Figure Out Why Men Don't Like Condoms 844

Posted by samzenpus from the as-obvious-as-the-rubber-nose-on-your-face dept.
The National Institutes of Health has given $423,500 to researchers at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute to figure out why men don't like to wear condoms. The institute will also study why men have trouble using condoms and investigate "penile erection and sensitivity during condom application." "The project aims to understand the relationship between condom application and loss of erections and decreased sensation, including the role of condom skills and performance anxiety, and to find new ways to improve condom use among those who experience such problems," reads the abstract from Drs. Erick Janssen and Stephanie Sanders, both of the Kinsey Institute.
Censorship

Submission + - Researchers Find Gaps in Iranian Filtering (securityfocus.com)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "With all the turmoil and internet censorship in Iran making it difficult to get an accurate picture of what's going, security researchers have found a way to analyze gaps in Iran's filtering by analyzing traffic exiting Iran. The short version is that SSH, torrents and Flash are high priorities for blocking, while game protocols like WoW and X-Box traffic are being ignored, even though they also allow communication. Hopefully, this data will help people think of new ways to bypass filtering and speak freely, even though average Iranians have worse things to worry about than internet censorship, now that the reformists have been declared anti-Islamic by the Supreme Leader. Given the circumstances, that declaration has been called 'basically a death sentence' for those who continue protesting."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Inside the World's Greatest Keyboard (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
ThousandStars
ThousandStars writes: "PCWorld has a story detailing the creation and longevity of what it calls the "World's Greatest Keyboard," the IBM Model M. After a weak early effort, IBM convened a design team and "Their resulting 101-key design, 1984's Model M, became the undisputed bellwether for the computer industry, with a layout that dominates desktops to this day. As we peek under the hood of this legend, you'll soon see why many consider the Model M to be the greatest keyboard of all time." Today, Unicomp makes a modern Model M, which Slashdot covered earlier."
Google

Submission + - Google helps catch 'muggers' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Bifurcati
Bifurcati writes: "Two Dutch men have been arrested after a boy they allegedly mugged spotted them in Google StreetView. The 14-year-old boy was pulled off his bicycle in the town of Groningen in September and robbed of his mobile phone and about 250 dollars. He found the pictures in StreetView apparently by chance and while his attackers' faces were blurred (as per Google's rules) Google gave investigators the original unobscured pictures. The bad guys were also apparently twins...or there's some clever real life photoshopping going on!"

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