Comment Re:OCR is not a verb (Score 1) 309
Maybe eventually we can make language a complete impediment to understanding.
Comment Re:The hand of Godel? (Score 1) 465
If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe!
Comment Re:Swearing is relative (Score 1) 449
Quality summary. Mod up +1 Interesting +1 Informative!
Submission + - Open Textbook Publisher Not So Open (kairosnews.org)
cel4145 writes: I discovered that Flat World Knowledge, the commercial open textbook publisher that has gotten much press in the last couple of years, is not very "open" in the way that Slashdotters would expect. While the HTML versions of the texts are licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA, the website appears intentionally designed such that a teacher or student cannot print out the full HTML version of a document they are reading, nor can they easily save a copy to share with someone else. As an alternative, FWK provides a prominent link to buy a non-CC licensed PDF version of a chapter, one that has a notice printed on each page indicating it is for personal use only. Seems that the CC license is more marketing gimmick to sell proprietary textbooks than commitment to the principles of sharing that underlie open textbook publishing.
Submission + - The Myth Of Gillette's Razors & Blades Model (techdirt.com)
An anonymous reader writes: It's one of the standard concepts in business: King Gillette came up with a smart new business model of giving away (or selling cheaply) razors, but then making his money on high margin blades. It's now common to find similar models elsewhere in business, and people have written whole books about how such business models work. Of course, there's just one problem: King Gillette didn't actually use that model. It came into being after he'd left the company. Before that, he charged an awful lot for the razors (about 5x some competitors). Perhaps more interesting is the role of patents in the story. The "conventional wisdom" says locking others out (such as with patents) is the key to a razors & blades model, but the history shows that Gillette did the opposite. When it could lock others out, it didn't use the strategy, and it was only after it no longer had protection (when the business theorists say that such models won't work because others would just sell the "blades" themselves) that it actually did work for Gillette.
Submission + - 'Cloudwashing' Hits Wall Street (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Eric Knorr speaks out against the recent spate of 'cloudwashing' — a trend that has nearly every technology tagged 'for the cloud.' Virtualization, processors, servers, the iPad — all are being pitched as 'cloud' technologies despite that they are hardware easily used for non-cloud purposes. So obscured is the definition of what constitutes cloud computing that Wall Street is beginning to eat up the association of anything technical with the cloud. 'A few days ago, I actually heard about Intel's "investment in cloud computing" (i.e., cloud management provider Adaptive Computing) on AM radio. Wall Street, it was reported, reacted positively.'"
Submission + - Firefox 4 Gets Another JavaScript Engine? (conceivablytech.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla has released an add-on for Firefox 4 that enables the integration of the Narcissus JavaScript engine that can be run in addition to Mozilla’s latest JaegerMonkey JavaScript engine. It is not quite as fast, but it is an alternative that enables developers and especially enterprises to run custom JavaScript applications in Firefox 4.
Submission + - The Sony Move Arrives; A Hands-on Report (itworld.com)
itwbennett writes: The Playstation Move hit retail stores on Friday and blogger Peter Smith spent the weekend putting it (and his shoulder) through its paces. So how does this motion controller compare to the Wii? Smith says it 'felt a lot more precise' but that 'there were instances where the depth perception of the camera got lost for a moment'. 'The more significant difference is the graphics,' says Smith. 'The PS3 does HD and the Wii doesn't.' The bottom line: 'If you have a Wii and the Wii Motion Plus accessory, there isn't a whole lot here right now to justify $100-$170 worth of gear for most gamers.'
Submission + - Plane Finder App Identifies Planes In The Sky
andylim writes: recombu.com has written up an iPhone app that lets you identify planes in the sky: "Point the camera at a plane and you'll see the flight number, aircraft registration, speed, altitude and how far away it is!" It's based on an existing service called Plane Finder, which tracks planes using something called ADS-B — the signals transmitted by commercial airliners with all this data the AR adds augmented reality into the mix.
Submission + - Xerox PARC Turns 40: The Legacy Continues (computerworld.com)
CWmike writes: For 40 years, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center has been a place of technological creativity and bold ideas (see timeline and photo gallery), writes Todd Weiss. The inventions it has spawned, from Ethernet networking to laser printing and the graphical user interface, have led to myriad technologies that allow us to use computers in ways that we take for granted today. When it opened on July 1, 1970, PARC was set up as a division of Xerox Corp. The idea was to invest in PARC as a springboard for developing new technologies and fresh concepts that would lead to future products. 'Conducting research at PARC four decades ago was like magic," says Dr. Robert S. Bauer, who worked at PARC from 1970 to 2001. 'In an era of political and social upheaval, we came to work every day with a passion to free technology from the grip of the military-industrial complex and bring computation to the people.' Indeed, the company's 'technology first' culture has sometimes brought it under fire. PARC has often been criticized for its past failures to capitalize on some of its greatest inventions, allowing other companies to cash in on its ideas. (Today, PARC has a team working to protect its intellectual property.) Nevertheless, its reputation as a technology innovator is impeccable. On its 40th anniversary, PARC researchers provide a behind-the-scenes peek into the company's culture and projects, past and present.
Submission + - HP Unveils New Ultrathin Monitor
adeelarshad82 writes: Hewlett-Packard unveiled its newest monitor, the HP 2310e, a 23-inch LCD monitor that's less than an inch thick and has touch capability. The 2310e can also utilize ATI's Eyefinity technology for spreading screen images across up to six displays, a boon for gamers. The 2310e measures 16.46 by 21.97 by 0.53 inches. Its extremely thin profile is partly due to the use of WLED backlights, which are smaller than the cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) used in many other LCD monitors. The screen has a resolution of 1,920-by-1,080 (1080p) and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It can be tilted but can't pivot or be rotated from a landscape to a portrait view. The screen has a 8,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and a 70 percent Color Gamut.
Submission + - NanotechTea Bag’To Filter Water for Pennies (singularityhub.com)
kkleiner writes: Researchers at Stellenbosch University’s Water Institute have developed a new water filtration system that uses activated carbon and nanofibers to quickly filter out pathogens. The carbon and nanofibers are placed in common tea bags and then fitted into a bottle. Fill the bottle with dubious water, install a filter, and drink. It’s that easy. The ultimate price for these ‘tea bag’ nanfiber filters could be around half a cent (USD) each and be able to handle around 1 L before being replaced.
Submission + - Welcome OpenIndiana- Project launched officially
donadony writes: As expected, Yesterday afternoon OpenIndiana project was publicly announced. OpenIndiana “is a brand new distribution of OpenSolaris, constructed by the community, for the community. The primary goal is to be a binary and package compatible drop in replacement for the official OpenSolaris and forthcoming Solaris 11 and Solaris 11 Express releases.This project was created to address the longstanding issue that the OpenSolaris distribution has constructed entirely by Sun/Oracle, not by the community. Depending on a single commercial entity has led to several issues, notably that bug fixes and security updates are only available via a paid for support subscription, that community participation has been limited in steering the direction of the operating system, and that commercial decisions have led to stricter licensing terms. ISOs are available for download also the first screenshot are available for this project.
Submission + - Should handheld devices be allowed in schools? (torontosun.com)
Meshach writes: A debate is taking place in Canada about whether hand held devices should be allowed in schools. What do slashdotters think? Has the time come to relax the rules on what is acceptable to have in schools?
Submission + - Shaq sued for computer hacking. (nbcsports.com)
Cwix writes: An IT worker hired by Shaquille O'Neal is suing the NBA star, accusing him of computer hacking and destroying evidence, and contending that O'Neal attempted to frame another employee by planting child pornography on his computer. Also, that O'Neal covered up email evidence of an alleged affair by throwing a computer in a lake.
Some of the allegations:
* Shaq hacked into the voicemails and phone systems of Darling and Vanessa Lopez, a mistress who is currently suing O'Neal. He deleted Lopez's messages and changed her password.
* O'Neal used his law enforcement contacts, both active and retired, to obtain restricted information about one of his mistresses, Alexis Miller, while he was involved in a legal battle with her.
* Shaq threw a personal computer holding much of this evidence in the lake behind his home.
* Shaq conspired with active law enforcement as well as ex-members of law enforcement to frame Darling for a criminal offense and destroy any evidence that Darling might have against O'Neal.
Some of the allegations:
* Shaq hacked into the voicemails and phone systems of Darling and Vanessa Lopez, a mistress who is currently suing O'Neal. He deleted Lopez's messages and changed her password.
* O'Neal used his law enforcement contacts, both active and retired, to obtain restricted information about one of his mistresses, Alexis Miller, while he was involved in a legal battle with her.
* Shaq threw a personal computer holding much of this evidence in the lake behind his home.
* Shaq conspired with active law enforcement as well as ex-members of law enforcement to frame Darling for a criminal offense and destroy any evidence that Darling might have against O'Neal.
