Comment Lucene and Wikipedia (Score 2, Interesting) 110
I hope Yahoo taking an interest in Lucene involves them making heavy improvements to it. Wikipedia's search is the worst.
Submission + - Dell begins their largest layoff ever. 3
cyphercell writes: Dell has begun their largest series of layoffs ever. This morning at about 10:00am more than two hundred employees at Dell's Roseburg Oregon Call center found out that they no longer had jobs. Sparking what appears to be the beginning of year long run of layoffs for the company.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070802/NEWS/7 0802014
Refuting local suspicions of malice Dell spokesman David Frink states:
7 0213020
and later says
Their plans to reduce employment can be found here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business /stories/technology/06/01/1dell.html
Here are some highlights:
Refuting local suspicions of malice Dell spokesman David Frink states:
... the closure has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by employees of the Roseburg center in February, claiming Dell violated federal and state wage and hour laws.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070213/NEWS/and later says
...plans to reduce employment worldwide by 10 percent at the end of May.
Their plans to reduce employment can be found here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/busines
Here are some highlights:
Dell set to shed 8,800 workers...
Dell has 82,200 permanent workers, including 18,000 in Central Texas, and 5,300 temporary workers worldwide. The layoffs are expected to affect both groups...
In its last large-scale layoffs, Dell cut more than 5,000 jobs in Austin after the high-tech bust in 2001.
...many of the layoffs could come in Central Texas, where Dell is headquartered. In a March 29 report to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said Dell might reduce the work force at its test and assembly facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia.
Dell has 82,200 permanent workers, including 18,000 in Central Texas, and 5,300 temporary workers worldwide. The layoffs are expected to affect both groups...
In its last large-scale layoffs, Dell cut more than 5,000 jobs in Austin after the high-tech bust in 2001.
...many of the layoffs could come in Central Texas, where Dell is headquartered. In a March 29 report to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said Dell might reduce the work force at its test and assembly facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia.
Submission + - Will more IITs, IIMs help economy of India ? 1
Gaura writes: "If the central government has its way, India Inc will soon get more corporate honchos, straight out of top-notch B-schools along with more IIT tech grads.The Planning Commission has proposed a plan which includes setting up eight new IITs and seven new IIMs among other institutes. The government feels that increasing the number of IITs and IIMs will add to the number of executives and tech wizards that the country needs and beef up its presence in the scope of research. One point raised has been that perhaps the government should focus more on better medical schools. Another that having more IITs and IIMs will simply fritter the
premium on quality that these institutes have. Can a mere increase in numbers guarantee a consistency in the quality of education imparted? Or will the move merely lower quality and dilute the prestige of these premium institutes by turning them into commonplace schools that churn out dozens of average professionals?"
Submission + - HP-35s calculator announced and withdrawn 1
leighklotz writes: "HP announced their 35th anniversary version of the groundbreaking HP-35 calculator on July 11th, and the New York Times featured [reg warning] it in their Circuits section today. Sadly, today was also the day that HP apparently withdrew the product to correct reported manufacturing defects. For calculator geeks, note that it has a big prominent ENTER button and reportedly features good tactile feedback. No news about the recall on HP's website..."
Submission + - New Theory Explains Periodic Mass Extinctions
i_like_spam writes: The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact, the K-T extinction, is well known and supported by fossil and geological evidence. Asteroid impact theory does not apply to the other fluctuations in biodiversity, however, which follow an approximate 62 million-year cycle. As reported in Science news, a new theory seems to explain periodic mass extinctions. The new theory found that oscillations in the Sun relative to the plane of the Milky Way correlate with changes in biodiversity on Earth. The researchers suggest that an increase in the exposure of Earth to extragalatic cosmic rays causes mass extinctions. Here is the original paper describing the finding.
Submission + - Microsoft delays Office 2008 for Mac until mid-Jan (appleinsider.com)
i_hate_robots writes: AppleInsider is reporting that Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) said Thursday that the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has been pushed back from the second half of 2007 until mid-January. The Redmond-based firm now anticipates showing a final version of the software at the Macworld trade show and conference in January, with global availability to commence in the first quarter of 2008.
"This was a business decision based on the Mac BU's commitment to deliver a high-quality product," said Mac BU General Manager Craig Eisler. "Our number one priority is to deliver quality software to our customers and partners, and in order to achieve this we are shifting availability."
Submission + - Do Not Call Registry gets wake-up call (networkworld.com) 2
coondoggie writes: "If you signed up for the federal or your state's Do Not Call Registry a few years ago, you might want to thing about refreshing it. Pennsylvanians this week got a wake up call, so to speak from the state's Attorney General Tom Corbett who kicked off a public awareness campaign designed to remind people what many have forgotten or never knew — that the 2002 law set registrations to expire after five years. That is of course unless you want to start hearing from those telemarketers as you sit down to dinner. Corbett said about 2 million people signed up in the immediate aftermath of the law taking effect and those who do not act by Sept. 15 will have their numbers dropped from the registry on Nov. 1. The Pennsylvania action is a reminder that the National Do Not Call Registry has a five year life span as well. The Federal Trade Commission is set to being a nation campaign in Spring 2008 to remind all US citizens to refresh their federal Do Not Call Registry standing.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18066"
Submission + - Automotive X-Prize Reveals First 31 Teams
An anonymous reader writes: The Automotive XPRIZE announced yesterday the first 31 teams to have signed on for the competition to build 100 mpge (mile-per-gallon equivalent) automobiles. The list contains obvious contenders like electric bike vendor ZAP, electric truck peddler Phoenix Motorcars, Munich's überefficient Loremmo AG, and Elon Musk-backed Tesla Motors as well as Cornell University and a laundry list of other less
well
known
names.
There's even a team commited to an Open Source-like license.
Notable is the total absence of any established manufacturer. Contrary to expectations of a Big Auto win, could the AXP be up for grabs?
Submission + - Massachusetts adopts Open XML (networkworld.com)
willdavid writes: "By John Fontana, NetworkWorld.com:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has added Open XML to its list of approved open documents formats.
Critics of Open XML adoption, such as Andy Updegrove, a lawyer, Linux Foundation board member and Massachusetts resident, said Microsoft should not be "rewarded for launching a competing, self-serving standard as a next-best defense against erosion of its dominant position."
Massachusetts officials acknowledged the criticism, but said the importance of open formats could not be denied.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/080107-massa chusetts-open-xml.html?page=1"
Submission + - Google shows cell phone prototype to vendors
taoman1 writes: Google Inc. has developed a prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications, according to a story published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.
Submission + - Monkeys and humans learn the same way (sciencedaily.com)
Lucas123 writes: "A new study from UCLA showed that monkeys, like humans, learn faster by being actively involved in the learning process rather than just having information placed before them, according to a story in ScienceDaily. In the study, two rhesus macaque monkeys learned to put up to 18 photos on an ATM-like touch screen in a row. 'The monkeys did much better on the first three days when they had the help than when they didn't, but on the test day, it completely reversed.'"
Submission + - Gmail accounts hacked - no response from Google (livejournal.com)
jared51 writes: A few friends have recently had their Gmail accounts hacked, causing immense life complications. With Gmail storing all information (many people have a handy label "Accounts" making life easier) that has ever been emailed, a hijacker can easily move on to eBay, PayPal and credit card accounts to turn the crime into cash. Making matters worse, Google is impossible to contact by human. Hijacked users must contend with an endless series of forms.
Submission + - QWERTY Keyboard Layout: Are We Stuck Forever?
techie writes: "CoolTechZone.com author Gundeep Hora asks the question, "QWERTY Keyboard Layout: Are We Stuck Forever?" Sure, DVORAK may be gaining some traction between developers, but will it ever be mainstream. The article states, "Personally, for a new keyboard layout to get adopted, the entire technology industry would have to form an association with contributing member companies to come up with a new standard. Once they have come up with a new layout, they would then have to release their respective models at the same time to saturate the market and leave us with no choice. After all, if we have a choice, then we would obviously opt for the layout that's familiar to us. Ethical or not, that's what would happen."
Submission + - CS programs changing to attract women students
Magnifico writes: In today's The New York Times, there is a story about American universities are actively recruiting women to be Computer Science students and changing CS courses to do so. The story, "Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold", explains that the number of women in CS is shrinking: "Women received about 38 percent of the computer science bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, the peak year, but in 2003, the figure was only about 28 percent, according to the National Science Foundation." One of the largest barriers to recruiting women to the field is the "nerd factor". To attract women students to the CS field, "Moving emphasis away from programming proficiency was a key to the success of programs Dr. Blum and her colleagues at Carnegie Mellon instituted to draw more women into computer science." Changes at CMU increased women students in the CS program from 8 percent to nearly 40 percent.
Spam-Bot Intrusion Caught — Now What? 76
An anonymous reader wonders: "I've recently detected and halted an intrusion on my home computer, taken some actions to prevent further intrusions, and located the software that was running a bot agent. Cursory examination showed that the bot software is intended for acting as an agent for spamming. Configuration files distinctly point at the user/host/domain of several bot-herders — damning evidence. Nothing would please me more than to see this botnet to be caught and disassembled, I'm sure much of the internet-using community would support this. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. So, to whom should I disclose this information for appropriate investigation, follow up, and countermeasures? "
