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Operating Systems

Submission + - Learn how Linux manages memory one slab at a time

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Good operating system performance depends in part on the operating system's ability to efficiently manage resources. In the old days, heap memory managers were the norm, but performance suffered due to fragmentation and the need for memory reclamation. Today, the Linux kernel uses a method that originated in Solaris but has been used in embedded systems for quite some time, allocating memory as objects based on their size. This article explores the ideas behind the slab allocator and examines its interfaces and their use."
United States

Submission + - 10 year sentence for receiving oral sex challenged (lawbean.com)

Submitted by
Spamicles
Spamicles writes: "Genarlow Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for receiving consensual oral sex from a 15 year old girl when he was 17.The sentence Wilson received has been denounced by members of the jury that convicted him. Even the author of the law that put Wilson behind bars disagrees with the punishment. Why is he still in jail?"
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - MIT Transmits Power Without Wires (mit.edu)

Submitted by indybrett
indybrett writes: MIT team experimentally demonstrates wireless power transfer, potentially useful for powering laptops, cell phones without cords
Programming

Memory Checker Tools For C++? 398

Posted by kdawson from the heaps-and-bounds dept.
An anonymous reader writes "These newfangled memory-managed languages like Java and C# leave an old C++ dev like me feeling like I am missing the love. Are there any good C++ tools out there that do really good memory validation and heap checking? I have used BoundsChecker but I was looking for something a little faster. For my problem I happen to need something that will work on Windows XP 64. It's a legacy app so I can't just use Boosts' uber nifty shared_ptr. Thanks for any ideas."
The Courts

RIAA Accused of Extortion & Conspiracy 373

Posted by Zonk from the this-is-new-oh-in-court dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The defendant in a Tampa, Florida, case, UMG v. Del Cid, has filed counterclaims accusing the RIAA record labels of conspiracy and extortion. The counterclaims (pdf) are for Trespass, Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030), Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201), Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523), and Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. 559.72 et seq."
Math

Submission + - Rubik's Cube Proven Solvable in 26 Moves (northeastern.edu)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "I've often heard people comment that any configuration (if analyzed long enough) of a Rubik's cube could be solved in less than 20 moves. But the only proof provided by computational math has yielded 27 as the limit ... until now. Researchers at Notheastern University have proven that it is possible in 26 moves by using mathematical group theory with hardware capable of simulating a hundred million moves a second. You might think this a boring or trivial thing to crack through brute force when, in fact, the cube boasts 43 quintillion (4.3252 x 10^19) different states. The pseudocode of their algorithm can be found in the academic paper[PDF warning] as well as the theory behind their proof."
Privacy

Submission + - Forensics Meets Its Match: New Tools Thwart Police (cio.com)

Submitted by
rabblerouzer
rabblerouzer writes: "Antiforensic tools have slid down the technical food chain, from Unix to Windows, from something only elite users could master to something nontechnical users can operate. "Five years ago, you could count on one hand the number of people who could do a lot of these things," says one investigator. "Now it's hobby level." Take, for example, TimeStomp. Forensic investigators poring over compromised systems where Timestomp was used often find files that were created 10 years from now, accessed two years ago and never modified."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Nexuiz 2.3 released (alientrap.org)

Submitted by
esteel
esteel writes: "A new major release for the free and opensource shooter Nexuiz was just released. The Changelog is so big it looks like they locked up their developers for 5 years although the previous release was 'just' half a year ago. This is a very cool thing and it would be nice to this this news on slashdot. From http://nexuiz.com :
Nexuiz 2.3 released

Two long, action-packed years have passed. Nexuiz fans witnessed several releases, each of them a major improvement to the previous ones. Now, exactly two years after the first public release, you can be part of a new chapter in the history of Nexuiz. Today we proudly announce Nexuiz 2.3 to the world!

While Nexuiz has improved in all areas, it still stays true to its mission to bring deathmatch back to the basics, with perfect weapon balancing and fast paced action. The engine received a massive overhaul, resulting in a huge performance increase in the 50-500% range and much more smoother netplay. It runs faster, renders more beautiful, introduces sharper effects and brings you even closer to the action than ever before. Taking advantage of the improved engine, Alientrap and contributors added new maps, retouched and rebalanced the guns and reworked most texturing effects. The new maps, textures and general additions to Nexuiz have almost tripled the file size since 1.0 and almost doubled it since the last release 2.2.3.

Nexuix 2.3 brings along a new way for gamers to compete with each other and measure their skills: the new team mode 'Keyhunt'. Moreover, the online experience is enhanced by the new netcode, which also feels safer as 2.3 sports an anti-wallhack function. The offline singleplayer campaign offers improved, more human-like bots while the new maps add a fresh thrill to both offline and online play. For a totally original way to experience Nexuiz we created 'Nexuiz Pro', a server side mod that drastically changes the physics and weapons. Do not shy away from its name: it's just as fun for the young and old, for the new and experienced players.

To celebrate the new release we started an official Nexuiz tourney today. Register and sign up here: http://planetnexuiz.com/tourney/?sid=4 The tourney commences after signup close-down, so use the time left to brush up your skills, because you will need it! If you want to test your abilities before the tourney take a look at the Nexuiz ladder: http://planetnexuiz.com/ladder To get in contact with players you can also use the official Nexuiz forum: http://alientrap.org/forum or meet some via IRC: irc://irc.quakenet.org/#nexuiz

A big Thank You goes to all the people that helped us to test and improve this release.

Come and get it.

Start your download at the download page or take a closer look at the changes


Changes:
Changes from 2.2.3 to 2.3

special things:

* THIS IS NOT A PATCH DOWNLOAD.. DO NOT OVERWRITE YOUR OLD NEXUIZ DIRECTORY!! Doing that will lead to errors!! Use an other directory!
* Anyone that gets less fps (mostly ATI cards, mostly on Linux or older cards) should try to disable Vertex Buffer Objects in the video menu (or gl_vbo 0) and in case this is still not good enough also try to disable the OpenGL 2.0 Shaders in the same menu (or r_glsl 0)
* For server admins: The wallhack prevention is on by default now but in the old server.cfg example file it was disabled. You have to make sure to use sv_cullentities_trace 1 in your server.cfg or just remove any such line from their server.cfg and restart the server so the new default setting is used. This line was in the old server.cfg so server admins knew about it and could enable it for special servers. But now it creates a problem as this line disables the feature unless its changed. Its best if server admins use the NEW server.cfg example file and redo their settings.
* Also for server admins: The q3mappack we released earlier contained a few errors. Please grab the complete fixed pack here: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/nexuiz/nexmappack _r2.zip or if you already have the old version get the fix for it here: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/nexuiz/zzz-nexmap pack_r1_to_r2.pk3

new features:

* eye candy!!! gloss and normal maps for even more models, transparent console background, new Nexgun effect, bullet impacts, animated most jump pads
* huge FPS improvements, aka rendering is WAY faster now
* netcode improved, more resistant to high ping and packet loss (better prediction)
* enabled wallhack prevention by default (server admin, please take care that this is really enabled if you use the old server.cfg example file)
* new maps ruiner, final_rage and reslimed
* map dieselpower revived
* newtonian weapon physics: projectiles fly faster if the player moves faster
* next map voting at level end
* new game mode "Key Hunt"
* automatic demo recording and menu options for it
* improved support for q3 shaders on all model and map formats
* single stage shader tcMod and tcGen support
* shownetgraph -> quake3 lag-o-meter like display
* the hook has a new model
* new projectile models for the laser, tracers (shotgun, machine gun), crylink and electro secondary (blobs)
* r_glsl_contrastboost as a slower but nicer alternative to gamma, should also work fine on Vista
* static (indicates bases and flag carrier) and deployable waypoints that you and your team can see even through walls to help teamplay
* cl_zoomfactor, cl_zoomspeed options for the client
* Nexuiz Pro added (special settings for Nexuiz, making it more quake3 like, new weapon settings, new physics. Use with 'gamedir pro' in the console or the startup option -game pro)
* apple_multithreadedgl 1 should improve the performance on mac (set to 0 if this causes problems)
* display humans playing and total players(humans+bots) in the menu (new servers only)
* chat flood prevention
* menu buttons to choose low, med, normal, high, ultra and ultimate graphic settings
* spawn sounds
* g_balance_teams_complain 1 will nag players to switch if teams are unbalanced
* setting to have simple majority (more yes then no votes) instead of more then 50% yes votes
* vote nagging till you have voted
* scoreboard has a gray background, chat area has more customization options.
* new g_pickup_* customization variables
* health/armor rot can be linear
* added physicsQ3.cfg so people can enable quake3 style physics (not default)
* quit_and_redirect for server admins (sends players to an other server)
* new benchmark demos
* added iplog support (logs player names/ips, searchable)
* two new crosshairs
* added r_picmipworld to stop picmipping the whole level (similar to r_picmipsprites)
* control the origin of shoots (g_shootfromeye / g_shootfromcenter)
* added eX texture set (for mappers)
* added a way to have looping .ogg files
* quote \" so you now can have " inside " "
* jump pads flash when activated
* reorganized config files (buttons in the video menu) to look the best possible way even at low settings)
* button g to drop the current gun, button f to drop the key(s) in Key Hunt and menu entires to change it
* new skin for the laser
* use all the new maps in the campaign
* new menu entries for vertex buffers and smaller menu changes
* new option -capturedemo to capture a demo to an AVI file and quit afterwards
* new cvars cl_capturevideo_width, cl_capturevideo_height to scale down video capture
* no longer have mouse acceleration on mac by default (apple_mouse_noaccel 0 to get back the old behaviour)
* support libcurl 4
* the Oscar for the most useless feature goes to: v_flipped flips all 3D view except sprites and flips input to compensate, basically a poor man's left handed mode

bug fixes:

* weapon adjustments: crylink made stronger, shotgun has bigger spread so its a bit weaker in general, electro primary has a higher rate of fire
* bots now are more human like and better at CTF, campaign should be a bit easier
* removed clientcommands as rcon is the same and even better
* corrected FAQ and added some stuff
* improved maps to better work with the wallhack prevention
* better compatibility with quake3 maps
* menu switch for vsync
* stopped ClamAV unwarranted complains about some compressed files
* no mirror damage from hitting team corpses
* keep console open after disconnect so people can see the reason (maybe kick reason)
* reduced network load
* spectators finally see the gun and hear the hit sound of the spectatee
* sprites (like the chat icon, team bubble and the new waypoints) are no longer picmipped
* fix teleporters sometimes frag the player that entered it as second
* use less memory
* fixed GLSL related crashes, should now be more friendly to ATI graphic cards in general
* fixed some keys not working on mac
* larger sound radius so you hear more
* unlit maps now have a default lighting so items are no longer black
* reconnect works now like people expect it to
* fixed collision code (some spawn points made you stuck in 2.2.3)
* fixed guns sometimes not being displayed
* the SDL variants have correct gamma after vid_restart (e.g. after switching fullscreen/windowed)
* some minor map fixes (floating items, missing textures, such stuff)
* minplayers honors spectators
* memory usage reduced even further (reduced and more intelligent precaches among other changes)
* forced team balance works better now
* more detailed error message when trying to switch weapon
* fixed some item sizes
* more fps friendly rain
* further improved netcode and prediction
* "spawnpoint in solid" messages fixed for maps that had them (dismal, silvercity iirc)
* even more reduced memory usage and graphic-memory usage
* fixed sound releated crashes (happend often in timedemos)
* typos and mistakes in the map descriptions fixed
* spawn sound is different from teleport sound
* teamtalk sound is different from normal talk sound
* the hooks robe does no longer get segmented sometimes
* projectiles like rockets, electro blobs and grenades now cast shadows
* realigned shot origins and muzzleflashes
* matching weapon hud icons for the machinegun and shotgun
* adjusted bot campaign skill
* bots no longer get stuck on the outer walls on silvercity
* sounds lava/slime damage only for players not for gibs to save bandwidth
* fixed ping being displayed in the console sometimes
* fixed WSAECONNRESET error
* stopped 'I can make others say things' bug and made wrapped lines look better
* improved singleplayer smoothness
* reduced graphic memory usage
* some more eye candy changes for the maps and guns"

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