Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Science

Lego To Produce Three Box Sets Featuring Female Scientists 208

Posted by Soulskill from the also-known-as-scientists dept.
vossman77 writes: 'According to the Chicago Tribune, "Lego will produce a limited-edition box set called Research Institute, featuring three female scientists in the act of learning more about our world and beyond." The concept received 10,000 supporters on the LEGO ideas site. Creator Ellen Kooijman writes in a blog post, "As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets: a skewed male/female minifigure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures. It seemed logical that I would suggest a small set of female mini-figures in interesting professions to make our Lego city communities more diverse." LEGO says, "The final design, pricing and availability are still being worked out, but it's on track to be released August 2014."'

Comment Re:50MB = 750$ (Score 1, Insightful) 321

by raydobbs (#47174711) Attached to: AT&T Charges $750 For One Minute of International Data Roaming

Guaranteed by your personal credit card? Whose fault is that? If your teaching, get the institution to foot the bill, so if (or in your case - when) they blitz AWS, the institution has recourse to bill the student and you aren't on a express train to financial raping. Your school should never have put you on the financial hook for covering such expenses - at least if they have any credibility.
Android

Apple Says Many Users 'Bought an Android Phone By Mistake' 711

Posted by timothy from the thought-it-was-a-protocol-droid dept.
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes "Apple CEO Tim Cook during his keynote said that around 130 million customers have purchased their first Apple device in the last twelve months. He states, 'Many of these customers were switchers from Android,' he said. 'They had bought an Android phone by mistake, and then had sought a better experience and a better life.' He added that almost half of those who have purchased an iPhone in China since December have switched from Android. However, it is worth noting that iPhones were not actually available in China until December, when pre-orders began, so it is unclear how much of the device's popularity there is simply down to the novelty factor, rather than a burning desire to flee from Android."

Comment Ubisoft and PCs... (Score 4, Insightful) 123

by raydobbs (#47103327) Attached to: <em>Watch Dogs</em> Released, DRM Troubles

Those 'in the know' generally don't buy Ubisoft games for the PC anymore - even though they have been trying to turn over a new leaf in terms of how they view PC gamers. Many at Ubisoft apparently still see PC gamers as pirates - even those who pay for products. Not the way to garner new customers.

Sadly, these days - the only way to buy new release Ubisoft products (if you want to at all, that is) is to buy the console versions of the products.
Transportation

Driverless Cars Could Cripple Law Enforcement Budgets 626

Posted by Soulskill from the jaywalking-soon-to-become-very-expensive dept.
colinneagle writes "Google's driverless cars have now combined to drive more than 700,000 miles on public roads without receiving one citation, The Atlantic reported this week. While this raises a lot of questions about who is responsible to pay for a ticket issued to a speeding autonomous car – current California law would have the person in the driver's seat responsible, while Google has said the company that designed the car should pay the fine – it also hints at a future where local and state governments will have to operate without a substantial source of revenue.

Approximately 41 million people receive speeding tickets in the U.S. every year, paying out more than $6.2 billion per year, according to statistics from the U.S. Highway Patrol published at StatisticBrain.com. That translates to an estimated $300,000 in speeding ticket revenue per U.S. police officer every year. State and local governments often lean on this source of income when they hit financial trouble. A study released in 2009 examined data over a 13-year period in North Carolina, finding a 'statistically significant correlation between a drop in local government revenue one year, and more traffic tickets the next year,' Popular Science reported. So, just as drug cops in Colorado and Washington are cutting budgets after losing revenue from asset and property seizures from marijuana arrests, state and local governments will need to account for a drastic reduction in fines from traffic violations as autonomous cars stick to the speed limit."

Comment Pet projects and the hidden skunk-works. (Score 4, Interesting) 123

by raydobbs (#46984925) Attached to: How To Approve the Use of Open Source On the Job

In small businesses - often the best foot in the door for open source software is a pet project, something you can do transparently to design something to show management about the advantage of the software has over more traditionally licensed fare. Being able to speak the language of IT management helps - Cost of Ownership, Return on Investment, being able to present facts based on license costs is also helpful - management listens to dollars and sense, followed by legality.

Of course, if your business deals with large vendors who have a stake in keeping things locked to Microsoft, Oracle, IBM or HP - you are fighting a steeply uphill battle.
Robotics

The Struggle To Ban Killer Robots 138

Posted by samzenpus from the shoot-to-kill dept.
Lasrick (2629253) writes "The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is a year old; the same month is was founded, the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions called for a moratorium on the development and deployment of autonomous lethal weapons while a special commission considered the issue. The campaign is succeeding at bringing attention to the issue, but it's possible that it's too late, and if governments don't come to a common understanding of what the problems and solutions are, the movement is doomed. As this article points out, one of the most contentious issues is the question of what constitutes an autonomous weapons system: 'Setting the threshold of autonomy is going to involve significant debate, because machine decision-making exists on a continuum.' Another, equally important issue of course is whether a ban is realistic."

Comment Re:Well the way things are going internationally.. (Score 3, Insightful) 176

by raydobbs (#46843781) Attached to: SpaceX Files Suit Against US Air Force

The problem with this plan is that Russia and its leader don't want goodwill from the United States. They want a monster that can be slain with saber-rattling like in the old Cold War days - even if they have to manufacture one out of an ally. Putin isn't interested in who dies in the process in his quest to cement his legacy as the greatest leader of the NEW Soviet Union that ever was - we (not just the United States, but the International community at large) can't be so foolish as to just ignore it. The only way he can get what he wants to have us in a position of weakness - and giving his nation the only means to get to and return from the International Space Station is about the best leverage that we can give him.

Its not a matter of *if* the relationship between the United States and Russia goes bad, its *when* it goes bad if Putin remains in power.

Comment Re:I don't understand (Score 1) 149

by raydobbs (#46729605) Attached to: NSA Allegedly Exploited Heartbleed

One cannot simply sue a branch of the government without asking permission from the government to allow it to be sued - guess how often THAT happens? Plus is NSA has a built-in out; its in the interests of national security. Its bullshit - we all know it - but it a legal out, its the reason they can deny your FOIA request for information about Area 51, the Roswell incident, as well as the intelligence records on Jimmy Hoffa or J. Edgar Hoover.
The Almighty Buck

SF Evictions Surging From Crackdown On Airbnb Rentals 319

Posted by samzenpus from the and-stay-out dept.
JoeyRox (2711699) writes "The city of San Francisco is aggressively enforcing its ban on short-term rentals. SF resident Jeffrey Katz recently came home to an eviction notice posted on his door that read 'You are illegally using the premises as a tourist or transient unit.' According to Edward Singer, an attorney with Zacks & Freedman who filed the notice against Katz, 'Using an apartment for short-term rentals is a crime in San Francisco.' Apparently Airbnb isn't being very helpful to residents facing eviction. 'Unfortunately, we can't provide individual legal assistance or review lease agreements for our 500,000 hosts, but we do try to help inform people about these issues,' according to David Hantman, Airbnb head of global public policy. SF and Airbnb are working on a framework which might make Airbnb rentals legal, an effort helped by Airbnb's decision last week to start collecting the city's 14% hotel tax by summer."

Comment Antidepressants... (Score 4, Insightful) 164

by raydobbs (#46588259) Attached to: Peter Molyneux: Working For Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants

I don't know about working at Microsoft being like being on antidepressants (never worked for them, don't think I'd want to), but I know that whenever I hear him talk about his next greatest game - I want to TAKE antidepressants as I know none of the shit he talks about will actually make it into the game at 1/100th the grandeur he describes. Can we say 'Master of the over-sell and the under-deliver'?

Comment Re:Ouya's killer app....where is it? (Score 1) 107

by raydobbs (#46576187) Attached to: Ouya Dropping 'Free-to-Play' Requirement

I don't have enough of a product to really HAVE a page talking about it yet (despite the fact that the product is in a two way tie with another product internally as to which is written first). I haven't discounted the idea of writing for the console - just not sure I'd take their 'exclusive for more $$$$' matching funding as I don't think I'd get the return on investment locking it to a console with such a small customer base. Their barrier to entry is definitely a plus, though (no big investment in the SDK, no media costs, no artificial limitations, etc). I just wish they had a killer, knock-out exclusive - something to really scream, "Look at us! See what the Ouya can do!".

Slashdot Top Deals

It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.

Close