MrDrBob - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:A Notable Improvement would be ditching Totem.. (Score 1) 265

by MrDrBob on Tuesday January 29 2008, @02:43PM (#22224564) Attached to: The Notable Improvements of GNOME 2.22

Alright, I'll bite. I presume you're using totem-xine, as opposed to totem-gstreamer? The first two problems are completely beyond Totem's control, and are problems with the backend library. In my experience, libxine has more such problems than GStreamer, even though it has support for a wider range of codecs. Your fourth point about Totem's "control interface" could be valid, but some suggestions for improvement would be better, rather than just a "that's crap". In summary: file bugs or nothing can be done about it.

GIMP 2.4 released!-> 0

Submitted by

MrDrBob

on Wednesday October 24 2007, @05:48AM

MrDrBob writes "Love it or hate it, version 2.4 of our Marmite-favoured graphics editor has been released, and includes quite a few big changes. The selection tools have been rewritten from scratch, including a new way of selecting things with round corners, as requested by web designers. Better zooming code means that whole lines of your image will no longer disappear when zoomed out, and new colour management code should be welcomed by digital photo artists. The GIMP also includes a new Tango-style icon set, which goes hand-in-hand with the redesigned website. Unfortunately, GEGL integration still isn't anywhere to be found, but perhaps it'll make it in a later release."
Link to Original Source

Scotty returns from 'final frontier'

Submitted by Bearhouse on Saturday May 19 2007, @08:27AM

Bearhouse writes "The original report, regarding the loss of the ashes of the late Star Trek actor James Doohan, (Scotty), got a lot of press here. Well, the BBC is reporting that they've been found, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6671887.s tm From the article, 'before his death — at the age of 85 — two years ago, he had asked for his remains to be sent into space....Wende Doohan, James Doohan's widow, told the Associated Press news agency her late husband "probably wished he could have stayed".' How long before we have the option of being 'buried in space'? Would you advocate / go for it?"

The Uncomfortable Reality of Sex in Space

Submitted by

Smaran

on Saturday May 19 2007, @04:49AM

Smaran writes "WIRED is running an interesting story about how sex in space will have to be inevitably discussed by space agencies and astronauts around the world, who currently refuse to even address the issue. They are only beginning to talk about the realities of illness and death in space. Sex is still a topic for another day. WIRED's Regina Lynn writes: "... as humans begin to spend more time in space and to travel further from Earth, space agencies will need to factor sex into their equations. We cannot expect astronauts to spend three years in a spacecraft and not have sex — of some kind. Probably with each other, and likely in more than one combination.""

Novell coupons kill some Microsoft patent claims

Submitted by

christian.einfeldt

on Saturday May 19 2007, @03:30AM

christian.einfeldt writes "Todd Bishop tells us that Novell might have pulled the legal trick of the century on Microsoft. Pamela Jones summarizes the story as only she can:

'Eben Moglen is saying that the SUSE vouchers Microsoft is distributing have no expiration date! I didn't know this. It's huge. This is, according to Moglen's remarks, another defense to any patent infringement claim by Microsoft, and it may well bring that campaign to a screeching halt. Here's why. Someone, Moglen says, is bound to turn a voucher it got from Microsoft in after GPLv3 goes into effect and GPLv3 code is being distributed, and at that moment Microsoft comes under its terms. And that should mean the end of Microsoft's ability to successfully sue anybody over its alleged patents allegedly in Linux'

One wonders what price Microsoft might pay for redeeming those vouchers after the first SuSE Linux code ships under the GPL3."