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+ - Intel's Linux OpenGL Driver Faster Than Apple's OS X Driver->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The open-source Intel Linux graphics driver has hit a milestone of now being faster than Apple's own OpenGL stack on OS X. The Intel Linux driver on Ubuntu 13.04 is now clearly faster than Apple's internally-developed Intel OpenGL driver on OS X 10.8.3. when benchmarked from a "Sandy Bridge" class Mac Mini. Only some months ago, Apple's GL driver was still trouncing the Intel Linux Mesa driver."
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+ - NASA pondering bleak future of exoplanet-hunter ->

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes "NASA and a team of other experts will in the next few weeks evaluate options for recovering the crippled space telescope Kepler. NASA's Kepler, which has been incredibly successful at spotting potentially habitable-zone planets since 2009, lost its control mechanism this month and has been rendered largely inactive."
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+ - VP8/WebM cross-licensing compatibility with open source questioned->

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes "Google, while signing the agreement with MPEG LA concerning VP8 codec, had assured that there would be a third party license agreement in place for the protection of those using the VP8/WebM. This however doesn’t seem to be the case as an open source advocate has ruled that the recently published draft VP8 patent cross-license agreement seems to be closing doors on software freedom. According to a Simon Phipps each user who is looking to make use of the cross-license has to enter into a contract with Google and as most of the open source projects either don’t have the required in-house legal expertise or lack funds to hire a legal personnel there might be no one who will sign such a contract with Google. Further the license cannot be sub-licensed which means that downstream users will not have the license automatically transferred to them."
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GNU is Not Unix

Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 Released 231

Posted by Unknown Lamer
from the never-give-up dept.
jrepin writes "The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). The Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with more than 10,000 software packages available (more than 75% of the Debian archive)."

+ - Going All the Way: GPL'ing Our Theme->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "If you’ve been vising our site for awhile now (thanks, by the way), you’ve certainly noticed that things have been looking a little lessterrible, as of late. We’ve been working on turning “The Powerbase” into a more modern and aesthetically pleasing site, and the recent change of theme is a major step in that direction.

While we’re certainly happy with the look and feel of the site, what we think really makes our current setup special is that we’re now able to release our WordPress theme as a GPL project.

What did you expect?"
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+ - Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 Released->

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes "The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian "sid" at the time of the Debian "wheezy" release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with more than 10.000 software packages available (more than 75% of the Debian archive."
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+ - Raspberry Pis Chained Together Provide Massive Computing Muscle->

Submitted by Thinkcloud
Thinkcloud writes "In a new twist on what Raspberry Pi devices are capable of, they're being chained together to form supercomputers and powerful clusters. If it sounds like a joke, you may be surprised at the enormous computing power these lash-ups are capable of. They may even have the power to democratize supercomputing-level data crunching at very low price points."
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+ - Apple said to have avoided billions in tax->

Submitted by smithagin
smithagin writes "Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “Apple sought the holy grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking member on the committee, added: “Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders.”"
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+ - Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program?->

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes "If you run a nonfree program on your computer, it denies your freedom; the main one harmed is you. Your usage of it can harm others indirectly, by encouraging development of that nonfree program. If you make a promise not to redistribute the program to others, you do wrong, because breaking such a promise is bad and keeping it is worse. Still, the main direct harm is to you.

It is even worse if you recommend that others run the nonfree program, or lead them to do so. When you do that, you're leading them to give up their freedom. Thus, what we should avoid most firmly is leading or encouraging others to run nonfree software.

But there is one special case where using some nonfree software, and even urging others to use it, can be a positive thing. That's when the use of the nonfree software aims directly at putting an end to the use of that very same nonfree software."
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+ - SPAM: Irish Government 'Not to Blame' For Apple's Tax Avoidance

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes "Apple is facing a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday to explain what has been called a "complex web" of tax avoidance schemes. The Senate subcommittee has identified three Irish subsidiaries of the iPhone-maker where the corporate tax rate is just 11%, but these subsidiaries do not appear to be tax residents of any nation. Eager not to take the blame the country's deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore has come out to say Ireland is not to blame."
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+ - Apple 'among largest tax avoiders in US'->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports: Apple has been accused of being "among America's largest tax avoiders" by a Senate committee.

The committee said Apple had used "a complex web of offshore entities" to avoid paying billions of dollars in US income taxes."
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+ - EU to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants->

Submitted by NSN A392-99-964-5927
NSN A392-99-964-5927 writes "A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”

It’s called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.

As you might suspect, this move is the “final solution” of Monsanto, DuPont and other seed-domination corporations who have long admitted their goal is the complete domination of all seeds and crops grown on the planet."
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+ - NYT: Apple's Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "Even as Apple became the nation's most profitable tech company, it avoided billions in taxes in the U.S. and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen, according to Congressional investigators. The investigation is expected to set up a potentially explosive confrontation between lawmakers and Apple CEO Tim Cook at a public hearing on Tuesday. "Apple successfully sought the holy grail of tax avoidance," said Senator Carl Levin. "It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere." In response to the release of the Congressional report, Apple published its prepared testimony a day early. One can only hope to see a Steve Jobs-like presentation by Cook on Tuesday!"

+ - PhD student builds 32 node Raspberry Pi cluster ->

Submitted by JamieKitson
JamieKitson writes "The Register has a report of PhD student Joshua Kiepert's side project building a beowolf cluster of 32 Raspberry Pis. "Side project" because he built it purely to test his main thesis and wanted to avoid having to wait to use his university's 32 node xeon cluster. Cue "imagine a beowolf cluster of these" jokes."
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+ - 32 Raspberry Pi cluster built to support PhD research->

Submitted by Noryungi
Noryungi writes "Joshua Kiepert, a PhD student at Boise State University has created a small 32 node Beowulf Cluster, (PDF paper) running Arch Linux to support his PhD research. This allowed him to avoid running his simulation on the official (Xeon-powered) cluster of his university for a cost of slightly less than US$ 2000 — which is the price of a single Xeon machine. While the cluster will never break speed record it allowed him to work on his research for quite a reasonable price."
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For some reason, this fortune reminds everyone of Marvin Zelkowitz.

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