63284413
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Researchers at INRIA in France have open sourced their biped robotics platform "poppy". This platform allows for building a humanoid biped robot from off-the-shelf parts and 3D printed components. Despite the robot being open source, the components needed to build it cost around 7500€. More information at the project site: http://www.poppy-project.org/"Link to Original Source
32330503
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created a display that enhances the displayed image by applying small-amplitude vibrations to the display panel and synchronizing them with the screen refresh cycles. The display works with a weight attached to a motor that spins at 1800 RPM. Results are quite impressive. The article is paywalled but the abstract is very informative. A video is also available."Link to Original Source
24633372
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Canonical just released Ubuntu 11.10 (codenamed "Oneiric Ocelot"). This release includes an improved software center, a re-designed dash, improved application switching and much more. Now if only they could get copy-paste to work..."Link to Original Source
24480578
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Science fiction novelist and technology activist Cory Doctorow blogs about the recent U.S. government assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, without any due process (no chance to face his accusations in a court of law), a clear violation of the 5th amendment. To top it all, U.S. citizens cheered the assassination of their fellow citizen. First Bin Laden, now al-Awlaki, next? CmdrTaco is my guess.More details."Link to Original Source
17682106
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"With graduation up ahead, I'll have to return my research-lab-issued mac book pro. Being a person who despises Steve Jobs, it's difficult to admit it but I loved my mbp. Yet buying an Apple product goes against everything I stand for so I'm going to be looking to buy a laptop to run Linux on. Are there any hardware makers who make sure their linux drivers are up to par?"
17103646
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"In a world where automated systems are taking over a large part of the manual labor from humans, and where more and more people study and work to design, build and maintain technology, could we eventually see the failure of Apple's business model? Since the introduction of iStuff, Apple's market has been one of users who didn't have time/and or desire to tinker and customize their gear. They just want the thing to work and look good. Plain and Simple. But since more and more people are becoming technology savvy, isn't there going to be an increase in users who just don't care what Steve Jobs thinks is best, and want to customize their phone's home screen or change the interface on their home computer? Is Apple destined to marginalize itself should it not change it's business model?"
15282756
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Ever since the launch of battlefield bc2, EA has been making available for sale what they refer to as "VIP Map Packs" on regular intervals. The latest installment went on sale today "VIP Map Pack #6". PC gamers get those packs for free whereas consoles have to dish out cash for them. The map packs are in essence the same old maps but with re-defined boundaries and simply enabled for different game modes. To put it in simple FPS gamer terms, imagine having a deathmatch map and then having to pay just so you can simply play TEAM deathmatch on that same map. And they call that a map--pack! In the good old days of PC gaming, a map pack was a file that contained more than one entirely new map (and companies gave them out for free). The content that EA sells are essentially the same maps. Plus they censor any sort of criticism on their blog. So the question is: Why do gamers keep paying money to a company that screws them over?"Link to Original Source
13976866
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"I wish Slashdot readers would explain to me why creators of work of intellect should collect royalties on their work for life.
When I go see the doctor, I pay a certain amount because I used up the doctor's time. He worked 30 minutes to examine me, treat me etc. A construction worker only gets paid for the hours he worked. Most people only get paid for the hours they work so why should musicians for example collect royalties on their recordings for life? Even their children and grandchildren go on to collect royalties from sales in some cases after the creators pass away. If the artist worked 2 hours recording the track then he should only get paid for 2 hours of work. Maybe a system would be setup where the first early adopters would pay for the music and then after a number of sales the work would be in the public domain. Some people will argue that you can't put a price on "works of genius" and that it's up to the artists to name a pricetag for their work but I think there should be some alternative.
To take it even further? When I write an academic paper I cite all the works that I based my paper on. I somehow give "credit" to all the previous scientists that inspired me and who's work contributed to mine. Artists rarely do such a thing. They rarely (if ever) list their musical influences in the back of the CD or give credit to some other artist from whom they "copied" a tune or a lick. Inspired by the story of the mathematician that wouldn't accept the monetary award for his work because it's not his OWN. It's based on work by hundreds of years of research that dates back to ancient Greece, even further.
So why should musicians or other artists get paid for life? I think they should only get paid to perform live!"
10096442
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Ken Perlin a professor at NYU has blogged a very interesting and insightful take on why people like games. Not only computer games but those included as well. He presents a very interesting perspective as to why games, are as important to humans as is food and sex! A must-read for all gamers."Link to Original Source
8741370
submission
mutherhacker (638199) writes
"Today, a day which will live in infamy, I have created a filter which blocks all e-mail messages sent from Hotmail and iPhone devices. The reason? I don't like to read ads in my messages. The filter also sends the following message as a reply:
"YOUR MESSAGE TO me@somedomain HAS NOT BEEN READ, IT HAS BEEN AUTOMATICALLY DELETED!
Thank you for contacting me. In my ongoing fight against ads/commercial messages I have decided to block all messages that contain ad-like content. This includes messages from:
* apple's iPhone that contain the line: "Sent from my iPhone" — I don't care where it has been sent from.
* Microsoft's Hotmail service that append a short ad at the bottom of the message — I don't like to read ads.
* ...probably more to come
If you wish to contact me please do so using a service that does not append ads or irrelevant information inside your e-mail message.
I apologize for any inconvenience caused and I beg for your understanding.""
823915
submission
Jubei (638199) writes
"I never imagined that it would come to this but here I am. I havent burned a single disc in over 8 months, I fear that if I press the eject button on my DVD-RW I will find new life forms on the tray. I was browsing "all programs" on my start menu today and I saw an entry "nero" and thought to myself: "Gosh... how long has it been since I ran this?". The truth is that in the upcoming broadband era we dont need optical media. I for one satisfy all my needs via downloads. Movies, Games, Manuals for my Digital Camera. After I see it I just delete it. Yes, even the 41GB HD movie that I downloaded is gone from my drive as soon as I see it. You see in Japan, the internet is incredibly fast. I have a fiber optic connection at home for a measly 5,5 EUR(8,2 USD). With these download speeds you dont need storage. If I need something I can download it within minutes so why store it? So I wonder. When other countries reach Japan's level of broadband (might take a while), will this mean the end of optical media/drives companies and cdburning software companies?"
799709
submission
Jubei (638199) writes
"I would like to hear the community's thoughts about something that I have been concerned about lately. The *invisible* feature of messenger networks. I would like to hear some opinions about it.
I havent settled on the issue, here are just some of my thoughts.
I am thinking that maybe invisible mode shouldnt exist because it defeats the purpose of instant messengers. Why be on the messenger when others cannot instantly message you? Some people for example are CONSTANTLY invisible so I ask: What would happen if everyone of their contact list was invisible too? They wouldnt be able to see anybody on their contact list.
I thought that one could argue that the invisible feature should exist so that you can "silently" go online for a while to see if a friend is there without being exposed to a pm attack by others. For some people this is understandable especially those (like me) with many contacts on their list. But I will say the same argument like before. What IF (unlikely, however possible!) at the same time you go online invisible to see if your friend is there, your friend TOO goes online invisible to see if you're there? To address this maybe networks could introduce a "who's online" query from clients so that clients can get a snapshot of online users but only limit such queries from a certain ip to one every 10 minutes otherwise this could be used as an "invisible" mode alternative (i.e. you would be able to monitor who is online by staying offline.)
To that end, I am also thinking that offline messages should be not be allowed and instead IM clients should just give you the option to send an e-mail whenever a client is offline OR whenever a message fails to deliver. TOO many times have I been told ..."but msg'd you on MSN!".
To cut down on spam and harassments Instant Messengers should perhaps be made to be less obtrusive to the user. Examples? If you are busy/occupied/away the default setting should be NO sounds, no blinking of incoming message icons (perhaps a very slow fading blink) and no popups. Busy should mean busy. Perhaps also Online mode should be entirely removed and instead replaced by a "free for chat mode" in combination with a feature where the clients automaticaly reports to the server whenever you are currently chatting with somebody (although there could be some privacy concerns about this so users should have the option of disabling that). The client could also change your status automaticaly whenever you have an open chat session with somebody so that others know this and dont disturb you. Perhaps even whenever you are chatting with somebody and a users double clicks on his contact list to open a chat session with you, ONLY THEN their clients talks to your client to find out whether or not you are chatting with somebody, and if you are prompts you to proceed or not.
Thoughts anyone?"Link to Original Source
