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Submission + - You Can Look Forward To 8 More Years Of Leap Second Problems (cio.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: As previously reported on Slashdot, the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) met 'for nearly the entire month of November, and one of the hot-button issues [was] what to do about the leap second.' But, as they did at the 2012 conference, the WRC voted to postpone the decision, but not just until the next WRC in 2019 but until the one after, in 2023, while the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conducts further studies into the impact of tinkering with the definition of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Submission + - Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi Discloses Customer Names and Addresses (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Despite assurances that only business listings and not customer names and home addresses would appear in the public search results when someone searches for an Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspot, that is exactly what's happened when the service was initiated 2 years ago — and is still happening now, writes CSO's Steve Ragan. And that isn't the only security issue with the service. Another level of exposure centers on accountability. Ken Smith, senior security architect with K Logix in Brookline, Ma., discovered that Comcast is relying on the device’s MAC address as a key component of authentication.

Submission + - Why I'm Sending Back Google Glass (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: After using Google Glass for several weeks, Computerworld columnist Matt Lake had plenty of reasons to explain why he returned them, not the least of which was that they made him cross-eyed and avoid eye contact. Google Glass batteries also drain like a bath tub when using either audio or video apps and they run warm. And, as cool as being able to take videos and photos with the glasses may be, those shots are always at an angle. Of course, being able to do turn-by-turn directions is cool, but not something you can do without your smart phone's cellular data or a mobile hotspot. The list of reasons goes on... Bottom line, if Google Glass is in the vanguard of a future class of wearable computers, the future isn't the present.

Submission + - Witness the birth of a meteor shower

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: Here on Earth, we think of shooting stars and meteor showers as things that happen periodically; sometimes they’re spectacular, sometimes they’re rare. But in all cases, they’re caused by comet debris, and they should flare up each time the Earth crosses the comet’s path. But as it turns out, every meteor shower had a point in its past where it happened for the very first time. In all of human history, we’ve never recorded one that occurred for the very first time where none happened before. Well, for those of you who want to take the chance to be a part of it, this coming Friday night/Saturday morning, look for the Camelopardalids, making their Earthly debut this year!

Submission + - Ad tracking: Is anything being done? (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by bsk_cw
bsk_cw writes: The W3C's Tracking Protection Working Group has been trying to come up with a way to make targeted ads acceptable to users and useful to advertisers — and so far, hasn't gotten very far. Computerworld's Robert Mitchell has interviewed people on all sides of the issue — consumer privacy advocates, vendors of ad-blocking tools, advertisers and website publishers — to try to unravel the issues and see if any solution is possible at all.

Submission + - National Lab Working to Mix Metals and Polymers for 3D Printing (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab are trying to expand 3D printing to include mixed materials at the same time, such as polymers and metals. With those advances, a company could build, for example, body armor for soldiers that are stronger and lighter. If their work pans out, they’ll create materials that have properties that simply don’t exist today.
Programming

Submission + - Learning Programming in a Post-BASIC World (computerworld.com) 5

Submitted by ErichTheRed
ErichTheRed writes: This Computerworld piece actually got me thinking — it basically says that there are few good "starter languages" to get students interested in programming. I remember hacking away at BASIC incessantly when I was a kid, and it taught me a lot about logic and computers in general. Has the level of abstraction in computer systems reached a point where beginners can't just code something quick without a huge amount of back-story? I find this to be the case now; scripting languages are good, but limited in what you can do...and GUI creation requires students to be familiar with a lot of concepts (event handling, etc.) that aren't intuitive for beginners. What would you show a beginner first — JavaScript? Python? How do you get the instant gratification we oldies got when sitting down in front of the early-80s home computers?
The Internet

Submission + - Six Reasons Why Flash Isn't Going Away (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: While Steve Jobs is betting his mobile platform on it, predicting Flash's demise is short-sighted, say industry analysts. 'There are many people who despise Flash, but I'm not sure they'd love the alternative right out of the gate. The open-source world has not blown everyone out of the water with their video work thus far,' Michael Cote, an analyst at RedMon, told Howard Wen. 'Adobe has spent a lot of time optimizing Flash, and I'd wager it'd take some time to get HTML 5 video as awesome.' Here are six factors that give Flash a strong position over HTML 5 and other alternative Web media technologies in the foreseeable future. For starters, While Android has made Flash a wedge issue, Flash is just beginning to show up on multiple mobile device platforms, Wen writes. Ross Rubin, an analyst at NPD Group, reminds us how Flash ushered in video on Web pages, but Craig Barberich, vice president of marketing and business development at Coincident TV, highlights the pervasiveness of Flash on the Web as we know it: 'Everybody is talking about video, but what doesn't necessarily get talked about is a lot of the interactive elements.'
Privacy

Submission + - Employee Monitoring: When IT is Asked to Spy (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: It's 9:00 in the morning, or 3:00 in the afternoon, or even 10:00 at night. Do you know what your users are up to? More than ever, IT managers can answer 'Oh, yes' to that query. As corporate functions converge onto IP-based networks, more infractions are happening online. Employees leak intellectual property or trade secrets; violate laws against sexual harassment or child pornography; and waste time while looking like they are hard at work. Michael Workman, an associate professor at the Florida Institute of Technology's Nathan M. Bisk College of Business, estimates that monitoring responsibilities take up at least 20% of the average IT manager's time. Yet most IT professionals never expected they'd be asked to police their colleagues and co-workers in quite this way. How do they feel about this growing responsibility? Workman says he sees a split among tech workers. Those who specialize in security issues feel that it's a valid part of IT's job. But those who have more of a generalist's role, such as network administrators, often don't like it. Computerworld contributor Tam Harbert found a wide variety of viewpoints from IT managers, ranging from discomfort at having to 'babysit' employees to righteous beliefs about 'protecting the integrity of the system.'
Microsoft

Submission + - Antitrust Deal: Windows 7 Fair Game But Not After (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Gregg Keizer reports, Federal and state regulators have struck a deal with Microsoft under which any version of Windows released after May 2011 will not be subject to the scrutiny mandated by a 2002 antitrust settlement. As previously promised, however, Windows 7, will be put under the microscope. Yesterday, the DOJ filed documents (PDF) with U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asking that she extend her oversight by at least 18 months, until May 12, 2011. Although Microsoft has consented to the extension — and acknowledged that the regulators can later ask for another 18 months — Kollar-Kotelly must approve the request."
Unix

Ubuntu 8.10 vs. Mac OS X 10.5.5 Benchmarks 328

Posted by CmdrTaco from the there-can-be-only-one dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As a sequel to their Is Ubuntu Getting Slower? Phoronix now has out an article that compares the performance of Ubuntu 8.10 to Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.5. They tested both the x86 and x86_64 spins of Ubuntu and threw at both operating systems a number of graphics, disk, computational, and Java benchmarks, among others. With the Mac Mini used in some of the comparisons, 'Leopard' was faster, while in others it was a tight battle."
Networking

Submission + - SF Not An Exception in Giving IT Too Much Control (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "The city of San Francisco's IT department is certainly not the exception when it comes to allowing just one person to have unfettered rights to make password and configuration changes to networks and enterprise systems. In fact, it's a situation fairly common in many organizations — especially small to medium-size ones, IT managers and others cautioned in the wake of the recent Terry Childs incident."
The Internet

Web Use In 2008 Campaigns Shatters Records 19

Posted by samzenpus from the president-of-the-internet dept.
CWmike writes "Heather Havenstein writes that the increased viewing of online political videos and the use of social networks to gather campaign data and online donations for candidates has fueled use of the Internet in this year's election cycle that is shattering records, according to a study released this week. (Download a PDF of the study.) A record-breaking 46% (compared with 31% in the last cycle) of Americans have used the Internet, e-mail or cell phone text messaging to get news about a campaign or to share their views, according to the "The Internet and the 2008 Election" report compiled by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. So far, according to the report, supporters of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are using online tools for election matters more often that those of rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Obama was an early supporter of Web 2.0 technologies, and that effort appears to be paying off, the study finds."
Microsoft

Submission + - Why it's not business as usual for Microsoft (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Bill Gates will be leaving Microsoft for good at the end of the month and Microsoft would have you believe that it will be business as usual for Microsoft. I understand they also have a great bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn that they'd like to sell you. Cheap! Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols lays out the reasons it ain't biz as usual. 1) (and there are four more) You can't replace genius. Steve Ballmer is moving into the top slot, but I've met Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates. He's a big, bouncy sales guy. Can't you just see Ballmer selling used cars on a local TV ad spot? Instead of running around a stage shouting: "Developers! Developers!" just visualize him running around a car lot shouting, "Cars! Cars!" I find it far too easy to do just that. This is the man who's going to replace Bill Gates? I don't think so. Besides, he already has a track record as acting head of the company, and it's lousy. Fire Ballmer now, why wait for him to fall on his face?"

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