38826717
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Reiser4 still hasn't been merged into the mainline Linux kernel, but it's still being worked on by a small group of developers following Hans Reiser being convicted for murdering his wife. Reiser4 was updated in September on SourceForge to work with the Linux 3.5 kernel and has been benchmarked against EXT4, Btrfs, XFS, and ReiserFS. Reiser4 loses out in most of the Linux file-system performance tests, has much stigma due to Hans Reiser, and Btrfs is surpassing it feature-wise, so does it have any future in Linux ahead?
38825445
submission
Gunkerty Jeb writes:
Initially thought to be merely a module of the now-infamous Flame malware, MiniFlame, or SPE is, in reality, a secondary surveillance tool deployed against specially identified targets following an initial Flame or Gauss compromise.
MiniFlame/SPE was one of three previously unseen pieces of malware discovered during a forensic analysis of Flame's command and control servers.'
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab and CERT-Bund/BSI determined that the program, which has compromised somewhere between 10 and 20 machines, can stand alone as an independent piece of malware or run as a plug-in for both Flame and Gauss.
38823773
submission
connorblack writes:
My very gifted nephew is about to turn 9 this month and I would love to get him some sort of fun, engaging book or game to introduce him to the basic concepts of programming. I have a feeling if approached correctly he would absolutely devour the subject (he is already working through mathematics at an 8th grade level). What I first was looking at were the Lego Mindstorm programmable robots- which would have been perfect, if only they weren't around 300 dollars... So if there's anything similar (or completely new!) you've either heard praise about or used yourself with your kids, it would be great to get a recommendation. Also if possible I would want to stick to an under 100 dollar budget.
38823441
submission
puddingebola writes:
From the article, "Amazon is reportedly in “advanced negotiations” to acquire Texas Instruments’ OMAP chip division, bringing chip design for its Kindle tablets in-house, and helping TI refocus on embedded systems. The deal in discussion, Calcalist reports, follows TI’s public distancing from its own phone and tablet chip business in the face of rising competition from Qualcomm, Samsung, and others, though Amazon taking charge of OMAP could leave rivals Barnes & Noble in a tricky situation."
38821573
submission
sfcrazy writes:
Good (and bad) news for Raspberry Pi lovers, the Model B has been upgraded to 512MB RAM from 256MB. Bad news is for those who already got their Model B shipments because all those who have outstanding orderes with either distributors will get the *upgraded* version of the device, means with 512MB RAM instead of 256MB. The upgraded devices should be arriving to customers from today onwards. Raspberry Pi team will be pushing a firmware upgrade soon so these news devices can detect and use the additional RAM.
38821459
submission
another random user writes:
The United Arab Emirates holds the largest biometric database in the world, the Emirates Identity Authority has announced.
The population register of Emirates ID has over 103 million digital fingerprints and over 15 million digital facial recognition records, which includes multiple records of each UAE resident, and digital signatures as of October 11, senior officials said.
Dr. Ali Al Khoury, Director General of Emirates ID, said the authority has submitted an official application to the World Record Academy to recognise this record.
Asked about the confirmation of the authority’s claims about the world record, an official spokesman of the authority told Gulf News on Sunday: “We have made worldwide surveys and enquiries with the similar official authorities and agencies of the world governments holding such databases and confirmed that our database is the largest.
“The World Record Academy also confirmed to us that no other government or authority has made a similar claim for such a record,” he said.
38820519
submission
mikejuk writes:
Long before the current crop of MOOCs there was a course that taught you all you needed to know about computers by starting from the Nand gate and working its way up through the logic circuits needed for a computer, on to an assembler, a compiler an operating system and finally Tetris. Recently one of the creators of the course, Shimon Schocken gave Ted talk explaining how it all happened and why it is still relevant today. Once you have seen what is on offer http://www.nand2tetris.org/ you will probably decide that it is not only still relevant but the only way to really understand what computers are all about.
38819839
submission
dgharmon writes:
When the government of India revoked U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc.’s local patent for its cancer drug Sutent last week, it marked yet another loss for Big Pharma in an escalating patent war between multinational pharmaceutical companies and the governments of developing nations.
38819063
submission
another random user writes:
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner smashed a number of records with his "edge of space" stunt — including for live streaming.
More than eight million people flocked to their devices to watch the 43-year-old break the speed of sound live on Google's YouTube site. It is the largest number of concurrent live streams in the website's history, Google UK confirmed to the BBC.
38815599
submission
guttentag writes:
On Monday, Microsoft plans to announce a service called Xbox Music that will offer access to a global catalog of about 30 million songs. The service will let consumers listen free to any song on computers and tablets running the latest version of its Windows software, as well as on the Xbox console. Microsoft will not initially limit how much music can be streamed, though that could change over time.
The service is part of a broad set of bets Microsoft is making this fall to help regain ground it has lost to competitors Apple, Google, Amazon, Pandora and Spotify. In addition to Windows 8, which will start shipping Oct. 26, the company is close to releasing a new version of its Windows Phone operating system and the tablet device called Surface.
38811949
submission
boredemt writes:
I know this kind of question is asked ad nauseum, but I can't think of a better place to ask. I used to work in IT. Mostly Windows administration and support. Typical corporate stuff. I was laid off in 2007 and, out of a need to pay the bills, I took my volunteer hobby (Emergency Medical Services) and started doing it full time. Fast forward five years and I'm sort of stuck in EMS. To add to it I was recently injured at work and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to go back. I've been applying to some IT jobs but it seems that my hiatus from the field has made me a dinosaur. I actually had a hiring manager tell me that directly. So, Slashdotters, what's my best route back with an (extremely) limited budget?
