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Linux

Submission + - Gnome creator: Linux has only 10 good desktop apps (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
nk497
nk497 writes: "Gnome co-creator Miguel de Icaza has said Linux is struggling on the desktop because fragmentation makes creating apps too difficult, with incompatibilities between distributions — and even between different versions of the same one. "When you count how many great desktop apps there are on Linux, you can probably name 10," de Icaza said, according to a post on Tim Anderson's IT Writing blog. "You work really hard, you can probably name 20. We’ve managed to p*** off developers every step of the way, breaking APIs all the time.""
Debian

Submission + - Why debian/Icecat should take over Firefox (in-other-news.com)

Submitted by RStonR
RStonR writes: When you combine the release-policy of Chrome with Firefox, you gain not a single advantage, but the extension-system no longer works reliably, because when Firefox gets updated from a major revision to the next, all extensions have to be retested and released anew. Therefore a lot of things break even when Firefox-management refuses to admit it.

The good news is that Firefox is free software, which means that Firefox management does not own the codebase, but only the name "Firefox" (plus artwork, etc.). For example the "IceCat" browser from the debian project (which is a Linux-distribution) is a rebranded version of Firefox with some minor changes which could grow into a real fork, if the IceCat-developers want (and also put out a version for Windows).

Comment Re:Well, it looks different at least. (Score 1) 69

by Yacoob Al-Atawi (#35247886) Attached to: Bandwidth Being Throttled In Bahrain?
If there is throttling here it is not nationwide, neither is it covering all ISPs. VIVA for example currently averages around 15kbps on a 21mbps package. I heard that the main ISP (Batelco) also had some slowdowns related to upgrades and changes in their network. Yet my Menatelecom connection is working exactly as it was before the demonstrations. Someone I know reported that while he had slowdowns during net surfing his download speed when torrenting was still fast.
Robotics

Submission + - Stickybot, gecko inspired robot climbs walls. (stanford.edu)

Submitted by telomerewhythere
telomerewhythere writes: Stanford mechanical engineer Mark Cutkosky is using the biology of a gecko's sticky foot to create a robot that climbs. In the same way the small reptile can scale a wall of slick glass, the Stickybot can climb smooth surfaces with feet modeled on the intricate design of gecko toes.

The team's new project involves scaling up the material for humans. A technology called Z-Man, which would allow humans to climb with gecko adhesive, is in the works.
Yahoo!

Submission + - What went wrong at Yahoo? Paul Graham opines (paulgraham.com)

Submitted by kjh1
kjh1 writes: Paul Graham writes about what he felt went wrong at Yahoo. He has first-hand experience — his company, Viaweb, was bought by Yahoo and he worked there for a while.

In a nutshell, he felt that Yahoo was too conflicted about whether they were a technology company or a media company. This in part led to hiring bad programmers, or at least not going single-mindedly after the very best ones. They also lacked the 'hacker' culture that Google and Facebook still seem to have, and that is found in many startup tech companies.
Google

Submission + - Like Windows, Is Android Headed For a Fall? (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: By most measures, Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices has been a raging success. Since it was introduced in late 2007, Android has climbed (quickly), replacing Research in Motion’s BlackBerry as the top-ranked mobile phone operating system in the U.S. when measured by market share. But growing user adoption has brought the attention of security researchers and malicious hackers, as well – and what they’ve found gives security professionals reason for concern.

  “I feel like its 1998 all over again. Back Orifice has just arrived and we’re trying to figure out what to do with it,” said Chris Wysopal, CTO of application security testing firm Veracode, referring to the infamous remote administration software that highlighted the security failings of Microsoft’s Windows 98 operating system. Security experts warn that Android’s rapid adoption by mobile carriers, open platform and the competitive push to build a robust application ecosystem are the ingredients for a security melt down.
Google

Submission + - Google CEO forecasts end of anonymity on Internet (readwriteweb.com)

Submitted by e065c8515d206cb0e190
e065c8515d206cb0e190 writes: In yet another scary statement on privacy, Google CEO Eric Schmidt explains the amount of information that is out there can successfully identify individuals.

From the article:
"If I look at enough of your messaging and your location, and use Artificial Intelligence," Schmidt said, "we can predict where you are going to go."
"Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are. You think you don't have 14 photos of yourself on the internet? You've got Facebook photos! People will find it's very useful to have devices that remember what you want to do, because you forgot...But society isn't ready for questions that will be raised as result of user-generated content."
Open Source

Submission + - Open Source Projects Using Best Practices?

Submitted by
balbus000
balbus000 writes: "I recently graduated with a degree in software engineering (software emphasis). However, most of the homework and projects given were extremely small scale. I want to be exposed to more "real-world" projects to help me in my career. What open source projects are out there that are well organized and use best best practices in object oriented design, design patterns, etc. and aren't bloated to the point where it would take me 6+ months to get up to speed with how it's structured? I mainly want to study the source code, but would also like to start contributing once I feel comfortable enough."

Submission + - HackerMonthly the style of hacker's essay (google.com)

Submitted by Shawn the R0ck
Shawn the R0ck writes: Hacker Monthly is a new monthly magazine that you can buy a paper copy or download the pdf version.The 1st issue has been downloading more than 10,000 times.The lastest launch is the 2nd issue.This magazine taking a great collections from hacker communities and it's bit of hacking style articles,eg.Organic Startup Ideas written by Paul Graham and What value do we create here by CARTER CLEVELAND.The digital native of young generations would love to read it.Hacker ethic that ti's not only affecting the free software world but many non-technical fields.People hacking the stuffs and making the definition of the future!Hope "weird" slashdoters having fun with this magazine!

Submission + - How should a non-techie learn programming? (dbms2.com) 2

Submitted by CurtMonash
CurtMonash writes: Nontechnical people — for example marketers or small business owners — increasingly get the feeling they should know more about technology. And they're right. If you can throw up a small website or do some real number-crunching, chances are those skills will help you feed your family. But how should they get started? I started a thread with the question on DBMS2, and some consistent themes emerged, including:
  • * Learn HTML + CSS early on.
  • * Learn a bit of SQL, but you needn't make that your focus.
  • * Have your first real programming language be one of the modern ones, such as PHP or Python.
  • * MySQL is a good vehicle to learn SQL.
  • * It's a great idea to start with a project you actually want to accomplish, and that can be done by modifying a starter set of sample code. (E.g., a WordPress blog.)
  • * Microsoft's technology stack is an interesting alternative to some of the other technology ideas.

A variety of books and websites were suggested, most notably MIT's Scratch. But, frankly, it would really help to get more suggestions for sites and books that help one get started with HTML/CSS, or with MySQL, or with PHP. And so, techie studs and studdettes, I ask you — how should a non-techie go about learning some basic technological skills?
Security

Submission + - AT&T Won't Block Black Hat Eavesdropping Demo (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "AT&T says it won't interfere with a highly anticipated talk on intercepting cell phone calls at the Black Hat conference this week. Hacker Chris Paget last week said that he plans to demonstrate on Saturday how to set up what's essentially a fake cell tower that allows him listen in on nearby mobile calls. But Tuesday, he wrote on his blog that he had "heard that AT&T may be considering suing me to stop my talk." AT&T, however, has insisted it has no plans to interfere with the talk."
Google

Submission + - Android Takes A New Approach To Fighting Piracy (blodic.us) 1

Submitted by teh31337one
teh31337one writes: Pirates looking to illegally copy Android applications are about to face a new challenge: today, Google's Android team announced that it is releasing a new application Licensing Service for Android.

The service, which is meant to help developers secure their applications from piracy, forces apps to ping Google's home server at regular intervals to verify that they were legitimately purchased. Fail that check, and the app can lock you out.

According to the Dev Guide, developers are free to decide how they want to deal with an application that is deemed to be pirated (a developer could disable the app entirely, or perhaps they could activate a trial mode prompting the user to purchase the real thing).

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/new-licensing-service-replacing-existing-copy-protection-metho/

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