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Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun joins the Free Software Foundation

Cheeto writes: Sun Microsystems has joined the FSF! Arstechnica is reporting that Sun has joined the corporate patron program, and will be in the same club as other giants such as IBM, Intel, and Google. With Sun releasing Java under the GPL, and the possibility of releasing OpenSolaris under the GPLv3 — do we see Sun now holding the flag of free software instead of Redhat and IBM?
Windows

Submission + - EU warns Microsoft of more fines

what about writes: From news.com

Microsoft faces further fines in the European Commission's antitrust case for allegedly setting unreasonable prices for software rivals seeking interoperability information.

The latest formal charges could lead to new fines against the U.S. software giant, the Commission said in a statement Thursday.

The Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft violated European Union antitrust rules by failing to give to other makers of small-business servers the information they needed to compete with some of Microsoft's own products.
Power

Submission + - Is Nuclear a Viable Option for Our Energy Needs?

Prof. Goose writes: "Very interesting and detailed technical piece on the pros and cons on nuclear power.

Technically, there appear to be no show stoppers for a considerable expansion of Nuclear Power throughout the world. It is a low carbon energy source with abundant fuel supplies. The technology works and has much potential for improvement. Whether or not a large scale expansion eventuates depends on how it competes with Coal on economic grounds and with the public on political grounds. This in turn will be determined by the performance of the nuclear industry over the next few years as these purportedly cheaper and safer plants are built.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2323"
Software

Submission + - Is working for DARPA ethically defensible?

evil_breeds writes: "I've recently been offered a job to write software for a company contracting to DARPA and I'm stuck on the ethics of the situation. Take as given that the nature of the job and its benefits to me are excellent — what I'm interested in is the ethics of working for the U.S. military and what that supports, versus the net Good that some of DARPA's past work (like say, the internet) has produced. I think it's fair to suspend Godwin's Law for this discussion."
Portables

Submission + - Asus announce laptop made from Bamboo

An anonymous reader writes: It seems like Asus has recently been inspired by what nature has to offer judging by its latest laptop designs. The Asus EcoBook comes with real bamboo panelling and will be available early next year. "Making a laptop out of wood doesn't sound all that sane a project, but we should probably get accustomed to this sort of thing — Asus has already delivered the first leather-bound laptops, and Tulip does a range of crazy laptop skins for its Ego range." All I can say is watch out for pandas.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Best wireless router for congested college area

An anonymous reader writes: I have been living close to campus at UW Madison for the past six months or so and have come across a problem. We, along with everyone else in the area, have a wireless router, both a belkin 54g and a linksys wrt54g. We have charter 3 mbit down .25 mbit up cable and 6 guys in our apartment. Just on our block about 15-20 people have routers, and when I look at available networks there is around that many. We are constantly plagued with problems connecting to the wireless, staying connected, getting connected after rebooting, hibernating, etc. We have to reset either or both the cable modem and router many times a day to get everything rolling again. I am thinking that the router is the problem, because my dad always told me that's why they have twenty dollar routers up to thirty thousand dollar routers. My question to slashdot is...what router can I purchase that will help my situation and work well in a congested college area that is already filled with wireless networks, and will still be good for use with 6-8 laptops, some land connections, two xbox 360's, and a ps3. Thanks in advance!
Software

Submission + - Wil Wheaton reviews Linux audio players

ForeverFaithless writes: Wil Wheaton has reviewed several popular audio players on Linux, including XMMS, Amarok, and Banshee. Wil comes to the conclusion that Amarok is his favorite of the bunch, stating "I have never loved a music player as much as I love Amarok, and I've never had as much fun flipping through my library and learning more about my favorite artists."
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun joins the Free Software Foundation

RLiegh writes: "Arstechnica.com reports that Sun has joined the FSF Corporate Patron program. The article explains that the FSF corporate program allows companies to provide financial assistance to the FSF in return for license consulting services. The article goes on to observe that this move is doubtlessly motivated by Sun's interest in the direction that GPL3 is going to take.

Now that sun has opened up Java and become an FSF corporate sponsor...could the move to dual license Opensolaris under the GPL3 be far behind?"
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Wizards of the Coast has moved away from DRM!

sckeener writes: "Wizards of the Coast (D&D) has decided that the PDF market is viable and has switched from DRM to watermarking!

Per Monte Cook

This has been a long time coming, and is, pretty much hands down, the best thing that's happened to the pdf side of the market in a very, very long time. Particularly if one reads between the lines of the announcement and figures that WotC finally has some faith in the medium. Price, number of titles, etc... these are all just more steps that need to be taken, but I think it's pretty clear that this was the big step.
In addition to the 3.0 and 3.5 materials, WotC's ESD Materials (older versions of D&D, modules, etc) are still available."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Exclusive Interview with Douglas Adams from 1979

DarkerMatter writes: "A new online science fiction magazine, Darker Matter, has just gone live with an exclusive interview conducted with Douglas Adams (author of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) in 1979, just before his first book was published. The interview was never used until now. The site also has high quality short sf stories from writers inclusing Hugo award winner David D. Levine, Bud Sparhawk and Edward M. Lerner. The site is funded by advertising, pays the going rate to writers and is planning to donate any profits to charity.

http://www.darkermatter.com/"
Biotech

Submission + - Chinese develop remote controlled pigeons

KDan writes: As seen on CNN and other places, "Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains". Whilst everyone focuses on the weird and fun aspects of remote-controlled pigeons and points out that "The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons", a number of obvious uses jump out to me. Flocks of remote controlled pigeons could be used in warfare as very effective weapons delivery systems. They can take out low-flying planes and helicopters by being flown into their way. In fact they can probably be used to take out any target. Electronically controlled pigeons could lead to a new expansion of the concept of self-healing minefields... How about a patrolling flock of payloaded pigeons that target anyone identified as an "enemy"? The important factor is that whereas building a mechanical equivalent of a pigeon would be expensive, growing a pigeon and implanting some electrodes is comparatively cheap so that large numbers of RC pigeons could be "manufactured" and used for any purpose imaginable. A missile costs tens of thousands of dollars — why bother when you can raise a flock of pigeons and "upgrade" them for a fraction of that price, and proceed to send them to the target?

Perhaps most importantly, however, the remote-controlled pigeons will finally allow us to create an efficient implementation of RFC 1149 and RFC 2549.
Linux Business

Submission + - Linux Dells cost MORE than Windows Dells

EjayHire writes: "So this morning I hop over to Dell to configure up a shiny new Dell without Windows. I ran a D520 through the Dell configurator, but couldn't find the "No windows" option. Finally I found it via this page, but it doesn't include the free hard drive and DVD drive upgrades. So... For the privilege of not having windows installed, you pay $48 MORE than if you order it with XP home and format it. Thanks a lot Dell."
Handhelds

Submission + - Real-life 'Tricorder' For Chemical Analysis

An anonymous reader writes: Purdue University researchers have created a handheld sensing system its creators liken to Star Trek's "tricorder" used to analyze the chemical components of alien worlds. But the system could have down-to-earth applications, such as testing foods for dangerous bacterial contaminants including salmonella, which was recently found in a popular brand of peanut butter.
Patents

Submission + - British PM responds to software patent petition

weierstrass writes: "The British govt. has responded to an online petition asking the Prime Minister to "make software patents clearly unenforcible". The reply begins by reassuring that "The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software.", and goes on to reference the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, which has recommended that patent rights should not be extended to cover software, genes, or business methods."
Math

Submission + - Islamic Tile Mosaics Display Highly Advanced Math

UnanimousCoward writes: The NYT, NPR, and others have articles about Islamic tile mosaics that seem to display knowledge of a fairly recent branch of mathematics known as quasi-crystalline Penrose patterns. Here is the abstract of the published findings in Science. The end of the NYT article notes a complaint by another scientist that his work from 1992 was not fully-credited/referenced in the Science article. I think this is the original article, but I can't find the body of it anywhere...

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