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Submission + - IBM Patents Conveying Emotion to the Blind

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Microsoft may have garnered some bad PR for leaving the deaf without a way to communicate, but at least that was accidental and for a relatively short period of time. IBM, on the other hand, made a conscious effort to go out and hire lawyers so they could grab patent rights on conveying emotion to the blind for the next 20 or so years. On Tuesday, the USPTO awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,607,097 to Big Blue for Translating Emotion to Braille, Emoticons and Other Special Symbols. Nice. Guess Tucker Max isn't the only one who better hope they serve beer in hell.
Apple

Submission + - The Worst PCs in America (technologizer.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: We held a contest to find the crummiest computers in the nation, and were bowled over by the contenders, including laptops with no screens, a fire survivor, a server transplanted into a wooden crate, bad vintage machines that have only grown crummier with time, and a Packard Bell whose owner smashed it to bits with hammers and axes. Take note, Apple fans: Out winner was a Mac!

Submission + - Virgin America offers free onboard Wi-Fi (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For the next three months, citizens will be able to access Google services services from above Earth. Holiday travelers flying with Virgin America from Nov. 10 through Jan. 15 will get free in-flight Wi-Fi, thanks to a promotional deal with Google. Virgin's entire fleet of planes has Wi-Fi, supplied by Gogo, a company that also provides wireless Internet access to airlines including American, Delta, United, Air Canada and AirTran.

Submission + - CIA Buys Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets (wired.com) 2

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available...

Visible Technologies crawls over half a million web 2.0 sites a day, scraping more than a million posts and conversations taking place on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. (It doesn’t touch closed social networks, like Facebook, at the moment.) Customers get customized, real-time feeds of what’s being said on these sites, based on a series of keywords.

“That’s kind of the basic step — get in and monitor,” says company senior vice president Blake Cahill.

Then Visible “scores” each post, labeling it as positive or negative, mixed or neutral. It examines how influential a conversation or an author is. (”Trying to determine who really matters,” as Cahill puts it.) Finally, Visible gives users a chance to tag posts, forward them to colleagues and allow them to response through a web interface.
Communications

Submission + - Tom's Definitive Linux Software Roundup: Part 2 (tomshardware.com)

Submitted by adamovera
adamovera writes: Popular PC Hardware site Tom's Hardware is doing a comprehensive series on Linux software. They call it 'Tom's Definitive Linux Software Roundup'. This series is meant to be a guide for people who are new to, or even just considering making the switch from Windows to Linux. Every app listed has icons indicating if the app is available in the software repositoires of the top three distros: Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE. Apps only avialable via shell installers or source-code aren't included, though links to appropriate .deb or .rpm files are. They even include links to the Windows and Mac versions, so you can try before you switch, whenever applicable. Everything is GUI-centric, making this roundup easily accesible to anyone, even those with little or no prior Linux experience.

The first part which published last month focused on 'Internet apps' such as web browsers and bittorrent clients. Today Tom's Hardware released part two, 'Communications Apps'. This segment outlines what personal information managers, email clients, instant messengers, VOIP software, and IRC clients are available natively in Linux. This series is a must-use resource for anyone struggling to replace their Windows apps with native Linux equivalents.

Submission + - /. Poll: Best going away gift for Daryl McBride 2

Submitted by jkinney3
jkinney3 writes: Best going away gift for Daryl McBride
  1. Collection of plush penguins
  2. Subpoena
  3. Cardboard sign saying "Will waste company resources for food"
  4. Standing ovation
  5. Tools suited for new job — i.e. toilet plunger, mop...
  6. Retro-active bonus reversal
  7. Boot print from Cowboy Neil

Comment On that note... (Score 2, Insightful) 103

by puroresu (#29783081) Attached to: How To List FOSS Experience On Your Resume
...if you have what would be termed an "unconventional" appearance by more narrow minded employers, consider the kind of companies which are more likely to hire you.

I have long hair, facial hair and tattoos. I recently took a temp contract with a publishing company. They didn't have a "dress code" as such and the atmosphere was pretty relaxed. A few weeks later they asked if I'd run the department. Plenty of businesses operate under similar conditions, and unlike places which mandate a particular look, they tend not to treat employees like shit.

Will you alienate some employers by not having a short back and sides and a clean shave? Yes.
Are they worth working for? Not in my opinion.

Submission + - What to Include in Your Open Source Resume (itworld.com)

Submitted by maximus1
maximus1 writes: If you're selling skills gained in an open source project you have additional opportunities to shine, say experts in this article. But what is the best way to explain your FOSS experience? "Someone stands out because of how they talk about the project," says Zack Grossbart, author of "The One Minute Commute". His advice is to describe the project, and discuss your contributions in detail. "If you were a committer, what did you do to earn that status? What features did you work on? Did you design new areas, or just implement predefined functions? Did you lead meetings? Define new architecture? Set the project direction?"

If the FOSS experience is part of your background but not a shining beacon or job equivalent, it's common to list it under "other experience." Andy Lester, author of "Land The Tech Job You Love" says: "Think of each project as a freelance job that you've worked on. Just as different freelance gigs have varying sizes and scope, so too does each project to which you contribute. The key is to not lump all your projects under one 'open source work' heading."

Good examples are worth a thousand words. Grossbart offers up his resume as a sound, but not perfect example that includes open source experience. (Note: The resume is at the bottom of the article on how to format your resume.). What resume techniques have worked for you?

Submission + - America's Operating System, Open Source

Submitted by Rubinstien
Rubinstien writes: O'Reilly Radar is reporting ( http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/10/lawgov-americas-operating-syst.html ) on an effort to produce Law.Gov, "America's Operating System, Open Source". The group Public.Resource.Org seeks "to create a solid business plan, technical specs, and enabling legislation for the federal government to create Law.Gov. We envision Law.Gov as a distributed, open source, authenticated registry and repository of all primary legal materials in the United States."
Space

Submission + - The Number of Universes in the Multiverse (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: If we live in a multiverse, it's reasonable to ask how many other distinguishable universes we may share it with. Now physicists have an answer. Their thinking goes like this: the Big Bang generated quantum fluctuations in the state of the early universe. The universe then underwent a period of rapid growth called inflation during which these perturbations were "frozen", creating different initial classical conditions in different parts of the cosmos. These regions each have different laws of low energy physics and so can be thought of as different universes. The number of these universes must be proportional to the effect that caused the perturbations in the first place, a process called slow roll inflation. Putting the numbers in gives the total number of universes in the multiverse as 10^10^10^7, a "humungous number" say the authors (abstract) and more than we could ever hope to observe.

Comment Yes, gladly! (Score 1) 606

by puroresu (#29755547) Attached to: Do You Provide Tech Support To Friends and Family?
Just the other week I had a colleague ask me for help with his non-booting Windows laptop. It's now a fully functioning Xubuntu laptop.

Most users never have an open, one to one discussion with anyone about their system. All they get is support through "official" channels. I'm not clever/experienced/talented/knowledgeable enough to contribute code to FOSS projects, but I can contribute my time and expand the user base.

Comment Re:McMurdo??? (Score 1) 451

by puroresu (#29429151) Attached to: Favorite seasonal transition?
You've got it easy. When I were a lad I had to get up at two in the morning, get out of a bed made of ice, kill, skin and eat a raw penguin for breakfast, work at'mill until the sun came up the following year and then, if we were lucky, we'd get a half cup of lukewarm seawater before bed.

You tell that to young people today and will they believe you?

Submission + - International Volunteering as a Geek

Submitted by nolongerunknown
nolongerunknown writes: I've learned a number of (programming) languages in my life, but one of the things that I have always wanted to do was to really learn Spanish. As part of my grand scheme to make this happen I am planning a 6-12 month trip to Latin America in order to fully immerse myself in the language and culture. But that is only half of it, I'd like to make the trip meaningful in other ways and want to take the opportunity to volunteer while learning. I'm certainly able to take a more tried-and-true approach to this by Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) or lending my hands for manual labor, but I'll be of greatest value in a technical role. This is where you come in: how does one find volunteer positions matching their skills in foreign countries? Specifically, how does one find technically-inclined volunteer positions in foreign countries?

To help direct the conversation, I've found Cactus Language to mostly address the language interest but want to try and pair that with a volunteer opportunity. Peace Corps really isn't an option, for me, or for most because of how selective the program is. AIESEC doesn't want me because I don't have a degree and am not currently a student. Engineers Without Borders lists projects that are being actively worked on but that I can tell provides no way to interact with existing projects other than to provide financial support. EWB also relies on a grassroots approach to project generation that seems to pretty well prevent individuals from getting involved. It appears that nobody is home over at Geekcorps, a popular suggestion the last time we discussed this topic. VSO appears to be spot on, but that page is only available on the UK version of the site. As a US Citizen when trying to apply I was kindly directed to the Canadian version of the site which omits that category. (This personal account from somebody who thinks similarly to me introduced me to VSO.) And last but not least, military service is out because it precludes immersion into the language and culture of the country.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - (Near) Constant internet while RV'ing?

Submitted by
Neilio
Neilio writes: "What systems would Slashdotters recommend for staying connected while RV'ing across the US and Canada? While a 3G data plan seems obvious, the intrepid RV'er wants to get remote and into those parts of the coverage map that are usually gray (no coverage). But satellite can be expensive, includes high latency for VOIP and gaming, and requires a clear view of the southern sky. I've come across some intriguing products that use and amplified 2G/3G signal and bridge to WiFi, like www.wifiinmotion.com, and CradlePoint's MBR1000 (http://www.cradlepoint.com/products/mbr1000-mobile-broadband-039n039-router (I have no affiliation to either). Do folks have any experience with these, or can you recommend another approach (even homebrew)? While I am an electrical engineer by degree, you have to go back a few decades since I last expertly sported a soldering iron, so the less DIY the better. My wife and I now run a web-based business, so nearly daily connectivity is a must, no matter where we are."

Comment Get a vocational qualification (Score 1) 9

by puroresu (#29356921) Attached to: Asking employers about not getting interviews.
Sorry, but you're probably going to have to put your IT career on the back burner for the time being.

The fact is that a lot of highly qualified people have become unemployed in the past year or so. You're competing against all of these people with more experience than you. The rate of university applications suggests that the situation may well get worse before it gets better.

My solution has been to acquire a couple of vocational qualifications. I'm now a qualified gym instructor and will shortly be attempting to gain a security license. These are both professions which require the appropriate qualifications and licenses to enter (in the UK, anyway. YMMV), so the competition for jobs is reduced a little. Pay is a bit more than you'd get doing tedious office work.

I know it kinda sucks putting in the required effort to get your academic qualifications, but the way I look at it, in this economy any job is better than no job.

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