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Operating Systems

Comparing Windows and Ubuntu On Netbooks 317

Posted by CmdrTaco from the little-bit-of-this-and-that dept.
Barence writes "With the arrival last month of Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition, PC Pro has revisited a familiar question: which operating system is best for a netbook?. The magazine has run a series of benchmarks on a Asus Eee PC 1008HA running Windows XP Home, two versions of Windows 7 (with and without Aero switched on) and Ubuntu Netbook Edition. The operating systems are tested for start-up performance, Flash handling and video, among other tests. The results are closer than you might think."

Submission + - When does fair use turn into plagiarism?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Earlier this week, PaidContent reported that Briefing.com admitted to violating copyright laws by simply posting content from Dow Jones. While piracy and plagiarism are common these days, what is more unusual is the way that Dow Jones chose to use the more obscure "hot news doctrine", a rule developed after some newspapers were caught rewriting wire stories without doing any of their own research. Some aggregation sites are wondering how this applies to them. While sites like Slashdot are largely filled with original content from submitters, many of the postings at blogs like BoingBoing.com consist of a few sentences of introduction and large quotes. This story was largely written by Paul Lewis at the Guardian and judging from the time stamps,BoingBoing turned it out in four minutes. At what point does fair use turn into lazy plagiarism? Can bloggers develop rules for knowing when they're just being leeches?

Submission + - Dirty Coal And Clean Coals Future (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by vbiz7
vbiz7 writes: Dirty Coal, Clean Future To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron? Feature story from "The Atlantic" The good news is that new technologies are making this possible.
News

Submission + - Anti-smartphone Phone Launched for Technophobes (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by geek4
geek4 writes: A Dutch company has launched what it calls “the world’s simplest phone”, targeting users who are sick of new-generation models

Only capable of making and receiving calls, John’s Phone is dubbed the world’s simplest mobile phone, specifically designed for anti-smartphones users.

It does not provide any hi-tech features. No apps. No Internet. No camera. No text messaging. All you have to do – in fact, all you can do – is call, talk and hang up.

Named after the company that created it – John Doe, a full-service advertising agency in Amsterdam – the phone is designed for users who are fed up with smartphones and their hi-tech functions.

Its extreme simplicity is designed to appeal to technophobes, the elderly and young kids buying their first phones.
Technology

Submission + - Software to assist people who cannot read

Submitted by flappinbooger
flappinbooger writes: So having worked in the computer field for a while now I get asked lots of strange questions. The office manager tells me a customer who is a truck driver wants a laptop but also wants it equipped with software to fill out all his computer forms for him with voice input, as he cannot read.

Aside from all the other questions, such as how does an illiterate person navigate the highways and byways and safely and efficiently drive a truck, this is a pretty interesting question. The big picture answer is take night classes to learn to read, duh.

Speech to Text software is more for dictation I'm not sure it would work for this. Software for the blind comes to mind, I've worked with a blind person before and was amazed at the proficiency with which he navigated his computer. The blind-assist software was quite impressive, it would tell him exactly what was on the screen and where the cursor was. It was all keyboard input, no mouse, not sure it would work for this problem.

Is there any software that would help this person? Is there ANY way a person who cannot read will be able to perform even the most menial tasks in the near future, if not now? Most would assume janitorial work to be a pretty low barrier to entry, but even then a custodian would be expected to read the contents and safety labeling on the cleaners he or she would be using. Computer illiteracy is nearly crippling today, how much more for someone who cannot read at all....
Games

Submission + - It's back! The Commdore 64 returns....sort of. 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's back...The Commodore 64 returns ...sort of. It looks and feels like a Commodore 64, but with new internal hardware. The new Commodore PC64 sports an Intel dual core Atom 525, Nvidea Ion2 graphics, slot or tray load DVD (Bluray optional) 2or 4 GB DDR3 memory, 1TB Hdd, multi format card reader/writer and a custom professional mechanical keyboard using genuine Cherry switches, for that authentic IBM touch and click experience. It is suppose to be available in late 2010.

http://www.commodoreusa.net/PC64.html
Science

Graphene Can Be Made With Table Sugar 142

Posted by timothy from the let's-grid-it-on dept.
Zothecula writes with this snippet from Gizmag: "There's no doubt that the discovery of graphene is one sweet breakthrough. The remarkable material offers everything from faster, cooler electronics and cheaper lithium-ion batteries to faster DNA sequencing and single-atom transistors. Researchers at Rice University have made graphene even sweeter by developing a way to make pristine sheets of the one-atom-thick form of carbon from plain table sugar and other carbon-based substances. In another plus, the one-step process takes place at temperatures low enough to make the wonder material easy to manufacture."
Education

Shadow Scholar Details Student Cheating 542

Posted by Soulskill from the cloak-and-dagger-academia dept.
vortex2.71 writes "A 'shadow writer,' who lives on the East Coast, details how he makes a living writing papers for a custom-essay company and describes the extent of student cheating he has observed. In the course of editing his article, The Chronicle Of Higher Education reviewed correspondence he had with clients and some of the papers he had been paid to write. 'I've written toward a master's degree in cognitive psychology, a Ph.D. in sociology, and a handful of postgraduate credits in international diplomacy. I've worked on bachelor's degrees in hospitality, business administration, and accounting. I've written for courses in history, cinema, labor relations, pharmacology, theology, sports management, maritime security, airline services, sustainability, municipal budgeting, marketing, philosophy, ethics, Eastern religion, postmodern architecture, anthropology, literature, and public administration. I've attended three dozen online universities. I've completed 12 graduate theses of 50 pages or more. All for someone else.'"
Earth

The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater 250

Posted by Soulskill from the dent-in-the-world dept.
tetrahedrassface writes "When I was very young, my dad took me on a trip to his parents' farm. He wanted to show me 'The Crater.' We walked a long way through second generation hardwoods and finally stood on the rim of a hole that has no equal in this area. As I grew up, I became more interested in The Crater, and would always tell friends about it. It is roughly 1,200 feet across and 120 feet deep, and has a strange vibe about it. When you walk up to it, you feel like something really big happened here. Either the mother of all caves is down there, or a large object smashed into this place a long, long time ago. I bought aerial photos when I was twelve and later sent images from GIS to a geologist at a local university. He pretty much laughed me out of his office, saying that it was a sinkhole. He did wish me luck, however. It may be sinkhole. Who knows? Last week I borrowed a metal detector and went poking around, and have found the strangest shrapnel pieces I have ever seen. They are composed of a metal that reacts strongly to acids. The largest piece so far reacted with tap water and dish-washing detergent. My second trip today yielded lots of strange new pieces of metal, and hopefully, one day the truth will be known. Backyard science is so much fun. And who knows; if it is indeed a cave, maybe Cerberus resides there."
Music

Submission + - Help a Discerning Nerd Chose an MP3 Player 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: My Slashdotting brethren I find myself with a few extra dollars and am in the market for a new MP3 player. I readily admit that I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m turning to the collective wisdom for some insight. Sound quality is probably the major concern but otherwise I’m flexible on other features (as far as I can see everyone is making models with FM Radio now). I’ve stuck with Creative products up till now but the latest models seem a step backwards (slow response times and screen tearing make the cost unjustifiable) and I’d go in a different direction if so advised. The IPod Touch looked interesting, all those apps don’t you knows, but I’ve heard bad things about the sound fidelity and that has me worried. Any suggestions?
Google

Submission + - Nicaragua Raids Costa Rica, Blames Google Maps (searchengineland.com)

Submitted by Garabito
Garabito writes: An error on Google Maps has caused an international conflict in Central America.

A Nicaraguan military commander, relying on Google Maps, moved troops into an area near San Juan Lake along the border between his country and Costa Rica. The troops are accused of setting up camp there, taking down a Costa Rican flag and raising the Nicaraguan flag, doing work to clean up a nearby river, and dumping the sediment in Costa Rican territory.
Education

Proving 0.999... Is Equal To 1 1260

Posted by CmdrTaco from the nerds-like-math-right dept.
eldavojohn writes "Some of the juiciest parts of mathematics are the really simple statements that cause one to immediately pause and exclaim 'that can't be right!' But a recent 28 page paper in The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast (PDF) spends a great deal of time fielding questions by researchers who have explored this in depth and this seemingly impossibility is further explored in a brief history by Dev Gualtieri who presents the digit manipulation proof: Let a = 0.999... then we can multiply both sides by ten yielding 10a = 9.999... then subtracting a (which is 0.999...) from both sides we get 10a — a = 9.999... — 0.999... which reduces to 9a = 9 and thus a = 1. Mathematicians as far back as Euler have used various means to prove 0.999... = 1."
The Internet

Destroy Entire Websites With Asteroids Bookmarklet 65

Posted by Soulskill from the take-that,-ads-with-sound dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever visited a website and been so frustrated by the content, layout, or adverts that you'd love to destroy it? Well, now you can. If you head on over to the erkie GitHub page there's a JavaScript bookmarklet you can drag and add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then just visit any website and click the bookmarklet. An Asteroids-style ship should appear that you can move around with the arrow keys. Press space and it will start firing bullets which destroy page content."

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