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Data Storage

OpenSUSE May Be First Major Distro To Adopt Btrfs By Default 104

Posted by timothy from the slippery dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The openSUSE Linux distribution looks like it may be the first major Linux distribution to ship the Btrfs file-system by default. The openSUSE 13.1 release is due out in November and is still using EXT4 by default, but after that the developers are looking at having openSUSE using Btrfs by default on new installations. The Btrfs features to be enabled would be the ones the developers feel are data-safe."

Feed Engadget: Republic Wireless to offer Moto X for $299 off-contract, plans starting at $5 (engadget.com)

From feed by feedfeeder

Republic Wireless' low-cost, WiFi-driven phone service has proven tempting. The rapidly aging smartphones attached to that service, however? Not so much. The carrier will soon improve that device selection, as it has just revealed plans to sell the Moto X for $299 off-contract -- roughly half of what it costs at other providers. Service is also expanding beyond the original $19 plan (now limited to the Defy XT), with steep discounts if you don't depend on cellular service. Rely solely on WiFi, and you'll pay just $5 per month for unlimited access; a $10 plan will be available if you need cellular voice and text messaging. There will also be more traditional plans with unlimited 3G and 4G data that respectively cost $25 and $40 per month. Republic Wireless hasn't said when its extra-cheap Moto X will be available, but the new rates should take effect in November.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google

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Via: Laptop

Source: Republic Wireless


Software

New App Aims To Track Your Dreams 112

Posted by timothy from the best-entertainment-in-the-world dept.
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Liz Stinson reports that 'Shadow,' a new app recently launched on Kickstarter, will make recording and remembering your dreams simple. 'There's a lot going on in the subconscious mind that if you can start to pull out little details, you start to get a wider picture of yourself,' says designer Hunter Lee Soik. Most of the time, alarm clocks abruptly blast through your consciousness, ripping you from the depths of sleep. In contrast, Shadow's alarm system gradually transitions users through their hypnopompic state, that not-quite-asleep, not-quite-awake phase, which has be proven to help you better remember your dreams. Once you deactivate the alarm, users are prompted to record their dreams either via voice or typing text. The app then transcribes your dreams and stores them in an ever-growing digital dream journal that keeps track of your long-term dream and sleep patterns and helps you visualize patterns and make connections between your sleep patterns, daily life, and what you dream about. 'We're socialized to think of sleep as inactivity, but certain parts of our brain — the parts that handle things like problem solving and memory — are most active while we're sleeping,' says Soik. 'That's a huge amount of potential data we're forgetting each morning.'" I prefer a notebook on the nightstand, myself.
IOS

A Little-Heralded New iOS 7 Feature: Multipath TCP 172

Posted by timothy from the this-way-and-that dept.
Olivier Bonaventure writes "Besides changes in UI, multitasking and other features that the press discusses, iOS7 also includes support for Multipath TCP. Multipath TCP is a major extension to TCP that is able to use different interfaces for the same connection. Until now, Multipath TCP has been mainly used by researchers with a modified Linux kernel. iOS7 changes that, with millions of Multipath-TCP enabled devices that can switch from 3G to WiFi without losing existing TCP connections. This is not yet the case on iOS7, which currently seems to only enable it for SIRI, but other use cases will likely appear in the future."

Submission + - iPhone 5s slaughters quad-core rivals in performance tests despite dual-core CPU (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Falling into the speeds and feeds trap when discussing mobile devices can be tricky, especially when the specs that smartphone vendors share most frequently only paint a small piece of the picture. It’s easy to look at things like CPU cores and clockspeeds and make assumptions, but dozens of factors contribute to a smartphone’s performance. Case in point: when the 1.3GHz dual-core A7 processor powering the new iPhone 5s is lined up on paper against quad- and eight-core CPUs clocked at more than 2GHz being used by Apple’s rivals, one might assume that the beastly chipsets powering various Android phones would have the upper hand. As it turns out, however, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth...

Submission + - Education networks see massive traffic spikes from iOS 7 update (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Education networks Wednesday experienced massive spikes in wireless LAN and Internet traffic as thousands of students toting iPhones and iPads tried to download iOS 7, which became available at 1 p.m. EDT. How massive? At one basketball-mad southern university, the iOS update traffic surpassed the previous record peak: the NCAA college basketball tourney. “We were surprised,” said a senior network engineer there, speaking on condition of anonymity. Some locations were seeing WLAN traffic surge five times above normal levels. Internet traffic over the WAN pipe often doubled. Some IT professionals say they saw a high-level of failed update attempts, leading students to re-attempt the download right away. A tweet by one student complained that his university’s Internet connection was like a dialup link.

Submission + - NASA's Plutonium Problem Could End Deep-Space Exploration (wired.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: Wired reports, "Most of what humanity knows about the outer planets came back to Earth on plutonium power. Cassini’s ongoing exploration of Saturn, Galileo’s trip to Jupiter, Curiosity’s exploration of the surface of Mars, and the 2015 flyby of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft are all fueled by the stuff. The characteristics of this metal’s radioactive decay make it a super-fuel. ... there is no other viable option. Solar power is too weak, chemical batteries don’t last, nuclear fission systems are too heavy. So, we depend on plutonium-238, a fuel largely acquired as by-product of making nuclear weapons. But there’s a problem: We’ve almost run out. "We’ve got enough to last to the end of this decade. That’s it,” said Steve Johnson, a nuclear chemist at Idaho National Laboratory. And it’s not just the U.S. reserves that are in jeopardy. The entire planet’s stores are nearly depleted. ... what’s left has already been spoken for and then some. ... Political ignorance and shortsighted squabbling, along with false promises from Russia, and penny-wise management of NASA’s ever-thinning budget still stand in the way of a robust plutonium-238 production system. The result: Meaningful exploration of the solar system has been pushed to a cliff’s edge. One ambitious space mission could deplete remaining plutonium stockpiles ..."
Google

Those Magnificent Googlers and Their Flying Machines 53

Posted by timothy from the this-corner-of-the-sky dept.
theodp writes "To paraphrase Sean Parker: "Flying your fleet of planes using NASA-discounted fuel isn't cool, you know what's cool? Flying your fleet of planes using zero-cost fuel." Having piqued CEO Larry Page's interest with its solar and battery-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse is partnering with Google to promote its goal of circumnavigating the globe in 2015, a Green Movement take on Wiley Post's 1933 achievement."

Submission + - openSUSE Plans To Switch From EXT4 To Btrfs File-System (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The openSUSE Linux distribution looks like it may be the first major Linux distribution to ship the Btrfs file-system by default. The openSUSE 13.1 release is due out in November and is still using EXT4 by default, but after that the developers are looking at having openSUSE using Btrfs by default on new installations. The Btrfs features to be enabled would be the ones the developers feel are data-safe.

Submission + - Java Update Provides Whitelist Capability to Help Prevent 0-Day Hacks

Submitted by kylus
kylus writes: The Register is reporting that Oracle's new Java 7 update 40 release comes complete with a new 'Deployment Rule Set' capability which allows administrators to define which particular applets and Java Web Start applications ("Rich Internet Applications") are permitted to run on a given machine. Not a complete solution for the recent trend of Java hacks that have cropped up, but good news for enterprises that have to run this in their environment.
Japan

Visionary Nintendo President Yamauchi Dies 201

Posted by timothy from the value-added dept.
First time accepted submitter trickstyhobbit writes "Former Nintendo president and majority stockholder Hiroshi Yamauchi has died. He was president of the company for over 50 years and saw the development of the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube among other devices." His career at Nintendo is worth reading about.
Education

Massive Open Online School "FutureLearn" Opens 37

Posted by samzenpus from the go-learn-something dept.
judgecorp writes "Twenty-three British universities are contributing to a British provider of "massive open online courses" (MOOCs) by the name of FutureLearn. Backed by long-established expert, The Open University, which has been doing remote learning for 44 years, the British MOOC provider aims to compete with US outfits such as Khan Academy and Coursera."

Submission + - Hackers Offered Reward to Crack iPhone 5s Fingerprint Security (ibtimes.co.uk) 1

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: A couple of security researchers have set up a crowd-funded website to offer a reward to the first person who can "reliably and repeatedly break into an iPhone 5s by lifting prints.” The IsTouchIDHackedYet website shows 40 people offering everything from cash to Bitcoins, whiskey, wine and even a "dirty sex book" to the successful hacker. With the iPhone 5s launching tomorrow, there will be a lot of interest in whether or not the hackers can successfully crack Apple's Touch ID system.

Submission + - Visionary Nintendo President Yamauchi Dies (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by trickstyhobbit
trickstyhobbit writes: Former Nintendeo president and majority stockholder Hiroshi Yamauchi has died. He was president of the comapany for over 50 years and saw the development of the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube among other devices

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