248953
submission
ZeroMaker writes:
Apparently Apple filed for a patent for "Presentation of audible media in accommodation with external sound". With this system you would be able to hear external sounds while wearing your iPod earbuds but it also offers this tidbit. "...stored external sound can be presented with a full range of media playback features (e.g., forward, backward, pause, replay)". All the parts already exist someone just needs to make it easy to tivo (verb) your day. humm...
248297
submission
neapolitan writes:
Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian calls for Linux to develop a standard for ISV (Independent Software Vendors) to follow, so that their applications may work cross-platform. A quote from the entry, 'In Unix, we fragmented the applications and the No. 1 thing we need is applications. We need customers and the ISVs to have their footprints on the Linux platform.'
Is this certification something that is needed? It seems that an application written for Linux currently can be ported to multiple distributions without excess difficulty. Is this going to supplement the POSIX standard, or is this just a business / certification decision?
Full story at http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1303
247715
submission
jpolachak writes:
Question:
How badly do companies waste money due to political reasons? When viable solutions are proposed only to be declined to due "Executives" that have nothing to do with a project.
I am new to the "Corporate" big business world. I have been a government contractor for 8 years. However, already I am appalled at the things that go on. The company I work for as a Unix System Administrator is always complaining about budgets. Day in and day out someone is complaining about not having money. I know that this is universal. However, when I had a chance to implement a proposal for saving abou $10,000 on a project that is budgeted for $50,000. I was shot down due to political issues. The project was to upgrade and buy new desktops for all the Unix administrators(since we are running on machines almost 10 years old. Ultra 5's). The inital proposal was to go with Sun workstations with 24" Sun monitors. Totaling about $4700 per system w/ monitors. However, I then proposed to buy another brand monitor. Since the cost of another monitor would save about $1000 per persons workstation. I was told that if we changed the order to a non Sun product it would get declined. Due to another "VP" saying that we couldn't have such nice equiptment. However, if we spend the extra $1000 per monitor. Since it said Sun on it that the "VP" would not fuss over it. I was told this happens all the time.
So how often does this happen in other "Corporate" businesses? I ask because if I can make such a difference in just one small area. That must mean it is going on in other areas in the company. How does one get a point across that what is being done is an absolute waste and is inexcusable?
247691
submission
SkipF writes:
I would like to move my land line to a cell phone. But I don't want a puny portable phone dangling off its charger cord on my phone stand.
I've seen a couple of hacks where people modded a hand held cell into a desk phone chassis, but I don't think I'm up to that.
I've read stories about companies making a "Fixed Wireless Phone" for Africa / India and other places that have problems with infrastructure.
Has anyone ever worked with one of these? Are they available in the US? Can I use one with a standard Cell provider?
247381
submission
Rob writes:
Search giant Google has promised not to use its patent portfolio against the Linux
operating system and other open source projects by becoming the first end-user licensee of
the Open Invention Network. By joining the OIN Google has licensed over 100 patents from
the non-profit organization, which was formed in November 2005 by IBM, Novell, Red Hat,
Sony and Phillips to stockpile intellectual property for use as a defensive weapon.
"Linux plays a vital role at Google, and we're strongly committed to supporting the
Linux developer community," noted
the company's open source programs manager, Chris DiBona.
247319
submission
countach44 writes:
Gigabyte Technology, one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in Taiwan, hosted a factory tour at its facility, inviting journalists out to give them a brief overview of the company and explain how their factory worked.
243187
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Axion Racing was the first team to autonomously drive up to the top of Colorado's Pike Peak and now leads the way by finding cutting edge uses for the beleaguered Sony PS3. This two time DARPA Grand Challenge qualifier is the first racing team to implement Yellow Dog Linux and a Sony PlayStation game console to manage one of seven autonomous vehicle cameras.
242883
submission
leeet writes:
My family and I are faced with a big dilemma. I'm from a small town where the only thing IT-related is the local mom and pop computer shop and I'm barely being sarcastic. There is no innovation and most medium to large companies fulfill their IT needs from head office (i.e. if something breaks, they basically sent consultants for 1 or 2 days). Since I work in a semi-specialized field (IT Security), I had to move to a large city in order to make a "nice" living. Turns out that we're not sure if we're living a "nice living" after all: long commute time, away from our family, expensive housing and so on. I think everyone knows what I'm talking about.
So I'm faced with two choices:
1. Work in a large city, pay a high mortgage, commute forever and have no life whatsoever with my family. Not the best for my family.
2. Move to a nice remote area, work in some factory and struggle to make a decent living while never knowing when the factory will close (I'm also being barely sarcastic here). Not really better for my family.
So the best is of course a mixture of both options. I have some ideas in mind but they are very limited (like starting my own physical/Internet business, telecommuting for an IT company or simply re-orienting my career although this would be hard — like opening a restaurant, owning a bed & breakfast inn or something entirely different of what I do)
As far as telecommuting, I'm curious to know about real-life examples. What do you telecommuter people do? Sure some people telecommute, but is this "real"? Do some people really telecommute 365 days a year? Every single company that I worked for had a telecommute policy and we couldn't do it year round. We had perhaps 1 or 2 days per week at the maximum. My current company actually completely forbids telecommuting. So are there fields that are more open to telecommuters (perhaps fields where decentralization is well accepted — like insurance)?
Anyone willing to tell their own success story? How are you making enough money to support your family in a remote area? And perhaps more important, what are you doing exactly? I'm not looking for obvious ideas (i.e. do freelance programming — I already know about this) but rather for "think out of the box" ideas. Is anyone working from Hoot Owl, Oklahoma and is happy about it?
241919
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
PhysOrg has an interesting article about language development in babies that seems to have implications for the equivalent AI scenario.
If the snowball effect of vocabulary development is an unavoidable outcome that does not require hardwiring, then the AI process to achieve the same goal should be nearer than many have envisioned.
Furthermore the article begs the question "Why haven't we seen it yet?"