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Submission + - Mozilla Desktop Environment

Submitted by

Andreas

on Monday March 19, 2007 @10:54AM

Andreas writes: "A discussion at mozilla.dev.planning list has given the birth to the idea of a Mozilla Desktop Environment. This sure sounds like a possibility for Mozilla as it already has many of the applications needed and the company is more than well familiar with XUL, which is a more than potent language to build a Desktop Environment upon. By building a desktop environment Mozilla doesn't have to worry about drivers (and such) and can choose from a variety of kernels, and still be in the center of attention. Mozilla has to expand some of the applications for this to work though, like adding local file management with Firefox."

Submission + - "The Secret" Tested

Submitted by

PhilBowermaster

on Monday March 19, 2007 @10:12AM

PhilBowermaster writes: "As of this morning, The Secret is the #2 ranked book on Amazon.com, lagging behind only the new Harry Potter. As featured recently on Oprah and spoofed even more recently on SNL, The Secret purports to reveal the long-guarded principle that lies behind all human achievement.

Here we assert that a widespread test of The Secret has already taken place, with somewhat disappointing results."

Submission + - Why People Choose Gmail Over Live Mail

Submitted by FredaJ77 on Monday March 19, 2007 @10:09AM

FredaJ77 writes: This story has a good overview as to why Gmail is so much more successful than Windows Live Mail. Certainly this isn't to say that Gmail has more users. Gmail simply has the more passionate users. Those who use Windows Live Mail likely have the account as their "secondary" or "spam" account. Gmail users are more likely to be email-for-life user.

"Although usually a fan of Microsoft products, I'm hugely dissapointed with Windows Live Mail, and why after 7 years of being a Hotmail user, I finally switched to Gmail..."

Originally found on Digg.

Submission + - Once Popular ICQ Instant Messenger Faltering

Submitted by

Steve McMaster

on Friday March 16, 2007 @02:01PM

Steve McMaster writes: "Hundreds of ICQ users have been attempting to connect to their ICQ accounts in the last month only to discover their passwords are being rejected as incorrect. Batches of corrupted passwords appear to be occurring regularly, hinting at a serious fault with the ICQ system. Furthermore, attempts to retrieve passwords from the automatic retrieval site are also being thwarted, with the process faltering at various stages, suggesting user details may have become corrupted. AOL, who currently maintain the ICQ Network, has ceased to provide any technical support, meaning affected users appear to be stranded for options. With older, and therefore shorter, ICQ numbers a popular commodity on eBay auctions, rumours of an ICQ security flaw being discovered are rife amongst community ICQ support groups. However the dramatic increase in incidences of users receiving the password error in recent weeks suggests a more general problem with the ICQ servers which store user information. Once the premier instant messenger client for the Internet, ICQ has fallen behind competitors such as MSN Messenger in recent years due to a poor business structure and difficulty competing with large companies such as Microsoft. The introduction of advertising into the ICQ product was not popular, and ICQ has since struggled to be viable as a profitable product. The author suggests perhaps it is time for those still using ICQ to move to other, more supported clients, to avoid being caught out like he did!"

Submission + - Why you can't buy a naked PC!

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Friday March 16, 2007 @01:25PM

ZDOne writes: "Another great piece from ZDNet — this time looking at the issue of naked PCs. ZDNet UK phoned around all the major PC vendors and not one of them would sell a machine without Windows on it! http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,3928 6228,00.htm.

IT professionals are being forced to adopt Microsoft's operating systems — even if they tell their PC supplier they want a system free of Microsoft software.

ZDNet: I'm wondering whether you supply notebooks without Windows software.

Acer: I'm afraid not, no.

ZDNet:No? Nothing at all?

Acer: Although we can do the refund for the operating system as per the OEM licensing."

Submission + - Ballmer Says Google Is "Insane"

Submitted by

eldavojohn

on Friday March 16, 2007 @08:09AM

eldavojohn writes: "Steve Ballmer spoke a little bit about Google, commenting that it's pace of employee growth is "insane," and the company has few successful businesses outside of Internet search and advertising. Google's current number of employees is nearly doubling each year."

Submission + - Helvetica: the movie

Submitted by roguelike on Thursday March 15, 2007 @11:07AM

roguelike writes: According to the blurb, "Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives." It finally premiered on the 13th at SXSW, and has received excellent reviews.

Submission + - What Game Companies Want From Graduates

Submitted by simoniker on Thursday March 15, 2007 @10:05AM

simoniker writes: Game education site Game Career Guide has a new feature talking to recruiters from notable game companies like EA, Insomniac Games, and THQ about the best university courses and qualifications for getting hired to be a game developer. In it, EA's Colleen McCreary notes that she feels "not all students are suited for the traditional academic experience and it's nice for those students to have options," though adds that EA encourages students "to pursue more traditional academic degrees that allow for an emphasis on game development." She also comments of the rise of some TV-advertised mass market 'game schools': "Our concern with for-profit institutions is that students may not learn the fundamental the tools for understanding and solving complex issues," she says. "We are most likely to hire someone who has a BFA or MFA from a traditional art college and a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science for our entry level artist and software engineer positions."

Submission + - C# vs VB in the .Net Environment

Submitted by groslyunderpaid on Wednesday March 14, 2007 @07:43PM

groslyunderpaid writes: I work in a 75 employee company. We build our own Web Applications for in house use, and some of them are also presented on a company extranet for 400 Agents to use.

We are a Microsoft shop, and until now have been strictly VB .Net (using Visual Studio .Net 2003 w/ .Net 1.1).

The old web developers have left the company and new blood has been hired. The new guys are pleading for the ability to use C# instead of VB.

What are the advantages one language has over the other, and vice versa? For what reasons would you want to program in one instead of the other, or NOT program in one as opposed to the other? Are there any additional security concerns from a Systems Administrator position when allowing one over the other?

Submission + - Orson Scott Card Joins Global Warming Debate

Submitted by

SeaDour

on Wednesday March 14, 2007 @05:43PM

SeaDour writes: "Science-fiction author Orson Scott Card takes a critical (and rather lengthy) look at a report distributed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN agency. Nearly everyone heard about that on the news back in 1999 — the "hockey stick" report that appeared to show the Earth is in its warmest period over the last 1,000 years. Through some detective work, a researcher found the original FORTRAN program which crunched the numbers and discovered that the report used falsified data sets, adding more doubt to the already highly controversial findings. In fact, punching random numbers into the program "magically" produced the same exact graph every time. It seems the company that produced the report had a final result in mind when they began calculating their equations, and did whatever they possibly could to get that result even if the actual data never lined up. Is fair science even possible when the governments and organizations that give researchers their grants demand certain results that line up with their opinions?"

Submission + - If you could do it all over, would you choose IT?

Submitted by on Wednesday March 14, 2007 @04:58PM

An anonymous reader writes: Given some of the complaints against IT and software as careers (long hours, offshoring, visa workers, ageism, boring projects, etc...), what would you do differently if you could do it all over again? Knowing what you know now, would you choose the same college major and the same career?

Submission + - More woes for M$ - NIST don't want Vista either

Submitted by RockDoctor on Wednesday March 14, 2007 @12:43PM

RockDoctor writes: Dark Reading is reporting that technical managers at the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (whose title is unusually descriptive for a quango) are going to hold a meeting in mid-April where "According to the formal agenda for the meeting, NIST technology workers will attend a session entitled "Windows Vista Security" to discuss "the current ban of this operating system on NIST networks."
That's right folks — the "standard" operating system for computers these days (if you believe what the adverts say) is already banned by the people who set the standards.

You've almost got to feel sorry for them. Almost.

Submission + - New York Times Blasts Gore Over Warming

Submitted by

Rei

on Tuesday March 13, 2007 @11:52AM

Rei writes: "There has been a lot of buzz today over Al Gore: in the wake of revelations that his Tennessee mansion uses 12 to 20 times more energy than usual comes an assault in the New York Times over the accuracy of his film, "An Inconvenient Truth". The article's author quotes a number of scientists who are critical of some of his statements, and describe the film as "alarmism". Quick to the counterpunch is RealClimate.org, which has published a harsh rebuttal suggesting habitual dishonesty and deception of readers on the part of the article's author."

Submission + - Phishers target CareerBuilder.com users

Submitted by

bednarz

on Monday March 12, 2007 @03:23PM

bednarz writes: "There's a new phishing technique making waves. Attackers are launching targeted phishing scams from the job-related site CareerBuilder.com, according to one network manager who says his engineering firm recently had to combat phishing techniques that use the lure of phony online resumes. The way it works is an attacker sends e-mails to managers seeking job applicants, asking them in a cover letter to visit a Web site to view a resume provided via a link. If a manager clicks on the link, the Web site then attempts to execute a backdoor Trojan to compromise the machine. Network World has the story: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/031207-phish ing-careerbuilder.html"

Submission + - What Programming Languages Should You Know?

Submitted by nitsudima on Monday March 12, 2007 @01:31PM

nitsudima writes: David Chisnall posits that the more programming languages you know, the better. The point is not to stuff your head with language rules. Rather, he explains how being able to read multiple languages, even if you never code in them, can help you to select the best possible tool for each coding need — and understand the limitations of the tools you're using.

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