Comment absolute value? (Score 3, Insightful) 168
Perhaps some of the knowledge broadcast has a negative value, so the absolute value of the knowledge broadcast is high, but the net information distributed is much smaller?
Comment Re:This is research? (Score 1) 81
Very few studies of software as it is and as it runs.
Try http://www.research.ibm.com/people/n/nickmitchell/publications/lcsd2005.pdf to a paper called "Diary of a Datum" and http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1297046 to another paper called "The causes of bloat, the limits of health". Both describe studies of large running applications in situ.
Full disclosure - I work for IBM Research and these papers were by folks in my department.
Comment Please reply to this /. post by... (Score 1) 252
owl
Comment Babbage Difference Engine at the CHM (Score 1) 127
It isn't the analytical engine, but it works ... today ... and can be seen at the Computer History Museum in the SF Bay Area. http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/
Comment ATM fees? (Score 1) 482
Will the gold ATM charge fees in bars of silver?
Comment Re:why not put something on there? (Score 1) 118
"What would you want to do with them?"
Tax them? Make them pay a toll?
Comment Re:Oh puh-leeze. (Score 1) 378
mod parent up.
It is easy for everyone to see and experience innovation in the consumer space, especially websites and consumer electronics. Innovation in back-end or enterprise systems can be very important to the profitability of a company, to the success of a government project, or to the reliability of the online services that support those consumer devices. Successful research and development arms of companies enhance and extend their parent business's model...and yes, occasionally they create new business for the parent to enter. Companies that don't sell directly to consumers still need to innovate to survive.
Comment Re:So serious (Score 1) 284
... and if you were really a program, would you say anything different?
Comment Re:So serious (Score 2, Funny) 284
or are you?
ThinkGeek's Best Ever Cease-and-Desist Letter 264
ThinkGeek, sister company to Slashdot, received a meticulously researched (except on one point) 12-page cease-and-desist letter from the National Pork Board. What had the meat lobbyists up in arms was an April Fools product from the TG catalog: Radiant Farms Canned Unicorn Meat, whose copy included the line "the new white meat." The NPB figured this was confusingly similar to their trademarked "the other white meat" (an advertising slogan the pork industry is considering retiring anyway). Geeknet, parent company of Thinkgeek and Slashdot, issued a press release apologizing for any confusion; you can read it on ThinkGeek's site (PDF), because the newswires refused to distribute it for some reason. Oh, and ThinkGeek has no intention of taking down the protected parody.
Submission + - GoF wins SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award (sigsoft.org)
bth writes: The 2010 SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award was given to the "Gang of Four" (Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides [posthumously]) for "Design Patterns". This award is presented to the individuals who have made significant and lasting research contributions to the theory or practice of software engineering.
Comment Re:Adieu, Martin (Score 2, Informative) 96
I agree...his Scientific American articles brought out all the magic in mathematics.
In Argentina, Law Against Plagiarism Plagiarized 165
An anonymous reader writes "An Argentinian politician who introduced a law to send plagiarists to jail for three to eight years appears to have plagiarized the explanation of his bill directly from Wikipedia. The bulk of his explanation is three paragraphs that are taken, verbatim, from Wikipedia, without acknowledgment."
FCC Allows Blocking of Set-Top Box Outputs 288
bth writes with this excerpt of an AP story as carried by Yahoo: "Federal regulators are endorsing Hollywood's efforts to let cable and satellite TV companies turn off output connections on the back of set-top boxes to prevent illegal copying of movies. ... In its decision Friday, the agency stressed that its waiver includes several important conditions, including limits on how long studios can use the blocking technology. The FCC said the technology cannot be used on a particular movie once it is out on DVD or Blu-ray, or after 90 days from the time it is first used on that movie, whichever comes first."
Submission + - ACM SIGSOFT announces major awards (sigsoft.org)
bth writes: The 2010 SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award was given to Mary Lou Soffa for her innumerable contributions to the field. The 2010 SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award was given to the "Gang of Four" (Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides) for "Design Patterns". Finally, the 2010 SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award was given to Leon J. Osterweil.
