enharmonix - Slashdot User

Submission + - Microsoft talks about the "Apple Tax" (technologizer.com)

Submitted by

Harry

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @11:13AM

Harry writes: "In anticipation of Apple announcements at today's Macworld Expo keynote, Microsoft is contacting journalists to argue that Apple "imposes" an "Apple tax" on its customers in the form of high prices for Macs, and that it's particularly unfair in a recession. But Apple can't impose anything on anyone--all it can do is to try to convince consumers that its products are worth the price asked. And while there's a similar price premium for many Windows-based machines that share some of Apple's focus on industrial design, you won't find Microsoft speaking of a "Sony tax" or "Voodoo Tax.""

Submission + - Why Businesses Are Embracing Macs (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @11:05AM

snydeq writes: "The recent trend toward allowing users to manage their own PCs has provided Mac OS X further inroads into business environments, InfoWorld reports. According to a recent IT survey, 23 percent of respondents had at least 30 Macs in their businesses, 12 percent had at least 4,000 Macs — and 68 percent said they would let users choose Macs as their work PCs in the next year. Driven by several factors — Apple's conversion to Intel, several virtualization options to run Windows on the Mac OS, the rise of the Web among corporate applications, among them — IT's further acceptance of the Mac in business marks a significant change in corporate IT: 'an increased willingness to let down the fortress gates and let employees use the systems they feel most productive with,' the article reports."

Submission + - Personal Firewall for Windows now on SourceForge (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by

Florian Eichelberger

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @10:56AM

Florian Eichelberger writes: "Usec.at , a small Austrian platform of security software developers
decided to open-source an usable alpha version of their windows personal
firewall named ZID.

As of now it seems to be the only, readily usable open-source Windows Personal
Firewall around already featuring a basic set of functions and a GUI
usable even for not-so-savvy-users and some ideas we would like to get
help developing them.
We hope to lay a modular foundation for windows personal firewall
software and
protection as the netfilter framework does for linux.

You need to protect the weary , not the strong and as for a firewall, an
open-source firewall with decent functionality for all the existing
Windows XP, Windows 2000 , and maybe a lot others comes in handy."

Submission + - SPAM: DTV Coupon Program Out of Money

Submitted by Thelasko on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @10:46AM

Thelasko writes: It appears that the U.S. Government's digital converter box program is running out of money. If you sign up after the program runs out of money, you will receive your voucher if the program receives more funding. Older analog televisions will no longer work without a converter box after February 17.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Israel, Palestine Wage Web War

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @10:33AM

An anonymous reader writes: A war has erupted on the Internet between Israel and Palestine, alongside the war being fought on the ground in Gaza. A new report claims that a group called the "DNS Team" has defaced an Israeli Website, with anti-Israel graphical images — one in a series of instances of "e-vandalism." This sort of e-vandalism, says the author, is not only an inconvenience for Webmasters, but many of the images contain malware links and "redirects or flash links to Jihadist forums or blogs." However, while the Jihadist forums are registered in Saudi Arabia, they are hosted by companies like Layered Tech and SoftLayer in Plano, Texas.

Submission + - The 60 Hottest Games of 2009 (gameplayer.com.au) 2

Submitted by

SlappingOysters

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @07:45AM

SlappingOysters writes: "With 2009 now upon us, gameplayer has taken an extensive look at what lies ahead in gaming and what are the hottest titles of the next twelve months. For ease of reading, they have broken the list into six formats (PC, X360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP) and you can head directly to whichever is your preferred option. They have also looked into the hottest PC hardware configurations for the beginning of 2009 in three separate budget categories."

Submission + - Using your Blackberry as a modem on Linux (ostatic.com)

Submitted by ruphus13 on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @06:58AM

ruphus13 writes: Now, the suits and the geeks can unite — Barry allows Blackberries to serve as modems for Linux machines. From the news post, "Barry, created by open source software vendor Net Direct, lets you not only sync your contacts and calendar but also use your smartphone as a computer modem. Sure, it's not as fast as T1 or cable, but you can't beat it if you're stuck somewhere with no Internet access. Currently, there are packages available for Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, and Fedora (although syncing is not supported on Fedora 9). Most older BlackBerrys work just fine with Barry, but the newest generation of devices — the Storm and Bold — are not yet fully supported."

Submission + - Things preventing FOSS end-user adoption (ostatic.com)

Submitted by ruphus13 on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @06:51AM

ruphus13 writes: Computers are complex machines that permeate pretty much all functions in life. Yet, when they do fail, there is immense frustration. A widely held belief is that having a 'support contract' is what comforts users when dealing with Proprietary Source software, and the 'do-it-yourself' aspect of FOSS scares users away. This, coupled with the belief that 'computers should just work' might not be beneficial for FOSS adoption. From the article, "It's not realistic to expect every person with a computer to hunt down the answers as to why applications, or hardware, aren't working as they should. If they like to look under the hood to discover why themselves, they should be able to — they shouldn't be required to...I could see a viable market opening for independent Linux/open source tech support services. These sorts of services have traditionally fallen on LUGs, but would probably best work as a commercial venture just from the time investment needed to launch and tend to a service such as this. But before this happens, there's a real need for software developers and end-users to come to terms that not everything "just works" every last time — and this isn't necessarily a failing of the code, the hardware, or a personal bias of the machine against the user."

Submission + - Brown Dwarfs Don't Hang Out With Stars (spacefellowship.com)

Submitted by

Toren Altair

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @05:23AM

Toren Altair writes: "Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called "brown dwarf desert" (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the universe.

The Hubble survey, taken with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), provide strong statistics pointing to the fact that brown dwarfs do not exist around even the least massive stars. "If mass ratio was the driving factor we would expect to find more brown dwarfs around small red stars than around solar type stars," says Dieterich."

Submission + - Logitech to cut over 1,000 jobs (hexus.net)

Submitted by

Steve Kerrison

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @05:14AM

Steve Kerrison writes: "Anticipating a worsening economy the world over, Logitech is bracing itself for the ongoing storm by culling 15% of its 9,000 strong workforce. This comes at a time when some groups are asserting that lay-offs should be a last resort, with hidden costs involved in letting staff go. HEXUS.channel reports that "[Logitech] has also withdrawn its Fiscal Year 2009 growth targets for sales and operating income. Not revised, withdrawn. It plans to update investors on 20th Jan." A statement made in a press release by the company makes confident remarks about the future of the firm, but that'll be little consolation for those left jobless."

Submission + - Adobe, Intel to Extend Flash to TVs (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

ranganath

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @02:33AM

ranganath writes: "Adobe and Intel will collaborate to develop the porting and optimizing of Adobe Flash technology for the Intel Media Processor CE 3100. This move is expected to provide consumers with a more seamless Web-based and video viewing experiences through advanced Intel-based cable set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, digital TVs and retail connected AV devices. The high-definition capabilities of the Adobe Flash Platform, together with the Intel Media Processor CE 3100 — the first in a new family of purpose-built Intel System on Chips (SoCs) for CE devices — creates an entertainment hub capable of delivering rich Web content and Adobe Flash based applications to Internet-connected CE devices."

Submission + - Linux Terminals for school kids in hilly villages (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by

Bibek Paudel

on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @02:02AM

Bibek Paudel writes: "The BBC carries a story on the success of the E-Library project based on the Linux Terminal Server Project in the schools of remote hilly villages of Nepal. Started by Help Nepal Network (HeNN) and supported by Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP, the organization behind NepaLinux) and the Free/Open Source Software Community of Nepal (FOSS Nepal), students from Nepal's top engineering schools volunteer for the project.

"Much of the country is remote and accessible only on foot, and many of its people have never glimpsed a computer, let alone touched one. Working with other organisations, including Save the Children-Norway, HeNN is setting up the libraries with the use of what is called the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). This is a free and open-source (accessible to everyone) package which connects one powerful central server in the school, using the Linux operating system, to a number of diskless low-end computers. When linked to the server, each computer receives a full Linux desktop.

LTSP is seen as a cost-effective, power-saving and durable technology, not only in schools but also in other sectors. What's more, it is also virtually free of tampering and computer viruses — and the Linux software developed by Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, a charitable educational library based in Kathmandu, is being provided free of cost.

And its appeal is growing. In front of the little shops on the rough village streets, men gather to play cards and drink tea. But even they have developed a fascination for the computer. So the school has arranged some computer classes for them, too."

The BBC further writes, "Before this, anyone wanting access to computers or sizeable shops would have to walk two hours and drive two more, so the system has proved highly significant for local pupils. Most of the places where E-libraries have been set up so far are in the hills."

"Kamal Prasad Sharma, aged 12, a student at Saraswati Secondary School in a small village not far from Kathmandu, was afraid when he saw a computer for the first time.""

Submission + - What would you propose as policies if you can?

Submitted by 2Bits on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @01:36AM

2Bits writes: I got a chance to write a policies proposal to the government of a large city, to be presented during a large conference. The city is very large, with a population of 18 millions. It is in rapid development, but the government wants to plan for the next 20 years. The proposal should have a few goals:

How to foster an innovative environment that can nurture entrepreneurs and startups, especially startups in high-tech with big potential of value add?
How to create a city where the best talents in the world want to live in?
How to build a business environment where everyone can participate, in order to avoid (or enlarge) the gap between the haves and have-nots?
How to build a green and clean city?

I am as geek as most Slashdotters, with a libertarian incline. While I believe that everyone should take care of him/herself, but as someone coming from a poor family, social justice and balance are also important, and I believe that everyone should be given a chance.

The proposal might never get implemented, but if you get a chance, what would you propose? What kind of city would like to live in, if you can take part in designing it?

Submission + - Volition talks Red Faction: Guerrilla (gameplayer.com.au)

Submitted by

Parz

on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:44PM

Parz writes: "Upcoming PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 game Red Faction: Guerrilla — the third game in the series — is set to raise the bar on destructible environments with an all new physics driven game engine. Gameplayer recently spoke in-depth with the game's producer Rick White about what the new Red Engine can achieve, how it influences the gameplay and much more. The site was also given an opportunity to get an early play of the game and have detailed its experience in a hands-on feature alongside some new and exciting screenshots."

Submission + - Amazon Offers Video On Demand via Roku Digital Vid

Submitted by on Monday January 05, 2009 @04:34PM

An anonymous reader writes: Amazon today announced that it will offer customers the ability to instantly purchase, rent and watch digital movies and TV episodes from its popular video service, Amazon Video On Demand, via the Roku Digital Video Player. Beginning in early 2009, the Roku Player, which currently supports only the Netflix service, will offer access to Amazon Video On Demand's more than 40,000 commercial-free movies and television shows, enabling Roku customers for the first time to watch new release movie titles instantly.

Slashdot Top Deals