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Google

Submission + - Oracle v. Google: All-Out War or Awkward Flirting?

Submitted by msmoriarty
msmoriarty writes: It's about 24 hours after the news of Oracle suing Google broke, so the Web is now filled with follow-up coverage: Google responded by calling the lawsuit "baseless" and vowing to fight; James Gosling, who left Oracle earlier this year, hinted on his blog that he saw this coming; and it seems that everyone (except Simon Phipps) is commenting on everything from what might happen with the lawsuit to what this might mean for the future of Java as a whole, as well as how it could help Microsoft. So is the lawsuit an all-out attack on open source software? Or is Oracle, as a Forbes blogger put it, just an awkward teenager who doesn't quite know how to flirt with Google?
Censorship

Submission + - Splunk: Worst EULA ever (hacker.dk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Splunk, the loganalyzer tool praised by many in the unix world, seems to have a pretty bad EULA.
Since no one every reads the EULA, they can just stick anything in there and have you sign away basic rights. (like the right to your soul.)
The EULA prohibits publication of benchmarks or even "your evaluation of the software". You must let "auditors" (or as the article says, "Gestapo") into your company and (without them paying for your time) humor them as they go through anything they need.

All that and more can be found in the Splunk EULA, or highlights here: http://blog.hacker.dk/2010/08/splunk-license-review-at-what-price-do-you-run-this-syslog-analyzer/

Submission + - Marketing for Self-Employed Field Technicians? 1

Submitted by
HamSammy
HamSammy writes: "I have always built and messed around with PCs as a hobby, but a few months back, a few friends and co-workers started coming to me for advice and/or maintenance of their machines. After a few jobs that paid well, I decided to do whatever it takes in order to turn this hobby from an expensive pastime into a profitable job as a freelance repair tech so I can quit my current dead-end job and earn a decent living. I obtained some experience as an intern at my school, got some certifications, and recently decided that I was ready to put myself on the market. I've put an ad on Craigslist for my area, posted a few flyers in public places, such as parks and street corners, and I've even put some advertising on Facebook for my area as well. I've even "accidentally" dropped my business cards in grocery stores and at the mall. Unfortunately, I've had very few leads with my current methods, and I have almost no money for any significant ads going forward. Is there anyone who has been in a similar jam, who could help guys like me just get a foot in the door?"
Portables (Apple)

Journal Journal: The iPad is a SPORK! 18

Journal by tomhudson

The iPad rubbed me the wrong way. I admit it. There were a lot of reasons, from the lack of usb ports and flash card readers and web cams (all basic cheap-to-implement stuff that we take for granted nowadays) - to not being able to install whatever you want, but I finally figured out what the REAL reason is.

It's a damned SPORK!

HP

HP Reports Memory Resistor Breakthrough 141

Posted by samzenpus from the flip-the-switches dept.
andy1307 writes "Hewlett-Packard scientists on Thursday will report advances demonstrating significant progress in the design of memristors, or memory resistors. The researchers previously reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had devised a new method for storing and retrieving information from a vast three-dimensional array of memristors. The scheme could potentially free designers to stack thousands of switches on top of one another in a high-rise fashion, permitting a new class of ultra-dense computing devices even after two-dimensional scaling reaches fundamental limits."
Science

Submission + - Japanese Guts Are Made for Sushi (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by cremeglace
cremeglace writes: Americans don't have the guts for sushi. At least that's the implication of a new study, which finds that Japanese people harbor enzymes in their intestinal bacteria that help them digest seaweed enzymes that North Americans lack. What's more, Japanese may have first acquired these enzymes by eating bacteria that thrive on seaweed in the open ocean.

Submission + - Verizon CEO: "We Will Hunt Heavy Users Down" (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Zerocool3001
Zerocool3001 writes: "In an interview with WSJ editor Alan Murray,Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg talks about how the FCC's broadband access studies are wrong (and the US is definitely "number one, not even close"), how he had someone else stand in line for him Saturday to pick up his iPad, and how Verizon will soon hunt down, throttle and/or charge high-bandwidth users on its network."
Patents

Submission + - IBM Patents Optimization

Submitted by jamie(really)
jamie(really) writes: IBM appears to want to patent optimizing programs by trial and error, which in the history of programming has, of course, never been done. Certainly, all my optimizations have been the result of good planning. Well done IBM for coming up with this clever idea. What is claimed is:
  • A method for developing a computer program product, the method comprising:
    1. evaluating one or more refactoring actions to determine a performance attribute;
    2. associating the performance attribute with a refactoring action used in computer code; and
    3. undoing the refactoring action of the computer code based on the performance attribute.
  • The method of claim 1 wherein the undoing refactoring is performed when the performance attribute indicates a negative performance effect of the computer code.

Nice one IBM!

Security

Submission + - Online virus scanners for virus authors (h-online.com) 1

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Special online virus scanners that notify virus, spyware and malware authors if their programs have been detected by commercial anti-virus and anti-malware tools are now available online. Unlike other online services, such as VirusTotal, scan4you.biz and AVcheck.ru help aid malware authors and purveyors.

Previously malware authors used to use free services like VirusTotal to see if their pests would be detected. This, however, has stopped as the service now sends reports of the scanned files directly to participating commercial anti-virus vendors where they are tested and then destroyed. New sites like scan4you.biz and AVcheck.ru promise not to send this information to anti-virus companies.

As expected, the services are not free. Scan4You, for example, charges $0.15 per test or a monthly fee of $25. Users can even configure automatic checks to take place at regular intervals – anywhere from 1 to 24 hours.

H-Online : http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Online-virus-scanners-for-virus-authors-971320.html

Submission + - Programming language Extinction 1

Submitted by Stonefish
Stonefish writes: Is anyone aware of any studies or statistics which relate to the likelihood of programming language extinction from a support point of view? In an organisation that I work for there are two key enterprise applications, one written in C++ and the other written in VB6 with C# additions. The C++ application remains well supported however the VB6 application is looking at a total rewrite in c#. The lifetime of the application will be at least 15 years so the question is has anyone done any research on language lifetimes and their applicability to the development and support of applications. Is an open language such as C or C++ more likely to survive than c#?
Power

Submission + - Bill Gates May Build Small Nuclear Reactor

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that TerraPower, an energy start-up backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is in discussions with Toshiba Corp. to develop a small-scale nuclear reactor that would represent a long-term bet to make nuclear power safer and cheaper. Toshiba confirmed it is in preliminary discussions with TerraPower, a unit of Intellectual Ventures, a patent-holding concern partially funded by Gates and Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori says the two sides are talking about how they could collaborate on nuclear technology although discussions are still in early stages and that nothing has been decided on investment or development. TerraPower has publicly said its Traveling Wave Reactor could run for decades on depleted uranium without refueling (PDF) or removing spent fuel from the device. The reactor, the company has said, could be safer, cheaper and more socially acceptable than today's reactors. Gates's recent focus on nuclear power has been fueled by an interest in developing new power systems for developing countries where he says that new energy solutions are needed to combat climate change. Terrapower faces a lengthy, multi-year process to get its “traveling wave” reactor concept reviewed by regulators but if TerraPower succeeds in advancing its plans, it could provide an alternative blueprint for the nuclear industry at a time when new reactors may be coming online."

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