Comment Re:Read some of the original Bell System docs, too (Score 1) 293
You already replied to Myself two posts up...
Comment Re:Read some of the original Bell System docs, too (Score 5, Informative) 293
Here's the index of the July-August 1978 issue where the whole series of articles appears. Better format than the search above.
Comment Read some of the original Bell System docs, too (Score 5, Informative) 293
Several issues of the Bell System Technical Journal tell the story of UNIX, in their own words. This one in particular is interesting.
NVIDIA's Tegra 3 Outruns Apple's A5 In First Benchmarks 390
MojoKid writes "NVIDIA's new Tegra 3 SoC (System on a Chip) has recently been released for performance reviews in the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Android tablet. Tegra 3 is comprised of a quad-core primary CPU complex with a 5th companion core for lower-end processing requirements and power management. The chip can scale up to 1.4GHz on a single core and 1.3GHz on up to four of its cores, while the companion core operates at 500MHz. It makes for a fairly impressive new tablet platform and offers performance that bests Apple's A5 dual-core processor in more than a few tests. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime with optional keyboard dock and NVIDIA's Tegra 3 is set to be available in volume sometime around December 19th."
Comment Re:Libraries at their core.... (Score 2, Insightful) 158
It's a valuable resource to a community, but so are parks and swimming pools. The library doesn't have those things attached to it, either, for obvious reasons of indoor air quality and such.
For years, I've described i3 Detroit specifically, and hackerspaces/makerspaces in general, as being "something like a library, but for beings with opposable thumbs in addition to eyes". Learning and making and tinkering is in our nature, and I think it enhances us as humans to exercise these abilities. The word "literacy" needs an analog for "skilled with tools and understanding of mechanical things", so we can talk about it.
I think everyone should have access to such a space, just like access to a library. But should they be under the same roof? No, I don't think so. My personal feeling is that libraries as dead-tree collections are obsolete, and that we should not be talking about expansion, but complete conversion. Librarians are cool and library science is interesting, but paper artifacts don't need to live in every community. Let's take the spirit of learning and access and freedom, which libraries embody, and give it new life with the valuable things that every-day people don't have in their homes, like books once were.
Comment Re:I'm sure they'll stop (Score 1) 189
They never said:
1. Unlimited speeds
2. Unlimited data
The term "unlimited" is from the AOL-centric dial-up days where you had a limited amount of connection hours.
Unlimited still means *unlimited connection time*.
It's been discussed before. Read your TOS and the fine print on advertising.
Comment Prime numbers? (Score 2) 234
Primes have no patterns, so why not just map sounds/beats to prime numbers?
Comment the nook has always done it. (Score 1) 150
I have two B&N nooks, and I've always been able to share any of the books I buy with friends.
There's a limitation (8 weeks or something), and you can't loan the same book to the same friend twice.
I can also "check out" books from my local library via their website, and I've done that before trips where I won't have good Internet coverage.
How does B&N get away with being able to do it, but Amazon can't?
Comment Just need self-signing (Score 1) 548
The solution is obvious: allow installation of your own root certificate. This is supposed to be for security, not vendor lock-in. Without this option, I simply don't believe their intent.
White House Responds To Software Patents Petition 276
New submitter obliv!on writes "As previously discussed, the White House has started to reply to petitions on their 'We the People' website. They've now replied to the petition asking for an end to software patents. The response mentions the America Invents Act and encourages the use of the USPTO's open implementation website. Quoting: 'There's a lot we can do through the new law to improve patent quality and to ensure that only true inventions are given patent protection. But it's important to note that the executive branch doesn't set the boundaries of what is patentable all by itself. Congress has set forth broad categories of inventions that are eligible for patent protection. The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have interpreted the statute to include some software-related inventions.' The response goes on to denote some open source and open data initiatives in government. It's nice to hear that the administration understands 'concerns that overly broad patents on software-based inventions may stifle the very innovative and creative open source software development community.' However, the overall response redirects action to the petitioners through participating in the open implementation site and contacting Congress, instead of a promise to prepare additional legislative measures for Congress to consider on behalf of the petitioners."
Comment Why not add sponsored results as an option? (Score 4, Interesting) 141
If they would let the developers choose to add sponsored results within the map (with a category to pick so as not to compete), maybe they can offset the price.
I wouldn't have a problem if my map showed Taco Bell or Red Box locations.
Of course, I guess the app or website could filter the sponsored results out, but I'm sure Google's smart spiders and human TOS verifiers could detect it and remove the free access. If only 0.35% of their API users are affected, it's not like they've got that much work to confirm proper TOS compliance.
Ask Slashdot: Learning Dart Development? 107
First time accepted submitter gmikeska07 writes "I have no computer science degree, but I took a Java class in college and greatly enjoyed it. I have some experience with Javascript and have done some perl programming as well. I would like to learn Google's forthcoming Dart language. My question is in three parts:
a) Is there any chance that if I self-teach Dart, I can get a job in development without a CS degree, once companies begin using the language? b) Is it really worth installing Virtual Studio as per the dartlang docs, or should I wait for a dedicated IDE like the rumored 'Brightly'? Alternatively, are there any solid open development environments that are adding support? c) Do you know of any books that are out or on the way that I could buy? What programming series do you guys recommend? Hopefully I can learn in my spare time, and if I can't get a job in development I can at least have fun with it, and maybe make a few libraries for the Dart community!"
Fukushima's Fallout Worse Than Thought 308
gbrumfiel writes "A new study posted for open peer-review suggests that the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi released far more radiation than the Japanese government initially estimated. The study [PDF] uses global radioisotope and meteorological data to calculate the size of the release from the plant. Nature News reports that, contrary to official claims, the model shows that fuel being stored in a pool at unit 4 released a significant amount of cesium-137, a long-lived contaminant that has spread across the countryside. It also says that some Xenon-133 may have been released early on in the accident, suggesting that the plant was already damaged before it was hit by a tsunami. Overall, it estimates that Fukushima released about twice as much cesium-137 as the government claims and half as much as Chernobyl."
EU Court Rules Against Exclusive TV Licensing Deal 115
First time accepted submitter r5r5 writes "In possibly a ground-breaking rule, European Court of Justice ruled against exclusive rights to broadcast sporting events within a single member state. The motivation is that such an agreement would enable each broadcaster to be granted absolute territorial exclusivity in the area covered by its licence and would therefore eliminate all competition between broadcasters in the field of those services and would thus partition the national markets in accordance with national borders. Could this be the beginning of dismounting the legacy system of exclusive distribution rights awarded to one company in one state?"
iPhone 4 Prototype Finder Gets Probation 334
think_nix writes "Brian Hogan, who found an iPhone 4 prototype last year which was sold to Gizmodo for $5,000, has been sentenced to one year of probation, 40 hours of community service, and a $250 fine. The District Attorney's office was asking for jailtime."
