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Windows

Submission + - ComputerWorld, "Linux will Crush Windows 7" (computerworld.com) 2

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "ComputerWorld says GNU/Linux is dancing on Vista's grave and will "crush" Windows 7.

All the major computer vendors are now selling at least one PC, laptop or netbook with Linux. Many, if not most, PCs and netbooks will have SplashTop Linux soldiered right on their motherboard in 2009. Netbooks, the new hot computer model, often have Linux running on them. [Android and PlayStation 3 are mentioned] Windows' market share has actually dropped below 90% of the desktop market.

I didn't see a one [Windows 7 feature besides UAC] that's also not available on Linux. ... And, of course, Linux remains far more secure and stable than any version of Windows ever has been or will be. ... Windows 7 is just warmed over Vista. It's great that with 7 Vista may actually be usable now, but it's Linux, not Windows, that's leading the way to the future of the desktop.

It should also be noted that PC Makers don't expect Windows 7 to drive sales and have little positive inducement to play along with M$. They see the overall desktop market contracting between 2 and 8% and are struggling to stand out in a crowded market. Netbooks and other economy devices that just work will continue to bite into M$ profits and mindshare. Retailers that know what's good for them won't be stuffed. Windows 7 does not stand a chance."
Government

Submission + - Are Bush Admin Computers a Crime Scene?

Submitted by nandemoari
nandemoari writes: David Gewirtz, author of 'Where Have All the Emails Gone?' reportedly wrote an open letter to President-elect Obama asking that his administration please treat the White House computers like crime scene evidence. By failing to preserve official emails, the Bush White House has technically committed a federal crime by violating the Presidential Records Act and The Federal Records Act. The letter goes on to note that any computers left behind — not removed like they were by President George H.W. Bush's team — could contain important information. Any of the computers or computer parts, such as hard drives and other media like flash and thumb drives, may contain traces of those famous missing white house emails.

Feed Engadget: App Store hits 500 million downloads: thanks, iFart (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Wowsers, that little App Store side project Apple has going on sure doesn't seem to be settling down. After launching in July of '08 and hitting 100 million downloads in September, the App Store has just crossed the 500 million download mark -- a mere six months after opening. Compare that to the iTunes Music Store, which took two whole years to cross the 500 million mark, though to be fair we have little idea of the paid to free ratio of app downloads. There are over 15,000 apps in the App Store currently, and sure, 14,500 of them are crap, with the rest being tip calculators, but we gotta hand it to Apple for pretty much unprecedented success in the mobile download space -- now let us download SNES emulators!

[Thanks, Richard]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

App Store hits 500 million downloads: thanks, iFart originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Music

Journal Journal: The $64,000 turntable

Journal by smooth wombat
Listen up audiophiles, have I got a product for you. For only $64,000, you can get a four-arm, handcrafted turntable. Made from aluminum, bronze and stainless steel, a technician will come to your location to assemble, install and calibrate your new toy. It will even have your name engraved on it!
Portables

Submission + - Restroom Habits While at Work

Submitted by
sholsinger
sholsinger writes: "Many people need to retreat throughout the day and find some period for self reflection, or just perhaps a moment away from it all. Many take this time while in the restroom. Perhaps that is why it is named as such. What is your favorite thing to do while praying to the porcelain deity?

Suggested options include:
  • Read the Newspaper,
  • Text Message,
  • Read Email on my Mobile Device,
  • Clear Spam From "Cron Daemon" (on my Mobile Device),
  • Game on my Mobile Device,
  • Play Battlesh*!s,
  • Just Take Care of Business,
  • or Other.
"
Government

Submission + - Judge Orders Search Of All White House Computers

Submitted by
PhreakOfTime
PhreakOfTime writes: "The federal magistrate judge overseeing the White House e-mail litigation today said the issue had reached "true emergency conditions" with only "two business days before the new President takes office" and that "the importance of preserving the e-mails cannot be exaggerated," according to the court's Memorandum Opinion issued this morning along with an Order and posted on the National Security Archive website, www.nsarchive.org.

Magistrate Judge John Facciola formally ordered the White House to search all Executive Office of the President components' workstations and portable media for possibly missing e-mail — enforcing yesterday's order from U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy — after government lawyers at a hearing yesterday represented that they would only search those EOP components that create federal agency records and leave out offices that create presidential records."
Databases

Submission + - Ingenix scandal and Database audit practices

Submitted by djschwarz
djschwarz writes: UnitedHealth Group settles class-action suit over database, Ingenix and agrees to pay $350 million over 'rigged' information.

The class-action lawsuit alleged UnitedHealth's database, Ingenix, was used to underpay doctors and "saddle consumers with too much of the cost of out-of-network health care,"

Having spent a sizable portion of my career in an around the medical industry, this does not surprise me. Insurance companies are in the business to make money. There are 10s of thousands of procedure codes (CPT) and 10s of thousands of diagnosis codes (ICD) that are used to "code" each patient visit. There are complicated adjudication rules to help insurance companies deny payment of claims or low-ball providers.

Ingenix scandal points to need for database auditors

The insurance companies, of course deny any wrong doing, but I am sure that they noticed an increase of revenue do to the use of Ingenix systems and other software used to pay claims.

Who's responsibility is it to audit these databases and what should be done?
Medicine

Submission + - Open-plan offices bad for your health

Submitted by
hcdejong
hcdejong writes: "Australian researchers have found evidence that working in an open plan office could be a health hazard. Dr. Vinesh Oommen from Queensland's University of Technology and colleagues conducted a large-scale review on existing research regarding open-plan offices and how they affect employees. From the abstract:

Research evidence shows that employees face a multitude of problems such as the loss of privacy, loss of identity, low work productivity, various health issues, overstimulation and low job satisfaction when working in an open plan work environment. Conclusion: Managers need to have a better understanding of open plan work environments before embracing such workplace designs. A multidisciplinary approach is recommended when decisions are being made in relation to which type of environment is better suited to the requirements of their employees as this has an impact on workforce productivity and job satisfaction.

"
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Home grown data center, anyone ?

Submitted by figona
figona writes: I have a quad core (AMD), 2TB disk space , 8 GB RAM , Fedora 8 machine running few services like mysql, jboss and other proprietary services. The intent is to make the system usable over internet and hence I have a static IP from my ISP, with a reasonably reliable link. I want to know that apart from power back up and application availability/reliability, what all should I be worried about to match conditions which I would get if I place the same in a commercial data centre. I understand cooling and power requirement of commercial datacenter should not be required here as I am looking at only couple of machines (at max 4). One problem that I see upfront is internet reliability. Is there a high availability solution using router where I can use two internet connections and still maintain same external ip address? Any other experiences, pointers on home grown data centers?
Announcements

Submission + - Nortel filed for bankruptcy

Submitted by
amnezick
amnezick writes: "North American telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nortel has filed for bankruptcy protection on the 14th of January, according to a company announcement. The process includes Canadian, but also U.S. subsidiaries. European subsidiaries are expected to make similar filings.
Nortel may go bankrupt by 2011 without a cash injection from the government or financial backers, RBC Capital Markets said.

Nortel, no. 7 on Douglas A. McIntyre's Top10 list with companies that won't make it through 2009, looks like it's fighting for the 1st place"
Data Storage

Submission + - Seagate 1TB Drives Failing at Alarming Rate

Submitted by NormalVisual
NormalVisual writes: Owners of Seagate 1TB drives have been experiencing serious issues of late — many recent 7200.11 Barracuda SATA drives have a problem with the version SD15 firmware that often results in the drive failing on power-up after working perfectly fine for a time. While the data on the drive appears to be safe, the drive is completely bricked, resulting in the inability to flash it to any further firmware revisions without a bit of hardware hacking. The problem is making for an interesting discussion on Seagate's community forums, particularly since Seagate still refuses to acknowledge the issue and is tightly censoring the "official" discussion on the forums, so many 7200.11 owners are having to discuss the issue outside of Seagate's control. Tom's Hardware has also picked up the increasingly-vocal story. So, if you've got one of the big Barracudas, it's probably a good idea to to stay on top of those backups.

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