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Submission + - Finding a tech museum for your beloved retired computer(s) (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Daniel Dern
Daniel Dern writes: There may be a better home than your basement or recycling for those beloved computers you once built and/or used — like one of the many tech-collecting/displaying museums. My ComputerWorld article, "9 museums that want your legacy tech," looks at nine institutions that might — be sure to ask, don't just drop on their doorsteps after hours — want some of them. (Probably not everything you've got, alack.)

Submission + - Apple wants after Samsung looked at confidential licensing agreement with Nokia (tuaw.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung is at it again, with Apple requesting sanctions after finding out that Samsung executives were improperly given access to secretive documents from Apple and Nokia's 2011 licensing agreement.

The documents seen by Samsung executives were marked "Highly Confidential — Attorneys' Eyes Only." As the marking so bluntly indicates, the documents in question should have never been accessed by anyone not on Samsung's legal team, which in this case was the law firm of Quinn Emanuel.

In reality, the documents were made accessible to dozens of Samsung employees who then referenced them during licensing negotiations with Nokia.

Submission + - Ex-Red Hat employee Matthew Garrett comments on the state of XMir (dreamwidth.org)

Submitted by slack_justyb
slack_justyb writes: Matthew Garrett, former employee of Red Hat, comments on the current state of XMir and Canonical's recent decision to not ship XMir as the default display server in Ubuntu 13.10. Noting the current issues outstanding in XMir, the features yet to be implemented, the security loopholes, and Intel's recent rejection to support Mir in general. All of this leading Matthew Garrett to the conclusion of, 'It's clear that XMir has turned into a larger project than Canonical had originally anticipated, but that's hardly surprising.' Has Canonical bitten off more than they can chew, or is this just Red Had vs Canonical flaming?

Submission + - Asian Giant Hornets Kill 42 People in China, Injure over 1,500

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Madison Park and Dayu Zhang report on CNN that swarms of aggressive hornets are inflicting a deadly toll in a central China killing 42 people and injuring 1,675 people in three cities in Shaanxi province since July. Government authorities say these attacks are from a particularly venomous species, the world's largest hornet, known as the Asian giant hornet or vespa mandarinia. The giant hornet extends about 3.5 to 3.9 centimeters in length, roughly the size of a human thumb and has an orange head with a black tooth used for burrowing. The Asian giant hornet is intensely predatory; it hunts medium- to large-sized insects, such as bees, other hornet species, and mantises. The pain of the Asian Giant Hornet is described as a hot nail piercing the skin and lasts about 4 hours with instant swelling. One victim told local media earlier this month that "the more you run, the more they want to chase you." Some victims described being chased about 200 meters (656 feet) by a swarm. Local authorities have deployed thousands of police officers and locals to destroy about 710 hives but ""It's very difficult to prevent the attacks because hornet nests are usually in hidden sites," says Shunichi Makino, director general of the Hokkaido Research Center for Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Makino, who specializes in entomology, warned that the sting from an Asian giant hornet was severe compared with those of other insects. "The venom of an Asian giant hornet is very special compared with other hornets or yellow jackets," says Makino. "The neurotoxin — especially to mammals including humans — it's a special brand of venom." Asian Giant Hornets have been spotted in the United States.

Submission + - AMD Aggressively Moving Into Gaming Market (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: If you only paid attention to the desktop PC market, you'd think that AMD as a company is pretty much done, crushed by a too-strong Intel. But AMD GPUs are going to be in all three next-gen gaming consoles, and the company is trying to extend that run into the gaming market. In addition to a slew of GPUs at price points from the reasonable to the obscene, AMD is also tackling the issue of audio, an area mostly ignored by hardware makers since the '90s.

Submission + - Behind the South Korean Government DDoS Attacks (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Gunkerty Jeb
Gunkerty Jeb writes: In the last few years, there have been a series of DDoS attacks and intrusions on government networks in South Korea that have resulted in the loss of untold amounts of data. The four attacks haven’t been linked together or attributed to the same attackers, but there are some similarities in the methods and results. In a presentation at Virus Bulletin in Berlin yesterday, Fortinet's Christy Chung explained that attack similarities included the use of malware overwriting the master boot record and massive DDoS attacks targeting DNS providers and individual sites.

Submission + - The Cult of Familiarity and its Consequences

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We live in an age of burgeoning personal technology. Just 3 short years ago, a tablet computer was just like a laptop, except heavier and more expensive. Since that time, tremendous strides have been made in both affordability and the capabilities of these devices. With an intuitive interface built on touch control and visual feedback, many are turning to tablets in education. Many are first, and sometimes only, considering the iPad.

The idea of tablets is good, but we are remaking, what I think, is one of our greatest mistakes in education technology. We are again becoming dependent on proprietary software . We are again renting our tools rather than owning them. We are again choosing the familiar and we are paying dearly to do so. By again choosing popular retail devices, designed to be obsolesced and replaced within two years by the demands of an ever growing, closed source operating system, we place ourselves on the same maximum cost cycle designed to extract profit from consumers. Instead we should seek hardware that meets our needs and software we can own, not rent, that allows greater control and does not force us onto this revenue treadmill.

Community driven, open source software has matured. For most popular desktop software there is an open source equivalent. Not only is the software free, available at no cost, you also have the freedom to use it as you need. All the source code is available, it cannot be taken away later. You cannot be held hostage to releases. You shouldn't be buying new hardware every other year. What worked two years ago should work today. Did the subject you taught change in that time? Euclid's Elements was popular for over two thousands years, did the fundamentals of Geometry change in that time?

Schools around the world are discovering the benefits of open software. At Orwell High School in Felixstowe, UK, they found that installing Linux allowed PCs previously deemed 'obsolete' for not running the latest proprietary software, could in fact be just as functional as before with a new, free Linux operating system . Linux systems also provides better security and more flexibility. Linux systems are notoriously secure and are used in the majority of web hosting servers for this reason. Since all the code is available, you have complete control down to the 'bare metal' of the processor. Any choice of network and server configuration, from locked down 'thin-clients' to provide greater control, or 'distributed network' when network access is spotty, is possible with Linux.

The world is changing. The extremely low cost of digital distribution has enabled the creation of royalty free text books that anyone can use. Why rent your tools and buy the same information over and over again? In combination with tablets the cost of printing and the associated markups by printers can be a thing of the past. Digital textbooks contain all the same information and even allow students to attach notes without defacing the material. The California Learning Resource Network is one resource , among many others, to create, source and provide these books at free or nominal cost and they are close to reaching their goals.

Tablets have rapidly transformed from a high cost luxury, to some of the most powerful, portable and inexpensive computers available today. Similarly, options for technology in education are rapidly expanding. For those of us whose first job is to teach and second, to improve our process of doing so, it can very difficult to keep up. It becomes tempting to listen to vendors who promise any easy solution now. If your school is considering how best to use technology and tablets in education, I hope you will consider open alternatives and the long terms cost of technology. Your budget should be going to the maximum benefit of your students, not your vendors.

1 http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/why-free-software-is-more-important-now-than-ever-before/
  2 http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/linux_case_study_orwell_high_school.html
  3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Servers
  4 http://www.clrn.org/fdti/

Submission + - Why Net Applications is not the best way to measure Windows 8 growth

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Every month, the tech press will breathlessly report the lack of Windows 8 growth based on the latest stats from Net Applications, which uses millions of sensors spread around the world to detect the type of PC and browser used. But as they explain to Network World, those numbers come from PC use and don't necessarily reflect installed base. So if a lot of Windows 7 machines suddenly get used, then it looks like Windows 7 is "growing." But is Steam analytics any better a measure?

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Can Valve's Steam Machines Compete Against New Xbox, PS4? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Valve has announced SteamOS, Steam Machines, and a Steam controller — the components necessary for it to create a viable living-room gaming experience. Valve’s strategy with these releases seems pretty clear: create a platform based on openness (SteamOS is a Linux-based operating system), in contrast to the closed systems pushed by console rivals such as Sony and Microsoft. If Valve chooses to release "Half-Life 3" in conjunction with its Steam Machines' rollout, it could help create further buzz for the system, given the years' worth of pent-up demand for the next chapter in the popular FPS saga. But can Valve's moves allow it to actually compete against Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony on equal terms? What do you think?

Submission + - PENGPOD ENTERS INTO A STRATEGIC MARKETING PARTNERSHIP WITH VIEWTOUCH (einnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PengPod is pleased to announce a strategic marketing partnership with ViewTouch, inventors of the first graphical Point of Sale software back in 1986.

ORLANDO, FL, USA, October 2, 2013 /EINPresswire.com/ — PengPod is pleased to announce a strategic marketing partnership with ViewTouch, inventors of the first graphical Point of Sale software back in 1986. ViewTouch has long been supporters of Linux and take full advantage of open source software to keep their register systems both feature rich and secure. ViewTouch contacted PengPod with this offer for two reasons. Both Companies share the belief that tablets should be able to run unrestricted operating systems. ViewTouch also worked with PengPod's first generation devices and want to help make the next generation PengPod 1040 a reality.

Submission + - Do comments on web pages ruin science?

Submitted by GregLaden
GregLaden writes: Last week Popular Science shut down comments on their web pages citing the damage being done to the public perception of science as their reason. Earlier research suggested that this might be a good idea because trollish negative comments can color the perception by readers of a news story. However, some have taken Popular Science’s move to be anti science, implying that science itself is positively affected by web and blog comments, as though these comments contributed to the science being done itself. Here, I take exception to this and suggest that while comments are important in relation to the public perception of science (which itself is important) blog and web commentary never, or only rarely, influences the process of scientific inquiry itself.

Submission + - Tablet With Ubuntu Touch (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PengPod Launches Funding Campaign For PengPod 1040, Triple Booting Tablet With Ubuntu Touch

PengPod the company who brought the first commercial dual booting tablet has done it again with the PengPod1040. The PengPod1040 can now TRIPLE boot. This powerful 9.7" ultra high resolution tablet can run Android, GNU/Linux and now UBUNTU TOUCH!

PR Newswire

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 27, 2013

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — There is some very exciting news coming out of Florida today! PengPod, the company who brought the first commercial dual booting tablet has done it again with the PengPod1040. The PengPod1040 can now TRIPLE boot. This powerful 9.7" ultra high resolution tablet can run Android, GNU/Linux and now UBUNTU TOUCH. Ubuntu touch is made so one can have the same friendly Ubuntu experience, but is touch friendly which has the ability to navigate the Ubuntu desktop without having to use a mouse and keyboard.

Submission + - Triple boot tablet the way of the future?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PengPod, the company who brought the first commercial dual booting tablet has done it again with the PengPod1040
PengPod1040. The PengPod1040 can now TRIPLE boot. This powerful 9.7" ultra high resolution tablet can run Android, GNU/Linux and now UBUNTU TOUCH . Ubuntu touch is made so one can have the same friendly Ubuntu experience, but is touch friendly, which has the ability to navigate the Ubuntu desktop without having to use a mouse and keyboard.

Why choose an open source tablet? Because this device is free from restrictions and NSA software it lends itself to a world of possibilities. On top of being on the lower end in price, open source is completely customizable. The consumer can tweak the software to do exactly what they want it to do. Run all the office programs or even set it up as a POS amongst several other commercial uses. The possibilities are endless with the PengPod 1040, the only limitations are those of the mind. Own Your Device!

The Crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo is $349,000, with the tablets starting at $249. There is an Early Bird special for the first hundred customers, the PengPod 1040 is just $220.

Sources
Reuters
liliputing

Submission + - Elon Musk: There Was No Falcon 9 Explosion (mashable.com)

Submitted by SkinnyGuy
SkinnyGuy writes: Shortly after reports surfaced on Monday that the private rocket company SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket may have blown up in space, SpaceX came forward to clear the air and caution a bit of patience — and founder and billionaire Elon Musk offered an outright denial.

Submission + - Triple boot tablet provides both Android and GNU/Linux options side by side

Submitted by drachensun
drachensun writes: PengPod, the company who brought the first commercial dual-booting GNU/Linux-Android tablet is now crowd funding a quad core tablet the PengPod1040

PengPod1040. The PengPod1040 can now boot three different OS options from internal memory, select-able with a built in bootloader. This 9.7" high resolution tablet can run Android, GNU/Linux including Linaro/Arch/Fedora/OpenSUSE and now Ubuntu Touch . Ubuntu touch is made so one can have the same friendly Ubuntu experience, but is touch friendly, which has the ability to navigate the Ubuntu desktop without having to use a mouse and keyboard.

PengPod has pledged to make all source and tools used to build the images available so users can build their own OS top to bottom and guarantee it free tracking from the NSA or others. The PengPod has previously found some success as a low cost touch platform for industrial/commercial control systems and is partnered with ViewTouch, the original inventors of the graphical POS to offer PengPods as restaurant register systems.

The Crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo is $349,000, with the tablets starting at $249. There is an Early Bird special with some still available for at $220.

Sources
Reuters
liliputing

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