The problem is actually that Mozilla isn't forcing their updates upon users. Someone who doesn't check it "about Firefox" box in a while easily gets 6 versions behind in no time.

Yes, they do, unless they disable automatic updates in their configuration. Firefox updates happen silently. The only way you'll even know one happens is sometimes you when open the browser, or if you leave it open for too long and Firefox eventually notifies you that you need to restart to apply updates.

Honestly, this is why I don't read Slashdot much anymore. Half the posters don't even know what they're talking about. I don't know if they just make it up as they go along or what.

AJAX and scripts that bog down the server and make it inaccessible to chunks of the population. But it'll be prettier...

I think you missed something important, fellow -- that was an advertisement for the South Pole expedition and actually has nothing to do with the above story.

So carriers are back-pedaling out of offering unlimited data packages for phones -- yet the "cloud is the future". Right.

The technology that we've grown accustom to over the past few decades won't simply be uprooted by a mobile competitor. Phones haven't replaced PCs; they compliment them. They work perfectly for the social side of things because they can be used when a computer is out-of-reach and slightly impractical.

But don't fool yourself -- no one is going to write a paper on a phone or a touch pad. Someone who wants to watch a movie or really do anything outside of the practical limits of mobile technology is going to continue to turn towards its antiquated uncle, precisely because it can still do these things, cheaply and much easier.

Environmentally-responsible airplane that can also carry a wicked-heavy bomb....*sigh*

The media industry is apparently suffering massive losses from piracy, yet somehow still has the funds to prop up new artists while simultaneously wielding a large enough financial hammer to influence world politics...what exactly is wrong with this picture?

Good job there, providing zero evidence outside of hearsay and stereotyping. Because if there's one thing that will provide evidence for eugenics, it's the opinions of other people who want to provide evidence for eugenics.

On a sad note, he only placed 2nd in the overall competition :(

http://jugend-forscht-sachsen.de/2012/teilnehmer/fachgebiet/id/5

Text is in German. It all stems from a Youth Research competition he entered into back in March of this year. This is, so far, the best summary I've found -- there is a paper, apparently, but no link just yet.

'Two problems in classical mechanics have withstood several centuries of mathematical endeavor. The first problem is therefore to calculate the trajectory of a body thrown at an angle in the Earth's gravitational field and Newtonian flow resistance. The underlying power law was discovered by Newton (17th century). The second problem is the objective description of a particle-wall collision under Hertzian collision force and linear damping. The collision energy was derived in 1858 by Hertz, a linear damping force has Stokes (1850) is known. This paper has so far only the analytical solution of this approximate or numerical targets for the problems solved. First, the two problems are solved fully analytically. For the first problem will be investigated further using the analytical solution, the physical behavior of the system and set up outline solutions for generalized models. For the second problem is carried out in order to increase efficiency and convergence control a semi-analytical optimization. Finally, the analytical results are compared with numerical solutions so as to validate accuracy and convergence to numerically."

...go to the source! The German articles I've scoured seem to have a little more information about the problem itself and what he actually accomplished. The oldest one only records that he "claims" to have solved them (earlier this month), but so far no actual data. Close.

http://www.enso-blog.de/jugend-forscht-drei-arbeiten-aus-ostsachsen-beim-bundeswettbewerb
http://www.morgenpost.de/vermischtes/article106358144/16-jaehriger-Schueler-loest-uraltes-Mathe-Problem.html

Can anyone actually find the problems in question somewhere? I've been scouring Google and the whole thing is very vague -- no story really goes into depth about the actual problem he solved and how.

We all had that moment in school when a teacher would pose an "impossible" problem, thought to ourselves "Well, they've never faced ME before!", spent a few minutes toying with it and finally giving up. This kid...did not.

Kudos all around! The rest of your life will, unfortunately, now no longer live up to something you accomplished when you were 16.

If nothing else, it was a very thorough demonstration.

American industry isn't really as comatose as this article seems to suggest; the unfortunate reality is that all of the "sexy" manufacturing gigs (e.g., phones, novel tech in general) does end up ultimately getting outsourced. I think the real story here is having some manufacturing in the U.S. that produces goods that actually might have a demand on the other side of the pond, which is definitely something more exciting to brag about.

Bring back Sexy Tech!

Redbox runs on a modified version of XP...I wonder how they're handling the news currently...