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Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Open vs. closed-source for a start-u (lp-research.com) 1

Submitted by
atamagabakkaomae
atamagabakkaomae writes: "Together with a friend I am starting up a company in Japan that develops sensors used in motion capture. For these sensors we develop hardware and software. Part of the software development is an open-source toolkit called openMAT. We have some special purpose algorithms that we developed ourselves and that are better than our competitor's technology. I first wanted to publish everything open-source to spark interest in our company and to do development in collaboration with the community. My company partner disagreed and said that we will lose our technological advantage if we open-source our best IP. So I eventually published only a part of the toolkit open-source and closed the most interesting code. How do you guys think that open-sourcing your code-base affects a company's business? Is it wrong for a small company to give away precious IP like that or will it on the contrary help the development of the company?"

Submission + - How to Ditch the Grid With a Woodstove and a $100 (motherboard.tv) 3

Submitted by HansonMB
HansonMB writes: Given one of my more immediate life goals is to be living in a somewhat self-contained cabin somewhere far away from all of this — yet still have a way to keep my deer meat frozen and my laptop charged — the Volo Stirling engine is very relevant to my interests. Basically, it’s a lot like an internal combustion engine, except instead of the heat coming from inside the engine via exploding gasoline, the heat comes from outside the engine, like from a woodstove. It’s an old concept, dating back to 1812, that got shoved to the side with the advent of the grid and the internal combustion engine. Detroiter Tim Sefton and his Volo Designs are aiming to bring it back, with plans to have a consumer-ready Stirling engine capable of generating a household’s worth of electricity ready by spring 2012, for less than $100.

Submission + - What are the Chinese up to? (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by anubi
anubi writes: The Chinese are building huge structures in the desert, according to Gizmodo.com. What do you think they are up to?

Comment I'm a programmer and proud of it. (Score 1) 422

by iplayfast (#37883162) Attached to: Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer

I've had a career in programming for about 30 years so far. I've loved the tech side of things, and I've always called myself a programmer. (or grunt)
People either know what it means or they don't and you have to explain it to them.
Calling yourself a software engineer does not change the job.

A programmer by any other name is still a programmer (and smells as sweet).
Google

Submission + - Google May Launch A Cellular Service (gadgetizor.com)

Submitted by
dkd903
dkd903 writes: "After acquiring mobile devices company Motorola Mobility, Google is now looking forward to a new venture which might possibly be the business of providing users with cellular services. Yes, you have heard it right. Google might soon launch cellular services in Spain in association with existing cellular operators like Movistar, Orange & Vodafone."

Comment My boycott of sony products persists (Score 2) 378

by iplayfast (#37411468) Attached to: New Sony PSN ToS: Class Action Waiver Included

I've not bought any sony products since they removed the other OS option from the ps3, and I must say they've lost a bunch of money from me. Didn't look at any monitors, tvs, cd or anything else with the hated label.

apparently I'm not alone.
http://wololo.net/wagic/2011/04/24/64-of-users-ready-to-boycott-sony-products/

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