Comment So BSD is dying because... (Score 1) 292
...the CPUs suck
Actually how (Free)BSD made use of available hardware resources back then in the 90s was the big reason for me to use it instead of Linux.
Submission + - Dramatic Reading of iTunes EULA (cnet.com)
vs writes: CNET commissioned Richard Dreyfus of "Jaws" fame to do a dramatic reading of Apple's End-user license agreement for iTunes-with a certain glee that makes it quite creepy!
Ninth Suicide At iPhone Factory 539
shar303 writes "A ninth employee has jumped to his death at Taiwanese iPhone and iPad manufacturer Foxconn, China's state media reports. The 21-year-old worker was the eighth fatality this year. This raises questions as to whether the shiny finish of the latest gadgets available from mega corporations are tarnished by such information, and whether the mistreatment of workers deserves to be highlighted when considering such firms."
ImageLogr Scrapes "Billions" of Images Illegally 271
PurpleCarrot writes "In what must be one of the largest attempts to scrape images from the Web, the site ImageLogr.com 'claims to be scraping the entire "free web" and seems to have hit Flickr especially hard, copying full-sized images of yours and mine to their own servers, where they are hosting them without any attribution or links back to the original image in violation of all available licenses on Flickr.' The site even contains the option to directly download images that ImageLogr has scraped. What makes this endeavor so amazing is that it isn't a case of 'other people gave us millions of infringing images, help us remove the wrong ones,' but one of 'we took all the images on the Web; if we got one of yours, oops!' The former gets some protection from the DMCA, whereas the latter is blatant infringement. ImageLogr's actions have caused a flurry of activity, and the site's owners have subsequently taken it offline, displaying the following message: 'Imagelogr.com is currently offline as we are improving the website. Due to copyright issues we are now changing some stuff around to make people happy. Please check back soon.'"
Mars Rover Opportunity Sets Longevity Record 61
s31523 writes "The Mars rover Opportunity has beaten the original record of six years and 116 days operating on the surface of Mars, originally set by the Viking 1 Lander. While the Spirit rover has been on the surface longer than the Opportunity by three weeks, it has been out of communication since March 22. If Spirit comes back online, it will attain the new Martian surface longevity record. This feat, right on the heels of another longevity feat (Voyager 2 and twin on the verge of entering interstellar space and still kicking) is healing some of NASA's past black eyes. It is quite remarkable given original spec of 90 days for the mission. With the passing of the solstice, warmer temperatures and more sun will likely mean the rover will continue on."
NASA Contest To Name ISS Module 197
Solarch writes "NASA is holding a contest to name ISS Node 3. Being a Browncoat myself, I should hope that the choice of names would be obvious. As of the 7:30 PM EST on 2/25, the name Serenity has over 80% of the vote. From the site: 'Node 3 will connect to the port side of the Unity Node and will provide room for many of the station's life support systems, in the form of eight refrigerator-sized racks. After Node 3 is installed, the station's crew will transfer over many of the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) currently stored in various places around the station.'"
Submission + - The UK Fastest Machine (guardian.co.uk)
bmsleight writes: "The Guardian has a story on the HECToR, The largest supercomputer in the UK — around five times more powerful than its predecessor, HPCx, which is also at the University of Edinburgh. It measures up well internationally, sitting at 17 in the top500.org list of the most powerful computers in the world."
Submission + - Site incorporates OSS code bounties in bug tracker
Maur writes: BountySource is a hosted project management site for OSS, but unlike SourceForge or Google Code, BountySource incorporates code bounties directly into the bug/feature tracker. Other sites (like Bounty County) have tried to track bounties but have failed because they merely link to the bounty details and do not hold the money in escrow.
BountySource currently allows bounties to be placed using Paypal and has a built-in dispute settlement system. The site shows signs of beta software, but it's under active development and according to their roadmap they have some cool features in the works. Some major projects, such as ZSNES, have already switched to it.
Submission + - Folding@home killing the planet
Drakaal writes: "Folding@Home is Killing the planet
Folding@Home costs nearly $70million, uses 584gigawatt hours of power, and produces 730 kilotons of Carbon dioxide. Is fighting mad cow worth it? This article weighs the cost benefit of donating electricity and CPU Cycles, VS. the Real Cost of the project."
Folding@Home costs nearly $70million, uses 584gigawatt hours of power, and produces 730 kilotons of Carbon dioxide. Is fighting mad cow worth it? This article weighs the cost benefit of donating electricity and CPU Cycles, VS. the Real Cost of the project."
Submission + - Keep your avatars happy or else
coondoggie writes: "Smile and the world smiles with you? Seems so, even in cyberspace. Ohio State University research released today says the simulated emotions of digital characters on Web sites have a real impact on potential customers looking at them. The study, appearing in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, found that digital characters might be better merchants if they act consistently happy, even if the products they're selling — such as novels or movies — are heart-wrenchingly sad. Still...If your avatar is going down to protest Second Life headquarters, you might want to look a little mean.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1265 2"
Submission + - Inside the kernel of a Windows Alternative
holden writes: "NewsForge is talking about a recent talk ReactOS lead kernel developer, Alex Ionescu, gave about the internals of ReactOS. In his talk, Ionescu explains the similarities between ReactOS and Windows. and how ReactOS is close to being API compatible with Windows Server 2003. The talk looks at a lot of the technical details of how the ReactOS team implements the Windows NT kernel functionality, along with some of the problems they've faced from graphics drivers which use hard-coded values and work-arounds they are considering."
Submission + - VIPeR: Israel's Killer Robot
Guy Yernisberg writes: Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems has just completeted the final model of its new VIPeR autonomous defense robot. It's armed with an Uzi submachine gun and can throw grenades. It has an onboard camera for aiming and identifying possible targets. The problem is, once armed, it shoots at everything it can see. It's supposedly intended for use against Palestinian and Lebanese guerilla fighters — but they live amongst the civilians and not in "combat zones" as the IDF claims. Releasing a killing machine in the middle of a city might not be such a good idea after all.
Submission + - Auto-parallelizing compiler from Codeplay
Max Romantschuk writes: "Parallelization of code is a very tricky thing. We've all heard of the challeges with Cell, and with dual and quad core pocessors this is becoming an ever more important issue to deal with. The Inquirer writes about a new auto-parallelizing compiler called Sieve from Codeplay: What Sieve is is a C++ compiler that will take a section of code and parallelize it for you with a minimum hassle. All you really need to do is take the code you want to run across multiple CPUs and put beginning and end tags on the parts you want to run in parallel.
Is this the Silver Bullet of parallelization? There's more info on Sieve on Codeplay's site."
Is this the Silver Bullet of parallelization? There's more info on Sieve on Codeplay's site."
