Comment Re:I miss it terribly (Score 1) 134
First Saturday in Dallas http://www.sidewalksale.com/
Lots of weird things to be found, and plenty of used computer equipment. I'm not affiliated, but it is fun to walk it.
AT&T Readying For the End of Analog Landlines 426
nottheusualsuspect writes "AT&T, in response to a Notice of Inquiry released by the FCC to explore how to transition to a purely IP-based communications network, has declared that it's time to cut the cord. AT&T told the FCC that the death of landlines is a matter of when, not if, and asked that a firm deadline be set for pulling the plug. In the article, broadband internet and cellular access are considered to be available to everyone, though many Americans are still without decent internet access."
Submission + - Group purchases 22 patents to defend Linux (idg.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "A group of Linux proponents will purchase patents formerly held by Microsoft in an effort to defend distributors of the open-source OS against the ongoing threat of patent litigation from the software giant. The Open Invention Network (OIN), whose members include IBM and Red Hat, is set to purchase a set of 22 patents once held by Microsoft from Allied Security Trust (AST). They include Linux patents marketed and sold by Microsoft, some of which were previously held by Silicon Graphics, said Keith Bergelt, CEO of OIN, in an interview Tuesday."
Submission + - Non-techies starting tech startups
Edward Benson writes: "Here's the situation: I have two good friends with an awesome real estate-based startup idea. The problem is that I'm the only developer they know and can't go in on it with them for other reasons not important here. I want to see them succeed, though, and for the past few months I've been trying to help them find their third-partner, which has been a real eye-opener.
Finding a person willing to take the plunge and found a startup with complete strangers is unbelievably hard. We've tried our Facebook contacts, I've floated the idea around my office, we've even put paid job listings up on job boards — a few months later and no real success.
So a question to those of you out there on Slashdot with startup experience:
Can startups only be formed among existing acquaintances?
How do you go about the founder search?
Do you think that you have to just go full-ahead with the plan without a developer, and trust that you'll find one before you it's too late?
Do you have to be located in a "Startup Hub," as Paul Graham would say, for the pieces to fall into place?"
Finding a person willing to take the plunge and found a startup with complete strangers is unbelievably hard. We've tried our Facebook contacts, I've floated the idea around my office, we've even put paid job listings up on job boards — a few months later and no real success.
So a question to those of you out there on Slashdot with startup experience:
Can startups only be formed among existing acquaintances?
How do you go about the founder search?
Do you think that you have to just go full-ahead with the plan without a developer, and trust that you'll find one before you it's too late?
Do you have to be located in a "Startup Hub," as Paul Graham would say, for the pieces to fall into place?"
Submission + - Microsoft loses anti-Trust EU case (bbc.co.uk)
CPUsInHotPlaces writes: The BBC is reporting that the European Union's "Court of First Instance" has ruled against Microsoft in the ongoing anti-trust case. As a result of this ruling, they must pay abide by the original ruling from 2004 (including a 497m euro fine), and also pay 80% of the EU commission's legal costs.
The only section of the original ruling that was not upheld was the comission's attempt to impose an independent monitoring trustee
The only section of the original ruling that was not upheld was the comission's attempt to impose an independent monitoring trustee
Yellowstone Supervolcano Making Strange Rumblings 411
Frosty Piss writes "Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millennia before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent. One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lies beneath Yellowstone National Park. Significant activity continues beneath the surface. And the activity has been increasing lately, scientists have discovered. In addition, the nearby Teton Range of mountains is somehow getting shorter. The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Journal of Geophysical Research, suggest that a slow and gradual movement of a volcano over time can shape a landscape more than a violent eruption."
Submission + - Debian Etch scheduled for an April 2nd release
Hero Zzyzzx writes: "This post to the debian-devel-announce list puts forth a schedule for Etch with an April 2nd, 2007 release. I've been using Etch for months now with nary a complaint. Gee — I wonder why they didn't pick April 1st as the release date? I'm excited, at least."
Submission + - Diodes could drive swimming micro-robots
finisterre writes: Diodes can be made to 'swim' through salt water by hitting them with an alternating electric field. The applied field induces a current that sets up a field between the diode's electrical contacts and creates a propulsive force. The abstract of the paper in Nature Materials is freely available. New Scientist has videos of the swimming diodes in action.
Submission + - Researchers scheming to rebuild Net from scratch
BobB writes: "Stanford University researchers have launched an initiative called the Clean Slate Design for the Internet to make the network more secure, support new apps better, etc. Sounds big...
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1250 1"
OpenOffice.org Tries to Woo Dell 316
Rob writes "OpenOffice.org project members have written to Dell (pdf), hoping to persuade the company to adopt OpenOffice in response to customer demand. John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org marketing project lead, writes 'Let's have a conversation about how we could build an OpenOffice.org supplied by Dell product to give your customers what they are asking for.' Demand for open source products on Dell's IdeaStorm web site prompted the letter. A somewhat obvious question is raised: why isn't OpenOffice already available by default on new PC's and Workstations?"
Submission + - Classical Music Hoax of the Century?
Retrospeak writes: "The CD recordings of Joyce Hatto, a concert pianist often described as "the greatest living pianist that almost no one has ever heard of" and praised by one critic as performing "the most extraordinary recordings I have ever heard" has come under a cloud of musical suspicion, as reported in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/arts/music/17ha tt.html?th&emc=th).
Seems that many the Hatto recordings are digitally identical to those of a variety of other classical performers, some relatively obscure and some more famous.
Because of the growing storm of sonic controversy, the British audiophile magazine "Gramophone" requested the folks at Pristine Classical to subject some of the tracks in question to detailed digital scrutiny and the results are very interesting (http://www.pristineclassical.com/HattoHoax.html). "
Submission + - Videoconferencing server for Linux ?
Hymer writes: Well it is really a simple question: Does anyone here know a vidoconferencing server for Linux ? It may be a non-standard solution but the clients have to exist for at least Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The communication channel should preferably encrypted. I need video and some kind of common workplace or desktop sharing, audio is optional. I've searched the Net and found nothing... geeks do not need to look at other geeks to understand eachother but CEO's obviously does... ;-)
Submission + - Zink Imaging to launch inkless printer
Vinit writes: "Zink Imaging has developed a unique technology which can print pictures without ink! The innovation could be applied to make hand-held printers that can be integrated into mobile phones and digital cameras. While printing one only needs a paper, I mean Zink paper which is initially colorless, looks and feels like ordinary white photograph paper and is not light sensitive. You can get a copy of picture (5 cm x 7.5 cm) in 30 seconds and the photos are are very durable — they cannot be torn and are also water resistant. The firm plans to launch two products by the end of the year: a small battery-operated, pocket-sized printer for camera-phones and a digital camera with a 2 inch x 3 inch (5 cm by 7.5 cm) printer built in. The company recently demonstrated a working prototype of the camera phone printer at the DEMO 2007 technology conference in California, US. The printer is expected to cost $200 while 100 sheets of paper will cost $20.
http://www.pclaunches.com/optical_media/zink_imagi ng_to_launch_inkless_printer.php"
Submission + - GPLv3 is DRM
An anonymous reader writes: This post says:
"Imagine: some software/music, say GCC, is released/distributed under GPLv2. People can do whatever they want with it: redistribute it, reuse it in their own source code/music, or whatever. Then GPLv3 comes out. Suddenly the software/music won't work on/play in your hardware/software."
Please comment, I hope I'm wrong.
"Imagine: some software/music, say GCC, is released/distributed under GPLv2. People can do whatever they want with it: redistribute it, reuse it in their own source code/music, or whatever. Then GPLv3 comes out. Suddenly the software/music won't work on/play in your hardware/software."
Please comment, I hope I'm wrong.
Ethics of Proxy Servers? 194
Mav asks: "I was recently asked to host a website for free in return for a lot of advertising. After querying them about how they knew the site would produce traffic they stated the site was going to be running PHPProxy (an open source web proxy). The traffic was a result of him and his contacts (nearly one thousand of them) using the site to bypass his school's firewall in order to view their MySpace pages and get access to their MSN messengers. Given all the attention social networking sites have recently received and the various laws attempting to block or control access to them I feel guilty and unsure making this available. Are there legal implications that I need to worry about? Could I be held liable if one of the students got in trouble? Most importantly, what's the moral thing to do?"
