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Communications

Submission + - Next-gen Low Latency Open Codec Beats HE-AAC (xiph.org)

Submitted by Aldenissin
Aldenissin writes: From the Xiph.org developers, Opus is a non-patent encumbered codec designed for interactive usages, such as VoIP, telepresence, and remote jamming, that require very low latency. When they started working on Opus (then known as CELT), they used the slogan "Why can't your telephone sound as good as your stereo?", and they weren't kidding. Now, test results demonstrate that Opus's performance against HE-AAC, one of the strongest (but highest-latency) codecs at this bitrate, bests the quality of two of the most popular and respected encoders for the format, on the majority of individual audio samples receiving a higher average score overall.

Hydrogenaudio conducted a 64kbit/sec multiformat listening test including Opus, aoTuV Vorbis, two HE-AAC encoders, and a 48kbit/sec AAC-LC low anchor. Comparing 30 diverse samples using the highly sensitive ABC/HR methodology, Opus is running with 22.5ms of total latency but the codec can go as low as 5ms.
Education

Introducing Students To the World of Open Source 182

Posted by Soulskill from the what-do-you-mean-my-boss-doesn't-have-an-autograder dept.
paulproteus writes "Most computer science students never see a bug tracker, and very few learn about version control. Classes often don't teach the skills needed for participation. So I organized a weekend workshop at the University of Pennsylvania. Total newbies enthusiastically spent the day on IRC, learned git, built a project from source, and read bugs in real projects. I learned that there's no shortage of students that want to get involved."
Digital

Submission + - First video of "A Digital Video Primer For Geeks" (xiph.org)

Submitted by
Ignorant Aardvark
Ignorant Aardvark writes: "Xiph.org just released the first installment in its video series "A Digital Video Primer For Geeks", whichcovers digital audio and video fundamentals. The first video covers basic concepts of how digital audio and video are encoded, and does so in an understandable fashion. The video is hosted by Monty, the founder of Xiph.org (the people who brought you Ogg), and explains a lot of concepts (FourCC codes, YUV color space, gamma, etc.) that many watchers of digital video have long been exposed to, but don't quite understand themselves. The intent of the video series (in addition to general education) is to spur interest in digital encoding and get more free software hackers involved in digital audio/video. As Monty explains, the basic concepts aren't nearly as complicated as most people seem to assume. Give it a watch and see if you agree."

Comment Re:Open source ? (Score 5, Informative) 201

by BrokenSegue (#27899391) Attached to: Open Source Textbooks For California

No, you're mistaken. Here's what happened. We used to call projects like this "free" (as in speech) or libre. The problem was that (lay)people confused that concept with gratis (as in beer).

The phrase "open source" was created to solve that problem. Since libre software usually implies that the source is public. The concept was then extended to everything. Now open source really just means available under an open source license, which is defined by the OSI.

You're making the same point RMS made when the phrase "open source" was coined (iirc) in 1998 Netscape went open source. He claims, rightly, that being free is more than having open source.

Not wrong terminology, changing terminology.

Comment Re:pico (Score 1) 660

by BrokenSegue (#25089655) Attached to: Fast-Booting Text-Editor Operating System?
Not to be pedantic, but not *all* the key commands are at the bottom. Not nearly. Hit ^G to see the real listing of commands (including lots of useful ones not listed at the bottom of the screen). But yes, nano is nice (and pico on sensible machines is just a symlink to nano).
Mozilla

Submission + - Ogg theora in Firefox, Wikimedia supporting 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Ogg Theora support for the HTML5 <video> tag is in the Firefox 3.1 nightlies. Theora is the only video format allowed on Wikimedia Commons, so Wikimedia people are pushing Wikipedia readers to download a nightly and try it out. Break it, crash it, report bugs, get it into good shape and nullify Apple and Nokia's FUD the best way possible. They may have gotten the words "Vorbis" and "Theora" removed from the HTML5 spec, but the market will tell them when their browsers are sucking.
Classic Games (Games)

Whatever Happened To The Joystick? 421

Posted by Zonk from the please-make-us-another-tie-fighter-title dept.
Ant writes "MSN UK has up an article that looks into the 'downfall' of the joystick: 'Sometimes technology disappears completely, but often it just fades into the background — still existing, still being used and sold and, occasionally, desired, but probably looking wistfully back on past glories. Which neatly described the joystick's steady slide away from its role as THE gaming peripheral to a fondly remembered also ran. But the joystick's tale is a long and convoluted one — and it is worth looking back into its often mysterious and ill-studied history before explaining why it will rise from the ashes like the mythical phoenix.' Seen on ClassicGaming."
Government

Best Super Tuesday Candidate for Technology? 549

Posted by CmdrTaco from the something-to-talk-about dept.
Petey_Alchemist writes "With Super Tuesday coming up and the political field somewhat winnowed down, the process of picking the nominees for the next American President is well underway. At the same time, the Internet is bustling through a period of legal questions like Copyright infringement, net neutrality, wireless spectrum, content filtering, broadband deployment. All of these are just a few of the host of issues that the next President will be pressured to weigh in on during his or her tenure. Who do you think would be the best (or worst) candidate on Internet issues?"
Censorship

Teen Hacks $84 Million Porn Filter in 30 Minutes 479

Posted by CowboyNeal from the worth-every-penny dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Tom Wood, a Year 10 Australian student has cracked the federal government's $84-million Internet porn filter in just 30 minutes. He can deactivate the filter in several clicks in such a way that the software's icon is not deleted which will make his parents believe the filter is still working. Tom says it is a matter of time before some computer-savvy kid puts the bypass on the Internet for others to use."

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