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The Internet

Submission + - Wikia Search Engine to be Launched on January 7th 1

Submitted by cagnol
cagnol writes: The Washington Post reports that Jimmy Wales, the founder of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, has announced the launch of a new open-source search engine: Wikia Search on January 7th, 2008. The project will allow the community to help rank search results, in a model close to Wikipedia. However the company is a for-profit organization. This new search is supposed to challenge Google and Yahoo.
Upgrades

Best Motherboards With Large RAM Capacity? 161

Posted by timothy from the when-more-is-more dept.
cortex writes "I routinely need to analyze large datasets (principally using Matlab). I recently 'upgraded' to 64-bit Vista so that I can access larger amounts of RAM. I know that various Linux distros have had 64-bit support for years. I also typically use Intel motherboards for their reliability, but currently Intel's desktop motherboards only support 8GB of RAM and their server motherboards are too expensive. Can anyone relate their experiences with working with Vista or Linux machines running with large RAM (>8GB)? What is the best motherboard (Intel or AMD) and OS combination for workstation applications in terms of cost and reliability?"
Businesses

Submission + - The Epic Battle between Microsoft and Google 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "There is a long article in the NYTimes well worth reading called "Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft" about the business strategies both companies are pursuing and about the future of applications and where they will reside — on the web or on the desktop. Google President Eric Schmidt thinks that 90 percent of computing will eventually reside in the Web-based cloud and about 2,000 companies are signing up every day for Google Apps, simpler versions of the pricey programs that make up Microsoft's lucrative Office business. Microsoft faces a business quandary as they to try to link the Web to its desktop business — "software plus Internet services," in its formulation. Microsoft will embrace the Web, while striving to maintain the revenue and profits from its desktop software businesses, the corporate gold mine, a smart strategy for now that may not be sustainable. Google faces competition from Microsoft and from other Web-based productivity software being offered by start-ups but it is "unclear at this point whether Google will be able to capitalize on the trends that it's accelerating." David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School, says the Google model is to try to change all the rules. If Google succeeds, "a lot of the value that Microsoft provides today is potentially obsolete.""
The Military

Submission + - How PALS Help Secure Nuclear Weapons

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The BBC reported last week that until 1998 no code or dual key system was required to arm British nuclear weapons. Bombs were armed by inserting a bicycle lock key (video) into the arming switch and turning it 90 degrees. Permissive Action Links (PALs) were introduced in the 1960s in America to prevent a mad General or pilot launching a nuclear war on their own and to control nuclear weapons that were at least partially controlled by other nations but as late as 1974, when an armed quarrel broke out between two members of NATO, Greece and Turkey, the Secretary of Defense learned that many tactical nukes were still not equipped with PALS. It has been reported that PALs have been installed on Pakistan's nuclear weapons to disarm or disable their triggering mechanism if the wrong code is entered or if the bomb is tampered with in any manner. But "there is an urgent need to improve the technical skills of personnel charged with the security of [Pakistan's] nuclear installations and develop an institutional security culture," warned a report two years ago by retired Pakistani army Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani at the Sandia Labs in New Mexico."
Wii

Submission + - Will Wright: Wii is the Only Next-Gen Console

Submitted by PhoenixOne
PhoenixOne writes: In an article that will probably piss off a lot of PS3 owners, Will Wright calls the PS3 and 360 "incremental improvement(s)".

As far as the death of PC gaming: "Every generation it's like 'the PC's dead! The PC's dead!'. But it carries on growing when consoles are flat for five years. At the moment I can get better graphics on my PC than I can on the PS3."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Video of wild crow tool use caught with tail cams

Submitted by
willatnewscientist
willatnewscientist writes: "Scientists from the University of Oxford have recorded New Caledonian crows using tools in the wild for first time after attaching tiny cameras to their tail feathers. The wireless cameras weigh just 14 grammes and can be worn by the crows without disturbing their natural behavior. The trick has provided the first direct evidence of the birds' using tools in the wild and may represent an important development in animal behavior studies."
KDE

Submission + - GPLv3 Scuppers Open-Source Exchange Compatibility 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: There's a neat project called OpenChange to develop an open-source client library for Microsoft Exchange. Unfortunately, they are heavily dependent on Samba code for the underlying protocol support and have been forced to move to GPLv3 as a result. This has made it impossible to legally add support to other software such as KDE which is unwilling or unable to go GPLv3.
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Class-Action Lawsuit Over iPhone Locking?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe reports that some iPhone users are mad as heck at Apple for bricking up their device in response to non-Apple-authorized software downloaded., and they're talking about filing a class action lawsuit. In a discussion thread on Apple's own iPhone forum, one user posts that he's "Seeking respondents for possible class action lawsuit against Apple Inc. relating to refusal to service iPhones and related accessories under warranty." He's talking about users who've had their phones bricked up by Apple after they've unlocked them or installed third-party apps. Some who've replied to the post agree that Apple is being unbelievably arrogant and is ripe for legal action. But others say Cupertino is well within its rights to control its own device. What do you think? Does this mean if you don't like what Apple does you're forced to buy a Treo?
Software

Submission + - John Udell on the Geeks' Spreadsheet (amoral.org)

Submitted by
rcs1000
rcs1000 writes: "John Udell has a interesting article on a new type of spreadsheet: one targetted specifically at geeks. The skinny — if I get this right — is that any spreadsheet is actually a computer program, only in Udell's piece this is explicit (and IronPython rather than VBA), rather than implicit. There are some other cool things it does — allowing cells to contain objects, and allowing spreadsheets to back-end websites. The screencast is particularly fun."
Security

Submission + - Dutch commission deals blow to electronic voting 3

Submitted by
hcdejong
hcdejong writes: "The Dutch commission that has been investigating the electoral process presented its final report yesterday (Dutch only). The conclusions and recommendations are devastating to the current Dutch practice of voting electronically, and to plans for voting via the internet.

Paraphrasing from the report:
  • the current electronic voting machines do not comply with the basic requirements of an election (e.g. transparency, controllability, integrity).
  • the paper ballot still offers the best way to comply with these basic requirements.
  • the commission recommends using an electronic system to generate the paper ballot. The voter must be allowed to check the ballot before it is deposited in a locked box.
  • votes can be counted electronically (by scanning the paper ballots), with the option of a manual recount.

The deputy minister for the interior Bijleveld said in an initial response (Dutch only) that she would revoke the certification of the current generation of electronic voting machines. The minister plans to present an official Cabinet position on the electoral process in two months.
The next elections (for the European Parliament, 2009) may see a return to paper ballots."

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