Submission + - Windows 10 RTM in 6 weeks (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Billly Gates on Saturday May 30, 2015 @08:17PM

Billly Gates writes: Arstechnica has the scoop on a new build with less flat icons and a confirmation of a mid July release date. While Microsoft is in a hurry to fix the damage by the Windows 8 versions of its operating system the question next is if it is ready for prime time? On Neowin a list of problems are already mentioned by MS and its users with this latest release including wifi and sound not working without a reboot and users complaining about tiles and apps not working in the new start menu. Also the new Microsoft browser EDGE/aka Spartan will be shipping without plugin support at RTM which could damage its reputation as an IE killer as one of the disadvantages of IE compared to Firefox or Chrome was the lack of real browser extensions. Also this new build takes away color from the titlebars similiar to Office 2013 which bothers some users as well. What is not known is if Microsoft plans to have OEMs sell new computers with Windows 10 in the middle of July? Or will this mean OEM's will get the official version for testing and deployment in the middle of July too while Microsoft fixes the bugs for the next 1 — 3 months before it comes standard on all new pcs?

Submission + - Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization? (npr.org)

Submitted by turkeydance on Saturday May 30, 2015 @07:20PM

turkeydance writes: What job is hardest for a robot to do? Mental health and substance abuse social workers (found under community and social services). This job has a 0.3 percent chance of being automated. That's because it's ranked high in cleverness, negotiation, and helping others. The job most likely to be done by a robot? Telemarketers. No surprise; it's already happening.

The researchers admit that these estimates are rough and likely to be wrong. But consider this a snapshot of what some smart people think the future might look like. If it says your job will likely be replaced by a machine, you've been warned.

Submission + - Steve Albini: The music industry is a parasite... and copyright is dead (musicbusinessworldwide.com)

Submitted by journovampire on Saturday May 30, 2015 @06:17PM

journovampire writes: The veteran producer addressed an audience in Barcelona on Saturday: "The old copyright model – the person who creates something owns it and anyone else that wants to use it or see it has to pay them – has expired."

Submission + - Google Calendar Ends SMS Notifications

Submitted by LuserOnFire on Saturday May 30, 2015 @10:42AM

LuserOnFire writes: Google has sent out an email this morning that says in part:
Starting on June 27th, 2015, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be sent. SMS notifications launched before smartphones were available. Now, in a world with smartphones and notifications, you can get richer, more reliable experience on your mobile device, even offline.

Submission + - SpamCop is stopping its webmail service

Submitted by LuserOnFire on Saturday August 09, 2014 @10:58PM

LuserOnFire writes: Today SpamCop users received an email that says in part:
For over 12 years, Corporate Email Services has been partnering with SpamCop to provide webmail service with spam filtering via the SpamCop Email System for our users. Back then, spam filtering was rare. We heard story after story about how our service rescued people from unfiltered email. Nowadays, webmail service with spam filtering has become the norm in the general public. As such, the need for the webmail service with SpamCop filtered email has decreased. Due to these reasons, we have decided to retire the SpamCop Email System and its webmail service; while SpamCop will continue to focus on providing the World's best spam reporting platform and blacklist for the community. As of September 30, 2014 (Tuesday) 6pm ET, the current SpamCop Email service will be converted to email forwarding-only with spam filtered by SpamCop for all existing SpamCop Email users.

WOW!

Submission + - New NSA-Funded Code Rolls All Programming Languages Into One (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 09, 2014 @08:23PM

An anonymous reader writes: Hey, web developer dudes and dudettes: What's your favorite programming language? Is it CSS? Is it JavaScript? Is it PHP, HTML5, or something else? Why choose? A new programming language developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University is all of those and moreâ"one of the world's first "polyglot" programming languages.

Sound cool? It is, except its development is partially funded by the National Security Agency, so let's look at it with a skeptical eye.

It's called Wyvernâ"named after a mythical dragon-like thing that only has two legs instead of fourâ"and it's supposed to help programmers design apps and websites without having to rely on a whole bunch of different stylesheets and different amalgamations spread across different files

Submission + - CD ripper "incites law breaking" (pcpro.co.uk) 4

Submitted by

Barence

on Saturday April 02, 2011 @08:46AM

Barence writes: "A British firm has been banned from advertising a CD ripping device because it "incites law breaking". The Brennan JB7 is “a CD player with a hard disk that stores up to 5,000 CDs”. The adverts for the Brennan highlight the convenience of ripping your entire CD collection to the device – much like we’ve all been doing for years on our PCs, iPods and other MP3 players. The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the ads after concluding "that the ad misleadingly implied it was acceptable to copy CDs, vinyl and cassettes without the permission of the copyright owner"."