Journal Journal: Reg says, Vista first look: Bugs and confusion
The Reg has a nice
review
of their attempt at installing and using Windows Vista; worth reading.
Submission + - Music execs think DRM slows the marketplace
MacGod writes: "From BBC News comes a story about a Jupiter Research survey conducted before Steve Job's anti-DRM essay, indicating that most music industry execs see DRM-free music as a way to expand the sales on digital tracks. To summarise: 54% of music execs think the current DRM is too restrictive and 62% think selling unencumbered music would be a way to boost sales. Even limiting the survey to the record labels themselves, 48% believe this. Yet, many also believe it's not going to happen without significant governmental intervention-even though most insiders think DRM is harmful, the labels are keen to stick with it.
Is this yet another sign of the typical media industry "head in the sand, refuse to change" approach, or might we be seeing the early stages or some actual change? After all, admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it."
Is this yet another sign of the typical media industry "head in the sand, refuse to change" approach, or might we be seeing the early stages or some actual change? After all, admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it."
Bookmark Universal is busy suing MySpace for stealing music, but in their free time they' (markshields.com)
Submission + - PostgreSQL 8.2 Released
An anonymous reader writes: With the winter holidays approaching, the developers of PostgreSQL have released version 8.2 as a present to us all. Tests really do prove that this is a performance release. With this release will PostgreSQL finally shed it's slow reputation? PostgreSQL 8.2 is trouncing MySQL with query optimization improvements, indexing without blocking INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations, and more...
Yet how does it compare to the big boys, Oracle and DB2? This release of PostgreSQL it is still missing SQL:2003 Window Functions so critical in business reporting. That means Oracle and DB2 still reign supreme in the OLAP/Data warehouse market. Even without many of the SQL:2003 features, this is good release. Get PostgreSQL 8.2 and take it for a spin!
Yet how does it compare to the big boys, Oracle and DB2? This release of PostgreSQL it is still missing SQL:2003 Window Functions so critical in business reporting. That means Oracle and DB2 still reign supreme in the OLAP/Data warehouse market. Even without many of the SQL:2003 features, this is good release. Get PostgreSQL 8.2 and take it for a spin!
Submission + - Linux Isn't Just For Grownups Anymore
digihome writes: from the Is-That-A-Penguin-In-The-Classroom? Department
It looks like the education space could be the first, real place where Linux could grab a beachhead in the desktop PC market. Take a look at Indiana, for example. In about a year, through a public school grant program, State of Indiana education officials have moved at least 22,000 students from Windows-based desktops to Linux-based desktops.
http://www.crn.com/weblogs/thechart/blog.jhtml?id= 196601151#196601151
Submission + - Intel to include 802.11n in Centrino line
filenavigator writes: Intel announced at the Globalcom 2006 Expo that they will be including the 802.11n hardware in their Centrino chips. It will be interesting since they said that they will start doing this sometime in the middle of 2007, and the 802.11n standard is not to be finalized until 2008. Additionally the 802.11n standard has been dogged by problems. Hopefully this will force the vendors to start working together to create compatible hardware.
Submission + - AMD: New Chips Consume Half the Power of Core 2 Du
frederickroyceperez writes: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2068252 ,00.asp -AMD announced its entry into the 65-nm manufacturing generation Tuesday with a new line of 65-watt "energy-efficient" processors that the company claimed already consumes just under 50 percent less power than the Intel Core 2 Duo — From what I could understand of the article the main thrust of AMD marketing was that although the power consumption was much higher in comparison with Intel when opened up , the idle speeds in quotidian use brought a favorable power usage comparatively . So average use over a day with comparable AMD chips vs Intel chips appears to favour AMD .
Feed To Web Fans, Peter Jackson Is the One True Director (nytimes.com)
When it comes to power games, some in Hollywood are beginning to learn a basic lesson of digital politics: the Internet plays rough.
Feed For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs Big Debate (nytimes.com)
The debate is centered on whether cheap laptops are the best way to improve education in the developing world.
