Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
Android

Submission + - Don't super-size my smartphone! (pcpro.co.uk) 8

Steve Max writes: Editor Paul Ockenden wonders, "Has anyone else noticed what’s been happening to top-end smartphones recently? They’ve started to get big – really big. But do people really want that at the expense of carrying around such a huge, heavy lump of tech in their pocket?". The trend for bigger and bigger screens is clear, but is it what consumers want? Is it what you want?
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft apologizes for sexist phrase in Linux kernel (networkworld.com)

netbuzz writes: "Microsoft has apologized and promised to rectify the fact that one of its developers slipped a sexist phrase into Linux kernel code supporting Microsoft’s HyperV virtualization environment. In that code, the magic constant passed through to the hypervisor reads "0xB16B00B5," or a slightly camouflaged "BIG BOOBS." After Linux developer/blogger Matthew Garrett criticized Microsoft for the stunt, the predictable debate over sexism in the technology world ensued. Microsoft issued a statement to Network World apologizing and added, “We have submitted a patch to fix this issue and the change will be published in a future release of the kernel.”"
Facebook

Submission + - EFF: Americans may not know it, but many are in a face recognition database now (networkworld.com) 1

colinneagle writes: People are not going to, nor should they have to, start walking around outside with a bag over their head to avoid security cameras capturing images of them. Yet "face recognition allows for covert, remote and mass capture and identification of images — and the photos that may end up in a database include not just a person's face but also how she is dressed and possibly whom she is with. This creates threats to free association and free expression not evident in other biometrics," testified EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch about What Facial Recognition Technology Means for Privacy and Civil Liberties.

There are 32 states that use some form of facial recognition for DMV photos. Every day, Facebook happily slurps up and automatically scans with facial recognition software about 300 million photos that users upload to the social networking giant. "Face recognition is here to stay, and, though many Americans may not realize it, they are already in a face recognition database," Lynch said. In fact, when you stop to consider Facebook "at least 54% of the United States population already has a face print." Now it purchased Face.com which had 31 billion face images profiled.

Android

Submission + - Android 4.1 Jelly Bean SDK Released (paritynews.com)

hypnosec writes: Google has released the full SDK for its latest edition of Android, Jelly Bean, which was unveiled during Google I/O. Google has already released the source code of Jelly Bean earlier. Google announced through a blog post that developers can develop application against the API level 16 using the new Jelly Bean APIs. Developers would be able to develop apps that will run on Nexus 7 tablets. Jelly Bean is touted as one of the best from Google and it promises a smoother and more responsive UI across the system.

Comment Re:Law of Unintended Consequences (Score 1) 1054

Thanks for the follow-up. I wasn't reading more into your post than you intended but I should have summed up in my own post....it is indeed ironic that the idiot could foist his beliefs upon a school system he doesn't participate in (except, I guess, as a tax payer). Unfortunately, the fundamentalists seem to be increasing in number or at least they seem increasingly successful in changing systems to fit their world views. I wonder how long it will be before we are told what we can and can't teach in our own home...

Comment Re:Law of Unintended Consequences (Score 2) 1054

We home school our children in no small part due to the way that public schools here have become places where religious fundamentalism is taking over. Unlike many public schools around the country, we can actually teach our children the theory of evolution. Our children can read anything that we feel they have the maturity to handle. And so on.

It is ironic to us that while home schooling used to be seen as a mechanism for right-wing religious fanatics to indoctrinate their children it is increasingly embraced by left-wing wackos like us who want their children to learn everything they can and who are repulsed by book banning and other forms of legislated censorship.

Comment Re:the three books (Score 1) 1054

Any book with the word "Devil" in the title is going to raise of the ire of the whack-job Christian-Far-Right types in rural South Carolina. As will any book that includes the words "bruised testicles" or otherwise acknowledges any aspect of the human reproductive system. Hell, I'm sure they even found something in the Agatha Christie novel to complain about.

Comment Re:How is this constitutional? (Score 3, Informative) 578

I've been through these checkpoints in New Mexico and Texas many times but I was never curious about their history until I read the "flushing the entire constitution down the toilet these days" comment. Got me to wondering how long the checkpoints have been around and who got them started. Best I can tell, they started in the early 90's (1993 is the earliest mention I can find).

Interesting GAO report on the Border Patrol from 2005, if anyone is interested:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05435.pdf

So the checkpoints are nothing new but certainly they were expanded and additionally empowered after 9/11 to (on paper anyway) act as a deterrent to terrorism. My only addition to the "flushing" comment is that it is nothing recent -- it started long ago. The Man just uses every excuse to flush more of our rights farther down the pipe. Galling.
IBM

Submission + - IBM Releases OpenSource EGL Development Tools (eclipse.org)

dd1968 writes: "Today IBM announced the release (http://www.eclipse.org/edt/)
of a new set of OpenSource development tools based on their EGL programming language.

The announcement (https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/3e2b35ae-d3b1-4008-adee-2b31d4be5c92/entry/the_open_era_for_egl_begins_today?lang=en) describes the tools as being built from the ground up on an "open, extensible compiler and generator framework".

The one-language approach places an abstraction layer between the developer and target languages, frameworks, and runtime platforms."

Comment Phrogram (Score 1) 799

Hands down, Phrogram is the best language for teaching young people to program. It's a language purpose-built for teaching kids (it used to be called KPL or "Kids Programming Language") and it scales with the child. A young person can start by coding simple graphical applications and "graduate" to database access and even sockets programming. http://phrogram.com/

Slashdot Top Deals

"An open mind has but one disadvantage: it collects dirt." -- a saying at RPI

Working...