devewm - Slashdot User

Submission + - The Ambiguity of "Open" and VP8 vs. H.264 (antimatter15.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17, 2011 @01:33PM

An anonymous reader writes: With all the talk about WebM and H.264, how the move might be a step backwards for openness, and Google's intention to add "plugins" for IE9 and Safari to support WebM, this article attempts to clear misconceptions about the VP8 and H.264 codecs and how browsers render video. Firefox, Opera and Google rely on their own media frameworks to decode video, whereas IE9 and Safari will hand over video processing to the operating system (Windows Media Player or QuickTime), the need for the web to establish a baseline codec for encoding videos, and how the Flash player is proprietary, but implementation and usage remain royalty free.

Comment Re:Bluetooth is the way to go (Score 1) 519

by devewm on Thursday April 30, 2009 @10:57AM (#27772991) Attached to: Bluetooth Versus Wireless Mice

I use a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 as well and I'm really happy with it. Sometimes it does go to sleep when I've not used it in a few minutes, but it wakes up in just a few seconds so it's not a huge deal. And I think 1.5 - 2 month battery life is acceptable (I use it all day every day at work with my Macbook Pro).

My rationale for getting this mouse in the first place was the same as penguinchris - I didn't want to waste a USB port and have to plug and unplug a receiver every time I moved. Bluetooth was a must. The selection of bluetooth mice does seem very limited, but I have recommended this mouse to everyone who has asked me.

Moblin 2 First Impressions 100

Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 31, 2009 @09:11PM from the fast-boot-coming-to-a-distro-near-you dept.

nerdyH notes a DesktopLinux.com first look at the alpha of Intel's Moblin 2 toolkit for Linux distributors to create distributions for netbooks and other Atom-based kit. "A lot of notebooks and even netbooks these days run Windows, but also offer a minimalist Linux environment that boots in seconds. Now, with the Intel-sponsored Moblin project's alpha release of Moblin 2 Monday, it looks like insanely fast boots will become a standard feature of full-featured Linux desktops, too. Some of the quick-booting environments out there are enough to give anyone a lasting hatred of Linux. Like those free bicycles that liberal, well-intentioned municipalities release into the wild from time to time, hoping to get drivers out of their cars, fast-boot Linux is probably doing more to harm than help the cause. But pretty soon, even full-featured Linux will boot in seconds. That's because Intel's built some mighty whizzy read-ahead boot technology into Moblin 2."

Hydrocarbon Rain Swells Titan's Lakes 110

Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 31, 2009 @07:11PM from the singin'-in-the-methane dept.

Rob Carr writes "According to the Cassini team, 'Recent images of Titan from NASA's Cassini spacecraft affirm the presence of lakes of liquid hydrocarbons by capturing changes in the lakes brought on by rainfall.' The northern lakes are now larger following a period in which hydrocarbon clouds covered their skies. (The research was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.) This change adds to the evidence these areas are indeed hydrocarbon lakes. But this discovery raises several more questions: where is the methane in the atmosphere coming from, and how long can this complex hydrocarbon cycle on Titan go on? The new evidence emphasizes the need for another mission to Titan."

Learning To Read With Click and Jane 115

Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 31, 2009 @05:55PM from the that's-no-book dept.

theodp writes "While earlier generations learned to Read with Dick and Jane, the NYT Magazine reports that today's tykes are getting their reading chops at online sites like Starfall (free) and One More Story (subscription). Quoting the Times Magazine: 'In their book "Freakonomics," Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt write that kids who grow up in houses packed with books fare better on school tests than those who grow up with fewer books.' So how will kids who learn to read online fare when they grow up?"

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