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Comment Re:Delphi cross platform? (Score 1) 492

by laa (#48903947) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated?

We did some test apps during the alpha/beta testers program and purchased one license for "recreational use". We created some half-production use web server apps with it, but it was mostly used to play with. Nothing with GUI, though, only server stuff.

Now that I come to think of it, there was something funny with the UI code. Did it hardlink in QT? I think it did. Borland (or whatever they were called at the time) coughed up some dough and got a license where they could link in QT libraries in the executables. It was portable, but probably anything but quick.

Comment Re:Delphi cross platform? (Score 1) 492

by laa (#48903647) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated?

The IDE used wine, but the apps were native. You could even do server side Apache dynamic libraries for your linux web server. Technically it was a nice effort (even though the wine IDE discouraged three of the seven potential buyers). Commercially it never stood a chance, it lacked a market and it was obvious it could never create one.

Comment Re:Last century stuff (Score 1) 753

by laa (#47457811) Attached to: Predicting a Future Free of Dollar Bills

Nice language, dude! The credit card companies, at least here, charged a fixed percentage regardless of the sum. That's why you logic is all wrong, the cost for the merchant is the same (relatively) for a 10 cent purchase as it is for a 100€ purchase. On the contrary, handling cash is way more expensive.

I once tried to by a car with plastic, but was refused because the transaction fee would have been enormous.

And no, I'm not a immigrant, and yes, I have loads of sisu.
AI

IBM Devises Software For Its Experimental Brain-Modeling Chips 33

Posted by timothy from the pardon-me-but-are-you-a-brain-model? dept.
alphadogg writes "Following up on work commissioned by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), IBM has developed a programming paradigm, and associated simulator and basic software library, for its experimental SyNAPSE processor. The work suggests the processors could be used for extremely low-power yet computationally powerful sensor systems. 'Our end goal is to create a brain in a box,' said Dharmendra Modha, and IBM Research senior manager who is the principal investigator for the project. The work is a continuation of a DARPA project to design a system that replicates the way a human processes information." Also at SlashBI.
Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Drops 11% In a Day 467

Posted by Soulskill from the i-see-you-are-having-problems-with-your-investors.-would-you-like-me-to-help? dept.
Taco Cowboy writes with news that Microsoft's stock price dropped over 11 percent yesterday. The selloff was the biggest since 2009, and during the day the price was down more than 12 percent at one point, making it the biggest single day drop since April, 2000. Analysts believe the drop was due primarily to the company missing its quarterly earnings projections in addition to taking a massive, $900 million write-down on unsold Surface RT tablets. "Microsoft’s decline is both a consequence of the changing dynamics of the tech world and the incredible surge in its stock price this year. Shares in the maker of Windows had rallied nearly 30% this year, leaving both the broader stock market and the technology sector in the dust. It was, it seemed, Steve Ballmer’s year. Until Friday. The sell off was sparked by fears over the declines of the PC market. Gartner data show PC shipments fell for the fifth consecutive quarter in Q2, this time tanking 10.9% to 76 million units. Being the world’s largest software company, 'over 80% of its revenue and nearly all of its profits continue to be derived by its ubiquitous Windows OS, its server business (Windows Server), and the business division (Office),' according to UBS. And indeed that decline in the PC industry is hurting the company’s bottom line."
AI

MIT Uses Machine Learning Algorithm To Make TCP Twice As Fast 250

Posted by timothy from the do-it-again-for-four-times-faster dept.
An anonymous reader writes "MIT is claiming they can make the Internet faster if we let computers redesign TCP/IP instead of coding it by hand. They used machine learning to design a version of TCP that's twice the speed and causes half the delay, even with modern bufferbloated networks. They also claim it's more 'fair.' The researchers have put up a lengthy FAQ and source code where they admit they don't know why the system works, only that it goes faster than normal TCP."
Input Devices

Fight You Own Muscles To Create Force-Feedback On Smartphones 72

Posted by samzenpus from the isometric-gaming dept.
FatLittleMonkey writes "Researchers in Germany have developed a device that allows users of portable devices, such as smartphones, experience force-feedback from games using just their own muscles... and a small EMS device. When stimulated by a painless electric pulse, the player's arm moves the device in whichever direction the game commands. The player then fights the movement with their other muscles, creating a strong sensation that the device itself is bucking in their hands. According to the developers, users found the sensation much more realistic than traditional vibrotactile feedback. (Should make PvP more interesting too.)"
Programming

Web-based IDEs Edge Closer To the Mainstream 244

Posted by timothy from the hope-your-connection-is-reliable dept.
snitch writes "Last week Mozilla released Bespin, their web-based framework for code editing, and only a few days later Boris Bokowski and Simon Kaegi implemented an Eclipse-based Bespin server using headless Eclipse plug-ins. With the presentation of the web-based Eclipse workbench at EclipseCon and the release of products like Heroku, a web-based IDE and hosting environment for RoR apps, it seems that web-based IDEs might soon become mainstream."

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