muchmusic - Slashdot User

Submission + - GNU Free Call announced, SIP-based VoIP (h-online.com)

Submitted by andrea.sartori on Tuesday March 15, 2011 @11:35AM

andrea.sartori writes: The H reports the announcement of the development plan for GNU Free Call, an open source VoIP service based on the SIP protocol. According to the announcement it "aims to be as ubiquitous and usable as the proprietary Skype VOIP service". Will this be the end of central service providers?

Submission + - Man Intends To Live On Beer Alone For Lent

Submitted by tetrahedrassface on Tuesday March 15, 2011 @11:02AM

tetrahedrassface writes: An Iowanian is living on nothing but beer for the 46 days of Lent. J.Wilson, a blogger, and editor of the weekly Adams County Free Press modeled this Lent exercise on 17'th century German Monks who practiced liquid fasts. Using a custom made grog that has high caloric values is key as Wilson says because ordinary light beer just doesn't have enough nutritional value. He has already lost 11 pounds while following his weekday four a day and weekend 5 a day beer scheme.

Comment Re:editorialize much? (Score 1) 1277

by muchmusic on Wednesday March 09, 2011 @02:26PM (#35433080) Attached to: Utah To Teach USA is a Republic, Not a Democracy

Agreed. I'll keep reading and moderating and meta-moderating etc to try to do my part to keep things from going in this direction, but feels like I'm losing this battle.

Submission + - Report Finds Most Piracy Driven by High Prices (ssrc.org) 1

Submitted by langelgjm on Monday March 07, 2011 @01:15PM

langelgjm writes: The Social Science Research Council, an independent, non-profit organization, today released a major report on music, film and software piracy in developing economies. The product of three years of work, the authors conclude that piracy is primarily driven by excessively high prices and that anti-piracy education and enforcement efforts have failed. Still, chief editor Joe Karaganis believes that businesses can survive in these high piracy environments.

The report is free to readers in low-income countries, but behind a paywall for certain high-income countries, although the SSRC notes that "For those who must have it for free anyway, you probably know where to look."

Submission + - Firefox 4 RC Vs. IE9 RC: The First Duel (conceivablytech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2011 @12:41PM

An anonymous reader writes: Firefox 4 vs. IE9 is going to be an epic battle in a reigniting browser war in which Microsoft wants its IE to be seen as a capable browser again. Mozilla struggled to keep the pace with Chrome and IE9, but is about to release the first release candidate, which is expected to be the final version of Firefox as well. This first review of JavaScript, Flash and HTML5 tests seems to indicate that both browsers are about even at the bottom line, while Firefox has the JavaScript edge and IE is ahead in HTML5 performance.

Submission + - Hackers Target French Government Computers for G20 (softview.co.in)

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Monday March 07, 2011 @12:06PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "IT staff spent the weekend in a massive cleaning to remove traces of "spectacular" attack on computer at Bercy, headoffice of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry Ministry, a government minister said Monday."

Submission + - Schools consider searching pupils' smartphones (pcpro.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2011 @11:48AM

An anonymous reader writes: What right to privacy do school pupils have on their mobile phones? Education officials are considering ways to clamp down on cyber-bullying and classroom disruption by allowing teachers to search and delete content from student handsets if it is deemed unsuitable. However, questions remain whether such a move would give teachers too much power and infringe on student rights.

Submission + - Can For-Profit Tech Colleges Be Trusted? (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday March 07, 2011 @10:59AM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Robert Scheier takes a closer look at for-profit IT-oriented colleges, questioning whether IT pros and employers can trust the quality of education on offer at institutions such as University of Phoenix, DeVry, ITT Tech, and Kaplan in the wake of increasing scrutiny for alleged deceptive practices that leave in high debt for jobs that pay little. 'For-profit schools carry a stigma in some eyes because of their reputation for hard sales pitches, aggressive marketing tactics, and saddling students with big loans for dubious degrees or certificates,' Scheier writes. 'Should IT pros looking to increase their skills, or people seeking to enter the IT profession, consider such for-profit schools? And should employers trust their graduates' skills?'"

Submission + - Software Matches Police Sketches to Mugshots (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula on Monday March 07, 2011 @10:44AM

Zothecula writes: We've seen it in numerous TV shows and movies – the witness to a crime looks through a book of mug shots, then works with a police sketch artist to come up with a likeness of the nasty person they saw. After looking through hundreds of mug shots, however, it's possible that the tired-brained witness could look right at a photo of the guilty party and not recognize them. It's also possible that there is a mug shot of the criminal on a database somewhere out there, but that this particular witness will never see it. A computer system being pioneered at Michigan State University, however, could be the solution to such problems – it automatically matches faces in police sketches to mug shots.

Submission + - iPad 2 forces Samsung to reevaluate Galaxy Tab (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07, 2011 @10:35AM

An anonymous reader writes: Apple’s iPad competitors are still spec-obsessed, and Apple’s next-gen iPad coupled with the same affordable price point is forcing Samsung to rethink its tablet strategy and pricing methodology altogether.
The South Korean Yonhap News Agency relays a quote from Lee Don-joo, executive VP of Samsung’s mobile division, about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 compared to the new iPad.

“We will have to improve the parts that are inadequate,” Don-joo said. “Apple made it very thin.”
Feature aside, Samsung also finds itself in a bind price wise. The upcoming Galaxy Tab, complete with a 10.1-inch screen and Android 3.0, was initially going to be priced higher than the current 7-inch Galaxy Tab. Apple’s iPad 2, however, is forcing Samsung to “think that over.”

Submission + - Intel's New Core i7-990X Extreme Edition Tested (hothardware.com)

Submitted by

MojoKid

on Monday March 07, 2011 @10:34AM

MojoKid writes: "Intel recently launched a speed bump of their flagship Extreme Edition Core i7 processor, known as the Core i7-990X. Its multiplier is unlocked and it's clocked at 3.45GHz stock speed with a Turbo Boost top-end speed of 3.73GHz. Intel claims its the fastest desktop chip on the planet; like geek tiger blood for your PC. The new Core i7-990X is also based on the 32nm Gulftown core and the performance metrics show it's easily the fastest 6-core chip for the desktop currently but of course it'll cost you as well."

Submission + - The Car Faster Than a Speeding Bullet (wsj.com) 1

Submitted by

pbahra

on Monday March 07, 2011 @09:31AM

pbahra writes: "Formula 1 is seen as the apogee of engineering excellence and automotive power. So it says something that in Bloodhound SSC—the car that, if all goes well, in 2013 will shatter the current land speed record—the Cosworth Formula 1 engine is just the fuel pump. “We are creating the ultimate car; we’re going where no-one has gone before,” said Richard Noble, the project director. The car, which Mr. Noble says takes £10,000 a day just to keep it ticking over, will be powered by not one, but two other engines. The smaller one, the EJ200, is normally found in the British Royal Air Force’s Typhoon jet. Its job is to get the 13.4 meter long car up to 350 mph. That’s when the big one kicks in. The big one is the 18-inch diameter, 12-foot-long Falcon rocket, the largest of its kind ever made in the U.K.. Its job is to catapult the car through the sound barrier to its maximum speed of 1,050 mph. That is, literally, faster than a speeding bullet."

Submission + - Nokia sells Qt licensing and services business (engadget.com) 1

Submitted by Google85 on Monday March 07, 2011 @07:01AM

Google85 writes: Now that Nokia has shifted to a Windows Phone-centric smartphone strategy, it's only natural for the company to divest itself of responsibility with regard to the Qt framework. It has been announced Digia will acquire the Qt commercial licensing and services business from Nokia, including the transfer of some 3,500 desktop and embedded customers actively using Qt today.

Comment Re:Missing OS (Score 1) 499

by muchmusic on Thursday March 03, 2011 @08:45PM (#35375508) Attached to: Upgrading From Windows 1.0 To Windows 7

Why wouldn't one proceed thusly

98 - Me - XP

and omit win2k?

From a home user standpoint, that's how it went for many people.

For business it might have gone NT (different versions of NT) - win2k - vista.

Seems like he mixed the two together to keep to one timeline for simplicity of the video.

Submission + - Should Cyber Vigilantes Be Cheered or Feared (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @04:07PM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Ted Samson raises several challenging questions in the wake of HBGary, first and foremost being, should the cyber vigilante acts of 'hacktivists' such as Anonymous be embraced? No doubt the alleged HBGary plot is troubling, Samson writes, 'but also troubling is how quickly some members of Congress seek to use illegally acquired information to further their own political agenda.' The underlying message seems to be that cyber vigilantes may have more leeway than those who engage in equally illegal, though decidedly nontechnical methods to expose their targets."

Slashdot Top Deals