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Comment Re:-1 Batshit crazy (Score 1) 14

Its almost humorous that you portend to know exactly what Echelon, the largest top secret international electronic espionage program in the world does, that you are no longer interested in hearing about it, and that you think it sniffs only international data. Echelon IS a global censor wall. Carnivore is a cover for it (and part of the larger network) -- think about it. If you are in the hubs, routing all internet traffic through a government system, do you trust the CIA to only listen?

Think 1984, without the Ministry of Truth having to hand change articles. I've seen it in action.

What Programming Languages Should You Learn Next? 759

simoniker writes "Over at Dobbs Code Talk, Chris Diggins has been discussing programming languages beyond C++ or Java, suggesting options such as Ruby ('does a great job of showing how powerful a dynamic language can be, and leverages powerful ideas from Smalltalk, Perl, and Lisp') but suggesting Scala as a first choice ('Very accessible to programmers from different backgrounds.') What would your choice be for programmers extending beyond their normal boundaries?"

The Army's $10M Spy Bat Still Too Big 199

Lucas123 writes "The University of Michigan's Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology (COM-BAT) is working on building a robot bat that would perform long-range reconnaissance for the U.S. Army, but U.Mich is currently struggling with miniaturizing components in order to make the bat small enough to be stealthy. 'The focus is to shrink down many electronics that while currently available would only be good if the US Army wanted, say, a 12-foot spy-bat.' Some components need to be 1,000 times smaller than they currently are. The Army's $10 million grant proposal calls for the bat to be six inches in length, weigh four ounces and use just one watt of power. The bat is supposed to be powered by a lithium-ion battery, charged by solar and wind energy, as well as simple vibrations."
Moon

NASA Plans to Smash Spacecraft into the Moon 176

djasbestos writes "NASA is planning to smash a spacecraft into the Moon in order to look for hydrogen deposits in the poles. More notably, it will impact with significantly greater force (100x, per the article) than previous Moon collisions, such as by the Lunar Prospector and Smart-1 probes. Admiral Ackbar was unreachable for comment as to the exact location and size of the Moon's thermal exhaust port."

Comment Re:evaluateF (Score 1) 354

err.. evaluateF got a little garbled? :)

function () {
var _1a = $("#codeinput").val();
eval("var " + _1a);
var d = new Array;
for (var row = 0; row < ROWS; row++) {
d[row] = new Array;
for (var col = 0; col < COLUMNS; col++) { d[row][col] = false; }
}
 
var _1e = $("#instructions").val();
var _1f = _1e.split(/ *, */);
var _20 = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < _1f.length; i++) {
    var _22 = _1f[i];
    _20 += parseInt(_22);
    if (_20 < 0) { continue; }
    if (_20 >= d[0].length) { continue; }
    d[0][_20] = true;
    var _23;
    do { _23 = Util.clone(d); f(d); }
    while (!Util.equals(d, _23));
}
 
showExecutionStatus(d); Util.setCookie("user_evaluated_code", _1a, 100, "/", "wanted-master-software-developers.com"); }
Microsoft

Submission + - States slam Google Firefox: no match for Microsoft (computerworld.com.au) 4

Bergkamp10 writes: State antitrust regulators have dismissed companies such as Google and Mozilla Corp, and software technologies such as AJAX and SaaS as "piddling players that pose no threat to Microsoft's monopoly in the operating system and browser markets". According to the report ten US states, including California, New York and the District of Columbia have called for an extension of monitoring of Microsoft's business practices until November 2012. They claim that little has changed in the OS and browser spaces since the 2002 antitrust case ruled against Microsoft. In their most recent brief, the states countered Microsoft's contention that Web-based companies — Google, Salesforce.com, Yahoo, eBay and others — and new Web-centric technologies constitute what Microsoft dubbed a "competitive alternative to Windows." Not even close, said the states, claiming that while these companies' products provide functionality for users they still rely on Operating Systems and browsers — the two spaces where Microsoft dominates. Experts were apparently even more damning, claiming competition in the market has not been restored since 2002 and that the collective powers of Google, Firefox and Web 2.0 are about as effective as a one legged man in a butt-kicking contest when it comes to unsettling Microsoft's monopoly of the market. Ronald Alepin, a technical adviser at law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, and a frequent expert witness for parties facing Microsoft in court, even claimed Apple is too weak to capitalize on its successes, and ultimately no threat to Microsoft.
Software

Submission + - Wikipedia Used for Artificial Intelligence

eldavojohn writes: "It may be no surprise but Wikipedia is now being used in the field of artificial intelligence. The applications for this may be endless. For instance, the front of spam fighting is a tough one and it looks as though researchers are now turning towards an ontology or taxonomy based solution to fight spammers. The concept is also on the forefront of artificial intelligence and progress towards an application passing the Turing Test and creating semantically aware applications. The article comments on uses of Wikipedia in this manner:
"... spam filters block all messages containing the word 'vitamin,' but fail to block messages containing the word 'B12.' If the program never saw 'B12' before, it's just a word without any meaning. But you would know it's a vitamin," Markovitch said. "With our methodology, however, the computer will use its Wikipedia-based knowledge base to infer that 'B12' is strongly associated with the concept of vitamins, and will correctly identify the message as spam," he added.
"

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