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Comment Re:eye candy (Score 1) 559

by proidiot (#26752475) Attached to: Is It Windows 7, Or KDE 4?

I suggest e17 (http://www.enlightenment.org/) if you want a fast, simple interface that still looks great and has a wow-factor.

Or you could go all the way and use evilwm (http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/), which is the smallest, fastest, and most minimal window manager, yet it is very easy to learn if you have the man page open.

Comment Re:Exactly (Score 1) 1654

by proidiot (#26472341) Attached to: Woman Claims Ubuntu Kept Her From Online Classes

Verizon DSL, like most ISPs with RADIUS or some equivalent, give you Windows software that is essentially a front-end to the web interface, so that they don't have to tell you to type in a scary-looking number like 192.168.1.1. Here are instructions specific to Verizon DSL: http://www.bensdrivel.com/?p=142.

Whether or not a particular website will work in Firefox as well as it works in IE, however, as an issue between you, the site owner, and their apparently incompetent web developer.

Comment GÃdel, Escher, Bach (Score 1) 517

by proidiot (#26215875) Attached to: Your Favorite Tech / Eng. / CS Books?
This book seems so obvious to so many of us that it would seem that it's not worth mentioning, yet there are still so many math/engineering/tech/CS types who haven't read it (perhaps for that very reason). So for those of you who haven't read it, it is a must-read for math- and tech-oriented people. http://www.amazon.com/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567
Operating Systems

Submission + - Linux kernel v2.6.23 released (lkml.org)

Submitted by
diegocgteleline.es
diegocgteleline.es writes: "After 3 months, Linus has released Linux 2.6.23. This version includes the new and shiny CFS process scheduler, a simpler read-ahead mechanism, the lguest 'Linux-on-Linux' paravirtualization hypervisor, XEN guest support, KVM smp guest support, variable process argument length, SLUB is now the default slab allocator, SELinux protection for exploiting null dereferences using mmap, XFS and ext4 improvements, PPP over L2TP support, the 'lumpy' reclaim algorithm, a userspace driver framework, the O_CLOEXEC file descriptor flag, splice improvements, a new fallocate() syscall, lock statistics, support for multiqueue network devices, various new drivers and many other minor features and fixes — see the changelog for details"
Patents

Ballmer Suggests Linux Distros Will Soon Have to Pay Up 520

Posted by Zonk from the oh-good-more-smack-talk dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Via Groklaw comes comments from Microsoft's Steve Ballmer at a UK event, in which the company once again threatens Linux distributions that haven't signed up with their program. '"People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us," Ballmer said last week ... Ballmer praised Novell at the UK event for valuing intellectual property, and suggested that open source vendors will be forced to strike similar deals with other patent holders. He predicted that firms like Eolas will soon come after open source vendors or users. Microsoft paid $521m to settle a patent claim by Eolas in August.'"
Wii

Smash Bros. Brawl to Have Co-Op Play 31

Posted by Zonk from the just-accept-that-the-master-sword-is-best dept.
Ars Technica notes that the official Smash Bros. Brawl site is now discussing a co-op play mode for the game. You'll now be able to team up as your favorite Nintendo characters in a vs. Computer story mode. "While the adventure mode was never really the best feature of previous Smash Brothers games, playing through with a friend will likely yield some great gameplay experiences ... Other notes on the mode include details on the camera, which will follow the first player in a way that appears similar to the handling of Sonic and Tails in Sonic 2, an overworld map which hints at a fairly lengthy adventure, the ability to create multiple teams, and five levels of difficulty ranging from easy to intense."
Censorship

Submission + - Bloggers versus billionaire

Submitted by
Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker writes: "An interesting case in England is pitting the combined power of multiple bloggers in support of a dissident ex-diplomat against an Uzbek billionaire. Alisher Usmanov has engaged the law firm Schillings (which seems to specialise in getting unfavourable web content removed for rich clients) and their threats led to the removal of Craig Murray's blog site by his hosting company Fasthosts. But a large number of bloggers have taken up Murray's cause and the content which caused the original complaint (and links to it) has now sprung up in a very large number of places. Is it still true that "the Internet regards censorship as damage and routes round it"? The Register's story latest story on this is here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/murray_usmanov_defiant/"
The Internet

Submission + - The Ban on Internet Service Taxes May Soon Expire (theseminal.com)

Submitted by
nelsonjs
nelsonjs writes: "On November 1st, the ban on taxing Internet service is set to expire. The ban was originally implemented in 1998, in order to encourage the proliferation of Internet access. If a compromise is not reached by November 1st, prices for Internet service nationwide could jump — as high as 17 percent, according to ISPs. There are currently two competing alternatives being considered in the Senate..."
The Courts

Submission + - GPL suit against Monsoon MM not settled after all

Submitted by
lisah
lisah writes: "Though it was reported yesterday that Monsoon Multimedia and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) had reached an agreement to settle their GPL differences out of court, SFLC's legal director Daniel Ravicher confirmed to Linux.com that they are only at the discussion phase of being able to work things out. Though the SFLC says letters to Monsoon requesting that they stop unlawfully distributing BusyBox code went unanswered, Monsoon chairman and COO Graham Radstone says the company, 'always intended to comply with all open source software license requirements.'"
Security

Submission + - Cybercrime now worth $105 bn, bypasses drug trade

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Citing recent highly publicized corporate data breaches that have beset major companies like Ameritrade, Citigroup, and Bank of America, McAfee CEO David DeWalt, said that cyber-crime has become a US$105 billion business that now surpasses the value of the illegal drug trade worldwide.

Despite the increase in government compliance requirements and the proliferation of security tools, companies continue to underestimate the threat from phishing, data loss, and other cyber vulnerabilities, DeWalt said.
Software

Submission + - OpenOffice 2.3 released 1

Submitted by ClickOnThis
ClickOnThis writes: Surely I'm not the only one who noticed that OpenOffice.org has announced the release of version 2.3. From the website: "Available for download now, OpenOffice.org 2.3 incorporates an extensive array of new features and enhancements to all its core components, and protects users from newly discovered security vulnerabilities. It is a major release and all users should download it. Plus: It is only with 2.3 that users can make full use of our growing extensions library." You can download it but be kind and use a P2P client instead, such as bittorrent.
XBox (Games)

Submission + - Jack Thompson in GTA IV?

Submitted by gzerphey
gzerphey writes: Jack Thompson has decided that a representation of a 2nd amendment lawyer in GTA IV is him. He has declared that if the representation is not removed he will block the release of the game.

Excerpt from GamePolitics:

The showcasing play of the game to Game Informer revealed that the first killing mission of the "hero" of the game, Niko, is to kill a certain lawyer. When Niko comes into this lawyer's office, having used subterfuge to do so, Niko pulls a gun on the lawyer who says, "that the firm supports the second amendment and that 'Guns don't kill people. Video games do.'"

You have until five o'clock P.M. this Friday... to inform me that you are going to delete the above references and any other references that could reasonably be construed to be references to me in Grand Theft Auto IV and any other video games that are pending release...
Space

Submission + - Meteorite Causes Illness in Peru (physorg.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "A meteorite struck in Peru on Saturday leaving cinders, rock & water boiling out of the ground. Villagers nearby reported headaches & vomiting and attributed it to the event. From the article, "Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache." It's not yet clear whether this is from the meteorite, gas trapped underground that was released or a chemical reaction between the two."

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