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Submission + - Google unleashes terrible new update for Google News upon the net.

Rei writes: Today, Google unveiled a "new look" for Google News, describing it as a "clean and uncluttered look". New design features includes a mostly empty "In the News" box for trending-topics, most of which you probably don't care about; a double-height page header so that they can make the border around the search box inexplicably larger and add a four-option menu bar; large empty grey expanses that take up half the browser; and a new news section that presents half as many news articles per page. If you didn't think you were having to scroll enough when using Google News, don't worry — Google's got your back with this new update.

Comment Re:"Kill all white people" are ok! (Score 1) 373

Your link doesn't provide any information on whether or not "Kill all white people" would be OK on Twitter, as that is not the statement made by either of the Twitter accounts quoted.

We would have to look at the past post history of both accounts to determine what went on here on Twitter.

The thing is that historically black people have been oppressed over the past several hundred years by white people through the process of colonisation, slavery, lack of human rights, and sadly this archaic attitude still seems to be in place.

"Kill all black people" was to some extent state policy for many countries until frighteningly recently - talking mid 20th century. My own country, Australia, is a horrible example here - Aboriginal Australians weren't even recognised as citizens until 1967.

All black people in the US only got the right to vote in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act signed by Lyndon Johnson.

An Australian politician, David Oldfield, this year said on a national TV broadcast talking about Australian Aboriginal culture "You just naturally let it die out. I mean frankly, it should have died out, like the Stone Age died out." http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/first-contact-review-thank-god-for-david-oldfield-20161115-gspkr0.html

It's not at all about making it OK to say "Kill all white people".

It's about recognising that "Kill all black people" is a very real fear for many people, and working to make that no longer the case.

Submission + - Linux and the Home Recording Studio

wjcofkc writes: There are a few areas where Linux specializes above and beyond as a mature platform over other areas. Very near the top of that list is audio recording and mixing software. Somewhere between IT jobs I found myself spending 2 1/2 years employed pretty deeply in the local music industry. It was a fantastic experience. Left and right I saw people using very expensive proprietary software. I never saw anything that a similar Linux counterpart, or a suite of Open Source counterparts could not do. Needless to say, I preached the good word. Unfortunately, I never exploited any opportunities to provide a demo. One thing concerned me. If you have a full DAW setup, it's not just software, there is always some sort of hardware interface of varying complexity involved and playing through an amp into a microphone connected to a computer is not an acceptable way to record. I recently purchased a Lexicon Alpha 2-Channel Desktop Recording Studio interface based on vague mentions that it might work with Linux. After plugging it in for the first time, I fired up Audacity and Ardour. The device was available to select as an interface with zero configuration and it works perfectly. My question to the music geeks among us: what is your take on the state of Open Source pro audio software and what successes and fails have you had with studio hardware?

Submission + - "Turing Test Passed" was just a load of hype?

beaker_72 writes: On Sunday we saw a story on /. alerting us to the news that the Turing Test had finally been passed: http://developers.slashdot.org.... The same story was picked up by most of the mainstream media and reported all over the place over the weekend and yesterday. However, today we see an article in TechDirt telling us that in fact the original press release was just a load of hype from someone who has previous in the area: https://www.techdirt.com/artic... So who's right? Have researchers at a well established university managed to beat this test for the first time, or should we believe TechDirt who have pointed out some aspects of the story which, if true, are pretty damning?

Comment Why Compare her to Scott? (Score 2) 144

Do they expect that she won't make it?

If it's a well planned, modern thinking, expedition, would seem to make more sense to compare her to Amundsen...

Scott appears to have been very brave, but he also seems to have been stuck in the century old Royal Navy mindset of the nobility of man hauling during polar exploration. Amundsen seems to have studied the problem of polar exploration from a very young age and put this knowledge gained into designing a successful solution. He got there first, got there faster, and didn't lose a single man.

--
Terra Nova - a play about the race to the South Pole

Comment 'Mousetrap' rights just released in AU (Score 1) 244

I think the solution has been on Wikipedia for some time - it's presumably why the article is semi-protected from edits, and there's a lot of fierce talk on both sides on the discussion page.

What is somewhat interesting is that after 60 years, the performance rights of 'Mousetrap' have only just been made available in Australia. Sydney's Genesian Theatre will produce the Australian premiere of the play in 2011. The rights holders really have been very strict about keeping the secret for many years, so it's hardly surprising they're upset at finding out it's on Wikipedia.

But I guess Australians will no longer have to travel to London or Wikipedia to find out the ending...

Submission + - Kmart Offers $149 Android Tablet (cnn.com)

pickens writes: A Kmart circular came out last week with an uber-geeky product that perked up a few ears in the gadget community. Augen's 7-inch Gen-78 Android tablet which runs Android 2.1 is on sale for $150 (normally $170). The tablet is as bare bones as it gets, but it does work and has some features which may interest those who can't reconcile the $500+ price of Apple's iPad. Features include Android 2.1 (no skinning) 800x480 Display, WiFi 802.11G, 2GB of storage +SD card slot (up to 32GB), 256MB of RAM (same as iPad), HDMI out for 720P viewing on an external display, Android Market access, an eBook reader, YouTube app, and Maps. The tablet is currently sold out at many locations but Kmart is offering rain checks. "I'll be honest," writes Seth Weintraub. "I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car."

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