Comment Re:Plugging the analog hole (Score 1) 177
unless they build the battery into the paper
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6945732.stm
Is Linux Out of Touch With the Average User? 1067
MrSmith writes "Is Linux's less than impressive market share an indication that the movement is out of touch with the average computer user? ZDNet examines five reasons that could explain why people are still willing to pay for (or pirate) an operating system when free alternatives exist. One of the reasons seems to be that despite what many Linux advocates claim, Windows users aren't on the whole dissatisfied with their OS: 'Despite what you read on websites and blogs, newspapers and magazines, people on the whole aren't all that dissatisfied with Windows. There are millions of users out there who just get on and use their PCs without any real difficulty.'"
Submission + - The Palm OS ends with a whimper
PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has reviewed the Palm Treo 755p, the last Palm device with the Palm OS, and concludes that the OS is going out with a whimper, rather than a bang. The article says there are some useful improvements (better integration with Exchange and IM, limited speech recognition, etc.) but 'nothing that will make you sit back and say "wow."' Palm already has at least one device with Windows Mobile (the 700w) and soon will make a big push to Linux devices, maybe by the end of the year. But the Palm OS, which was top dog for a while back in the 1990s, and is still used by many people who own Palm Pilots or Treos, is going to quickly fade, it seems"
Ancient Star Found, Estimated at 13.2 Billion Years Old 377
raguirre writes "An article on Physorg.org reports that a newly found star may be as old as the universe itself. Recent studies have concluded that the Big Bang occurred somewhere in the neighborhood of 13.7 Billion years ago. The star, a heavy-elements laden fossil labeled HE 1523-0901 on charts was probably born right around the same time; approximately 13.2 Billion years ago. 'Today, astronomer Anna Frebel of the the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and her colleagues have deduced the star's age based on the amounts of radioactive elements it contains compared to certain other "anchor" elements, specifically europium, osmium and iridium.'"
Journal SPAM: California Man May Go to Prison for Kissing on a Plane 8
Carl Persing was convicted Thursday of interfering with flight attendants and crew members after he and his girlfriend, Dawn Sewell, were seen "embracing, kissing and acting in a manner that made other passengers uncomfortable," according to a criminal complaint.
Submission + - US to pass bill outlawing genetic discrimination
fatduck writes: "NewScientist reports that, "On 25 April, the House of Representatives voted 420 to 3 to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The Senate is expected to endorse the act within a few weeks, which is also supported by President Bush."
"There is no gene for the human spirit.""
Submission + - The state of open source 3D modelling
gmueckl writes: "Since Blender got released as open source in 2002, it has basically owned the open source 3D modelling scene. Its development has seen a massive push by both the open source community and supporting organisations. However, the program has been showing its age all along and efforts to improve on that have either been blocked or have failed in the past (note the dates). Authors of new modules are forced to jump through hoops to get their work glued onto the basic core which still dates from the early 90s and has gone almost unchanged since. There are many other active projects out there like Art of illusion, K-3D and Moonlight|3D. Each one of them offers a modern, much saner, more coherent and more powerful basic architecture and could match Blender in a couple of months' time with some extra manpower. So how comes that these projects don't get the level of support they deserve? How comes developers are still willing to put up with such an arcane code base?"
AOL's Embarassing Password Woes 192
An anonymous reader writes "AOL.com users may think they have up to sixteen characters to use as a password, but they'd be wrong, thanks to this security artifact detailed by The Washington Post's Security Fix blog:
"Well, it turns out that when someone signs up for an AOL.com account, the user appears to be allowed to enter up to a 16-character password. AOL's system, however, doesn't read past the first eight characters."
This means that a user who uses "password123" or any other obvious eight-character password with random numbers on the end is in effect using just that lame eight-character password."
Submission + - Boredom Drives Open-Source Developers?
Henry McClyde writes: Chris Anderson of The Long Tail posted an article yesterday in which he claims that "spare cycles" — or boredom and the tons of people who wish they had something better to do — is what drives Web 2.0.... and the open source development community. While Web 2.0 in general is driven by "the long tail," NeoSmart seems to have taken up issue with Anderson's claims that open source developers (and other freeware programmers in general) do what they do because they're bored and have nothing better to spend their time on. Same with Wikipedia contributors, and bloggers in general.
I feel it's a mix between the two. It may have started off as boredom and ended up as a real passion for helping people out and making a difference. But definitely interesting that Anderson of all people would compare a Linux kernel developer to a bored sheriff watching a DVD or a travel playing Solitaire.
I feel it's a mix between the two. It may have started off as boredom and ended up as a real passion for helping people out and making a difference. But definitely interesting that Anderson of all people would compare a Linux kernel developer to a bored sheriff watching a DVD or a travel playing Solitaire.
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"Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines." -- Bertrand Russell
