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Toys

Man Repairs Crumbling Walls With Legos 106

Posted by samzenpus from the one-block-at-a-time dept.
Lanxon writes "German-born artist Jan Vormann, 27, has spent the past three years traveling the world repairing crumbling walls and monuments with Lego, reports Wired. His "Dispatchwork" began in 2007 in the small village of Bocchignano, Italy, as part of the contemporary art festival 20 Eventi. Developing the work in situ, he became intrigued by the makeshift repairs that had been made to the crumbling walls. The approach favored function over appearance, reminding Vormann of the haphazard Lego designs created by children."
Government

White House Unveils Plans For "Trusted Identities In Cyberspace" 202

Posted by Soulskill from the this-can-only-end-well dept.
Presto Vivace writes with news that the Obama administration's cyber-security coordinater, Howard Schmidt, yesterday unveiled a national plan for "trusted" online identities. Schmidt wrote, "The NSTIC, which is in response to one of the near term action items in the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review, calls for the creation of an online environment, or an Identity Ecosystem as we refer to it in the strategy, where individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with confidence, trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure that the transaction runs on. For example, no longer should individuals have to remember an ever-expanding and potentially insecure list of usernames and passwords to login into various online services. Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc.) from a variety of service providers — both public and private — to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.)." You can read the full draft of the plan (PDF), and the White House is seeking public comments on it as well.
Google

Google Patents Its Home Page 390

Posted by timothy from the to-advance-useful-arts-and-sciences dept.
theodp writes "A week after new USPTO Director David Kappos pooh-poohed the idea that a lower patent allowance rate equals higher quality, Google was granted a patent on its Home Page. Subject to how the design patent is enforced, Google now owns the idea of having a giant search box in the middle of the page, with two big buttons underneath and several small links nearby. And you doubted Google's commitment to patent reform, didn't you?"
Windows

FSF Attacks Windows 7's "Sins" In New Campaign 926

Posted by samzenpus from the a-long-way-to-absolution dept.
CWmike writes "The Free Software Foundation today launched a campaign against Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 7 operating system, calling it 'treacherous computing' that stealthily takes away rights from users. At the Web site Windows7Sins.org, the Boston-based FSF lists the seven 'sins' that proprietary software such as Windows 7 commits against computer users. They include: Poisoning education, locking in users, abusing standards such as OpenDocument Format (ODF), leveraging monopolistic behavior, threatening user security, enforcing Digital Rights Management (DRM) at the request of entertainment companies concerned about movie and music piracy, and invading privacy. 'Windows, for some time now, has really been a DRM platform, restricting you from making copies of digital files,' said executive director Peter Brown. And if Microsoft's Trusted Computing technology were fully implemented the way the company would like, the vendor would have 'malicious and really complete control over your computer.'"
Programming

From an Unrelated Career To IT/Programming? 374

Posted by kdawson from the long-jump dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I hate my career of the past few years. For a long time I've wondered what I'd do after I broke even and could get into something new, and I keep coming back to computers. I'd like to get into software, since I always enjoyed coding. I have some background with C++ so I'm not starting entirely from scratch. My problem is my degrees and past employment have no practical application to the field. Where should I start? I have friends in both IT and software development who might be able to pull some strings and get me an interview or two for entry-level positions, but what can I do to make myself hireable in a short period of time? Is it possible to pick up enough of what I'd need within a couple months? If so, what and how?"

Comment Re:Slashdot (Score 1) 1397

by the1rob (#26705511) Attached to: Why Do We Name Servers the Way We Do?

Jenna Jameson Briana Banks Devon Tera Patrick Stormy Daniels Silvia Saint Janine Lindemulder Crissy Moran Jesse Jane Gauge Krystal Steal Nicole Sheridan Tawny Roberts Mercedez Amber Michaels Brittney Skye Catalina Cruz Miko Lee Veronica Zemanova Houston Lanni Barbie Shyla Stylez Racquel Darrian Teagan Presley Mindy Vega Alicia Rhodes Rita Faltoyano Adele Stephens Susana Spears Aria Giovanni Kobe Tai Erica Campbell Gina Lynn Kelly Madison Eva Angelina Adriana Sage Jill Kelly Sky Lopez Puma Swede Chloe Jones Jasmin St. Claire Anita Dark Nikki Nova Terri Summers Belladonna SaRenna Lee Jana Cova Carmen Luvana Jenna Haze Danni Ashe Anetta Keys Sydney Moon Lisa Sparxxx Zdenka Podkapova Sydnee Steele Kyla Cole Taylor Rain Alaura Eden Asia Carrera Gina Ryder Devinn Lane Sophie Sweet Kim Chambers Jodie Moore Alexis Amore Bobbi Eden Rachel Aziani Raylene Aimee Sweet Katsumi Stephanie Swift Brandi Lyons Lovette Amy Reid Lonnie Waters Jewel De' Nyle Angelica Sin Alexa Rae Aurora Snow Tanya Danielle Sandra Shine Avy Scott Tiffany Mynx Cherokee Pantera Tabitha Stern Chloe Dior Ava Devine Dasha Isabella Camille Niki Blond Daniella Rush Kelle Marie Ashton Moore Charmane Star Allysin Chaynes Courtney Cummz Katja Kassin Shay Sweet Penny Flame

OMG, I just found my new naming convention. Thank you soooooo much! Brilliant, just freaking brilliant.
Classic Games (Games)

Resurrecting Old Games, What Works? 381

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the waiting-for-a-daikatana-sequel dept.
There has definitely been a resurgence of old games being made new again through various methods. Unfortunately, any time you reinvent an old classic you risk either alienating the original audience or not making it appealing enough for the a new audience. "Capcom has been at the forefront of the recent remake boom, re-imagining a number of their classic titles as downloadable games. Bionic Commando, for example, was given a high-definition 2.5D makeover, and a rockin' remixed soundtrack with Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Capcom also re-released a new version of Street Fighter II on the way, with the lengthy new title Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Interestingly, both games are coming out near new entries in their respective franchises: Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando. But the question remains, how do you decided what games will still appeal to the current gaming audience? " What games can be counted amongst the success stories, and which can be chalked up as utter failures?
Handhelds

"See-Through" Touchscreen Solves Fat Finger Problem 170

Posted by kdawson from the eight-finger-salute dept.
Urchin sends along a New Scientist writeup on Microsoft Research's nanoTouch prototype, a way of operating a touch screen from the rear (video here). The prototype will be presented at the Computer and Human Interaction conference in Boston, Mass., in April 2009. Coming soon to a wristwatch or neck pendant near you. "Electronic devices have been shrinking for years, but you might be forgiven for thinking that one that's only a centimeter across would be just too difficult to operate. Microsoft Research's new nanoTouch device suggests otherwise. Touch-screens are difficult to control with any precision — the fingers get in the way of the tiny targets you're trying to hit. But putting the touch interface on the rear of the screen instead gives users more precision because they can still see the whole screen as they interact with it. Microsoft Research has produced a prototype device called nanoTouch with a rear-mounted touch interface. User tests show it lets users accurately and reliably hit targets just 2 millimeters across on a screen under a centimeter across."
Portables

World First Review of Dell's 12.1in Netbook 133

Posted by timothy from the my-envy-makes-me-scoff dept.
An anonymous reader points to what's claimed to be "the world's first look at Dell's 12.1" netbook," running at Australian Personal Computer Magazine. There's a bit of gushing at the beginning, but this is followed by some informative pictures, informal battery-life tests, and interesting background about the machine's components. Upshot: it's a well-made, decent-performing small laptop with a better keyboard than smaller netbooks and more wireless options than most. However, it's shorter on battery life (bigger screen, smaller battery) than Dell's smaller Mini 9, and less easily upgraded.
Software

OS/2 Community Tries Bounty System 293

Posted by timothy from the warped-minds dept.
Grayskull writes "The OS/2 and eComStation community are trying to get open source software ported to that platform by opening bounties and allowing people to chip in with prize money. Currently the most important open bounties are Java 6 port, Icon routines in OS/2, VirtualBox port, Extend multimedia and OpenWengo ports."
Caldera

Darl McBride Takes the Stand In Novell v. SCO 138

Posted by timothy from the utah's-own-information-minister dept.
UnknowingFool writes "Everyone's favorite CEO Darl McBride took the stand on Wednesday April 30 in Novell v. SCO. Chris Brown has posted his account on Groklaw of the 2nd day of trial. The first day's account can be found here. To refresh your memory in this ongoing case, Judge Kimball has already ruled that Novell owns the copyrights to Unix and has practically dismissed all of SCO's claims. This portion of the trial is about Novell's counterclaims that SCO never paid them the money from the Sun and MS deals. What is to be determined in this trial is how much of the money from the deals were for Unix licensing (SVRx) and how much were for SCO's server technology (Unixware)." (Read on for the rest, below.)
Java

Sun to Fully Open Source Java 374

Posted by Soulskill from the free-refills dept.
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf brings news that Sun Microsystems will be removing the last restrictions on Java to make it completely open source. Sun wants Java to be easily available for use in Linux distributions. We've discussed the steps Sun has taken to open-source Java over the past couple years. From Yahoo! News: "'We've been engaging with the open-source community for Java to finish off the OpenJDK project, and the specific thing that we've been working on with them is clearing the last bits that we didn't have the rights,' to distribute, Sands said. 'Over the past year, we have pretty much removed most of those encumbrances.' Work still needs to be done to offer the Java sound engine and SNMP code via open source; that effort is expected to be completed this year. Developers, though, may be able to proceed without a component like the sound engine, Sands said.

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