transmetal - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Nokia's fate? (Score 5, Informative) 117

by transmetal on Tuesday April 03, 2012 @04:07PM (#39564375) Attached to: Qt 5 Alpha Released

They've made an effort over the past year to move Qt into becoming an independent project. See http://qt-project.org/ and http://wiki.qt-project.org/The_Qt_Governance_Model . In some respects, Nokia's already put all their eggs in Microsoft's basket (their abandoning of Meego and non Windows Phone mobile OSs), and it doesn't seem to have impacted Qt's development in any noticeable fashion.

Submission + - ioquake3 1.36 Gold

Submitted by

Time Doctor

on Wednesday April 29, 2009 @08:13PM

Time Doctor writes: "The de-facto standard in Quake 3 engine technology, ioquake3, has hit version 1.36 recently. It includes a garbage bag full of improvements: in-game VOIP; optional external Mumble (voip); OpenAL; IPV6; Anaglyph stereo rendering; Full x86-64 architecture support; Rewritten PowerPC JIT compiler, with ppc64 support; New SPARC JIT compiler, with support for both sparc32 and sparc64; Improved console command auto-completion; Persistent console command history; Improved QVM (Quake Virtual Machine) tools; Colored terminal output on POSIX operating systems; Multiuser support on Windows systems (user-specific game data is stored in their respective Application Data folders); PNG format support for textures. Of course there are even more fixes for security holes and other bugs in there. So if you don't like ads and queues in your Quake 3 experience, get a copy off of Steam and copy your data files and key into your ioquake3 directory."

Submission + - SPAM: Massive $208M petascale computer gets green light

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @10:46AM

coondoggie writes: "The 200,00 processor core system known as Blue Waters got the green light recently as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and its National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) said it has finalized the contract with IBM to build the world's first sustained petascale computational system. Blue Waters is expected to deliver sustained performance of more than one petaflop on many real-world scientific and engineering applications. A petaflop equals about 1 quadrillion calculations per second. They will be coupled to more than a petabyte of memory and more than 10 petabytes of disk storage. All of that memory and storage will be globally addressable, meaning that processors will be able to share data from a single pool exceptionally quickly, researchers said. Blue Waters, is supported by a $208 million grant from the National Science Foundation and will come online in 2011. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source

Comment Walk + mp3 player (Score 1) 1806

by transmetal on Tuesday July 29, 2008 @09:50PM (#24395191) Attached to: How Do Geeks Exercise?

I found the easiest thing to do is just run once or twice a week for the length of your favorite podcast. Start out walking once a week, and ramp up the intensity over time as you feel comfortable. My personal favorites for such a run include GFW radio / 1up Yours, which usually have a multi-hour runtime and enough geeky distraction that the time doesn't feel wasted. Eventually it'll just becomes a habit, which is what you want.

Submission + - Microsoft sponsors Apache Software Foundation

Submitted by gbjbaanb on Friday July 25, 2008 @02:30PM

gbjbaanb writes: Ars Technica reports that Microsoft is to sponsor the Apache Foundation to the tune of $100k.

From TFA: "I asked him if this could possibly be the beginning of a broader initiative by Microsoft to increase Apache compatibility with .NET web development technologies, but he says it's still too early to guess Microsoft's future plans for Apache participation."

"He doesn't anticipate a confrontational response from the developers working on individual Apache projects ... The response of the broader open source software community, however, is harder to predict."

So what does the broader community think? Is MS running scared of the increasing relevance of open source software in today's IT world?

(In related news, MS also intends to participate in the RubySpec project)

Submission + - SPAM: First paper-based transistors

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:55PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Portuguese researchers have created the first paper-based transistors. To be more precise, they've made the first field effect transistors (FET) with a paper interstrate layer. According to the research team, these new transistors offer the same level of performance as 'state-of-the-art oxide based thin film transistors (TFTs) produced on glass or crystalline silicon substrates.' Possible applications for these paper-based transistors include new disposable electronics devices, such as paper displays, smart labels, bio-applications or RFID tags. But read more for additional details and see a picture of the first paper interstrate TFTs."

Submission + - Web Apps Get Real: GDocs vs. ThinkFree vs Zoho (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

CWmike

on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @01:58PM

CWmike writes: "Web-based productivity suites, once almost a contradiction in terms, have become real challengers to desktop applications. Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho, have all made major improvements in recent months. They're becoming both broader, with more applications, and deeper, with more features and functionality in existing apps. The question is: Are these three applications really ready to take on a desktop-based heavy hitter like Microsoft Office?"

Submission + - SPAM: NSFnet : 20 years of Internet obscurity, insight

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Tuesday July 01, 2008 @03:48PM

coondoggie writes: "The National Science Foundation (NSF) reissued the words that started the Internet revolution 20 years ago today: "The NSFnet Backbone has reached a state where we would like to more officially let operational traffic on." That was the email sent to users of the NSF's fledgling NSFnet to announce that the network's backbone had been upgraded to a "blazing T-1 speed." NSFnet was created by NSF a few years earlier in an attempt to create a computer network similar to the Department of Defense's ARPANET. When the original six-node, 56 kilobits-per-second NSFnet backbone went into operation in 1986, NSF made the decision to allow any academic, governmental or commercial entity to hook up to this network of networks. Within a few weeks of going online, traffic on the new network began doubling every few weeks. The network's backbone of core 56 kilobits-per-second connections were considered fast, but they were not fast enough to satisfy the demands of all the new users who were coming online, according to the NSF. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source

Bjarne Stroustrup Reveals All On C++ 371

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @09:37AM from the still-secrets-after-all-these-years dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Bjarne Stroustrup, the creative force behind one of the most widely used and successful programming languages — C++ — is featured in an in-depth 8-page interview where he reveals everything programmers and software engineers should know about C++; its history, what it was intended to do, where it is at now, and of course what all good code-writers should think about when using the language he created."

Submission + - No XP Reprieve, But Windows 7 Release Set (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

CWmike

on Tuesday June 24, 2008 @04:36PM

CWmike writes: "Microsoft has laid to rest rumors that it might reconsider pulling Windows XP from retail shelves and from most PC makers next Monday. Microsoft's Bill Veghte wrote to customers reiterating that June 30 would be the deadline when Microsoft halts shipments of boxed copies to retailers and stops licensing the operating system directly to major computer manufacturers, or OEMs. However, Veghte did leave the door open to all computer makers, even the largest, who want to continue selling new PCs with XP preinstalled. "Additionally, Systems Builders (sometimes referred to as 'local OEMs'), may continue to purchase Windows XP through Authorized Distributors through January 31, 2009," he wrote in the letter, repeating an existing policy that lets small computer builders obtain XP from dealers like Ingram Micro Inc. "All OEMs, including major OEMs, have this option," said Veghte. At the same time, Microsoft confirmed Windows 7 would ship in January of 2010. Who, if they have not already, would install Vista now?"

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