Now, now. Just because I've beaten you to the first post, it does not infer something as nefarious as you are suggesting. I just got lucky with the timing. And after all, it wasn't a filthy AC getting the fp, so it's a win-win for all.
By Larry Dignan Staff Writer, CNET News.com April 30, 2002, 7:20 AM PT
Miss Piggy and Kermit apparently like Linux.
Red Hat, the leading seller of the operating system, said Tuesday that Jim Henson's Creature Shop is using its version of Linux to power its design studio and other digital projects.
Specifically, Red Hat is powering the company's digital performance studio, which is developing the animatronic performance control system--a technology that will make a digital character perform just like a puppet.
A Red Hat representative said Henson's control system is being designed to use its version of Linux. The two companies have been working together since 1998 on various projects, but the studio is transitioning to use Red Hat Network, which provides management and control of Red Hat systems.
The deal is another milepost in what's becoming a growing trend--Linux gaining ground in digital entertainment. For its recent hit "Shrek," DreamWorks used Linux servers to create detailed images for the movie. DreamWorks is also using Hewlett-Packard's Linux machines for its film, "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."
DreamWorks said it supplanted SGI computers for Linux-based servers running on Intel chips.
Terms of the deal between Red Hat and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, a unit of The Jim Henson Company, were not disclosed.
Aside from the Muppets, The Jim Henson Company has also created films such as "Cats and Dogs" and "Babe."
When he began shooting Star Wars Episode II in an all-digital format, George Lucas imagined that Attack of the Clones could screen in 2,000 digital-projection theaters nationwide. Oh, well. As of the May 16 opening, only 19 screens had the equipment required to do so. Here's where to find them.
- Chris Baker
Harkins Arrowhead Cinemas 18 Peoria, Arizona
AMC Media Center 6 Burbank, California
Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 Megaplex Irvine, California
El Capitan Theatre Los Angeles, California
Loews Century Plaza Los Angeles, California
AMC Mission Valley 20 San Diego, California
AMC 1000 Van Ness San Francisco, California
AMC Pleasure Island 24 Lake Buena Vista, Florida
AMC South Barrington 30 South Barrington, Illinois
AMC Studio 30 Olathe, Kansas
General Cinema Framingham 16 Framingham, Massachusetts
Show Case Cinemas Randolph Randolph, Massachusetts
You are very welcome. Please, in the future, refer to the terrorist attacks in September by the catchy term nine-one-one. Don't forget to reference NYC as "ground zero." Thanks and have a nice day.
Jane Wakefield BBC News Online technology staff line Tech industry leaders gathered in Brussels have reiterated the growing threat of piracy to the software industry in Europe.
The warning was issued at a conference, organised by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which attracted delegates from firms such as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and Symantec.
The meeting was told that in 2000 the software industry in Europe lost $3bn to pirates.
This figure is thought to be only a tiny fraction of the amount of piracy that is going on every day on the internet.
"We can't estimate how much piracy is on the net but in one day we found a million sites under a search for one of the codenames for pirated software," said a BSA spokesperson.
Unacceptable
For an industry that commits millions of pounds to research and development, and that contributes six times as much to Europe's GDP as the consumer goods industry, the levels are unacceptable, the BSA says.
"It is a risk most other businesses don't have to deal with - having 34% of your product stolen," BSA's president Robert Holleyman told the conference.
According to Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith, piracy has transformed the nature of the software industry in Europe.
"If there wasn't piracy there would be more software companies in Russia and Eastern Europe," he said.
Instead Russia has become an enclave for pirated software and Microsoft has recently declared a five-month amnesty for Russian and Ukrainian internet cafes to switch to legally licensed software.
Software pirates range from professional businessmen to teenagers selling illegal programmes from their bedrooms to organised criminals.
Organised crime is giving the BSA the biggest headache.
"Criminal organisations can sell software direct, as well as through retail channels," said Symantec lawyer Art Courville. "So, it is harder to monitor."
Tightening legislation
Europe has a greater rate of piracy than the US - around 34% compared with 25% in the US. Software leaders put this down in part to differing rules in Europe.
"Some countries in Europe had copyright laws dating back to the 1940s," pointed out Apple lawyer Peter Davies.
The last thing that you want is to create havens where the legislation is weaker
BSA spokesperson That is about to change as the European Commission puts into force a directive intended to harmonise civil laws governing how courts deal with cases involving intellectual property.
All BSA members are hopeful that this will act as a deterrent.
"The last thing that you want is to create havens where the legislation is weaker," said a BSA spokesperson.
Change of attitude
There is also work to be done on educating the public about the importance of intellectual property, especially as a web counter-culture advocating free software, such as music downloads, continues to grow.
Open source software such as Linux is not seen as a threat to the work the BSA is doing, however.
"Linux is a way of developing software whereas piracy is copying," said Microsoft's Brad Smith.
He does believe that stopping the pirates could have a dramatic effect on the current pricing of software, however.
"As the legal market grows, there is more investment in new products and enhanced competition. A healthy market leads to more attractive prices for consumers," he said.
Despite the efforts of the pirates, the software industry in Europe is looking pretty healthy.
It is forecast to grow from £35bn in 2000 to £67bn by 2005.
Taking a snapshot of carbon nanotubes using an ordinary camera flash can cause them to emit a loud pop and then suddenly burst into flame.
Scientists say this unique explosive phenomenon may lead to new means of manufacturing nanoscale carbon materials and even remote-control devices for small explosive charges.
Pulickel Ajayan and his team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, have been at work since one of his students accidentally sparked a tiny explosion by photographing a bundle of single-walled carbon nanotubes. "It was a complete accident," Ajayan told New Scientist.
Researchers around the world are exploring the potential that carbon nanotubes could have for a wide range of super-strong materials and nanoscale circuits. Ganapathiraman Ramanath, also at Rensselaer Polytechnic, says that the latest discovery "will serve as a starting point for developing nanotube-based actuators and sensors that rely on remote activation and triggering."
Ultra-absorbent
Ajayan says the explosion occurs because the black carbon nanotubes absorb light so efficiently that, when it is converted into heat, the heat cannot dissipate quickly enough across bunched-up tubes. However, only the single-walled variety of nanotubes catch fire. Those with multiple walls do not explode - the researchers are unsure why.
Video of flashlit nanotube explosion (744kB download)
The initial popping noise is generated by the heating of the oxygen inside and between the tubes, which causes a shock wave. And when the temperature of carbon reaches between 600C and 700C it oxidises sparking combustion.
When the researchers tried the experiment in the absence of oxygen they found that the tubes were transformed into different nanoscopic shapes, some reminiscent of cone-shaped "nanohorns".
"It's a very nice surprise," says Angel Rubio, an expert in carbon nanotubes at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. "Because it's the only carbon material that exhibits this ignition property."
Journal Reference: Science (vol 296, p 705)
19:00 25 April 02
Ever thought of a career as a ho? Well stop dreaming and start believing! With my book "How To Be A Ho" your dreams can come true. For all of you ho's already out there, there's "How To Be A Better Ho." Send 10.97 credits to: Velvet Jones
Red Hat 7.3 beta: A Product Review Date: Monday, April 15, 2002 Topic: Product Reviews
New beta distribution includes many of the recent releases from KDE, XFree86, Mozilla and other projects, making it easy, stable and powerful on your desktop.
The Linux community has remained active, developing improved software, and the desktop environment also continues to improve. Both the KDE and GNOME projects have added functionality, improved performance and made the desktop environment more fun and usable. The XFree86 project has continued to improve hardware support. The overall appearance, quality and selection of fonts continues to improve.
Red Hat has been working to incorporate many of these improvements into their next release of software. While Red Hat is probably best known for their Linux server systems, their desktop systems have undergone considerable improvement. Their latest development effort, code named "Skipjack", incorporates a number of these improvements.
My personal interest in Skipjack arose mainly because this release includes a test version of KDE 2.99, which is really KDE 3.0 Release Candidate 3. I was so excited about this release because there have been claims of great performance improvements. In fact, the final version of KDE 3.0 was announced on April 3.
So, how well does Skipjack, Red Hat 7.3 Beta Release 2, meet my expectations? Very well, indeed.
I installed Red Hat 7.2 on my Dell Dimension 4100 desktop computer a few weeks ago. Then I ordered a copy of Skipjack from Tech Broker. The unsupported download release came in a five CD package. Tech Broker CDs usually cost $4 per CD, so ordering Red Hat's Skipjack test release from Tech Broker cost $20. (You can download Skipjack during the testing period from ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/skipjack.) I decided to install Skipjack as an update to the 7.2 distribution to see how well that would work.
I was very impressed with the results. It took between 30 and 40 minutes to complete the installation. Most of that time was spent detecting the existing software and determining which packages needed to be upgraded. On my system, I used the Workstation configuration (Red Hat installations provide a choice of Workstation, Server or Custom package selections). In addition to the Workstation packaging category, I also selected the option to modify the selection group and install any other software that I'm interested in. (I tend to install extra text editors, web browsers, and e-mail programs; these are the tools that interest me most).
The installation was flawless. Every menu was clear and concise. Every screen provided an explanation of the choices to make, so it is not even necessary to read a manual in order to install the software (if you are at least somewhat familiar with software installations). The appearance of the Red Hat software installation program is familiar; if anything, the graphics, explanations on each screen and mechanics of performing the installation are more streamlined than ever.
For those who have not installed or upgraded Red Hat software in a while, GRUB is now the default boot loader, though LILO remains available. The default GRUB boot loader now offers optional password security. If the system you're using is located in a public place where you have a need to secure the system loading process, this is a much-needed improvement (though it does not address the issue of physical system security, nor does it prevent someone from booting the system from a floppy disk). Still, this touch is a good idea, and it's not found on many other Linux distributions.
What about the desktop? I mentioned that I was interested in trying out KDE. How well does it work? It is incredible! I'd heard that there might be as much as a 40% improvement in the overall memory usage and performance of KDE 3.0 over KDE 2.2.2. While I did not confirm those numbers, I can attest that the Skipjack implementation of KDE is both solid and fast.
The Konqueror file manager and web browser and the KMail e-mail application are two core KDE applications, and like the KDE infrastructure, they have undergone appearance, functionality and performance improvements. Konqueror has much improved JavaScript support, major improvements in DHTML capability and fast loading times, to the point that Konqueror is worth considering as my main web browser.
KMail is KDE's full-featured and user-friendly e-mail client and supports both the popular IMAP and POP3 mail standards. Users can have multiple accounts and multiple identities. (Previous versions allowed multiple accounts to a limited degree, allowing you to read from multiple POP3 and IMAP4 servers but not allowing you to send to multiple SMTP destinations). Its address book is based on the vCard address book standard and is shared with the rest of KDE.
I don't personally use all of the KDE applications and tools, but it bears mentioning that the Personal Information Management (PIM) tools provided in KDE have also undergone considerable improvement. The list of PIM components in the Skipjack implementation of KDE 3.0 include:
* KMail, the e-mail client
* KAddressBook, an address book viewer/frontend for the K Desktop Environment
* KOrganizer, the calendar and scheduling program for the K Desktop Environment
* KPilot, a replacement for the Palm Desktop software from Palm Inc, which makes your Palm/Palm Pilot/Visor computer capable of exchanging information with your Linux-powered computer
* Kandy, a tool to provide synchronization of phonebook, organizer and other data on your mobile phone with the data stored on the desktop
* KArm, a tool that tracks time spent on various tasks. It is useful for tracking hours to be billed to different clients or to find out what percentage of your day is spent playing Doom or reading Slashdot.
* KNotes, a small tool to scribble down some notes * KAlarm, a quick way of setting up personal alarm/reminder messages. The messages pop up on the screen at the time you specify.
In addition to the core desktop functionality and PIM capabilities outlined above, KDE also has a growing office suite called KOffice.
The following parts of the KOffice suite are being developed:
* KWord, a frame-based word processor capable of professional standard documents
* KSpread, a powerful spreadsheet application
* KPresenter, a full-featured presentation program
* Kivio, a Visio-style flowcharting application
* Kontour,a vector drawing application
* Krita, a raster-based image manipulation program like The GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
* Kugar, a tool for generating business quality reports * KChart, an integrated graph and chart drawing tool
I don't use the KOffice suite often, but I can tell you that KWord is quite capable of reading basic Word documents. Advanced features, such as embedding Active X controls, cannot be handled by the KOffice tools, but in fairness, few if any competing office suites can accurately render all of the features found in Microsoft's latest arsenal of office applications. IF you're looking for a functional office suite that is bundled with a system, however, this suite is worth a look.
So far, I've mentioned that Skipjack installs effortlessly, contains a new boot loader that works well and has security improvements, incorporates most of what will be found in the final KDE 3.0 desktop and runs well. What about the other features?
Another thing I use my system for frequently is web browsing. Red Hat delivers here, too. As part of the available software, Red Hat includes not only the browsers that are integral components of the desktop managers, it also includes recent releases of the Netscape and Mozilla suites. You can choose between the "old style" version 4 Netscape browser, Netscape Communicator 4.79 and the most current release of the Mozilla browser, 0.99. Both browsers have web browser and e-mail client components.
Speaking of browsers, I have to mention the Galeon Web browser, which is included in the Skipjack release as part of the GNOME desktop environment. While Galeon requires both Mozilla and GNOME libraries in order to function, other than the obvious disk overhead, Galeon is a very effective and efficient web browser. Skipjack comes with the newest and best version of Galeon I've seen yet, version 1.2.0. Galeon is arguably one of the leading standards compliant web browsers currently available. So Skipjack gets my nod for including a very up-to-date and usable version of Galeon.
What about GNOME, the default desktop environment included in Red Hat distributions? The Skipjack release, as far as I can tell, does not incorporate any upcoming test releases of GNOME software. The good news, however, is that the Nautilus File Manager, which is a core component of the overall GNOME, seems more stable than I've seen in the past. Perhaps this is because the image rendering engine used with Nautilus is the Gecko engine that's part of the latest release of Mozilla. Since Mozilla 0.99 comes with the Skipjack release, Nautilus benefits from recent, significant improvements in Mozilla's functionality and reliability.
I have not touched on any of the server features found in Red Hat; that is beyond the scope of this review. During the installation, however, I did notice that Red Hat has continued to work on integrity, security and stability issues, and it really shows. Whether Red Hat decides to produce this software as an incremental update to it's existing release and calls the next release 7.3, or if they decide to create a new major release, from my perspective as a desktop user this is without question their best release ever. Even in beta form, it is solid.
I wrote this article using the Gvim text editor. I wrote the first part of the article while running the desktop using KDE, and I wrote the second part using GNOME. I tried out Konqueror, Konsole, KWord, Vim/Gvim, Netscape, Mozilla, Galeon, Nautilus, GNU Emacs, XEmacs, NEdit and GNOME Terminal, and I experimented with the GRUB boot loader. During my testing (while admittedly not exhaustive but representative of the kinds of daily tasks I perform) I did not encounter a single application or system failure. There probably are still some bugs out there, but this is great beta software, among the best that I've ever seen from anyone.
Was it worthwhile to run this release? Absolutely. While Red Hat explicitly recommends not running beta software in a production environment, if you are a desktop user like me and you like the latest software, you will be hard pressed to find a more complete and usable piece of software (at least until the other vendors incorporate this software into their release).
Just saw this on CNN a few minutes ago - music super diva Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was found dead in a car in Honduras. I'm sure we'll all miss her - even if you didn't enjoy her hits like "Waterfalls," and "No Scrubs" you've probably loved her arson skills. Truly an American icon.
The Associated Press ST. LOUIS (April 25, 2002 9:04 a.m. EDT) - A federal judge said local governments can limit children's access to violent or sexually explicit video games, saying games are not constitutionally protected forms of speech.
Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, in a ruling issued Friday, rejected a request by a video game industry group to throw out a St. Louis County ordinance regulating access to arcade and home video games.
The county must now decide whether to ask Limbaugh to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Interactive Digital Software Association, county Counselor Patricia Redington said Monday.
The ordinance, passed in 2000, would require children under 17 to have parental consent before they can buy violent or sexually explicit video games or play similar arcade games. The council has suspended implementation of the ordinance until July 1.
The video game group called the ruling wrong on the facts and the law.
"The decision is clearly in conflict with virtually every other federal court decision on this and related issues," group President Doug Lowenstein said in a statement. "We're confident that our position will be sustained on appeal."
Limbaugh said he reviewed four different video games and found "no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. The court finds that video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures."
Limbaugh said the county has a compelling interest in protecting the physical and emotional health of its children and assisting parents as guardians of their children's well-being.
St. Louis County modeled its ordinance after one in Indianapolis. That ordinance has been invalidated by a federal appeals court in Chicago.
By Jack Ganssle Embedded.com (04/05/02, 02:26:14 PM EDT)
Become a dentist, CPA, or lawyer and odds are you'll be practicing that profession on a more or less daily basis till the day you retire. That seems less likely for engineers and firmware developers. How many EEs or software folks do you know in their 60s who still work as techies? How many in their 40s?
Though I haven't the statistics to support it, my observations suggest that embedded systems development is a field dominated by young folks -- say, those under 35 or so. Middle age seems to wean folks from their technical inclinations; droves of developers move towards management or even the dark side, marketing and sales.
Is salary compression the culprit? My students, all of 21 and armed with a newly minted BSEE, get entry-level jobs at $50-60k. That's an astonishing sum for someone with no experience. But the entire course of this career will see in general less than a doubling of this number. Pure techies doing no management may top out at only 50 percent above the entry-level figure.
Consider that $70k or $80k is a staggering amount compared to the nation's average mid-$30k average family income -- but even so, it's quickly swallowed by the exigencies of middle-class life. That $50k goes a long way when one is single and living in a little apartment. Life happens fast, though. Orthodontics, college, a house, diapers, and much more consume funds faster than raises compensate. That's not to suggest it's not enough to live on, but surely the new pressures that come with a family make us question the financial wisdom of pursuing this wealth-limited career. Many developers start to wonder if an MBA or JD would forge a better path.
What about respect? My friends think "engineer" means I drive a train. Or that being in the computer business makes me the community's PC tech support center. "Doctor" or "VP Marketing" is something the average Joe understands and respects.
Is tedium a factor? Pushing ones and zeroes around doesn't sound like a lot of work, but getting each and every one of a hundred million perfect is tremendously difficult. I for one reached a point years ago where writing code and drawing schematics paled; much more fun was designing systems, inventing ways to build things, and then leaving implementation details to others. I know many engineers who bailed because of boredom.
External forces intervene, too. Though age discrimination is illegal it's also a constant factor. Many 50-ish engineers will never learn Java, C++, and other new technologies. They become obsolete. Employers see this and react in not-unexpected ways. Other employers look askance at the high older engineer salaries and will consider replacing one old fart with two newbies.
So where do the old engineers go? Is this a career you expect to pursue till retirement?
Jack G. Ganssle is a lecturer and consultant on embedded development issues. He conducts seminars on embedded systems and helps companies with their embedded challenges. He founded two companies specializing in embedded systems. Contact him at jack@ganssle.com. His website is www.ganssle.com.
SONICblue To Implement Service-Based Pricing Model For New ReplayTV Products; New Model Uncouples Service Fees From Retail Pricing to Better Meet Retailers' Needs April 25, 2002 08:03:00 AM ET
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2002-- SONICblue(TM) Incorporated SBLU announced today that it will apply a service-based pricing model to new ReplayTV(R) products -- beginning with its forthcoming ReplayTV 4500 series, the next generation ReplayTV offering. Separating service subscription rates from the retail price of the ReplayTV unit, SONICblue's new pricing model will better meet the needs of national electronics retailers with lower overall costs and increased promotional opportunities.
"We intend to achieve 30% market share for digital video recorders this year based largely on our entry into mainstream retail channels," said Steve Shannon, vice president, ReplayTV product marketing, SONICblue. "The addition of new models and pricing are just a few of the changes we'll be making to ensure the long-term success of our ReplayTV retail strategy."
Further details of SONICblue's service-based pricing model will be made available when the new ReplayTV 4500 series is officially unveiled this summer.
This new pricing model does not apply to SONICblue's current ReplayTV 4000 or to prior offerings, which will continue to include a lifetime service subscription. The ReplayTV 4000 line will end of life with the launch of the new ReplayTV 4500 series.
About SONICblue Incorporated (www.SONICblue.com)
SONICblue is a leader in the converging Internet, digital media, entertainment and consumer electronics markets. Working with partners that include some of the biggest brands in consumer electronics, SONICblue creates and markets products that let consumers enjoy all the benefits of a digital home and connected lifestyle. SONICblue holds significant financial assets, global marketing capabilities and a focused technology portfolio that includes Rio(R) digital audio players; ReplayTV(R) personal television technology and software solutions; and Go-Video(R) integrated DVD+VCRs, Dual-Deck(TM) VCRs, and digital home theater systems.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, such as SONICblue's release of its ReplayTV 4500, implementation of the new pricing model, SONICblue's introduction of new ReplayTV models and pricing options, the ability to achieve lower overall costs and increased promotional opportunities, entry into mainstream retail channels, the intended 30% market share in the digital video recorder market, its success in better meeting the needs of the mainstream retail channel, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to the ability of the Company to enter into licensing agreements with manufacturers, the ability of the Company, its suppliers, retailers and distributors to meet scheduled release dates, the impact of competitive products and pricing and of alternative technological advances, the outcome of SONICblue's existing litigation concerning the ReplayTV products and other risks detailed from time to time in the SEC reports of SONICblue Incorporated, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2001. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. SONICblue disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Note to Editors: SONICblue and Dual-Deck are trademarks of SONICblue Incorporated. ReplayTV, Go-Video, and Rio are registered trademarks of SONICblue Incorporated. All other products and brand names as they appear in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All specifications may be changed without notice.
Contact Information: SONICblue, Santa Clara Tracy Perry, 408/588-8086 (Investor Relations) tperry@SONICblue.com or The Bohle Company Jason Wanacott, 310/785-0515 ext. 211 (Press) jason@bohle.com
You need a little more backbone, AC. When you get the FP, shout it from the roof tops. I GOT FP!!! Then you need to say something insulting about linux, motherhood, or/.er's manhood. Try that next time for a more rewarding first post experience.
Slashdot Mirror
How would Kermit look in a red hat?
By Larry Dignan
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 30, 2002, 7:20 AM PT
Miss Piggy and Kermit apparently like Linux.
Red Hat, the leading seller of the operating system, said Tuesday that Jim Henson's Creature Shop is using its version of Linux to power its design studio and other digital projects.
Specifically, Red Hat is powering the company's digital performance studio, which is developing the animatronic performance control system--a technology that will make a digital character perform just like a puppet.
A Red Hat representative said Henson's control system is being designed to use its version of Linux. The two companies have been working together since 1998 on various projects, but the studio is transitioning to use Red Hat Network, which provides management and control of Red Hat systems.
The deal is another milepost in what's becoming a growing trend--Linux gaining ground in digital entertainment. For its recent hit "Shrek," DreamWorks used Linux servers to create detailed images for the movie. DreamWorks is also using Hewlett-Packard's Linux machines for its film, "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."
DreamWorks said it supplanted SGI computers for Linux-based servers running on Intel chips.
Terms of the deal between Red Hat and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, a unit of The Jim Henson Company, were not disclosed.
Aside from the Muppets, The Jim Henson Company has also created films such as "Cats and Dogs" and "Babe."
DIGITAL PROJECTION
...
In a Theater Far, Far Away
When he began shooting Star Wars Episode II in an all-digital format, George Lucas imagined that Attack of the Clones could screen in 2,000 digital-projection theaters nationwide. Oh, well. As of the May 16 opening, only 19 screens had the equipment required to do so. Here's where to find them.
- Chris Baker
Harkins Arrowhead Cinemas 18 Peoria, Arizona
AMC Media Center 6 Burbank, California
Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 Megaplex Irvine, California
El Capitan Theatre Los Angeles, California
Loews Century Plaza Los Angeles, California
AMC Mission Valley 20 San Diego, California
AMC 1000 Van Ness San Francisco, California
AMC Pleasure Island 24 Lake Buena Vista, Florida
AMC South Barrington 30 South Barrington, Illinois
AMC Studio 30 Olathe, Kansas
General Cinema Framingham 16 Framingham, Massachusetts
Show Case Cinemas Randolph Randolph, Massachusetts
Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas Edgewater, New Jersey
AMC Empire 25 Theatres New York, New York
Clearview Ziegfeld Theatre New York, New York
Loews Cineplex E-Walk New York, New York
Cinemark at Valley View Valley View, Ohio
Showcase Cinemas Springdale Springdale, Ohio
Cinemark at Legacy Plano, Texas
Jane Wakefield
BBC News Online technology staff
line
Tech industry leaders gathered in Brussels have reiterated the growing threat of piracy to the software industry in Europe.
The warning was issued at a conference, organised by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which attracted delegates from firms such as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and Symantec.
The meeting was told that in 2000 the software industry in Europe lost $3bn to pirates.
This figure is thought to be only a tiny fraction of the amount of piracy that is going on every day on the internet.
"We can't estimate how much piracy is on the net but in one day we found a million sites under a search for one of the codenames for pirated software," said a BSA spokesperson.
Unacceptable
For an industry that commits millions of pounds to research and development, and that contributes six times as much to Europe's GDP as the consumer goods industry, the levels are unacceptable, the BSA says.
"It is a risk most other businesses don't have to deal with - having 34% of your product stolen," BSA's president Robert Holleyman told the conference.
According to Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith, piracy has transformed the nature of the software industry in Europe.
"If there wasn't piracy there would be more software companies in Russia and Eastern Europe," he said.
Instead Russia has become an enclave for pirated software and Microsoft has recently declared a five-month amnesty for Russian and Ukrainian internet cafes to switch to legally licensed software.
Software pirates range from professional businessmen to teenagers selling illegal programmes from their bedrooms to organised criminals.
Organised crime is giving the BSA the biggest headache.
"Criminal organisations can sell software direct, as well as through retail channels," said Symantec lawyer Art Courville. "So, it is harder to monitor."
Tightening legislation
Europe has a greater rate of piracy than the US - around 34% compared with 25% in the US. Software leaders put this down in part to differing rules in Europe.
"Some countries in Europe had copyright laws dating back to the 1940s," pointed out Apple lawyer Peter Davies.
The last thing that you want is to create havens where the legislation is weaker
BSA spokesperson
That is about to change as the European Commission puts into force a directive intended to harmonise civil laws governing how courts deal with cases involving intellectual property.
All BSA members are hopeful that this will act as a deterrent.
"The last thing that you want is to create havens where the legislation is weaker," said a BSA spokesperson.
Change of attitude
There is also work to be done on educating the public about the importance of intellectual property, especially as a web counter-culture advocating free software, such as music downloads, continues to grow.
Open source software such as Linux is not seen as a threat to the work the BSA is doing, however.
"Linux is a way of developing software whereas piracy is copying," said Microsoft's Brad Smith.
He does believe that stopping the pirates could have a dramatic effect on the current pricing of software, however.
"As the legal market grows, there is more investment in new products and enhanced competition. A healthy market leads to more attractive prices for consumers," he said.
Despite the efforts of the pirates, the software industry in Europe is looking pretty healthy.
It is forecast to grow from £35bn in 2000 to £67bn by 2005.
Nanotubes go flash bang wallop
19:00 25 April 02
Will Knight
Taking a snapshot of carbon nanotubes using an ordinary camera flash can cause them to emit a loud pop and then suddenly burst into flame.
Scientists say this unique explosive phenomenon may lead to new means of manufacturing nanoscale carbon materials and even remote-control devices for small explosive charges.
Pulickel Ajayan and his team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, have been at work since one of his students accidentally sparked a tiny explosion by photographing a bundle of single-walled carbon nanotubes. "It was a complete accident," Ajayan told New Scientist.
Researchers around the world are exploring the potential that carbon nanotubes could have for a wide range of super-strong materials and nanoscale circuits. Ganapathiraman Ramanath, also at Rensselaer Polytechnic, says that the latest discovery "will serve as a starting point for developing nanotube-based actuators and sensors that rely on remote activation and triggering."
Ultra-absorbent
Ajayan says the explosion occurs because the black carbon nanotubes absorb light so efficiently that, when it is converted into heat, the heat cannot dissipate quickly enough across bunched-up tubes. However, only the single-walled variety of nanotubes catch fire. Those with multiple walls do not explode - the researchers are unsure why.
Video of flashlit nanotube explosion (744kB download)
The initial popping noise is generated by the heating of the oxygen inside and between the tubes, which causes a shock wave. And when the temperature of carbon reaches between 600C and 700C it oxidises sparking combustion.
When the researchers tried the experiment in the absence of oxygen they found that the tubes were transformed into different nanoscopic shapes, some reminiscent of cone-shaped "nanohorns".
"It's a very nice surprise," says Angel Rubio, an expert in carbon nanotubes at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. "Because it's the only carbon material that exhibits this ignition property."
Journal Reference: Science (vol 296, p 705)
19:00 25 April 02
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Red Hat 7.3 beta: A Product Review
Date: Monday, April 15, 2002
Topic: Product Reviews
New beta distribution includes many of the recent releases from KDE, XFree86, Mozilla and other projects, making it easy, stable and powerful on your desktop.
The Linux community has remained active, developing improved software, and the desktop environment also continues to improve. Both the KDE and GNOME projects have added functionality, improved performance and made the desktop environment more fun and usable. The XFree86 project has continued to improve hardware support. The overall appearance, quality and selection of fonts continues to improve.
Red Hat has been working to incorporate many of these improvements into their next release of software. While Red Hat is probably best known for their Linux server systems, their desktop systems have undergone considerable improvement. Their latest development effort, code named "Skipjack", incorporates a number of these improvements.
My personal interest in Skipjack arose mainly because this release includes a test version of KDE 2.99, which is really KDE 3.0 Release Candidate 3. I was so excited about this release because there have been claims of great performance improvements. In fact, the final version of KDE 3.0 was announced on April 3.
So, how well does Skipjack, Red Hat 7.3 Beta Release 2, meet my expectations? Very well, indeed.
I installed Red Hat 7.2 on my Dell Dimension 4100 desktop computer a few weeks ago. Then I ordered a copy of Skipjack from Tech Broker. The unsupported download release came in a five CD package. Tech Broker CDs usually cost $4 per CD, so ordering Red Hat's Skipjack test release from Tech Broker cost $20. (You can download Skipjack during the testing period from ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/skipjack.) I decided to install Skipjack as an update to the 7.2 distribution to see how well that would work.
I was very impressed with the results. It took between 30 and 40 minutes to complete the installation. Most of that time was spent detecting the existing software and determining which packages needed to be upgraded. On my system, I used the Workstation configuration (Red Hat installations provide a choice of Workstation, Server or Custom package selections). In addition to the Workstation packaging category, I also selected the option to modify the selection group and install any other software that I'm interested in. (I tend to install extra text editors, web browsers, and e-mail programs; these are the tools that interest me most).
The installation was flawless. Every menu was clear and concise. Every screen provided an explanation of the choices to make, so it is not even necessary to read a manual in order to install the software (if you are at least somewhat familiar with software installations). The appearance of the Red Hat software installation program is familiar; if anything, the graphics, explanations on each screen and mechanics of performing the installation are more streamlined than ever.
For those who have not installed or upgraded Red Hat software in a while, GRUB is now the default boot loader, though LILO remains available. The default GRUB boot loader now offers optional password security. If the system you're using is located in a public place where you have a need to secure the system loading process, this is a much-needed improvement (though it does not address the issue of physical system security, nor does it prevent someone from booting the system from a floppy disk). Still, this touch is a good idea, and it's not found on many other Linux distributions.
What about the desktop? I mentioned that I was interested in trying out KDE. How well does it work? It is incredible! I'd heard that there might be as much as a 40% improvement in the overall memory usage and performance of KDE 3.0 over KDE 2.2.2. While I did not confirm those numbers, I can attest that the Skipjack implementation of KDE is both solid and fast.
The Konqueror file manager and web browser and the KMail e-mail application are two core KDE applications, and like the KDE infrastructure, they have undergone appearance, functionality and performance improvements. Konqueror has much improved JavaScript support, major improvements in DHTML capability and fast loading times, to the point that Konqueror is worth considering as my main web browser.
KMail is KDE's full-featured and user-friendly e-mail client and supports both the popular IMAP and POP3 mail standards. Users can have multiple accounts and multiple identities. (Previous versions allowed multiple accounts to a limited degree, allowing you to read from multiple POP3 and IMAP4 servers but not allowing you to send to multiple SMTP destinations). Its address book is based on the vCard address book standard and is shared with the rest of KDE.
I don't personally use all of the KDE applications and tools, but it bears mentioning that the Personal Information Management (PIM) tools provided in KDE have also undergone considerable improvement. The list of PIM components in the Skipjack implementation of KDE 3.0 include:
* KMail, the e-mail client
* KAddressBook, an address book viewer/frontend for the K Desktop Environment
* KOrganizer, the calendar and scheduling program for the K Desktop Environment
* KPilot, a replacement for the Palm Desktop software from Palm Inc, which makes your Palm/Palm Pilot/Visor computer capable of exchanging information with your Linux-powered computer
* Kandy, a tool to provide synchronization of phonebook, organizer and other data on your mobile phone with the data stored on the desktop
* KArm, a tool that tracks time spent on various tasks. It is useful for tracking hours to be billed to different clients or to find out what percentage of your day is spent playing Doom or reading Slashdot.
* KNotes, a small tool to scribble down some notes
* KAlarm, a quick way of setting up personal alarm/reminder messages. The messages pop up on the screen at the time you specify.
In addition to the core desktop functionality and PIM capabilities outlined above, KDE also has a growing office suite called KOffice.
The following parts of the KOffice suite are being developed:
* KWord, a frame-based word processor capable of professional standard documents
* KSpread, a powerful spreadsheet application
* KPresenter, a full-featured presentation program
* Kivio, a Visio-style flowcharting application
* Kontour,a vector drawing application
* Krita, a raster-based image manipulation program like The GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
* Kugar, a tool for generating business quality reports
* KChart, an integrated graph and chart drawing tool
I don't use the KOffice suite often, but I can tell you that KWord is quite capable of reading basic Word documents. Advanced features, such as embedding Active X controls, cannot be handled by the KOffice tools, but in fairness, few if any competing office suites can accurately render all of the features found in Microsoft's latest arsenal of office applications. IF you're looking for a functional office suite that is bundled with a system, however, this suite is worth a look.
So far, I've mentioned that Skipjack installs effortlessly, contains a new boot loader that works well and has security improvements, incorporates most of what will be found in the final KDE 3.0 desktop and runs well. What about the other features?
Another thing I use my system for frequently is web browsing. Red Hat delivers here, too. As part of the available software, Red Hat includes not only the browsers that are integral components of the desktop managers, it also includes recent releases of the Netscape and Mozilla suites. You can choose between the "old style" version 4 Netscape browser, Netscape Communicator 4.79 and the most current release of the Mozilla browser, 0.99. Both browsers have web browser and e-mail client components.
Speaking of browsers, I have to mention the Galeon Web browser, which is included in the Skipjack release as part of the GNOME desktop environment. While Galeon requires both Mozilla and GNOME libraries in order to function, other than the obvious disk overhead, Galeon is a very effective and efficient web browser. Skipjack comes with the newest and best version of Galeon I've seen yet, version 1.2.0. Galeon is arguably one of the leading standards compliant web browsers currently available. So Skipjack gets my nod for including a very up-to-date and usable version of Galeon.
What about GNOME, the default desktop environment included in Red Hat distributions? The Skipjack release, as far as I can tell, does not incorporate any upcoming test releases of GNOME software. The good news, however, is that the Nautilus File Manager, which is a core component of the overall GNOME, seems more stable than I've seen in the past. Perhaps this is because the image rendering engine used with Nautilus is the Gecko engine that's part of the latest release of Mozilla. Since Mozilla 0.99 comes with the Skipjack release, Nautilus benefits from recent, significant improvements in Mozilla's functionality and reliability.
I have not touched on any of the server features found in Red Hat; that is beyond the scope of this review. During the installation, however, I did notice that Red Hat has continued to work on integrity, security and stability issues, and it really shows. Whether Red Hat decides to produce this software as an incremental update to it's existing release and calls the next release 7.3, or if they decide to create a new major release, from my perspective as a desktop user this is without question their best release ever. Even in beta form, it is solid.
I wrote this article using the Gvim text editor. I wrote the first part of the article while running the desktop using KDE, and I wrote the second part using GNOME. I tried out Konqueror, Konsole, KWord, Vim/Gvim, Netscape, Mozilla, Galeon, Nautilus, GNU Emacs, XEmacs, NEdit and GNOME Terminal, and I experimented with the GRUB boot loader. During my testing (while admittedly not exhaustive but representative of the kinds of daily tasks I perform) I did not encounter a single application or system failure. There probably are still some bugs out there, but this is great beta software, among the best that I've ever seen from anyone.
Was it worthwhile to run this release? Absolutely. While Red Hat explicitly recommends not running beta software in a production environment, if you are a desktop user like me and you like the latest software, you will be hard pressed to find a more complete and usable piece of software (at least until the other vendors incorporate this software into their release).
Bravo. This if fucking brilliant. You, Sir, are truly enlightened.
Just saw this on CNN a few minutes ago - music super diva Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was found dead in a car in Honduras. I'm sure we'll all miss her - even if you didn't enjoy her hits like "Waterfalls," and "No Scrubs" you've probably loved her arson skills. Truly an American icon.
Okay Father, get back in your confessional.
St. Louis County's regulations on video games upheld
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (April 25, 2002 9:04 a.m. EDT) - A federal judge said local governments can limit children's access to violent or sexually explicit video games, saying games are not constitutionally protected forms of speech.
Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, in a ruling issued Friday, rejected a request by a video game industry group to throw out a St. Louis County ordinance regulating access to arcade and home video games.
The county must now decide whether to ask Limbaugh to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Interactive Digital Software Association, county Counselor Patricia Redington said Monday.
The ordinance, passed in 2000, would require children under 17 to have parental consent before they can buy violent or sexually explicit video games or play similar arcade games. The council has suspended implementation of the ordinance until July 1.
The video game group called the ruling wrong on the facts and the law.
"The decision is clearly in conflict with virtually every other federal court decision on this and related issues," group President Doug Lowenstein said in a statement. "We're confident that our position will be sustained on appeal."
Limbaugh said he reviewed four different video games and found "no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. The court finds that video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures."
Limbaugh said the county has a compelling interest in protecting the physical and emotional health of its children and assisting parents as guardians of their children's well-being.
St. Louis County modeled its ordinance after one in Indianapolis. That ordinance has been invalidated by a federal appeals court in Chicago.
See subject.
Is This A Dead-end Career?
By Jack Ganssle
Embedded.com
(04/05/02, 02:26:14 PM EDT)
Become a dentist, CPA, or lawyer and odds are you'll be practicing that profession on a more or less daily basis till the day you retire. That seems less likely for engineers and firmware developers. How many EEs or software folks do you know in their 60s who still work as techies? How many in their 40s?
Though I haven't the statistics to support it, my observations suggest that embedded systems development is a field dominated by young folks -- say, those under 35 or so. Middle age seems to wean folks from their technical inclinations; droves of developers move towards management or even the dark side, marketing and sales.
Is salary compression the culprit? My students, all of 21 and armed with a newly minted BSEE, get entry-level jobs at $50-60k. That's an astonishing sum for someone with no experience. But the entire course of this career will see in general less than a doubling of this number. Pure techies doing no management may top out at only 50 percent above the entry-level figure.
Consider that $70k or $80k is a staggering amount compared to the nation's average mid-$30k average family income -- but even so, it's quickly swallowed by the exigencies of middle-class life. That $50k goes a long way when one is single and living in a little apartment. Life happens fast, though. Orthodontics, college, a house, diapers, and much more consume funds faster than raises compensate. That's not to suggest it's not enough to live on, but surely the new pressures that come with a family make us question the financial wisdom of pursuing this wealth-limited career. Many developers start to wonder if an MBA or JD would forge a better path.
What about respect? My friends think "engineer" means I drive a train. Or that being in the computer business makes me the community's PC tech support center. "Doctor" or "VP Marketing" is something the average Joe understands and respects.
Is tedium a factor? Pushing ones and zeroes around doesn't sound like a lot of work, but getting each and every one of a hundred million perfect is tremendously difficult. I for one reached a point years ago where writing code and drawing schematics paled; much more fun was designing systems, inventing ways to build things, and then leaving implementation details to others. I know many engineers who bailed because of boredom.
External forces intervene, too. Though age discrimination is illegal it's also a constant factor. Many 50-ish engineers will never learn Java, C++, and other new technologies. They become obsolete. Employers see this and react in not-unexpected ways. Other employers look askance at the high older engineer salaries and will consider replacing one old fart with two newbies.
So where do the old engineers go? Is this a career you expect to pursue till retirement?
Jack G. Ganssle is a lecturer and consultant on embedded development issues. He conducts seminars on embedded systems and helps companies with their embedded challenges. He founded two companies specializing in embedded systems. Contact him at jack@ganssle.com. His website is www.ganssle.com.
see subject.
SONICblue To Implement Service-Based Pricing Model For New ReplayTV Products; New Model Uncouples Service Fees From Retail Pricing to Better Meet Retailers' Needs
April 25, 2002 08:03:00 AM ET
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2002-- SONICblue(TM) Incorporated SBLU announced today that it will apply a service-based pricing model to new ReplayTV(R) products -- beginning with its forthcoming ReplayTV 4500 series, the next generation ReplayTV offering. Separating service subscription rates from the retail price of the ReplayTV unit, SONICblue's new pricing model will better meet the needs of national electronics retailers with lower overall costs and increased promotional opportunities.
"We intend to achieve 30% market share for digital video recorders this year based largely on our entry into mainstream retail channels," said Steve Shannon, vice president, ReplayTV product marketing, SONICblue. "The addition of new models and pricing are just a few of the changes we'll be making to ensure the long-term success of our ReplayTV retail strategy."
Further details of SONICblue's service-based pricing model will be made available when the new ReplayTV 4500 series is officially unveiled this summer.
This new pricing model does not apply to SONICblue's current ReplayTV 4000 or to prior offerings, which will continue to include a lifetime service subscription. The ReplayTV 4000 line will end of life with the launch of the new ReplayTV 4500 series.
About SONICblue Incorporated (www.SONICblue.com)
SONICblue is a leader in the converging Internet, digital media, entertainment and consumer electronics markets. Working with partners that include some of the biggest brands in consumer electronics, SONICblue creates and markets products that let consumers enjoy all the benefits of a digital home and connected lifestyle. SONICblue holds significant financial assets, global marketing capabilities and a focused technology portfolio that includes Rio(R) digital audio players; ReplayTV(R) personal television technology and software solutions; and Go-Video(R) integrated DVD+VCRs, Dual-Deck(TM) VCRs, and digital home theater systems.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, such as SONICblue's release of its ReplayTV 4500, implementation of the new pricing model, SONICblue's introduction of new ReplayTV models and pricing options, the ability to achieve lower overall costs and increased promotional opportunities, entry into mainstream retail channels, the intended 30% market share in the digital video recorder market, its success in better meeting the needs of the mainstream retail channel, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to the ability of the Company to enter into licensing agreements with manufacturers, the ability of the Company, its suppliers, retailers and distributors to meet scheduled release dates, the impact of competitive products and pricing and of alternative technological advances, the outcome of SONICblue's existing litigation concerning the ReplayTV products and other risks detailed from time to time in the SEC reports of SONICblue Incorporated, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2001. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. SONICblue disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Note to Editors: SONICblue and Dual-Deck are trademarks of SONICblue Incorporated. ReplayTV, Go-Video, and Rio are registered trademarks of SONICblue Incorporated. All other products and brand names as they appear in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All specifications may be changed without notice.
Contact Information:
SONICblue, Santa Clara
Tracy Perry, 408/588-8086 (Investor Relations)
tperry@SONICblue.com
or
The Bohle Company
Jason Wanacott, 310/785-0515 ext. 211 (Press)
jason@bohle.com
© 2002 BusinessWire
1. Imagine a Beowulf cluster
2. Obtain hot gritz.
Mars Needs Women
I bow to your skills, for you have beaten me to the phirst poast. I must be getting slow in my old age.
Take that round eye!
You need a little more backbone, AC. When you get the FP, shout it from the roof tops. I GOT FP!!! Then you need to say something insulting about linux, motherhood, or