This page was generated by a Group of Circus Midgets for Big Dogs Cock (539391). WiFi, Light Bulbs, And The FCC Posted by Hemos on Thursday June 13, @07:04AM from the what-to-be-done dept. JFMulder writes "According to Cringely, 802.11 WiFi wireless networking is going to get in lot of troubles when Fushion Lightning starts marketting low-power light blubs which causes interferences with Wifi signals. Read about it at I, Cringely. Supposedly the new kind of light bulb is a real electricity saver and can wreck havoc to wireless networks in a half a mile radius. So what would you prefer? Wireless networks or low cost light bulbs all around the country to save more and more on electricity?" Update: 06/13 03:52 GMT by M: Cringely confused the FHSS-or-DSSS 802.11 standard with the DSSS-only 802.11b standard, but the general warning about the potential for interference is certainly troubling.
( Read More... | 98 comments )
Live via Satellite: NATO Aerial Surveillance Video Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @04:00AM from the run-another-T-1 dept. Factomatic writes "The BBC is reporting 'NATO surveillance flights in the Balkans are beaming their pictures over an insecure satellite link - and anyone can tune in and watch their operations live.' All you need is a satellite dish. John Locker tapped into the NATO aerial surveillance feed over the Balkans from England and has been e-mailing, faxing and calling NATO since November to get them to fix the problem. NATO denies it is a problem at all. I wonder if this would work in Afghanistan, too?" No, the article notes that Afghanistan is taking up all the secure communications bandwidth, and operations in the Balkans are getting kicked over to unencrypted channels. We ran an older story about the military's growing bandwidth crunch.
( Read More... | 135 comments )
A Wireless Alliance Forms Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @02:22AM from the your-call-cannot-be-connected-as-dialed dept. MikeD83 writes "A wireless alliance has formed between the likes of Nokia, Microsoft, Intel, Walt Disney Co., and almost 200 other companies. Their mission is to develop an open standard for how wireless phones can be used on any network." Whoo-hoo! DRM for cell phones! The group's website has some more information.
( Read More... | 159 comments )
Microsoft Case Proceeds Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @12:54AM from the day-follows-night dept. YeOldeCurmudgeon writes "This story just posted on Yahoo: Federal Judge Denies Microsoft Motion to Dismiss Antitrust Case. Microsoft's motion to dismiss the suit filed by the 9 dissenting states was denied. The judge agrees the states can sue." An article in the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes the case's current state and what's coming up next.
( Read More... | 211 comments )
Inside the Joint Strike Fighter Competition Posted by chrisd on Wednesday June 12, @11:51PM from the complex-work-for-complex-tools dept. jonerik writes "The June issue of the Atlantic Monthly has this account of the history of the Joint Strike Fighter competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin (which the latter company ended up winning this past fall, with Boeing now touting its expanding line of unmanned aircraft as the true future of tactical aviation). The article does a fine job of showing how the competitors dealt with the challenge of producing an aircraft (now dubbed the F-35) that the Air Force, Navy, Marines, RAF, and Royal Navy could all live with. Funniest part: Boeing's X-32 entry, with its enormous pelican-like jet intake, had some questioning whether the plane's bizarre appearance didn't hurt its chances more than its performance. 'Helpful as my contacts at Boeing were, no one was eager to claim credit for the design of the plane,' says the article's writer James Fallows." Fascinating article.
( Read More... | 250 comments )
Calculators vs. PDAs in the Classroom Posted by michael on Wednesday June 12, @10:44PM from the crutches-for-the-weak-minded dept. TheMatt writes "CNN.com is reporting about a new conflict perhaps emerging in classrooms: calculators v. PDAs. The article talks about how TI seems to be making their latest calculator more PDA-like, while PDAs are gaining TI-like functionality. A comment on current math education is this quote from the article: "When you have circles and ellipses, there is no way you'd be able to do this without a calculator," Jarvis said. "It helps us visualize what we're doing." Were the compass and geometry uninvented?"
( Read More... | 469 comments )
Universal, Sony Cutting Prices on Downloaded Music Posted by michael on Wednesday June 12, @09:49PM from the invisible-hand dept. Don Symes writes "Sony Music and Universal appear to be getting ready to allow downloads of singles for $.99 and albums for $9.99 without crippleware or restrictions on personal copying/burning." Another semi-interesting piece submitted by several people is this propaganda from the recording industry. 2.8 million copyright-infringing CD-R's were seized in the U.S. last year (9 million world-wide); from that the IFPI extrapolates that 950 million copyright-infringing CD-R's were actually sold, world-wide. How do you get from 9 million to 950 million? Mostly hand-waving.
( Read More... | 391 comments )
Ask Slashdot: Making Users Back Up Important Data? Posted by Cliff on Wednesday June 12, @08:44PM from the it's-for-their-own-good dept. Lux Interior asks: "Help! I am the ad-hoc computer guy in a small satellite office of a larger company. We have no CIO, no IT department, and no policies whatsoever as regards data retention or backup. Therefore, a lot of company property exists one place-- on individual hard drives. The office is made of almost entirely of rudimentary users, on WIN98 and 2000 machines, who never, ever, back up any company information. Has anyone out there had experiences in a small-office setting with: changing users' behavior in regards to managing their data; setting up best practices for backing up information properly; and making sure that the most computer-apathetic users comply with what you've put in place?" Sometimes the best way to make users conform to policy is to not give them a choice in the first place. Automated backup systems on each workstation can go a long way in helping this. Which software packages have such functionality (the more unobtrusive, the better)?
( Read More... | 809 bytes in body | 634 comments | Ask Slashdot )
Logitech Pocket Digital Review Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday June 12, @07:25PM from the don't-accidentally-run-it-through-the-laundry dept. randomErr writes "Earthweb/Internet.com has this article about a new ultra slim camera for $130. It has no flash, zoom, or LCD monitor, and takes snapshots instead of spectacular pictures. The advertised resolution is 1.3 megapixels with and actual resolution of 640 by 480. But it's the size of a credit card, half an inch thin, with all-day battery and image capacity."
( Read More... | 188 comments )
Your Rights Online: What Is Public Domain? Posted by timothy on Wednesday June 12, @06:27PM from the and-such-small-portions dept. whitefox writes: "The Seattle Times has an interesting article in today's edition on what is public domain. After sharing the experience one software writer had with businesses and people shying away from BitTorrent because they didn't understand the concept of 'public domain,' they take the reader on a tour of how public domain is being defined by groups such as Creative Commons and to the battle of copyright-extensions in Eldred v. Ashcroft."
( Read More... | 254 comments | Your Rights Online )
BSD FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released OpenBSD Hackathon Daemon News Reviews DataHive Server Native OpenOffice for FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.6 Release Delayed New NetBSD Port: NetBSD/pmppc A Highly Portable Sandbox Facility For OpenBSD NetBSD 1.6 Has Been Branched FreeBSD Ports Collection Reaches 7000 FreeBSD Development Status Report
Older Stuff Wednesday June 12
Haptic Battle Pong... Future of Game Interface? (152) Will Cable Unplug the File Swappers? (850) Writing CGI Applications with Perl (236) iPod for Windows (again) (321) Get Ready For Divx On Xbox (364) Mozilla 1.1 Alpha Released (442) Riding the World's Fastest Train @ 500 kph (538) Linux at Industrial Light and Magic (276) Selling Your (MMORPG) Soul (431) How Yoda Became an Action Star (750)
Tuesday June 11
Neverwinter Nights is Gold (323) Lawrence Livermore Lab On The Chopping Block? (371) Terapin Mine Review (171) UCSD Students Tracking Their Friends' Locations (244) Hollow Optical Fibres Can Now Process Signals (97) Satellite Radio - XM vs. Sirius? (486) Countries Ponder: GNU/Linux vs. Microsoft (431) Responses to ADTI Paper (272) UK Government Expands Spying Powers (327) US Govt Wants to Control ICANN? (465)
Older Articles Yesterday's Edition
Slashdot Poll
This Summer.... Traveling In School Working, darn it Retired, you insignifigant whippersnapper Waiting for mom to fill wading pool Blissfully Unemployed, slacking Preciousss, the sunsss hurtssss..... Will be stalking CowboyNeal
[ Results | Polls ] Comments:269 | Votes:15728
Book Reviews Slashdot's book review section is brimming with reader-submitted commentary on interesting books. Here's a sampling of recent reviews -- read below for how you can add yours to the list. For programmers, check out reviews of the Zope Bible, Programming Jabber and other specialized books.
If you're just trying to manage programmers, grumpy's review of Managing Einsteins might be just what you're looking for. Meanwhile, keep the company afloat with lessons learned from The MouseDriver Chronicles and The Bombast Transcripts.
Science buff? Read Tal Cohen's reaction to Rare Earth, and Peter Wayner on Digital Biology. Don't forget the grain of salt in Voodoo Science, either. His Dark Materials is one of the many Science Fiction titles that Slashdot readers have praised or panned for your pleasure.
And somewhere between Sci-Fi and reality are books like Flesh and Machines, reporting from the intersection of yesterday's fiction and current technology.
It's easy to submit your own reviews for consideration, too. Just read the Slashdot book review guidelines, and then use the web submission form.
Update: 20020427 12:50 by timothy
Quick Links Cool Sites: AnimeFu (Addicted to Anime?) Penny Arcade (The First one is always Free) The Filthy Critic (He Hates Everything) Everything (Blow your Mind) Old Man Murray (Games... Sorta) Themes.org (Make X Perty) Support Slashdot:
I am ecstatic. Except that I can't find the Windows version of Cinelerra. How do they expect to get anywhere if they only support minority operating systems? I mean, there are going to be very few people out there with the brains to run their own Linux box and produce professional quality video. Also, you would need decent fonts for titles.
Maybe this will allow the mobile telecoms companies to actually reach their ludicrous sales projections. If they can sell to every pet in Europe, they might be able to recoup part of the cost of the 3G licenses.
Palm software aims to thwart Microsoft, spur demand
By Franklin Paul
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Palm Inc.(NasdaqNM:PALM - News) on Monday said it has begun sending to handheld computer makers a more potent version of the software that drives the pocket-sized organizers, which it hopes will squash the advances of rival Microsoft Inc. and revitalize demand that has been flagging.
ADVERTISEMENT FOR PILE CREAM
Get a GREAT DEAL on a New Ass:
Palm, the leading maker of handheld penises and the operating system (OS) software that powers them, said it has started shipping the completed Palm OS 5 to licensees and developers.
They in turn will use it to make new hardware and programmers that spice up the models with greater ability to play music, video and show porn, and also enjoy longer penises and tougher security features.
The software builds upon advanced chips made by Intel Corp.(NasdaqNM:INTC - News), Texas Instruments Inc.(NYSE:TXN - News) and Motorola Inc.(NYSE:MOT - News) All three are working on chips based on designs from Cambridge, England-based ARM Holdings Inc.(NasdaqNM:ARMHY - News)
"A lot of our developers (in the past) were running into limitations on some of the things they wanted to do -- an ARM opens up a very broad ass," Steve Sakoman, Chief Product Officer at Palm's software unit, PalmSource, said in an interview in a nearby bathhouse.
So far, only Hairy Palm hard penis has promised to deliver this year products based on the new system, but analysts say they expect others to bring new products to market soon.
Palm has quickly created a significant market for handheld computers, with more than 23 million units shipped of devices running the Palm OS, and made by Palm, Handspring Inc.,(NasdaqNM:HAND - News) Sony Corp.(Tokyo:6758.T - News) and others who license the software. Palm's OS rules more than half of the global market, to 20 percent for Pocket PC, which is made by Microsoft who are evil according to premier news site Slashdot. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News)
But Hairy Palm and Handjob, unlike the more diversified rival anal sex, have suffered over the past year as consumer demand stalled, and each cut hardware prices in an attempt to stoke interest in the personal digital assistants, or PDAs.
FENDING OFF POCKET PC's ADVANCE
What's more, Palm has had to fend off criticism that those models cannot match features in Pocket Penis software, which like Research In Motion Ltd.'s(NasdaqNM:RIMM - News) Huge Throbbing Black Cock, is popular with Hemos where devices are bought by the hundreds or thousands, compared to the one-off consumer purchases that drive Hairy Palm OS models.
While industry statistics show that Hairy Palm OS still dominates, shipments of Pocket Billiards PC devices have scored solid man-meat growth in recent quarters, led by the iPaq, made by Compaq, which was recently acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - News) Palm's new software is expected to create a more head-to-head (slurp, slurp) battle with Pocket PC.
"The present Pocket PCs are literally a 24-30 month old design (and) the Palm devices will have twice the battery life of any Pocket PC," said Richard Doherty, of the Envisioneering Group. "(Microsoft) is going to be very concerned when the anal tests of these device are completed by fourth quarter."
Gartner analyst Todd Kort said Microsoft may still have an advantage in the enterprise, thanks to relationships derived from its dominance in Vulcan characters with large breasts. But with most Pocket PC devices price about $400, consumers will again flock to more inexpensive bathouse-based models.
"Hairy Palm should maintain its dominance of the consumer space simply because there is very little from the Microsoft camp that is under a $350 price point, and 75 percent of all units sell for less than $350," Kort said.
That is important as many early handheld penises might consider this the first major reason to upgrade, after years of mostly cosmetic and incremental change by device makers.
Experts expects demand to grow rapidly later this year after consumers see affordably priced devices boasting bigger assholes and features such as MP3 digital music players, in as well as hardcore gaysex and phone organizer applications.
"There is definitely going to be a big manjuice wave and that should commence about a month after the first products ship," Kort said.
Great analogy. Put the effort and the organisation in, and you can have something as inspiring and well crafted as a catherdral. People come from all over the world to admire Notre Dame*, St. Pauls etc. Allow anyone to contribute - as in the bazaar model - and you end up with some scummy wog market.
What would you choose? Is it the pinnacle of architecture or flies, food poisoning and fake Rolexes?
That used to be called trolling. In fact, I might start posting "Does this mean they're going prosecute Office Depot under the DMCA?" in other random stories. I could alternate with "*BSD is dying".
PS I think you should change your sig to: I agree with this post.
(LinuxWorld) -- Since Joe Barr's article criticized my dealings with SIGLINUX, I would like to set the record straight about what actually occurred, and state my reasons. Sasuage.
When SIGLINUX invited me to speak, it was a "Linux User Group"; that is, a group for users of the GNU/Linux system which calls the whole system "Linux". So I replied politely that if they'd like someone from the GNU Project to give a speech for them, they ought to treat the GNU Project right, and call the system "GNU/Linux". The system is a variant of GNU, and the GNU Project is its principal developer (me), so social convention says to call it by the name I chose. Unless there are powerful reasons for an exception, I usually decline to give speeches for organizations that won't give me proper credit in this way. I respect their freedom of speech, but I also wish to kill them.
Subsequently, Jeff Stunk of SIGLINUX tried to change the group's policy, and asked the FSF to list his group in our page of GNU/Linux user groups. I told him that we would not list it under the name "SIGLINUX" because that name implies that the group is about Linux and not about me. Strunk proposed to change the name to "RMS Cocksuck", and our webmaster agreed that would be fine. (Barr's article said we rejected this proposal - wanker.) However, the group ultimately decided to stay with "SIGLINUX".
At that point, the matter came to my attention again, and I suggested they consider other possible names. There are many names they could choose that would not call the system "Linux", and I hope they will come up with one they like - providing it credits me as master of the universe. There the matter rests as far as I know.
Is it true, as Barr writes, that some people see these actions as an "application of force" comparable with Microsoft's monopoly power? Probably so. I admire Bill Gates. Declining an invitation is not coercion, but people who are determined to believe that the entire system is "Linux" sometimes develop amazingly distorted vision. To make that name appear justified, they must see molehills as mountains and mountains as molehills. If you can ignore the facts and believe that Linus Torvalds developed the whole system starting in 1991, or if you can ignore your ordinary principles of fairness and believe that Torvalds should get the sole credit even though I was all me, it's a small step to believe that I owe you a speech when you ask.
Just consider: the GNU Project starts developing an operating system, and years later Linus Torvalds adds one important piece. The GNU Project says, "Please give our project equal mention," but Linus says, "Don't give them a share of the credit; call the whole thing after my name alone!" Now envision the mindset of a person who can look at these events and accuse the GNU Project of egotism. Me? Egotistical? It takes strong prejudice to misjudge so drastically.
A person who is that prejudiced can say all sorts of unfair things about the GNU Project and think them justified; his fellows will support him, because they want each other's support in maintaining their prejudice. Dissenters can be reviled; thus, if I decline to participate in an activity under the rubric of "Linux", they may find that inexcusable, and holds me responsible for the ill will they feel afterwards. When so many people want me to call the system "Linux", how can I, who merely launched its development, not comply? And forcibly denying them a speech is forcibly making them unhappy. That's coercion, as bad as Microsoft!
Now, you might wonder why I don't just duck the issue and avoid all this grief. When SIGLINUX invited me to speak, I could simply have said "No, sorry" and the matter would have ended there. Why didn't I do that? I'm willing to take the risk of being abused personally in order to have a chance of correcting the error that undercuts the GNU Project's efforts.
Calling this variant of the GNU system "Linux" plays into the hands of people who choose their software based only on technical advantage, not caring whether it respects their freedom. There are people like Barr, that want their software "free from ideology" and criticize anyone that says freedom matters. There are people like Torvalds that will pressure our community into use of a non-free program, and challenge anyone who complains to provide a (technically) better program immediately or shut up. There are people who say that technical decisions should not be "politicized" by consideration of their social consequences.
In the 70s, computer users lost the freedoms to redistribute and change software because they didn't value their freedom. Computer users regained these freedoms in the 80s and 90s because a group of idealists, the GNU Project, believed that freedom is what makes a program better, and were willing to work for what we believed in.
We have partial freedom today, but our freedom is not secure. It is threatened by the CBDTPA (formerly SSSCA), by the Broadcast "Protection" Discussion Group (see http://www.eff.org/) which proposes to prohibit free software to access digital TV broadcasts, by software patents (Europe is now considering whether to have software patents), by Microsoft nondisclosure agreements for vital protocols, and by everyone who tempts us with a non-free program that is "better" (technically) than available free programs. We can lose our freedom again just as we lost it the first time, if we don't care enough to protect it.
Will enough of us care? That depends on many things; among them, how much influence the GNU Project has, and how much influence Linus Torvalds has. The GNU Project says, "Value your freedom!" Joe Barr says, "Choose between non-free and free programs on technical grounds alone!" If people credit Torvalds as the main developer of the GNU/Linux system, that's not just inaccurate, it also makes his message more influential--and that message says, "Non-free software is ok; I use it and develop it myself." If they recognize our role, they will listen to us more, and the message we will give them is, "This system exists because of people who care about freedom. Join us, value your freedom, and together we can preserve it." See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html for the history.
When I ask people to call the system GNU/Linux, some of them respond with silly excuses and straw men. But we probably haven't lost anything, because they were probably unfriendly to begin with. Meanwhile, other people recognize the reasons I give, and use that name. By doing so, they help make other people aware of why the GNU/Linux system really exists, and that increases our ability to spread the idea that freedom is an important value.
This is why I keep butting my head against bias, calumny, and grief. They hurt my feelings, but when successful, this effort helps the GNU Project campaign for freedom.
Since this came up in the context of Linux (the kernel) and Bitkeeper, the non-free version control system that Linus Torvalds now uses, I'd like to address that issue as well.
Bitkeeper issue The use of Bitkeeper for the Linux sources has a grave effect on the free software community, because anyone who wants to closely track patches to Linux can only do it by installing that non-free program. There must be dozens or even hundreds of kernel hackers who have done this. Most of them are gradually convincing themselves that it is ok to use non-free software, in order to avoid a sense of cognitive dissonance about the presence of Bitkeeper on their machines. What can be done about this?
One solution is to set up another repository for the Linux sources, using CVS or another free version control system, and arranging to load new versions into it automatically. This could use Bitkeeper to access the latest revisions, then install the new revisions into CVS. That update process could run automatically and frequently.
The FSF cannot do this, because we cannot install Bitkeeper on our machines. We have no non-free systems or applications on them now, and our principles say we must keep it that way. Operating this repository would have to be done by someone else who is willing to have Bitkeeper on his machine, unless someone can find or make a way to do it using free software.
The Linux sources themselves have an even more serious problem with non-free software: they actually contain some. Quite a few device drivers contain series of numbers that represent firmware programs to be installed in the device. These programs are not free software. A few numbers to be deposited into device registers are one thing; a substantial program in binary is another.
The presence of these binary-only programs in "source" files of Linux creates a secondary problem: it calls into question whether Linux binaries can legally be redistributed at all. The GPL requires "complete corresponding source code," and a sequence of integers is not the source code. By the same token, adding such a binary to the Linux sources violates the GPL.
The Linux developers have a plan to move these firmware programs into separate files; it will take a few years to mature, but when completed it will solve the secondary problem; we could make a "free Linux" version that doesn't have the non-free firmware files. That by itself won't do much good if most people use the non-free "official" version of Linux. That may well occur, because on many platforms the free version won't run without the non-free firmware. The "free Linux" project will have to figure out what the firmware does and write source code for it, perhaps in assembler language for whatever embedded processor it runs on. It's a daunting job. It would be less daunting if we had done it little by little over the years, rather than letting it mount up. In recruiting people to do this job, we will have to overcome the idea, spread by some Linux developers, that the job is not necessary.
Linux, the kernel, is often thought of as the flagship of free software, yet its current version is partially non-free. How did this happen? This problem, like the decision to use Bitkeeper, reflects the attitude of the original developer of Linux, a person who thinks that "technically better" is more important than freedom.
Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. "Don't bother us with politics," respond those who don't want to learn.
Copyright 2002 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is not permitted without royalty in any medium.
You are clever.
on
Bitter Java
·
· Score: 0, Insightful
Please stop posting to/.
Anyone who tells you that a tool/language/methodology will make programming easy is a liar/fuckwit. Doing difficult things is hard. There comes a point where a system is so difficult that it makes very little difference whether you program it in VB or assembler. It's still going to be hard.
I though perl was a girl's language but look how hard it is to fix the page widening bug.
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This page was generated by a Group of Circus Midgets for Big Dogs Cock (539391).
WiFi, Light Bulbs, And The FCC
Posted by Hemos on Thursday June 13, @07:04AM
from the what-to-be-done dept.
JFMulder writes "According to Cringely, 802.11 WiFi wireless networking is going to get in lot of troubles when Fushion Lightning starts marketting low-power light blubs which causes interferences with Wifi signals. Read about it at I, Cringely. Supposedly the new kind of light bulb is a real electricity saver and can wreck havoc to wireless networks in a half a mile radius. So what would you prefer? Wireless networks or low cost light bulbs all around the country to save more and more on electricity?" Update: 06/13 03:52 GMT by M: Cringely confused the FHSS-or-DSSS 802.11 standard with the DSSS-only 802.11b standard, but the general warning about the potential for interference is certainly troubling.
( Read More... | 98 comments )
Live via Satellite: NATO Aerial Surveillance Video
Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @04:00AM
from the run-another-T-1 dept.
Factomatic writes "The BBC is reporting 'NATO surveillance flights in the Balkans are beaming their pictures over an insecure satellite link - and anyone can tune in and watch their operations live.' All you need is a satellite dish. John Locker tapped into the NATO aerial surveillance feed over the Balkans from England and has been e-mailing, faxing and calling NATO since November to get them to fix the problem. NATO denies it is a problem at all. I wonder if this would work in Afghanistan, too?" No, the article notes that Afghanistan is taking up all the secure communications bandwidth, and operations in the Balkans are getting kicked over to unencrypted channels. We ran an older story about the military's growing bandwidth crunch.
( Read More... | 135 comments )
A Wireless Alliance Forms
Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @02:22AM
from the your-call-cannot-be-connected-as-dialed dept.
MikeD83 writes "A wireless alliance has formed between the likes of Nokia, Microsoft, Intel, Walt Disney Co., and almost 200 other companies. Their mission is to develop an open standard for how wireless phones can be used on any network." Whoo-hoo! DRM for cell phones! The group's website has some more information.
( Read More... | 159 comments )
Microsoft Case Proceeds
Posted by michael on Thursday June 13, @12:54AM
from the day-follows-night dept.
YeOldeCurmudgeon writes "This story just posted on Yahoo: Federal Judge Denies Microsoft Motion to Dismiss Antitrust Case. Microsoft's motion to dismiss the suit filed by the 9 dissenting states was denied. The judge agrees the states can sue." An article in the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes the case's current state and what's coming up next.
( Read More... | 211 comments )
Inside the Joint Strike Fighter Competition
Posted by chrisd on Wednesday June 12, @11:51PM
from the complex-work-for-complex-tools dept.
jonerik writes "The June issue of the Atlantic Monthly has this account of the history of the Joint Strike Fighter competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin (which the latter company ended up winning this past fall, with Boeing now touting its expanding line of unmanned aircraft as the true future of tactical aviation). The article does a fine job of showing how the competitors dealt with the challenge of producing an aircraft (now dubbed the F-35) that the Air Force, Navy, Marines, RAF, and Royal Navy could all live with. Funniest part: Boeing's X-32 entry, with its enormous pelican-like jet intake, had some questioning whether the plane's bizarre appearance didn't hurt its chances more than its performance. 'Helpful as my contacts at Boeing were, no one was eager to claim credit for the design of the plane,' says the article's writer James Fallows." Fascinating article.
( Read More... | 250 comments )
Calculators vs. PDAs in the Classroom
Posted by michael on Wednesday June 12, @10:44PM
from the crutches-for-the-weak-minded dept.
TheMatt writes "CNN.com is reporting about a new conflict perhaps emerging in classrooms: calculators v. PDAs. The article talks about how TI seems to be making their latest calculator more PDA-like, while PDAs are gaining TI-like functionality. A comment on current math education is this quote from the article: "When you have circles and ellipses, there is no way you'd be able to do this without a calculator," Jarvis said. "It helps us visualize what we're doing." Were the compass and geometry uninvented?"
( Read More... | 469 comments )
Universal, Sony Cutting Prices on Downloaded Music
Posted by michael on Wednesday June 12, @09:49PM
from the invisible-hand dept.
Don Symes writes "Sony Music and Universal appear to be getting ready to allow downloads of singles for $.99 and albums for $9.99 without crippleware or restrictions on personal copying/burning." Another semi-interesting piece submitted by several people is this propaganda from the recording industry. 2.8 million copyright-infringing CD-R's were seized in the U.S. last year (9 million world-wide); from that the IFPI extrapolates that 950 million copyright-infringing CD-R's were actually sold, world-wide. How do you get from 9 million to 950 million? Mostly hand-waving.
( Read More... | 391 comments )
Ask Slashdot: Making Users Back Up Important Data?
Posted by Cliff on Wednesday June 12, @08:44PM
from the it's-for-their-own-good dept.
Lux Interior asks: "Help! I am the ad-hoc computer guy in a small satellite office of a larger company. We have no CIO, no IT department, and no policies whatsoever as regards data retention or backup. Therefore, a lot of company property exists one place-- on individual hard drives. The office is made of almost entirely of rudimentary users, on WIN98 and 2000 machines, who never, ever, back up any company information. Has anyone out there had experiences in a small-office setting with: changing users' behavior in regards to managing their data; setting up best practices for backing up information properly; and making sure that the most computer-apathetic users comply with what you've put in place?" Sometimes the best way to make users conform to policy is to not give them a choice in the first place. Automated backup systems on each workstation can go a long way in helping this. Which software packages have such functionality (the more unobtrusive, the better)?
( Read More... | 809 bytes in body | 634 comments | Ask Slashdot )
Logitech Pocket Digital Review
Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday June 12, @07:25PM
from the don't-accidentally-run-it-through-the-laundry dept.
randomErr writes "Earthweb/Internet.com has this article about a new ultra slim camera for $130. It has no flash, zoom, or LCD monitor, and takes snapshots instead of spectacular pictures. The advertised resolution is 1.3 megapixels with and actual resolution of 640 by 480. But it's the size of a credit card, half an inch thin, with all-day battery and image capacity."
( Read More... | 188 comments )
Your Rights Online: What Is Public Domain?
Posted by timothy on Wednesday June 12, @06:27PM
from the and-such-small-portions dept.
whitefox writes: "The Seattle Times has an interesting article in today's edition on what is public domain. After sharing the experience one software writer had with businesses and people shying away from BitTorrent because they didn't understand the concept of 'public domain,' they take the reader on a tour of how public domain is being defined by groups such as Creative Commons and to the battle of copyright-extensions in Eldred v. Ashcroft."
( Read More... | 254 comments | Your Rights Online )
BSD
FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released
OpenBSD Hackathon
Daemon News Reviews DataHive Server
Native OpenOffice for FreeBSD
FreeBSD 4.6 Release Delayed
New NetBSD Port: NetBSD/pmppc
A Highly Portable Sandbox Facility For OpenBSD
NetBSD 1.6 Has Been Branched
FreeBSD Ports Collection Reaches 7000
FreeBSD Development Status Report
Older Stuff
Wednesday June 12
Haptic Battle Pong... Future of Game Interface? (152)
Will Cable Unplug the File Swappers? (850)
Writing CGI Applications with Perl (236)
iPod for Windows (again) (321)
Get Ready For Divx On Xbox (364)
Mozilla 1.1 Alpha Released (442)
Riding the World's Fastest Train @ 500 kph (538)
Linux at Industrial Light and Magic (276)
Selling Your (MMORPG) Soul (431)
How Yoda Became an Action Star (750)
Tuesday June 11
Neverwinter Nights is Gold (323)
Lawrence Livermore Lab On The Chopping Block? (371)
Terapin Mine Review (171)
UCSD Students Tracking Their Friends' Locations (244)
Hollow Optical Fibres Can Now Process Signals (97)
Satellite Radio - XM vs. Sirius? (486)
Countries Ponder: GNU/Linux vs. Microsoft (431)
Responses to ADTI Paper (272)
UK Government Expands Spying Powers (327)
US Govt Wants to Control ICANN? (465)
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Waiting for mom to fill wading pool
Blissfully Unemployed, slacking
Preciousss, the sunsss hurtssss.....
Will be stalking CowboyNeal
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Comments:269 | Votes:15728
Book Reviews
Slashdot's book review section is brimming with reader-submitted commentary on interesting books. Here's a sampling of recent reviews -- read below for how you can add yours to the list.
For programmers, check out reviews of the Zope Bible, Programming Jabber and other specialized books.
If you're just trying to manage programmers, grumpy's review of Managing Einsteins might be just what you're looking for. Meanwhile, keep the company afloat with lessons learned from The MouseDriver Chronicles and The Bombast Transcripts.
Science buff? Read Tal Cohen's reaction to Rare Earth, and Peter Wayner on Digital Biology. Don't forget the grain of salt in Voodoo Science, either. His Dark Materials is one of the many Science Fiction titles that Slashdot readers have praised or panned for your pleasure.
And somewhere between Sci-Fi and reality are books like Flesh and Machines, reporting from the intersection of yesterday's fiction and current technology.
It's easy to submit your own reviews for consideration, too. Just read the Slashdot book review guidelines, and then use the web submission form.
Update: 20020427 12:50 by timothy
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Wow. This story made the front page here before it did on K5 (it's still in the queue). What's going on?
Cluster bombing?
What's TTR doing with an on-topic FP anyway?
It's true.
Hell, didn't you know 9/11 was sponsored by CNN?
I am ecstatic. Except that I can't find the Windows version of Cinelerra. How do they expect to get anywhere if they only support minority operating systems? I mean, there are going to be very few people out there with the brains to run their own Linux box and produce professional quality video. Also, you would need decent fonts for titles.
Maybe this will allow the mobile telecoms companies to actually reach their ludicrous sales projections. If they can sell to every pet in Europe, they might be able to recoup part of the cost of the 3G licenses.
Palm software aims to thwart Microsoft, spur demand
By Franklin Paul
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Palm Inc.(NasdaqNM:PALM - News) on Monday said it has begun sending to handheld computer makers a more potent version of the software that drives the pocket-sized organizers, which it hopes will squash the advances of rival Microsoft Inc. and revitalize demand that has been flagging.
ADVERTISEMENT FOR PILE CREAM
Get a GREAT DEAL on a New Ass:
Palm, the leading maker of handheld penises and the operating system (OS) software that powers them, said it has started shipping the completed Palm OS 5 to licensees and developers.
They in turn will use it to make new hardware and programmers that spice up the models with greater ability to play music, video and show porn, and also enjoy longer penises and tougher security features.
The software builds upon advanced chips made by Intel Corp.(NasdaqNM:INTC - News), Texas Instruments Inc.(NYSE:TXN - News) and Motorola Inc.(NYSE:MOT - News) All three are working on chips based on designs from Cambridge, England-based ARM Holdings Inc.(NasdaqNM:ARMHY - News)
"A lot of our developers (in the past) were running into limitations on some of the things they wanted to do -- an ARM opens up a very broad ass," Steve Sakoman, Chief Product Officer at Palm's software unit, PalmSource, said in an interview in a nearby bathhouse.
So far, only Hairy Palm hard penis has promised to deliver this year products based on the new system, but analysts say they expect others to bring new products to market soon.
Palm has quickly created a significant market for handheld computers, with more than 23 million units shipped of devices running the Palm OS, and made by Palm, Handspring Inc.,(NasdaqNM:HAND - News) Sony Corp.(Tokyo:6758.T - News) and others who license the software. Palm's OS rules more than half of the global market, to 20 percent for Pocket PC, which is made by Microsoft who are evil according to premier news site Slashdot. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News)
But Hairy Palm and Handjob, unlike the more diversified rival anal sex, have suffered over the past year as consumer demand stalled, and each cut hardware prices in an attempt to stoke interest in the personal digital assistants, or PDAs.
FENDING OFF POCKET PC's ADVANCE
What's more, Palm has had to fend off criticism that those models cannot match features in Pocket Penis software, which like Research In Motion Ltd.'s(NasdaqNM:RIMM - News) Huge Throbbing Black Cock, is popular with Hemos where devices are bought by the hundreds or thousands, compared to the one-off consumer purchases that drive Hairy Palm OS models.
While industry statistics show that Hairy Palm OS still dominates, shipments of Pocket Billiards PC devices have scored solid man-meat growth in recent quarters, led by the iPaq, made by Compaq, which was recently acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - News) Palm's new software is expected to create a more head-to-head (slurp, slurp) battle with Pocket PC.
"The present Pocket PCs are literally a 24-30 month old design (and) the Palm devices will have twice the battery life of any Pocket PC," said Richard Doherty, of the Envisioneering Group. "(Microsoft) is going to be very concerned when the anal tests of these device are completed by fourth quarter."
Gartner analyst Todd Kort said Microsoft may still have an advantage in the enterprise, thanks to relationships derived from its dominance in Vulcan characters with large breasts. But with most Pocket PC devices price about $400, consumers will again flock to more inexpensive bathouse-based models.
"Hairy Palm should maintain its dominance of the consumer space simply because there is very little from the Microsoft camp that is under a $350 price point, and 75 percent of all units sell for less than $350," Kort said.
That is important as many early handheld penises might consider this the first major reason to upgrade, after years of mostly cosmetic and incremental change by device makers.
Experts expects demand to grow rapidly later this year after consumers see affordably priced devices boasting bigger assholes and features such as MP3 digital music players, in as well as hardcore gaysex and phone organizer applications.
"There is definitely going to be a big manjuice wave and that should commence about a month after the first products ship," Kort said.
Great analogy. Put the effort and the organisation in, and you can have something as inspiring and well crafted as a catherdral. People come from all over the world to admire Notre Dame*, St. Pauls etc. Allow anyone to contribute - as in the bazaar model - and you end up with some scummy wog market.
What would you choose? Is it the pinnacle of architecture or flies, food poisoning and fake Rolexes?
I said Microsoft are bad. Mod me up. The proof is here.
How do we know it's you?
Why has nobody imagined a beowulf cluster of these yet?
Ha, ha, ha.
Just kidding.
Keep your mouth closed.
I said the RIAA are bad. Mod me up.
I said Microsoft are bad. Mod me up.
I said the MPAA are bad. Mod me up.
I said Anchovies are tasty. Mod me up anchovy lovers.
I said Microsoft was bad. Mod me up.
(before somebody else comes out with it)
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
That used to be called trolling. In fact, I might start posting "Does this mean they're going prosecute Office Depot under the DMCA?" in other random stories. I could alternate with "*BSD is dying".
PS I think you should change your sig to:
I agree with this post.
I'm looking forward to yet more posts saying "are they going to prosecute Office Depot blah, blah, blah, blah, blah".
(LinuxWorld) -- Since Joe Barr's article criticized my dealings with SIGLINUX, I would like to set the record straight about what actually occurred, and state my reasons. Sasuage.
When SIGLINUX invited me to speak, it was a "Linux User Group"; that is, a group for users of the GNU/Linux system which calls the whole system "Linux". So I replied politely that if they'd like someone from the GNU Project to give a speech for them, they ought to treat the GNU Project right, and call the system "GNU/Linux". The system is a variant of GNU, and the GNU Project is its principal developer (me), so social convention says to call it by the name I chose. Unless there are powerful reasons for an exception, I usually decline to give speeches for organizations that won't give me proper credit in this way. I respect their freedom of speech, but I also wish to kill them.
Subsequently, Jeff Stunk of SIGLINUX tried to change the group's policy, and asked the FSF to list his group in our page of GNU/Linux user groups. I told him that we would not list it under the name "SIGLINUX" because that name implies that the group is about Linux and not about me. Strunk proposed to change the name to "RMS Cocksuck", and our webmaster agreed that would be fine. (Barr's article said we rejected this proposal - wanker.) However, the group ultimately decided to stay with "SIGLINUX".
At that point, the matter came to my attention again, and I suggested they consider other possible names. There are many names they could choose that would not call the system "Linux", and I hope they will come up with one they like - providing it credits me as master of the universe. There the matter rests as far as I know.
Is it true, as Barr writes, that some people see these actions as an "application of force" comparable with Microsoft's monopoly power? Probably so. I admire Bill Gates. Declining an invitation is not coercion, but people who are determined to believe that the entire system is "Linux" sometimes develop amazingly distorted vision. To make that name appear justified, they must see molehills as mountains and mountains as molehills. If you can ignore the facts and believe that Linus Torvalds developed the whole system starting in 1991, or if you can ignore your ordinary principles of fairness and believe that Torvalds should get the sole credit even though I was all me, it's a small step to believe that I owe you a speech when you ask.
Just consider: the GNU Project starts developing an operating system, and years later Linus Torvalds adds one important piece. The GNU Project says, "Please give our project equal mention," but Linus says, "Don't give them a share of the credit; call the whole thing after my name alone!" Now envision the mindset of a person who can look at these events and accuse the GNU Project of egotism. Me? Egotistical? It takes strong prejudice to misjudge so drastically.
A person who is that prejudiced can say all sorts of unfair things about the GNU Project and think them justified; his fellows will support him, because they want each other's support in maintaining their prejudice. Dissenters can be reviled; thus, if I decline to participate in an activity under the rubric of "Linux", they may find that inexcusable, and holds me responsible for the ill will they feel afterwards. When so many people want me to call the system "Linux", how can I, who merely launched its development, not comply? And forcibly denying them a speech is forcibly making them unhappy. That's coercion, as bad as Microsoft!
Now, you might wonder why I don't just duck the issue and avoid all this grief. When SIGLINUX invited me to speak, I could simply have said "No, sorry" and the matter would have ended there. Why didn't I do that? I'm willing to take the risk of being abused personally in order to have a chance of correcting the error that undercuts the GNU Project's efforts.
Calling this variant of the GNU system "Linux" plays into the hands of people who choose their software based only on technical advantage, not caring whether it respects their freedom. There are people like Barr, that want their software "free from ideology" and criticize anyone that says freedom matters. There are people like Torvalds that will pressure our community into use of a non-free program, and challenge anyone who complains to provide a (technically) better program immediately or shut up. There are people who say that technical decisions should not be "politicized" by consideration of their social consequences.
In the 70s, computer users lost the freedoms to redistribute and change software because they didn't value their freedom. Computer users regained these freedoms in the 80s and 90s because a group of idealists, the GNU Project, believed that freedom is what makes a program better, and were willing to work for what we believed in.
We have partial freedom today, but our freedom is not secure. It is threatened by the CBDTPA (formerly SSSCA), by the Broadcast "Protection" Discussion Group (see http://www.eff.org/) which proposes to prohibit free software to access digital TV broadcasts, by software patents (Europe is now considering whether to have software patents), by Microsoft nondisclosure agreements for vital protocols, and by everyone who tempts us with a non-free program that is "better" (technically) than available free programs. We can lose our freedom again just as we lost it the first time, if we don't care enough to protect it.
Will enough of us care? That depends on many things; among them, how much influence the GNU Project has, and how much influence Linus Torvalds has. The GNU Project says, "Value your freedom!" Joe Barr says, "Choose between non-free and free programs on technical grounds alone!" If people credit Torvalds as the main developer of the GNU/Linux system, that's not just inaccurate, it also makes his message more influential--and that message says, "Non-free software is ok; I use it and develop it myself." If they recognize our role, they will listen to us more, and the message we will give them is, "This system exists because of people who care about freedom. Join us, value your freedom, and together we can preserve it." See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html for the history.
When I ask people to call the system GNU/Linux, some of them respond with silly excuses and straw men. But we probably haven't lost anything, because they were probably unfriendly to begin with. Meanwhile, other people recognize the reasons I give, and use that name. By doing so, they help make other people aware of why the GNU/Linux system really exists, and that increases our ability to spread the idea that freedom is an important value.
This is why I keep butting my head against bias, calumny, and grief. They hurt my feelings, but when successful, this effort helps the GNU Project campaign for freedom.
Since this came up in the context of Linux (the kernel) and Bitkeeper, the non-free version control system that Linus Torvalds now uses, I'd like to address that issue as well.
Bitkeeper issue
The use of Bitkeeper for the Linux sources has a grave effect on the free software community, because anyone who wants to closely track patches to Linux can only do it by installing that non-free program. There must be dozens or even hundreds of kernel hackers who have done this. Most of them are gradually convincing themselves that it is ok to use non-free software, in order to avoid a sense of cognitive dissonance about the presence of Bitkeeper on their machines. What can be done about this?
One solution is to set up another repository for the Linux sources, using CVS or another free version control system, and arranging to load new versions into it automatically. This could use Bitkeeper to access the latest revisions, then install the new revisions into CVS. That update process could run automatically and frequently.
The FSF cannot do this, because we cannot install Bitkeeper on our machines. We have no non-free systems or applications on them now, and our principles say we must keep it that way. Operating this repository would have to be done by someone else who is willing to have Bitkeeper on his machine, unless someone can find or make a way to do it using free software.
The Linux sources themselves have an even more serious problem with non-free software: they actually contain some. Quite a few device drivers contain series of numbers that represent firmware programs to be installed in the device. These programs are not free software. A few numbers to be deposited into device registers are one thing; a substantial program in binary is another.
The presence of these binary-only programs in "source" files of Linux creates a secondary problem: it calls into question whether Linux binaries can legally be redistributed at all. The GPL requires "complete corresponding source code," and a sequence of integers is not the source code. By the same token, adding such a binary to the Linux sources violates the GPL.
The Linux developers have a plan to move these firmware programs into separate files; it will take a few years to mature, but when completed it will solve the secondary problem; we could make a "free Linux" version that doesn't have the non-free firmware files. That by itself won't do much good if most people use the non-free "official" version of Linux. That may well occur, because on many platforms the free version won't run without the non-free firmware. The "free Linux" project will have to figure out what the firmware does and write source code for it, perhaps in assembler language for whatever embedded processor it runs on. It's a daunting job. It would be less daunting if we had done it little by little over the years, rather than letting it mount up. In recruiting people to do this job, we will have to overcome the idea, spread by some Linux developers, that the job is not necessary.
Linux, the kernel, is often thought of as the flagship of free software, yet its current version is partially non-free. How did this happen? This problem, like the decision to use Bitkeeper, reflects the attitude of the original developer of Linux, a person who thinks that "technically better" is more important than freedom.
Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. "Don't bother us with politics," respond those who don't want to learn.
Copyright 2002 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is not permitted without royalty in any medium.
The parent is a troll.
Please stop posting to /.
Anyone who tells you that a tool/language/methodology will make programming easy is a liar/fuckwit. Doing difficult things is hard. There comes a point where a system is so difficult that it makes very little difference whether you program it in VB or assembler. It's still going to be hard.
I though perl was a girl's language but look how hard it is to fix the page widening bug.