======================================================================
Virtual Event: Make the Leap to Shared IT Infrastructure
With a shared infrastructure built on NetApp, IT can deliver unparalleled
efficiency & flexibility to your organization. Register for our virtual event
and learn about new technologies that can make your IT ready for the future.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/netapp-sdnews======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* WikiLeaks Releases Cache of 400,000 Iraq War Documents
* ABC, CBS, and NBC Block Google TV
* Hard-to-Read Fonts Improve Learning
* Mystery of the 'Chupacabra' May Be Solved
* ITU Rules That WiMax, LTE Don't Qualify As 4G
* Gosling Reacts To Apple's Java Deprecation
* Is Zynga Trying To Patent Virtual Currency?
* Sony Discontinues the Walkman
* 10 Oddly Useful Specialty Web Browsers
* Blizzard Unveils Custom <em>StarCraft 2</em> Game Types, Encourages Map Design
* The State of Linux IO Scheduling For the Desktop?
* Mazda Claims 70 mpg For New Engine, No Hybrid Needed
* Electronic Life Makes Evolving Art
* Asterisk 1.8 Released With Support For Google Voice
* Are Consumer Hard Drives Headed Into History?
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| WikiLeaks Releases Cache of 400,000 Iraq War Documents
| from the freedom-of-the-press dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday October 22, @22:20 (The Media)
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/0134202/WikiLeaks-Releases-Cache-of-400000-Iraq-War-Documents?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caelesto writes "Today around 21:00 GMT, WikiLeaks declared an end to
their media embargo of over [0]400,000 Iraq War documents after [1]Al
Jazeera released their story 30 minutes ahead of schedule. These
documents, which have been kept under wraps by WikiLeaks for months, may
reveal tortures and murders ignored by coalition forces during the
fighting and occupation in Iraq. The Pentagon maintained that releasing
these documents represented a danger to US troops, but already dozens of
news outlets are scrambling to report on what could be a devastating blow
to the US Armed Forces' already tattered image." Reader Entropy98 points
to [2]the BBC's coverage, as well. If you care to download the collection
of files, it's [3]available as a torrent.
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/0134202&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks
1. http://english.aljazeera.net/secretiraqfiles/
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11611319
3. http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5904428/iraq-war-diary-redacted.csv
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ABC, CBS, and NBC Block Google TV
| from the speaking-of-locked-down dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @01:25 (Google)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/22/2332234/ABC-CBS-and-NBC-Block-Google-TV?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
markjhood2003 writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that 'ABC, CBS and
NBC are [0]blocking TV programming on their websites from being viewable
on Google Inc.'s new Web-TV service. ... Spokespeople for the three
networks confirmed that they are blocking the episodes on their websites
from playing on Google TV, although both ABC and NBC allow promotional
clips to work using the service.' Google has responded, 'Google TV
enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone
and PC, but it is ultimately the content owners' choice to restrict their
fans from accessing their content on the platform.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/22/2332234&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303339504575566572021412854.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Hard-to-Read Fonts Improve Learning
| from the slashdot-design-philosophy-revealed dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @04:20 (Education)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/0240240/Hard-to-Read-Fonts-Improve-Learning?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
arkenian writes "[0]Difficult-to-read fonts make for better learning,
according to scientists. The finding is about to be published in the
international journal Cognition. Researchers at Princeton University
employed volunteers to learn made-up information about different types of
aliens ��� and found that those reading harder fonts recalled more when
tested 15 minutes later. The article goes on to note a second test in a
real school environment: 'Keen to see if their findings actually worked
in practice, the Princeton University team then tested their results on
222 students aged between 15 and 18 at a secondary school in
Chesterfield, Ohio.'... 'Students given the harder-to-read materials
scored higher in their classroom assessments than those in the control
group. This was the case across a range of subjects ��� from English, to
Physics to History.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/0240240&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11573666
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mystery of the 'Chupacabra' May Be Solved
| from the letting-it-live-on-in-my-heart dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @07:01 (Australia)
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/0433259/Mystery-of-the-Chupacabra-May-Be-Solved?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rhettb writes "The mystery of the legendary [0]chupacabra, a beast said
to drain the blood of domestic animals at night, has been solved,
according to a University of Michigan scientist. Biologist Barry O'Connor
says that most chupacabra sightings are [1]are probably linked to coyotes
with mange, a disease caused by the same species of mite that triggers
scabies in humans. Severe cases of mange cause hair loss and thickening
of skin in wild dogs and can lead to bacterial skin infections that
produce a foul odor characteristic of the 'chupacabra.' Wombats and
squirrels are also susceptible to mange, suggesting that chupacabra are
found in trees and Down Under."
Discuss this story at:
http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/0433259&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
1. http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1022-chupacabra.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ITU Rules That WiMax, LTE Don't Qualify As 4G
| from the ok-roll-camera-but-say-3g-plus dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @08:27 (Wireless Networking)
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/045201/ITU-Rules-That-WiMax-LTE-Dont-Qualify-As-4G?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GMGruman writes "It's official: All those ads and vendor claims about 4G
services being offered today or being right around the corner are
fiction. The international standards body ITU has ruled that Clearwire's
WiMax network and the LTE systems that Verizon and others are just
starting to roll out [0]are not in fact 4G services. Oops."
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/045201&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/4g-defined-wimax-and-lte-dont-qualify-683
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Gosling Reacts To Apple's Java Deprecation
| from the could-this-be-turned-into-a-movie dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @09:40 (Java)
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1324208/Gosling-Reacts-To-Apples-Java-Deprecation?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kurofuneparry writes "[0]Apple has announced that [1]Java is deprecated
as of the most recent update to OS X. This shot across the bow is
[2]getting some responses. To Jobs' claim that 'Sun (now Oracle) supplies
Java for all other platforms,' James Gosling is quoted as saying that
'simply isn't true.' Much talk of a coming turf war is to be had. This
certainly can't be unrelated to [3] statements from Jobs recently covered
on this website and is sure to make waves. Apple has enjoyed significant
success recently accompanied by a widespread sense that they can do no
wrong in business or design. However, is deprecating Java a mistake? It
doesn't take much insight to connect the dots and see that Apple has
starting marking friends and enemies relative to the increasingly heated
fight for mobile and other platforms."
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1324208&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#releasenotes/Java/JavaSnowLeopardUpdate3LeopardUpdate8RN/NewandNoteworthy/NewandNoteworthy.html
1. http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/10/21/125222/Apple-Deprecates-Their-JVM
2. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/22/jobs_on_java_for_mac/
3. http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/10/19/187242/Steve-Jobs-Lashes-Out-At-Android
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Is Zynga Trying To Patent Virtual Currency?
| from the start-with-virtual-cowry-shells dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @10:41 (Patents)
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/141203/Is-Zynga-Trying-To-Patent-Virtual-Currency?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sarysa writes "Techcrunch spotted a recent patent application by Zynga,
attempting to [0]patent virtual currency purchased with real money for
use in a gambling context. It is unlikely that the application will pass
due to a [1]plethora [2]of [3]prior [4]art where free MMOs that have
gambling minigames would qualify, but Techcrunch also spotted that the
application mentions Farmville as an example of embodiment. This
indicates that Zynga may be attempting to patent non-refundable virtual
currency as a whole. Should be interestering to see how this develops."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/141203&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/22/zynga-virtual-currency/
1. http://www.ragnarokonline.com/index.html
2. http://www.outspark.com/
3. http://www.gpotato.com/
4. http://www.freemmorpglist.com/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sony Discontinues the Walkman
| from the many-fond-memories dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @11:47 (Sony)
| https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1415226/Sony-Discontinues-the-Walkman?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Ponca City writes "Crunchgear reports that after selling 200,020,000
units worldwide since its inception over thirty years ago, Sony has
announced that it is [1]pulling the plug on the manufacture and sales of
the Walkman, the world's first portable (mass-produced) stereo. Magnetic
cassette technology had been around since 1963, when Philips first
created it for use by secretaries and journalists, but on July 1, 1979,
Sony Corp. introduced the [2]Sony Walkman TPS-L2, a 14 ounce,
blue-and-silver, portable cassette player with chunky buttons,
headphones, a leather case, and a second earphone jack so that two people
could listen in at once. The Walkman was originally introduced in the US
as the 'Sound-About' and in the UK as the 'Stowaway,' but coming up with
new, uncopyrighted names in every country it was marketed in proved
costly so Sony eventually decided on 'Walkman' as a play on the Sony
Pressman, a mono cassette recorder the first Walkman prototype was based
on. The popularity of Sony's device ��� and those by brands like Aiwa,
Panasonic and Toshiba who followed in Sony's lead ��� [3]helped the
cassette tape outsell vinyl records for the first time in 1983 as Sony
continued to roll out variations on its theme with over 300 different
Walkman models, adding such innovations as AM/FM receivers, bass boost,
and auto-reverse on later models and even producing a solar-powered
Walkman, water-resistant Sport Walkman, and Walkmen with two cassette
drives." For now, at least, the Walkman brand lives on for some of Sony's
media players and phones.
Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1415226&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/10/22/an-era-ends-sony-stops-manufacturing-cassette-walkmans/
2. http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/tps-l2
3. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1907884,00.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 10 Oddly Useful Specialty Web Browsers
| from the pornovation dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @12:43 (Software)
| https://search.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1530251/10-Oddly-Useful-Specialty-Web-Browsers?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner looks beyond Firefox, Chrome,
Opera, Safari, and IE to uncover [1]10 alternative browsers that offer
specialized advantages for 3-D searching, social networking, easy
scriptability, powerful page manipulation, and the like. Each provides a
targeted browsing environment, enabling users to browse Web tables into
spreadsheets, browse leaner, browser in text, browse socially, browse
musically, or browse smarter on the Mac. 'A purist might object that
these hybrids are not much different from a standard browser with extra
plug-ins. There's some truth to this, but not always ��� some of the unique
capabilities can only be done deep inside the software. In any case, the
job of parsing the terms and creating an exact definition of the Web
browser isn't as much fun as embracing the idea that there are dozens of
alternatives.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://search.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1530251&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://infoworld.com/d/applications/top-10-specialty-web-browsers-you-may-have-missed-026
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Blizzard Unveils Custom <em>StarCraft 2</em> Game Types, Encourages Map Design
| from the my-pancakes-for-aiur dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 23, @13:30 (Real Time Strategy (Games))
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/178210/Blizzard-Unveils-Custom-StarCraft-2-Game-Types-Encourages-Map-Design?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StarCraft 2 launched in July, and since most of the developers' efforts
since then have gone into tweaking balance issues, fixing bugs and
further developing Battle.net integration, the second part of the trilogy
is still quite a ways off. So, in lieu of announcements about Heart of
the Swarm, the devs are using Blizzcon to showcase the map-editing tools
and encourage the community to get more involved with custom maps and
game types. Using the map editor, they created internally four custom
games for StarCraft 2, which they���ll soon be releasing over Battle.net
for free alongside three fan creations that won a recent contest. Read on
for more details.
This story continues at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/178210/Blizzard-Unveils-Custom-StarCraft-2-Game-Types-Encourages-Map-Design?from=newsletter
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/178210&from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The State of Linux IO Scheduling For the Desktop?
| from the in-and-out-and-in-and-out dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @14:38 (Linux)
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1828251/The-State-of-Linux-IO-Scheduling-For-the-Desktop?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
pinkeen writes "I've used Linux as my work & play OS for 5+ years. The
one thing that constantly drives me mad is its IO scheduling. When I'm
copying a large amount of data in the background, everything else slows
down to a crawl while the CPU utilization stays at 1-2%. The process
which does the actual copying is highly prioritized in terms of I/O. This
is completely unacceptable for a desktop OS. I've heard about the efforts
of Con Kolivas and his [0]Brainfuck Scheduler, but it's unsupported now
and probably incompatible with latest kernels. Is there any way to fix
this? How do you deal with this? I have a feeling that if this issue was
to be fixed, the whole desktop would become way more snappier, even if
you're not doing any heavy IO in the background." Update: 10/23 22:06 GMT
by [1]T : As reader ehntoo points out in the discussion below, contrary
to the submitter's impression, "Con Kolivas is still [2]actively working
on BFS, it's not unsupported. He's even got a patch for 2.6.36, which was
only released on the 20th. [3]He's also got a patchset out that I use on
all my desktops which includes a bunch of tweaks for desktop use." Thanks
to ehntoo, and hat tip to Bill Huey.
Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1828251&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Fuck_Scheduler
1. http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/
2. http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/bfs/
3. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/ck/patches/2.6/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mazda Claims 70 mpg For New Engine, No Hybrid Needed
| from the zooming-along dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @15:47 (Earth)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1943216/Mazda-Claims-70-mpg-For-New-Engine-No-Hybrid-Needed?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thecarchik writes "There's no word on when the new version of the Mazda2
will finally reach the US but when it does we can reveal that it will
return a [0]fuel economy of 70 mpg ��� without the aid of any electric
motors. This is because the car will feature Mazda's next-generation of
drivetrain, body and chassis technologies, dubbed SKYACTIV. The new
[1]Mazda 2 will come powered by a SKYACTIV-G engine, Mazda's
next-generation direct injection gasoline mill that achieves
significantly improved fuel efficiency thanks to a high compression ratio
of 14.0:1 (the world's highest for a production gasoline engine)." I
wonder if a real-life-real-drivers 70 mpg car is what will actually
arrive, or if such promises will dissolve [2]like Chevy's promises about
the Volt did.
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1943216&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1050675_next-gen-mazda2-will-return-70-mpg-without-an-electric
1. http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1043946_2010-new-york-auto-show-2011-mazda-mazda2-priced-at-13980
2. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/10/11/2121216/GM-Criticized-Over-Chevy-Volts-Hybrid-Similarities
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Electronic Life Makes Evolving Art
| from the would-make-a-good-new-order-video dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @16:50 (Software)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/1957223/Electronic-Life-Makes-Evolving-Art?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
brilanon writes "Good news! On Sept 4, [0]critterdrug, the a-life lab for
the twenty-teens, was updated to make generating a species almost
trivial. A new video shows semi-random artificial animals gaining neurons
and synapses as they compete to draw a gradient on an [1]animated shared
canvas which constitutes 1024 frames spread through time. The canvas is a
10-megabyte digital background for the lossy neural nets that populate
the world. What you get are cellular automata run by psychic neural nets
that are bound by the rules of a survival contest with physics. Features
implementations of telepathy, Rupert Sheldrake's morphic fields and five
types of drugs. The key assignments have changed since [2]critterding;
check the changelog on the web page for the new ones. Happy hacking!"
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/1957223&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://arbornet.org/~flamoot/telepathic-critterdrug.html
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibGF8Cly2Gc
2. http://critterding.sourceforge.net/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Asterisk 1.8 Released With Support For Google Voice
| from the undersung-hero dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @17:59 (Communications)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/2158243/Asterisk-18-Released-With-Support-For-Google-Voice?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thinkcloud writes with a note that long-standing open-source VoiP
software Asterisk has just been updated, and it's packed with [0]more
than 200 enhancements, security updates, and new features ��� including
calendar integration and support for Google Voice and Google Talk.
Asterisk's fully-featured PBX includes call waiting, hold and transfer,
caller ID, and other useful tools so it's a great option for small
businesses that need to watch costs."
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/2158243&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://ostatic.com/blog/asterisk-1-8-released-with-support-for-google-voice-calendaring-and-more
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Are Consumer Hard Drives Headed Into History?
| from the yes-but-at-what-pace dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday October 23, @19:07 (Data Storage)
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/10/23/2250208/Are-Consumer-Hard-Drives-Headed-Into-History?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucas123 writes "With NAND flash fabricators ramping up production, per
GB prices of solid state drives are expected to drop by more than half by
this time next year to about 50 cents. Even so, consumers still look at
three things when purchasing a computer: CPU power, memory size, and
drive capacity, giving spinning disk the edge. SSD manufacturers like
Samsung and SanDisk have tried but failed to change consumer attitudes
toward choosing SSDs for their performance, durability and lower power
use. But, with the release of the new MacBook Air (sans hard disk drive),
[0]Steve Jobs has joined the marketing push and may have the clout to
shift the market away from hard drives, even if they're still an order of
magnitude cheaper."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/10/23/2250208&from=newsletter
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9192359/MacBook_Air_could_foretell_death_of_hard_drives?taxonomyId=19&pageNumber=1
Copyright 1997-2010, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
======================================================================
You have received this message because you subscribed to it
on Slashdot. To stop receiving this and other
messages from Slashdot, or to add more messages
or change your preferences, please go to your user page.
http://slashdot.org/my/messages
You can log in and change your preferences from there.