Google Uses YouTube To Try To Rally Public Support For WiFi 2.0 (16)
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The fate of an important chunk of wireless spectrum in the U.S. is being decided by the FCC, and Google wants to rally public support for turning this spectrum over to unlicensed uses, just like we do today with WiFi. The spectrum in question is the “white spaces” in the analog TV broadcast signal that will no longer be needed once all TV broadcasters shift to digital signals. The white spaces could form the basis ...
SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure. Can We Now Kill the Press Release? (52)
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Brian Solis (70)
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For several years, Sun CEO, Jonathan Schwartz has lobbied the SEC to allow disclosure of financial information through corporate blogs. In a landmark announcement, it seems that Mr. Schwartz may indeed get his wish, and with it, a historical decision that could break the age-old shackles that bound businesses to traditional media and distribution channels in order to satisfy full disclosure. In a speech yesterday, SEC special counsel Kim McManus outlined new guidance the SEC ...
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Devlin D said:
Wow this is great news for all parties involved! Just goes to show how the web and social media are definitely becoming a truly accepted method of communication.
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Jay said:
This would augment more independence in the declarations and also provide more personal insights into disclosures. Really to say what they want to say.
Retroactive Telco Immunity Opponents Buying TV Ad (3)
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I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Whether they're mad at the Republicans for creating the mess, the Democrats for caving in, or both, many are still pissed off over the grant of retroactive immunity for spying on American citizens for no reason. And now some of them are trying to do something about it — they're buying an advertisement on cable TV. While it's not entirely clear what good, if any, this will do ...
Microsoft Bets Big On Computing For the Car (4)
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dstates writes "The automobile industry may be hurting, but Microsoft is doubling down and making a massive new investment in its automotive business unit. Microsoft already works closely with a number of car companies and will enhance that effort with more people and more resources. Sync developed as a collaboration with Ford Motor Co. allows motorists to control their cell phones, music players and navigation systems with voice commands while they drive. Microsoft is also ...
FCC Commissioner Urges, Don't Regulate the Internet (5)
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Brett Glass writes "In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell makes a case against government regulation of the Internet, opining that 'engineers, not politicians or bureaucrats, should solve engineering problems.' With state governments pressuring ISPs to pull the plug on Usenet, and a proposal now in play for a censored public Internet, McDowell may have a very good point." McDowell is one of the two FCC commissioners who did not vote ...
Gazelle: Sell Stuff Without Doing the Craigslist/eBay Dance (24)
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CG’s Devin writes: I doubt you guys have quite the amount of gadget clutter as those of use who accrue them for a living, but if you’ve even got half our volume of old cameras, phones, and devices in general laying around you may find Gazelle’s service helpful. Not everyone has a used computer recycler like RePC in the Northwest. And while GameStop might buy your DS and there’s always Craigslist, it might be nice ...
WB Took Pains To "Delay" Pirating of Dark Knight (4)
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Jay writes "The LA Times is reporting on a new studio tactic — not to prevent piracy, but to delay it, as was the case with special tactics used with Dark Knight. 'Warner Bros. executives said the extra vigilance paid off, helping to prevent camcorded copies of the reported $180-million film from reaching Internet file-sharing sites for about 38 hours. Although that doesn't sound like much progress, it was enough time to keep bootleg DVDs ...
Apple Still Has Not Patched the DNS Hole (10)
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Steve Shockley notes an article up at TidBITS on Apple's unexplained failure to patch the DNS vulnerability that we have been discussing for a few weeks now. "Apple uses the popular Internet Systems Consortium BIND DNS server which was one of the first tools patched, but Apple has yet to include the fixed version in Mac OS X Server, despite being notified of vulnerability details early in the process and being informed of the coordinated ...
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WindPower said:
Jme suis acheté un Mac OS X Server, pis il est toujours pas secure
VMware ESXi Available For Free Starting Today (24)
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Mierdaan writes "VMware's bare-metal hypervisor is available for free starting today. ESXi, which can either be installed or run from an embedded device available in certain servers, has a 32MB footprint and gives small businesses an easy way to get into the virtualization world, with easy upgrade paths to enterprise-level features such as (H)igh (A)vailability and (D)istributed (R)esource (S)cheduler. ESXi runs on most any hardware with a server-class disk controller, and previously retailed for $495. ...
Software Patent Sanity on the Way? (8)
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Ars Technica is reporting that the traditionally silent US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may be starting to turn things around. It seems that in recent action the USPTO has started to make it much easier to invalidate software patents with some saying that the abolition of such patents may be in the distant future. "Duffy cites four recent cases that illustrate the Patent Office's growing hostility to the patenting of software and other abstract ...
Leaked Wolverine Origin Trailer Makes the Rounds (8)
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Uriah noted that the Comic Con wolverine origins trailer has been circulating in high quality camcorder form, very conveniently broken into a first and second part. Despite the terrible camera angle, the movie looks pretty good... at least, while we wait for the Avengers.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple After Jobs (4)
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recoiledsnake writes "The connection between Apple and Steve Jobs is unlike any other brand and CEO relationship in corporate America, maybe the world. While Bill Gates has successfully transitioned himself away from his day job at Microsoft, can Apple do without Jobs at all? Once word started circulating that Jobs may be ill, Apple stock took a considerable hit, dropping more than $10 a share. And when Mr. Jobs was absent from last week's quarterly ...
Olympic Media Village – Most Expensive Internet In the World? (21)
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timothy (571)
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An anonymous reader writes "Working for the Olympics as an IT contractor, I recently moved to the Media Village (where all of the reporters live) and was surprised the there was no free internet. BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games) is charging a ridiculous amount of money for ADSL service: for 512/512 it costs 7712.5 RMB (1131.20 USD); for 1M/512 it costs 9156.25 (1342.95 USD); for 2M/512 it costs a whopping 11,700 ...
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fishy said:
拿纳税人的钱孝敬洋大爷，然后赚洋大爷的钱填自己的腰包？
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enc said:
the most expensive internet on earth!
What Gore Didn't Say About Solar Cells (2)
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AmericanInKiev writes "Computer World posted a piece on Al Gore and his claim that solar cells will improve at the same rate as microprocessors. Vinod Khosla on the other hand has expressed disappointment that the doubling rate for price/performance of PV is 10 years rather than 18 months for transistors. Which of these two has the facts on their side?" Before anyone has him inventing the Internet again, note that Gore's claim as related in ...
Ivy League Computer Science Curricula Exposed (19)
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Doug Treadwell writes "Many people have wondered what the difference is between the Computer Science education given in the average public university versus one given in an Ivy League university (or a top level public university). There have also been discussions here on Slashdot about whether any Computer Science curriculum gives students the knowledge they need for the working world. As a computer science student both questions are very important to me, so I decided ...
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Jim said:
not on my reading list, but maybe yours...
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Eric said:
Interesting post on Slashdot...I don't see much difference in my degree and Stanford's program. Plus, I was taught be the great Skeith. I guarantee Stanford doesn't have anyone like him.
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Sandra said:
seems pretty stupid. so someone culled the textbook lists off a handful of pages... so? the same textbooks are being used all around the country; it's not the textbooks that matter, it's the people: your teachers and your fellow students.
Sneaking Past Heavy-Handed Audio Compression on YouTube (9)
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niceone writes "Recently YouTube seems to have started applying extreme compression to the audio of uploaded clips. This is the type of compressions used by radio stations to make everything louder, but in this case applied extremely badly. In quiet passages, breathing and shuffling become overpoweringly loud. A gently plucked guitar chord becomes a distorted thud. Listen to an example here. And here's what it could sound like — still not perfect, but a whole ...
Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation (26)
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Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll ...
Dr. Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon CS professor, Dead at 47 (75)
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John Biggs (309)
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Noted Computer Science professor Randy Pausch passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pausch was a founder of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University and worked on the Alice program, an animated educational system for high school and college students. It’s not difficult to find educators in CS who are as personable as Dr. Pausch was but it is definitely rare to find one filled with such kindness and ...
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Kesor said:
His last lecture is remarkable. I have seen it several months ago.
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Mark Whiting said:
A memorial fund is the opposite of the right way to morn such a man but anyway, it is a sad day for the world of CS, it looks like he died on my birthday.
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Mark said:
This guy seemed very cool. Looked death in the eye and seemingly said "FU". Probably something kids should watch...
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Aju said:
Rest in Peace
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NunTiuX said:
You have to watch this video... amazing guy!
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Brent said:
:(
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John said:
scares the shit out of me
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Nitya said:
A great educator. An even more inspiring speaker -- tuned in to the Last Lecture when it was delivered live and it really did make an impression that has lasted to this day!
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Ranvir said:
just watched the whole lecture start to finish. a rare individual: a truly inspirational geek.
No Gap Found In Math Abilities of Girls, Boys (17)
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sciencehabit writes "For anyone who still believes that boys are better at math than girls, a massive new study published today in Science shows there's no difference. 'Among students with the highest test scores, the team did find that white boys outnumbered white girls by about two to one. Among Asians, however, that result was nearly reversed. Hyde says that suggests that cultural and social factors, not gender alone, influence how well students perform on ...
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Scott Cederberg said:
Funny how much energy has been expended explaining *why* girls don't do as well in math, and it turns out not even to be true.
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Sean Blakey said:
This came up in my "history of math" class. In some cultures (such as Italy) women traditionally outpace men in math and comp. sci.
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Max said:
Strange...why didn't somebody do this study 10 or 20 years ago? BTW, I believe the assertion that the gender difference is due to cultural factors.
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Greg said:
More proof that it is just a matter of interest, not a matter of ability. I still think it is bullshit that EE has the lowest number of girls of any engineering major.
