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Comments: 17 +-   Firefox Mobile Threatens Mobile App Stores, Says Mozilla on Thursday December 17, @06:20PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @06:20PM
from the race-to-the-bottom-price dept.
mozilla
Barence writes "Mozilla claims that its new Firefox Mobile browser could be the beginning of the end for the hugely popular app stores created by Apple and its ilk. Mozilla claims Firefox Mobile will have the fastest Javascript engine of any mobile browser, and that will allow developers to write apps once for the web, instead of multiple versions for the different mobile platforms. 'As developers get more frustrated with quality assurance, the amount of handsets they have to buy, whether their security updates will get past the iPhone approval process ... I think they'll move to the web,' Mozilla's mobile VP, Jay Sullivan, told PC Pro. 'In the interim period, apps will be very successful. Over time, the web will win because it always does.'"
Read More... 17 comments story

Comments: 54 +-   26 Gigapixel Photo Sets New World Record on Thursday December 17, @05:28PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @05:28PM
from the stock-up-on-flash-memory dept.
inputdev
FrenchSilk writes "The largest gigapixel photograph ever created with a DSLR camera was made by A.F.B. Media GmbH in Dresden, Germany. 1655 images, each 21.6 megapixels in size, were taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 400 mm lens over a period of 176 minutes. The images were stitched on a 16 processor system with 48GB of main memory, taking 94 hours to create the final result. The interactive view can be found here."
Read More... 54 comments story

Comments: 48 +-   EPIC Files FTC Complaint Over Facebook's New Privacy Policy on Thursday December 17, @04:40PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @04:40PM
from the epic-complaint-totally dept.
privacy
An anonymous reader writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to investigate the recent changes made by Facebook to the privacy settings of Facebook users. The complaint discusses the sharing of user information with third-party developers and the new, widely-opposed 'Everyone' setting, which allows certain user information, such as name, profile picture, and friends lists, to be publicly available. EPIC also urges the FTC to compel Facebook to restore privacy safeguards. The complaint was signed by nine privacy and consumer organizations."
Read More... 48 comments story

Comments: 300 +-   Not Enough Women In Computing, Or Too Many Men? on Thursday December 17, @03:59PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @03:59PM
from the rational-choices dept.
technology
itwbennett writes "Do geeks really 'drive girls out of computer science,' as the headline of a LiveScience article contends? Blogger Cameron Laird doesn't think so. In fact, 'I don't think "gender issues in computing" is important enough to merit the attention it gets,' says Laird in a recent post. And maybe the problem isn't that there are too few women in computing, but that there are too many men. 'I'm waiting to read the headline: "Women too smart for careers with computers,"' says Laird, 'where another researcher concludes that only "boys" are stupid enough to go into a field that's globally-fungible, where entry-level salaries are declining, and it's common to think that staying up all night for a company-paid pizza is a good deal.'"
Read More... 300 comments story

Comments: 85 +-   Shuttleworth To Step Down As Canonical CEO In 2010 on Thursday December 17, @03:16PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @03:16PM
from the orderly-transition dept.
debian
LinuxScribe writes "In a blog announcement today, Canonical Founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth revealed he will be stepping down from his CEO role to be replaced by current COO Jane Silber. Both execs do not see major strategic changes on the horizon. Silber's official blog and Linux.com each have more details on how the change will be implemented."
Read More... 85 comments story

Comments: 235 +-   DRM Flub Prevented 3D Showings of Avatar In Germany on Thursday December 17, @02:31PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @02:31PM
from the token-of-our-appreciation dept.
movies
Fraggy_the_undead writes "According to German IT news site heise.de, yesterday several 3D showings of Avatar couldn't take place (German; Google translation to English), because the movies were DRM protected such that there had to be a key per copy of the film, per film projector, and per movie server in the theater. The key supplier, by the name Deluxe, was apparently unable to provide a sufficient number of valid keys in time. Moviegoers were offered to get a refund or view an analogue 2D showing instead."
Read More... 235 comments story

Comments: 225 +- Screenshot-sm   PhD Candidate Talks About the Physics of Space Battles on Thursday December 17, @02:18PM

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 17, @02:18PM
from the load-photon-torpedoes dept.
scifi
darthvader100 writes "Gizmodo has run an article with some predictions on what future space battles will be like. The author brings up several theories on propulsion (and orbits), weapons (explosives, kinetic and laser), and design. Sounds like the ideal shape for spaceships will be spherical, like the one in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie."
Read More... 225 comments story

Comments: 180 +-   Microsoft Promises Not To Sue Moonlight 2.0 Users on Thursday December 17, @01:48PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @01:48PM
from the even-the-stars-above dept.
graphics
darthcamaro writes "Moonlight 2.0, Novell's open source implementation of the Microsoft media framework, is now available and comes with a new patent promise from Microsoft. Any Linux user can use it now without worrying about being sued: '"A really important change in how the community and individuals will see and use Moonlight is a change and extension to the patent covenant that Microsoft provides to Novell and its end users," Brian Goldfarb, director of Web and user experience platforms at Microsoft, told InternetNews.com. "We're now increasing the reach of the agreement — Microsoft's commitment not to sue Novell or Novell's customers now extends to redistributors."'"
Read More... 180 comments story

Comments: 310 +-   BBC Lowers HDTV Bitrate; Users Notice on Thursday December 17, @01:09PM

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 17, @01:09PM
from the totally-amazing dept.
media
aws910 writes "According to an article on the BBC website, BBC HD lowered the bitrate of their broadcasts by almost 50% and are surprised that users noticed. From the article: 'The replacement encoders work at a bitrate of 9.7Mbps (megabits per second), while their predecessors worked at 16Mbps, the standard for other broadcasters.' The BBC claims 'We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders ...' I got a good laugh off of this, but is it really possible to get better quality from a lower bitrate?"
Read More... 310 comments story

Comments: 270 +-   $300 Sci-Fi YouTube Video Lands $30m Movie Deal on Thursday December 17, @12:21PM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday December 17, @12:21PM
from the that's-a-lotta-cash dept.
movies
krou writes "A producer from Uruguay who made a short science fiction film and uploaded it to YouTube has landed a film deal with Sam Raimi's Ghost House worth $300 million. The film, which shows spaceships and giant robots attacking Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, was made by Fede Alvarez for around $30. 'I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios,' he said. Alvarez is to develop and direct a film based on one of his ideas, but there is no word yet on the writer."
Read More... 270 comments story
 
Poll I'd prefer to allocate my work hours ...
Over 3 days each week
Over 4 days each week
Over 5 days each week
Over 6 days each week
A more complex arrangement, detailed below
Why leave the office?
Any job'll do!
[ Results | Polls ]
Comments:263 | Votes:19677

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