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Dell's Alienware releases Ubuntu gaming desktop | 355 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
s/Offtopic/Off Topic/ -- Garn. [n/t]
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 03 2013 @ 03:00 PM EDT
NorThumberland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northumberland

P.S. "It's 'Aoww' and 'garn' that keep her in her place ..."

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Unless you are breaking stuff,
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 03 2013 @ 03:23 PM EDT
you are not moving fast enough. Zuckerberg via f-secure

Note the update at bottom of page: it was a bug.
Wonder also, why do people trust G more than Fb?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Linux Switching Status
Authored by: OpenSourceFTW on Wednesday, April 03 2013 @ 05:59 PM EDT
If you read my post a few articles ago, you would have seen that I had declared
this week as Linux Switching week.

As promised, I have switched to Linux almost entirely.

I installed Fedora, then decided that I wasn't comfortable with it (I'm more
comfortable with apt-get and ubuntu/debian based systems).

Thus, I went with what I used to run: Linux Mint, KDE, 64-bit.

Loving it so far. Nice and clean, slick, and best of all, works. No stupid
antivirus software, no annoying installation procedures, just a wonderful
package manager.

I did keep Windows 7 around for games, but it is now my "play"
partition. Linux is my "work" partition. For the very first time that
I can remember, I didn't install an office suite on Windows (don't need it), or
even antivirus software. Just firefox and whatever games I want. Left UAC on to
be safe.

World of Tanks was a failure using Playonlinux, but I'm not too disappointed
(didn't hold out much hope when I saw how hackish it was to get it even
running).

Minecraft OTOH was a pleasant surprise, aside from a strange bug with controls
getting stuck, which appears to have been fixed by updating the LWGJL libraries.
Performance seems about on par with what I used to get in Windows.

I am currently installing a VM to host XP, so I can use MSVC++ Express (Netbeans
is not going to work for this, my C++ class requires me to use this program's
project format).

I'm still getting used to things, but, after a few days of regular use, I am
ready to pronounce this transition a BIG success. TAKE THAT M$FT! I don't need
your outdated, bug-ridden OS's and your attitude of "here let me whack you
over the head with our 300 obvious patents."

I am as free as I chose to be now.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Google Good-Byes WebKit - Hellos Blink
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 03 2013 @ 11:30 PM EDT
Chromium uses a different multi-process architecture than other WebKit-based browsers, and supporting multiple architectures over the years has led to increasing complexity for both the WebKit and Chromium projects. This has slowed down the collective pace of innovation - so today, we are introducing Blink, a new open source rendering engine based on WebKit.

This was not an easy decision. We know that the introduction of a new rendering engine can have significant implications for the web. Nevertheless, we believe that having multiple rendering engines—similar to having multiple browsers—will spur innovation and over time improve the health of the entire open web ecosystem.

In the short term, Blink will bring little change for web developers. The bulk of the initial work will focus on internal architectural improvements and a simplification of the codebase.
Adam Barth, The Chromium Blog

---

CNet coverage

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Mozilla and Samsung Collaborate on Next Generation Web Browser Engine
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 03:06 AM EDT
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/04/03/mozilla-and-
samsung-collaborate-on-next-generation-web-browser-engine/

Mozilla’s mission is about advancing the Web as a platform
for all. At Mozilla Research, we’re supporting this mission
by experimenting with what’s next when it comes to the core
technology powering the Web browser. We need to be prepared
to take advantage of tomorrow’s faster, multi-core,
heterogeneous computing architectures. That’s why we’ve
recently begun collaborating with Samsung on an advanced
technology Web browser engine called Servo.

Servo is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser from the
ground up on modern hardware, rethinking old assumptions
along the way. This means addressing the causes of security
vulnerabilities while designing a platform that can fully
utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel
hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web. To
those ends, Servo is written in Rust, a new, safe systems
language developed by Mozilla along with a growing community
of enthusiasts.

We are now pleased to announce with Samsung that together we
are bringing both the Rust programming language and Servo,
the experimental web browser engine, to Android and ARM.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Iain Banks has terminal cancer
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 03:21 AM EDT
News that broke yesterday, the Scottish author Iain Banks has announced that he has end-stage gall bladder cancer, is not realistically expected to live longer than 12 months. This is very sad; Iain Banks has written a long series of fiction and science fiction (under the name Iain M. Banks) novels, all of which are highly recommended. Iain has now married his long-term partner and is currently on honey money. You can show your support to Iain in these trying times by leaving a message on his guest book.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Windows Blue is a completion release
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 05:40 AM EDT
Windows Blue is a completion release,

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Supercomputer-class laptop is based on nanotechnology
Authored by: JamesK on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 11:26 AM EDT
Ottawa-based Eurocom Corp. has developed a supercomputer-class laptop – the Panther 7N – that the vendor said utilizes nanotechnology.

Just the thing for sending a fast email. ;-)

---
The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists exposes 260 GB offshore financial secrets
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 12:05 PM EDT
In what is believed to be one of the largest ever leaks of financial data, the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has received nearly 30 years of data entries, emails and other confidential details from 10 offshore havens around the world.

CBC News has partnered with the ICIJ over the last seven months to gain exclusive Canadian access to the information. Thirty-seven media outlets in 35 other countries are also involved.

[...]

The files contain information on over 120,000 offshore entities — including shell corporations and legal structures known as trusts — involving people in over 170 countries. The leak amounts to 260 gigabytes of data, or 162 times larger than the U.S. State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010.

"What we found as we started digging in the records is a pretty extensive collection of dodgy characters: Wall Street fraudsters, Ponzi schemers, figures connected to organized crime, to arms dealing, money launderers," said Michael Hudson, a senior editor at the ICIJ, who worked with a team for months to sort through the information.

"We just found a lot of folks involved in questionable or outright illegal activities."

Zach Dubinsky, Harvey Cashore, Frédéric Zalac and Alex Shprintsen, CBC

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Quebec court says no to (parts of) Ebay's online contract
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 01:21 PM EDT
Consumers agree to these contracts dozens of times each day (sometimes proactively by clicking that they agree and most other times by impliedly agreeing to the terms by using the website), but the enforceability of all the terms within the agreement remains an open question.

The law has removed most uncertainty about whether an electronic contract can be enforceable -- it can -- but ensuring that the form of the contract is valid does not mean that all of its provisions will be enforced by a court. Last month, a Quebec court provided an important reminder that some provisions may not be enforced, as it rejected eBay's standard terms which require all disputes to be adjudicated in California.

Michael Geist, The Tyee

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Old Stock
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 03:11 PM EDT
I saw a couple of print ads locally for LG Optimus L3, free SIM,
White or Pink, 800Mhz processor, 3MP camera, $99, but no
mention of what OS it ran. Research shows it's not my suspect
WinPho X, but Android 2.3. H/w released to market Feb. 2012.
Comments on web sites show customers not interested in the OS,
just what color it comes in, or does it have wifi...

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

CFAA Law and the laws of unintended consequences
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 03:20 PM EDT
www.ibtimes.com

Let your kid visit some online news sites and they could go to jail. Not for reading porn or anything like that but for violating the TOS for those sites. Many sites restrict their users to over 18's. So if a 16yr old visits the site then they could end up in jail, their life in ruins.

These are NEWS sites. So why put a TOS that bans under 18's from visiting?

Probably some $500/hour lawyer said that the news is far too sensitive for anyone under 18. Won't someone think of the Children.

IMHO, this is a clear case of several parties getting hit with the laws of unintended consequences.

You have been warned!

Don't believe me? Then consider this...

A sibling of someone who is serving in Afghanistan and gets killed could be sent tto jail for searching out news of how their brother/sister died. That can't be right now can it? But will anyone on Capitol Hill listen? Somehow I doubt it.

Complex_number not logged in.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The digital arms trade
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 05:27 PM EDT
[G]overnments that buy exploits are “building the black market”, thereby bankrolling dangerous R&D.
The Economist

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Lenovo eyes Apple's top spot
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 05:32 PM EDT
Many of Lenovo’s customers still have no idea that the company is Chinese – something its design staff admit can be a blessing when selling to the West. Many Chinese technology companies, such as Huawei and ZTE, are dogged by accusations that their kit could be hijacked for spying. However, Lenovo has escaped relatively unscathed, despite the fact that it counts the Chinese government as its biggest shareholder.
Telegraph

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Slide to Unlock invalidated in Germany
Authored by: ws on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 11:47 PM EDT
"All is not lost" says F.M.

Natch.

Link on CNET

WS

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Collateral damage of bankruptcy
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 04 2013 @ 11:54 PM EDT
I knew little of the vagaries of bankruptcy court, until following the (ongoing) death throes of SCO here. However, at least the damage was (mostly) limited to SCO eliminating itself, and taking any unpaid debts with it.

How much worse could things have been?

If I read these two articles about a failing book publisher, considerably: Phil Foglio is one author caught in this, as fans of the Girl Genius series will know, and Michael Stackpole is another.

If I read this correctly, authors with the original publisher are having their contracts transferred to another, but those contracts are being unilaterally rewritten. Not only are rates slashes, but will be based on net, rather than gross, earnings. Hollywood accountants beckon. But worse, rights that were not sold in the original contract are also being grabbed for free.

Phil in particular seems to think that he risks not only losing income from his back catalog, but also rights to the characters he earns his living from, and hence his future income too. All by the stroke of a magic pen in the bankruptcy court, and whether he agrees to giving up those rights or not. IIRC, there was a similar threat in the SCO case, assigning more of Novell's rights to one of the Unxis bids, but I don't remember anything coming of it in the end. Hoping wiser heads prevail in this case too.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Linux Powered Rifles
Authored by: wolfear on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 02:01 AM EDT
From Ars: Bullseye from 1,000 yards: Shooting the $17,000 Linux-powered rifle
If M$ jumps on this the BSOD will have a whole new meaning, but the Apple version will need to be beveled and rounded first.
I hope this is not too off topic.

---
Good judgement comes from experience, most of which comes from bad judgement.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Slide to lock declared invalid in Germany
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 06:57 AM EDT
If I understand correctly this German article, Apple's patent EP19640 22 has been declared invalid by the patent court in Germany on a federal level. Appeal is still possible. Only the court in Munchen did order a sale ban on the basis of this patent.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

An unarmed perspective on the Gun Debate
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 07:23 AM EDT
To Bear Arms, by Yours Truly

The US Constitution does affirm and ahref=http://constitutionus.com/>declare:

Article [II]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Share and Enjoy!

Wesley Parish

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

ITC will review ALJ Judge Thomas Pender's findings
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 07:57 AM EDT
Link
A patent for displaying translucent text? Really?
Patent lawyers must be very very happy indeed.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Ebook on the OCC/Fed Foreclosure Review Fiasco [free]
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 05 2013 @ 10:06 AM EDT
As a result of many reader requests, we’ve turned our series based on testimony from whistleblowers at Bank of America and PNC on the whitewash more formally known as the Independent Foreclosure Reviews into an ebook, which we are releasing today.

This was the very same OCC mandated process, billed as a way to provide wronged mortgage borrowers with the opportunity to get a measure of justice, that instead turned into a costly and embarrassing fiasco. But it still worked out well for the banks. The amount they paid, even with a mind-boggling $2 billion of fees to consultants and another $3.6 billion in cash payments to borrowers, is far less than they would have shelled out if the process had been designed to conduct the investigations fairly and give meaningful awards.

We hope you will download this ebook, read it, and circulate it widely. It’s timely because the botched foreclosure reviews are coming back into focus. The GAO released its report on them yesterday, and even though it was narrow in focus, it confirmed, as Dave Dayen reported, that the IFR was poorly designed, inconsistently implemented, and subjected to changing guidelines.

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

ISS
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 06 2013 @ 12:03 AM EDT
I have big thanks to hardmath. After he posted the ISS finder information from
the NASA web site I found I had some good opportunities for spotting it. Last
night I had a nice, clear, low track over half the sky. Tonight, about an hour
before, 10/10ths cloud :( Still, I took my binoculars upstairs and enough sky
had cleared for me to track it as it went almost overhead and I could make out
that it had shape though not the shape. Thanks.

Tufty

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Dell's Alienware releases Ubuntu gaming desktop
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 06 2013 @ 01:49 AM EDT
http://alienware.com/ubuntu/

proprietary drivers without source etc
but its a start

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

iPhone design prophet dies at 86
Authored by: IMANAL_TOO on Saturday, April 06 2013 @ 02:03 AM EDT
The iPhone design prophet died at 86 already in January this year.

www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la -me-andre- cassagnes
< br> I haven't seen his death mentioned here but thought it would be safer to have those rounded corners buried once and for all. This man was ahead of many.



---
______
IMANAL


.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Dell Launches Ubuntu Gaming Desktop
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 06 2013 @ 03:51 PM EDT
"Dell has launched Alienware X51 Ubuntu gaming desktop. Alienware customers can now choose either Windows or Ubuntu when buying a new X51". link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

French Intelligence Isn't - DCRI Engages Orwell, Doubles Down with Streisand Effect
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 06 2013 @ 04:44 PM EDT
On 4 March 2013, the Wikimedia Foundation (the “Foundation”) was contacted by the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (“DCRI”), a French intelligence agency. The DCRI claimed that an article entitled “La station hertzienne militaire de Pierre sur Haute” on the French language Wikipedia contains classified military information and that publication of such information violates French Penal Code, Article 413-10. The DCRI demanded removal of the article in its entirety without any further substantive explanation.

[...]

Almost all of the information in the article is cited to publicly-available sources. In fact, the article’s contents are largely consistent with a publicly available video in which Major Jeansac, the chief of the military station in question, gives a detailed interview and tour of the station to a reporter. This video is now cited in the article. Furthermore, the page was originally created on July 24, 2009 and has been continually available and edited since.

[...]

The DCRI refused to provide any more specific detail and reaffirmed their demand that the entire article be deleted. Therefore, the Foundation was forced to refuse their request pending receipt of more information that we could use to fully evaluate their claim.

On 30 March 2013, we discovered that the DCRI, evidently dissatisfied with the Foundation’s response, contacted a volunteer with administrative rights (a “sysop”) who resides in France. This sysop is not responsible for the hosting of the content on Wikipedia, had no role in the creation of the article, and is not part of the Wikimedia Foundation. As we understand it, the sysop attempted to explain his limited role as a volunteer and directed them back to the Foundation’s legal department.

Unfortunately, the DCRI did not accept this answer and insisted that the sysop use his administrative rights to immediately remove the article, or face serious and immediate reprisals. Under the shadow of these threats, the sysop removed the article as directed.

Wikimedia Foundation

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Sunday nonsense
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 07 2013 @ 05:59 AM EDT
Apple 'bounce back' patent obvious to anyone skilled in the
art. Cf Amiga Bouncing ball demo circa 1984.

Discuss.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Pong 1972 - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 07 2013 @ 04:47 PM EDT
GAO Report Examines 'Political Intelligence, ' But Questions Remain
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 07 2013 @ 04:07 PM EDT
Unlike federal lobbyists, political intelligence consultants aren't required to register with Congress and disclose their activities and income. The GAO report marks the first time a government agency formally reviewed the secretive industry in an attempt to shed light on it. But definitive information on the business of political intelligence gathering was sparse in the report.

"The prevalence of the sale of political intelligence is not known and therefore difficult to quantify," the 34-page GAO report says. "The extent to which investment decisions are based on a single piece of political intelligence would be extremely difficult to measure."

Andrew Ramonas, The BLT

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Bo'ao summit
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 07 2013 @ 06:58 PM EDT
Google News may be playing geo-location tricks with me, but there doesn't seem much interest in the western press of the Bo'ao forum in spite of Bill Gates' presence. Possibly it's seen as an Asian exclusive event.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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