Comment Re:Good (Score 1) 95
Streamed songs are Ogg Vorbis, downloaded songs are MP3.
Ubuntu Wipes Windows 7 In Benchmarks 781
twitter writes "Recent and controversial benchmarks for Windows 7 leave an important question unanswered: 'Is it faster than GNU/Linux?' Here, at last, is a benchmark that pits Ubuntu, Vista and Windows 7 against each other on the same modern hardware. From install time to GUI efficiency, Ubuntu beats Windows and is often twice as fast. Where Windows 7 is competitive, the difference is something the average user would not notice. The average GNU/Linux user is now getting better absolute performance from their computer as well as better value than the average Windows user."
Florence Nightingale, Statistical Graphics Pioneer 204
Science News has a fascinating look at an under-appreciated corner of the career of Florence Nightingale — as an innovator in the use of statistical graphics to argue for social change. Nightingale returned from the Crimean War a heroine in the eyes of the British citizenry, for the soldiers' lives she had saved. But she came to appreciate that the way to save far more lives was to reform attitudes in the military about sanitation. Under the tutelage of William Farr, who had just invented the field of medical statistics, she compiled overwhelming evidence (in the form of an 830-page report) of the need for change. "As impressive as her statistics were, Nightingale worried that Queen Victoria's eyes would glaze over as she scanned the tables. So Nightingale devised clever ways of presenting the information in charts. Statistics had been presented using graphics only a few times previously, and perhaps never to persuade people of the need for social change."
Comment Nifty. (Score 1) 176
I can literally see my house from here.
While kind of cool, some buildings and roads get rather squiggly.
While kind of cool, some buildings and roads get rather squiggly.
Comment Re:just curious (Score 1) 239
Of course they did.
The two lead engineers have been working paid full-time on this for years, where do you think those resources are coming from? The mozilla build team has pushed releases, Thunderbird has had its place on mozilla.com along side Firefox etc.
Basically, the issue now is - how is Thunderbird going to survive without all this support? I'm not saying it all is going away, but Thunderbird WILL have to do more on its own. As I understand it, Mozilla Foundation/Corporation (not sure which) might still help out somewhat financially, but I am not sure of the status on that situation.
However, I think there's no reason to believe "it's all over". There are plenty of other organizations/companies doing top-notch Mozilla work without being a physical part of Mozilla Corporation. See Joost, Songbird, and others. Also, it will be interesting to see what high-level decisions are taken by the Thunderbird team now that they will be more independent. I think there's a chance they will have to think more radically about Thunderbird's place in the world than what has been the case up until now.
The two lead engineers have been working paid full-time on this for years, where do you think those resources are coming from? The mozilla build team has pushed releases, Thunderbird has had its place on mozilla.com along side Firefox etc.
Basically, the issue now is - how is Thunderbird going to survive without all this support? I'm not saying it all is going away, but Thunderbird WILL have to do more on its own. As I understand it, Mozilla Foundation/Corporation (not sure which) might still help out somewhat financially, but I am not sure of the status on that situation.
However, I think there's no reason to believe "it's all over". There are plenty of other organizations/companies doing top-notch Mozilla work without being a physical part of Mozilla Corporation. See Joost, Songbird, and others. Also, it will be interesting to see what high-level decisions are taken by the Thunderbird team now that they will be more independent. I think there's a chance they will have to think more radically about Thunderbird's place in the world than what has been the case up until now.
Submission + - IPhone battery program
epidemic99 writes: There is a story online that I will make a lot of Iphone users mad. Apple just released what it will cost to replace the battery in the Iphone. The battery repair, which can't be replaced by users and will cost $79, plus $6.95 for shipping! A consumer advocacy group sent a letter to Apple complaining that this information was not made public before Iphone's release since the cost of the battery replacement is so high. Even reviewer Walt Mossberg who is usually very kind to Apple was quoted as saying "some of them might be waking up now, wondering who they got in bed with."
Feed The Register: Heathrow to trial RFID tags (theregister.com)
No more lost luggage?
In September, Heathrow Airport will become the largest in Europe to trial RFID-based tags for tracking passenger luggage, comparing accuracy and read rates against their existing barcode-based systems.
Feed Linux.com: Help choose the 2007 SourceForge.net Community Choice Award winners (linux.com)
Now that the SourceForge.net community has selected the nominees, you can vote for the projects you think represent "the cream of the crop on SourceForge.net."
Submission + - Three flashing red lights cost Microsoft $1bn (ft.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Financial Times reports that Microsoft will take a charge against profits of more than $1bn as it tries to limit the potential damage to its videogames business from a design flaw in the Xbox 360 games console leading to units to fail. This is the "three flashing red lights" problem.
"Mr Bach denied that the product failures showed Microsoft had launched the console before it was ready, or that they resulted from the company's relative weakness in hardware design."
"Mr Bach denied that the product failures showed Microsoft had launched the console before it was ready, or that they resulted from the company's relative weakness in hardware design."
Submission + - Blackberry "spy" software released
Noryungi writes: "Maybe the French were onto something after all. It turns out that there is a software able to spy on Blackberries, and record voice conversations and all messages (emails or SMS text message) that transit through the portable devices. Of course, the software has to be installed by the owner of the Blackberry, but it would not be surprising to find out that someone has found a way to silently auto-install that software on RIM devices."
Linux Annoyances For Geeks 445
Taran Rampersad writes "Every now and then, someone comes up with a fun title. 'Linux Annoyances for Geeks' is a definitely fun - and accurate - title for this book. While some people have been fiddling with Linux since it first came out, the majority of Linux users haven't been. I started using Linux in the late 90s, and my work schedule didn't allow me to go to meetings, or track down people who knew things. And the first time you do an install on a machine, you may be disconnected from the very information that gets you connected. Been there, done that. So this book attracted me because despite being an advocate of Free Software and Open Source, there are times when I still type very naughty things on the command line. Read the rest of Taran's review.
Study Says Coffee Protects Against Cirrhosis 261
An anonymous reader writes "Good news for those who like both coffee and alcohol. In a recent study of more than 125,000 people an Oakland, CA medical team found that consuming coffee seems to help protect against alcoholic cirrhosis. The study was done based on people enrolled in a private northern California health care plan between 1978 and 1985." From the article: "People drinking one cup of coffee per day were, on average, 20% less likely to develop alcoholic cirrhosis. For people drinking two or three cups the reduction was 40%, and for those drinking four or more cups of coffee a day the reduction in risk was 80%."
Foundations of Ajax 176
Craig Maloney writes "You've no doubt heard about Ajax. Practically every new and exciting application on the web uses some form of Ajax. Google's suite of applications (GMail, Google Maps, etc.), Amazon's A9 search engine, and Netflix use Ajax interfaces to give the user a better browsing experience. By using some pretty basic innovations to current technology, browsers can now deliver content in ways unimaginable only a few short years ago. Foundations of Ajax provides developers who haven't taken the time to look into Ajax a hands-on guide for quickly leveraging these technologies in their own applications." Read on for Craig's review.
Journal Journal: f1rst p0st.
w00t.
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The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
