TimCapulet - Slashdot User

Good Robot Projects For K-5? 136

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @06:02PM from the must-deliver-candy-to-adults dept.

bugs2squash writes "Some of the parents of kids at my son's elementary school would like to set up a robotics club for the children. I see that Lego has a new line of robotics bricks called wedo (PDF) and that seems to be the path of least resistance to doing something. But I wanted to ask: What experience do all y'all have of running a robotics club for this age group (5 thru 10 years old) and what factors made it a success (or failure)? Did you use a commercial kit of parts or brew something from scratch? What kind of projects work well with kids this age? I was thinking maybe making robot flowers (yes, I know they'd all rather build robotic sharks with lasers)." (Here's another page about Wedo.)

MacBook's "Unremovable" Battery Easy To Remove 476

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @07:17PM from the just-unscrew-16-handy-screws dept.

Slatterz writes "Going just a bit further than your average unboxing, someone has stripped a new 17-inch Apple Macbook Pro to its component parts revealing one or two little surprises. The biggest of which is that the built-in battery is easily accessible, requiring the tinkerer to remove just the 13 Philips screws which hold the bottom cover in place, and the three tri-wing security screws which hold the battery in place."

What Programming Language For Linux Development? 997

Posted by kdawson on Saturday December 06, 2008 @07:46PM from the let-slip-the-dogs dept.

k33l0r writes "Recently I've been thinking about developing (or learning to develop) for Linux. I'm an IT university student but my degree program focuses almost exclusively on Microsoft tools (Visual Studio, C#, ASP.NET, etc.) which is why I would like to expand my repertoire on my own. Personally I'm quite comfortable in a Linux environment, but have never programmed for it. Over the years I've developed a healthy fear of everything Java and I'm not too sure of what I think of Python's use of indentation to delimit blocks. The question that remains is: what language and tools should I be using?"

What Happens To Code From Failed Projects? 225

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 06, 2008 @11:21AM from the great-compiler-in-the-sky dept.

Idzuna writes "With the somewhat recent announcement of Tabula Rasa shutting down, I have been thinking about what will happen to the Server/Client code. Does it get used as a guide for other projects? Does it get destroyed? Or does it just sit there on a hard drive somewhere in storage? The same question applies to many other failed creations. I know the likelihood of the code being distributed freely is next to nil, as most companies probably recycle code. If a vulnerability was found in old code, it could be applied to other products that the company has released. But wouldn't it help development of different projects if such a resource was available?"

Google to Offer Real-Time Stock Quotes 299

Posted by kdawson on Monday June 02, 2008 @10:38PM

Apro+im writes "Today, Google announced that Google Finance will report real-time prices on NASDAQ-listed securities. While real-time stock quotes are not new, they have long encumbered with subscriptions, legal agreements, or pay software. This may be the first free source for real-time quotes."

Comment Re:Oblig. misleading title (Score 5, Informative)

by TimCapulet on Friday May 09, 2008 @09:03PM (#23353128) Attached to: Researcher Discusses iPod Supercomputer

Of course. iPods have nothing to do with this article at all. A less misleading title would be "Researcher Discusses Microprocessor Supercomputer". The word "iPod" is only there as an eye-catcher.

Sarah Silverman's Matt Damon Video NSFW 3

Posted by samzenpus on Friday February 08, 2008 @02:17PM

samzenpus writes "I find Sarah to be a hit-or-miss comic, often a miss but this pretty funny. It may not be the easiest way to break the news but at least there is no room for ambiguity. The best part has to be that Damon did it."

OpenSSL loses FIPS 140-2 Certification (Or Not) 102

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday July 19, 2006 @10:40AM from the edoc-eht-kcarc-t'nod dept.

OhHellWithIt writes "Government Computer News reported on Tuesday that OpenSSL has lost FIPS 140-2 certification, only six months after receiving it. It sounds like bad news for those of us who would like to see open source gain more of a foothold in U.S. federal workplaces." Readers have updated this story with an update saying the certification has shifted again.

Safe Landing For Space Shuttle Discovery 106

Posted by Hemos on Monday July 17, 2006 @10:57AM from the made-it-back-done dept.

dylanduck writes "Discovery is back safe and sound, despite minor problems with a leaky power unit and a last minute change of approach direction to the runway. The mission tested some post-Columbia safety changes, and also set up the space station for future construction. But in some ways, the tough job starts now - NASA has just 40 days or so to get Atlantis up."

DIY Carrier Grade Linux with Debian 75

Posted by timothy on Monday June 05, 2006 @02:03PM from the cool-for-your-home-switchboard dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Carrier Grade Linux, once the domain of big-bucks Bells and commercial software vendors, just became more attainable for universities, companies running high-availability web services, and average Linux hackers interested in learning what goes into the world's most reliable, maintainable, and available systems. The Debian project, backed by HP, has launched the Debian-Carrier Grade Linux subproject, and registered Debian-CGL with version 2.02 of the CGL spec. LinuxDevices has created a simplified version of the registration form that lets you see which Debian packages to apt-get, and which packages you'll have to download and compile out side of Debian, in order to get your own Carrier Grade Linux setup."

The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time 497

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 26, 2006 @04:28PM from the i've-used-1-2-4-7-8-15-and-20 dept.

Khammurabi writes "PC World compiled a list of the 25 worst tech products of all time. From the article: 'At PC World, we spend most of our time talking about products that make your life easier or your work more productive. But it's the lousy ones that linger in our memory long after their shrinkwrap has shriveled, and that make tech editors cry out, "What have I done to deserve this?"' Number one on the list? AOL."

How To Go Pro in Second Life 43

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 26, 2006 @02:28PM from the make-virtual-and-real-money-at-the-same-time dept.

Wagner James Au writes "Soon after Second Life crossed the 100K subscriber mark in January, there's been a rush of big companies itching to develop and promote their brand in the world: first it was MTV, then Coke, and now with SL at 225,000+, they keep coming: this week, for example, Twentieth Century Fox had a virtual world premiere of X-Men III in Second Life. Since SL is completely user-created content, this entrance of big money has helped create a whole new profession: freelance metaverse developer. Aimee Weber, who got her start designing and selling avatar fashions for fun, has since become one of the best in this field, recently creating a promotion environment for a Warner Brother's singer in SL. So I asked her to come to my blog and give advice on how to get your scripting and 3D building skills to pay the bills."

USPTO Rules Fogent JPEG Patent Invalid 240

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 26, 2006 @12:49PM from the burn dept.

fistfullast33l writes "Groklaw has reported that the USPTO has ruled the broadest claims of the JPEG Patent held by Fogent to be invalid. PUBPAT, the organization that requested the review, released the news earlier today. According to PJ, the ruling will be hard to overturn as the 'submitters knew about the prior art but failed to tell the USPTO about it.'"

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