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Submission + - TI Against Calculator Hobbyists ... Again (omnimaga.org)

Deep Thought writes: Texas Instruments, already infamous thanks to the signing key controversy last year, is trying a new trick to lock down its graphing calculators, this time directed toward its newest TI-Nspire line. The TI-Nspires were already the most controlled of TI's various calculator models, and no third-party development of any kind (except for its very limited form of TI-BASIC) was allowed until the release of the independent tool Ndless. Since its release, TI has been determined to prevent the large calculator programming community from using it. Its latest released operating system for the Nspire family (version 2.1) now prevents the calculators from downgrading to OS 1.1, needed to run Ndless. This is the TI's second major attack on Ndless, as the company has already demanded that websites posting the required OS 1.1 be removed from public download, obviously to prevent use of the tool. Once again, TI is preventing calculator hobbyists from running their own software on calculators they bought and paid for. Is TI going the way Apple did?
Handhelds

TI-Nspire Hack Enables User Programming 88

An anonymous reader writes "Texas Instruments' most recent, ARM-based series of graphing calculators, the TI-Nspire line, has long resisted users' efforts to run their own software. (Unlike other TI calculator models, which can be programmed either in BASIC, C, or assembly language, the Nspire only supports an extremely limited form of BASIC.) A bug in the Nspire's OS was recently discovered, however, which can be exploited to execute arbitrary machine code. Now the first version of a tool called Ndless has been released, enabling users, for the first time, to write and run their own C and assembly programs on the device. This opens up exciting new possibilities for these devices, which are extremely powerful compared to TI's other calculator offerings, but (thanks to the built-in software's limitations) have hitherto been largely ignored by the calculator programming community."

Comment Re:Rail industry can handle itself (Score 1) 897

See, but Amtrak won't make a profit until they can run on time, and get to their destination in a reasonable amount of time. This requires high-speed tracks, and separate passenger/rail trackway.

Besides - public transit doesn't exist in order to make a profit. Government isn't about making money. It's about the boring stuff - sewers and roads and social services - that everyone needs but aren't any fun to do.

Transportation

Submission + - Football field-sized kite powers latest freighter (networkworld.com) 2

coondoggie writes: "A kite the size of a football field will provide most of the power for a German heavy freight ship set to launch in December. The Beluga shipping company that owns the 460-foot Beluga said it expects the kites to decrease fuel consumption by up to 50% in optimal cases as well as a cutback of the emission of greenhouse gases on sea by 10 to 20%. Interestingly, the ship will be hauling windmills from Esbjerg, Denmark to Houston, Texas. The company that makes the kite for the German transport, SkySails, has made kites for large yachts but is targeting commercial ships with new, larger kites. And it has the ambitious goal of equipping 1,500 ships with kites by 2015. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22225"
Debian

Debian 4.0 'Etch' Released 245

An anonymous reader writes "Earlier today we discussed the possibility that Debian Etch might be released soon. Well, according to debian.org, it has already happened. Etch has been released: 'The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 4.0, codenamed etch, after 21 months of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which supports a total of eleven processor architectures and includes the KDE, GNOME and Xfce desktop environments. It also features cryptographic software and compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.1 of the LSB.'"
Hardware Hacking

Journal Journal: What's the deal with phone unlockers? 1

I renewed my phone contract today; I finally have one with a camera. It also has a USB port for syncing with computers... which is disabled by Verizon (but of course they will transfer our files over their network for a low low fee).

Businesses

Submission + - Pre-Installed Linux tops Dell customer requests

dhart writes: "Within only a few days of opening a new customer feedback website, Dell has discovered the feature most requested (by a wide margin!) as an option on all new Dell PCs: Pre-installed Linux. I believe they'll have a harder time now with the tired old mantra "there's no customer demand for Linux"."

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