Archive for January, 2008

The History of the Apple II as a Gaming Platform

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Matt Barton writes "Gamasutra is running a feature on the venerable Apple II platform, which practically defined the early home computer industry and was home to many of he greatest games and developers of all time. The authors discuss the platform's lifespan and many iterations, struggles with illegal distribution, and ...

The Truth About New Jet Pack Hype

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

An anonymous reader writes "This week a sub-$100,000 rocket belt was unveiled and will be on sale this summer, but that's the sad thing: it's still not a real jet pack. Here's a fascinating inside look at the human-flight industry, full of law-suit scandals, technical difficulties, fuel-economy woes and endless ...

Smart ‘Lego’ Set Conjures Up Virtual 3D Twin

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

philetus writes "New Scientist has up a story on Posey, a hub-and-strut construction kit that senses its configuration and communicates it wirelessly to a computer. From the article: 'If you gave Lego brains, you might get something like Posey, a new hands-on way of interacting with computers developed at Carnegie ...

The Great Microkernel Debate Continues

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

ficken writes "The great micro vs. monolithic kernel is still alive and well. Andy Tanenbaum weighs in with another article about the virtues of microkernels. From the article: 'Over the years there have been endless postings on forums such as Slashdot about how microkernels are slow, how microkernels are hard ...

Hardware Vendors Will Follow Money to Open Source

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Stony Stevenson writes "Dirk Hohndel, Intel's chief technologist for open source, believes the install base of Linux-based desktops could potentially double this year, based just on Eee PC sales. Speaking at open source conference Linux.conf.au in Melbourne, Hohndel said commercial pressure will be the incentive for traditionally Windows-centric hardware vendors ...

Spectrum Auction Could Be A Game of Chicken

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Ardvark writes "Google promised some time ago to bid at least the reserve price for the C block of 700Mhz spectrum if the FCC accepted its demand for an open access rule for devices using the band, which the FCC did over Verizon's objections. If the reserve price is not ...

Four Indicted in Pirate Bay Case

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

paulraps writes "Suddenly the founders of the Pirate Bay are not so hearty. The four men behind the popular file-sharing site were indicted in Sweden on Thursday on charges of being accessories to breaking copyright law. And this is more than just a shot across the bows. The prosecutor reckons ...

Cellphone App Developed that Could Allow For ‘Pocket Supercomputers’

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Jack Spine writes "A robotics researcher at Accenture has given a demonstration of a 'Pocket Supercomputer' — a phone behaving like a thin client. It can be used to send images and video of objects in real time to a server where they can be identified and linked to relevant ...

Time for a Vista Do-Over?

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

DigitalDame2 writes ""There's nothing wrong with Vista," PC Mag editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff tells a Microsoft rep at this year's CES. "but you guys have a big problem on your hands. Perception is reality, and the perception is that Vista is a dud." He goes on to confess that the operating ...

French Police Ditching Windows for Linux

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

esocid writes "In another European blow to Microsoft the French paramilitary police force said Wednesday it is ditching Microsoft for the free Linux operating system, becoming one of the biggest administrations in the world to make the break. The gendarmerie began severing its ties with Microsoft in 2005 when it ...