Happy Linux

The Canadian Government's War On Science

Soulskill — 2013-05-23T03:18:00+09:00

FuzzNugget writes "A contributor at ScienceBlogs.com has compiled and published a shockingly long list of systematic attacks on scientific research committed by the Canadian government since the conservatives came to power in 2006. This anti-scientific scourge includes muzzling scientists, shutting down research centers, industry deregulation and re-purposing the National Research Council to align with business interests instead of doing real science. It will be another two years before Canadians have the chance to go to the polls, but how much more damage will be done in the meantime?"

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MariaDB vs. MySQL: A Performance Comparison

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-23T02:35:00+09:00

Nerval's Lobster writes "MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL source code, split off in the wake of concerns over what Oracle would do with MySQL licensing. In addition to its role as a 'drop-in replacement' for MySQL, MariaDB also includes some new features that (some claim) make it better than MySQL. Jeff Cogswell compares MySQL and MariaDB and suggests (in his opinion) that there's 'more than enough reason to ditch MySQL and switch over to MariaDB and stay there.' Why? While he breaks down MariaDB's new features and thinks many of them aren't that fantastic, and while MariaDB's performance isn't that much better than that of MySQL ('MariaDB's performance appears a bit better on multi-core machines, but I strongly suspect that one could tweak MySQL to match'), the questions over Oracle and MySQL licensing give him pause. 'MariaDB shows every indication that it will be around for quite awhile, while you can't really say the same of Oracle's MySQL,' he writes. 'Free-and-open MySQL competes with Oracle's proprietary and extremely competitive tools. That alone is grounds for concern — will Oracle do something to impede MySQL's development?'"

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Chip Shot: Intel® CoFluent? Studio 5.0 Now Available

2013-05-23T02:09:08+09:00

Intel will demonstrate new Intel® CoFluent™ Studio modeling and code generation for virtual platforms and high-level synthesis at the Design Automation Conference, June 2-6 in Austin, TX. As a standards-based, electronic system-level modeling and simulation environment, it helps system designers securely predict behavior and performance in devices created for the consumer, communication, transportation and industrial segments. Intel CoFluent Studio assists developers in quickly creating device IP for hardware design automation. It also allows system designers to refine a graphical model in a top-down manner, from a functional view to a microarchitectural level to a synthesizable model, and automatically generate code for SystemC and Wind River Simics* modeling languages. To download or find more information about Intel CoFluent Studio, visit cofluent.intel.com.

Will Robots Take Over the Data Center?

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-23T01:50:00+09:00

1sockchuck writes "Robotics are beginning to be integrated into data center management, creating the potential for a fully automated, robot-driven data center. What might a robot-controlled 'lights-out' data center look like? The racks will be taller, as robotics systems can reach higher to manage servers. Robotic equipment would be mounted on rails that allow them to find and move hardware. Early examples of this are seen in tape libraries, but the concepts could be applied to other data center equipment. Amazon and Google are said to be among those looking at ways to create a fully automated data center. AOL says it has already built an unmanned data center. Data Center Knowledge looks at the challenges and opportunities in robot-controlled data centers, including how staff roles would evolve."

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Latina: Guatemala: annullata la condanna a Ríos Montt

David Lifodi — 2013-05-23T01:21:23+09:00

La Corte Costituzionale ribalta la sentenza della giudice Jazmín Barrios

Eric Schmidt: Google Will Continue Investing In UK Even If Taxes Raised

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-23T01:10:00+09:00

DavidGilbert99 writes "Eric Schmidt hasn't changed his stance on Google's tax policies in the UK but has said that even if the tax legislation changes in the UK it will continue to invest in the country because 'we love the UK.' Gushing about its relationship with the UK, Schmidt said: 'Google will invest in the UK no matter what you guys do, because the UK is just too important for us. The citizens are too important for us and in our view we provide too much good.'" (Beware the auto-playing video advertisements). This after writing an Op-Ed lamenting the complexity of international taxes.

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OSI President Questions WebM Patent License Compatibility with Open Source

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-23T00:41:00+09:00

Via the H comes a report that the Simon Phipps, current President of the Open Source Initiative, thinks that the VP8 patent Cross-license agreeement Google brokered with the MPEG-LA is incompatible with the Open Source definition. The primary problems are that the license is not sub-licensable and only covers certain uses, leading to conflict with OSD clauses five, six, and seven. Phipps concludes: "As a consequence, I suggest the license is flawed when considered in relation to open source projects and is likely to be negatively received by many communities that value software freedom. Doubtless a case can be made that the patent license is optional, but I suspect the community issues may remain. Once again we're left with our fingers crossed. Google's making the right noises, but this draft agreement seems like a particularly unworkable approach for free and open source software. Its failure to allow sublicensing seems like a major flaw. Even if this doesn't result in a requirement for all end-users to sign the agreement, the discrepancies between this document and the OSD leave it disruptive to open source adoption of VP8."

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Ask Slashdot: What Makes a Great Hackathon?

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-23T00:00:00+09:00

beaverdownunder writes "I recently attended a 'hackathon' that was really just another pitching contest, and out of frustration am tempted to organize an event myself that is better suited to developers and far less entrepreneur-centric than some of the latest offerings. What I'd like to know from the /. community is, what would you like to see in a hackathon? What are some good hackathons you've attended that weren't just thinly-veiled pitch-development workshops? I have an idea around assigning attendees to quasi-random teams based on their skill sets, then giving them 48 hours to complete a serious coding / engineering challenge (probably in the not-for-profit space) — but maybe you've got some better ideas?"

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Taranto Sociale: Ilva, frode truffa e riciclaggio: sequestrato oltre un miliardo ai Riva

Francesco Casula — 2013-05-22T23:37:00+09:00

Gli uomini della Guardia di Finanza stanno eseguendo un ordine del gip, su richiesta della Procura di Milano. Sigilli a immobili, titoli e disponibilità finanziarie. In corso perquisizioni anche a Varese. Quattro gli indagati: anche Emilio e Adriano Riva

Thousands of Whistle Blowers Vulnerable After Anonymous Hacks SAPS

Unknown Lamer — 2013-05-22T23:17:00+09:00

First time accepted submitter fezzzz writes "Anonymous performed a data dump of hundreds of whistle blowers' private details in an attempt to show their unhappiness with the SAPS (South African Police Service) for the Marikana shooting. In so doing, the identities of nearly 16,000 South Africans who lodged a complaint with police on their website, provided tip-offs, or reported crimes are now publicly available." Reader krunster also submitted a slightly more in depth article on the breach.

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