Geeknews » Computers

Chrome OS on Acer Netbooks?

Andy — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:20:54 +0000

Looks like the taiwanese PC manufacturer plans on releasing a version of their netbook with GOOG’s Chrome OS.

There seems to be doubt as to whether Chrome OS is ready for primetime, but i guess time will tell.

IP protectionism gone wrong?

d.i. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:49:16 +0000

the guys over at TechDirt have pointed out an issue where a comedian was required to re-tape a joke due to Comedy Central not having the licensing for the song “We Are The World”.
The issue here is not really a matter of copyright, but IP protectionism gone wrong.
There is a clear case of fair use under parody with this and such issues have previously been held by the Supreme Court as a first amendment issue when the parody has been intended as a criticism as was the case in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music.

Now, to be fair, in that case the criticism was of the original work. But looking at the specifics of that case, the court deemed that the work was transformative which using a song in a joke would certainly be, provided social benefit by making use of the earlier work which this appears to do as well as the effect upon the the potential market of the original work which in this case I can only imagine would be nil.
The remaining factor is the amount of the original work used in the transformative work. In this case, its four words sung by a comedian… not a singer doing a cover of the song, just singing the four words and that’s it.
The Supreme Court sent that issue back to a trial court to determine if the use of the original work was excessive, but I have to believe that a non-singer using four words to frame a joke about the overuse of the word love with no music from that song to accompany him certainly would not fall under excessive.

My own personal viewpoint is that Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom is in a rather no win situation on this type of issue. If they stand by the fair use principal that opens them up to others claiming fair use on IP that they own the rights to undermining any future attempts to maximize control and the ability to monetize the works they own the rights to. It would be good if they could see the unreasonableness of taking such action, but I doubt they will.

IE continues its slide while Safari stumbles a bit too

d.i. — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:04:46 +0000

Its become fairly commonplace to see Internet Explorer taking yet another small step towards a smaller market share with its browser. While it is still the predominant browser being used out there, the competition in that area is has heated up a bit more with Google’s Chrome Browser who has reciently taken over third place from Safari.
As pointed out by our friends at Endgaget, taking a deeper look at the numbers can reveal some interesting information.

Google Chrome made the largest gains while most others stayed flat

IE6 remains the top browser by version.

By version split, Firefox 3.5 is only about 6% lower than IE 6 or 8.

No one really uses the built in browser on the PS3 (so much for convergence in that arena)

Its no surprise to anyone really that the browser which comes packaged with the operating system that has the largest market share would also have the highest share, but this is sure to be good news to Google with its upcoming launch of the G1, rumors of a Google tablet surfacing and the attention Android is getting from everyone.

The Human Computer Interface of the Future for People w/ More Than Two Fingers

Andy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:32:09 +0000

Good insight here from gizmag on why touch is and is NOT a good replacement for the mouse/KB:

Using a traditionally-placed desktop screen as a touch interface, even for short periods, places too much strain on a user’s arm. Touchscreens used in a drafting table configuration lessen the strain on the arms, but increase the chances of neck strain, as users are forced to look down at the display. And in either setup there is also the problem of the user’s hands obstructing the display. Miller’s 10/GUI overcomes these problems by splitting the touch surface from the screen, and using a touch surface similar to a drawing tablet that is large enough to accommodate all ten fingers.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

On the Benefits of Self-Taught Skills

Andy — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:09:43 +0000

In response to Who Needs a Computer Science Degree When There’s Wikipedia? , Chris Olstrom picks up the topic with On the Benefits of Self-Taught Skills. In my opinion he makes some valid observations regarding the type of engineer you get from the classic university-taught process or the self-study process.

Titan Backup With A Bang!

Patrick — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:41:42 +0000

Hey folks! Our good friend, Flavius Saracut over at Neobyte Solutions (creators of Titan Backup)got a hold of me the other day to tell me about a fantastic weekly giveaway they’re sponsoring right now. Every week, one lucky person will walk away with a 500gb LaCie external hard disk. How awesome is that? I think everyone could use an extra 500gb of storage, myself included All you have to do is head on over to their website, and click on the banner across the top of the page. Good luck!

Click HERE to go check out the review on Titan Backup!

Intel Expands Atom’s Reach into Cars & Mobile Phones

Andy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Intel is shifting its Atom-focus from MIDs (thank goodness, this vertical is a dog). Instead we’ll be seeing a greater focus on in-car infotainment and netbooks and possibly x86-based mobile phones. It’s going to do this by tweaking the chipset to further optimize it for other power sensitive scenarios Intel sees as the new hotness in x86.

Read TGDaily for the details.

Laptop Information Heaven

Andy — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Time for a little Link Love for a site I bookmarked this week-

I recently learned of a laptop reviews and news site called Laptoplogic.com as being almost a one-stop shop for reviews, news and more for laptops and their accessories. They have a blog and forums as well so they have a whole community around their review website. They also link to Pricegrabber if you want to purchase reviewed HW directly. The best part is the quality writing so they appear to use some pretty good editors and/or writers.

One of my favorite articles recently is Top 10 Laptops for Geeky Girls because they showcase some stylish laptops that will fit with many feminine wardrobes like the Pink Prada Leather Laptop and the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition seen below.

Check them out.

Big Blue Supercomputer: The Next Generation

Andy — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:58:53 +0000

From Channel Web I learned that IBM and the US Dept. Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced an agreement this week regarding an order for what will become the most powerful supercomputer in the world. One of the systems will be called ‘Dawn’:

… Dawn is a 500 teraflop-per-second initial delivery BlueGene/P system, scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2009. According to the release, Dawn will provide the applications foundation for multipetaflop per second computing on Sequoia.

If all goes according to plan, Sequoia’s 20 petaflops per second speed would make it 10 times faster than any other existing system.

Firefox 3.0.5 Released

Dan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:52:03 +0000

In the same trend as earlier…

Firefox 3.0.5 has been released. It boasts a few minor updates, but does patch up some gaping security holes nicely. Additionally, those of you who speak Bengali, Hindi and Latvian (among others) will be excited to know that you can now have Firefox in your language.

Here’s the brief:

Firefox 3.0.5 fixes several issues found in Firefox 3.0.4:

Fixed several security issues.

Fixed several stability issues.

Official releases for the Bengali, Esperanto, Galician, Hindi, and Latvian languages are now available.

Replaced the End-User License Agreement with a new “Know Your Rights” info bar on initial install.

When installing multiple signed XPIs simultaneously, previous versions of Firefox would fail.

Fixed several issues found in the accessibility implementation.

Added the ability to send OS-specific system notes in the crash reporter.

Follow the links to find out everything there is to know.

Source: Firefox Website