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Comments: 1 + -   New Google Research On Social Networks on Monday July 12, @01:04PM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @01:04PM
from the someone-research-the-superpoke dept.
google
mantis2009 writes "Paul Adams, a senior user experience researcher at Google, has posted a slideshow from a recent presentation that shows insightful research into how people use social networking technologies. The presentation describes several shortcomings of existing technology, and it highlights specific modalities that current technology (ahem, Facebook) gets wrong. Adams concludes that social networking applications are a 'crude approximation' of real-life social networks. 'People don't have one group of friends,' Adams research in several different countries shows that in reality, most people have between four to six groups of friends. He argues that social networking applications need to be built with that reality in mind."
Read More... 1 comments story

Comments: 65 + -   Half of Windows 7 Machines Running 64-Bit Version on Monday July 12, @12:24PM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @12:24PM
from the way-better-than-my-one-bit-idea dept.
microsoft
nk497 writes "Microsoft has said that nearly half of machines running Windows 7 are using the 64-bit version, up from just 11% of PCs running Vista. The 32-bit version is limited to 4GB RAM, while the 64-bit version allows 192GB, as well as added security and virtualization capabilities. While Microsoft is pushing 64-bit as a way to gain performance in the OS, it earlier this year advised users to install the 32-bit version of Office 2010, 'because currently many common add-ins for Office will not function in the 64-bit edition.'"
Read More... 65 comments story

Comments: 37 + -   How To Use HTML5 Today on Monday July 12, @11:46AM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @11:46AM
from the but-i-wanted-it-yesterday dept.
programming
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Dori Smith offers developers a hands-on guide to using HTML5 today. 'Many of the media reports about HTML5 have focused on the politics, the "not until 2022" sound bite, or on HTML5's prospects as a "Flash killer." The reality of HTML5 is simply that it's the long-needed and long-overdue update to HTML4 — and you can start to implement it today,' Smith writes. Video, semantic tags, smart form input validation — Smith steps through several HTML5 features that can already be implemented, while noting several other presentation features that will soon be on their way. Smith also discusses IE work-arounds, such as HTML 5 Shiv and Google Chrome Frame."
Read More... 37 comments story

Comments: 68 + -   Nvidia's $200 GTX 460 Ups Bargain Performance on Monday July 12, @11:00AM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @11:00AM
from the pixels-and-profits dept.
graphics
NervousNerd writes "Nvidia's first DirectX 11 offerings ran hot and offered a negligible performance difference compared to ATI's Radeon HD 5800 series for the cost. Also missing was the $200 mid-range part. But that stopped when Nvidia released the GTX 460 based on a modified version of their infamous Fermi architecture. The GTX 460 offers incredible performance for the price and soundly beats ATI's $200 offering, the HD 5830."
Read More... 68 comments story

Comments: 59 + -   UK Designer Grows Clothes From Bacteria on Monday July 12, @10:19AM

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 12, @10:19AM
from the my-shirt-is-sticky dept.
biotech
An anonymous reader writes "Experimental UK designer Suzanne Lee 'grows' clothes from bacteria. She has developed a method for growing clothing from yeast, a pinch of bacteria, and several cups of sweetened green tea. From this microbial soup, fibers begin to sprout and propagate, eventually resulting in thin, wet sheets of bacterial cellulose that can be molded to a dress form. As the sheets dry out, overlapping edges 'felt' together to become fused seams. When all moisture has evaporated, the fibers develop a tight-knit, papyrus-like surface."
View Picture... 59 comments story

Comments: 148 + -   Windows XP SP2 Support Ends Tomorrow on Monday July 12, @09:37AM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @09:37AM
from the better-get-patching dept.
microsoft
Vectormatic writes "As can be seen on the product page for Windows XP, support for SP2 ends tomorrow, while the majority of Windows XP users still haven't upgraded to SP3. This could open up millions of users/businesses to exploitation, since security updates for SP2 will stop coming in while security fixes to SP3 may clue hackers in to vulnerabilities."
Read More... 148 comments story

Comments: 153 + -   The Android Gets Its HyperCard on Monday July 12, @08:56AM

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 12, @08:56AM
from the developers^3 dept.
google
theodp writes "Steve Jobs & Co. put the kibosh on easier cellphone development, but Google is giving it a shot. The NY Times reports that Google is bringing Android software development to the masses, offering a software tool starting Monday that's intended to make it easy for people to write applications for its Android phones. The free software, called Google App Inventor for Android, has been under development for a year. User testing has been done mainly in schools with groups that included sixth graders, high school girls, nursing students and university undergraduates who are not CS majors. The thinking behind the initiative, Google said, is that as cellphones increasingly become the computers that people rely on most, users should be able to make applications themselves. It's something Apple should be taking very seriously, advises TechCrunch."
Read More... 153 comments story

Comments: 197 + -   The End of Free on Monday July 12, @08:08AM

Posted by kdawson on Monday July 12, @08:08AM
from the barbed-wire-and-stockade-fences dept.
money
The Atlantic has up an insightful piece from its print edition called Closing the Digital Frontier. Michael Hirschorn takes readers through a jaundiced version of the familiar story of the rise and dominance of the "Information wants to be free" meme, then claims that the era of freedom is now over. "...the phrase Information wants to be free... became perhaps the most powerful meme of the past quarter century; so powerful, in fact, that multibillion-dollar corporations destroyed their own businesses at its altar. ... But now, it seems, things are changing all over again. The shift of the digital frontier from the Web, where the browser ruled supreme, to the smart phone, where the app and the pricing plan now hold sway, signals a radical shift from openness to a degree of closed-ness that would have been remarkable even before 1995. ... It’s far from a given that this shift will generate the kinds of revenue media companies are used to: for under-30s whelped on free content, the prospect of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars yearly for print, audio, and video (on expensive new devices that require paying AT&T $30 a month) is not going to be an easy sell. Yet lack of uptake by young people will hardly stop the rush to apps. There’s too much potential upside."
Read More... 197 comments story

Comments: 44 + -   PopBox STB To Ship Soon But Without Netflix, Pandora on Monday July 12, @04:31AM

Posted by kdawson on Monday July 12, @04:31AM
from the littler-and-later dept.
tv
DeviceGuru writes "Syabas says it is nearly ready to ship the PopBox, which it announced in January (though they said at the time it would ship in March). The $129 Internet-based A/V streaming set-top box will offer a variety of user-selectable media-streaming apps, but is unlikely at launch to include Netflix instant downloads (promised at announcement), Pandora music, or Amazon pay-per-view video support. According to Syabas, the PopBox only works with HDTVs and not standard definition TVs, and has component outputs in addition to HDMI; plus, the company says the device supports RealD 3D. More details are on the PopBox website."
Read More... 44 comments story

Comments: 192 + -   Brazil Forbids DRM On the Public Domain on Monday July 12, @12:55AM

Posted by kdawson on Monday July 12, @12:55AM
from the what-they-said dept.
government
nunojsilva writes "Cory Doctorow reports that the Brazilian equivalent of DMCA explicitly forbids using DRM-like techniques on works in the public domain. 'Brazil has just created the best-ever implementation of WCT [WIPO Copyright Treaty]. In Brazil's version of the law, you can break DRM without breaking the law, provided you're not also committing a copyright violation.' This means that, unlike the US, where it is illegal to break DRM, in Brazil it is illegal to break the public domain."
Read More... 192 comments story
 
Poll I'd like my DNA analyzed ...
As soon as practical.
In the next few months, say -- no rush.
Eventually, I suppose, but I'm not anxious to.
Never!
I've already done it.
Do children count as a test medium?
[ Results | Polls ]
Comments:150 | Votes:12033

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