Cody Taylor

It’s not news that journalism is in crisis. Solutions are scarce, and our democracy is at risk. Journalism needs great hackers. Not just nerds, but programmers who care – about the values of journalism and the power of a free press to hold government accountable.

Twice this week, I’ve engaged in conversations about Apple missing the boat on potentially sweet markets that would have fit right into its iTunes growth strategy. Amazon’s Kindle-DX and the announcement by Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser of a forthcoming product, code-named Facet. Real’s DVD-ripping technology is should be available in iTunes.

ChrisPaget writes “Thinking about buying Alienware (now owned by Dell)? Think again. After buying an almost-new Alienware laptop on eBay, I’ve spent the last week trying to get hold of a Smart Bay caddy to connect a second hard drive (about 0 for of bent metal). Four different Alienware teams have refused to even give me a price on this accessory, instead accusing me of stealing the machine since I didn’t buy it directly from their eBay store. They want me to persuade the eBay seller I did buy it from to add me as an authorized user of his Alienware account — they have no concept of ‘ownership transfer’ and instead assume that if you’re not in their system, you must be a thief.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hugh Pickens writes “Work resumed this week on the five-year project to link a chain of tower-mounted sensors and other surveillance equipment over most of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. The network of cameras, radar, and communications gear is intended to speed deployment of US Border Patrol officers to intercept illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and other violators, yielding greater ‘operational control’ over the vast and rugged area. A M pilot project for the Secure Border Initiative, or ‘SBInet,’ carried out in the Bush administration, was generally considered a colossal IT failure. Since that time the DHS has given the prime contractor, Boeing, another 0M. The government says it has learned many lessons and made many changes in the program since the previous pilot rushed off-the-shelf equipment into operation without testing. The Obama administration has lowered the cost estimate for the 5-year project by .1B, to .7B, mainly by deferring work on the most difficult 200 miles of the border, in southwest Texas.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

theodp writes “What do you do for an encore after you’ve shown the world it’s possible to build a ,000 car? Ratan Tata, head of India’s giant Tata conglomerate, now plans to build, 30 miles outside of Mumbai, 1,200 tiny apartments that will sell for ,800 to ,400 each. Sure, they’re small (floor plans), but keep in mind that you can pay a quarter of a million bucks for a 250-sq.-ft. studio in the East Village. Time reports that Tata has had to beef up security to handle the rush of buyers who want to plunk down their 0 deposits (yes, that’s two hundred dollars!). Who would’ve thought you could make IKEA homes look pricey?” The Businessweek.com article says that the apartments are aimed at someone making ,000 to ,000 per year (Time says ,000). In Mumbai, a call center operator with 10 to 20 years of experience barely qualifies at ,400 annually. 70% of the country’s 1.2 billion people live on 1/20 as much.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

theodp writes “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what’s the noblest Amazon Kindle DX project of all? While other universities announced similar programs, Princeton is boasting its project is unique in that it will focus on sustainability by reducing the amount of electronic-reserve course materials that students print. Under the pilot program, ,000 will reportedly be used to provide 50 lucky Princeton students with 9 Kindle DX devices loaded with materials for three courses. In a FAQ, students are told not to worry about ‘this time of severe economic constraints’ — Princeton and Amazon have managed to tap into a fund specifically endowed to support sustainability projects to provide Kindles at no cost. In addition to a ,000 grant from the High Meadows Foundation, which is headed by Princeton alum Carl Ferenbach (who, coincidentally, serves on the Board of Trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund with the wife of Amazon Director John Doerr), a matching amount will be provided by Princeton alum Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. The E-reader Pilot Program has more information.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Uh-oh. The C library is an essential core component of any Unix-like operating system, and for Debian to switch from the well-established Glibc is big news. This blog post explains the reasons behind the move to EGLIBC, noting technical aspects such as a consistent stable branch, support for different shells and the ability to optimise for size