May 3 2009

Acer Says Windows 7 To Ship On 23 October

Slatterz writes “Acer’s UK managing director has revealed the day that Windows 7 systems are expected to begin shipping. Bobby Watkins said that Acer will start offering systems sporting the new Microsoft operating system on 23 October, confirming earlier reports that Windows 7 would ship ahead of Microsoft’s original target of early 2010.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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May 3 2009

Looking Back At the Other Kind of Virus

Slatterz writes “All this panic over a strain of flu got these people thinking about some of the more virulent computer pandemics that have hit in recent years. While a computer virus pales in seriousness to a human outbreak, malware attacks can still take a huge toll on businesses throughout the world. This list of the top ten worst viruses includes some interesting trivia, including ARPANET’s Creeper virus in 1971, how early attempts at copy protection resulted in Brain, and MyDoom’s denial of service attack on SCO.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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May 3 2009

Why Is It So Difficult To Fire Bad Teachers?

Ant writes with this depressing story about how public schools sometimes work: “This six-page Los Angeles Times article shares its investigation to find ‘the process [of firing poor teachers] so arduous that many school principals don’t even try (One-page version) of the article), except in the very worst cases. Jettisoning a teacher solely because he or she can’t teach is rare …'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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May 3 2009

Samsung Papyrus E-Book Reader, Coming Soon

kanewm writes with a snippet from Portable-Ebook-Reader.NET: “Samsung’s new, highly portable e-book reader, dubbed ‘Papyrus,’ will be available in Korea in June 2009 and in the UK and North America sometime later (likely within several months).” As the site notes, though, this lacks some features of the Kindle, the obvious choice for comparison in the American market.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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May 3 2009

Warehouse or No, UK’s Expensive Net Spying Plan Proceeds

Vincent West writes with this excerpt from The Register: “Spy chiefs are already spending hundreds of millions of pounds on a mass internet surveillance system, despite Jacqui Smith’s announcement earlier this week that proposals for a central warehouse of communications data had been dumped on privacy grounds. The system — uncovered today by The Register and The Sunday Times — is being installed under a GCHQ project called Mastering the Internet (MTI). It will include thousands of deep packet inspection probes inside communications providers’ networks, as well as massive computing power at the intelligence agency’s Cheltenham base, ‘the concrete doughnut.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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May 3 2009

Captivating Winery Websites For Your Inspiration

From the Napa Wineries in California to the vineyards of Australia and France, the beautiful designs of these wine maker’s websites embody the spirit of the vine. Trends for winery websites have been leaning towards a dynamic Flash introduction, animation and beautiful graphics, which would give the best representation of the products.

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May 3 2009

Linux Market Share Passes 2%!!

W3Counter.com just releasted their april market share stats and linux passed 2.16% for the first time ever.

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May 3 2009

7 Totally Unique Flickr Search Tools

Sometimes it’s simply overwhelming how many gorgeous photos there are on Flickr (Flickr reviews) – sifting through them to find a picture to use on your blog or to just admire can be a chore. Luckily for us however, Flickr has an API, meaning that some creative developers have built alternative Flickr search engines.

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May 3 2009

Top 10 Battery Hacks, Tips, And Tricks

The gadgets you love don’t always love you back—at least when it comes to battery life. But you can get more from your laptop, your iPod, your phone, and other devices with these 10 techniques.

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May 3 2009

French pols reconsider piracy bill

French legislators reconsidered a bill Wednesday that would punish people who illegally download music and films by cutting off their Internet connections.

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