Girls Love Gadgets

Galactic_grub writes “In the future, your place of work (or apartment) may very well spy on you. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be able to name and shame you for all your nasty habits. Researchers at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) have devised a ‘dumb’ surveillance system that monitors the movements of workers without identifying them individually. The idea is to have a computer system automatically configure the air-conditioning to save money, or illuminate the most appropriate escape signs in an emergency.”

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mrneutron2004 writes “A French physician and ardent linux support is the one man you can all thank for adding support for 352 webcams in Linux. The Open Source OS world may still be a bit of a mess when competing with the ease of Windows, but efforts like this make you wonder. One man with drive, tenacity, and no funding does what no one else can do. And none of the major linux distributions back this guy’s efforts, even the big players dipping into the corporate world’s coffers.”

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The Supreme Court today sided with Microsoft in another important patent case filed by AT&T. The case centered around whether selling Windows overseas infringed on AT&T’s patents that are in Windows. Microsoft argued [PDF] that the copies being sold in Asia were “…not technically supplied from the United States because overseas manufacturers of its computers made copies of the software from a master disk and installed those copies into the operating system. Microsoft said it could not be considered a supplier since the copies, not the original software, were in the computers built abroad.” Now, while I support the weakening of software patents in general, by this logic, would that mean that MS’s patents don’t apply to those that use pirated copies of Windows?

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Andy Updegrove writes “Governments are beginning to realize that perhaps the Internet really has changed everything, at least for them, and that they are going to have to deal with new responsibilities in this area. How will they deal with financial and medical data breaches? What can they do to ensure that first responders will be able to communicate the next time that terrorists strike in the Homeland, and how will the refugees of the next Katrina be able to access their electronic medical records? And what must governments do to ensure that public records will be available in fifty years, if they no longer maintain paper archives? Whether government should incline towards leading, following or simply getting out of the way is a matter upon which there are likely to be strongly held differences of opinion. It’s also likely, though, that government will not have the luxury of opting for the third choice in some of the areas just mentioned. How well government chooses among those roles, and how well it executes when it chooses to lead, will likely have a profound impact on our lives in the years ahead.”

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s1axter writes “A week and a half ago I received Linux Appliance Design by Bob Smith, John Hardin, Graham Phillips and Bill Pierce, published by No Starch Press. This is one of No Starch’s latest titles and was released in the beginning of April. As a hardware/embedded systems guy I was really eager to get my hands on the book. For those who don’t know what the book is about, it’s about making an application specific utility, an electronic tool or “appliance” that can be used for a specific task. The book defines an appliance as “A device designed to primarily perform a single function” and that’s exactly what they do.” Read on for the rest of S1axter’s review.

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AlexGr writes to tell us that Jeff Gould has a somewhat jaded look at the commercial push of Open Source and what that may be doing to the overall Open Source movement. “I’ve been a Linux fan for years, but lately I wonder if the drum beating from the big IT vendors in favor of open source hasn’t finally slipped over the edge from sincere enthusiasm to meaningless — or in some cases downright hypocritical — sloganeering. The example that brought this gloomy thought to mind was a recent IBM press release touting a ‘new open client solution’ as an ‘alternative to vendor lock-in’. Wow. Imagine that. An alternative to vendor lock-in.”

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If you were to just look at downloadable content this week, Wii and 360 owners would have a lot to cheer about. Virtual Console downloads include the (under-appreciated) Legend of the Mystical Ninja and the original Castlevania. Xbox 360 owners can finally sink their teeth into the board-game spectacular that is Settlers of Catan. Classic titles Millipede and Centipede will also be on offer via Xbox Live Arcade. Unfortunately, there are some less cheery things to discuss as well. Virtual Console sales are down, apparently, and some analysts are questioning whether Nintendo’s success may be bad for the industry overall. As for the 360 … the Elite may be bringing back some old problems. ‘Red Rings of Death’ have already been reported with the just-released consoles, and DRM issues with Live Arcade titles on the ‘upgraded’ system are making some new owners frustrated.

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Roland Piquepaille writes “Several companies have started to sell power ‘pads’ that can charge your cellphone when you put it on the pad’s surface. But these silicon-based pads are expensive — and relatively ’specialized.’ Now, Japanese researchers have built a plastic sheet which could power all the devices placed close to it. So far, this 4-layer sheet, which uses printed organic transistors and plastic MEMS switches, can deliver up to 40 watts of power — enough for some laptops. The technology is apparently efficient and inexpensive to produce. But as the devices to recharge will need to incorporate a special receiver, don’t expect to see these plastic power sheets on sale before several years.”

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John Reid, Home Secretary, has called upon tech manufacturers to improve the security on their gadgets to help with his recent push to frustrate criminals. Inviting Apple, Sony, and several others to his crime fighting summit Reid hopes to attack the rising robbery numbers in the most recent Home Office figures.

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phyrebyrd writes “How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent lightbulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labor — unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn’t include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.”

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