Computer Information - myOddPc
Apple seeds updated iPhone 2.0 beta, not many changes
Filed under: Cellphones
Looks like Apple's been passing around a new working version of the iPhone 2.0 beta firmware -- not too many changes since the
last release we saw, though. So far, from what we can tell the build is now officially 2.0 (before it was
registered as 1.2), the Cisco VPN settings got some tweaks, and the root-level mail / ActiveSync settings have been reshuffled a bit. We'll let you know if anything else pops up.
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PSP slim modded for dual analog sticks
Filed under: Gaming
Been longing for a second analog stick on your PSP? Modder LordNico's got you covered with the Razor X (seriously, where do these guys come up with their names?), a user-installable analog stick that appears to mimic the functions of your standard four button pad. (In other words, getting the games to take advantage of the controls is another matter entirely.) Apparently details of the mod will be released soon enough for those brave enough to consider relocating their power switch to the start button -- yikes.
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Original content coming to Xbox 360
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
We were kind of wondering when it was finally going to happen: Microsoft's inked a deal with a production company to do original content for the Xbox 360. The licensed back catalog of stuff is good and all, but this would fill that niche in between Xbox 360's digital downloads and long-promised IPTV. No word yet on when it's coming, just that we can expect the usual compliment of Hollywood pap.
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NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX triple-SLI rig benched
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming
Looks like the first NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX cards have made their way out in the world -- officially announced or not -- and TweakTown's got the benches. Performance gains seem marginal in triple-SLI over dual, but hey, those drivers probably aren't finished and these cards aren't official, so we recommend withholding judgment until it's all legit.
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Swiss Bank Secrecy Under Renewed Attack
Stanislav_J writes "All you wealthy Slashdotters better start making alternate arrangements for stashing your millions. Switzerland's storied role as discreet banker to the world's tax-avoiding wealthy is under threat like never before, and this time the country ultimately may not be able to stop the rest of the world from prying into those legendary 'secret' accounts, said to contain between $1 trillion and $2 trillion. A massive German tax-evasion scandal is putting pressure on the Swiss to cooperate, and the rest of Europe is also hardening their resolve to force change upon them. Per the article, 'The official Swiss reaction has been self-conscious detachment, which they hope will deflate the issue,' but even their own citizens are not too concerned about those outside their borders: 80% of Swiss support the banking confidentiality law, but that number drops into the 40s when it is applied to foreigners. Pressure is also coming from US pols — not the 'let's pry into everyone's business' Republicans, but the 'make the rich pay their fair share' Democrats, including Illinois Senator (and presidential candidate) Barack Obama."
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Newspapers Are Dying, Blog At 11
The New Yorker is running a long and thoughtful piece by Eric Alterman on the death and life of the American newspaper. It's not news that newspapers are dying, but the acceleration of the process in the last few years is startling: "Independent, publicly traded American newspapers have lost forty-two per cent of their market value in the past three years... The columnist Molly Ivins complained, shortly before her death, that the newspaper companies' solution to their problem was to make 'our product smaller and less helpful and less interesting.'" The article goes on to profile The Huffington Post as exemplar of what is replacing paper and ink. "The Huffington Post's editorial processes are based on what Peretti has named the 'mullet strategy.' ('Business up front, party in the back' is how his trend-spotting site BuzzFeed glosses it.) 'User-generated content is all the rage, but most of it totally sucks,' Peretti says. The mullet strategy invites users to 'argue and vent on the secondary pages, but professional editors keep the front page looking sharp.
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Practical Experience As a Beginning Programmer?
LuckyLefty01 writes "I'm 21, going to college, and working part time doing odd jobs like math tutoring. In the past nine months or so, I've discovered and taken to programming (so far mostly C/C++/Obj-C). I am now looking seriously at something in this area as an eventual full time job. Since I don't have much scheduled this coming summer, it would be great to try to get a job of some sort at a tech-related company in order to get some practical experience in the field. Even if I don't have the background to get a job involving actual programming, I think that the knowledge of how such a company works would be valuable. Fortunately, I live in the SF Bay Area, so there should be plenty of companies around. I'm flexible about what I'm going to be doing, and very willing to learn just about anything anybody cares to teach me. If there's some (or even quite a bit of) boring grunt work involved, I can do that too. What type of job would benefit an aspiring but inexperienced programmer the most? What methods might I use to find such a job?"
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Record Setting Silicon Resonator Reaches 4.51 GHz
bibekpaudel brings news that researchers from Cornell University have developed a very small silicon microresonator that vibrates at the highest frequency ever recorded for such a device: 4.51 GHz. Typical quartz-crystal oscillators, commonly used in electronics as clock signals, are about a millimeter wide and operate in the KHz - MHz range. The newly developed microresonator measures 8.5 micrometers long and 40 micrometers wide, making it ideal for use in smaller circuits and microprocessing. Quoting: "One of the advantages of silicon microresonators is that they can be integrated directly into microchips using conventional manufacturing techniques, making them cheaper to produce and easier to fabricate small. Also, multiple resonators of different frequencies could be put on the same chip, says Ville Kaajakari, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University. In a cell phone, for example, high-frequency resonators could filter out interference from other sources of radio signals."
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Alternate Baseball Universes
Jamie found a NYTimes op-ed by a grad student and a professor from Cornell, outlining some research they did into alternate baseball universes. The goal was to find out how unlikely in fact was Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, played out in the 1941 season. No one since has even come close to that record. The math guys ran simulations of the entire history of baseball from 1885 on — 10,000 of them. For each simulation they put each player up to the plate for each at-bat in each game in each year, just like it happened; and they rolled the dice on him, based on his actual hitting stats for that season. (Their algorithm sounds far simpler than whatever the Strat-O-Matic guys use.) The result: Joltin' Joe's record is not merely likely, it's basically a sure thing. Every alternate universe produced a steak of 39 games or better; one reached 109 games. Joe DiMaggio was not the likeliest player in the history of the game to accomplish the record, not by a long shot.
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11-Year-Old Becomes Network Admin for Alabama School
alphadogg points out a story about 11-year-old Jon Penn, who took over control of a 60-computer school network in Alabama after the old administrator suddenly left. Penn provides technical support, selects software, and teaches his classmates about computers. From NetworkWorld: "The first thing Jon found as he leapt into the role of network manager was that he had to map out the network to find out what was on it. He bought some tools for this at CompUSA and realized there was an ungodly amount of computer viruses and spam, so he pressed the school to invest in filtering and antivirus protection. 'These computers are so old they don't support all antivirus programs,' Penn says. The school took advantage of a Microsoft effort called Fresh Start that offers free software upgrades for schools with donated computers, switching from Windows 98 to Windows 2000."
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