Software Blog » data-storage

‘Inside the World of Dinosaurs’ Feeds the Dino Lover in All of Us

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As near as I can tell, almost every kid goes through an intense dinosaur phase, and for some adults, the fascination remains for decades. Even years after the movie “Jurassic Park” brought dinos to life, I would still eat up all the dinosaur documentary shows I could find, like “Walking With Dinosaurs.” When I saw Inside the World of Dinosaurs as an app made specifically for the iPad, I was interested. When I saw that it was narrated by Stephen Fry, the UK actor, comedian and writer, I bought it.

FOSS’ Factious Gender Divide

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

There’s no denying that the FOSS community has many virtues, but gender equality doesn’t seem to be one of them. Gender-related issues and tensions have plagued the FOSS world for as long as many of us can remember, and the problem has already been picked apart on these pages time, time and time again. Well guess what? It’s still a problem. That can hardly be denied. Linux bloggers varied widely, however, in their opinions as to what should be done.

All Hail Debian, King of the Web Server World

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

There’s nothing like a popularity contest to elicit a wide array of opinions — particularly those of the opposing kind — but recently an example appeared in the Linux blogosphere that seems to be something of an exception. “Debian is now the most popular Linux distribution on web servers,” proclaimed W3Techs in a blog post from earlier this month. A few mildly divergent comments were expressed, to be sure, but for the most part, Linux geeks appeared to be largely in agreement. Could this be a historic first?

IBM Discovers How to Store Data in a Dozen Atoms

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:53:26 +0000

Researchers at IBM’s Almaden Labs have created a 12-atom magnetic memory bit, in a continuation of work on atomic-level memory storage first posited in 1959 by American physicist Richard Feynman. Disk drives currently use about 1 million atoms to store a single bit of information, according to IBM. The scientists used antiferromagnetism to achieve their result. They stored the ASCII code for the word “Think” on 96 iron atoms using this approach.

Going All-FOSS With a New Computer

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Linux bloggers’ New Year’s resolutions tend to be many and varied in any given year, but one most can surely agree upon is the desire to outfit a new PC with nothing but free software. That sentiment, indeed, is just the one that was anticipated over at Computeractive UK, which published a compelling little story along those lines back in December. “I want to use only free software on my new PC. Where do I start?” the piece began. Of course, as any good Linux geek knows, there’s a wide world of FOSS out there.

Chamber Raid: Hackers Target US Commerce Lobby

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:54:46 +0000

As the U.S. government continues to pound out proposals for getting its IT security ducks in a row, it appears it’s not the only party in Washington, D.C., to have a problem with network intrusion. IT systems belonging to the lobbying group the United States Chamber of Commerce were breached by hackers using servers located in China, according to a recent report. The Chamber’s members include most of the largest U.S. corporations, and the organization has more than 100 affiliates worldwide.

New MINE Tools Can Refine Mountains of Data

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:25:21 +0000

Massive data sets — a season’s worth of baseball statistics, for example, or health data from around the world — can contain some very revealing knowledge. The problem confronting researchers, though, is finding it. That may be a little easier with some tools developed by scientists at Harvard University and the Broad Institute. The suite of tools called “MINE” — Maximal Information-based Nonparametric Exploration — were revealed this week in an article published in the journal Science.

The 5 Pillars of Master Data Management

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

In the last three years, corporate views of master data management have rapidly evolved from data-centric confusion to a point where companies now focus on the consumers of master data and the business processes that consume it. In the next two to five years, the companies that use this MDM momentum will gain a strategic advantage. Companies are often tempted to start by defining what master data looks like versus starting by asking, “which applications and processes need master data” and then asking what data they need.

Higgs Boson May Be Running Out of Hiding Places

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:55:22 +0000

Scientists are getting very close to proving or disproving the existence of the subatomic particle known as the “Higgs boson.” The list of possible hiding spots for the Higgs boson particle has been narrowed down, according to teams carrying out experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Geneva Switzerland. The existence of Higgs boson — also know as the “God particle” — is key to explaining why there is mass in the universe. It will likely be another year before scientists have enough data to say whether the elusive particle really exists.

Texting While Driving a Growing Scourge

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:48:52 +0000

There is good news and bad news for driver safety in the U.S.: The good news is that highway deaths fell to 32,885 in 2010, the lowest level since 1949, according to the NHTSA. The bad news, however, is delivered in the same report. The NHTSA unveiled a new measure of fatalities related to distracted driving, which it calls “distraction-affected crashes.” There were an estimated 3,092 fatalities in this category last year — despite the plethora of local laws passed to ban such behavior, and despite the numerous public safety and education campaigns to discourage it.

Next Kinect Could Be a Lot More Understanding

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

The next generation of Microsoft’s Kinect input device may be able to read users’ lips and emotions. The forthcoming device, which is expected to come bundled with Xbox consoles, reportedly will not just sense motions the way the current Kinect generation does, but will also allow games to read lips, recognize which way players are facing, and detect when they are angry. To assess players’ emotional states, Kinect 2 may track their facial characteristics, as well as the pitch and volume of their voices.

New Mighty Microlattice Material Weighs Next to Nothing

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:53:39 +0000

A team of researchers led by Tobias Schaedler of HRL Labs has developed an ultralight metallic microlattice that’s 10,000 times lighter than ultralight aerogels and carbon nanotube foams. Ultralight cellular materials weigh less than 10 milligrams per cubic centimeter. “An ordered lattice is inherently stronger than a foam with random porosity,” Schaedler told TechNewsWorld. Uses for ultralight cellular materials include thermal insulation, battery electrodes and damping for acoustic, vibration and shock energy.

TOS Trivialities Could Become Law if DoJ Gets Its Way

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Something as simple and common as using an online pseudonym could technically be a violation of the law if the United States Department of Justice gets what it wants. The DoJ on Tuesday asked Congress to impose harsher penalties on various types of cyberactivities, including cybercrime. The goal, DoJ Deputy Section Chief Richard Downing told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, is to improve cybersecurity for the American people, the nation’s critical infrastructure and the federal government’s networks and computers.

Battery Breakthrough Could Give Gadgets Longer-Lasting Juice Boxes

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:03:38 +0000

Researchers at Northwestern University say they’ve made significant progress in research that could lead to longer life for the rechargeable batteries found in electronic gadgets. A team of engineers working on a lithium-ion battery said that by taking a chemical engineering approach, they’ve made a power cell that not only lasts longer, but can also charge 10 times faster than normal batteries. The scientists looked into the way current batteries charge.

Battery Breakthrough Could Give Gadgets Longer-Lasting Juice Boxes

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:03:38 +0000

Data Integration in the Cloud – or Not

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Data integration is critical for companies that need to combine systems and databases after a merger or acquisition, or need to link legacy systems to new business applications. This need is vast throughout commercial and public industries, and the task can be daunting, especially for CIOs and IT managers of small- to medium-sized businesses, whose IT staffs and budgets may be constrained. Add to that the rise of cloud-based data integration services and the decision becomes even more confusing.

How to Publish Your Own DVDs Now That Lulu Has Quit

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Open publishing platform Lulu is known for making a global print-on-demand, disc manufacturing, and distribution and fulfillment network available to independent authors, filmmakers and other individuals. For several years, creators have been able to make everything from hard-cover and paperback books to photo calendars, CDs and DVDs available in both Web-based and brick-and-mortar outlets around the world. Until this month that is, when Lulu inexplicably dropped the CD and DVD publishing element on its site and abruptly shuttered the catalog to concentrate on print publishing only.

CarTunes Helps You Master the Art of No-Look iPhone Music Control

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

I’ve never particularly cared for the iPhone’s built-in iPod app. It’s great at playing music, sorting it, letting you make on-the-fly playlists and doing that cool Cover Flow thing. It’s a whole lot more interesting to look at than the iPod I had in 2005, that’s for sure. But the one thing that hangs me up about the iPhone’s music player is its control layout. It has small touchscreen buttons, and the volume control is the only thing that gives you any kind of tactile feedback. It’s the only control you can feel out with your fingertips and use without having to look at the screen.

Titanium Backup Pro Makes Moving Apps a Snap

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Anyone who’s gone through the painful task of buying a new smartphone knows that the process of re-installing apps and getting the phone configured just-so is a major job. While the Android Market does keep a list of your apps in its library, automatic syncing is hit-or-miss. You can manually send each app to the new device with a desktop Web browser, but that’s time-consuming. There are also peculiar geo restrictions and inexplicable permissions issues that allow an app to be installed on one device but not another. One way around all this, if you’re rooted, is Titanium Backup Pro.

PhotoRec Heroically Rescues Deleted Files

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

How many times have you accidentally deleted a photo you really needed from a digital camera or attached storage medium. We’ve all been there and done that! Sure, if you delete most files — even some standard graphics images — from the hard drive, the Linux trash can visibly holds the goods. But unless you know about PhotoRec, your deleted photographic images and files from anywhere else stay buried in hidden-file hell. PhotoRec is a powerful recovery tool that is part of a larger disk and file recovery package.