Wolfram Alpha: A Test Run.
PC World.com 20090517
Wolfram Alpha is online for testing throughout the weekend, in anticipation of the online knowledge base officially going live on Monday. Although the launch team warned in the Wolfram Alpha Blog that the site may go down periodically throughout the weekend, anyone has a chance to check out how well it answers fact-based questions from its database of information organized by Wolfram Alpha staff. How well does it work? Well, it was able to find quickly how many calories are in a serving of cocoa puffs, what day of the week I was born on, and PC Worlds circulation. Entering Star Trek automatically pulled up the J. J. Abrams film and told me it was released 0. 022 years ago. Besides providing information on search terms, Wolfram does a great job at conversions and answering equations. I was able to convert the value of my pocket change from dollars to yen and figured out what a 20 percent tip would be for a $25. 86 meal and how to break that tip up into currency. At the bottom of the page you can take a look at the sources Wolfram has drawn from to answer questions about your topic, or save your results as a PDF. The PDF is basically a reproduction of the Web site; it would be nice if it was reworked in the future to be more printer-friendly. I was quickly impressed with the sites capability to return relevant information about my search terms just as fast as Google would refer me to a list of indexed sites. I couldnt help but try to push Wolfram to its limits. Working Wolfram I started simple. I entered: How old is the oldest person? After I pressed enter, the logo above the search bar animated to show the site was churning through information. In less than a second, Wolfram gave me the name Jeanne Louise Calment, the oldest person ever ...
Ubuntu One Service Stirs Up Open-Source Controversy.
PC World.com 20090518
Ubuntu One Service Stirs Up Open-Source Controversy Latest Linux Line Posts: Monday, May 18, 2009 Ubuntu One Service Stirs Up Open-Source Controversy Thursday, May 14, 2009 Switching My Dad to Linux--Part Two Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Switching My Dad to Linux--Part One Friday, May 08, 2009 Trademarks: The Hidden Menace Friday, May 01, 2009 Top 7 Reasons People Quit Linux All Linux Line Posts More Business Center Blogs The commercial sponsor and originator of the Ubuntu project, Canonical, has stepped into new territory with the launch of a storage and sync service called Ubuntu One. In the tradition of open source marketing, this has been a quiet product launch, and appears to have come from nowhere in the last week or two. Its essentially an online storage service for desktop users thats like the online storage/backup solution Dropbox. Although presently in invitation-only beta, once signed-up each user gets 2GB of online storage free of charge, and can buy 10GB for $10 per month. Once signed-up, you need only install a small applet program on each Ubuntu computer you have. Youll then get what appears to be a network drive that files can be saved to. By installing the client applet on each of your Ubuntu computers (only Ubuntu at present!), you can sync files between your computers. It seems the plan is to tightly integrate Ubuntu One into many of Ubuntus applications, so that storing files online will be seamless. I use Dropbox on all my computers and I have to say that its extremely useful, although the chief feature for me is cross-platform support. This is presently lacking from Ubuntu One. Details about Ubuntu One are a little scant right now, at least outside of developer circles, but presumably the storage is secure, and nothing is sent or retrieved from the server without being encrypted by a private key. Dropbox adopts a similar policy. Its a neat idea, and kudos to Canonical for thinking it up. In the world of open source people are extremely hesitant to open their wallets ...
Trend Micro adquiere a Third Brigade.
Diario Ti.com 20090518
Trend Micro ha anunciado un acuerdo definitivo de compra para adquirir Third Brigade, una compañía de capital privado dedicada al desarrollo de software de seguridad y cumplimiento de normativas con sede en Ottawa, Canadá. Diario Ti: Trend Micro adquiere este negocio para impulsar su estrategia de seguridad para centros de datos dinámicos y proporcionar a sus clientes acceso al software de seguridad y cumplimiento de normativas críticas y servicios para hacer frente a las vulnerabilidades. Todo esto contribuye a la protección de los servidores cloud, virtuales y físicos, así como de los puestos de trabajo corporativos del malware sofisticado y de la actividad maliciosa en la red. La compra está pendiente de recibir las aprobaciones pertinentes y se espera que la operación quede cerrada a lo largo del segundo trimestre de 2009. Los términos económicos del acuerdo no han sido revelados. Trend Micro ha sido una empresa pionera y líder global en el desarrollo de software de protección de servidores desde hace más de 10 años, explica Eva Chen, CEO de Trend Micro. Esta compra refuerza nuestro compromiso por mantener ese liderazgo y nuestro continuo esfuerzo por suministrar soluciones innovadoras que se adapten de forma excepcional a los centros de datos dinámicos, a medida que se amplían desde los entornos físicos a los virtuales y a los entornos cloud-computing públicos y privados. Los productos y tecnología de Third Brigade complementan y amplían la protección que ofrece Trend Micro contra el malware a los entornos de centros de datos dinámicos. Ofrecen seguridad mejorada, mayor rendimiento y mayor sencillez en el despliegue para las organizaciones y proveedores de servicios que utilicen la virtualización en los centros de datos, incluyendo los entornos cloud tanto públicos como privados. Del mismo modo, permiten a los administradores de centros de datos utilizar y proteger sus inversiones en virtualización, además de maximizar el ahorro de costes con mayores ratios de consolidación, a ...
Bioshock 2, En la piel de un Big Daddy.
Europa Press.es 20090516
MADRID, 16 May. (EUROPA PRESS) - Uno de los videojuegos más aclamados de la presente generación de consolas se prepara para recibir secuela: Bioshock. En esta nueva entrega del shooter subjetivo, los desarrolladores preparan una sorprendente propuesta: poner a los jugadores en la piel del temible y carismático enemigo Big Daddy de la primera parte. Buena sorpresa tenían en las manos 2K Games para el desarrollo de la secuela de uno de los shooters que mejor han explotado las capacidades técnicas de Playstation 3 y Xbox 360, sin descuidar un control lleno de posibilidades y una ambientación sobresaliente. Bioshock puso el listón muy alto. Queríamos sorprenderos, esperaseis lo que esperaseis, ha dicho el director creativo de Bioshock 2, Jordan Thomas, en un diario de desarrollo en vídeo. Thomas fue diseñador de niveles de la primera parte. Razón no le falta, ya que los primeros datos del juego están consiguiendo sorprender. Para empezar, Bioshock 2 no sólo tendrá un aparentemente apasionante modo para un jugador, donde se espera una historia y ambientación a la altura de la primera parte. Además, incorporará un modo multijugador, que fue reclamado por muchos en Bioshock, y que según prometen desde 2K, no afectará a la experiencia en solitario. Sin embargo, las sorpresas no acaban ahí. El argumento se situará 10 años después de los primeros suceso ...
Are these small, ultralightweight, inexpensive mobile PCs for you?.
PC World.com 20090524
Introduction The term netbook, coined by Intel, conveys little useful information about this category of machines. Sure, they all have wireless networking, but so does every other laptop. What the term originally helped to identify was a class of small, ultralightweight, cheap-as-dirt mobile PCs. Netbooks are tiny--usually between half and two-thirds the size of a garden-variety laptop--and they typically weigh around 2. 5 pounds. With their cool, slim designs, they outclass some fancy ultraportables. And best of all, these diminutive laptops start at around $200 (in some cases $100, when purchased as part of a mobile broadband promotional deal). But that doesnt mean a netbook is for everyone. These are basic computing devices that will meet only basic computing needs. If youre looking to do a little bit of word processing, maybe edit a few simple spreadsheets, and want to surf the Web, a netbook will suffice. But if youre looking to edit high-resolution photos or work with video, a netbook isnt for you: These systems have seriously limited processing power. You can listen to some tunes, but dont expect first-ratesound. And you might be able to watch a few online videos, but youll be looking at a relatively tiny screen. In determining what makes a netbook a netbook, and not an ultraportable laptop, we take several factors into consideration. Chief among them: price, size, and the CPU under its hood. But net ...
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