firehose

mikejuk writes "The founders of the original MySQL, the open-source database, are getting back together in a merger between Monty Program and SkySQL. SkySQL was created by around two dozen former MySQL executives and investors after Oracle bought MySQL from Sun. Widenius started Monty Program AB and created the MariaDB database from some of MySQL's open source code. The merger will provide a stronger rival to MySQL, so reassuring users who are worried about Oracle's future plans for the database."

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A new Hyundai ad is so horribly insensitive that it must be seen to be believed.

By Alexa Ray Corriea on Apr 25, 2013 at 10:15a

Sales of Nintendo's Wii U have slowed due to people's misconception that the console is simply a peripheral for the Wii, as well as the long gaps between first-party game releases, global president Satoru Iwata said in the company's recent financial results briefing.

Iwata said Nintendo has been unable to successfully demonstrate the value of the platform to its consumers, "which has been a grand challenge" for Nintendo. He also said the intervals of time between Nintendo's key titles have "been so much longer than we expected" that the company has been unable to maintain "momentum" for the console.

"Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii," said Iwata. "We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product."

Iwata said Nintendo will make a greater effort to help consumers understand the console and bulk up its software lineup. Nintendo plans to "intensively launch" key titles throughout the rest of year to help the Wii U regain its sale momentum, beginning with Pikmin 3 on July 13 in Japan and Aug. 4 in North America.

"As a decisive factor in buying a console is that you cannot play a much-anticipated title without the hardware, we will do our best to have you feel from this summer to the end of this year that there are plenty of great games for Wii U," Iwata said.

The company will share more information on upcoming titles and release dates at E3. Last night the company announced it would do so in smaller focused events and would forgo its annual E3 press conference.

BBC News

Leveson report: Newspapers reject press regulation plans BBC News The newspaper industry has rejected a plan for press regulation agreed by the three main political parties in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry. The newspapers opposed the idea of a regulator backed by a royal charter, and have revealed an alternative plan. Newspapers spurn Government press regulation proposalsMarketing Week British papers propose alternative regulatory modelThe Sunday Business Post Publishers reject post-Leveson regulation planChannel 4 News Metro -Newbury and Thatcham Chronicle -Evening Standard all 27 news articles »

By Griffin McElroy on Apr 25, 2013 at 10:39a

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD, an iOS bundle of the first three titles in the justice-seeking adventure series, has been delayed to July, Capcom's Christian Svensson recently revealed on the company's forums.

The game, which lets players purchase Ace Attorney, Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations piecemeal or in a single bundle, was originally scheduled to hit the iOS App Store last fall. It was pushed back from that window, and expected to launch sometime this month; however, Svensson stated on the Ask Capcom forums that it would be missing that window, as well.

"For reasons unknown to me, the release has slid another several months to July," Svensson wrote. "Sorry guys."

Barence writes "Ubuntu has shelved the idea of moving to rolling releases, and will continue to release a new version every six months. Earlier this year, Ubuntu developers discussed the idea of moving to rolling releases, with new features added to the OS as and when they were ready. However, In an interview with PC Pro, Canonical CEO Jane Silber said the developers had taken a 'cold, hard look at our long-standing practices' and decided to stay with twice-yearly releases. It has, however, cut support on non-LTS releases from 18 to nine months." Today, the Ubuntu team have released the latest iteration of Ubuntu, 13.04 ("Raring Ringtail"), along with variants like Kubuntu 13.04.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

vhanstiel:

girlatsunrise:

doppelrahmstufe:

(via via bg4Po.jpg 496×672 pixels)

WE FOUND IT.

WE FOUND BETELGEUSE FIVE.

Remember when we read about touchscreen and ebook before those things exist? Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find myself a nice towel.

Yuri Gagarin as Poseidon at a costume party for cosmonauts, 1965.

A reader sent me an e-mail received from Coca-Cola:

As you know, obesity is an issue that affects all of us. At Coca-Cola, we believe we can help solve it by working together. As you heard back in January, we are committed to doing our part – by offering more low- and no-calorie choices, more portion controlled packages, and useful calorie information in more places than ever before.

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide more information about calories, we want to share a new “Calorie Balance”  infographic that we created. This is posted on our Company website here.

Our infographic is a simple, easy tool that informs people about where Americans’ calories are coming from and what we can all do to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

It communicates government data and third-party published studies in a compelling way, showing that too many calories consumed as compared to those expended can lead to weight gain.

OK.  I can’t resist.  Here’ just one piece of Coke’s infographic:

Guess what #4 is.   And what food is responsible for more than one-third of calories from sugars in U.S. diets?

The infographic gives no guidance about food choices or amounts best for health, but it is quite specific about physical activity.  Do lots!

Overall, I read the infographic as saying “Hey, it’s not our sugar-water that’s making you put on weight.  It’s up to you to choose what you drink and work it off with physical activity.”

Getting active is always good advice, but doesn’t Coke’s phenomenally comprehensive and astronomically expensive  marketing offensive have anything to do with food choices?  Coke must think all that is irrelevant.

I think it’s quite relevant.  And so does the research.

A new local startup called Reputology says it has data to prove biases in online reviews, and on multiple levels. Reputology was founded by MIT grads and helps restaurants and other businesses monitor their reviews on social media sites like Yelp. Since their site when live four months ago, Reputology has attracted clients like Stone Hearth Pizza, which has locations in Cambridge, Allston and beyond. Meanwhile, the company decided to conduct broader, regional analysis now that they were "sitting on all this data," says co-founder Jack Yu.

One bias Reputology found from that research is a preference for the type of cuisine being reviewed. Though more restaurants serving American cuisine are reviewed overall, reviewers tend to be harder on those restaurants than, say, Italian ones. Then there appears to be an inherent bias among users of a particular site, with Yelpers giving higher scores on average than OpenTable users. Also, 48% of Massachusetts reviewers are passive-aggressive according to a count of conjunctions like "but", "although" and "however" that "suggest a critique was on its way after a compliment" says the Reputology blog. Also, non-Minnesotans apparently give lower ratings to Minnesota restaurants than Minnesotans do.

Reputology may soon have data specific to how Bostonians review local restaurants online: stay tuned for that.

· The Reputology Blog [Official Site]
· Reputology [Official Site]
[Photo: Official Site]

When Roger Ebert died earlier this month, the world mourned, remembering a great critic and a great person. Judging by the revelry at this past weekend’s EbertFest in Champaign, Illinois, the mourning period is over, and it’s time to celebrate life. Egged on by Ebert’s widow, Chaz, festival guest and Ebert pal Tilda Swinton led the crowd at the Virginia Theater in a rousing group dance-off set to Barry White’s “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.” With enthusiastic crowds, a tear-inducing boogie by Chaz, and an effusive Swinton, it’s everything you could ask for in a memorial. Watch and cry.

Ebertfest 2013 Dance Along from Ebertfest on Vimeo.

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New Yorker

Missing Brown University Student Confirmed Dead ABC News The body pulled from a river in Providence, Rhode Island two days ago has been identified as missing Brown University student Sidney notre pocket two parties case. Gained national attention when... See More. The body pulled from a river in Providence, ... Body of missing Brown U. student is found in waters off ProvidenceBoston.com Student wrongly tied to Boston bombings found deadDetroit Free Press Sunil Tripathi Found Dead in Providence; Missing Brown Student Was 22The Hollywood Gossip Boston Herald -Reuters all 180 news articles »

Mr. Pond is here.


I wish my printer wouldn't have caused those lines on the image, but I'm still happy with the photoshop job,

matthewgaydos:

My Rory Williams cosplay for C2E2 this Saturday.

I’ll post more pictures on Saturday when I’m more clean shaven and amongst fellow costumed whovians.

Breaking news: Mathew is fucking awesome. 

I most impressed with the photoshop to be honest.

Don’t worry. I don’t mind, but careful what flattery you say to the scimitar…it may fall in love with you.

“If the training staff didn’t make the decision to have him ride the cart into the football building, and had him walk in instead, he would probably be dead.
If O’Shea had Hayden rest for a bit or take a shower, which isn’t unusual, he would probably be dead.
If O’Shea hadn’t seen the play because he was tending to another player or looking at another part of the field, when Hayden started talking about losing vision in his left eye on the training table, he couldn’t immediately rule out a head injury and Hayden would probably be dead.
If O’Shea, without having any way of knowing that Hayden was suffering a life-and-death heart injury in his training room, not followed his instincts and called 9-1-1 immediately, Hayden would probably be dead.
If the first responders in the ambulance hadn’t changed their minds once they got Hayden in the ambulance and took his vital signs, and decided to go right to the trauma center instead of another hospital, Hayden would probably be dead.
If Hayden had gone to another school after junior college, and not one in Houston with one of the world’s best trauma center about four miles away, he would probably be dead.
If his thoracic diaphragm hadn’t also torn, which caused blood to drain into his stomach, Hayden’s heart would have suffocated and he would probably be dead.
If primary surgeon Dr. Ron Albarado hadn’t happened to be at Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute at that moment, and wasn’t able to perform the delicate task of repairing the tear in Hayden’s inferior vena cava, the large vein that carries blood from the lower half of the body back to the heart (“They say it’s like sewing wet toilet paper,” O’Shea said), Hayden would probably be dead.
There is a 95 percent fatality rate with that injury, which is usually seen in car accidents. That injury had never happened on a football field before, and the hit that produced it wasn’t unusual. Had any of the above steps changed, the resulting delay would have been fatal. He was minutes from dying.”

- D.J. Hayden, the draft’s miracle story, probably should have died at Houston last November

savuporo writes "A DC Area Drone User Group has posted an open letter in response to recent comments by Eric Schmidt about banning drones from private use. The closing section reads: 'Personally owned flying robots today have the power to change the balance of power between individuals and large bureaucracies in much the same way the Internet did in the past. And just as the military researchers who developed GPS for guiding munitions could never have imagined their technology would be used in the future to help people conduct health surveys in the world's poorest countries or help people find dates in the world's richest, there is a whole world of socially positive and banal applications for drones that are yet to be discovered. We should embrace this chance that technology provides instead of strangling these opportunities in their infancy. Our hope is that you and the rest of Google's leadership will embrace this pro-technology agenda in the future rather than seeking to stifle it. We would welcome the opportunity to speak further with you about this topic.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Just a month after the band announced it would be putting out a single on member Dave Sitek’s new label, TV On The Radio has announced its split from Interscope Records. Singer Tunde Adebimpe told Spin that the label “can ask for another record,” but he doesn’t think the band’s going to do it, saying, “They did what they did. That’s as diplomatic as I can put that.” (Interscope has been the band’s home since 2006’s Return To Cookie Mountain; prior to that, TVOTR was on Touch And Go.)

Adebimpe also told Spin that the group is working on material for a new record, its first since the death of bassist Gerard Smith in 2011. The band still hasn’t replaced Smith, so Adebimpe says the group is concentrating on putting out single songs for now “until an album seems possible.” The group has ...

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That same night, Hussain was commiserating with a half-Indian, half-German coworker—someone who isn’t Arab or Muslim, but had still been beat up after 9/11 for his looks and his exotic name—when they came up with the idea of making an ‘It Gets Better’-style video for people like them. “We just thought, ‘Something needs to be done.’” Immediately, Hussain sent an email to her 600 Hubspot colleagues, pitching their support with the video, and within 24 hours, she raised over $1,500 from their network, hired a production guy, and found three people who’d faced anti-Muslim discrimination and were willing to be filmed. One of those subjects is the Northeastern student, who, despite the stereotype of her headscarf, identifies as a die-hard Patriots fan. “That’s what we’re trying to get across,” confirmed Hussain. “Regardless of what our background is, we all are Bostonians—no more, no less than any other Bostonian. We all feel the pain that Boston feels, we all feel the love that Boston feels, we all feel the pride that Boston feels and our religious or ethnic background doesn’t keep us from feeling that joy, pride, or sadness.” And then, of course, the worst case scenario turned out to be true: the Tsarnaevs claimed to be Muslims. “We were incredibly disappointed,” said Hussain. “But it’s embedded in our faith and our teachings that killing is not permitted, so I personally do not consider these individuals to be actual followers of the Muslim faith, but rather some radical ideology that exists outside of Islam.”

Having discovered a passion for original craftsmanship now that he’s no longer making music, Vanilla Ice will expand on his second life as a home renovator, lighting designer, and real estate advisor with the equally frozen-in-time counsel of the Amish, signing on to star in the DIY Network series Vanilla Ice Goes Amish later this year. Ice—who does have some previous experience going ninja, at least—will “go Amish” by living with another group that likes to turn off the lights and glow, and who go to the extreme of Mennonite doctrine: an Amish community in Ohio. There they’ll educate Mr. Ice in the old-fashioned ways of Amish construction, as well as the more traditional methods of waxing a chump like a candle, such as using only hand-dipped beeswax. Presumably one future episode will also feature Vanilla Ice being shown how to make a Queen Anne chair ...

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Some of the best monster makers in the business have put together one amazing short, Giant God Warrior Appears In Tokyo (Kyōshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru) — which also happens to be a live-action film from Studio Ghibli!

Read more...

“Why did the CIA support them? Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete. The existence of this policy, rumoured and disputed for many years, has now been confirmed for the first time by former CIA officials. Unknown to the artists, the new American art was secretly promoted under a policy known as the “long leash” - arrangements similar in some ways to the indirect CIA backing of the journal Encounter, edited by Stephen Spender.”

- Modern art was CIA ‘weapon’ - World - News - The Independent

Steve Jackson's Sorcery is on the way to iOS next month from Inkle, a studio formed by ex-PlayStation designer Jon Ingold and industry veteren Joseph Humfrey, "specializing in interactive storytelling."

Steve Jackson's Sorcery is a version of a 1983 Fighting Fantasy gamebook, sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure RPG. The iOS version updates the formula with 3D maps, a touch-based swordfighting system, and graphics.

If you ask nicely, you can have some of Steve Jackson's Sorcery in May. He doesn't need all of it.

Gallery: Steve Jackson's Sorcery! (iOS)

Continue reading Steve Jackson's Sorcery conjured onto iOS next month

Steve Jackson's Sorcery conjured onto iOS next month originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dating Tip #205: Give her a short amount of time to make life changing decisions. 

In an investor presentation, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo will skip the usual large-scale E3 press conference this year in favor of "a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market."

One of these events will be for American distributors, with another closed event "for mainly the Western gaming media." Iwata noted that Nintendo is not planning to announce any new hardware at this E3, with showing off software the main focus.

While Nintendo is dropping a lot of mainstream press attention with this move, it makes a lot of sense for a company with the recent financial history of Nintendo to skip out on some expensive pageantry. Especially when the company makes E3-level announcements monthly, for a tiny fraction of the cost.

Nintendo not doing E3 press conference, holding smaller closed events instead originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday Night Live is coming to Yahoo. CEO Marissa Mayer announced today that the series’s entire 38-year back catalog will be available through Yahoo thanks to a new exclusive deal with Broadway Video. The content will be available across Yahoo’s sites beginning September 1st, according to a press release posted by Engadget. The terms of the deal state that SNL’s archives will be pulled from other streaming services (i.e., Hulu and Netflix) for one year, and Yahoo will also get non-exclusive distribution rights for show clips outside of the US.

Yahoo has been on a roll lately, acquiring new content and disposing of old products as management tries to re-invent the company. Last week, the company launched new weather and mail apps for mobile devices, along with a new iPhone app that integrates recent acquisition Summly earlier this week.

• Source Yahoo
• Related Items snl saturday night live yahoo marissa mayer broadway video streaming

“

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev managed to say just one word to a federal judge when charges were filed against him in a makeshift courtroom held at the side of his hospital bed, “No.”

No, he could not afford an attorney.

As a result, Tsarnaev, 19, who is facing the possibility of the death penalty for his alleged role in last week’s terror attack, will be represented by one of the most experienced and well respected public defenders in the country, Miriam Conrad.

Conrad heads the Federal Public Defender Office in Boston and her resume includes defending “shoe bomber” Richard Reid in 2001 for trying to blow up a Paris to Miami jetliner.

…

Conrad and her team have a difficult case ahead of them. They are trying to keep alive someone many would consider to be the most hated man in America. Their client is bedridden and barely able to communicate. Facing budget cuts as a result of the federal sequester, they are up against the U.S. Attorney and FBI that have made Tsarnaev’s prosecution a top priority.

”

- Suspected Boston Bomber Receives All-Star Defense Team - ABC News

fraulein-brittanica:

Well, this is the best picture I’ll see today.

“

If Apple couldn’t appreciate one of the most talented hackers to ever touch its products, perhaps its biggest competitor can.

Nicholas Allegra, a.k.a. Comex, who rose to fame as the 19-year-old creator of the JailbreakMe hacking tools for iPhone and iPad before being hired by Apple, has found a new home: Google.

“In other news, I’m going to intern for Google in a few weeks,” Allegra wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

He didn’t immediately respond to my request for more information about what he’ll be doing at Google. But he added on Twitter that he won’t be working on Android, an operating system that he has never “like[d] enough to ever want to hack it.”

”

- iPhone Super-Hacker Comex, Let Go From Apple, Goes To Work For Google - Forbes

“Although the FBI was in charge of the Watertown scene, the police presence included Massachusetts State Police, local departments and the transit agency. One law enforcement official described the final chaotic 30 minutes as the “fog of war,” saying that an accidental shot may have caused other officers to begin firing.”

- Report: Boston bombing suspect had no gun when captured