Tag: open source

400,000 GitHub Repositories, 1 Billion Files, 14TB of Code: Spaces or Tabs?

Here’s a debate that refuses to die: given a choice, would you rather use spaces or tabs? An episode of Silicon Valley last season had a bit on this. Now we have more data to analyze people’s behavior. A Google developer has looked into 400, 000 GitHub repositories — 1 billion files, 14 terabytes to find that programmers with interest in specific languages do seem to prefer either tabs or spaces. Spoiler alert: space wins, like all the time. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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400,000 GitHub Repositories, 1 Billion Files, 14TB of Code: Spaces or Tabs?

European Commission To Issue Apple An Irish Tax Bill of $1.1 Billion, Says Report

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The European Commission will rule against Ireland’s tax dealings with Apple on Tuesday, two source familiar with the decision told Reuters, one of whom said Dublin would be told to recoup over 1 billion euros in back taxes. The European Commission accused Ireland in 2014 of dodging international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars from tax collectors in return for maintaining jobs. Apple and Ireland rejected the accusation; both have said they will appeal any adverse ruling. The source said the Commission will recommend a figure in back taxes that it expects to be collected, but it will be up to Irish authorities to calculate exactly what is owed. A bill in excess of 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) would be far more than the 30 million euros each the European Commission previously ordered Dutch authorities to recover from U.S. coffee chain Starbucks and Luxembourg from Fiat Chrysler for their tax deals. When it opened the Apple investigation in 2014, the Commission told the Irish government that tax rulings it agreed in 1991 and 2007 with the iPhone maker amounted to state aid and might have broken EU laws. The Commission said the rulings were “reverse engineered” to ensure that Apple had a minimal Irish bill and that minutes of meetings between Apple representatives and Irish tax officials showed the company’s tax treatment had been “motivated by employment considerations.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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European Commission To Issue Apple An Irish Tax Bill of $1.1 Billion, Says Report

US Appeals Court Dismisses AT&T Data Throttling Lawsuit

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A federal appeals court in California on Monday dismissed a U.S. government lawsuit that accused ATT Inc of deception for reducing internet speeds for customers with unlimited mobile data plans once their use exceeded certain levels. The company, however, could still face a fine from the Federal Communications Commission regarding the slowdowns, also called “data throttling.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said it ordered a lower court to dismiss the data-throttling lawsuit, which was filed in 2014 by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC sued ATT on the grounds that the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier failed to inform consumers it would slow the speeds of heavy data users on unlimited plans. In some cases, data speeds were slowed by nearly 90 percent, the lawsuit said. The FTC said the practice was deceptive and, as a result, barred under the Federal Trade Commission Act. ATT argued that there was an exception for common carriers, and the appeals court agreed. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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US Appeals Court Dismisses AT&T Data Throttling Lawsuit

Dyson Will Spend $1.4 Billion, Enlist 3,000 Engineers To Build a Better Battery

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: Among the 100 new products the company founder James Dyson wants to invent by 2020, the greatest investment in people and money is to improve rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, as reported by Forbes (Warning: paywalled). And Dyson is not planning incremental improvements. His opinion is that current Li-ion batteries don’t last long enough and aren’t safe enough — the latter as evidenced by their propensity to spontaneously catch on fire, which is rare but does happen. Dyson believes the answer lies in using ceramics to create solid-state lithium-ion batteries. Dyson says he intended to spend $1.4 billion in research and development and in building a battery factory over the next five years. Last year Dyson bought Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Sakti3, which focuses on creating advanced solid-state batteries, for $90 million. The global lithium-ion battery market accounts for $40 billion in annual sales, according to research firm Lux as cited by Forbes. Dyson’s company (which is an accurate description since he has 100-percent ownership) currently employs 3, 000 engineers worldwide. He intends to hire another 3, 000 by 2020. Their average age is 26. Dyson values young engineers, saying, “The enthusiasm and lack of fear is important. Not taking notice of experts and plowing on because you believe in something is important. It’s much easier to do when you’re young.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dyson Will Spend $1.4 Billion, Enlist 3,000 Engineers To Build a Better Battery

Ubuntu Linux 16.10 ‘Yakkety Yak’ Beta 1 Now Available For Download

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BetaNews: Today, the first beta of Ubuntu Linux 16.10 sees release. Once again, a silly animal name is assigned, this time being the letter “Y” for the horned mammal, “Yakkety Yak.” This is also a play on the classic song “Yakety Yak” by The Coasters. Please be sure not to “talk back” while testing this beta operating system! “Pre-releases of the Yakkety Yak are not encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this bos grunniens ready. Beta 1 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. These images are still under development, so you should expect some bugs, ” says Set Hallstrom, Ubuntu Studio project lead. He adds: “While these Beta 1 images have been tested and work, except as noted in the release notes, Ubuntu developers are continuing to improve the Yakkety Yak. In particular, once newer daily images are available, system installation bugs identified in the Beta 1 installer should be verified against the current daily image before being reported in Launchpad. Using an obsolete image to re-report bugs that have already been fixed wastes your time and the time of developers who are busy trying to make 16.10 the best Ubuntu release yet. Always ensure your system is up to date before reporting bugs.” Here are the following download links: Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ubuntu Linux 16.10 ‘Yakkety Yak’ Beta 1 Now Available For Download

Intel Launches Flurry of 3D NAND-Based SSDs For Consumer and Enterprise Markets

MojoKid writes: Intel launched a handful of new SSD products today that cover a broad spectrum of applications and employ 3D NAND technology. The SSD 600p Series is offered in four capacities ranging from 128GB, to 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. The drivers are targeted at consumer desktops and notebooks and are available in the M.2 form-factor. The entry-level 128GB model offers sequential reads and writes of up to 770 MB/sec and 450 MB/sec respectively. At higher densities, the multi-channel 1TB model offers sequential reads and writes that jump to 1, 800 MB/sec and 560 MB/sec respectively. The 128GB SSD 600p weighs in at $69, while the 1TB model is priced at $359, or about .36 cents per GiB. For the data center, Intel has also introduced the DC P3520 and DC S3520 Series SSDs in 2.5-inch and PCIe half-height card form-factors. Available in 450GB to 2TB capacities, the range-topping 2TB model offers random reads/writes of 1, 700 MB/sec and 1, 350 MB/sec respectively. Finally, Intel launched the SSD E 6000p (PCIe M.2) and SSD E 5420s Series (SATA). The former supports Core vPro processors and is targeted at point-of-sale systems and digital signage. The latter is aimed at helping customers ease the transition from HDDs to SSDs in IoT applications. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel Launches Flurry of 3D NAND-Based SSDs For Consumer and Enterprise Markets

US Unveils Charges Against KickassTorrents, Names Two More Defendants

A total of three men are said to be operators of file-sharing site KickassTorrents (KAT), according to U.S. prosecutors. Last month, federal authorities arrested the 30-year-old Ukrainian mastermind of KAT, Artem Vaulin, and formally charged him with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement. Two other Ukrainians were named in the new indictment (PDF): Levgen (Eugene) Kutsenko and Oleksander (Alex) Radostin. While only Vaulin has been arrested, bench warrants have been issue for the arrest of all three men. Ars Technica reports: “Prosecutors say the three men developed and maintained the site together and used it to ‘generate millions of dollars from the unlawful distribution of copyright-protected media, including movies, television shows, music, video games, computer software, and electronic books.’ They gave out ‘Reputation’ and ‘User Achievement’ awards to users who uploaded the most popular files, including a special award for users who had uploaded more than 1, 000 torrents. The indictment presents a selection of the evidence that the government intends to use to convict the men, and it isn’t just simple downloads of the copyrighted movies. The government combed through Vaulin’s e-mails and traced the bitcoins that were given to him via a ‘donation’ button.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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US Unveils Charges Against KickassTorrents, Names Two More Defendants

World’s Largest Aircraft Completes Its First Flight

The world’s largest aircraft has finally completed its first flight after months of preparation and years of searching for funding. The Airlander 10 as it’s called spent 20 minutes in the air on Wednesday, landing safely at Cardington Airfield north of London. CNNMoney reports: “Part airship, part helicopter, part plane, the 300-foot long aircraft is about 50 feet longer than the world’s biggest passenger planes. The Airlander, made by British company Hybrid Air Vehicles, has four engines and no internal structure. It maintains its shape thanks to the pressure of the 38, 000 cubic meters of helium inside its hull, which is made from ultralight carbon fiber. The aircraft was originally designed for U.S. military surveillance. But the project was grounded in 2013 because of defense spending cuts. [The team behind the giant blimp-like aircraft] said the aircraft could carry communications equipment or other cargo, undertake search and rescue operations, or do military and commercial survey work. The Airlander can stay airborne for up to five days at a time if manned, and for more than two weeks if unmanned. It can carry up to 10 tons of cargo at a maximum speed of 91 miles per hour. The aircraft doesn’t need a runway to take off, meaning it can operate from land, snow, ice, desert and even open water.” You can view the historic flight for yourself here (Warning: headphone users beware of loud sound). Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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World’s Largest Aircraft Completes Its First Flight

Cisco Systems To Lay Off About 14,000 Employees, Representing 20% of Global Workforce

schwit1 writes from a report via CRN: Cisco Systems is laying off about 14, 000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker’s global workforce. San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transitions from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization. Cisco increasingly requires “different skill sets” for the “software-defined future” than it did in the past, as it pushes to capture a higher share of the addressable market and aims to boost its margins, the CRN report said citing a source familiar with the situation. “The company’s headcount as of April 20, 2016, was 73, 104, ” reports CRN. “Cutting 14, 000 employees would be the single largest layoff in Cisco’s 32-year history.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Cisco Systems To Lay Off About 14,000 Employees, Representing 20% of Global Workforce

Malware That Fakes Bank Login Screens Found In Google Ads

tedlistens quotes a report from Fast Company: For years, security firms have warned of keystroke logging malware that surreptitiously steals usernames and passwords on desktop and laptop computers. In the past year, a similar threat has begun to emerge on mobile devices: So-called overlay malware that impersonates login pages from popular apps and websites as users launch the apps, enticing them to enter their credentials to banking, social networking, and other services, which are then sent on to attackers. Such malware has even found its way onto Google’s AdSense network, according to a report on Monday from Kaspersky Lab. The weapon would automatically download when users visited certain Russian news sites, without requiring users to click on the malicious advertisements. It then prompts users for administrative rights, which makes it harder for antivirus software or the user to remove it, and proceeds to steal credentials through fake login screens, and by intercepting, deleting, and sending text messages. The Kaspersky researchers call it “a gratuitous act of violence against Android users.” “By simply viewing their favorite news sites over their morning coffee users can end up downloading last-browser-update.apk, a banking Trojan detected by Kaspersky Lab solutions as Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Svpeng.q, ” according to the company. “There you are, minding your own business, reading the news and BOOM! — no additional clicks or following links required.” The good news is that the issue has since been resolved, according to a Google spokeswoman. Fast Company provides more details about these types of attacks and how to stay safe in its report. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Malware That Fakes Bank Login Screens Found In Google Ads