The Amazon Effect

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Amazon’s entry into publishing’s traditional casino is a sideshow. More worrisome, at least over the long term, is the success of Amazon’s Kindle Single program, an effort to encourage writers to make an end run around publishers, not only of books but of magazines as well. That program offers writers a chance to publish original e-book essays of no more than 30,000 words (authors agree to a bargain-basement price of no more than $2.99 in exchange for a 70 percent royalty and no advance).

via The Amazon Effect | The Nation.

This article is very long winded but makes a good history reference for amazon.

Licensing/Technology Transfer The Sandia Cooler

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Sandia researchers have developed a radically new architecture for air-cooled heat exchangers.

via Sandia National Laboratories : Licensing/Technology Transfer The Sandia Cooler.

In this new device architecture, heat is efficiently transferred from a stationary base plate to a rotating (counterclockwise) structure that combines the functionality of cooling fins with a centrifugal impeller.  Dead air enveloping the cooling fins is subjected to a powerful centrifugal pumping effect, providing a 10x reduction in boundary layer thickness at a speed of a few thousand rpm.  Additionally, high-speed rotation completely eliminates the problem of heat exchanger fouling.  The “direct drive advantage”, in which relative motion between the cooling fins and ambient air is created by rotating the heat exchanger, provides a drastic improvement in aerodynamic efficiency.  This translates to an extremely quiet operation.  The benefits have been quantified on a proof-of-concept prototype.

Ubuntu’s Plans To Implement UEFI SecureBoot: No GRUB2

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With the GPLv3-licensed GRUB2 not being an option, Canonical then explored using the GRUB Legacy release with EFI patches on top, but they didn’t want to touch that aging code-base. Canonical has decided to use Intel’s efilinux loader that is more liberally licensed and they’re able to make some modifications to provide a simple menu interface.

via [Phoronix] Ubuntu’s Plans To Implement UEFI SecureBoot: No GRUB2.

SSD prices in steady, substantial decline

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To get a better sense of the SSD picture, we’ve analyzed a mountain of pricing information dating from early 2011 to Tuesday. The folks at Camelegg graciously provided the data, which we’ve sliced, diced, and compiled in pretty graphs. Camelegg tracks prices at Newegg, which should give us a good sense of what’s going on in the overall market.

via SSD prices in steady, substantial decline – The Tech Report – Page 1.

Microsoft own-brand tablet PCs a ploy to drive Windows 8 adoption, says Acer founder

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While Microsoft’s unveiling of two own-brand tablet PCs has surprised the supply chain in Taiwan and brought worries on PC vendors, Acer founder Stan Shih has commented that Microsoft has no real intention to sell own-brand tablet PCs and the offering is an ploy to boost adoption of Windows 8.

via Microsoft own-brand tablet PCs a ploy to drive Windows 8 adoption, says Acer founder.

RIAA to CNET: Follow Google, nix video-to-MP3 conversions

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The Recording Industry Association of America wants to put an end to software and services that enable people to rip songs from music videos.

Two days after YouTube-MP3.org, a site that converts songs from music videos into MP3 files, was blocked from accessing YouTube, the RIAA has asked CNET to remove software from Download.com that performs a similar function. CNET, which is owned by CBS, is the publisher of this news site.

via RIAA to CNET: Follow Google, nix video-to-MP3 conversions | Internet & Media – CNET News.

I do not advise downloading and installing anything from download.com.  FOSS should be vetted by a reputable organization like sourceforge.  That said, this kind of tactic will start to get very interesting.  Ripping songs from youtube is just an algorithm.

AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack

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This work is coming due to the new Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The slides that Bridgman references can be found at SlideShare.net. The page cited is entitled “AMD’s Open Source Commitment To HSA” and says “We will open source our Linux execution and compilation stack.” This is being done to jumpstart the HSA ecosystem, allow a single shared implementation where appropriate, and to enable university research in all areas.

via [Phoronix] AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack.

From: Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation is poised to “define and promote an open, standards-based approach to heterogeneous computing that will provide a common hardware specification and broad support ecosystem to make it easier for software developers to deliver innovative applications that can take greater advantage of today’s modern processors.” The HSA Foundation goes without Intel’s support. The HSA press release can be read at AMD.com for more details as to what’s been announced thus far.