Florian Müllner announced the release today of Mutter 3.21.91, the near-final version of this compositing window manager and Wayland compositor for the upcoming GNOME 3.22 desktop…
Source: Phoronix – GNOME’s Mutter 3.21.91 Brings Wayland Improvements
Monthly Archives: August 2016
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: All Aboard The Hype Train, Now Dep
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: All Aboard The Hype Train, Now Departing For Non-Canon Mother Base
• Opinion: Halo Would Make A Great Horror Game • Follow-Up Review and Impressions of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [spoilers]
Source: Kotaku – Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: All Aboard The Hype Train, Now Dep
How a Tattoo Gun Is Made in Prison
People in prison are so damn resourceful that they can turn a pen, a Walkman, a couple of paper clips, a few rubber bands, and a set of batteries into a fully functional tattoo gun. The motor, battery pack, and switch come from a Walkman that’s torn apart, the ink obviously comes from the pen, the needle is made from the paper clip, and the rubber bands hold it all together.
Source: Gizmodo – How a Tattoo Gun Is Made in Prison
Watch a Professional Knight Get His Metal-Plated Ass Handed to Him
Call me a coward, but getting bashed in the face by a scary Russian dude with a massive shield is not my idea of a good sporting time.
Source: Gizmodo – Watch a Professional Knight Get His Metal-Plated Ass Handed to Him
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.
Source: Slashdot – European Commission To Issue Apple An Irish Tax Bill of .1 Billion, Says Report
What's on your HDTV: 'Narcos,' 'Killjoys,' college football
This week the NFL preseason is wrapping up as the college football season begins, which also means the end of summer TV and the beginning of fall programming. Battlebots and Killjoys both have season finales this week, while You’re the Worst, Narcos…
Source: Engadget – What’s on your HDTV: ‘Narcos,’ ‘Killjoys,’ college football
You've Gotta Love This Stranger Things / X-Men Mash-Up
With all the 1980s influences used in Stranger Things, there’s little doubt that the Duffer brothers thought of Eleven as a bit of a mutant. In another universe, maybe she was a member of the X-Men—which is why this mash-up by artist Lance Schibi is so fun.
Source: io9 – You’ve Gotta Love This Stranger Things / X-Men Mash-Up
Google Cast gets built into Chrome
Enlarge / The Google Cast integration in Chrome. (credit: Google)
Google Cast—the protocol that powers Chromecast—previously worked inside of Chrome thanks to an extension released by Google. Buttons on YouTube, Google Music, and other sites allowed you to beam music and video to your TV or stereo system. Now you no longer need an extension to sling media across the room. Google has built the protocol directly into Chrome.
Like all Chrome features, Cast support started in the “Dev” and “Beta” versions. Cast has finally hit the stable channel that most consumers use. The Cast buttons in web site UIs will continue to work the way they always have, and if you click on the Chrome menu button, you’ll be treated to a new “Cast…” option that can beam an entire tab to your television.
To get the new Cast functionality, you just need the latest version of Chrome and a Cast-aware device on your local network. According to this page, the old Cast extension will apparently still live on for those who want the tab-beam button in their toolbar.
Read on Ars Technica | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Google Cast gets built into Chrome
Not Now, Dandelion
It’s good that this is a quality Witcher 3 outfit. It’s great that the guy is 100% in character for it.
Source: Kotaku – Not Now, Dandelion
RimWorld Update Adds Drugs
Fedora 24 review: The year’s best Linux distro is puzzlingly hard to recommend
Enlarge (credit: Fedora Magazine)
Fedora 24 is very near the best Linux distro release I’ve used, and certainly the best release I have tested this year. Considering 2016 has welcomed new offerings like Mint 18 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, that says a great deal about the Fedora project’s latest work. But like many Fedora releases before it, even Fedora 24 got off to a rocky start.
Longtime Fedora users are more than likely conservative when it comes to system upgrades. And historically, new Fedora releases tend to be rough around the edges. Wise Fedora followers tend to be patient and give a new release a couple of months for the kinks to work out and the updates to flow in. Usually, such a timing cushion also means all the latest packages in RPM Fusion have been updated as well. With that kind of precedent, being the first to jump on a Fedora upgrade—which comes every eight or so months—can be risky.
Patience does typically reward you with a really great Linux distro, though. And far more valuable than updated apps, waiting means you can skip catastrophic bugs like the one that completely broke Fedora 24 on Skylake systems after a kernel update. Fedora 24 shipped with Linux kernel 4.5 and managed to miss kernel 4.6 by about two weeks, which is a shame because no less than Linus Torvalds himself called kernel 4.6 “a fairly big release – more commits than we’ve had in a while.” In other words, perhaps Fedora should have waited a few weeks to ship.
Read 37 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Fedora 24 review: The year’s best Linux distro is puzzlingly hard to recommend
The Fully Packed Fanny Pack
Fanny packs might be called “hip packs” these days in an attempt to not sound as dorky, but there’s no denying the roots here. Everyday Carry reader Markus Pfell shares his bag, which holds a surprising amount of stuff.
Source: LifeHacker – The Fully Packed Fanny Pack
Dogs recognize both words and tone to know when they’re good
Enlarge / “Who’s a good puppy?!” (credit: Enikő Kubinyi)
In most tests of general intelligence, dogs rate as reasonably clever, but nothing like primates. The one place where dogs beat primates is in interacting with humans. It’s not clear whether dogs are better at reading human intentions or simply more motivated to act on them, but dogs truly seem to get us.
Now, researchers in Hungary have tested dogs’ willingness to cooperate with us by getting them to sit still in an MRI machine. By tracking the dogs’ brain activity, the researchers were able to determine that dogs can recognize not only words, but the emotional tone behind them. Dogs recognize when both words and tone indicate praise. That’s when they feel rewarded.
The work was performed by a group of researchers based in Budapest, which becomes important when we get to the words the dogs were responding to. The hypothesis behind their work: dogs can recognize both the meaning of what’s being said (technically, its lexical content) as well as the intonation used in saying it. In other words, it’s not enough to say “good boy” to your dog—you have to sound like you mean it.
Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Dogs recognize both words and tone to know when they’re good
Some Of The Best PC Games Ever Made Hit Steam Today
There wasn’t much fanfare made about the move, but a collection of classic Sierra games turned up on Steam today, including the very best of them
.
Source: Kotaku – Some Of The Best PC Games Ever Made Hit Steam Today
Judge Allows Kim Dotcom To Livestream Court Hearing
Kim Dotcom has been granted the right to livestream his extradition appeal on YouTube. The appeal hearing began Monday, but will be livestreamed tomorrow because “the cameraman needs to set this up professionally and implement the judge’s live streaming rules.” tweets Kim Dotcom. Mashable reports: “The United States, which wants Dotcom extradited from New Zealand, is against the request. Dotcom says a livestream is the only way to ensure a fair hearing. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Dotcom and other Megaupload co-founders in hopes of taking them to court in America on charges of money-laundering, racketeering and copyright infringement. The charges stem from the operation of file-sharing website Megaupload, founded by Dotcom in 2005 and once the 13th most popular website on the internet. Users could upload movies, music and other content to the site and share with others, a practice the U.S. considers copyright infringement. The website reportedly made around $175 million before the FBI took it down in 2012. The U.S. says Megaupload cost copyright holders around $500 million, though Dotcom says it’s not his fault users chose to upload the shared copyrighted material. Dotcom was arrested in 2012 after police raided his home, but was released on bail. A judge ruled in favor of his extradition to the U.S. in 2015, though Dotcom said at the time the judge was not interested in a fair hearing.” Dotcom plans to revive Megaupload on January 20, 2017, urging people to “buy bitcoin while cheap,” since he claims the launch will send the bitcoin price soaring way above its current $575 value. Every file transfer taking place over Megaupload “will be linked to a tiny Bitcoin micro transaction,” Dotcom posted on Twitter.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Judge Allows Kim Dotcom To Livestream Court Hearing
Now Google Cast is built into every Chrome browser
Like Gmail prior, it honestly seems like Google Cast has been in beta forever. Well, it’s actually only been two years according to Google, and that test period ends now. Cast is directly built into Chrome as of today and anyone can use it without ha…
Source: Engadget – Now Google Cast is built into every Chrome browser
French Education minister: Get rare Pokémons out of our schools
Enlarge / French Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, leaving the Elysee Presidential Palace last week in Paris. (credit: Frederic Stevens/Getty Images)
France’s education minister has asked the company that makes Pokemon Go to keep its most valuable creatures out of French schools.
At a press conference earlier today, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said she will soon meet with California-based Niantic to ask them to tweak their game. According to statements reported by the Associated Press, Vallaud-Belkacem wants to keep some creatures out of French schools, since she’s worried they would tempt non-students to enter.
Principals can already apply online for a school to be wholly removed from the game’s map, but Vallaud-Belkacem wants the company to take some steps without being asked. The minister says that her main concern is the placement of extremely rare or “legendary” Pokemon creatures in schools, which would prove too tempting to strangers who shouldn’t be around the school.
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Source: Ars Technica – French Education minister: Get rare Pokémons out of our schools
This VR Proposal Will Warm Even the Coldest of Hearts
Conceptually I hate proposal videos; they feel emotionally cheap, but moreover, I’m one of those heartless single people who is neither endeared nor disdainful of happy couples.
Source: Gizmodo – This VR Proposal Will Warm Even the Coldest of Hearts
To Old Navy, Toddler Boys Are Ghostbusters and Toddler Girls Are 'Ghostbusters In Training'
If you’re that special type of stage parent who won’t rest until your child becomes a successful Ghostbuster known far and wide, I recommend heading over to Old Navy’s website and purchasing some branded merch. But wait! Before you go, let me to give you some special instructions: if you want to buy a shirt that features the Ghostbusters logo with no additional copy, head to the Toddler Boys section. For shirts that say “Ghostbuster In Training,” you’ll have to click on Toddler Girls.
Source: io9 – To Old Navy, Toddler Boys Are Ghostbusters and Toddler Girls Are ‘Ghostbusters In Training’
The 5 Films That Helped Define the Career of Gene Wilder
Monday brought the horrible news of the passing of Gene Wilder. The iconic comedic actor left behind an undeniably impressive and timeless body of work that was exceeded only by his own talent. To pay tribute, we put together this video of five films that helped define his unforgettable career.
Source: Gizmodo – The 5 Films That Helped Define the Career of Gene Wilder