Search Results

Search found 5760 results on 231 pages for 'itunes alternative'.

Page 142/231 | < Previous Page | 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149  | Next Page >

• Microsoft Lowers Cloud Barrier To Entry

  - by Herve Roggero

  Once in a while, the technology stack changes enough to create a disturbance in the IT industry. Microsoft did just that today and has officially closed the gap with its #1 competitor: Amazon. What is remarkable is that Microsoft is no longer an alternative to Amazon, it is becoming a clear leader in that space. Some of the new features include official support for durable Virtual Machines with high availability (cross-geographic replication), free WebSites to try Azure, MySQL database at no charge, a new distributed low-latency cache feature, Linux support, support with existing VPN hardware for seamless on-premise integration, a new partner ecosystem and much, much more. Amazon had an edge against Windows Azure in the IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) space, until now. With the latest release from Microsoft Azure, the gap has been filled. In fact, it seems Amazon may now have a gap to fill… This is great news to everyone; it seems that cloud offerings are becoming more standardized with the more mature cloud providers, and the management stack and quality of service of each cloud provider is increasingly becoming the differentiator. With today’s announcements, it is becoming clear that cloud providers are pushing hard to increase their service footprint and lowering typical barriers to entry such as support for open-source operating systems, free trial offers, higher availability, faster deployment times and simpler enterprise integration.

  Read the article

• Using a random string to authenticate HMAC?

  - by mrwooster

  I am designing a simple webservice and want to use HMAC for authentication to the service. For the purpose of this question we have: a web service at example.com a secret key shared between a user and the server [K] a consumer ID which is known to the user and the server (but is not necessarily secret) [D] a message which we wish to send to the server [M] The standard HMAC implementation would involve using the secret key [K] and the message [M] to create the hash [H], but I am running into issues with this. The message [M] can be quite long and tends to be read from a file. I have found its very difficult to produce a correct hash consistently across multiple operating systems and programming languages because of hidden characters which make it into various file formats. This is of course bad implementation on the client side (100%), but I would like this webservice to be easily accessible and not have trouble with different file formats. I was thinking of an alternative, which would allow the use a short (5-10 char) random string [R] rather than the message for autentication, e.g. H = HMAC(K,R) The user then passes the random string to the server and the server checks the HMAC server side (using random string + shared secret). As far as I can see, this produces the following issues: There is no message integrity - this is ok message integrity is not important for this service A user could re-use the hash with a different message - I can see 2 ways around this Combine the random string with a timestamp so the hash is only valid for a set period of time Only allow each random string to be used once Since the client is in control of the random string, it is easier to look for collisions I should point out that the principle reason for authentication is to implement rate limiting on the API service. There is zero need for message integrity, and its not a big deal if someone can forge a single request (but it is if they can forge a very large number very quickly). I know that the correct answer is to make sure the message [M] is the same on all platforms/languages before hashing it. But, taking that out of the equation, is the above proposal an acceptable 2nd best?

  Read the article

• Packing for JavaOne

  - by Tori Wieldt

  While you are packing for JavaOne, here are some things to remember to bring:1) A Jacket!While October is considered the summer in San Francisco, the heat only lasts a day or two. The fog can roll in any day, and it can be chilly (and maybe even rain).2) Your Oracle LoginMake sure your have your Oracle.com account log in details with you when you arrive onsite in San Francisco.  This is the username and password you used/created for your JavaOne 2012 registration.  You'll need these to check in and get your badge as well as to gain access to My Account and Schedule Builder onsite at the event. 3) Walking ShoesYou'll want comfortable and practical shoes as this city requires lots of walking and has lots of hills.4) Thumb DrivesWhen sharing cool code, nothing beats sneaker-net. That said, practice safe computing. 5) Consider Downloading a Ride-Sharing Service AppSideCar, Lyft, Uber and RelayRides are taking SF by storm, and are popular alternative to yellow taxis. These are unregulated ride-sharing services, so ride at your own risk. Hipster Tips for SF 1) Don't call it Frisco.2) If you wear shorts, don't complain about how cold it is.3) Bright colored clothes are for tourists. Locals wear black. 4) The most fun ice-cream flavors in town are at Humphry-Slocombe. Check out "secret breakfast."5) The Mission is hip.6) Don't expect there to be a Starbuck's or anything besides a great view at the other side of the Golden Gate bridge.7) SF has seasons, they are just more subtle.

  Read the article

• Prevent collisions between mobs/npcs/units piloted by computer AI : How to avoid mobile obstacles?

  - by Arthur Wulf White

  Lets says we have character a starting at point A and character b starting at point B. character a is headed to point B and character b is headed to point A. There are several simple ways to find the path(I will be using Dijkstra). The question is, how do I take preventative action in the code to stop the two from colliding with one another? case2: Characters a and b start from the same point in different times. Character b starts later and is the faster of the two. How do I make character b walk around character a without going through it? case3:Lets say we have m such characters in each side and there is sufficient room to pass through without the characters overlapping with one another. How do I stop the two groups of characters from "walking on top of one another" and allow them pass around one another in a natural organic way. A correct answer would be any algorithm, that given the path to the destination and a list of mobile objects that block the path, finds an alternative path or stops without stopping all units when there is sufficient room to traverse.

  Read the article

• Best Practices PHP mvc routing

  - by dukeofweatherby

  I have a custom MVC framework that is in a constant state of evolution. There's a long standing debate with a co-worker how the routing should work. Considering the following directory structure: /core/Router.php /mvc/Controllers/{Public controllers} /mvc/Controllers/Private/{Controllers requiring valid user} /mvc/Controllers/CMS/{Controllers requiring valid user and specific roles} The question is: "Where should the current User's authentication be established: in the Router, when choosing which controller/directory to load, or in each Controller?" My argument is that when authenticating in the Router, an Error Controller is created instead of the requested Controller, informing you of your mishap; And the directory structure clearly indicates the authentication required. His argument is that a router should do routing and only routing. Leave it to the Controller to handle it on a case by case basis. This is more modular and allows more flexibility should changes need to be made by the router. PHP MVC - Custom Routing Mechanism alluded to it, but the topic was of a different nature. Alternative suggestions would be welcomed as well.

  Read the article

• WordPress mod_rewrite redirect specific folders

  - by Ps Cjef

  As a new user, I'm not allowed to post more than two hyperlinks here. So I have added a space after every http (ignore them and read as full URLs). System: Debian Etch, Apache 2.2 I have a WordPress instance with multiple blogs. I would like to redirect some of the folders based on the year and month, while leaving other folders go to the actual locations. Example: I have archives for a few years, like 2010, 2011 and 2012: http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myblog/2010/02 http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myblog/2011/01 http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myblog/2012/01 I would like to redirect all 2010 and 2011 posts to another blog with the same folder structure: http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myotherblog/2010/02 http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myotherblog/2011/01 and so on. I would like to have 2012 and beyond to go to the actual site (http ://mydomain.com/wordpress/myblog/2012/01). I tried mod_rewrite with the following, one rule at a time to test redirection for just one year (and to expand later for other years), and none of them worked! * RewriteEngine is already on since there are some default WordPress rewrites. * RewriteBase is set to http://mydomain.com/wordpress/ . * I put my rule before all the other default WordPress rules are processed. Didn't work solution #1 RedirectMatch 301 /myblog/2010/(.*) /myotherblog/2010/$1 Didn't work solution #2 RewriteRule /myblog/2010/(.*) http ://mydomain.com/myotherblog/2010/$1 [R=301] Didn't work solution #3 RedirectPermanent /myblog/2010/(.*) http ://mydomain.com/myotherblog/2010/$1 I've also tried the above rules with and without a fully qualified URL for the new location. The rewrite log, with log level set to 9, did not provide any useful information. It shows that it looks at the pattern specified against the URL (as mentioned in the rule), but finally what happens is a passthrough to http ://mydomain.com/myblog/ for all URLs or a 500 Internal Server Error. Any ideas on where I could be going wrong or any alternative solutions?

  Read the article

• Complex string matching with fuzzywuzzy

  - by That1Guy

  I'm attempting to write a process that matches obscure strings to a single 'master string' for further processing. I have a lot of data that looks something like this: Basketball Basket Ball Football BasketBallR BBall BBall - r FootB ...and so on. These need to be mapped to a master record like so: Basketball = Basket Ball, BBall Basketball - R = BasketBallR, BBall - r I also have instances of data resembling this format: Football -r FootBall - r-g/H,Q,HH These situations need to be separated into different categories before being mapped. For example FootBall - r-g/H,Q,HH should be: Football - r Football - g Football - H Football - Q Football - HH At this point, it still needs to be mapped to a master record... I've tried several different combinations of fuzzywuzzy matching methods, Levenshtein Distance measurements, regex, etc. and can't seem to find a reliable method to logically associate different naming styles of a single item with a master name. I'm throwing my hands up in desperation. Are there any existing python resources than can help sort out my problem? Are there other options? Can anybody point out an obvious option that I might have overlooked? Basically, any suggestion, solution, resource or alternative method is greatly appreciated.

  Read the article

• Dual boot UEFI Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04 (both 64 bits). W7 entry doesn't appear in GRUB

  - by Joe

  After trying to install both OS during 2 days, I'm confused and getting mad... I have SSD 128 GB and HDD 500 GB both empty. My laptop is Asus K55VM. BIOS support UEFI. What I have done: Install new SSD (Samsung 830 128GB) Use GParted on liveCD to create new table of partitions (GPT) and create 3 partitions (in the SSD) for different purposes: Partition 1: 80 GB (w7); Partition 2: 30 GB (Ubuntu 12.04 -Just / -); Partition 3: 10 GB unused (for future extesion of the other partitions) Install Windows 7 (with UEFI) in Partition 1. This create: /dev/sda1 - 100 MB for System (UEFI boot I guess) - FAT32 /dev/sda2 - 100 MB aprox. for MSR /dev/sda3 - 79.800 MB aprox. for Windows7 data In this point everything works fine. I have W7. Now I install Ubuntu 12.04 amd64 (with UEFI) as follows: Install / in Partition 2 - /dev/sda4 30 GB ext4, and in the hdd I install /home and swap. I select bootloader in /dev/sda1 (where it's supposed to be the UEFI boot). I install updates and reboot. Problem: Now just appears grub menu with Ubuntu entries and not Windows 7. Alternative solution found: When I turn on laptop, before loading GRUB I press ESC key and appear BIOS boot, so I can select to boot the Windows partition, Ubuntu partition, DVD, USB, etc... but I think is not the best way to boot different OS. I've tried: sudo update-grub2 with no success. What can I do??

  Read the article

• How do I get a different type of scrollbars in 12.04? [closed]

  - by Joseph Garvin

  Possible Duplicate: How do I disable overlay scrollbars? By default 12.04 uses overlay scroll bars that do not suit my taste, and every method I've found so far of disabling them makes them broken in a different way. When I was using 11.10 this wasn't a problem because I could still change the GTK theme. In 12.04, the Appearance settings only contain a few stock themes, and other than the special purpose contrast ones they all have the overlay scroll bars. If I aptitude search gtk3 | grep theme I get no results so there appears to be no packaged alternative either. Most suggestions I've seen for disabling the overlay scroll bars involve uninstalling packages or editing files as root. I want to disable them just for the current user, not for everyone on the whole box; as should be the case for any theme/display setting. There is a gsettings command that temporarily disables the overlay scrollbars just for the current user, but this has two problems of its own: The setting doesn't stick after log off. Because who would want to save settings? The scroll bars put in place have no contrast. They have a black scroller on a black background and are completely unusable. In short what I'd like to know is how to disable overlay scroll bars such that: My preference is user specific. My preference is actually saved. The scroller can actually be seen against the background without having to use a special high contrast theme that makes my whole desktop look like a negative photo from Tron.

  Read the article

• Anyone can suggest some Game Frameworks for GNU/Linux? [closed]

  - by dysoco

  So I've been developing a little bit with XNA + C# in Windows, not really much: just some 2D stuff, but I've found that XNA is a really good framework. I'm a GNU/Linux user, and I'm definitely migrating my desktop to Gentoo Linux (I've been using Arch in my laptop for a while now). But, of course, I need a C# + XNA alternative... I'm not really an expert in any language, so I can really pick up anything (except, maybe, Functional ones), I prefer C-Like languages like Java or Ruby, I tried Python but found the Whitespace syntax confusing. I would like to hear some of you'r suggestions, I'm not asking for "the best", but for "some suggestions", so I think this is objective enough. Probably you're going to suggest C++ + SDL, but I would prefer something more "High Level" like XNA, but I'm open to discuss anything. So... any ideas ? Note: I think this questions meets the guidelines for this site, if it doesn't: please not only downvote this question, but comment on what can I do to improve it. Thanks. PS: 2D Games, not 3D

  Read the article

• 'Buy the app' landing page implementations

  - by benwad

  My site (using Django) has an app that I'm trying to push - I currently have a piece of middleware that redirects the user to a page advertising the app if they're accessing the page on the iPhone, then setting a cookie so that the user isn't bugged by the message every time they visit the site. This works fine, however checking the page with the mobile Googlebot checker shows that the Googlebot gets stuck in the redirect (since it doesn't store cookies) and therefore won't index the proper content. So, I'm trying to think of an alternative implementation that won't hurt the site's Google ranking and won't have any other adverse effects. I've considered a couple of options: Redirect (the current solution), but don't redirect if the user agent matches the Googlebot's UA string. This would be ideal, however I'm not sure if Google like their bot being treated differently from other users, and I'm afraid the site's ranking may be somehow penalised if I go ahead with this. Use a Javascript popup instead of a redirect. This would make sure the Googlebot finds the content it needs, however I envision this approach causing compatibility issues with the myriad mobile devices/browsers out there, and may affect the page load time. How valid are these options? And is there a better option for implementing this feature out there? I've tried researching this topic but surprisingly can't find any reputable-looking blog posts that explore this topic. EDIT: I posted this on SF because it seemed unsuitable for SO, but if there's another site that would be better for this issue then I'd be happy to move the question elsewhere.

  Read the article

• How can I reduce the amount of time it takes to fully regression test an application ready for release?

  - by DrLazer

  An app I work on is being developed with a modified version of scrum. If you are not familiar with scrum, it's just an alternative approach to a more traditional watefall model, where a series of features are worked on for a set amount of time known as a sprint. The app is written in C# and makes use of WPF. We use Visual C# 2010 Express edition as an IDE. If we work on a sprint and add in a few new features, but do not plan to release until a further sprint is complete, then regression testing is not an issue as such. We just test the new features and give the app a good once over. However, if a release is planned that our customers can download - a full regression test is factored in. In the past this wasn't a big deal, it took 3 or 4 days and the devs simply fix up any bugs found in the regression phase, but now, as the app is getting larger and larger and incorporating more and more features, the regression is spanning out for weeks. I am interested in any methods that people know of or use that can decrease this time. At the moment the only ideas I have are to either start writing Unit Tests, which I have never fully tried out in a commercial environment, or to research the possibilty of any UI Automation API's or tools that would allow me to write a program to perform a series of batch tests. I know literally nothing about the possibilities of UI automation so any information would be valuable. I don't know that much about Unit testing either, how complicated can the tests be? Is it possible to get Unit tests to use the UI? Are there any other methods I should consider? Thanks for reading, and for any advice in advance.

  Read the article

• What is the best objective way to measure language popularity trends? (What's better than TIOBE?)

  - by Eric Wilson

  The best way to get data on computer language popularity that I know is the TIOBE index. But everyone knows that TIOBE is hopelessly flawed. (If someone provides a link to support this, I'll add it here.) So is there any data on programming language popularity that is generally considered meaningful? The only other option I know is to look at the trends at indeed.com, which is inherently flawed, being based on job postings. It isn't like I would make a future language decision solely based on an index, but it might provide a useful balance to the skewed perspective one obtains by talking to ones friends and colleagues. To illustrate that bias, I'll point out that based on the experience of those I personally know, the only languages used professionally today (in order of popularity) are Java, C#, Groovy, JavaScript, Ruby, Objective C, and Perl. (Though it is evident that C, C++ and PHP were used in the past.) So my question is, everyone bashes TIOBE, but is there anything else? If so, can anyone explain how we know the alternative has better methodology? Thanks.

  Read the article

• Leaving my ongoing internship for a better company

  - by AnonymousAsExpected

  Hi. I am currently employed as an intern with a software company X. I had no particular interest in working on their line of work, but since I had no other alternative, I had to join it. I had also applied to a good company Y, which has a better name than X and the work is exactly what I wanted. More than anything, the mention of Y on my resume will make a big difference later. I really had no idea that Y would accept me, since they were not replying to my repeated requests to inform me of the status of my application. Now fifteen days into my internship with X, Y sent me an offer letter to join. What should I do now? There are other interns working with X on the same project I was, and so of course the work won't suffer. My problem is, I want to quit X, but how do I do it in the most polite way possible? I am afraid to ask my boss, he is rude already and I fear he might take it badly. And how do I handle this in my resume? If two years down the line someone asks me why I left X for Y, won't that look bad? I am really confused, working with Y would be like a dream come true. But I fear the negative impact of leaving X. Hoping that someone can perhaps share a similar experience.

  Read the article

• Stylecop 4.7.39.0 has been released

  - by TATWORTH

  Stylecop  4.7.38.0 has been released at http://stylecop.codeplex.com/releases/view/79972The release notes follow:Allow case sensitivity in the deprecated words and recognised words listStyleing fixes.Fix for documentation spelling checks inside nested xml nodes.Look for CustomDictionary.xml files in the folder of the cs file.Update the TabIndex in the spelling tab.Updating default deprecated words and their alternatives.Add support for specifying dictionary folders in the settings.StyleCop file. Like :Rename StyleCopViolationError to StyleCopHighlightingError and all associated types.Fix the Bulb Item for spelling mistakes to replace matching words correctly.Fix the spelling parser for strings beginning with $$THREADING FIX: Make StyleCop execute analysis in proces and not create 2 threads. Use Countdown Event when we move to .NET 4.Use the naming service for the Culture specified for the project. Pass the actual violation through to ReSharper.Ensure Registry access code works for VS2008 addins.Rollback Registry changes to ensure VS2008 plugin loads correctly.Adding support for preferred alternative words for spelling. Adding deprecated word support into Settings.StyleCop file. Spelling is only checked if Office 2010 is installed. Allow editing of deprecated words and their alternatives in the Settings editor.Adding new resource stringsAdding BulbItem and Quick fixes for spelling errors.Moving StringExtensions to common area.Styling fixes.Report all spelling errors found on a line.Start of 4.7.39.0 dev.

  Read the article

• Alternatives to time tracking methodologies [closed]

  - by Brandon Wamboldt

  Question first: What are some feasible alternatives to time tracking for employees in a web/software development company, and why are they better options Explanation: I work at a company where we work like this. Everybody is paid salary. We have 3 types of work, Contract, Adhoc and Internal (Non billable). Adhoc is just small changes that take a few hours and we just bill the client at the end of the month. Contracts are signed and we have this big long process, the usual. We figure out how much to charge by getting an estimation of the time involved (From the design and the developers), multiplying it by our hourly rate and that's it. So say we estimate 50 hours for a website. We have time tracking software and have to record the time in 15 we spend on it (7:00 to 7:15 for example), the project name, and give it some comments. Now if we go over the 50 hours, we are both losing money and are inefficient. Now that I've explained how the system works, my question is how else can it be done if a better method exists (Which I'm sure one must). Nobody here likes the current system, we just can't find an alternative. I'd be more than willing to work after hours longer hours on a project to get it done in time, but I'm much inclined to do so with the current system. I'd love to be able to sum up (Or link) to this post for my manager to show them why we should use abc system instead of this system.

  Read the article

• Input prediction and server re-simultaion

  - by Lope

  I have read plenty of articles about multiplayer principles and I have basic client-server system set up. There is however one thing I am not clear on. When player enters input, it is sent to the server and steps back in time to check if what should have happened at the time of that input and it resimulates the world again. So far everything's clear. All articles took shooting as an example, because it is easy to explain and it is pretty straightforward, but I believe movement is more complicated. Imagine following situation: 2 players move towards each other. A------<------B Player A stops halfway towards the collision point, but there is lag spike so the command does not arrive on the server for a second or so. Current state of the world on the server (and on the other clients as well) at the time when input arrives is this: [1]: -------AB------- The command arrives and we go back in time and re-simulate the world, the result is this: [2]: ---AB----------- Player A sees situation [2] which is correct, but the player is suddenly teleported from the position in [1] (center) to the position in [2]. Is this how this is supposed to work? Point of the client prediction is to give lagged player feeling that everything is smooth, not to ruin experience for other players. Alternative is to discard timestamp on the player's input and handle it when it arrives on the server without going back in time. This, however, creates even more severe problems for lagged player (even if he is lagging just a bit)

  Read the article

• Sending Emails from existing SMTP host from Ubuntu Server

  - by ezgoodnight

  I feel like my problem is very simple, but I've been trying for quite some time and haven't cracked it. You experienced server guys will probably laugh at this, but I'm finally at the point I need help or I'll never get anywhere. I have a little box running 12.04 LTS and I've wanted to script some status checks and have the server send me an email and schedule this with cron. I basically want a command line mail client that I can set up as easily as Thunderbird to send through my existing SMTP through the command line. Something that can easily be rolled into my bash scripts. I already have a remote host handling our email, SMTP, MTA, all that garbage. I don't particularly want to set up a relay just to send email when I have one that everyone else in the company already uses. I've tried, but there are too many aspects I don't understand AND I don't see why I should set up something local when we already pay for a remote host to do these things. If I absolutely have to set up sendmail or postfix, then so be it, but I'd appreciate a simple alternative. I'm open to practically anything at this point.

  Read the article

• Issue with increasing the root partition from the swap

  - by user211761

  I have an issue with increase the size of my root partition. I have ElementaryOS Luna, and while installing it asked me how much space I want to use. I choosed 15 GB for it, because I want to use this as an alternative system. The issue is that after the installation was complete, I found out that my root partition is only 7 GB big, and SWAP is 8 GB which is useless cuz I have 8 GB of RAM. Now I want to shrink the swap and increase the size of my root partition, so I booted the LiveCD and used GParted. I shrinked the swap without any problems, but now I cant add that free space to any partition. I also turned Swap off. I would add a picture, but I need at least 10 reputation to post images ( Stupid ) Its also worth mentioning that in Gparted its showing my partition in a different way. I would post an image BUT I CANT, so I need to write it down. Its something like this [Pointing arrow down] /dev/sda4 Extended /dev/sda5 ntfs /dev/sda6 ext4 (Which is my main partition) /dev/sda7 linux-swap unallocated Picture:

  Read the article

• What packages are safe to uninstall to reduce installation size?

  - by mathematician1975

  This question is similar to a previous question I asked How can I turn my desktop Ubuntu 8.04 into a command line only install?. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any other bulky packages from the standard 8.04 installation that can reduce the size on disk of my installation. All I really require is socket functionality, g++ and gcc, some kind of text editor and SSH client and server. Things that I don't require are things like media players, audio packages, and the more "superficial" kind of desktop niceties. Is there anything particularly large in a standard install that is safe for me to remove without compromising my requirements above? I am a bit apprehensive about trying to uninstall items and I am not totally confident about removal of particular things having a negative effect on the functionality of any other things I might need (an example is would it be safe for me to remove everything to do with Perl, or does the system/kernel/other processes require this) ??? Basically I would like to be left with the kind of items that would have been installed in the CLI version of 8.04 (had the alternative iso image not been faulty). Any help/suggestions would be gratefully received.

  Read the article

• Is there supposed to be a Windows Network folder in the file manager?

  - by Cindy

  I pulled my hard drive out of my computer and started with a bootable usb version of Ubuntu, which I am using that at this point. At first boot, I see that there is a Windows folder when browsing network. Since there is no operating system present, besides the usb that I boot from, should there be a Windows network folder? Original question First of all I just want to say, I wish I had tried Ubuntu a couple years ago when I first heard about it, but I was like a lot of the population and went with the "easy way" and stuck with Windows because I didn't want to take the time to learn something new. Well, about 3 months ago I realized someone had hacked into my computer, and then found they had hacked my facebook account so I decided I had better do a complete credit check. I found student loans (totalling about 30,000 so far) had recently showed up on my credit report. I think it's going to be a long, long road to recovery now but I'm hoping Ubuntu will be a start and definitely an eye opener. My relationship with Windows is over. I had 3 antivirus programs running, none were protecting me like I thought they were. Turned out a free program that I downloaded was the only one that could detect and clean the virus, but by then it was too late. Anyhow, my question is, I pulled my hard drive out of my computer and started with a bootable usb version of Ubuntu, which I am using that at this point. At first boot, I see that there is a Windows folder when browsing network. Since there is no operating system present, besides the usb that I boot from, should there be a Windows network folder? I am using a local ISP (and won't be much longer because I am very paranoid at this point) and I want to make sure all is ok before I put my new hard drive in and install Ubuntu. Any help would be appreciated. Also, I want to thank Ubuntu and the community for giving people an alternative.

  Read the article

• What online games would let me practice AI development?

  - by Myn

  I am working on a project experimenting with Artificial Intelligence design methodologies for online world avatars. Online world here is quite open to interpretation; Second Life is just as applicable as Counter Strike, for example. To carry out these experiments, I must first develop an intelligent agent for the world in question. However, I am honestly quite stuck as to which game I could use for this. My preference was to develop an intelligent "bot" to play an MMORPG, but the legal restrictions of such games prevent me. Likewise with most FPS games the use of an intelligent agent in place of a human player is considered cheating. The alternative, of course, is to create an NPC bot; an intelligent agent that populates the world alongside the player(s) rather than replacing a particular player. However, I'm struggling to find a game that would enable me to create an intelligent opponent either. I suppose the main requirements would be a game allows a third party program to use the function calls usually utilised by players and read feedback on the state of the world. Quake III and Unreal Tournament have been suggested before, but they have already been the subject of work on this research project. Short of writing my own online game from scratch, what games would allow me, through middleware, an API, or otherwise, to create either an artificially intelligent player or a bot?

  Read the article

• Can I eventually consider myself a professional developer if I don't have a CS degree? [on hold]

  - by heltonbiker

  Question first, context later: If I am a dedicated, self-taught programmer, always seeking top-quality books AND READING THEM, while successfully applying all that new knowledge into my current work, could I call myself (and offer my work as) a PROFESSIONAL developer? How limiting (or how common) that is nowadays? I am afraid that, no matter how hard I study and practice, it could be too difficult to compete with "actual", college graduated developers, and potential employers might have doubts investing in an "undergraduated" person. Now, context: My former profession is from healthcare sector, then I studied mechanical engineering (quit in the middle), then I studied product design (master degree), and I ended up working (very happily) at an engineering company that manufactures medical devices. For more than two years now my main activity in this company is software development. The devices contain software, and we gave up hiring software development (domain knowledge needed, too much communication cost). My current company sees a lot of value in what I do, but I cannot afford the risk of depending on this single company for the rest of my life, you get it. But a lot of job offers require some minimal formal education, usually a CS degree. Fact is that I am sure this is my target profession, I don't plan to go to another area, it is a pleasure to dive into books that normal people would consider unreadable, but I'm 36 years old and can't see going back to college as a viable alternative.

  Read the article

• IEEE SRS documents: lightweight version when working with outside contractors?

  - by maple_shaft

  Typically we follow an Agile development process that tends not to put an emphasis on writing requirements and technical documents that nobody will read. We tend to focus our limited manpower to development and testing activities with collaborative design and whiteboarding as a key focus. There is a mostly standalone web component that will take quite a few weeks to develop, but this work can be mostly parallel with other project work going on. To try and catch up time I was given a budget for hiring a developer on oDesk to complete this work. While my team isn't accustomed to working off of a firm SRS document, I realize that with outsourced development that it is a good idea to be as firm and specific as possible so I realize that I need to provide a detailed Requirements and Technical Specification document for this work to be done correctly. When I do write a Requirements document I typically utilize the standard IEEE SRS document template but I think this is too verbose and probably overkill for what I need to communicate to a developer. Is there another requirements document that is more lightweight and also accepted by a major standards organization like the IEEE? Further, as what will be developed as a software module that will interact with other software modules, my requirements really need to delve into technical specifications for things to work correctly. In this scenario does it make sense to merge technical and requirements specifications into a single document, and if not, what is a viable alternative?

  Read the article

• There's Not an App for That (Yet)

  - by Mark Hesse

  With an earlier-than-normal departure this morning to avoid the stalemate known as traffic congestion, I suddenly realized what I had failed to grab on my way out the door...  my company ID badge.  Unfortunately, at the time of my epiphany, I was far enough into commuter no-man's land where turning back would completely negate my early departure and increase my overall drive time exponentially.  Not being one to retrace my steps, I decided to press on. Upon arrival at the office and with an hour to go before a security guard would be on duty, I started thinking about the number of times I had forgotten my ID vs. the number of times I had forgotten my phone.  While rare on both accounts, my ID was most likely the missing artifact. I then wondered why there isn't an app for my smartphone that allows me to verify my credentials with my employer and then, provided with a secure token for the day, have the ability to access my building's card entry system.  On many levels, this seems much more secure than an ID card which can be lost, stolen or even forged and then used simply by tailgating into and around buildings at facilities where card scanning can generally be avoided.   As it turns out, another building on the campus has 24 x 7 guard coverage, so I was able to gain access in a relatively short time and secure a temporary ID badge.  Once inside and online, a quick internet search on the subject of smartphone badge access shows that efforts are underway to do exactly what I was thinking needed to be done. Having not spent any time studying about the technology, I discovered that it relies on Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled smartphones (of which, mine does not provide).  The only other option would require modifications to the security infrastructure to support alternative authentication technologies, such as barcode readers, which would be extremely costly to implement. For now, my best option is to put my corporate ID under my car keys... 

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149  | Next Page >