jeudi 22 septembre 2011

Trisquel GNU/Linux 5.0 "Dagba" : 100% free (libre)

Afin de célébrer le Software Freedom Day, l'équipe de développement de Trisquel GNU/Linux a publié Trisquel GNU/Linux 5.0 "Dagba". Trisquel GNU/Linux est une distribution 100% libre, reconnue par la Free Software Foundation (FSF). Deux éditions sont disponibles : l'édition standard avec GNOME et l'édition Mini avec LXDE. Elle inclue le noyau Linux-libre 2.6.38, GNOME 2.6.32, LibreOffice 3.3.3, le navigateur ABrowser 6.0.2. Les utilisateurs de Trisquel 4.5 peuvent mettre à jour leur système directement en utilisant l'application update-manager sans avoir besoin de faire une réinstall... plus »

KNOPPIX 6.7.1

Klaus Knopper a annoncé la sortie de KNOPPIX 6.7.1, mise à jour de la célèbre distribution basée sur Debian, disponible sous forme de Live-CD et DVD et utilisant l'environnement de bureau LXDE. De nombreuses mises à jour ont été effectuées à partir de Debian Squeeze avec une pointe de Debian testing et unstable. Elle inclut le noyau linux 3.0.4, X.Org Server 1.11, le pilote libre expérimental "nouveau" pour les cartes graphiques NVIDIA, LibreOffice 3.4.3 à la place de OpenOffice.org, les navigateurs Chromium 13.0.782.220 et Firefox 6.0.2. Sur la version DVD, il est possible désormais... plus »

lundi 19 septembre 2011

Smartphone Battery Life Could Dramatically Improve With New Invention

University of Michigan News Service (09/15/11) 

University of Michigan researchers have developed the Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening (E-MiLi) system, which features a subconscious mode for smartphones and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices that could extend battery life by more than 50 percent. The researchers found that even when smartphones are in power-saving modes they still can use about 80 percent of the battery life while conducting idle listening. "This idle listening often consumes as much power as actively sending and receiving messages all day," says Michigan professor Kang Shin. E-MiLi slows down the Wi-Fi card's clock by up to 1/16 its normal frequency, and then switches it back to full speed when the phone identifies an incoming message. "Usually, messages come with a header, and we thought the phone could be enabled to detect this, as you can recognize that someone is calling your name even if you're 90 percent asleep," Shin says. When E-MiLi is used with the power-saving mode, the system is capable of reducing energy consumption from as little as 44 percent to as much as 92 percent, based on the overall network traffic. However, E-MiLi requires new firmware for phones and computers that would be sending messages because they need the ability to encode the message header in a new and detectable way.

Schoolchildren to Be Taught How to Write Software

Computerworld UK (09/16/11) Anh Nguyen 

The British government has decided to start teaching pre-General Certificate of Secondary Education students how to write software as part of its effort to transform information technology (IT) education in schools. The decision follows years of criticism of the computer science curriculum in United Kingdom (U.K.) schools. A report from the U.K.'s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills said the current IT curriculum was failing students by not making a clear distinction between the use of IT and IT as a career. "There's going to be a live pilot over two terms in schools of a program that will transform the IT curriculum away from computer literacy, which we believe many young people can do earlier, towards instead how they develop software and computational principles; how they can create their own programs," says UK science minister David Willetts. The initiative will be launched at 20 schools in England in November and run until June 2012.