Karen Butler maintains that after being heavily sedated she awoke speaking with a thick British accent. Can it be true?

He showed a clip from a local news station that equated the portrayal of homosexuality on 'Glee' to product placement. "You throw a soda in a movie and within a few seconds everybody in the theater is thirsty for that particular brand," the woman in the clip said.

London is unprepared for a terrorist attack on the 2012 Olympics because of a chronic shortage of air ambulance crews and other fast response teams, Lady Justice Hallett warned in her report into the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks.

Joystick Division looks at gamers' reactions to the PSN hack and outage.

Here’s a headline you don’t see too often: “Rubber Chicken Turned NASA Mission Mascot Embarks on a Flight to Space.” Seriously, this is a true story.

New data from comScore for this past March has pointed to Apple nearly passing RIM in smartphone market share for the US. Shipping 18.65 million iPhones helped Apple gain half a point since December to hit 25.5 percent share in its home country.

Trash talking and sports go together like apples and pie. They are synonymous like chicken and dumplings. They mix beautifully like peanut butter and jelly!

The Long Island Serial Killer may one day take his place alongside the Gacys and the Bundys. Or he may be all but forgotten like these poor lunatics.

Looks like Skype is in play, again. Unlike last time, both the suitors have good business reasons. Between Google and Facebook, the social networking giant makes perfect sense. We actually suggested this deal six months ago. Question is: why does Skype want to sell?

ostatic.com: I always look forward to new SimplyMEPIS releases, and yesterday I was treated to version 11.0. Just two days after mini-MEPIS made its debut, its full-featured big brother was unveiled.

read more

An anonymous reader writes "Until today, GPGPU computing was a userspace privilege because of NVIDIA's closed-source policy and AMD's semi-open state.

Ubuntu Linux Losing CTO From the blogs: Matt Zimmerman, the CTO of Canonical Ubuntu Linux is leaving the project.

GRPN is a RPN calculator for the X Window system built using the GIMP Toolkit (GTK). GRPN works with real numbers, complex numbers, matrices, and complex matrices. Numbers can be displayed in 4 different radix modes, and complex numbers can be displayed in either Cartesian or polar form, in decimal or engineering notation.

Changes: Clipboard support was added, with Ctrl-C. The comma is no longer a separator in complex numbers. It has been replaced by ";" and ">", since it is used as a decimal separator in some locales. Debian sources and binaries are available.

Release Tags: Stable, Minor, gtk-2.0

Tags: Office/Business, Financial, Scientific/Engineering

Licenses: GPL

Jmx4Perl provides an alternate way of accessing Java JEE Server management interfaces that are based on JMX (Java Management Extensions). It is an agent-based approach where a small Web application deployed on the application server provides HTTP/JSON-based access to JMX MBeans registered within the application server. It is set up from a handful of Perl modules, which can be integrated seamlessly in your own programs. It also includes a Nagios plugin, check_jmx4perl, a jmx4perl command line tool for remote JMX queries and operations, and a readline-based JMX shell j4psh, with context sensitive command completion and syntax highlighting.

Changes: This release contains bugfixes and minor enhancements like the possibility to avoid clear text passwords in configuration files.

Release Tags: Minor, Bugfixes

Tags: Development, Libraries, Perl, Modules, Java, JMX, JEE, Nagios, Agent, JSON, REST, software, j2ee, Monitoring

Licenses: GPLv2, Commercial

KnowledgeRoot is a knowledge base system that lets you structure your content in a tree. It integrates FCKeditor to make adding content easy.

Changes: This release adds a content printout dialog. The position for contents can be set at create or edit time. Some small bugs have been fixed.

Release Tags: Minor bugfixes, Minor feature enhancements

Tags: Internet, Web, Dynamic Content, Wiki, Software Development, Documentation

QLC, the Q Light Controller, is used to control DMX and analog lighting equipment like scanners, dimmers, and other effects. The goal is to produce free software that replaces hardware lighting desks.

Changes: HTP (Highest Takes Precedence) has been implemented for all intensity channels. An unlimited amount of fixtures and functions is supported. The cue list and chaser editor now support cut, copy, and paste. All stock plugins are included in the main package. Usability has been improved in some dialogs.

Release Tags: Major feature enhancements

Tags: Artistic Software

Licenses: GPLv2

TCPDF is a PHP class for generating PDF documents without requiring external extensions. TCPDF supports all ISO page formats and custom page formats, custom margins and units of measure, UTF-8 Unicode, RTL languages, HTML, barcodes, TrueTypeUnicode, TrueType, OpenType, Type1, and CID-0 fonts, images, graphic functions, clipping, bookmarks, JavaScript, forms, page compression, digital signatures, and encryption.

Changes: A bug in barcode type 93 was fixed.

Tags: Software Development, Libraries, php classes, Text Processing

Licenses: LGPL

TCExam is Web-based assessment software for generating and managing online tests and exams. It simplifies the exam cycle, including generation, execution, evaluation, presentation, and archiving.

Changes: This version includes better result interfaces and improved export filters (CSV, XML, PDF).

Tags: education, Testing, Computer-Based Assessment, e-exam

Licenses: AGPL v3

Wiki2Beamer is a small tool to create LaTeX Beamer presentations from text files with a wiki-like syntax. Thus, it enables the user to create beamer presentations in a less time-consuming way.

Changes: An issue with the color syntax element ( _ somecolor _ sometext _ ) which might get in the way a little bit too often was fixed and improved. It now only is activated when "somecolor" is a simple name (doesn't contain the curly braces) and not a complex LaTeX command.

Release Tags: Stable

Tags: Text Processing, Markup, TeX/LaTeX, Office/Business

Licenses: GPL

Prudence is a platform for creating scalable Web applications and network services using dynamic scripting languages and proven REST principles. Your application can support thin clients (HTML) and rich clients (AJAX), with anything in between. You can also create pure REST services with no user interaction. Languages supported are Python, Ruby, Groovy, Clojure, JavaScript, PHP, Succinct, Velocity, and anything else supported by the Scripturian project.

Changes: This release includes upgrades to many dependencies (notably Groovy and JRuby) and fixes a major bug with Internet Explorer.

Licenses: LGPL

WikkaWiki is a lightweight and flexible wiki engine allowing easy management of Websites, in particular collective Web-based projects: it provides an intuitive interface for modifying page content, tracking and comparing revisions made by single users, and setting user access privileges. It features W3 compliant XHTML and CSS output, several text formatting options, categories, a GUI for editing pages, support for images, tables, Flash objects, RSS feeds, FreeMind maps, advanced Access Control List management, referrers management, and text search functions. Designed for easy customizability, it aims at keeping its core as light as possible while maintaining an architecture that supports extensibility through plugin modules.

Changes: This release addresses many outstanding bugs and introduces a slew of new functionality including relaxed page naming requirements, new actions, and a more robust RSS feed generator.

Tags: Information Management, Internet, Web, Dynamic Content, Wiki, Site Management, Software Development, Documentation, Communications, Issue Tracking

Licenses: GPL

The deployment and configuration management of software over servers, or simply of the instantiation of various configurations in a test environment, is a complex and error-prone operational task. KwateeSDCM automates the deployment and manages a central repository of distributed configuration parameters, thereby reducing complex update operations from days/hours to a single click. kwateeSDCM is easily adaptable for existing software packages and provides the following features: central repository for software and configurations, software and configuration versioning, single click rollout, auditing of configuration changes and multiple configuration sets (i.e. test, production, etc.). It supports deployments on various operating systems. All that is required on target servers is ssh access and a lightweight agent.

Changes: Many bugfixes and minor enhancements.

Tags: sdcm, software deployment, release management, application deployment automation, software configuration, installation tool

Licenses: Freeware

Australian mobile phone carrier Optus is the second wireless services provider in the country set to make the Motorola XOOM tablet PC available for its customers in the near future. The device is expected to become available for purchase in the country on the airwaves of Telstra on May 24th, and should be exclusive to this carrier fo...

Security researchers warn that cyber criminals who use black hat SEO techniques to distribute scareware, have changed their focus from traditional Web search results to image ones.Black hat SEO is a very successful method of leading users to malicious websites by inserting malicious links into search results for popular keywords....

Announced just hours ago on the X.Org development mailing list is recent work to create the xf86-video-nested driver. As implied by the name of the driver and the title of this news post, this is an X.Org video driver designed to run nested X.Org servers. In other words, X.Org on top of X.Org...

Free and open source Real Time Strategy (RTS) and Simulation Game Unknown Horizons have been updated to a new version that brings many new features and fixes. The game emphasizes on maintaining an economy and city building. You can expand your small settlement to a strong and wealthy colony, collect taxes and supply your inhabitants with valuable goods. The aim is to increase your power and create a well balanced economy with strategic trade and diplomacy. Both single player and multi player games modes are available.

SABnzbd+ 0.6.0 was released a couple of days ago and is already available via JCFP's SABnzbd+ private package archive (PPA). Considering the maturity of the project, SABnzbd+ 0.6.0 brings with it an impressive array of changes and updates. The most noticeable one (visually), is undoubtedly the change from using the Smpl skin as the default to using the updated and expanded Plush. With this change, the SABnzbd+ developers have decided to focus solely on Plush and may even possibly phase out the other skins entirely.

Open Source software development has drawn increasing attention as its importance has grown. Open source communities have been able to challenge and often outperform proprietary software by enabling better reliability, lower costs, shorter development times, and a higher quality of code.

For many of us a morning without coffee or tea is a like the proverbial day without sunshine. For me much of it is about the ritual. Okay, who am I kidding?

Pole dancing is on the rise as a form of fitness, but calling it a sport may still be a stretch. Or is it?

Kamel Makhloufi created this simple yet stunning visualization of Iraq war casualties using just pixels to represent deaths.

Apartment renters are the angriest and most jaded people on the planet. On one hand, I see where they're coming from: Every day, dozens of people call a renter and visit his/her apartment. The renter has to answer the same questions over and over again, they need to tour people around, and they need to feign excitement.

Think you've mastered Apple's iTunes app? Not so fast. Here are some expert tips guaranteed to help you get even more out of the media database powering your iPhone or iPad.

Your overall happiness may depend in part on whether you drew the long or short version of a gene, say researchers.

Apple reportedly made an extremely interesting move recently. when it hired audio engineer and THX sound system inventor Tomlinson Holman to head up audio at Apple.

At the state level, the GOP's attacks on reproductive rights may widen the already huge gulf between red and blue states in health, family stability, and education.

Smartphones’ share of the global cell phone market is poised to explode over the next four years, according to market research firm Pyramid Research.

No games have been played -- or even any offseason practices held -- but the Green Bay Packers remain a favorite to win Super Bowl XLVI.

• Red Hat Summit: The opensource.com panel highlights
• Videos: Red Hat Summit 2011
• Red Hat Inc. (RHT) EVP, CFO Charles E Jr Peters Sells 26,352 Shares
• Red Hat Expands Technology Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison

read more

theregister.co.uk: You can add another name to the growing brace of board members leaving Ubuntu steward Canonical: the executive in charge of the Linux's cloud and server maturation, Neil Levine.

read more

lizards.opensuse.org: openSUSE has been a pretty good Gnome distribution for a long time now, but 11.4 really gave me a different feeling: I found only 1 bug I care to solve in my laptop support, and the defaults I had out of the box were all more than good, they were pleasing.

read more

eSecurityPlanet: Open source Metasploit (usually runs on Linux!) improves session handling and oh yeah, Apple exploitation.

The Linux Foundation has announced the keynote speakers for its LinuxCon Japan 2011 conference taking place from 1 to 3 June 2011 at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. The welcoming remarks will be presented by Noriaki Fukuyasu, Director at Linux Foundation Japan, and followed by a keynote from Linux creator Linus Torvalds, who will discuss the 20th anniversary of the Linux operating system.

Sure, an SF fan might consider going to a con just to hear a favorite author speak or to participate in the costume contests. But developers and other computer techies can justify attending for business reasons, too. (Even if you don't program in Klingon++.)

Natty Narwhal herding no moreMatt Zimmerman, chief technology officer at commercial Linux distributor Canonical, is stepping down.…

The Outercurve Foundation's (formerly CodePlex) Stephan Walli offers some interesting perspective on the future of Mono and SuSE. He writes: "I've written about Novell's SuSE positioning over the years and their need to be more than 'We're not Red Hat.' Mono was always been a potentially excellent strategic differentiator. But first you need to understand how Microsoft dropped the ball."

(PhysOrg.com) -- A genetics research group working in a lab in Kansas, has succeeded in creating a new species of lizard by mating two distinct species of North American Whiptails, both native to New Mexico. The offspring, all females are not only fertile, but can reproduce by laying eggs that don't ...

....

Today Jerry Seinfeld is debuting his very own website called, you guessed it, JerrySeinfeld.com. It will house hundreds of clips that include the 57-year-old's first network appearance on 'The Tonight Show' in 1981 up to the present day.