Story 2014-04-17

ISC Ends BIND Development and Renames it Bundy

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in internet on (#3J2)
Today, ISC released the last version of BIND 10 , ending the organization's development work and signalling that no further updates will be made to the source pool.

The Bundy Project is currently working with the ISC to move the code to GitHub to continue the program's development.

BIND 9 is the most popular DNS server in use today.

Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr Released

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in linux on (#3J1)
story imageUbuntu released version 14.04 LTS (codename "Trusty Tahr") today. This is a long-term support distribution, meaning Ubuntu will support it with security and bug fixes for 5 years as it slowly replaces Ubuntu 12.04 LTS that preceded it.Recent notable changes, such as the move to systemd or the Mir display server, are absent in this release. However, this release adds arm64 and ppc64el architectures. OpenStack and other "cloud" tools also received many updates.

Although critics often disparage the animal codename, the uniqueness of the word does aide Internet searches. For example, if you search for "Ubuntu Bluetooth" you may get outdated information from previous versions that is no longer relevant. However, adding "Precise Pangolin" or "Trusty Tahr" really helps narrow down the results.

Micro Robots

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in robotics on (#3J0)
story imageWhat's cooler than a robot? A micro-robot. What's cooler than that? A swarm of them , organizing effortlessly, like ants, to accomplish complicated tasks in parallel and on a small scale, like the manufacture of circuit boards or other products, and dealing effortlessly with both solids and liquids. Sound interesting? It does to SRI International , who has developed and patented a technology called Diamagnetic Micro Manipulation (DM3).

It uses "printed circuit boards to drive and control micro-robots built from simple, low-cost magnets that are propelled electromagnetically. This could enable cost-effective production of large numbers of micro-robots that can reliably handle a wide variety of solid and liquid materials - including electronics. ... [Their] vision is to enable an assembly head containing thousands of micro-robots to manufacture high-quality macro-scale products while providing millimeter-scale structural control. For example, some micro-robots will carry components (electronic as well as mechanical, such as truss elements), some micro-robots will deposit liquids, and others will perform in situ quality analysis. Mounted to a mobile robotic base, a micro-factory will be able to build parts of practically any size."

Have a look at their statement on an ongoing DARPA Open Manufacturing proposition for Microfactories for smart manufacturing . These scare me more than Big-Dog . Lets hope they can never self replicate and swarm by the millions .