Language May Have Evolved Earlier Than Supposed: related news

Language May Have Evolved Earlier Than Supposed

Science News reports on research suggesting that humans' language ability may have developed earlier than we thought. Scientists used CT scanning of H. heidelbergensis skulls, more than 530,000 years old, to reconstruct the structure of the ear canal of this Neanderthal ancestor. They found evidence that the ears of these early hominids would have had a sensitivity peak in the same 2-4 KHz range that the ears of modern humans do — the range in which most information is carried in language. Sensory systems are neurologically expensive, and it's unlikely that the body would invest the resources in maintaining such a system if it didn't serve a purpose. Quoting: "It may be time to rethink the stereotype of grunting, wordless Neanderthals. The prehistoric humans may have been quite chatty — at least if the ear canals of their ancestors ar

Part 3: JavaFX Script Functions

In August and September 2007, John O'Conner of the Sun Developer Network wrote a series titled "Learning Curve Journal" designed to help users get started with the JavaFX Script programming language (shortened to JavaFX Script in the remainder of this article). A number of significant advances have been made to the language since then. Perhaps most important is the availability of a compiler-based version of JavaFX Script, which replaces the earlier interpreter-based version of the language. The Learning Curve Journal described the use of the interpreter-based version of the language. The Learning Curve Journal has been updated to show you how to use the compiler-based version of the language. Other changes have been made to make the articles current.

Learning Curve Journal

In August and September 2007, John O'Conner of the Sun Developer Network wrote a series titled "Learning Curve Journal" designed to help users get started with the JavaFX Script programming language (shortened to JavaFX Script in the remainder of this article). A number of significant advances have been made to the language since then. Perhaps most important is the availability of a compiler-based version of JavaFX Script, which replaces the earlier interpreter-based version of the language. The Learning Curve Journal described the use of the interpreter-based version of the language. The Learning Curve Journal has been updated to show you how to use the compiler-based version of the language. Other changes have been made to make the articles current.

Several Nintendo Controllers may be Banned

Nintendo may soon have to halt sales of its Wii Classic Controller, GameCube WaveBird, and the standard GameCube controller. A suit was brought against Nintendo by Anascape for violating its patent for a "six degrees of freedom interface device." Sony has been licensing the technology since 2004 and Microsoft settled out of court. Nintendo, however, decided to go to trial, and the judge ruled that Nintendo was indeed in violation of the patent and not only owes $21 million, but may also have to halt sales of the three aforementioned controllers. Nintendo has appealed the ruling, so for now, they can continue to sell the controllers. However, if you've been considering purchasing one, you may want to do so sooner rather than later.

Judge may retry RIAA's Thomas case

A ruling in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) may be overturned and set a precedent for file sharing, according to remarks made by the presiding judge in the case. District Judge Michael Davis now expresses doubts over a decision which fined defendant Jammie Thomas $222,000 for allegedly trading 24 songs through KaZaA, arguing that a closer review of the US Copyright Act used as the foundation of the case suggests that a retrial may be necessary. The Act requires actual proof of an illegal transfer rather than the simpler act of exposing the content through a public folder. Without the former evidence, the previous decision against Thomas may no longer hold weight, according to Judge Davis.

The Nyko Wing Looks Better than the Wii Classic Controller It's Knocking Off

The Nyko Wing, other than looking a bit more comfortable than the Wii's Classic Controller, brings a few other conveniences to Wii vintage gaming. First, it's wireless. So while it still requires an active Wiimote to communicate with the system (and it uses a Wiimote dongle to do so), you won't need to worry about wire tethering. The extra shoulder buttons may or may not come in handy (since Nintendo doesn't allow controller remapping in most Virtual Console titles), but very thoughtfully, you can load the Wing with AAA rechargeable batteries that can be refreshed via built-in USB. Looks good, but no word on pricing or availability yet. [IGN]

Last Call: XProc: An XML Pipeline Language

The XML Processing Model Working Group has published the Last Call Working Draft of XProc: An XML Pipeline Language. This specification describes the syntax and semantics of XProc: An XML Pipeline Language, a language for describing operations to be performed on XML documents. A pipeline consists of steps. Like pipelines, steps take zero or more XML documents as their inputs and produce zero or more XML documents as their outputs. Comments are welcome through 26 September. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity.

iPhone App Store Downloads Top 10 Million in First Weekend

Apple iPhone and iPod touch users downloaded more than 10 million applications from the new App Store since its launch late last week, according to the company. The selection of applications ranges from games to location-based social networking to medical applications to enterprise productivity tools. The company noted that more than 800 native applications are now available on the App Store, with more than 200 offered for free and more than 90 percent priced at less than $10.

Part 2: Declarative User Interfaces

In August and September 2007, John O'Conner of the Sun Developer Network wrote a series titled "Learning Curve Journal" designed to help users get started with the JavaFX Script programming language (shortened to JavaFX Script in the remainder of this article). A number of significant advances have been made to the language since then. Perhaps most important is the availability of a compiler-based version of JavaFX Script, which replaces the earlier interpreter-based version of the langauge. The Learning Curve Journal described the use of the interpreter-based version of the language. The Learning Curve Journal has been updated to show you how to use the compiler-based version of the language. Other changes have been made to make the articles current.

As you may have noticed, there is a "blog" that has posted a link to this thread. ...

As you may have noticed, there is a "blog" that has posted a link to this thread. This so-called blog is actually nothing more than platform for libelous slander against various companies and trade organizations in the electronic components distribution industry. The blog is run by a single person, Dinesh Kumar Jain, owner and sole employee of the company Chip Stores in Canada. As you may have also noticed, Mr. Jain is an extremely disturbed individual whose bizarre and downright nonsensical accusations have gotten him thrown off or blacklisted from virtually every broker/distribution website on the Internet, as well as most of the "Complaint/Scam" type message boards. Every reply on his website is quite obviously by him and it's rather doubtful that anybody else even reads his nonsense.

Creating Multi-Language Custom Control

Suppose that we are dealing with a multi-language website: English, French, Chinese, etc. and in some forms we need to enter a username in three languages, each language in a separate textbox. Abdulla's custom control allows developers to add these three textboxs inside a custom multilang control that will reform these textboxes inside a sliding div that displays one textbox at a time for the selected language. More...

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (Xbox Live Arcade)

Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

Full Sentence Foreign Language Translations for Smartphone

Clifton, VA (PRWEB) July 17, 2008 -- World Concepts, Inc. (WCI) announces the availability of free form full sentence foreign language translation for Mobile 6 Smartphones. The language translations available are Spanish to/from English; French to/from English; German to/from English; or, if all languages are purchased, between any two languages. All language pairs come with comprehensive dictionaries of 18 to 35 thousand terms consisting of the most commonly used words.

Learn a Foreign Language As an Engineer?

Ben B writes "I'm working on an undergraduate degree in computer engineering in the US, and I'm a native English-speaking citizen. In fact, English is the only language that I know. Maybe it's not the same at other schools, but for the engineering program at mine, a foreign language is not required. If my plans are to one day be involved in research, is it worth my time to learn a foreign language? If so, which one?" Learning something new is almost never a waste of time, but how much energy have others found worthwhile to expend with all of the programming/math/tech type courses to be had at a large university?

Same Dev Tools/Language/Framework For Everyone?

AC writes "Upper management of the company I work at recently declared that all new development should be done with a single combination of development tools, language, and framework. The main rationale is that people can be relocated from one group / project to another faster, because they don't need to learn a new environment when they switch. Of course the chosen language / framework used by everybody does not need to be the best tool for the job, but it should be good enough to allow every project to get done. What does Slashdot think about this? Is it OK to use the same development tools and language for every project, instead of choosing what fits best? Will the time saved be sufficient to offset the time lost to the 'not the best tool for the job' environment developers will be forced to use?"

Why not learn a little language while you work, Amigo?

Books, CDs, flashcards, classes -- there are a lot of tools to help you learn a foreign language. If you spend much of your time near a computer, software may be one of the better options. Ian McIntosh's Amigo is a friendly language utility for the Linux user, notable for how well it integrates into the desktop.

Google: $1 Billion AOL Investment "May Be Impaired"

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that it believes its $1 billion investment in Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL "may be impaired," adding that it will continue to review the investment and may potentially have to take a charge on its books to account for the declining value of its 5% stake in the company. "There can be no assurance that impairment charges will not be required in the future, and any such amounts may be material," Google said in the SEC filing.

Apple patent describes new multi-touch gesture language

A new patent application from Apple, "called 'Gesture learning' gives a whole new meaning to gesture expansion. It describes how Apple may go about teaching you a whole new multi-touch gesture language, consisting of hundreds of words. Something like American Sign Language for touchscreens," Staska reports for Unwired View.

More Genes Are Controlled By Biological Clocks Than Previously Thought

Researchers at the University of Georgia report that the number of genes under control of the biological clock in a much-studied model organism is dramatically higher than previously reported. The new study implies that the clock may be much more important in living things than suspected only a few years ago.

PC Video Games Thriving... But In Different Ways Than You Might Expect

Recently, we had a story about a lawyer who was suing a bunch of folks for uploading a pinball video game, with some questionable statements about how piracy was destroying the PC gaming industry. Of course, that's not actually true. An excellent post by Cord Blomquist explains how the PC gaming business is actually growing, but in different ways than most people expect. Sure, it may be harder to find certain types of video games that you see on consoles these days, but other games are thriving. But they're doing so by adopting different business models that aren't so impacted by unauthorized distribution. For example, they involve online services (ongoing MMO type games, where the payment is for service, rather than the software) or they focus on making money through other means, such as advertising or upselling premium editions.

Earthquakes may endanger New York more than thought

A study by a group of prominent seismologists suggests that a pattern of subtle but active faults makes the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area substantially greater than formerly believed.

Genetic discovery may help detect tumours earlier

TORONTO -- Canadian researchers have uncovered a genetic anomaly in people with a higher-than-normal risk of developing cancer that could lead to a blood test for detecting their tumours early, when the disease is most treatable.

Martian soil may be less hospitable for potential life than once believed

Washington, August 5 : NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has detected the presence of a chemically reactive salt in the Martian soil, a finding that if confirmed could make it less friendly to potential life than once believed.

Gulf Dead Zone May Grow Larger Than Ever

An annual dead zone that develops in the Gulf of Mexico could be larger than ever this summer, scientists said today.

NASA: Martian soil may be more alien than first thought

New test results coming in from the Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that Martian soil may not be so akin to Earth's after all.

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