Comment Hidden SSID (Score 1) 458
Security through obscurity.
Comment Re:Like Gimp/Photoshop (Score 1) 91
If you know C++ you can probably do 100% of what you can do with Photoshop... it's just a bunch of pixels at the end, is it not?
The question is whether you can do it efficiently, that's to say with the least amount of effort and/or in the least amount of time. I would argue that GIMP just doesn't support the kind of complex workflows that professionals are accustomed to. It's not necessarily that a lot of thought has gone in designing Photoshop's UI (although that's certainly the case to a point), but the sheer depth and stride for consistency makes it easy to achieve the desired results faster than the competition.
Kongregate App Pulled From Android Market 139
itwbennett writes "Last week Google took a page from Apple's book and pulled the Arcade by Kongregate app from the Android Market for violating its terms of service. In particular, the part that forbids distributing 'any Product whose primary purpose is to facilitate the distribution of Products outside of the Market.' As Kongregate's Jim Greer explained to Joystiq, the app is essentially a custom web browser that loads in a Flash game from the mobile version of Kongregate. Plus, it will cache the game so you can play offline. And this may be the feature that got it yanked, speculates Ryan Kim at GigaOm."
Comment Re:That's an "explanation"? (Score 2) 270
How is it better? His holiness points out you're holding it wrong, you stop holding it wrong, problem solved! Microsoft tells you it's a third-party app, what do you do? Stop using third-party apps? Oh wait...
Comment Re:MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers (Score 1) 270
... I hate the fact that on the iPhone the developer can turn off that display so you don't know if any connection has occured.
Just a quick note - that network activity spinner you talk about doesn't show up by default, it's entirely up to the developer whether he chooses to notify the users that data is being transmitted over the network (even when that's actually not true). So I guess you shouldn't be mad at evil develoeprs that turn it off, but instead should thank the benevolent ones that turn it on as appropriate.
And while we're on the subject, iOS' neutered multitasking makes it much harder for this type of quota-eating background transfer to even occur in the first place. Guess it's not all bad...
Comment EULA (Score 1) 257
As a means of protecting unwitting people from all sorts of damaging misappropriation of their public records, I propose social networking sites put into place a mandatory 42-page EULA that you must scroll through and agree to in order to view pictures of said someone and their cats.
20 Years of Commander Keen 152
angry tapir writes "This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Commander Keen game. For those too young to remember, Commander Keen was a series of shareware 2D platform games for the PC released by Apogee Software (aka 3D Realms) developed by no less than id Software — the developers of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake."
Apache Resigns From the JCP Executive Committee 136
iammichael writes "The Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee due to a long dispute over the licensing restrictions placed on the TCK (test kit validating third-party Java implementations are compatible with the specification)."
John Carmack Not Enthused About Android Marketplace 163
An anonymous reader writes "During an in-depth and informative interview, Doom creator and id Software co-founder John Carmack opines on iOS game development, the economics of mobile development vs. console development, why mobile games lend themselves to more risk-taking and greater creativity, and finally, why he's not too keen on the Android Marketplace as a money-making machine. '...I'm honestly still a little scared of the support burden and the effort that it's going to take for our products, which are very graphics-intensive.'"
Comment Re:Not for Consumers (Score 1) 202
The summary has it wrong, this phone isn't aimed at average consumers at all and is by no means a "bid for a slice of the market". It's reference hardware that will support the latest Google-branded builds of Android over the next year or so, so that developers can test their applications. The inclusion of technologies such as NFC and a gyroscope is what probably necessitates a hardware revision besides the usual software update (that's available for the N1 as well).
And it's going to be a failure for a lot of devs over the next year who want to test their apps on a dual-core phone, which is going to be the next big thing at next month's CES. And also no HSPA+? Jesus! This thing has failure written all over it. It would've been a great phone 6 months ago. *shrug*
You might want to hold your horses there. Dual-core chips may start appearing in tablets early next year, but it will be a while before they make their way into smartphones. And that's certainly not going to happen in Q1 in any case.
I don't get all the bitching about it being underpowered. Maybe Android users feel that every major phone hardware release should push the envelope in some way, but that just goes to show that this is not a major phone by any stretch of the imagination. There are a lot of valid points to critisize about it (design, price, etc.), but failing to meet the fanbase's overinflated expectations doesn't make it any less powerful.
And does T-Mobile even have HSPA+?
Comment Not for Consumers (Score 2, Interesting) 202
The summary has it wrong, this phone isn't aimed at average consumers at all and is by no means a "bid for a slice of the market". It's reference hardware that will support the latest Google-branded builds of Android over the next year or so, so that developers can test their applications. The inclusion of technologies such as NFC and a gyroscope is what probably necessitates a hardware revision besides the usual software update (that's available for the N1 as well).
Oh, and it's basically a rebranding of a phone that Samsung will sell on their own, and is guaranteed to sell more than Google is going to move through its distribution channels. The difference is again that Samsung phones will be subject to the will of the carriers as to if and when they'll get the latest updates.http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/06/1629239/Google-Launches-Nexus-S-Phone-In-UK-and-US#
Oh, and it's basically a rebranding of a phone that Samsung will sell on their own, and is guaranteed to sell more than Google is going to move through its distribution channels. The difference is again that Samsung phones will be subject to the will of the carriers as to if and when they'll get the latest updates.http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/06/1629239/Google-Launches-Nexus-S-Phone-In-UK-and-US#
Xbox Modding Trial Dismissed 179
It seems the harsh words from District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez on Wednesday had their intended effect; prosecutors in Matthew Crippen's Xbox modding case have now dismissed the indictment. Quoting Wired:
"Witness No. 1, Tony Rosario, was an undercover agent with the Entertainment Software Association. He told jurors Wednesday that he paid Crippen $60 in 2008 to modify an Xbox, and secretly videotaped the operation. Rosario had responded to Crippen’s advertisement on the internet and met Crippen at his Anaheim house. All of that had been laid out in pretrial motions. But during his testimony, Rosario also said Crippen inserted a pirated video game into the console to verify that the hack worked. That was a new detail that helped the government meet an obligation imposed by the judge that very morning, when Gutierrez ruled that the government had to prove Crippen knew he was breaking the law by modding Xboxes. But nowhere in Rosario’s reports or sworn declarations was it mentioned that Crippen put a pirated game into the console. ... [Prosecutor Allen Chiu] conceded he never forwarded that information to the defense."
Heroic Engineer Crashes Own Vehicle To Save a Life 486
scottbomb sends in this feel-good story of an engineer-hero, calling it "one of the coolest stories I've read in a long time." "A manager of Boeing's F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see that the driver was slumped over the wheel. He knew a busy intersection was just ahead, and he had to act fast. Without consulting the passengers in his minivan — 'there was no time to take a vote' — Innes kicked into engineer mode. 'Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together,' Innes explained."
Comment Re:MBP (Score 1) 349
You're wrong.
Sent from my Firefox
Firefighters Let House Burn Because Owner Didn't Pay Fee 2058
Dthief writes "From MSNBC: 'Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 fee. Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat. "They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.'"
