Comment And you can watch me use mine... (Score 1) 327
And you can watch my usage live!
See me go broke in real-time!
http://egauge614.egaug.es/
Submission + - Chris Hatfield ejected after finding Gravity science lightweight
darkonc writes: Chris Hatfield, the Canadian former commander of the International space station, who became a social media sensation for his transmissions from the space station, including a zero-G version of David Bowie's "A space oddity", is in the news again. He apparently went to see a 3D version of the box office hit "Gravity", and found the inacuracies in the film too much to bear. He was eventually ejected from the theatre for loudly heckling the film.
Eyewitnesses reported that during Monday night’s 9:15pm Real3D screening of Gravity, a lone man (later identified as retired ISS Commander Chris Hadfield) began muttering under his breath and chuckling to himself. By the 30-minute mark, Hadfield reportedly made numerous rude comments such as, “Nice Soyuz procedure, Hollywood!” and “Oh yeah, because that’s what hypoxia as caused by rapid cabin decompression looks like you idiots!.”
Comment VisiCalc (Score 1) 1
As soon as I read this, the very first software that popped into my head was VisiCalc. It was the first spreadsheet program ever, and gave the "toy/hobby" personal computers a reason to be brought into the business world. It definitely changed the landscape for Apple specifically and PC's in general.
Submission + - What Early Software was Influential? 1
theodp writes: That his 28-year-old whip-smart, well-educated CS grad friend could be unaware of MacWrite and MacPaint took Dave Winer by surprise. 'They don't, for some reason,' notes Winer, 'study these [types of seminal] products in computer science. They fall between the cracks of "serious" study of algorithms and data structures, and user interface and user experience (which still is not much-studied, but at least is starting). This is more the history of software. Much like the history of film, or the history of rock and roll.' So, Dave asks, what early software was influential and worthy of a Software Hall of Fame?
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What are virtualization skills 3
taikedz writes: "Some job descriptions I have come across request candidates to have "strong virtualization skills." Aside from knowing how to setup a virtual machine, what other technologies and techniques do you think fall under this subject?"
Comment Modernized Rocky's Boots? (Score 2) 64
Was there ever an updated/modernized version of Rocky's Boots? I remember that one VERY well as being something that got me into logic, circuits, and programming all in one place. Yes, I'm showing my age. Whippersnappers.
Submission + - Google Doodle - A Turing Machine Puzzle (i-programmer.info)
mikejuk writes: The Google Doodle is often a masterpiece of design but this time it is a masterpiece of computer science. The doodle is a complete Turing Machine that you can interact with in an attempt to solve a puzzle. You have to select which logical elements are needed to convert one number on the tape into a target number. The article explains the increasingly difficult steps of the puzzle but then lets you solve it — but there is a YouTube video that simply gives you the answers if you really get stuck.
Comment Re:So out of curiosity, (Score 5, Informative) 147
Nope, you misunderstand. I got them to issue one of the free certs for one of my domains (I use Gandi for all of my registrations), and it works perfectly with all major browsers out of the box.
All you have to do is add Gandi's intermediate certificate (the cert that links their signature on your free cert to the base CA cert that's in everybody's browser), but you do that on your server (web/mail/whatever) and offer it up as part of the SSL negotiation. It works perfectly, and transparently. It is definitely NOT like the hassle of a self-signed certificate, where you DO have to either add the "security exception" to every client's browser, or get them to install your cert into their browser ahead of time.
Submission + - Amazon Unable to get License for Linux Development 3
ritcereal writes: I recently asked Amazon's Kindle Feedback why they did not support Linux while supporting every other major Operating System. Here's the answer I got:
"At this time, the Linux OS is not supported for Kindle applications or Kindle content. The reason it is unavailable is because we haven't gotten the rights from Linux to do so, we have to work with them in order to get the program up and running, and so far they haven't allowed us to do so. We are always working hard to expand our reading options, and appreciate your feedback."
Apparently Amazon is incapable of obtaining the rights from Linux to make an application? I'm calling bullshit on this, what do you think?
"At this time, the Linux OS is not supported for Kindle applications or Kindle content. The reason it is unavailable is because we haven't gotten the rights from Linux to do so, we have to work with them in order to get the program up and running, and so far they haven't allowed us to do so. We are always working hard to expand our reading options, and appreciate your feedback."
Apparently Amazon is incapable of obtaining the rights from Linux to make an application? I'm calling bullshit on this, what do you think?
Submission + - Paypal alternatives? 6
dotancohen writes: It seems that everything that I used to do with Paypal is gone, and nobody has found a good alternative yet. This month I tried donating to Anki (but Paypal is no longer serving Japan for donations) and Virtual Identity (which stopped accepting Paypal due to the Wikileaks incident). The authors of both software are looking for alternatives. What can we recommend to them? What reliable and inexpensive money-transfer services exist today? What do you use?
Comment Re:Electricity, and gas (fuels) too... (Score 1) 507
Drying a load of laundry in an electric dryer.
Scary, huh? You really don't have any idea what sucks power in your home until you get a good way to visualize it.
Oh, and that was more like 2300 on 12/6 - more recent data is on the right.
Comment Re:Electricity, and gas (fuels) too... (Score 1) 507
These sort of usage meters are *great*. I got one of these: http://www.egauge.net/
Pricier, sure. But mine includes up to 12 customizable channels of measurement and a 20+ year non-volatile memory for historical data.
It also runs Linux (bonus points around here, right?) and has this spiffy web interface where you can watch me go broke in real time because I'm running a server/storage farm in my basement: http://egauge614.d.egauge.net/
I'm still surprised the narcs haven't busted down my door because they THINK I have a grow op.
Submission + - Police called over 11-year-old's science project (boingboing.net) 2
garg0yle writes: Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of "a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics", after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family "get counseling". Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?
Comment Re:To many shops think HA==DR (Score 2, Informative) 711
People who care about their data and their business know what they mean.
Although, at my particular shop, we use the term "BC" instead of "HA".
BC = Business Continuance (HA = High Availability)
DR = Disaster Recovery
BC = "Looks like we just lost a drive in the array. Better replace that right away." or "Oops, broke one of the multiple fibers to the SAN. Where's the spare again?"
BC also applies to our load-balanced clusters of web servers and application servers that allow for the offlining or loss of entire machines without losing functionality. You need more than your data existing on media to Continue Business - you and your customers need to be able to GET to it somehow.
DR = Your building just burned to the ground, taking every single piece of furniture, equipment, paper, and magnetic media inside along with it. Now what?
Please note that the coolest, slickest, snapshotted NAS with terabytes and terabytes of awesome cheap SATA storage in it is worth exactly JACK in this scenario if it's in the same building as the source material. Offsite backups are not optional, and offsite storage of hard drives isn't exactly the easiest thing to do.
Submission + - Laplink Turns 25 and Gives Everything Away! 2
crackerjack2008 writes: "25 years is a long time for a birthday party. And when you have a birthday party, aren't you the one who is receiving gifts? We'll Laplink has decided to do the opposite.
Laplink is giving away PCmover for free for 24 hours only. This product sells for $50. PCmover transfers all of your files, applications and settings from your old PC to a new PC. Laplink Software is celebrating its 25th Anniversary on May 15th, with a free giveaway of their award winning PCmover.
Just visit http://www.laplink.com/ on May 15th for your free copy of PCmover and also the chance to win many great products such as; Gateway Laptops, Targus laptop bags, Microsoft products, USB sticks and much more."
