Comment I heard someone say the other day... (Score 4, Funny) 348
"Angry Birds has changed the way the world goes to the bathroom"
Comment Hanging ending (Score 3, Insightful) 99
Showbiz types generally hate hanging endings. I'll guess fans will be disappointed with it being "reimagined".
Submission + - Mobile Phone Sales Rise, iPhone and Android Grow (gartner.com)
mark0 writes: Gartner reports that mobile phone sales have risen in 1Q2010, up 17% year-on-year. That's good news for iPhone OS and Android, which saw their market shares grow to 15.4% and 9.6%, respectively. Other platforms slipped and ZDNet already proclaims the death of Windows Mobile. They suggest open-sourcing WM could have saved it, but that doesn't seem to be helping Symbian.
Comment Re:And CableCARD? (Score 1) 214
If I wanted to watch down-converted recordings, I wouldn't have FiOS.
Comment And CableCARD? (Score 1) 214
I have FiOS and until MythTV supports CableCARD, it's rather useless. A google of the site just turns up a dry wiki definition of CableCARD and a bunch of forum postings that degenerate into DRM-related poo flinging.
Comment Road Trip (Score 4, Funny) 90
That's going to be a PITA to fold.
Ubuntu LTS Experiences X.org Memory Leak 320
MonsterTrimble writes "Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 is experiencing a major memory leak due to patches for X.org. 'An X.Org Server update that was pushed into the Lucid repository last week has resulted in the system being slower and slower as it is left on, until it reaches a point where the system is no longer usable. ... In order to make the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS deadline, the developers are looking at just reverting three of the patches, which brings the GLX version back to 1.2. Ubuntu developers are now desperate for people willing to test out this updated X.Org Server package so they can determine by this Friday whether to ship it with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or doing an early SRU (Stable Release Update). Right now this X.Org Server that's being tested is living in the ubuntu-x-swat PPA.'"
California To Create Public Animal Abuser Registry 404
An anonymous reader writes "California legislators are moving forward with plans to create a public, online, animal abuser registry identical in function to the public sex offender registry. Is this the slippery slope to further government mandated lists and registries?"
Comment Re:Pedantic, but... (Score 1) 324
Indeed. As in, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists has published their annual census of journalists in prison. Of the 136 reporters in prison around the world on December 1, 'At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail.' Print was next with 51 cases. Also, 'Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business.' China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea, and Burma were the top 5 jailers of journalists."
rmdstudio writes, too, with word that after the last few days' protest there, largely organized online, the government of Iran is considering the death penalty for bloggers and webmasters whose reports offend it.
Comment Ubuntu Community Docs are pretty good (Score 2, Informative) 769
I have found the Ubuntu Community Documentation to be pretty good for cookbook procedures. Their forums pick up the slack for acute issues.
Comment Think US$6 is right? Another way to calculate: (Score 2, Interesting) 339
A 1005HA with Windows 7 starter on Amazon.com: US$336. Same system with Windows XP Home: US$312. Difference: US$24. Subtract that from the US$50 estimate OEM price in the ars technica article and the remainder would be the price Asus is charging for XP home: US$26.
Comment Re:How can they tell... (Score 5, Insightful) 746
When heat enters a system temperature will not change until the phase change is complete. Once our icecaps have melted, temperature will start rising more dramatically.
Submission + - Fair-price refund for declining XP EULA no more
mark0 writes: Getting a fair-price refund from Amazon or Asus after declining the Windows XP EULA appears to be a thing of the past. In contrast to reports from the US and the UK from earlier in the year, Amazon simply refuses and provides information to contact Microsoft. Asus is offering US$6. Despite being confronted with publicly available information about the real OEM price of Windows XP Home Edition being $US25-US$30, Asus replies, "The refund price for the decline of the EULA is correct in it being US$6. This price unfortunately is not negotiable I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please be assured that it is not ASUS intentions to steer you away in any which way."
Massachusetts Police Can't Place GPS On Autos Without Warrant 194
pickens writes "The EFF reports that the Supreme Court of Massachusetts has held in Commonwealth v. Connolly that police may not place GPS tracking devices on cars without first getting a warrant, reasoning that the installation of the GPS device was a seizure of the suspect's vehicle. Search and seizure is a legal procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems whereby police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime. According to the decision, 'when an electronic surveillance device is installed in a motor vehicle, be it a beeper, radio transmitter, or GPS device, the government's control and use of the defendant's vehicle to track its movements interferes with the defendant's interest in the vehicle notwithstanding that he maintains possession of it.' Although the case only protects drivers in Massachusetts, another recent state court case, People v. Weaver in the State of New York, also held that because modern GPS devices are far more powerful than beepers, police must get a warrant to use the trackers, even on cars and people traveling the public roads."
