Comment cluster? (Score 1) 146
imagine how many starving children could be fed with a Beowulf cluster of these
Comment Well that worked.... (Score 5, Interesting) 146
...against all expectations on my USB modem using a metal bowl I had lying around (think of a paraboloid with a flat bottom). Boosted download speeds on 3 consecutive tests by 50% (with bowl over without). Also, 3 tests in a row with no bowl showed some variation, but didn't peak at the same speed as with the bowl. Whod've thunk it.
Comment Re:heating element (Score 1) 839
... they have this unique shape so that they are distinguishable from all other signs even when covered in snow.
It's also a good thing that they can be recognized when facing away from the driver, i.e. you can see when roads crossing yours have a stop sign.
Comment Re:So, their business model... (Score 1) 175
Wish I had mod points.
This has been discussed a lot of places, and several times I can remember on slashdot. The vast majority of the discussion centers on whether this is possible at all. But even if we assume that they have found some magical formula that allows it to function, how many people would want it? Ignore the fact that PC gaming hardware isn't actually that expensive anymore. Most big name PC games are (sadly) just console ports anyway these days. After all the networking wizardry, server farms, custom compression, etc all that is really offered to the customer is just a console system where you rent the games. You can already do that with an xbox 360 or a PS3. And it even works without any internet connection at all for single player. You can play multiplayer games on it as well.
This whole thing, in addition to seeming like impossible vaporware, is the answer to the question nobody asked.
Comment Re:Not fair! (Score 1) 162
Airlines don't write Air Traffic Control code. That's the FAA's job. The luggage routing software that routes your bag to Boston when you're going to New York is the airline's responsibility.
Also, there's no guarantee that "mission critical" implies readable or documented. Arguably, the reason the FAA is having so much trouble introducing a new flight control system is that the old one is so poorly documented, porting it to newer hardware is extremely difficult.
Comment Re:Now I am torn (Score 1) 146
Ikea sells the pots for $10.
Busybox Developer Responds To Andersen-SFLC Lawsuits 316
Bruce Perens writes "I'm the creator of the Busybox program. I have released a statement on the past and current Busybox lawsuits, which do not represent my interest."
Cell Phone Searches Require Warrant 161
schleprock63 writes "The Ohio state supreme court has decided that a cell phone found on a suspect cannot be searched without a warrant. The majority based this decision on a federal case that deemed a cell phone not to be a 'closed container,' and therefore not searchable without a warrant. The argument of the majority contended that a cell phone does not contain physical objects and therefore is not a container. One dissenting judge argued that a cell phone is a container that simply contains data. He argued that the other judges were 'needlessly theorizing' about the contents of a cell phone. He compared the data contained within an address book that would be searchable." The article notes that this was apparently the first time the question has come up before any state supreme court.
Ads To Offset Cost of Unlocked Google Phone? 161
CWmike writes "Google isn't talking publicly about reported plans to sell a powerful Android-based smartphone called the Nexus One directly to consumers next year, but the idea is already raising eyebrows with analysts. The chief concern is that selling an unlocked phone directly to consumers, probably online, could be twice as expensive as buying one through a carrier. The unlocked approach has largely failed in the US, with the world's biggest phone manufacturer, Nokia, doing poorly with the concept. Nokia recently announced that its two direct-sales stores in Chicago and New York will close early next year, while online sales of unlocked devices will continue. Conceivably, Google could offer its phone at a price comparable to a subsidized phone from a carrier — as long as customers agree to receive mobile ads on the devices. Since advertising is central to Google's revenue model, that approach might make some sense, analysts said. 'Google doesn't want to be in the phone business or the mobile carrier business, so this must be about something else, and that's the advertising business, since Google is in the business of selling ads,' said Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research. In one mobile advertising model being tested in Germany, users agree to receive a certain number of ads on their phones to reduce their monthly cellular and texting rates, although reducing the up-front cost of the actual device is relatively novel. Reinforcing the idea of using mobile advertising with direct sales of unlocked phones, Google bought AdMob in November."
Comment Gratis on 100,000 (Score 1) 443
Congratulations to /. for getting this far, good luck to many more posts in the future.
Comment Re:How does it compare with the other NVidia drive (Score 1) 289
I'm not sure that what you are asking, is reasonable.
Thing is, you've not seen the device I'm talking about. It's not scanner "2.0", which is much improved over the previous version. It's not even that old, it was bought maybe a year before the switch to the 64 bit version.
No, the new model is pretty much version 1.1. It looks identical. It has identical specs, as far as I can tell. The changes made to it are effectively cosmetic. It probably even talks pretty much the same protocol as the previous one. Linux certainly has no problems with talking to both of them, it's only Windows what has an issue.
You bought a scanner that worked with the PC you bought. Then you upgraded your PC or bought a new one. And now you complain that the vendor dos not help you for free with the upgrade.
See, that's not the way I see it. The way I see it, is that I didn't buy a scanner for Win XP, I bought a scanner, period. It shouldn't ever stop working for any reasons besides physically breaking, becoming so technically obsolete that it makes no sense to keep using it, or becoming impossible to connect (like if USB some day disappears).
Linux fulfills this idea of mine. I can still use a Creative Webcam 5 on it, which is positively ancient by modern standards (it's a USB 1 webcam). There are no XP 64 drivers of course, but 64 bit Linux works perfectly fine with it.
I think long term, so I consistently choose standards and openness whenever possible, because it's not in my interest to replace things that work perfectly fine just because the manufacturer would prefer to have a bigger number in the bank account.
Just because it is a printer driver, which is software, does not mean that it is easy or free to make. Or that it was included in the printer price.
So give me specs and the source, I'll fix it, and even submit a patch to the upstream.
Comment Re:Subsidies ok. (Score 0) 215
Not really. The State still mandates that the owner of the pipes (BGE) must continue to meet the same level of service as prior to 2000. So really, the electrical monopoly is just as regulated as ever - but now we have multiple choices like we have with telephone
Comment More Accurate (But Boring) Version (Score 1) 1747
Q: Can we see the data?
A: No, we deleted some of it after concluding that it wasn't good enough to use. You can go to the station logs and get it if you want. Knock yourself out.
Q: Can we see the algorithms?
A: Sure. They are in the methods section of the dozens of papers published in the peer reviewed literature dealing with this area. We have links to these papers on our website.
Regards
Luke
Comment Re:Modern-Day Galileo (Score 1) 1747
If you want the "raw" numbers don't ask the CRU, ask the people who gave the numbers to the CRU. The CRU may have destroyed their copies of some of the data, but since they aren't the source of the data who cares?
Comment Conflicting law precedent? (Score 1) 466
Are there any precedents anywhere for having conflicting laws and what happens in cases like this where it would seem that one of the two laws in question would have to be illegal itself? I would hope that he has his lawyer fees taken care of or is a lawyer himself, something like this sounds expensive.
