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Comment Re:Yeah right - f**k you Microsoft (Score 1) 522

by scoot80 (#31697500) Attached to: Microsoft Claims Google Chrome Steals Your Privacy
You have some serious mental issues.

Are you really shocked that Windows has a default browser? Same as every other OS? And they all take you to some default web page? And it has a default behaviour? And most of all, are you shocked about the fact that its default action for a mistyped URL is taking you to their website?

Lets see. Chrome and Mozilla by default take you to Google. (Mozilla takes you to their google formatted page). How dare they!!??!! Next thing you'll tell me that when you mistype something in Chrome, it takes you to a google search engine?
Communications

How an Android Phone and Facebook Helped Route Haiti Rescuers 114

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the creative-use-of-pervasive-tech dept.
One intrepid Android fan is extolling the virtues of the open smartphone platform that helped him to route SOS messages in the recent Haiti disaster. "Well, when you are in such a situation, you don't really think about going to Facebook, but it happens that I have a Facebook widget on my Android home screen that regularly displays status updates from my friends. All of a sudden, an SOS message appeared on my home screen as a status update of a friend on my network. Not all smartphones allow you to customize your home screen, let alone letting you put widgets on it. So, I texted Steven about it. As Steven had already been working with the US State Department on Internet development activities in Haiti, he quickly called a senior staff member at the State Department and asked how to get help to the people requesting it from Haiti. State Department personnel requested a short description and a physical street address or GPS coordinates. Via email and text messaging, I was able to relay this information from Port-au-Prince to Steven in Oregon, who relayed it to the State Department in Washington DC, and it was quickly forwarded to the US military at the Port-au-Prince airport and dispatched to the search-and-rescue (SAR) teams being assembled. So the data went from my Android phone to Oregon to Washington DC and then back to the US military command center at the Port-au-Prince airport. I was at first a little skeptical about their reaction: there was so much destruction; they probably already had their hands full. Unexpectedly, they replied back saying: 'We found them, and they are alive! Keep it coming.'"
Data Storage

Synthetic Stone DVD Claimed To Last 1,000 Years 416

Posted by timothy from the will-your-progeny-the-warranty dept.
Lucas123 writes "A start-up launched a new DVD archive product this week: a disc that it says will hold its data for 1,000 years. The company, Cranberry, says its DiamonDisc product, which can be used in any standard DVD player, is not subject to deterioration from heat, UV rays or material rot due to humidity or other elements because it has no dyes, adhesives or reflective materials like standard DVD discs, and its discs are made from a vastly more durable synthetic stone. Data is laid down on the platter much in the same way as a standard DVD disc, but with DiamonDisc the burner etches much deeper pits. Cranberry said it is also working on producing a Blu-ray version of its 1,000-year disc."

Submission + - Documentation Naming Conventions 1

Submitted by
realsilly
realsilly writes: "I am a requirements analyst, and I often find myself in companies where they either have an extremely rigid naming convention and structure for storing documents or there is no structure in place at all. I find myself in the latter of the two situations, where I'm trying to come up with an easy to use and implement naming convention that will be followed by those who don't name things formally. I am avoiding using numbers and dates within document names and in many cases, I have much of my early documentation on internal wiki pages. I'm looking for some best practices ideas from the Slashdot community."
The Internet

Has the WebOS Finally Arrived? 227

Posted by timothy from the alien-craft-constructed-entirely-of-buzzwords dept.
SphereOfInfluence writes "Dion Hinchcliffe over on ZDNet declared in a new post that the Web OS has finally arrived and that businesses and IT departments must adjust to the fact that everything's starting to move to the cloud. He cites John Hagel's so-called big business shifts of the 21st century and claims cloud computing, crowdsourcing, open APIs, Software-as-a-Service are the future of the workplace. He goes on to present a compelling visual model of the Web OS circa 2009 and examples to back up some of the statements."
The Internet

Meet Uzbl — a Web Browser With the Unix Philosophy 318

Posted by timothy from the simple-if-you-know-how dept.
DigDuality writes "Dieter@be over at Arch Linux forums, a release engineer for Arch Linux, got inspired by this post. The idea? To create a browser based on the Unix philosophy: 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well, programs that work well together, programs to handle text streams because that is a universal interface,' among other points. The result? A fast, low-resource browser named Uzbl, based on WebKit, which passes the Acid3 Test with a perfect score. The browser is controlled (by default) by vim-like keybindings, not too dissimilar to vimperator for Firefox. Things like URL changing, loading/saving of bookmarks, saving history, and downloads are handled through external scripts that you write (though the Uzbl software does come with some nice scripts for you to use). It fits great in a tiling window manager and plays extremely well with dmenu. The learning curve is a bit steep, but once you get used to it, it's smooth sailing. Not bad for alpha software. Though built for Arch, it has been reported to work on Ubuntu."
The Internet

East Africa Gets High-Speed Internet Access Via Undersea Cable 198

Posted by timothy from the not-a-panacea-but-good-still dept.
Abel Mebratu writes with this excerpt from the BBC: "The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live. The fiber-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia. The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce. The cable — which is 17,000km long — took two years to lay and cost more than $650m."

Comment Re:Doesn't make a difference. (Score 1) 334

by scoot80 (#28117189) Attached to: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Released

half of the video streaming sites I use (legitimate, obviously) break with "AMAGAD UR OS IZ NOT ZUPPRORTREAD." messages

Which, of course, are all thanks to Microsoft's monopoly, which you're supporting by still using Windows. Not trying to cause trouble, but there's no point complaining about a problem if you're still part of the problem.

And you are supporting terrorism, animal abuse, and global warming by using whatever the hell you are using.. Mac is it?

Comment Re:Make darn sure the Feds don't mind! (Score 1) 259

by scoot80 (#28089077) Attached to: Best Way To Build A DIY UAV?
Yes, however with most RC toys, the person using it is usually in "total" control (unless it runs out of batteries/goes out of range) and it either plummets to the ground, or keeps flying into a really tall tree... It sounds like the OP is trying to build a set and forget plane, and there may be a few issues with that.. Don't know, just my 2c worth..
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Bonanza for CSIRO after landmark patent win

Submitted by scoot80
scoot80 writes: According to the article from the Sydney Morning Herald, CSIRO has won a patent case which revolved around the CSIRO's patented wireless local area network technology, a process invented in the 1990s that is being used in almost every wireless device — including mobile phones, computers, game consoles, networking equipment and internet-enabled TVs. "We are very pleased with the outcome in financial terms," said Mike Whelan, the deputy chief executive, operations. Companies involved in the lawsuit were Hewlett-Packard, Asus, Intel, Dell, Toshiba, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, SMC, Accton, 3Com, Buffalo, Microsoft, Nintendo. The patent in question was the 802.11 wireless standard.

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