Comment Re:Half of circumference? (Score 1) 332
I defended my doctoral thesis in English but I think I don't know it enough to have a bitter, verbal-intensive, emotional fight in it
Techrights Recommends An Apple Boycott 542
walterbyrd writes with a quote from an article at Techrights: "Given the latest actions from Apple we cannot help recommending that people buy nothing from Apple. Boycott the company for being a threat to the IT landscape and also to common sense."
More from the article: "...Apple has been working hard to embargo — not just sue — the competition. Apple disregards the notion of fair competition..."
Comment Re:Spellink chekers. Duh! (Score 1) 285
I think there/their/they're or your/you're errors are not an issue if you are a native speaker, but that doesn't apply to non-native speakers. I can deal with that (after a second of confusion) but I have friends that are at a 1st Certificate level of English and they sometimes absolutely fail parsing sentences when those errors, and ask me what they mean.
Comment Re:BSD license was always more permissive, so grea (Score 1) 808
GPLed software is usable by some developers - those who, for whatever reason, have no problem giving source away. It's not usable by those who do.
Wrong. I'm a developer of BSD-licensed software which is freely available on the internet, so obviously I have no problem giving source away. But I can't use GPL code in my software unless I'm willing to change the license, which I'm not.
Airport Security: Thermal Lie-Detectors, Cloned Sniffer Dogs 101
PolygamousRanchKid writes with this quote from CNN about the future of airport security:
"Earlier this year, the International Air Transport Association demonstrated its vision for the 'checkpoint of the future' — a series of neon-lit tunnels, each equipped with an array of eye-scanners, x-ray machines, and metal and liquid detectors. ... 'Known Travelers,' (those who have completed background checks with government authorities) for instance, will cruise through the light blue security corridor with little more than an ID check, while those guided through the yellow 'Enhanced' corridor will be subjected to an array of iris scans and sensitive contraband detectors. ... Feeling guilty? Got something to hide? A team of UK-based researchers claim to have developed a thermal lie-detection camera that can automatically spot a burning conscience. ... Professor Byeong-chun Lee, who established his reputation in 2005 as the driving force behind the world's first ever dog clone, has bought a new breed of super-sniffers to South Korea's Incheon Airport. They may look like an ordinary pack of golden Labrador Retrievers, but these dogs are all genetically identical to 'Chase,' a dog whose legendary snout kept him top of Incheon's drug-detection rankings right up until his retirement in 2007."
60 Years of Business Computing Started With Tea Shops 89
theshowmecanuck writes "The Telegraph has an article talking about the 60th anniversary of The Lyons Electronic Office I (LEO I), complete with an old video from the mid '50s about LEO II. The LEO I was the first major computer business system. It was installed at a large catering company in the U.K. named J. Lyons and Co. that operated a chain of tea shops among other business interests. So, blame them or praise them, November 17, 2011 will mark 60 years since the day in 1951 that the Brits started the age of business computing. All hail our tea- and biscuit-powered computer overlords."
Microsoft Tried To Buy Netscape: Suppose They Had? 246
Glyn Moody writes "In an interview, Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and currently CIO at Mozilla, reveals that Microsoft tried to buy Netscape at the end of 1994. They were turned down because the offer was too low, but imagine if Netscape had accepted: no browser wars, no open Web standards, no Mozilla, no Firefox. How might the Web — and the world — have looked today if that had happened?"
Florida Reduces Penalties For 'Sexting' Teens 295
SonicSpike sends word that Florida has changed how law enforcement deals with teenagers who send racy pictures to each other over their phones. Quoting CNN:
"Before Saturday, a Florida teenager who sent or received nude photos or video could have been charged with a felony and forced to register as a sex offender. But a new law, recognizing the proliferation of cell phones and computers, eases the penalties for 'sexting' infractions. A first offense is punishable by eight hours of community service or a $60 fine; the second is a misdemeanor and the third is a felony. ... Under House Bill 75, teens who receive explicit images won't be charged if they took reasonable steps to report it, did not solicit the image and did not send it to someone."
Steam Translation Community Slaving Away 214
An anonymous reader writes "Steam has decided to build a community effort to get its Steam platform and game files translated by the community, but here is the catch: Translators do not get paid. Millions could be saved by Steam by making the community work for free. The article describes basic estimates on how much is saved by Steam in translation costs."
Comment I use an iRex iLiad (Score 1) 254
I have an iRex iLiad from 2007 that I use mainly for just that, scientific papers. It's great:
- PDF's look great.
- It's eInk. Much better for the eyes than a tablet if you ask me.
- You can zoom to whichever part you want.
- The screen is larger than in most of the latest ereaders.
- There is a third-party reader that you can install for PDF's with column layout, letting you read in column order.
- The device is free and can work as an USB drive, you can copy the PDF's directly to it or you can plug an USB stick to it, you don't need to care about third-party apps or DRM at all.
- Last but not least, you can underline things and take notes with the wacom pen on the PDF. It's great for going over drafts of your own papers, or by annotating other people's papers.
It's a pity that most ereaders released after that have been a step backwards, not forward, in functionality.
Comment Re:Welcome to the libertarian viewpoint. (Score 1) 137
So instead of everyone having to pay for public services, let only the generous pay, while the egoists also get the benefits but for free (with the added advantage of having more money to spend in themselves, i.e., a better position in the "free" market).
Very efficient, yes. Maybe it's because I'm European, but I honestly can't understand how anyone but the super-rich can defend such an anarcho-capitalism. It's just beyond me.
Comment Re:The Road Not Taken (Score 1) 594
Actually, I think the point is that often in life we just don't have the information to make a rational decision, so we rationalize it afterwards.
It's not actually that "it doesn't matter what road you take", it's more like it's impossible to know what road to take, and it's impossible to know if there will or will not be consequences. But we like to act as if we actually knew.
North Korean 3G Mobile Subscriptions Hit Half a Million 69
angry tapir writes "The number of 3G cellular subscriptions in North Korea passed half a million during the first quarter, according to the country's only 3G cellular operator. The Koryolink network had 535,133 subscriptions at the end of March, an increase of just over 100,000 on the end of December 2010."
How Today's Tech Alienates the Elderly 453
Barence writes "A UK academic has blamed unnecessarily complicated user interfaces for putting older people off today's technology. Mike Bradley, senior lecturer in product design and engineering at Middlesex University, claims efforts to be more inclusive are being undermined by software and hardware design that is exclusively targeted at younger users. He cites the example of the seemingly simple iPhone alarm clock. 'They're faced with a screen with a clock face and a plus sign icon, and they couldn't understand that you were "adding an alarm," so they didn't click the plus sign to get through to that menu. Pressing the clock image takes you through to choices about how the clock is displayed, and it's not easy to get back again.'"
Can Computers Be Used To Optimize the US Tax Code? 730
FatLittleMonkey writes "Science fiction author David Brin wonders whether the US tax code, described by President Obama as a '10,000-page monstrosity,' could be dramatically simplified. His idea is about using computers to shuffle the existing system: 'I know a simple way the sheer bulk of the tax code could be trimmed by perhaps 70% or more, without much political pain or obstructionism! ... it should be easy to create a program that will take the tax code and experiment with zeroing-out dozens, hundreds of provisions while sliding others upward and then showing how these simplifications would affect, say, one-hundred representative types of taxpayers... Let the program find the simplest version of a refined tax code that leaves all 100 taxpayer clades unhurt. If one group loses a favorite tax dodge, the system would seek a rebalancing of others to compensate. No mere human being could accomplish this, but I have been assured that a computer could do this in a snap.' With all the talk about Open Government, perhaps the computer code currently used in tax modelling could be released to the wider community, leading eventually to a Folding@Home type project."
