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Comment It Depends (Score 1) 4

This'll be easiest if you've got a DDWRT-capable router or a PC acting as a firewall / router. Otherwise you may have severely limited configuration options. QoS can help to control bandwidth issues, as well as a hard limit on the bandwidth. Not sure you can configure any standard consumer-level router to separate the wireless network from your internal network, but it can be done with the right equipment. I'm no expert on the subject, but with certain equipment you could potentially firewall off the WAP from the rest of your LAN.
Ubuntu

Submission + - Canonical Confirms The Installer Bug (muktware.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Muktware reported a bug in Ubuntu will doesn't allow editing mount point during installation. The Ubuntu team have confirmed the bug. "The manual mount point entry box in the desktop installer's partitioner does not accept keyboard input. The drop-down still works, so various standard mount points may be selected, but custom ones cannot. This was noticed too late to be corrected for 11.04. In the meantime, you can mount partitions manually later, or use the alternate install CD."

Comment Definitely getting one (Score 1) 160

I'm definitely getting one, on release day if possible (I'm such a shameless Asus fanboy). If I can eventually boot Linux off the SD card I think that would be ideal. It saves precious space on internal storage and would only operate with the keyboard attached, which I think is what I would like. There's a MicroSD slot on the tablet itself, though, so some people may prefer that.
Programming

Submission + - Asus Xtion Kinect clone available (i-programmer.info)

mikejuk writes: Asus has launched Xtion Pro — $189 — which uses the same hardware as its full body sensor the Wavi Xtion but doesn't have any software other than an SDK for Windows and Linux. This, of course makes it useful only if you are going to develop applications using it.
It comes with PrimeSense's drivers and the NITE body tracking software. Asus has also announced a $20,000 competition for the best game using it. This is just a way to get some software to go with the full product launch later in the year but it is also going to set up an app store to help developers market their creations.
Microsoft's own Kinect SDK is technically better but it isn't available just yet and it could well have a restrictive license. At the moment only Asus is saying to developers — "use our hardware to make commercial apps, we'll even help you to sell them and here's a competition to sweeten the deal"

Comment Re:I too have resolved the problem (Score 1) 214

I got Bioshock and Mass Effect for $5 each during the year-end sale before last. I was really hoping to get Mass Effect 2 or Bioshock 2 (personally wouldn't buy this one for more than $5) for the same price this last sale, but it looks like I'll have to wait for the mid-year or year-end sale this year.

Comment Re:Trine (Score 1) 195

I just paid 40 dollars (almost 28 euros if Google is to be trusted) for the Humble Bundle. The money went mostly to the charities with some to the humble bundle itself to cover their costs (I always download everything for Windows and Linux). I already own Trine and both Shadowgrounds games on Steam so Frozenbyte already got some money from me. ^_^

I don't remember when I bought them on Steam but it would have been during a really nice sale so I got them on a discount to begin with. I'm okay with the DRM in Steam because it makes keeping track of my games easier and more convenient, even if I do now have an entire hard drive dedicated to nothing but the 147 games I have on Steam. That's fine with me, though, because it's a gaming machine to begin with.

Comment Can you root it? (Score 1) 210

If you can root the Kindle and remove the Ads then this may be worth it. If not, or if you don't want to, it'll have to go more than $25 off...

Really, Amazon will be making much more than $25 per Kindle over the life of the devices showing ads, so they should make the devices cheaper than that. It's not like they're going to be losing money.
Science

Submission + - Planets could orbit singularities in black holes (technologyreview.com)

wisebabo writes: Here's a far out (far in?) idea. There may be stable orbits INSIDE black holes which would allow planets (either formed there or brought in) to exist. Not only that, but the singularity at the center may also emit radiation creating a "sun".

Now it would take a pretty advanced civilization to be able to 1) survive the gravitational tides (although this may not be a problem for some really big black holes) 2) cross the event horizon "where the radial dimension becomes time like not space like" (?) 3) survive the intense energy field from photons trapped in the same orbit and 4) deal with the causality violations (?!) present there. So I guess we've got a ways to go.

On the other hand once you've managed to do all that, you've got a great hiding spot (as the Heechee used in the "Gateway" sci-fi books). Except, just how do you get out again? I know there was a short story by Greg Egan where he describes a trip into a black hole where the nanotech explorer manages to get out (but the physics was beyond me.)

I once read that the entire universe could be thought of as a black hole. This article actually makes me doubt that as the physics seems to be very different. And there don't seem to be any "causality violations" here (unfortunately!).

Hey editors- If you didn't know already (or didn't do this on purpose) it is impossible to stories with long comments using an iPad, the scroll bars do not appear. Also, how do you make tags comprised of compound words (like "black hole")?

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