Comment Re:Morons and Thieves (Score 1) 325
In that memo, he certainly does come off as the typical buzzword-spouting CEO that's read one too many self-help books.
Submission + - Does Open Source Software Cost Jobs? (itworld.com)
jfruhlinger writes: "John Spencer, a British blogger and tech educator, is convinced that free and open source software, which he's promoted for years, is costing IT jobs, as UK schools cut support staff no longer needed. But does the argument really hold up? It turns out that the services he's focused on are actually cloud services that are reducing the needs for schools to provide their own tech infrastructure. Of couse, it's also true that many of those cloud services are themselves based on open source tech."
Submission + - New Jersey DMV employees caught selling identies (arstechnica.com)
phaedrus5001 writes: Ars has an article about two New Jersey DMV employees who have been accused of selling personnel information that routinely had access to. The NJ prosecutor's office claim (pdf) their "investigation uncovered that two employees of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission were providing the names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers of unsuspecting residents that they obtained through their employment. They were charging as little as $200 per identity."
Submission + - Earthscraper Takes Sustainable Design Underground
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The "Earthscraper," a 65-story, 82,000-square-foot inverted pyramid beneath Mexico City takes a new approach to escalating megacity problems like population growth, urban sprawl, preserving open space, and conserving energy and water, promising to turn the modern high-rise, quite literally, on its head. The proposed building will be located at the Zocalo, Mexico City’s major public plaza one of the few sizable open spaces left in the city of 9 million. "It's a massive empty plot, which makes it the ideal site for our program," says architect Esteban Suarez. The Earthscraper concept begins with a glass roof replacing the opaque stone surface of the Zocalo preserving the open space and civic uses of the Zocalo, while allowing natural lighting to flow downward into all floors of the tapering structure through clear or translucent core walls. The first 10 stories would hold a museum dedicated to the city's history and its artifacts. "We'd almost certainly find plenty of interesting relics during the dig — dating right back to the Aztecs who built their own pyramids here," says Suarez adding that the design incorporates a system of gardens occurring roughly every 10 stories, to help generate fresh air. One thing working in Earthscraper’s favor is there are strict laws that prevent building upwards in this part of Mexico City, but no laws for building down. “They will have to develop new laws to stop this from happening,” says Chief Design Officer Emilio Barja. “I hope they don’t [find the] time to do that.”"
Submission + - Five reasons the U.S. tech lead is in danger (computerworld.com) 3
dcblogs writes: The U.S. has yet to put in place a plan for building exascale systems, as Europe, China, Japan race ahead. The Europeans are prepared to commit up to 3.5 billion Euros to their effort and believe the race is wide open. "The U.S., Europe, China and Japan all have the potential to realize the first exascale system," concluded the European Exascale Software Initiative, the group that's leading Europe's effort, in a report last month. But in the U.S.: "The bottom line is that the US appears stalled and the EU, China, and Japan are gearing up for the next generation,” said Jack Dongarra, a professor of computer science at University of Tennessee, and one of the organizers of the Top 500. In 2008, China had 15 systems on the Top 500 list; it now has 74.
Submission + - Police Encrypt Radios to Tune Out Public 1
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Police departments around the country are moving to shield their radio communications from the public as cheap, user-friendly technology has made it easy for anyone to use handheld devices to keep tabs on officers responding to crimes and although law enforcement officials say they want to keep criminals from using officers’ internal chatter to evade them, journalists and neighborhood watchdogs say open communications ensures that the public receives information as quickly as possible that can be vital to their safety. “Whereas listeners used to be tied to stationary scanners, new technology has allowed people — and especially criminals — to listen to police communications on a smartphone from anywhere,” says DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier who says that a group of burglars who police believe were following radio communications on their smartphones pulled off more than a dozen crimes before ultimately being arrested. But encryption also makes it harder for neighboring jurisdictions to communicate in times of emergency. "The 9/11 commission concluded America’s number one vulnerability during the attacks was the lack of interoperability communications," writes Vernon Herron, "I spoke to several first responders who were concerned that their efforts to respond and assist at the Pentagon after the attacks were hampered by the lack of interoperability with neighboring jurisdictions.""
Submission + - Virgin America's Web Meltdown (technologizer.com)
harrymcc writes: "Virgin America--the fast-growing airline that caters to tech-savvy travelers with features such as Wi-Fi on all flights--switched to a new reservations system on October 28th. Nearly four weeks later, the Virgin site still has severe problems with everything from booking flights to checking in to frequent-flyer accounts. It says it hopes to be back to normal by December 1st, but the extended period of instability shows how bad things can get when a major software transition goes bad."
Comment Re:No ball jokes in the comments. (Score 1) 319
Coxwell by name, Cox VERY well by reputation...
Comment Re:This is information you gave them. (Score 1) 125
>>You can not close and delete your account. You can't even close it afaik.
Yes, you can...or at least they will provide the illusion that it's closed/deleted.
Here's a link to the "Delete Facebook" group containing instructions and further details. I started the deletion process myself yesterday, and as long as I don't log in for 14 days, FB claims it will be permanently deleted. Of course I don't believe for a millisecond that my personal content will actually BE deleted.
Comment Great news (Score 1) 61
...now I can stop hoarding the few packs of 600 film that have been sitting in my fridge for years...
Comment Re:thimerosol-free flu shot (Score 1) 383
OP here, and I know that thimerosal is not the worst mercury source once could encounter, but if there's a choice available to avoid exposure, why not take it? I also know flu shots are of dubious value, and I have always avoided them in the past, however ever since starting work in a building with poor ventilation I'd been hit with the flu every year until I started on the vax a couple years ago.
Comment thimerosol-free flu shot (Score 1) 383
Just got my flu shot yesterday, and this year they were using thimerosol-free shots exclusively, whereas in past years I had to specifically ask for one. I'm sure there would be other vax that need it, but reducing it's use whenever possible is a step in the right direction.
Comment Re:Company name (Score 1) 436
Or replace "Innov" with "Fell", and we all win!
Comment Re:Color me unimpressed. (Score 1) 138
With a few exceptions, unless it's a common ailment with clearly defined symptoms and/or easily detectable with diagnostic tests, many doctors are simply making a best-guess estimate of what you have. In addition, they are so busy (read over-booked) they rarely have the time to devote to really digging into hard cases. I've known a few people with difficult diagnoses, and they bounced around to several physicians before they found one willing to take the time and go further than prescribing a few pills.
Comment Re:Not as cool... (Score 1) 227
I pre-purchased the game as an "early investor" when they were raising money on Kickstarter.com, and even the final release was a bit buggy. Although they have been patching it, there are some lingering issues. Funny game, and not easy (not Super Meat Boy level, but still..)
