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Comment Re:What's the problem? (Score 5, Informative) 355

Yes, parent is correct. We were required by law to register any typewriter with the police. Failure to comply was a major offense, with prison time and if you were flagged as threat to the system you could end up in a forced labor camp (e.g. the infamous "Danube-Black Sea Canal"). Nasty memories and it's incredible how people don't learn from history.

Comment Oh dear (Score 4, Insightful) 57

OK, I'm a software developer and graphic designer. I know all about GPL and Creative Commons and I released plenty of my stuff under open and proprietary licenses as well.

However, when I buy or download an app (in "consumer mode"), I simply don't care about its license. What matters if it works as advertised, if it contains malware and if it's fun (for games). That's it. I couldn't care less if, say, "Smart Tools" is GPL v3 or Apache or proprietary. It does the job. 99.999% people think the same.

If you want to have only open source software on your tablet or phone, pat yourself on the back, you're so special.

Comment A have several tablets (I develop for them) so -- (Score 2) 356

I develop software for tablets (iPad, Playbook, Android) so I have quite a few. I tested them myself and I can compare them first hand.

The best Android tablets right now are Asus Transformer and Samsung Galaxy Tab. I would say that the Tabs have better build quality than Transformers, personally I like TouchWiz and I the Tab 8.9 tablet is just right - small and light enough to be easy to carry yet more comfortable than a 7".

Comment Re:Why bother? (Score 1) 167

Been there, done that.
My email archive dates back to 1995. Over the years I've been using Pine, Eudora, Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, Outlook, Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail.

I converted everything to EML. It's a simple format, easy to read and parse, recognized by the OS. With a simple script I renamed each file to YYYYMMDD-From-Subject.eml, so now it's accessible any way I like, gleaming at the file name, or by searching the contents (Windows 7 indexes EML files).

Writing a script to strip attachments is trivial compared to mbox.

Comment Re:I've noticed this too (Score 5, Insightful) 601

The reasons I prefer email for business are:
- it forces people to organize ideas somewhat instead of babbling around.
- it leaves a trail. There's no argument that someone requested X instead of Y for product Z.
- it can be forwarded, shared and printed.

I have clients that insist on using Skype. They spend 30-40 minutes discussing stuff that could be summarized in an one-paragraph email. During all the talk I have to keep notes, then organize the items discussed and make a doc that I send back to the client asking if they're sure this is what they wanted and then share it with my team. Overall I don't save time.

I can't speak for anybody else, but for ME email is still the preferred business communication tool.

Comment Re:"I'm just going to load some parameters..." (Score 1) 251

Too much paranoia on your part. The things they show at MAX tend to become part of the next software iteration, although usually the UI is completely different. Everything I've seen in the past 2-3 years has materialized one way or another.

Unblurring is not a new idea, the tough part is (was?) figuring out the deconvolution kernel.

Comment Doesn't matter (Score 2) 250

If bluetooth transfer is available only between two Apple devices, it won't mean much.
I actually hate this attitude.

Why can't I take a photo with my Blackberry and transfer it to my iPad? Why can't I download a pdf on the iPad and transfer it to my Playbook via bluetooth?
There's no technical reason why I could not transfer files and settings (such as calendar and address book entries between an Apple device and any other phone). This is old tech.

I managed to find a way to transfer files via ftp, making the iPad an ftp server and connecting with the playbook/torch as a client but this obviously requires a wifi connection and of course I can't transfer photos or music from the ipad this way.

Comment Re:Firefox dropped the ball (Score 1) 308

Actually, not to troll or anything, but IE9 feels much lighter and faster than Firefox. Personally, I'm using Chrome 95% of the time, including for development (their dev tools are almost as good as Firebug). I use IE9 from time to time but I open Firefox ONLY when I absolutely need it for Firebug (mostly Firebug plugins and to test).

Comment From TFA (Score 4, Insightful) 669

Alejandra Sosa said she regretted posting a Facebook status calling her teacher a pedophile. She has been suspended for 10 days. “I was just expressing myself on Facebook, because like I said I was mad that day because of what he [did],” Sosa said in a statement. “So, I mean I had no intentions of ruining his reputation.”

The case will be very important in deciding what falls under free speech and what the school can discipline students for

So irresponsible name-calling because of a low grade or something is now expressing oneself and an example of free speech? Nice.

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