99684999
submission
goombah99 writes:
Fortune Mag remarks " the iPhone X alone generated five times more profit in the fourth quarter than all of the profits generated from more than 600 Android device vendors " citing Counterpoint Research analysts: "Apple remained the most profitable brand, capturing 86% of the total handset market profits...Global handset profits declined 1% [since last year], but Apple grew 1% YoY even with the iPhone X being available for only two months in Q4 2017... Additionally, the longer shelf life of all iPhones ensured that Apple still has eight out of top ten smartphones, including its three-year-old models, generating the most profits compared to current competing smartphones from other OEMs". While reports have remarked on diminished Apple supply chain orders for iPhone X, suggesting a failed launch, in fact "The iPhone X alone generated 21% of total industry revenue and 35% of total industry profits during the quarter."
88243803
submission
goombah99 writes:
I need to settle on a word processor for my Linux machine. Coming from a mac where I can use MS word, or my favorites Pages and Keynote, I am dreading returning to the clunky openOffice derivatives. Last time I used LibreOffice (a few years ago) it seemed unstable. So far I find that google Docs is the easiest and cleanest to use but it's not fully featured.
In terms of easiest to use in terms of human interface and getting the text like you want I have ever found is Pages/Keynote especially the version before the current one (which used the NeXT Inspector.) I'm hoping that since Pages sure looks derived from the NeXT style inspector interfaces that maybe there's some opensource workalike out there.
Anyhow I've read a lot of review of the open source writers but they just list features and don't really say what they like about it. What do you like and why?
88155875
submission
goombah99 writes:
VidAngel is a legal movie filtering and streaming service that will edit any major movie of objectionable content exactly as you request (and no more than you request) then stream it to you for $1. Such Bowlderizing and DVD streaming services are expressly written into section 110 of Title 17, the copyright act (paragraph 11 added in the 2005 Family Viewing act). Therefore both aspects that the studios are suing over, the streaming of a DVD and the editing of it by a 3rd party, is plainly legal. None-the-less all the major studios have sued and a judge has granted an injunction, making vidAngel pull almost all of it's content. VidAngel operates by purchasing DVDs then selling them to you for $20, it then streams them to you using what ever filter you tick off ("Remove N-word", etc...). After you view it you can sell it back for $19, making your net cost $1. The Family Viewing act was passed in 2005 after a dozen filtering services were sued out of business. The law seems clear but the studios say vidAngel is not doing it right. There's a petition to save this act from encroachment..
86927821
submission
goombah99 writes:
Reports are starting to trickle in about more Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge phones spontaneously catching fire. There have been two such reports within the last week, several within the last few months. This includes a new one obtained in replacement for an S7 Note.
76529787
submission
goombah99 writes:
BoingBoing which in recent years fell from iconoclast to after thought has now fully sold out in their recent make-over. Adds are included inline with articles without distinction. Stories now regurgitate press releases. I mourn the passing of this once great upstart magazine.
62401485
submission
goombah99 writes:
The USPS may not have gone forward with its plans to kill Saturday mail delivery, but Netflix isn't waiting. A few customers have noticed it's no longer processing shipments on Saturdays, opting for a five day schedule instead. Company spokesman Joris Evers tells Engadget that it's been transitioning in that direction over the past year and ended Saturday processing (usually a low volume day) entirely in early June.
56645577
submission
goombah99 writes:
If electrons are the lifeblood of a modern economy, copper makes up its blood vessels. In cables, wires, and contacts, copper is at the core of the electrical distribution system, from power stations to delicate electronics. As consumption has risen exponentially—reaching 17 million metric tons in 2012—miners have met the world's demand for 10,000 years. But that might soon change. A group of resource specialists has taken the first shot at projecting how much more copper miners will wring from the planet. Results of their model, described this month, show that production peaks by about midcentury even if copper is more abundant than most geologists believe. That would drive prices sky-high, trigger increased recycling, and force inferior substitutes for copper on the marketplace.
52958616
submission
goombah99 writes:
We've all seen how game makers copy each other's hot game, sometimes slavishly. Just when does a reimplementation become a copyright violation? Recently to learn objective c I implemented from scratch code for old Atari and Apple II games. As placeholders I initially screen grabbed some icons and sound effects from the original. The goal was to make it look and feel the Same not to improve it. The results were great and since I can't find these games anymore I thought I'd make them available. I got nervous about the copyrights in the icons and sounds so I replaced them with imitations that were intended to be similar. But that got me wondering if that was necessary and if it was what other aspects I might need to change? The game window layout? The scoring scheme? The game play? Would something as generic as pong be copyrighted? If not then what would make a game worthy of copyright ? Or Is copying games only something that rich folks with lawyers to stall C&D letters can do?
31288033
submission
goombah99 writes:
Brokerages where I keep my mutual funds are just password protected. They do sometimes ask extra security questions but these seem tissue thin (like "what's your favorite food?"). I can use above average passwords but then I need to write them down or put them in a key chain so I don't lose them. I fear key loggers or someone stealing my home computer or it's contents. Is there anything to stop people from draining your account if they have your password?
30182007
submission
goombah99 writes:
According to developers, executives and investors in mobile gaming and payment sectors , Google warned several developers in recent months that if they did not switch to Google Wallet or continued to use other payment methods — such as PayPal, Zong and Boku — their apps would be removed from Android Market, now known as Google Play. In one email sent to a developer in late August, Google said the developer had 30 days to comply, otherwise the developer's apps would be "suspended" from Android Market. Reuters obtained a copy of the email this week. "They told people that if they used other payment services they would be breaking the terms of use," said Si Shen, founder and chief executive of Papaya, a social gaming network on Android. "Whether it's right or wrong, we have to follow the rules."
24606196
submission
goombah99 writes:
The initial response of geeks to the iphone 4s was a sort of Mehh. Which is odd considering one rarely hears of a computing device 2x faster than its nearest rival. Anadtech benched it and found the overall performance was about 2x faster than the new Galaxy S II phone. Indeed it's tied in speed with the ultra speedy Galaxy tablet yet runs at a slower processor speed for long battery life. The graphics boost is 6x that of the iphone 4. Then there is Siri, which how hard usefully accurate voice command is, ought to at least evince rubber necking to watch either a spectacular Apple boast fail or a surprising breakthrough. Then there's the fact that it not only sold out a rather large pre-release inventory but it managed to sell a million in 24 hours (to real people, not just into "channels". Yet various news organizations have called it a "letdown," a "dud," a "stumble," and a "gaffe." Geeks sometimes deride apple as nothing more than a pretty case, and yet here the only thing that didn't change is the look and feel. Are we geeks guilty of judging the book by the cover?
24585734
submission
goombah99 writes:
Benchmarks from Anadtech show that on both graphics and overall benchmarks the iphone 4s is about 2x faster than it's nearest competition: Samsungs's Galaxy S II. In graphics frames-per-second it is more than 6x faster than the iphone 4. Indeed, it is essentially equal in speed to the larger Galaxy II tablet, while running at slower clock speed for extended battery life. The apple A5 strategy looks like a category killer.
23278992
submission
goombah99 writes:
Nilay Patel makes a very cogent argument that software patents are not a bad thing at all. He argues that the problem is the Trolls. And his solution is not only simple, but actually exists and is well tested in other countries, such as Germany so it's pretty easy to evaluate if he's right. He squarely puts down common strawmen like "software algorithms are just math and you can't patent math". And he points out that patents bring methods in to the public domain, unlike the bad old days of trade secrets. In a few years even those seemingly "obvious" patents will be legally obvious and free to all, so in a way there is a clearing house process in effect that is de-encumbering entire fields, such as Amazon-like stores, in the long run. And when people are forced to work around patented methods they explore new more diverse methods, broadening our knowledge. His solution is mandatory licensing at reasonable rates of all patents not in active use by the holder. This allows universities to continue profiting from patents while encouraging people to license widely rather than sit back and wait to litigate when someone succeeds. The end of trolling is within reach.
17043008
submission
goombah99 writes:
Net Nanny is the well known software to shield young children just getting started on the internet. But I figure that maybe computer savvy folks have other solutions or things that can be layered on top. If there was a list of naughty sites one could of course toss that in a Host file but, having tried that approach, those lists can be pretty long (and thus slow) despite being incomplete and they don't filter by content just IP. The other problem is that they are not per-user so mommy and daddy can't browse freely. I don't mind paying and don't require an open source solution. But I do need one for a mac osx computer. All this goes without saying that supervision and participation are important but you can monitor every key stroke and page load even when you are in the same room. Almost every google phrase you can think of has some close by salacious analog: My 5 year old like Ben 10, and I encourage him to use logic to form his own search phases, but there are some naughty Ben's in the world apparently. What do slashdotters do?
12114198
submission
goombah99 writes:
There is No...
1) try
2) spoon
3) sunshine when she is gone
4) Third rule of fight club
5) Devil, it's just Cowboy Neal when he's drunk."
6) option 7
