Comment Super 8 Motel (Score 1) 288
It might seem like a cheap, cheesy hotel chain nowadays, but you REALLY didn't want to stay at just an 8 Motel.
Comment Re:He's gaining on me! (Score 4, Funny) 245
I was picturing a 1950s-era monster movie poster or trailer, myself.
"Coming this fall to a theater near YOU! They're terrible... they're horrible... they're GASTROPODS!"
"Oh no! The snails have just taken Fort Lauderdale! Hurry! We've only got a few months to evacuate before they eventually get to Miami! The airport will be moderately more busy!"
"Giant snails are invading Florida! Where did they come from? What do they want? How many more will eventually perish in the lethargic onslaught, given enough time? Find out this fall in... DAY OF THE SNAIL!"
Comment Yes, they know (Score 3, Funny) 140
Claiming the parties' were engaged in 'obstreperous and cantankerous conduct', he said that the lawsuit was part of 'a business strategy that appears to have no end.'
Motorola lawyer: Yeah.
Apple lawyer: And?
Judge: *long pause* *deep sigh* Very well. *gets up, starts walking towards lawyers* I believe, at this point, I am legally permitted, by the great State of Florida, to dope-slap the both of you. Not only am I permitted to do so, I may be legally required as well, something I am not about to question. Please turn around.
Submission + - CRAPCHA: Completely Ridiculous And Phony Captcha that Hassles for Amusement (crapcha.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: CAPTCHAs play a valuable role, keeping spambots out by verifying that you’re a human. On top of this, reCAPTCHA serves a greater good, having you digitize old books in the process. Meet CRAPCHA. CRAPCHA doesn’t serve a dual purpose. It barely serves a single purpose. And it isn’t to keep spammers out. What CRAPCHA does is annoy users by presenting a CAPTCHA with indecipherable text. Nothing new so far? Well, CRAPCHA does this only to provide amusement for all.
Submission + - MIT to end open-network policy in response to recent attacks
An anonymous reader writes: MIT announced that despite a long history of running an open network (so that any student can run a server on any port, without any questions asked), it will now end this policy due to recent denial-of-service attacks and gunman hoax. Thanks, Anonymous, for ruining a good thing.
Comment The giants (Score 5, Funny) 482
"Windfarm Sickness"? Lame.
"Don Quixote Syndrome"? Much better.
ARM Based Server Cluster Benchmarked 55
An anonymous reader writes "Anandtech compares the Boston Viridis, a server with Calxeda's ARM server technology, with the typical Intel Xeon technology in a server environment. Turns out that the Quad ARM A9 chip has it weaknesses, but it can offer an amazing performance per Watt ratio in some applications. Anandtech tests bandwidth, compression, decompression, building/compiling and a hosted web environment on top of Ubuntu 12.10."
At least in their tests (highly parallel, lightweight file serving), the ARM nodes offered slightly better throughput at lower power use, although from the looks of it you'd just be giving money to the server manufacturer instead of the power company.
Comment Because why not? (Score 1) 117
Human teeth from mouse kidneys. Because why the hell not? Next week, we'll start on our project to make alligator spleens from parrot intestines. Time permitting, there's always the cheetah-bones-from-elephant-skin plan or the one where we make dog fur from jellyfish stingers. If we get enough funding, we might be able to complete our magnum opus, recreating the heart of a triceratops from the colon of a neanderthal!
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What are the technology hurdles in a US to Canada move? 1
toupsz writes: Considering how many "geek" technologies are now tied to accounts and subscriptions, can anyone speak to the hurdles involved in a (potentially permanent) US to Canada move? Since, presumably, licensing rules, pricing structures, etc. will be different, should I wholesale change my accounts? Leave some of them with a US address (of a trusted family member)?
By "'geek' technologies tied to accounts", I am thinking about things such as Dropbox, Netflix, Hulu, smartphone plan, iTunes, iCloud, Xbox Live, etc., etc., etc. Will various forms of DRM on games, apps, music, and movies fail? How much is tied to where your account officially lies and where it shows up by IP address (say when streaming a movie)?
By "'geek' technologies tied to accounts", I am thinking about things such as Dropbox, Netflix, Hulu, smartphone plan, iTunes, iCloud, Xbox Live, etc., etc., etc. Will various forms of DRM on games, apps, music, and movies fail? How much is tied to where your account officially lies and where it shows up by IP address (say when streaming a movie)?
Ask Slashdot: What Does the FOSS Community Currently Need? 356
First time accepted submitter d33tah writes "In the summer term of my final year of IT's bachelor's course in my university, every student is obliged to develop his own project; the only requirement is that the application would use any kind of a database. While others are thinking of another useless system for an imaginary company that nobody would actually use, I'd rather hack up something the FL/OSS community actually needs. The problem is — how to figure out what it could be?"
Submission + - Thousands of Publicly Addressable Printers Searchable on Google (port3000.co.uk)
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: Blogger Adam Howard, at Port3000, has a post about Google's exposure of thousands of publicly accessible printers. "A quick, well crafted Google search returns "About 86,800 results" for publically accessible HP printers." He continues, "There's something interesting about being able to print to a random location around the world, with no idea of the consequence." He also warns about these printers as a possible beachhead for deeper network intrusion and exploitation. With many of the HP printers in question containing a web listener and a highly vulnerable and unpatched JVM, I agree that this is not an exotic idea. In the meanwhile? I have an important memo for all Starbucks employees. ;-)
Comment Already been done (Score 1) 1
The rapid tumble of American arcades — the real arcades, the loud dark rooms with gross carpets and no parents — has left a hole where a piece of culture used to be. Rather than try and recreate that vintage arcade experience, Japanese video game maker Namco is rolling out a "restaurant-centered, destination entertainment concept."
So... they're "inventing" Dave & Buster's or Gameworks. That... is less than thrilling than what the headline led me to believe. Or than what the first paragraph's nostalgia trip prepared me for.
Comment WUXGA (Score 4, Insightful) 266
Okay, I know 1920x1200 8:5 (16:10) displays "lost" once everyone was tricked into drooling over "HD picture size zomg!", but damnit, I really don't feel right buying a NEW, supposedly top-of-the-line monitor that has worse resolution than my laptop from eight or so years ago in college. Sadly, my choices are dwindling...
Comment Re:Douglas Adams figured it out (Score 2) 3
We need a B-Ark.
So... we need to send the morons out to continue our species as the rest of us horribly die out due to them doing some minor task that we don't realize is vital to our survival?
Comment Re:Following instructions. (Score 1) 11
I have to wonder when the user's powering it off during this process. If it's being bricked when powered off during the download phase (before the firmware gets flashed), then it's a point of concern, since it should be stuffing that data into a holding area before it does a single thing with it.
However, if it's during the flashing phase, well, then that's the user's stupid fault. They DO throw warnings all over the place. But, knowing Nintendo, there's a nonzero chance that the download/update screen are one in the same and you get no indication which it's doing at a given moment. I mean, this IS a company that, last I knew, still didn't understand the basic OS concept of hardware abstraction...
