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Submission + - How The Outdated TI-84 Plus Still Holds a Monopoly on Classrooms

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Electronics almost universally become cheaper over time, but with essentially a monopoly on graphing calculator usage in classrooms, Texas Instruments still manages to command a premium for its TI-84 Plus. Texas Instruments released the TI-84 Plus graphing calculator in 2004. Ten years later, the base model still has 480 kilobytes of ROM and 24 kilobytes of RAM, its black-and-white screen remains 96×64 pixels, and the MSRP is still $150. "Free graphing calculator apps are available," notes Matt McFarland. "But smartphones can’t be used on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. Schools are understandably reluctant to let them be used in classrooms, where students may opt to tune out in class and instead text friends or play games. So for now, overpriced hardware and all, the TI-84 family of calculators remains on top and unlikely to go anywhere." So, to paraphrase Prof. Norm Matloff, is it stupid to buy expensive TI-8x milk when the R cow is free?

Submission + - TVA's costly reactor illuminates nuclear challenge (usatoday.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: One of the keys to the Tennessee Valley Authority's efforts to meet strict new rules for reducing greenhouse gas emissions lies behind walls more than a foot thick and beneath more than a half-million pounds of metal.

The walls form a massive concrete containment building at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant where TVA officials say they are on pace to start operating the federal utility's latest reactor in December 2015.

That means Watts Bar could have the nation's first new commercial nuclear power unit to come online in the 21st century. As the second reactor at the plant, it will produce enough electricity to power 650,000 homes.

But the Watts Bar project also illustrates the challenges facing the U.S. nuclear industry. Nuclear plants are expensive, complicated and time-consuming to build. They require huge sums of upfront capital — the new Watts Bar reactor could cost as much as $4.5 billion, nearly double earlier estimates.

Comment Self-extracting EXEs (Score 4, Interesting) 294

by Z00L00K (#47804317) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Linux-Friendly Desktop x86 Motherboard Manufacturers?

Some archive apps like WinRAR can extract files from self-extracting EXE files. Also look around for other softwares that can do this.

In some cases a command line option will allow the EXE to be extracted but not installed - but you have to do some digging.

Of course - the above is provided that you have at least one Windows machine around.

Also check around on the Motherboard manufacturer site - sometimes they offer both an EXE and a ZIP archive, and if nothing else contact their support. If nobody pesters them about the problem then they don't care.

And finally - also look at Tyan and Supermicro for motherboard, even though their target is server motherboards they may have some suitable motherboards for you.

Submission + - Net neutrality campaign to show what the Web would be like with a 'slow lane'

Submitted by blottsie
blottsie writes: In a move out of the anti-SOPA campaign playbook, Fight for the Future and other net neutrality activist groups have set up the Battle for the Net coalition, which plans to launch an “Internet slowdown day” later this month.

No actual traffic will be slowed down. Instead, participating sites will display embeddable modules that include a spinning “loading” symbol and information about contacting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the White House, and members of Congress.

Submission + - Should Billionaire-Backed Code.org Pay Its Interns?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: As of Labor Day, Code.org still has a part-time job posting for a Marketing / Communications Intern for this Fall. Code.org is backed by millions from some of the country's wealthiest individuals, foundations, and tech companies — including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer — so it's kind of surprising to see the job listing languish for months. Unless, of course, the problem is that the position is unpaid, as were earlier full-time Code.org Operations Intern and State Policy Intern jobs. So, should a billionaire-backed nonprofit pay its interns, especially when part of the job is promoting high-paying jobs in its donors' industry?

Comment Some alternatives. (Score 1) 1

by Z00L00K (#47799115) Attached to: Are there any Linux-friendly DESKTOP x86 motherboard manufacturers?

WinRar do have quite some ability to actually extract info from EXE-archives, so do Winzip and 7-zip. (not always though)

Also search the sites for the manufacturers to see if there are unbundled BIOS copies - and contact the support of the motherboard manufacturer telling them about the problems it causes you.

Also look at Tyan.

Submission + - Are there any Linux-friendly DESKTOP x86 motherboard manufacturers? (phoronix.com) 1

Submitted by storkus
storkus writes: The release of Haswell-E and a price drop on Devil's Canyon has made me itch for a PC upgrade. However, looking around I discovered a pair of horror stories on Phoronix (2nd story link at the bottom of the first), and plenty more Googling around.

My question: if MSI, Gigabyte, Asus (and by extension Asrock) are out, who's left and are they any good? Note that I want to build a (probably dual-boot, but don't know for sure) gaming and "other" high-end machine with one of the above chips so we're talking Z97 or X99; however, these stories seem to point to the problems being M$-isms in the BIOS/UEFI structures rather than actual hardware incompatibility, combined with a real lousy attitude (despite the Steam distro being real soon now).

Submission + - NASA Completes Key Review of World's Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey (nasa.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) — the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars — and approved the program's progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the space shuttle.

Submission + - Celebrity nude pictures leaked due to apparent iCloud hack (mashable.com) 1

Submitted by swinferno
swinferno writes: Hundreds of nude, semi-nude, and revealing pictures of female celebrities were leaked overnight after being stolen from their private collections. Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and pop star Ariana Grande were among the celebrities apparently shown in the pictures, which were posted on infamous web forum 4chan.

It's unclear how the images were obtained, but anonymous 4chan users said that they were taken from celebrities' iCloud accounts. The accounts are designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to synchronize images, settings, calendar information, and other data between devices, but the service has been criticized for being unreliable and confusing. Earlier this year, Jennifer Lawrence herself complained about the service in an interview with MTV.

Several media contacted Apple for more information but they have not commented on this yet.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9...

Submission + - Iceland raises volcano aviation alert again 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Iceland's authorities have raised an aviation warning for a region close to the Bardarbunga volcano after a small fissure eruption in the area. The eruption began around 0600 GMT prompting the Icelandic Met Office to raise the aviation warning code to red for the Bardarbunga/Holuhraun area, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said in a statement. The country’s meteorological agency described the eruption as a “very calm lava eruption and can hardly be seen on seismometers.”

Submission + - SPAM: Microsoft Shutting Down MSN Messenger After 15 Years Of Service

Submitted by airfuz
airfuz writes: Microsoft took a bold move announcing that users have to move away from the old version of internet explorer to the new version 11. And now not long after that, Microsoft announced that they are shutting down the 15 year old MSN Messenger. Most people have moved away from the service to Facebook and other mobile based messenger such as Whatsapp and so MSN is left with few users. But still, ending a 15 year messaging service like the MSN Messenger means something to the one's who grew up using it.
[spam URL stripped]...
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