Comment Re:Nothing prettier... (Score 1) 571
Her Her, since I got a set of double-walled Bodum glasses I've stopped using my beloved ceramic mugs.
Comment Re:Sounds like any 3G phone? (Score 1) 268
The fact that the iPhone 3G doesn't do video-calls really surprised me, too. I mean, the Nokia 6680 I purchased in 2005 already supported it. Of course I had to wait until 2008 before I could even video-call anyone, so I guess Apple is not really that late :)
Comment Re:TextMate (Score 1) 1131
Amen. However, the vaporware factor of Textmate 2.0 seriously bugs me.
Comment Re:hmm. (Score 1) 271
My thoughts exactly.. so far for Open Source's quick reaction to bugs. The fix for this very serious issue was already known in july 2007.
Comment SOA = STD (Score 1) 219
In Dutch, SOA is the abbreviation for an STD. That doesn't help in taking this book seriously :)
Comment Re:Who cares (Score 1) 80
Well the deployment of Rails is getting easier every day. It now integrates nicely in your LAMP stack thanks to Fusion Passenger.
Or if you want more scalability, spead and general coolness you can use JRuby (with Warbler) to deploy a Rails application on a J2EE application server of your choice (e.g. Glassfish, Tomcat, Websphere). This also allows you to leverage technologies such as JMS or JDBC connection pooling from your Rails application.
Deploying Rails application has been a mess since it's inception, but with Passenger and JRuby we have two very mature options.
Or if you want more scalability, spead and general coolness you can use JRuby (with Warbler) to deploy a Rails application on a J2EE application server of your choice (e.g. Glassfish, Tomcat, Websphere). This also allows you to leverage technologies such as JMS or JDBC connection pooling from your Rails application.
Deploying Rails application has been a mess since it's inception, but with Passenger and JRuby we have two very mature options.
Comment Re:Install Ubuntu (Score 1) 823
Same here.. my grandfather of 83 who never touched a computer in his entire life is e-mailing and ordering groceries happily with his Ubuntu Linux computer.
I really think that a nagging Windows install would have taken a lot of the fun out of computing for him. Also, it's great that other relatives don't mess around with his system ('Oh you really need this piece of software!') so everything still works as good as it did 2 years ago.
A Mac would have done fine too by the way, but that was a bit too expensive when we started, since it was just an experiment.
I really think that a nagging Windows install would have taken a lot of the fun out of computing for him. Also, it's great that other relatives don't mess around with his system ('Oh you really need this piece of software!') so everything still works as good as it did 2 years ago.
A Mac would have done fine too by the way, but that was a bit too expensive when we started, since it was just an experiment.
Submission + - Atlantis launch delayed again (washingtonpost.com)
Z80xxc! writes: According to an article by the Washington Post, NASA has delayed the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis until January 2nd, 2008 at the earliest. The latest in a series of delays is due to a faulty fuel gauge. NASA did say that it should not vastly affect either the space station construction or the launch the European Space Agency's $2 billion Columbus lab.
Submission + - Low budget open source VGA compatible video card (mveas.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Seeing how the Open Graphics Project is only making slow progress, a new card is being developed by a few students to get a fast, simple and above all cheap video card out the door. Started just two months ago, they're already nearing completion of the circuit board. It sports a reasonably sized reprogrammable FPGA which should kickstart development of a full-fledged open source video card in the future, and the design currently only costs about a hundred euro.
Submission + - Twine: The First Mainstream Semantic Web App? (readwriteweb.com)
ReadWriteWeb writes: "Radar Networks has announced a new Semantic Web application called Twine, which it says will be the first mainstream Semantic Web application. Founder Nova Spivack, who has worked in the past with Semantic Web and AI legends Ray Kurzweil and Danny Hillis (of Thinking Machines), showed a demo of Twine to several reporters today. Spivack described Twine as a "knowledge networking" application. It has aspects of social networking, wikis, blogging, knowledge management systems — but its defining feature is that it's built with Semantic Web technologies including RDF, OWL, SPARQL, XSL. Spivack told Read/WriteWeb that Twine aims to bring a usable and scalable interface to the long-promised dream of the Semantic Web."
Submission + - Internet Setup in Japan
animusCollards writes: I'm going to Japan next week to see my in-laws. Amidst our home visit, low key sight-seeing, and an overnight at a ryokan, I've been tasked with getting the folks online. I'm planning a wireless network with a broadband connection and probably a Mac for ease of use. A no-brainer, right? Well, I don't speak Japanese. My wife is fluent, but only spoken language — use Kanji or lose it. I know we'll work this out, but it would be great if the /. crowd can get us around any obvious pitfalls.
So what would you do if you were setting up a simple home network in Tokyo?
So what would you do if you were setting up a simple home network in Tokyo?
Submission + - Apple includes an Anti Bio-Warfare licence clause 3
MrNatas writes: "I should be doing something else right now. But this is the WTF of the year.
Looking closer at Apple's products license made me drop my jaw and I temporarily went blind from a parse error.
Here is the quote, please be seated :
"You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."
That's the most ridiculous license clause since the DRM.
First of all, you'll have to explain me how to build a missile with Safari or I-Tunes, unless you want to play the "Ride of The Valkyries" somewhere in the script.
Then, I don't really see some weird minded evil genius saying "Oooh my god, I had the perfect plan to destroy mankind with Safari , but bummer I can't do it because I'm violating the license".
And last but not least, they should be careful not to break their own terms, since I almost died laughing reading it.
It's curious though, they didn't mention acids..."
Here is the quote, please be seated :
"You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."
That's the most ridiculous license clause since the DRM.
First of all, you'll have to explain me how to build a missile with Safari or I-Tunes, unless you want to play the "Ride of The Valkyries" somewhere in the script.
Then, I don't really see some weird minded evil genius saying "Oooh my god, I had the perfect plan to destroy mankind with Safari , but bummer I can't do it because I'm violating the license".
And last but not least, they should be careful not to break their own terms, since I almost died laughing reading it.
It's curious though, they didn't mention acids..."
Feed Adobe takes UK price hikes to new level with CS3 (theregister.com)
Not just pounds for dollars any more
Adobe Systems, producers of Photoshop, Acrobat and Flash, have long had a relatively chummy image compared to – say – Microsoft. But that might be changing, at least for some customers, as the company moves even beyond Redmond's position on price differentials between the UK and US.
Submission + - Get arrested for using free wifi at the library
edmicman writes: "Tech news outlets are reporting a story from Alaska where a man's laptop was confiscated after he was caught playing online games using the library's free WiFi connection:
"Brian Tanner was sitting in his Acura Integra recently outside the Palmer Library playing online games when a Palmer police pulled up behind him. The officer asked him what he was doing. Tanner, 21, was using the library's wireless Internet connection. He was told that his activity constituted theft of services and was told to leave. The next day, Sunday, police spotted him there again.
Are Exclusive Games GameStop's Secret Weapon? 102
An anonymous reader writes "It's one thing to try to muscle out the competition, but when you start to lock down the sales of certain games, consumers lose. This is how GameStop hopes to compete against the big box retailers. With sales of games predominantly happening at stores like Walmart or Best Buy, they must feel that extreme measures are required. 'Chulip--an offbeat game involving kissing--has been released in the US to the cheers of fans of quirky games. The only problem is that EBGameStop is going to be the only place to buy it. Strategy gamers will be annoyed to hear that The Settlers for the DS will also be an EBGameStop exclusive. The game has been getting some favorable early buzz, but if you'd like to buy it on the 28th of next month... well, you know where you'll have to go.'"
