Actually, Netflix Streaming does support 5.1 DD sound now. They added support to it for the PS3 early last year, and supposedly added it to the Xbox with the last major dashboard update (though I haven't actually tested that yet).

But yes - BD always looks better than Netflix streaming, even at its highest quality, and in theory can also give better sound quality if you have a 7.1 DTS-HD system. They'll match it eventually, but the bandwidth isn't there just yet. That said, some of their HD content is comparable to BD and you have to look very hard to notice a difference.

+1

If you just want to teach new developers command-line Unix tools, Cygwin is definitely the way to go. If you just want to give them a taste of Linux, distribute some VMs with a distro of choice on it. I've always preferred Ubuntu as the newbie distro of choice, but I haven't really taken a good look at the current state of distros from that perspective in a while.

Realistically for the average user, once you install the OS for them and choose a desktop environment, the choice of distribution is almost irrelevant. More importantly however, if you suspect you can turn a fair number of users in your company to Linux (and your company is large enough), get a site license for an enterprise-grade version to simplify support and management -- you know 'average' users will be asking questions, so better to standardize where possible.

And within a few months of its release the fine hackers at xda-developers.com unlocked the webtop to work as a fully-featured desktop operating system. Hence, this is not new. This is simply Canonical claiming credit for re-packaging what's already been done.

OT: Come to think of it, what has Canonical done in Ubuntu Desktop lately besides forcing Unity, adding an installer and a few configuration GUIs that isn't already in Debian? (Note: I do think Ubuntu does a great job of neatly packaging Linux for new users with user-friendly installers and such, but for myself I've been a lot happier since I switched over to Debian Squeeze.)

The selection of DRM-free books (and specifically Android-compatible audiobooks) is highly limited on OverDrive, but they otherwise have a reasonably large selection now.

While all of MD uses OverDrive though, the availability of books does vary based on county. You must register at your local library, and that gives you access only to those books licensed by that County's library system.

More importantly, the interface for actually sorting through the books on OverDrive is still horrible. In particular, it gets annoying when you browse through and find for example books 3 and 5 of some series (on different pages of results), but books 1 and 2 are not in the system. Or at least that's what I routinely find with the audiobooks (great for long drives), even when I include the Windows-only file formats.

I recall taking one or two CS classes with a similar methodology.

Basically, the class was broken up into teams of 3-5 students and given a problem to solve. The final grade was a combination of the groups final answer, and individual write-ups by each student explaining the solution. Those write-ups may include a description of what you agree/disagree with in the overall group answer, and a description of what parts you specifically contributed to.

This, particularly with larger classes and randomly-chosen teams, does a good job of fairly testing students abilities as a group and as an individual at the same time. Those that don't understand the work or do not participate fully will easily stand out when the individual contributions are read.

Come to think of it, the same professor also occasionally walked out of the classroom for several minutes during regular (non-group) exams knowing full-well that a majority of the class would start talking/collaborating as soon as she left. In those cases, the nature of the test, and the teacher's implicit compliance, still made it more of an impromptu collaboration than actual cheating.

Simple, it's roughly e*x*s, where e=the mass of an electron, s=the size of the file in bits, and x is the average number of electrons needed to store each bit on the chosen storage medium. In this case, mass may appear to vary based on the density of the chosen storage medium.

Alternatively, mass approaches infinity as the file is moved across fiber optic links at the speed of light. WARNING: Attempting to duplicate a file in this state may create a rift in the profit-time continuum.

+1

Even 512MB RAM would be better. I still plan on getting (at least) one, but more RAM + MPEG-2 support would make its usage as an HD MythFrontend a lot more practical.

Kinect in the living room makes sense - voice/gesture commands in place of a remote control is surprisingly useful (when it works). On a laptop though -- what does the Kinect give that a touch screen can't do better? I mean outside of adult entertainment...

On the other hand, if it can support gestures with your eyes, then it might be useful. For example, gaze at a specific window/monitor and having it automatically come into focus could be quite a convenience ... but I don't think we'll see that for a while.

It's American Circa 1900 in terms of work conditions. "harsh tones poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply-rooted corruption on the part of those in power"

You mean to say there are still people that watch commercials on TV? Or are you referring to those annoying ads in Hulu? ;-)

Between Online Sreaming (Netflix,Hulu) and DVRs (MythTV with auto-flag+skip commercials) TV commercials are quickly losing their relevance as the best place to be "seen and heard." News outlets, social media, retail stores - that's where the real PR action is nowadays.

Same here, though I kind of knew they were still around from a few random encounters with their website or magazine in the store (on average once every other year...).

Anyone remember SwatPro, their spinoff magazine printing just game cheat codes? Short-lived, but memorable in the days before the net took over.

I also recall at some point in the late 90s losing interest in GamePro when I realized that 3/4 of the magazine seemed to be nothing but ads...

"Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that" - the Immortal words of Homer Simpson

The same thing is true for the MP3-based audio books from OverDrive. Overdrive has a nice little quirk in it though that you can't actually renew items - only delete them and check them out again. If downloading to a mobile device, this can be slow and also seems to delete any reference to where you left off in it.

I now just use OverDrive to download the books, but then open the MP3s in my phones native app to listen to them - which has a better interface when driving to. Now, is it still a violation of the rules if I don't re-open the OverDrive app to delete them until after I finished listening to it ... which may or may not be a few days past the original "due" date.

Of course, I haven't used the OverDrive system in a while now because it doesn't support DRM on Android, and the collection of non-DRMed audi-books is abysmally small . . .

Bullying has been around since time immemorial, and will be so for the foreseeable future - it's part of the darker side of human nature. The only difference today is that now its "cyber", utilizing digital tools that have a potentially greater reach. There are other options here besides curtailing free speech - cyberbullying is one of those things that should be handled internally by the school. (And if parents are involved in said matter, then refer it to the police under existing laws: wouldn't some of the child endangerment laws imply under the category of verbal/emotional harm?).

What's next, are they going to ban the kids on the block from forming the "No Homers" club, or equivalent.

Homer: But you let in Homer Glumplich.
Homer G.: [pops head out window] Hyuck hyuck!
Boy: It says no Homer_s_. We're allowed to have one.
Homer: Oh...

Precisely. My understanding of Marx's communism is that it is a description of the utopian (perfect/ideal) society. It is meant to be an ideal that we (as a species) endeavor to reach, not an actual government to implement today (for that, we have Marx's Socialism). Humanity needs to evolve a bit more to eliminate (or control) greed before the ideal can even be contemplated as attainable - but as the ancient proverb goes, it is not the destination that's important, but the journey there (which in this case may take millenia).