Comment Re:Bigger != Better (Score 1) 660
Yes, I know... Now, read it again.
Comment Re:Bigger != Better (Score 1) 660
Murphy's Law applies to the other post above:
No, for "prefect". Which is a word, but not the same as "prefect", which is what OP probably meant to type.
Comment Re:If consumers didn't want big phones (Score 2) 660
The point is: if you want a high end smartphone AND you don't want a 4.5+ inch screen, what are your options? What quad-core Android comes in such form factor?
Don't Super-Size My Smartphone! 660
New submitter Steve Max writes "Editor Paul Ockenden wonders, 'Has anyone else noticed what's been happening to top-end smartphones recently? They've started to get big – really big. But do people really want that at the expense of carrying around such a huge, heavy lump of tech in their pocket?' The trend for bigger and bigger screens is clear, but is it what consumers want? Is it what you want?"
Comment Re:Yes...the iPhone 4 and 4S look horribly dated (Score 1) 8
I have a tablet to surf the web, watch video, read PDFs, etc. I want my phone to be portable; I want to use it to do those things when I'm in a hurry, or confined places, or in places where it would be unwise to pick up a huge tablet. It must be portable, I must be able to use its screen single-handed, on the subway for example. I can't use the whole screen of a 5 inch phone single handed, not comfortably at least. The iPhone is actually too small, and too restricted to be useful IMHO.
Now, you want a fully featured, 5-6 inch phone; when the Note 2 arrives, you may get what you want (or, if you want it even bigger, look at the Galaxy Tab 7.7'', its simply amazing as a tablet and works as a phone as well). I want a fully featured, 4-4.3 inch phone. What are my options now? Just the Meizu MX 4-core, and its iPhone-like OS and resolution mean I won't buy it. Where can I find a smaller, quad-core phone with hardware and software similar to the Galaxy S3?
Comment Re:it's subjective, you idiots (Score 1) 8
Yes, that's the point. Form factor is subjective, each person likes something different. However, hardware isn't subjective. Why do I have to choose between a good form factor or good hardware? Why can't I have a 4.0-4.3'', high DPI AMOLED screen with quad core CPU and good GPU? Because right now, you can either have top-notch hardware OR the form factor that was considered "high end" just last year.
And what about hardware keyboards? Or flip smartphones? You can find them, yes, but only with sub-par hardware, and most are from last year and still running Android 2.x. Is that "catering for the users' needs"?
Comment Re:Thank you for posting this (Score 1) 8
My case isn't as extreme as that. I have a Galaxy S2, and before getting it I thought I'd find the screen too big, but it actually fits my hand very, very well. I can write a quick message while walking on the street using a single hand without any problems. That size (4.3'') and below works perfectly for my hands. It also fits well in my pocket.
I used an HTC Titan (4.7''), and I hated it. The screen is big enough that, to type single-handed, I need to place the phone uncomfortably over my fingers, not my palm. It didn't work for me.
Now, if I look at the market, all the phones I'd consider an upgrade over the S2 have gigantic screens. One X, Galaxy S3, Optimus 4X, all are 4.7''+. The only quad-core phone under that size is the Meizu MX 4-core, with that weird screen resolution and weirder iPhone-like OS.
The point is: there is a market for different form factors than the current trend, and the manufacturers aren't listening to it. You want an Android flip phone. I want a smaller screened phone with all the bells and whistles. Some people want a good-spec'd phone with a sliding keyboard. Others may want a BlackBerry/Treo/Nokia E71 form factor. Or even something like the Nokia E70. We used to have options when we went shopping for a high end smartphone; now the options are "an iPhone, or an assorted variety of huge-screened Android slabs" (or Windows Phone, but that's not an option anymore until WP8 comes out). Why can't the manufacturers give us the choice anymore?
Submission + - Don't super-size my smartphone! (pcpro.co.uk) 8
Steve Max writes: Editor Paul Ockenden wonders, "Has anyone else noticed what’s been happening to top-end smartphones recently? They’ve started to get big – really big. But do people really want that at the expense of carrying around such a huge, heavy lump of tech in their pocket?". The trend for bigger and bigger screens is clear, but is it what consumers want? Is it what you want?
Linux Played a Vital Role In Discovery of Higgs Boson 299
An anonymous reader writes "Scientific Linux and Ubuntu had a vital role in the discovery of the new boson at CERN. Linux systems are used every day in their analysis, together with hosts of open software, such as ROOT. Linux plays a major role in the running of their networks of computers (in the grid etc.) and it is used for the intensive work in their calculations."
Comment Re:It's happened before. (Score 1) 188
s/saving/killing/
Pouring Water Into a Volcano To Generate Power 321
Hugh Pickens writes "Until recently, geothermal power systems have exploited only resources where naturally occurring heat, water, and rock permeability are sufficient to allow energy extraction. Now, geothermal energy developers plan use a new technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of the dormant Newberrry Volcano, located about 20 miles south of Bend, Oregon, in an effort to use the earth's heat to generate power. 'We know the heat is there,' says Susan Petty, president of AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Seattle. 'The big issue is can we circulate enough water through the system to make it economic.' Since natural cracks and pores do not allow economic flow rates, the permeability of the volcanic rock can be enhanced with EGS by pumping high-pressure cold water down an injection well into the rock, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing. Then cold water is pumped down production wells into the reservoir, and the steam is drawn out. Natural geothermal resources only account for about 0.3 percent of U.S. electricity production, but a 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology report projected EGS could bump that to 10 percent within 50 years, at prices competitive with fossil-fuels. 'The important question we need to answer now,' says USGS geophysicist Colin Williams, 'is how geothermal fits into the renewable energy picture, and how EGS fits. How much it is going to cost, and how much is available.'"
Comment Re:There's nothing new here (Score 4, Informative) 352
Floppies?! The first digital camera I had (a Kodak DC20) had a megabyte of fixed storage, and that was it! We could fit 8 493x373 pics, or 16 320x240 ones! No fancy flash or LCD, either! The only way to get the pictures out of it was through a slow, serial cable at ~50 kbps! At the time, we WISHED we could use big, fast, portable floppies!
Now, kids, get off my lawn!!
Comment Re:Why Windows? (Score 1) 349
That's exactly why I started with "Elop says".
US Troops To Leave Iraq By End of Year 386
mayberry42 writes with news that President Obama has announced an end to the U.S. military engagement in Iraq. All U.S. soldiers will leave Iraq by the end of the year.
"Mr. Obama said that as of Jan. 1, 2012, the United States and Iraq would begin 'a normal relationship between two sovereign nations, and equal partnership based on mutual interest and mutual respect.' In a videoconference on Friday morning with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Mr. Obama told him of the administration’s decision, which grows out of an inability of the United States and Iraq to come to an agreement on leaving a few thousand military trainers in the country. The United States had earlier agreed to exit Iraq by the end of the year and leave 3,000 to 5,000 troops in Iraq as trainers, with some members of Congress advocating the retention of a reduced fighting force as well. But Pentagon lawyers insisted that the Iraqi Parliament grant immunity from legal prosecution to the troops if they were to remain."
Comment Re:I called it (Score 1) 315
Use the full equation:
E = (mc) + (pc).
If p=0 (p is the momentum; so if you're at rest, p=0), E=mc.
If m=0 (the case for photons, for example), E=pc.
If neither p nor m are zero, E = sqrt(E0^2 + (pc)^2), where E0=mc^2 is the rest energy.
