Comment Where can I get some? (Score 1) 820
I've always wanted some of these, just never picked any up. Does anyone no where I can still buy some?
(Never thought I would be searching the internet for illicit magnet dealers)
Comment Re:Dead trees. Really. (Score 1) 364
You're taking up 63 megabyes per book?
Yep. These are scans. Born digital content and manually proof read stuff like Project Gutenberg is of course much smaller, but for images of each page for 100 to 1000 pages 63 MB is about average.
Comment Dead trees. Really. (Score 1) 364
Okay, so this isn't my personal data, but I work for a large university library. While we have 0.5 petabytes of books on hard drives, that only represents 7-8 million volumes, while the stacks hold 9-10 million.
Comment Re:h.264 Broadcasting consideration? (Score 4, Informative) 413
No. It is because, ATSC was defined before H.264 was. DVB is newer and supports H.264. ATSC technically added support for H.264 in 2008, but nobody is using it because TV sets that don't support H.264 would be left in the dark unless we had a whole new round of stupid converter boxes. We will be stuck with MPEG-2 for broadcast TV for the next 50-80 years; just as long as good old NTSC held on before biting the dust.
NASA Attempts To Assuage 2012 Fears 881
eldavojohn writes "The apocalyptic film 2012 has dominated the box office, taking in $65 million on opening weekend. But with all those uninformed eyeballs watching the film, NASA has found itself answering so many common questions that their Ask an Astrobiologist blog offers calming, professional reassurance that there is no planet Nibiru, nor will it collide with Earth (although I do recall a massive solar storm forecast). NASA's main site even offers a FAQ answering similar questions. NPR has more on NASA scientist David Morrison and his efforts to calm the ensuing public hysteria, but survivalists are already planning for the big one. Pretty funny, right? Not according to Morrison: 'I've had three from young people saying they were contemplating committing suicide. I've had two from women contemplating killing their children and themselves. I had one last week from a person who said, "I'm so scared, my only friend is my little dog. When should I put it to sleep so it won't suffer?" And I don't know how to answer those questions.'"
Comment Re:so does marge have blue pubes? (Score 1) 413
it is like an article featuring a new sports car that does not mention its horsepower.
To put in a way that slashdotters may understand, it is like an article featuring a new processor that does not mention it's clock speed.
Comment Re:Even worse... (Score 1) 420
You either didn't follow the link in the blurb, or you're referring to some of the existing systems - in which case I agree w/ you. The way they did it was a setup step, where you selected 8 likes and 8 dislikes. Then when you need to authenticate, it shuffles those 16 items, and you select whether you like or dislike each item - no spelling required.
Comment Re:Meh (Score 1) 466
Tough luck? Hardly. I bought $600 of parts on newegg, put everything together, and now I have an upgradable machine without a built in monitor that rivals a $2200 iMac, and I am running OS X. I have no complaints.
Submission + - Backdoors, Anyone?
Anonymous Westley writes: Watched WarGames for the nth time recently, and got to the scene where Jim and Malvin (the "hackers") tell David (Broderick) about backdoors. Which got me thinking: Do people still do this? What about OSS? Is there anyone who has written a backdoor recently, in an OSS or other project? Have you ever found one (in code or on a live application) left by someone else?
Submission + - Linux vs. Windows System Calls Graphed
cgrayson writes: "On Richard Stiennon's blog on ZDNet, a post titled Why Windows is less secure than Linux shows an interesting graphical comparison between system calls on Linux and Windows.
"In its long evolution, Windows has grown so complicated that it is harder to secure. Well these images make the point very well. Both images are a complete map of the system calls that occur when a web server serves up a single page of html with a single picture.
Submission + - Ogg Vorbis gaining industry support
An anonymous reader writes: While Ogg Vorbis format has not seen much popularity in music sales and portable players, it is not an unsupported format in the industry. Toy manufacturers (e.g. speaking dolls), voice warning systems and reactive audio devices exploit Ogg Vorbis for its good quality at small bitrates. As a sign of this, VLSI Solution Oy has just announced VS1000, the first 16 bits DSP device for playing Ogg Vorbis on low power and high volume products. Earlier Ogg Vorbis chips use 32 bits for decoding which consumes more energy than a 16 bit device does. This enables high volume manufacturing of small Ogg Vorbis devices. A list of Ogg Vorbis chips can be found from the Xiph wiki page.
Journal Journal: Cancer Cured? 2
Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.
Submission + - Nokia developing diamond-like gadget casing
space_pingu writes: In the future, all gadgets could be coated with tough, diamond-like material. A patent from Nokia — featured in the latest patent round-up from New Scientist — describes a way of infusing plastic cases with a material, structurally similar to diamond, made from coal. Not only is it more scratch and grime-resistant, but it's also cheap and biodegradable. Apparently it also shines like a metal. Nice.
Submission + - Nigerian Kitten Spam
Chris Dolley writes: "I thought you might like this. It's the kitten version of the Nigerian spam letter.
"I am Fluffy, the favourite kitten of the late president of Nigeria. As you know my late master was very very rich man and he left me all his tuna..."
The rest is here: http://chrisdolley.livejournal.com/65951.html
Chris
Resonance (Baen, 2005)
Shift (Baen, 2007)"
"I am Fluffy, the favourite kitten of the late president of Nigeria. As you know my late master was very very rich man and he left me all his tuna..."
The rest is here: http://chrisdolley.livejournal.com/65951.html
Chris
Resonance (Baen, 2005)
Shift (Baen, 2007)"
Submission + - The most intense source of light on Earth
coldcell writes: In the Oxfordshire countryside, a giant Synchrotron called 'The Diamond' is about to become the most intense source of light on Earth.
From the article: "It looks like a million dollars, though it is worth a lot more. It dazzles, shining more brightly than anything else on the planet. And it is surrounded by the ultimate in boffin bling... The facility has become a world leader, helping to study the resistance-defying properties of superconductors, revealing how catalysts become "poisoned" so they stop making chemicals, providing clues on how to tackle pollution, unveiling some of the metalworking secrets of the ancients, unravelling the stretchy properties of polymers and shedding light on how viruses defend themselves against dehydration."
From the article: "It looks like a million dollars, though it is worth a lot more. It dazzles, shining more brightly than anything else on the planet. And it is surrounded by the ultimate in boffin bling... The facility has become a world leader, helping to study the resistance-defying properties of superconductors, revealing how catalysts become "poisoned" so they stop making chemicals, providing clues on how to tackle pollution, unveiling some of the metalworking secrets of the ancients, unravelling the stretchy properties of polymers and shedding light on how viruses defend themselves against dehydration."
