Comment USGS continues to upgrade (Score 5, Informative) 431
Quake was upgraded to 8.9 some time ago. Also aftershocks continue.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php
Comment still getting upgraded... (Score 1) 1
Up to 8.9 now....
Comment Re:We already pay a royalty on CDs for this. (Score 1) 407
Actually it's all media
Comment The article is a bit light on one detail... (Score 1) 1
...that the NY Times did a better job of pointing out. The part in question is rather generic. Which is to say it's might be used not only with 6's but potentially other Mazda's, Ford's, even Mitsubishi's. That really heightens the oddity factor.
Submission + - Dawn of the TED Dead 2
theodp writes: For an organization whose stellar content is all about pluralism and uplift, writes TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy, TED's inner workings are just too much like a country club. Cross a more important member of the TED community, reports Lacy, and you could find yourself disinvited to the conference — for life — if the high-roller asks TED to make it so. After coughing up the hefty registration fee to attend this year's event, a Lacy reader says he (or she) 'received a terse email from TED's leadership telling me that I was being 'uninvited' from this year’s TED conference.' Why? A major TED donor reportedly had seen his picture in the TED 2011 'Facebook' and called the conference organizers to express that his presence at the conference might result in the donor feeling some ‘stress’ and — perhaps — not enjoying the conference as much as he otherwise might. Bummed that he'll miss seeing his hero Robert Ebert, the slighted TED attendee adds: 'Can you imagine a similar scenario occurring at, say, the Red Cross? Imagine I were to make a $100,000.00 contribution to disaster relief in a stricken area, but with the condition that, as a result of my gift, the Red Cross absolutely refuse to use any of its funding to help Jane Smith, a particular person I know who lives within the disaster area and who otherwise qualifies for help, but who I just don’t happen to like very much for reasons that have nothing to do with the disaster itself?' So, does the ban extend to the $995 webcast of this week's conference?
Comment Time to hit the auto club ... (Score 1) 2
I think someone is in need of a map
Submission + - BitTorrent Moots World ISP P2P Speed Report (ispreview.co.uk)
Mark.JUK writes: "The San Francisco-based inventor of the hugely popular peer-to-peer (P2P) internet file sharing protocol, BitTorrent, has revealed that it is considering whether or not to release the broadband performance (speed) data for more than 9,000 ISPs around the world. The technology company claims that the data forms part of its new project, which is sadly still in the very early stages of development, but could one day give consumers a near real-time perspective of how their ISP is performing. It wouldn't just cover P2P traffic either, with BitTorrent also tracking general HTTP transfers too.
BitTorrent claims that its service can, for example, display that most UK ISPs "aggressively throttle BitTorrent traffic after 6 p.m. at night", with speeds suddenly going "off a cliff". Suffice to say that such information could prove to be very useful for consumers and advocates of Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal)."
BitTorrent claims that its service can, for example, display that most UK ISPs "aggressively throttle BitTorrent traffic after 6 p.m. at night", with speeds suddenly going "off a cliff". Suffice to say that such information could prove to be very useful for consumers and advocates of Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal)."
Submission + - Police chief: Hack your kids' Facebook passwords (cnet.com)
schwit1 writes: The police chief of Mahwah, N.J., James Batelli, believes that you shouldn't be sitting there and wondering. He believes parents should be using any methods they can to spy on their kids.
According to NBC New York, Batelli, who is the father of a teenage daughter, says a parent's biggest mistake can be naivete.
Batelli reportedly sees nothing wrong with using spyware to monitor their every virtual move and hack their passwords to Facebook and any other site for which they might have a regular fondness.
Indeed, his detectives hold free seminars to teach parents how to install spyware on all their computers at home.
------------------------
How is this not a violation of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Statute?
According to NBC New York, Batelli, who is the father of a teenage daughter, says a parent's biggest mistake can be naivete.
Batelli reportedly sees nothing wrong with using spyware to monitor their every virtual move and hack their passwords to Facebook and any other site for which they might have a regular fondness.
Indeed, his detectives hold free seminars to teach parents how to install spyware on all their computers at home.
------------------------
How is this not a violation of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Statute?
Comment Re:Ergh. I hate this. (Score 1) 213
I never said they weren't, and I never really said anything to support either said. Just that they weren't exactly being truthful.
Do I know how the money is being made? Sure. They use a legal sidestep that has been used by hundreds of times before, in the US and outside the US. Heck, it's a side step University student groups use all the time to avoid copyright issues and still make money for their coffers. It's an argument fair and clear and a good lawyer might be able to point out inconsistencies in previous rulings, which could paint any arbiter, judicial or otherwise into a corner.
Personally, I don't care what happens to hotfile or whatever. I only figured it out by following the trail and looking at the webpage cause the accusations sounded too clean and accusations that clean and easy to negotiate don't exist outside of pulp fiction novels.
Comment Re:Ergh. I hate this. (Score 1) 213
Of course, they can easily turn the reward argument around. Simply suggest that the uploaders they are encouraging are say, indie film makers or dj's wanting to spread their work. Make a good indie film, get it popular, get some benefits from the site as well as benefits from all the people talking about your project, and with luck you can see profit. And as of yet, such an indie film maker hasn't done anything illegal.
Submission + - Obama Calls for $53 Billion for High Speed Rail (usnews.com)
Hugh Pickens writes writes: US News and World Report reports that the Obama administration plans to spend $53 billion on developing and improving high speed rail over the next six years for express rail systems which travel at speeds 250 miles per hour or higher as well as regional and national high speed rail trains. In his State of the Union address, Obama announced a plan to provide 80 percent of Americans access to high speed rail in the next 25 years. Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the spending announcement at a Philadelphia's 30th street train station. LaHood called the investment one that "keeps us on track toward economic opportunity and competitiveness in the 21st century. It's an investment in tomorrow that will create manufacturing, construction, and operations jobs today."
Comment Re:Mostly true, but slightly spun summary. (Score 1) 482
Yeah, I knew something wasn't right when I was typing. I'd mod up the funny if I could.
Comment Re:Bit of a stretch (Score 1) 213
That's a stretch. So is the pay to download. Technically membership pays for faster, unlimited downloads. Lower bandwidth downloads are free. A technicality I know, but it's one of the same technicalities that MPAA loves to try and get a toehold with.
Comment Re:That's what you get for (Score 1) 482
Actually, that's a surprisingly good description of the floor mat problem. Sometimes it's not a great idea to put a sedan floor mat into an suv. The driver's side foot well may just turn out to not be shaped the same.
Comment Re:Mostly true, but slightly spun summary. (Score 1) 482
It just would have been nice if they gave some figures. I seem to remember some early reports indicating of the massive number of cases they had investigated only 6 were attributable to mechanical/physical issues.
Additionally, I've always thought the floor matt problem was a bit of a red herring cause the incident consistently referenced had a rental agent accidentally put a matt in a particular model car, that belonged in a completely different model and class vehicle. In other-words, the agent put a square peg into a round hole and handed it off to someone who had driven the car for maybe two minutes. That said I do give credit to Toyota for at least going back and installing the same clips my 20 year old car has to keep matts in place, but I doubt that would have done anything to prevent the pedal getting stuck in the accident that started the whole mess with the matts in the first place.
