Comment O.o (Score 1) 187
Isn't this like counselling a drug addict while he's high? And then also getting high themselves?
Submission + - Is Skype Discontinuing Unlimited Calling Plans?
An anonymous reader writes: I recently picked up an N800, and I thought I'd check out its potential as a mobile Skype client. Skype promotes unlimited calling plans for $9 for three months or $30 per year. However about six weeks ago they stopped offering the three month option for purchase through their web site. The forum moderator claimed this was temporary, but the claim seemed disingenuously vague, and I decided to wait it out. I've never used Skype and didn't want to commit to a year without first sampling the three month plan. Now the yearly plan has also been removed. It remains to be seen whether this is also a 'temporary' condition. The plans can apparently still be purchased with prepaid cards through retail channels. However given the negative press that Skype received this year, I wonder if this signals the end of the Skype unlimited calling plan.
Comment For anyone who loves these kinds of stories (Score 5, Informative) 324
This website keeps a comprehensive list of tech support horror stories. I come back to this site every couple of months when I need a good laugh.
Submission + - Amazon Patents Including a String at End of a URL
theodp writes: "On Tuesday, Amazon search subsidiary A9.com was awarded U.S. patent no. 7,287,042 for 'including a search string at the end of a URL without any special formatting.' In the Summary of the Invention, it's explained that 'a user wishing to search for 'San Francisco Hotels' may do by simply accessing the URL www.domain_name/San Francisco Hotels, where domain_name is a domain name associated with the web site system.' Here's the flowchart that helped cinch the deal."
Submission + - Microsoft and Turbolinux Extend Collaboration (techluver.com)
Tech.Luver writes: "Agreement addresses customer issues, furthers interoperability and R&D collaboration, and provides IP assurances to Turbolinux users. REDMOND, Wash., and TOKYO — Oct. 22, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. and Turbolinux, a leading Linux client and server distributor in Japan and China, have announced a business agreement that expands on their recent collaborations. The deal advances Linux-Microsoft Windows Server interoperability, furthers research and development collaboration, and provides IP assurances for Turbolinux users.
A key customer component to the agreement is a collaborative "single sign-on" solution. According to a recent study released by SupportSoft Inc., a provider of technology problem resolution software provider, password problems — including the need to reset them — make up one out of every five calls received by corporate IT help desks.
( http://techluver.com/2007/10/22/microsoft-and-turbolinux-extend-broad-collaboration-agreement/ )"
Submission + - Privacy Lost: These Phones Can Find You (nytimes.com)
ebs16 writes: If G.P.S. made it harder to get lost, new cellphone services are now making it harder to hide. Two new questions arise, courtesy of the latest advancement in cellphone technology: Do you want your friends, family, or colleagues to know where you are at any given time? And do you want to know where they are? "We seem to be getting into a period where people are closely watching each other," said Kevin Bankston, a staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "There are privacy risks we haven't begun to grapple with."
(Requires registration or BugMeNot).
(Requires registration or BugMeNot).
Submission + - Canadians blocked from comedycentral.com (digg.com) 1
Syn writes: Any Canadian attempting to access Comedy Central's website will be redirected to The Comedy Network's site, the Canadian equivalent of Comedy Central, and vice versa. The only way to bypass the block is through a proxy. Since both website hosts many videos of their shows, they might have been forced to establish the block because of airing rights to US and Canadian viewers. I have long shunned conventional TV for the freedom of choice the internet offers, but is the liberty we enjoy now destined to disappear?
Submission + - HIV Put Into Submission (sciencedaily.com)
Anonymous Coward writes: "Science Daily is reporting that "With the latest advances in treatment, doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the HIV virus. The so-called 'combination therapy' prevents the HIV virus from mutating and spreading, allowing patients to rebuild their immune system to the same levels as the rest of the population.
To date, it represents the most significant treatment for patients suffering from HIV.
Professor Jens Lundgren from the University of Copenhagen, together with other members of the research group EuroSIDA, have conducted a study, which demonstrates that the immune system of all HIV-infected patients can be restored and normalised. The only stipulation is that patients begin and continue to follow their course of treatment.""
Submission + - Drivin' On Up: En-Suite Garages in NYC Hi-Rise
theodp writes: "If the hassle of getting groceries from the parking garage to your 12th floor condo has been holding you back from buying a deluxe apartment in the sky, wait no more. Wired reports on the En-Suite Sky Garages at 200 Eleventh Avenue (Flash) in Chelsea, where an 8,000-pound-capacity freight elevator will whisk your Bentley directly into your pad. The convenience doesn't come cheap — a garage-equipped 2BR starts at $4.7M."
Submission + - Scientist close to being able to steer huricanes (telegraph.co.uk) 1
E++99 writes: "In the wake of Katrina, two rival teams of climate scientists are working on ways to steer hurricanes, so as to be able to avoid direct hits on major cities in the future. Both teams are using the technique of removing power and speed from strategic points in the hurricane, effectively refracting its path. The American team is approaching this by warming the areas of the tops of the hurricane clouds, either by dropping ash to absorb heat from the sun, or directly beaming microwaves on those areas from space. The Israeli team is taking the approach of cooling the bottom of the hurricane by releasing dust along its base.
The concern is raised of lawsuits from the small towns that hurricanes are directed towards in the effort to avoid large cities. But if the space-based solution could be done efficiently, and applied to all large tropical storms, couldn't we one day send them all harmlessly into the North Atlantic?"
