Comment I downloaded them (Score 1) 142
I downloaded them to see if I or my friends' infos are floating around out there.
Comment Boing Boing Arcade (Score 1) 201
About eight hours ago I noticed Boing Boing has been running a gamedev contest that has attracted several Javascript/Canvas games. They seem to have sound using the "Sound" element that works in Firefox.
Comment the source (Score 1) 152
If only there were a way the public could verify these claims... has anyone ever thought of developing software that exposes its source codes so that users can explore and improve their programs?
Comment Re:Who cares. (Score 2, Interesting) 204
Youtube is pretty much unwatchable now, between the annoying boxes people put on videos to the annoying ads. I may never find out about their new features, because I don't go there anymore.
When YouTube ditches Flash for Javascript and HTML5 video, we'll all be able to hack YouTube with browser add-ons like Greasemonkey to disable the annoying boxes people add to videos when/if we want, or move them so they don't obscure the video.
Comment Don't be alarmed if your computer whines (Score 1) 204
My computer's GPU fan just kicked on for the very first time since I bought this machine about 6 months ago.
At first I thought there was something wrong.
And then I realized that, for the first time... there was something right.
Comment Re:Same Thing Happened to Me (Score 1) 699
As we become more dependent on these systems, we should make sure they are at least as robust as good old-fashioned know-how.
They already are at least as robust as good old-fashioned know-how, because the system supplies advisory information to a human with a brain.
But the human brain is becoming more dependent on this system to know how to get around. A lot of people these days know one route to get between point a and point b. If humans get used to being able to ask a computer that can't be clever in an emergency, then it will be a problem when we are dependent upon it, not before.
Comment Same Thing Happened to Me (Score 1) 699
The same thing happened to me, but I turned around and found another way without Google's help.
What makes this a problem in my mind is that Google Maps doesn't offer a "detour me" feature that allows you to easily avoid specified nodes in the commute graph. My Garmin GPS had this feature and driving all over the Western half of the US for many months I can tell you it was an indispensable feature.
A good detour feature is a really necessary feature in an emergency situation. As we become more dependent on these systems, we should make sure they are at least as robust as good old-fashioned know-how. Being a firm believe in technology, I'm sure Google Maps could in fact surpass our own robustness and incorporate features to make emergencies even safer for people, but right now Google Maps seems to be focused on telling you how to go some place where you'll spend money.
Comment Whose sensibilities is this supposed to offend? (Score 3, Funny) 212
It offends me more than it would most Tibetan Buddhists! How can you market this "phone?" It looks to me like a phone with some very simple software installed. The controlling powers that make a phone with specific software on it into a commodity worth seeking after are people I find very offensive indeed!
Comment Re:Out of curiosity... (Score 1) 210
Are there any plans to punish companies that went along with this? Sure, they could argue they were strong-armed into it by Intel but that's no comfort for AMD and the sales they'll have lost.
AMD may even benefit from this. They may have in fact come to an agreement with Intel about how this would be done. AMD may have seen more sales, but then there would have actually been competition, and that means more product for a lower price! Yikes!!!
Comment Mod Parent Down (Score -1, Redundant) 201
Seriously Slashdot editors, why do you have to suck so much?
Scientists Discover Exoplanet Less Than Twice the Mass of Earth 201
Snowblindeye writes with this excerpt from the European Southern Observatory:
"Well-known exoplanet researcher Michel Mayor today announced the discovery of the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, 'e,' in the famous system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of Earth. The team also refined the orbit of the planet Gliese 581 d, first discovered in 2007, placing it well within the habitable zone, where liquid water oceans could exist. Planet Gliese 581 e orbits its host star — located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra ('the Scales') — in just 3.15 days. 'With only 1.9 Earth-masses, it is the least massive exoplanet ever detected and is, very likely, a rocky planet,' says co-author Xavier Bonfils from Grenoble Observatory. Being so close to its host star, the planet is not in the habitable zone. But another planet in this system appears to be. ... The planet furthest out, Gliese 581 d, orbits its host star in 66.8 days. 'Gliese 581 d is probably too massive to be made only of rocky material, but we can speculate that it is an icy planet that has migrated closer to the star,' says team member Stephane Udry. The new observations have revealed that this planet is in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist. '"d" could even be covered by a large and deep ocean — it is the first serious "water world" candidate,' continued Udry."
Comment Trojan gets to the root of the problem (Score 1) 372
Um... seriously? If they know the specific customer they wouldn't need to install the trojan.
It's not disclosed how the "trojan" is loaded onto the perpetrator's system, however getting that system to request and execute your code cuts through what is potentially a very hairy situation: who knows how many layers of abstraction the perp is using to hide from traces.
Comment Re:Umm (Score 1) 92
The article is very light on details, but I take it the idea is that more power would translate to higher clock frequencies or higher data throughput and the like.
I think an easier approach is for the scheduler to query the battery power before and after each task gets its shot at CPU time. If an application is using more than its power allocation, simply schedule it shorter and/or fewer turns on the CPU.
The article also fails to mention whether this mobile OS is capable of multitasking. If it is, then presumably the power settings for a given application would apply to the timeslices during which it is running.
There are two pages to the article, and it's quite clear that it supports some form of multitasking.
Comment Score 4? Really? (Score 1) 93
Come on, now
Comment Worst Web Design Ever (Score 3, Funny) 225
Dear God what is this person thinking? I have a fairly huge monitor and this page is still completely unviewable!
