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Comment Re:A little extreme there, don't you think? (Score 2, Insightful) 872

by jmilne (#25949733) Attached to: Bittorrent To Cause Internet Meltdown

The Post Office is a good example for the Internet. Right around the holidays, everyone starts to send catalogs, Christmas cards, and other packages. Far more than the Post Office deals with on a normal basis. Which causes delays in delivery. They even warn people: send everything by such-and-such date or it won't arrive in time for Christmas.

That's pretty much the Internet. Everyone expects a certain amount of bandwidth to be used. Occasionally, someone will exceed that, but usually at the same time, someone else isn't using theirs, so it's okay. But with Torrent, it's basically everyone using their bandwidth all at the same time. It's always Christmas. Now, the Post Office could staff for that situation, but obviously, prices will have to go up to accommodate their extra load. Likewise, your ISP can provide all the bandwidth necessary to let everyone use their limit of bandwidth all the time, but they're going to have to raise the prices a lot in order to provide that.
Windows

Submission + - Sound financial reasons not to use Windows (cio.com)

Submitted by
Tina Gasperson
Tina Gasperson writes: "Every techie knows at least a dozen reasons to use something other than Windows, but high level decision makers like CIOs are often at a loss, especially when "that's what we've always used" and "you can't get fired for buying Microsoft" are phrases floating through their brains. CIO.com lays out seven sound reasons to go with something else next time the upgrade police visit."
Power

Submission + - Cooling Your House With Solar Heat

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The German Fraunhofer research institute has created the spin-off company SorTech, which plans to produce air conditioning systems that are run by solar heat. This mind-boggling feat is achieved by a thermo-chemical process called sorption. The technology could help to satisfy the increasing energy consumption used for air conditioning. It seems to be a perfect application for using solar energy: Good efficiency is possible by avoiding a conversion from heat into electricity and back to cooling energy. It also does not need a long term energy storage system, because the energy needed for cooling spikes exactly at the time, when most solar energy is available.
Biotech

Submission + - "Brain Pacemaker" wakes man from vegetativ (reuters.com)

Submitted by Kram_Gunderson
Kram_Gunderson writes: Reuters is reporting that medical researchers have awakened a man from a six-year near-vegetative state using a pacemaker-like device tied to electrodes implanted in the man's brain. The man, who was robbed, beaten, and left for dead in 1999, can now chew his own food, speak with a limited vocabulary, and play cards with his family. The treatment was begun in 2005, and gives hope for recovery to patients in minimally-conscious states.
Microsoft

Submission + - MS Works Adware (reuters.com)

Submitted by ericrost
ericrost writes: "Microsoft Corp. said on Wednesday it will offer a free, advertising-supported version of its basic productivity software, Microsoft Works, as part of a test program with computers manufacturers."

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUS N0121019020070802

Well, we all knew it was coming. How do we feel about our Free applications competing with adware?
Software

Submission + - 5 New File-Exchange Services Reviewed (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
mikemuch
mikemuch writes: "Huge email attachments should become a thing of the past if these new online file sharing services take hold. A couple, FileCrunch and YouSendit resemble nothing more than online storage with a sharing component. Microsoft's early beta Windows Live Folders is entering the fray, offering a shared folder metaphor, while Tubes is a file-syncing service from mobile platform developer Adesso Systems that keeps files synchronized on the individual sharers' machines. Pando leverages the BitTorrent protocol, but making it private so you can share media with a chosen network of friends and colleagues rather than the whole world. The services all have free levels for file sizes ranging from 50MB to 1GB."
Music

Submission + - Eminem Sues Apple for iTunes Sales (macworld.co.uk)

Submitted by puk
puk writes: MacWorld UK is reporting that Eminem's publisher is suing Apple, alleging that his label, Universal, did not have the right to authorize online sales of digital versions of Eminem's music. Therefore, they argue, Apple is violating Eminem's copyright by selling his songs through the iTunes Music Store.

Of course, if this turns out to be the case, Universal may also be on the hook for the damages, if indirectly. Looks like another case of trying to figure out whether old contracts authorize new activities...
Security

Submission + - Forget your PIN? Use your face (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Face recognition as a unique biometric is growing slowly in certain corporate and consumer applications, but researchers at the University of Houston (UH) are trying to make the technology far more ubiquitous and secure: they want it to replace the dozens of personal identification numbers (PIN), passwords and credit card numbers everyone uses every day. University researchers developed the URxD face recognition software that uses a three-dimensional snapshot of a person's face to create a unique biometric identifier. The UH designed and built a prototype field-deployable 3D face recognition system that consists of a 3dMDTM optical scanner using a 1-pod configuration, which is connected to a PC. A webcam captures a continuous video stream which is used to detect whether a person is facing the 3D camera. When the subject is facing the camera and remains relatively still for more than two seconds, the system triggers the optical scanner and the 3D data of the individual's face are captured. The system can either enroll the subject into the database, or perform a scenario-specific task. In an identification scenario, the system will display the closest 5 datasets to the operator. In a verification scenario, the system will determine whether the subject is who they claim to be, based on a preset distance threshold, UH says. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18031"
Businesses

Submission + - How do I become a business?

Submitted by
TheGreatOrangePeel
TheGreatOrangePeel writes: "So, back at the end of January, I took a friend up on his offer to grab some of his unused bandwidth and started up my very first real website. It's been slow going with a false start or two and one incident where I had the joy of being hacked. All that is said and done with; I've plugged my security hole and things have been running smoothly (on my part, at least) for a few months now. Smoothly enough, in fact, I'm about to turn my first, albeit small, profit and my growth continues to exceed my minimum goals. As long as this trend continues, the idea of registering as a business next tax season becomes more and more enticing. But this drops a lot of questions out in front of me. What kind of business is appropriate for a single owner/operator? An LLC sounds like a likely choice to offer myself legal protection, but I'm really not certain what else might be more appropriate for me. There also are a lot of companies and websites out there ready to set me up as business complete with logos, trademarks and copyrights and while, to my own surprise, I feel comfortable with one of them, It wouldn't surprise me if they're some kind of scam and I'm wondering if I wouldn't do better to flip to someplace in the yellow pages. I guess my overall questions are these: At what point does it make the most sense to become a registered business, what kind of business should I be, what kind of legal service should I seek to become a business and handle any future trademarks and copyrights, how much should I be ready to spend on such services, and what am I overlooking?"

Classic Star Wars Trilogy Finally on DVD 673

Posted by samzenpus from the Han-shoots-first-again dept.
chinton writes "From starwars.com: 'In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie, as well as the original theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Sveasoft illegally uses OpenWRT 2

Journal by TheIndividual

Ok I admit it, I have been lazy recently. Not much had happened in the WRT scene in a while.
OpenWRT now has a great Web-Interface, DD-WRT got better on a daily basis while Sveasofts lost all its developers except James and the quality of their firmware releases declined even more.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Freeman 1.04 released 1

Journal by TheIndividual

The new version of Freeman (1.04) is now available for download!

Last time Sveasoft apparently had unintentionally released an unprotected binary on which Freeman 1.02 was based. This time Sveasoft didn't make the same mistake, the MAC protection had to be hacked and removed.
Kudos to the people responsible for that!

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