Comment Re:non-emergency mass-alert/notification system! (Score 1) 233
Well putting it that way, you make it sound like a bad thing.
House Passes TV Commercial Volume Bill 408
eldavojohn writes "About a year ago, legislation was introduced to control the volume of TV commercials. It passed the Senate in September and has now been passed in the House as well. This problem has dated back to the 1960s, but after the president signs the bill, broadcasters will be subject to regulations of the Advanced Television Systems Committee on what is 'too loud.' Of the last 25 quarterly reports from the FCC, this has been the number one consumer complaint in 21 of them. Within a year, you should start to notice a difference, with commercials no longer forcing you to turn down the TV volume during breaks in your regular programming."
Comment Re:The background doesn't change (Score 1) 60
From october 2007, iChat Invisible Effect:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=377104
Comment Re:The background doesn't change (Score 1) 60
Yeah - my Mac has been doing this for years...with ONE camera angle.
Comment non-emergency mass-alert/notification system! (Score 1) 233
amazing...well at least now we can confiscate his equipment and use it as a non-emergency mass-alert/notification system!
Verizon LTE Can Use the Monthly Data Allotment In 32 Minutes 273
adeelarshad82 writes "Verizon's new 4G LTE network is so fast that you can use up your entire 5GB in as little as 32 minutes. The 2010-era speeds are soured by the 2005-era thinking on data plans. Verizon has priced LTE pretty much like 3G to encourage data sipping, not guzzling. As soon as you start using the latest high-bandwidth Internet services, your whole month's allotment can evaporate in no time. According to a test, the network's speed maxed out at 21Mbps, which means that it takes only 32 minutes to smoke up the 5GB monthly data cap on the plan. While the 21Mbps speed was hit on a low traffic network, Verizon estimates you'll be able to get around 8.5Mbps with a loaded network which still means that the cap can be exhausted in about an hour and a half."
Google Loses Street View Suit, Forced To Pay $1 225
Translation Error writes "Two and a half years ago, the Borings sued Google for invading their privacy by driving onto their private driveway and taking pictures of their house to display on Google Street View. Now, the case has finally come to a close with the judge ruling in favor of the Borings and awarding them the princely sum of $1. While the judge found the Borings to be in the right, she awarded them only nominal damages, as the fact that they had already made images of their home available on a real estate site and didn't bother to seal the lawsuit to minimize publicity indicated the Borings neither valued their privacy nor had it been affected in any great way by Google's actions."
Comment i can see it now (Score 1) 319
"if you would like to view live stenographer's report online the cost is $0.10/kb. HD Video will be $0.50/min, otherwise with the free option you will experience 28.8kB/s download speeds..."
SanDisk, Nikon and Sony Develop 500MB/sec 2TB Flash Card 98
Lucas123 writes "SanDisk, Nikon and Sony are jointly developing a new Compact Flash card specification for the professional photography and video markets that boosts data transfer rates from 167MB/sec with today's 6.0 specification to 500MB/sec. The newly proposed specification would also offer up cards with a theoretical maximum capacity of 2TB, which would be conducive to recording high-definition video."
SSL Certificates For Intranet Sites? 286
wiedzmin writes "Anybody who has worked around anything dubbed an 'appliance' in the past few years knows that they come with a management Web interface, which is usually 'secure.' However, no company in their right (accounting) mind will spend $400/year per appliance to buy Verisign SSL certificates to secure Web interfaces on networks that may not even be open to the public Internet. So network administrators, and sometimes end users, are stuck clicking away at an annoying 'Continue to this website (not recommended)' message every time they connect, setting an unhealthy precedent when it comes to the actual security of SSL and the much-hyped MITM attacks. So the question I have for the Slashdot crowd is: do you have valid SSL certificates on your intranet sites, and if so what do you use? Any cost-neutral, or at least cost-conscious solutions out there that don't involve manually distributing your certificates and CRL to every workstation in the company? Thanks."
FCC To Allow Texting To 911 321
tekgoblin writes "The FCC is looking into allowing people to report incidents to 911 via SMS from their mobile phones. They are also considering mobile video to show the 911 service what is going on. The current 911 system handles around 230 million calls per year with most of the calls being from mobile phones. One situation influenced this move to allow texting to 911 was the Virginia Tech shooting. 'The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,' the release said. 'During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.'"
Did an Apple Engineer Invent FB Messages In 2003? 128
theodp writes "Q. How many Facebook engineers does it take in 2010 to duplicate a lone Apple engineer's 2003 effort? A. 15! On Nov. 15th, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook Messages, which uses whatever method of communication is appropriate at the time — e.g., email, IM, SMS. A day later, ex-Apple software engineer Jens Alfke was granted a patent for his 2003 invention of a Method and apparatus for processing electronic messages, which — you guessed it — employs the most appropriate messaging method — e.g., email, IM, SMS — for the job. Citing Apple's lack of passion for social software, Alfke left Apple in 2008. After a layover at Google, Alfke landed at startup Rockmelt, whose still-in-beta 'social web browser' also sports a pretty nifty communications platform."
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Generates a 'Mini-Big Bang' 570
buildslave writes "The Large Hadron Collider has successfully created a 'mini-Big Bang' by smashing together lead ions instead of protons. The scientists working at the enormous machine on the Franco-Swiss border achieved the unique conditions on 7 November. The experiment created temperatures a million times hotter than the center of the Sun."
Andreesen Offers New Browser 'Rockmelt' 185
DrHeasley writes "Rockmelt, available for the first time Monday, is built on the premise that most online activity today revolves around socializing on Facebook, searching on Google, tweeting on Twitter and monitoring a handful of favorite websites. It tries to minimize the need to roam from one website to the next by corralling all vital information and favorite services in panes and drop-down windows. 'This is a chance for us to build a browser all over again,' Andreessen said. 'These are all things we would have done (at Netscape) if we had known how people were going to use the Web.'"
Wireless HDMI At 1080p, Lag-Free WHDI Tested 171
MojoKid writes "Wireless HDMI technologies have finally come of age. Though there are two camps currently in the market (Intel's WiDi and WHDI), the bottom line is lag-free full HD 1080p wireless HDMI video/audio transmission is now a reality. No longer does an HTPC need to be shoehorned into the confines of the entertainment center. Also, that notebook you have perched on the coffee table just got a major display upgrade. This demo of the Asus WiCast and the briteView HDelight wireless HDMI transmitter kits, shows the technology in action and its impressive actually. Both of these WHDI-based kits utilize the same family of Amimon WHDI transmitter and receiver chipsets. The technology is capable of full 1080p HD video and Dolby Digital surround sound audio transmissions, over distances of up to 30 feet with less than a millisecond of latency."
