Ravenscall - Slashdot User

Submission + - Consumer Ad Blocking Doubles

Submitted by

Dotnaught

on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @04:39PM

Dotnaught writes: "Consumers are fed up with ads, according to a story in InformationWeek. "In the past two years, the number of consumers using pop-up blockers and spam filters has more than doubled...and "[m]ore than half of all American households now report using these ad blocking technologies to block unwanted pitches." Citing a Forrester Research report, the story says, "Today, 15% of consumers acknowledge using their digital video recorders to skip ads, more than three times as many as in 2004.""

Submission + - The Top 40 Vendors Rated

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @04:29PM

Anonymous writes: CIO Insight has asked its readers to rate their satisfaction with their vendors. Not surprisingly, "CIOs are disappointed and disgruntled with the performance of their most important vendors. In fact, the number of companies with lower scores in 2006 than in 2005 outpaces those with higher scores by a margin of two to one."

Coming in first place is CDW at 81%, edging out last year's top vendor, Red Hat (which took third place this year). Microsoft came in at 24. The package includes a pretty detailed methodology on how the survey was conducted. 826 qualified respondents participated.

Feed Rants: Who's Going to Save You? (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @04:12PM

Readers sound off on the joys of sticking to the formula, the history of digital music, and who needs saving. Plus: Links to our most commented blog posts.

Submission + - Is Google too smart for its own good?

Submitted by

on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @04:07PM

An anonymous reader writes: Google's famous for hiring the best and the brightest, but when they get bored, they're bound to create the son-of-Google, warns Fortune's Jeffrey O'Brien. (The whole story.)

Submission + - Are Wiis Built to Be Thrown?

Submitted by MaryAlan on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:57PM

MaryAlan writes: I have a question for the Slashdot Nation. We keep hearing stories about people destroying their HD TVs with thrown Wiimotes, about shattered displays and broken wrist straps, but we don't really hear about the survival rate of the Wiimotes themselves very often. Does it survive? One of the editors over at About.com recently threw his Wiimote over 17 feet and at high speeds into a wall during a game of Bowling, only to have it work again without so much as a scratch. Another friend told me he'd destroyed his Wiimote by accidentally hitting the wall with it while playing tennis. So it raises the question of how much Nintendo designed these things to survive abuse — so here's the question: Was the Wiimote designed for throwing? Of the people that have thrown the Wiimote (I know you're out there), have you found it to be ok afterwards, or are people finding that the Wiimote is flimsy and easily broken? Besides the likelihood of destroying something valuable or accidentally pegging a loved one in the head, are the Wiimotes durable?

Submission + - NZ gets iTunes, at last!

Submitted by

b.rudge

on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:56PM

b.rudge writes: "Apple iTunes has opened it's cyber doors to New Zealand shoppers, along with the Apple Store. From the press release;
Apple® today launched the iTunes® Store (www.apple.com/nz/itunes) in New Zealand, giving New Zealanders access to outstanding local music and the same innovative features, breakthrough pricing and seamless integration with iPod® that have made iTunes the most popular music jukebox and online music store in the world. Apple today also opened the online Apple Store® New Zealand (www.apple.co.nz/store), where customers can quickly and conveniently purchase Apple's complete lineup of innovative products, including the wildly popular iPod digital music player, the critically acclaimed Intel based Mac® desktop and notebook computers, the iLife® '06 suite of digital lifestyle applications, a vast assortment of iPod and Mac accessories from Apple and third parties and Mac OS® X, the world's most advanced operating system.
"

Submission + - PostgreSQL 8.2 Released

Submitted by on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:48PM

An anonymous reader writes: With the winter holidays approaching, the developers of PostgreSQL have released version 8.2 as a present to us all. Tests really do prove that this is a performance release. With this release will PostgreSQL finally shed it's slow reputation? PostgreSQL 8.2 is trouncing MySQL with query optimization improvements, indexing without blocking INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations, and more...

Yet how does it compare to the big boys, Oracle and DB2? This release of PostgreSQL it is still missing SQL:2003 Window Functions so critical in business reporting. That means Oracle and DB2 still reign supreme in the OLAP/Data warehouse market. Even without many of the SQL:2003 features, this is good release. Get PostgreSQL 8.2 and take it for a spin!

Submission + - US must give up civil rights to protect freedoms?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:37PM

An anonymous reader writes: It seems non-intuitive that Retired U.S. Army Gen. Carl Stiner says Americans may have to give up civil liberties in order to win the war on terror which is necessary to protect our freedoms. Article requires free registration, bugmenot works. From the article: "Retired U.S. Army Gen. Carl Stiner says Americans might have to give up some civil rights if they want to win the 'war on terrorism.' However, he did not name any specific rights that might need to be given up." "America has much at stake, including access to oil, its dominant position in the world, cherished freedoms, and a way of life that could vanish if the United States does not prevail, Stiner said."

Submission + - Linux Isn't Just For Grownups Anymore

Submitted by digihome on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:30PM

digihome writes: from the Is-That-A-Penguin-In-The-Classroom? Department It looks like the education space could be the first, real place where Linux could grab a beachhead in the desktop PC market. Take a look at Indiana, for example. In about a year, through a public school grant program, State of Indiana education officials have moved at least 22,000 students from Windows-based desktops to Linux-based desktops. http://www.crn.com/weblogs/thechart/blog.jhtml?id= 196601151#196601151

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