21491090
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
Financial Times launched HTML 5 pages in an attempt to ween their subscribers away from FT.com iOS app and take back full control of their content.
According to the Business Week report, this is a "strategic move" for FT to get back unfettered access to their customers' app usage and demographic data, and saves them money on development by writing one set of pages instead of an app for each platform, and because they don't have to pay fees to Apple anymore. Going HTML 5 also means they don't need approval from Apple for each update of their software for faster update cycle.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Apple will not be able to censor the app. This is probably not an important feature for FT, but certainly one for publishers receiving rejections due to Apple's policies on content, such as scantily clad women in a newspaper, South Park app and more.
Perhaps this "shot across the bow" of Apple will mean other publishers and content creators will follow, and everyone will get the same content and experience regardless of platform, not encumbered by Apple tax or held hostage by Apple's content policies.
21456818
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
Recent announcements from Google, Apple, MS, etc. about cloud services have left me cold: most of them would require me to pay fees, get attached at the hip to a service provider, or don't offer everything I want so I'd have to sign up for several services. Perhaps most importantly, I would be at the mercy of fickle service providers who might go offline without warning. So I've thought about building my own personal cloud for my music, movies, TV series and photos.
I could provide the server with my desktop PC, could use one of my internet domains to host FTP or whatever else is needed for the cloud. I would like to push and pull all the content to/from my devices, mainly desktop and laptop PCs and Android phone. It would be ideal if I could share the content with friends as well. Open source would be a huge plus.
Is there anything like this available already, or is there anything in alpha or beta?
18877356
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
Recent news from Russia show that spam can kill, literally — and not in the metaphorical sense of the word "literal."
"North Caucasus militants had planned a suicide bombing in the midst of the dense crowds thronging the streets to see in the New Year in Moscow on December 31. But the explosive charge went off accidentally some hours before the chimes of New Year, possibly because the female bomber's mobile phone had received a spam SMS congratulating Russians on the New Year."
17073216
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
The Local (a Swedish newspaper in English) reports that Julian Assange has been denied residence permit in Sweden. Assange who is a founding member of Wikileaks and Australian citizen applied for residency in August, apparently to gain the freedom of speech protection offered by Swedish laws. When asked about the reasons for the denial, a Swedish official responsible replied, "...secrecy prevails in reference to the grounds for such a decision," essentially meaning the reasons are confidential. Assange has been recently under investigation for sexual molestation charges, which were withdrawn and then re-instated. Wikileaks is expected to release up to 400,000 confidential US military documents in the near future, which would be the largest such leak in US history.
12869550
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
Several news sources report that today's college students show a precipitous drop in empathy. The study of 14,000 students shows that students since year 2000 had 40% less empathy than those before them, and the article has a laundry list of culprits, from child rearing practices and self-help movement to free market economy and income inequality. There's also a link so you can test your very own level of narcissism. Let's hope slashdot crowd doesn't break the lack of empathy -counter.
375269
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
I'm a thirty-something geek who works in finance, plays computer games and wastes time on the internet — ie. I spend pretty much all my time in front of a screen. Lately I've started looking for a hobby, something outside the slouching-in-front-of-the-computer realm, and hopefully something to do with my hands with concrete stuff. I'm not talking about the gym, martial arts, photography or books (do that already), but something novel, high-tech and creative. The potential to actually make new discoveries applicable in the real world would be a huge benefit.
The most appealing choice I've found thus far is BEAM robotics, although I'm quite skeptical of the potential for new discoveries. So perhaps a robosoccer challenge would be a better option. Amateur rocketry sounds like fun, but I'd like to keep traveling without being subjected to a "routine" cavity search.
197951
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
This article on RedOrbit claims that painting your roof white is more environmentally friendly than installing photovoltaic cells. While the overall environmental impact is difficult to gauge accurately, I'm glad to see critical thinking of "environmentalism" so we don't end up doing more harm than good, or jumping to hasty, badly researched and emotionally driven conclusions.
88732
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
This year's Ozzfest will be free! Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne made an announcement that tickets will be necessary but available for free. From the article: "For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed [up to $150 a pop] as artists demand more and more money for summer tours," Sharon Osbourne said. "We certainly want everybody to make money; however, we also want the kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience." But she concluded: "We're not about to have 20 chanting monks. We're not going to save the forest," she said. "We just rape and pillage and go home."
The tour seeks to become financially viable through concession sales, and it expects corporate sponsors to contribute a "mite more" this year. Bands are encouraged to sell their own merchandise to cover their touring costs. The tour will kick off July 7th and there are no bands aside Ozzy's confirmed, yet.
The economics of this are intriguing. Is this yet another victory for "free" content? It certainly is the first large-scale experiment of for-profit concerts without relying on ticket sales. As there are many more people who would like to see the headliners than who can afford them — major reason why ticket prices creep up -, how will the market or Ozzfest deal with this? They announced there will be tickets so they can limit the number of people entering; a prudent practice of course. But this means you'll certainly find tickets on eBay. So perhaps this is a fine way to balance the market: you can get a free ticket if you "wait in line" for hours, or just choose to get one from an auction if you so prefer.
48488
submission
MotorMachineMercenar writes:
I just took a roadtrip over a long weekend and noticed that I need to lug around too many chargers. I have a charger for my cell phone, Nintendo DS Lite, my two digital cameras and an iPod. Sometimes I will have one for a portable HDD and laptop. In addition I have to carry a plug converter as some of them have been bought overseas. That's up to eight gadgets just to give juice my power-hungry devices, and they take precious space and weight in my bags.
Is there any way to limit the number of chargers without gimping my roadwarrior gear? Most devices have more or less fixed batteries, "smart" chargers and proprietary plugs, but is it possible as DIY or is there an existing product? I'd like to see a universal charger for which plugs for any current and future devices could be added. What are the limitations and caveats with 240 vs 120, wattage, cutting and connecting cables, etc.?
