Comment Re:complain (Score 5, Informative) 347
Google didn't write the pre-ios6 Maps app, Apple did. It just used the Google Maps API.
Comment Re:Move along (Score 1) 420
Steve, is that you?
Comment I had a few Apple boxes (Score 1) 639
sitting in my basement; not the pretty white ones, but the brown ones they send you when you need to send your poorly-produced, unreliable, overpriced, first-generation Macbook Pro back for AppleCare service. I got tired of sending it in, so I had a few extra boxes.
Submission + - Does Pirahã conform to Chomsky's universal grammar or not? (nature.com)
scibri writes: Pirahã, an obscure language spoken by just 400 people in Brazil, is offering the sternest test yet of Noam Chomsky's theory that humans are hard-wired with a 'universal grammar'. Daniel Everett, a former missionary and linguistic anthropologist who has spent 30 years studying the language, says Pirahã grammar is much more rooted in culture. But another linguist, Uli Sauerland, disagrees, saying he has found evidence of the universal grammar in Pirahã. The dispute highlights the extent to which those working to preserve threatened languages are dependent on the tiny number of researchers who have actually studied them.
Submission + - China Developing X-37B Copycat Plane (the-diplomat.com)
An anonymous reader writes: China is developing a smaller version of the American X-37B. The American X-37, "(could) also perform surveillance missions, resupply the International Space Station or even sneak up on and inspect spacecraft of other nations." The Chinese version is noted to be smaller. However, it is a strong sign demonstrating advances in Chinese aerospace design and technology.
Comment Re:Non biodegradable? (Score 5, Informative) 137
Seems kinda limiting. When I look at these machines I see the potential to make all sorts of stuff that normally I would have to contract out to a machine shop (which for 1 or 2 of an item is not very cost effective)... but if the thing is going to start breaking down after a few months or years that kinda limits applications.
The two standard printing materials for the RepRap family of printers (and their descendants, like the MakerBot) are the biodegradable PLA, and standard petroleum-based ABS. PLA will degrade over time, but only under certain environmental conditions; it's unlikely to fall apart in normal use (most industrial thermophilic composting processes run at pretty high temperatures (60C and up). I guess you probably shouldn't use it to print an industrial composter.
ABS is ABS, and whatever you make with it will be around forever, so print your PLA composter with this instead.
Comment Re:haruki murakami (Score 1) 647
Ha ha ha.
The language in the book is an essential part of the storytelling. I generally don't like that sort of thing either; however, Hoban used it very intentionally as a pacing device, as well as to reveal things to the reader that the limited narrator didn't understand. It's very effective, although it does take some getting used to.
Comment Re:haruki murakami (Score 1) 647
Also, the late, great Russell Hoban's post-apocalyptic masterpiece, Riddley Walker. And if you want non-fiction, I really enjoyed In the Shadow Of the Moon, part of Francis French and Colin Burgess's People's History of Spaceflight series.
And then there is always SkyMall.
Comment Re:haruki murakami (Score 1) 647
Seconded. Murakami is fantastic.
Comment Re:This annoys the hell out of me ... (Score 1) 392
There is a lot of work being done (and maybe some field trials already) on short-range vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems . I'm not sure if there are plans to integrate pedestrian nodes into these networks, but it's certainly a possibility.
Comment Re:This annoys the hell out of me ... (Score 5, Informative) 392
The motivation behind this is not to protect oblivious smartphone users, but for people with visual impairments who have traditionally relied on engine noise to identify approaching vehicles at low speed. The smartphone users will still be in danger, because they're invariably wearing headphones too.
Comment Re:No more (Score 2) 2247
They're more apt at what, interpreting the massive amounts of weather data supplied to them by NOAA?
Comment Re:Blue phone icon (Score 1) 226
Your office phone probably has a dial tone, and maybe a real chime when it rings. We're talking mobile phone calls, not 1980s desk technology.
Here's a pre-iPhone mobile phone with a green "call" button, and a red "hang up" button.
Submission + - Apple Finally Removes DigiNotar Certs in Safari (threatpost.com)
Trailrunner7 writes: Apple has finally released a fix for the certificate trust issue caused by the attack on DigiNotar, more than a week after the fraudulent ccertificates were identified and other browser vendors moved to revoke trust in them.
While Microsoft, Mozilla and Google had been communicating with users about the issue and pushing out new versions and updates to eliminate the compromised certificate authorities from their browsers, Apple had been mum about the attack and hadn't given any indication of when it might issue an update for Safari. On Friday the company published a security advisory for Mac OS X users, saying that it was removing DigiNotar's certificates from its trust list.
While Microsoft, Mozilla and Google had been communicating with users about the issue and pushing out new versions and updates to eliminate the compromised certificate authorities from their browsers, Apple had been mum about the attack and hadn't given any indication of when it might issue an update for Safari. On Friday the company published a security advisory for Mac OS X users, saying that it was removing DigiNotar's certificates from its trust list.
Submission + - Wireless HDMI On a Stick Using WHDI Technology (the-generalist.com)
An anonymous reader writes: It will soon be possible to transmit full 1080p video wirelessly to your television using a transmitter that's not much bigger than a thumbdrive. WHDI supports 1080p video with no noticeable latency making it great for games.
