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Comment Unacceptable (Score 3, Informative) 147

by Space (#37394102) Attached to: Jobs Bill Funds Safety Network With Spectrum Sale

I volunteer with a fire department in rural east Texas. None of the area volunteer fire departments want the new networks the cities keep pushing for. There is an 800MHz trunked network used by a few local law enforcement officers. There are only five carrier frequencies on that system and more than five departments using the network. If my department was on that same network and we were in a burning building and needed to communicate with the pump operator we are not guaranteed to be able to transmit. A fire fighter could burn up because the local PD was busy checking a license plate. Unacceptable.

Comment Hurricane test (Score 1) 328

by Space (#35233986) Attached to: In case of a blackout, batteries etc. will give me ...

A few years ago I got to test my readiness. Hurricane Ike knocked out power for a while. I powered my DSL modem and wireless router off an inverter plugged into a jump starter. My laptop battery lasted about 3 hours and the network was still going strong when the laptop finally died. Cable modems were out all across town but the phone network and DSL internet was still up. I was watching the hurricane on radar as it passed west of us.
Databases

Key Web App Standard Approaches Consensus 143

Posted by Soulskill from the apple-doesn't-count dept.
suraj.sun tips a report up at CNet which begins: "Browser makers, grappling with outmoded technology and a vision to rebuild the Web as a foundation for applications, have begun converging on a seemingly basic but very important element of cloud computing. That ability is called local storage, and the new mechanism is called Indexed DB. Indexed DB, proposed by Oracle and initially called WebSimpleDB, is largely just a prototype at this stage, not something Web programmers can use yet. But already it's won endorsements from Microsoft, Mozilla, and Google, and together, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome account for more than 90 percent of the usage on the Net today. 'Indexed DB is interesting to both Firefox and Microsoft, so if we get to the point where we prototype it and want to ship it, it will have very wide availability,' said Chris Blizzard, director of evangelism for Mozilla. ... Microsoft publicly endorsed Indexed DB on its IE blog: 'Together with Mozilla, we're excited about a new design for local storage called Indexed DB. We think this is a great solution for the Web,' said program manager Adrian Bateman."

Comment Dell Legacy Extender (Score 1) 460

by Space (#31303188) Attached to: Will the Serial Console Ever Die?

I bought my work laptop, a Dell E6400 ATG (semi-ruggedized) with the Dell Legacy Extender. It locks into the docking station port on the bottom of the rig and has a real UART chip inside attached to the system bus making it a real RS232 serial port. I program industrial robotics and have yet to find an instance where it does not work. Some of the systems I connect to are 20+ years old.
Businesses

Should Gaming Worlds Join the Workplace? 68

Posted by Soulskill from the gotta-farm-those-tps-reports dept.
destinyland writes "A Stanford professor argues that gaming worlds can keep workers engaged, and advocates elements of World of Warcraft or Second Life to hone workplace skills like teamwork, leadership, and data analysis. An IBM report also argues games like World of Warcraft teach leadership and that 'there is no reason to think the same cannot be done in corporate settings of various sizes.' The professor even suggests putting online gaming experiences into your resume. ('There's just so much that gets done [in a virtual world] that's just right on target with what happens in real business.') And Google's CEO also claims that multiplayer gaming also provides good career training, especially for technology careers. 'Everything in the future online is going to look like a multiplayer game. If I were 15 years old, that's what I would be doing right now... It teaches players to build a network, to use interactive skills and thinking.'"

Comment Re:Surprised? (Score 1) 214

by Space (#30157494) Attached to: AT&T Loses First Legal Battle Against Verizon

Verizon stopped crippling smart phones a while back. I am posting this message from my Motorola Droid. It has real GPS not VZ Navigator, I can download and install any Android app, etc. This is a "Google Experience" phone which means Verizon can't put limits on the device.
Government

Court of Appeals Rejects FCC's Cable Subscriber Cap 87

Posted by Soulskill from the pack-'em-in dept.
olsmeister writes "The US Court of Appeals Friday threw out the FCC's cap on the number of cable subscribers one operator can serve, saying the FCC was 'derelict' in not giving DBS its due as a legitimate competitor. 'We agree with Comcast that the 30% subscriber limit is arbitrary and capricious. We therefore grant the petition and vacate the Rule,' said the court, which concluded that there was ample evidence of an increasingly competitive communications marketplace and that cable did not have undue control on the programming pipeline. The FCC commissioner's statement (PDF) is available online."

Comment Wii (Score 1) 345

by Space (#27645971) Attached to: Adobe Pushing For Flash TVs

I would be happy if the opera browser on my Wii would support a modern version of Flash. It is currently stuck at some ancient version with does not support hulu and scifi rewind.
Displays

Submission + - 10 Tips for Better LCD Image Quality (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
ThinSkin
ThinSkin writes: "Loyd Case over at ExtremeTech has come up with 10 useful tips on improving your LCD's image quality. While many of us are fine using good old "auto adjust" to calibrate our monitors, Loyd goes much further in depth by introducing calibration tools and correction programs. Furthermore, the monitor's orientation (height and distance from you) is an important consideration, and how you clean your monitor when it's dirty."

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