Comment Re:Once again proving my theory (Score 1) 144
I understand the financial aspect of the film, but that doesn't help me getting bored out of my skull sitting through the samey movies.
Comment Oh wow. (Score 5, Insightful) 642
Is there a better example of the slippery slope associated with any censorship?
UK Gov't Wants To Block Internet Porn By Default 642
airfoobar writes "Yet another country wants to 'protect the children' by blocking all internet porn — not just child porn, all porn. The British gov will talk with ISPs next month to ask them to make porn blocking mandatory (and they appear more than happy to comply). As an effect, adults who want to access pornography through their internet connections will have to 'opt in.' Their rationale is that if ISPs have managed to block all child porn, they'll also be able to block all other porn as well."
Scientists Identify Head of France's King Henry IV
64
JThaddeus writes "The Associated Press reports that 'After nine months of tests, researchers in France have identified the head of France's King Henry IV.' Henry was assassinated in 1610, and his head has been missing. His body was dug up and decapitated during the French Revolution. Researchers found features similar to those in royal portraits, and radiocarbon dating confirms that the head dates to the 17th Century. Interestingly, 'Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.' The results have been published an online medical journal."
America's Cubicles Are Shrinking 484
Hugh Pickens writes "In the 1970s, American corporations typically thought they needed 500 to 700 square feet per employee to build an effective office, but the LA Times reports that today's average is a little more than 200 square feet per person, and the space allocation could hit a mere 50 square feet by 2015. 'We're at a very interesting inflection point in real estate history,' says Peter Miscovich, who studies workplace trends. 'The next 10 years will be very different than the last 30.' Although cubicles have shrunk from an average of 64 feet to 49 feet in recent years, companies are looking for more ways to compress their real estate footprint with offices that squeeze together workstations while setting aside a few rooms where employees can conduct meetings or have private phone conversations. 'Younger workers' lives are all integrated, not segregated,' says Larry Rivard. 'They have learned to work anywhere — at a kitchen table or wherever.'"
Comment Re:I Don't Like Amazon's Decision, But: (Score 1) 641
What I find objectionable about this is not the lack of incest, with which you dance around the issue masterfully btw, but the fact that Amazon deletes already bought material from users' devices.
Since you seem to be fond of food stores, I'll offer this analogy: This is not like a store deciding to not offer Twinkies anymore. Instead it's like a store deciding to forcefully stomach pump all the people who bought Twinkies from the store in the past.
Since you seem to be fond of food stores, I'll offer this analogy: This is not like a store deciding to not offer Twinkies anymore. Instead it's like a store deciding to forcefully stomach pump all the people who bought Twinkies from the store in the past.
Two Major Ad Networks Found Serving Malware 330
Trailrunner7 writes "Two major online ad networks — DoubleClick and MSN — were serving malware via drive-by download exploits over the last week, experts say, after a group of attackers was able to trick the networks into displaying their ads by impersonating an online advertising provider. The scheme involved a group of attackers who registered a domain that was one letter away from that of ADShuffle.com, an online advertising technology firm. The attackers then used the fake domain — ADShufffle.com — to dupe the advertising networks into serving their malicious banner ads. The ads used various exploits to install malware on victims' PCs through drive-by downloads, according to information compiled by security vendor Armorize."
RIP, SunSolve 100
Kymermosst writes "Today marks the last day that SunSolve will be available. Oracle sent the final pre-deployment details today for the retirement of SunSolve and the transition to its replacement, My Oracle Support Release 5.2, which begins tomorrow. People who work with Sun's hardware and software have long used SunSolve as a central location for specifications, patches, and documentation."
Comment Mod parent up! (Score 1) 747
AC makes an excellent point.
Submission + - Bank of the Clueless
jcomeau_ictx writes: Bank of Internet has for years limited passwords to 8 alphanumerics, but over the next few days they will open their members' accounts up to anyone with the last 4 letters of their Social Security number: ex-partners, family, and any of thousands of employees of banks, credit unions, and online and offline businesses which have requested it over the course of an average life. Here is the communication sent out today:
Bank of Internet USA is upgrading our online solutions for Online Banking this weekend. The Bank is making this change to ensure we provide you with an Online Banking experience so impactful, you will not be able to imagine banking any other way. In preparation for the launch, there is some important information you need to know:
Launch Date: December 11, 2010. The conversion time frame will be from December 9, 2010 to December 11, 2010. Logging in to Online Banking on December 11, 2010 or thereafter. You will use the same Online Banking ID as you did prior to December 11th. The first time you log in only, your Password will be the last 4-digits of your Social Security Number. You will be prompted to change your password to one of your choosing immediately upon logging in.
This doesn't mean I'll stop doing business with them; they still have better customer service than any other bank I've ever dealt with. I just won't keep anything more than a few hundred in there until they take security a little more seriously.
Submission + - Researchers build self-healing plastic (itnews.com.au)
schliz writes: Watch out for T-1000s (Terminator) — Arizona State researchers have developed a "self-healing" polymer that uses a fibre optic "nervous system" to detect and fix cracks. The system recovers up to 96 percent of an object's original strength in laboratory tests and will likely be used in "large-scale composite structures for which human intervention would be difficult", such as wind turbines, satellites, aircraft and the Mars Rover.
Scientists Discover Solar Powered Hornets 177
adeelarshad82 writes "The oriental hornet is more active during the day, and tends to become even more active as the temperature rises. And now scientists have discovered the reason: the hornets are solar powered. It turns out that the distinctive yellow stripe on the hornet's abdomen is actually full of tiny protrusions that gather sunlight and harness it for energy. The insect also features a special pigment, called xanthopterin, that helps with the process."
USDA Services Moving To the Microsoft Cloud 146
JoltinJoe77 writes "Not to be outdone by Google, who recently announced an e-mail deal with the GSA, Microsoft is pressing forward with a migration of its own. 'The US Department of Agriculture is ready to go live with Microsoft's cloud services. In the next four weeks, the agency will move 120,000 users to Microsoft Online services, including e-mail, Web conferencing, document collaboration, and instant messaging.'"
George Lucas to Resurrect Dead Movie Stars? 296
According to his director friend Mel Smith, George Lucas has a plan for upcoming movies more insidious than a whole Gungan cast. Smith says Lucas is buying the rights to old movies in order to put dead actors in his films. He says, "George has been buying up the film rights to dead actors in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together, so you'd have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck alongside today's stars." Even if Smith is lying, it makes you wonder who long it will be until Hollywood starts to recycle actors as well as scripts.
Comment Re:Fugly (Score 1) 152
Yeah, it needs to be pretty to prove a concept.
