Comment Crazy (Score 1) 230
Anyone who seriously wants those things for Christmas should go and look at the unemployment rate. I'd settle for a job for Christmas.
Comment Well (Score 1) 286
Time to find an alternative to NoMachine then. I guess I could just go back to using nothing but the shell to remote-manage my web server.
Intel's Sandy Bridge Processor Has a Kill Switch 399
An anonymous reader writes "Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors have a new feature that the chip giant is calling Anti-Theft 3.0. The processor can be disabled even if the computer has no Internet connection or isn't even turned on, over a 3G network. With Intel anti-theft technology built into Sandy Bridge, David Allen, director of distribution sales at Intel North America, said that users have the option to set up their processor so that if their computer is lost or stolen, it can be shut down remotely."
Comment Hearing... (Score 0) 305
Hearing it but not seeing it. I'll stick with my PSP and DS so that my phone's battery isn't drained when I actually need it. Come to think of it, my PSP and DS also have better active use battery life than a phone does. Until that issue is resolved, smartphone gaming will never overtake handheld console gaming. Also, smartphone gaming requires you to actually OWN a smartphone. I'll stick with my relatively simple phone that doesn't give my carrier a chance to "accidentally" charge me for data minutes I didn't use. All it needs to do is make/receive calls and text messages (and frankly I could do without those too).
Comment This is sick... (Score 1) 610
On both levels. You've got people using their sick days when they aren't sick while we've got near-record unemployment levels. I had a job from July 2009 to June 2010, never took a mental health day, worked overtime when requested, and got laid off in June thanks to NY state cutting funding for state-funded private agencies. These people have (presumably) good paying jobs and are willingly wasting their SICK DAYS to go do whatever while some of us have been trying to find a job that doesn't require us to relocate an absurd distance. Go to work you lazy bums. And people wonder why the rest of the world thinks that Americans have no work ethic...
Granted, I'm not supporting employers stalking their employees outside of work. Thats just wrong.
Aussie Gamer Loses PS3 Court Case Over 'Other OS' 206
dotarray writes "An Australian man who took Sony to court over the company's decision to remove Linux functionality from the PS3 console has now lost his claim, with the court clearing the manufacturer of any wrongdoing regarding the upgrade."
Resort Attracts Men With Virtual Girlfriends
226
disco_tracy writes "Long a favorite of lovers and honeymooners, a Japanese beach town with fading sparkle has found a new tourism niche in the wired age. A resort based on a game called 'Love Plus,' encourages players to develop long-term relationships with virtual women. From the article: 'Local souvenir shops in the resort town have caught on and capitalized on the love-struck new clientele, selling Love Plus-themed souvenirs, from good-luck charms to steamed buns and fish sausages. The local Ohnoya hotel even offers traditional rooms to the unusual couples, which feature two sets of futon beds and another barcode panel that allows the men to visualize their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono.'"
Comment Re:It's down to the cost of one disk? (Score 1) 551
Because that completely screws over anyone on a network where you have to authenticate to get a network connection. I.E., colleges that have NAC.
Comment Breaking News! (Score 1) 480
Clinical Psychologists (sorry, I can't call them scientists with a straight face) prove what we already knew! Story at 11!
Comment Don't you miss... (Score 1) 562
Don't you miss the good old days when there was religious tolerance in the world?
You know, the days before we had organized religion?
Bangladesh Blocks Facebook Over Muhammad Cartoons 562
lbalbalba writes with a BBC story about Bangladesh following Pakistan in censoring Facebook. "Bangladesh has blocked access to Facebook after satirical images of the prophet Muhammad and the country's leaders were uploaded. One man has been arrested and charged with 'spreading malice and insulting the country's leaders' with the images. Officials said the ban was temporary and access to the site would be restored once the images were removed. It comes after Pakistan invoked a similar ban over 'blasphemous content.' ... Thousands of people joined anti-Facebook protests in Bangladesh on Friday demanding the site be blocked over the contest. A telecomm regulator there said, "Facebook will be re-opened once we erase the pages that contain the obnoxious images." And how do they propose to do that?
Vast Asteroid Crater Found In Timor Sea 121
An anonymous reader notes the discovery of a 35-million-year-old impact crater in the Timor Sea, northwest of Australia, which helped to usher in a period of significant global cooling. "The new findings, announced today and published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, suggest that the impact could have contributed towards the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet... The minimum size of the dome, which 'represents elastic rebound doming of the Earth crust triggered by the impact' is 50 km across, but the full size of the crater could be significantly larger, [lead researcher Andrew Glikson] told Australian Geographic. 'It would be possibly 100 km.' From the probable diameter of the crater, Andrew estimates that the asteroid which struck the Timor Sea was between 5 and 10 km in size. This impact coincided with a time of heavy asteroid bombardment globally. Several other craters have been documented from a similar time, including one off the WA coast measuring 120 km in diameter. Another impact structure in Siberia was created by an asteroid 100 km in size."
Rockstar Ships Max Payne 2 Cracked By Pirates 340
Jamie noticed a fairly amazing little story about Rockstar shipping a version of Max Payne 2 via Steam that was actually cracked by pirates to remove the DRM. The going theory was that it was easier for them to simply use the pirate group's crack than to actually remove their DRM themselves.
Ultrasound As a Male Contraceptive 599
TeslaBoy writes "The BBC has an article about using ultrasound aimed at the testicles as a reversible male contraceptive. This can last for six months. With a grant of $100,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers at the University of North Carolina will push ahead with more clinical trials, fine tuning, and safety tests."
UK Election Arcana, Explained By Software 568
An anonymous reader writes "For the first time in 35 years the UK government is looking to be at risk of getting a hung or coalition government. (The most recent previous hung parliaments were in 1974 and 1929.) The voting rules are somewhat arcane and the votes this time are such that there are many strange possible outcomes and a surprisingly large number of permutations of coalitions that could be formed and political strategies that may go into their forming. There are at least 60 permutations, some more politically plausible than others. Adam Back wrote some software to work out the permutations, and lists some of the arcane factors affecting the outcome. If Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose to, it would appear even that he could simply refuse to resign, ostensibly trying to form a coalition indefinitely, maybe even forcing the Queen to dismiss the current government, which last happened in 1834 under King William IV."
