Comment Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." (Score 1) 521
Regardless of specs I would buy this if they released it in "Zune Brown"
Comment Re:Excellent decision (Score 1) 2416
As long as you have private companies in the insurance business, there is a perverse incentive to screw their customers over.
This "pervese incentive" is what free markets like to call "profit".
Comment Slashdot.. (Score 1) 1142
I would assume that the majority of Slashdot readers are men. Men tend to think more logically than women. I am not surprised that logic is on top.
Anyone who has been in a relationship with a woman wants them to attend a logic course ASAP!
Anyone who has been in a relationship with a woman wants them to attend a logic course ASAP!
Comment Re:Pro-piracy (Score 1) 287
I find it hard to believe that if this were the RIAA/MPAA suing someone that we would see comments like...
He's not cute. He's not funny. He's a criminal.
He's not cute. He's not funny. He's a criminal.
Submission + - Jedi group seeking new leader (theregister.co.uk)
garg0yle writes: A group of Jedis in England are seeking a new leader after their previous one was forced to step down due to health concerns. Prospective candidates should have a martial arts background and be steeped in the teachings of the Force. I'm assuming you just send your resume to Coruscant to apply?
Man Fined $1.5 Million For Leaked Mario Game 287
An anonymous reader writes "A Queensland man will have to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages after illegally copying and uploading one of its recent games to the internet ahead of its release, the gaming giant says. Nintendo said the loss was caused when James Burt made New Super Mario Bros Wii available for illegal download a week ahead of its official Australian release in November of last year. Nintendo applied for and was granted a search order by the Federal Court, forcing Burt to disclose the whereabouts of all his computers, disks and electronic storage devices in November. He was also ordered to allow access, including passwords, to his social networking sites, email accounts and websites."
Push To End Online Gambling Ban Gains Steam 206
The Washington Post updates a story we discussed last spring about a push in the Democratic-controlled congress to legalize some forms of Internet gambling in the US. "Partly bankrolled by offshore gambling companies, the campaign has already persuaded the Obama administration to delay enforcement of a 2006 law cracking down on Internet wagers. ... The federal government, which rarely prosecutes online gambling, would net billions of dollars in tax and licensing revenue if it were legalized, proponents say. ... The outlook on Capitol Hill, however, is uncertain given a slate of unfinished business... [and] nervousness among Democrats about November midterm challenges. ... [A politically conservative poker player said] 'There's a part of the party that always believes this isn't something people should do. But I think it behooves the party to be a little more broad-minded on this issue.'"
Comment Green Energy?? (Score 1) 1
Why does every advance in technology involving energy turn into a possible "Green Energy" extravaganza. People seem to think that we are consistently on the brink of a "green energy" breakthrough when in reality the current infrastructure we have (power grids etc) is so entrenched that one single EUREKA discovery will not fix the current problems we have with energy.
We need to continue to think of the big picture and not as a society think there is a guy in a lab coat who will pure something into a beaker and suddenly our energy problems will all be fixed.
We need to continue to think of the big picture and not as a society think there is a guy in a lab coat who will pure something into a beaker and suddenly our energy problems will all be fixed.
Submission + - Physicists Discover How to Teleport Energy (inhabitat.com) 1
MikeChino writes: A physicist at Tohoku University in Japan has figured out how to teleport energy from one point in the universe to another. The technique is based upon prior research that shows it’s possible to teleport information from one location to another, and involves making a measurement on each [of] an entangled pair of particles. The measurement on the first particle injects quantum energy into the system, and then by carefully choosing the measurement to do on the second particle, it is possible to extract the original energy. Heady stuff, but essentially it means that you can inject energy at one point in the universe and extract it from somewhere else without changing the energy of the system as a whole.
Submission + - Mozilla says Firefox add-ons contained Trojan code (sophos.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Approximately 4,600 people are feared to have downloaded add-ons for Firefox that were infected by Trojan horses.
Mozilla has acknowledged that the Master Filer add-on was infected by the LdPinch password-stealing Trojan, and Sothink Web Video Downloader version 4.0 was infected by a version of the Bifrose backdoor Trojan horse. Mozilla removed Master Filer from addons.mozilla.org on January 25th, and version 4 of Sothink Web Video Downloader on February 2nd 2010.
According to security firm Sophos, only Windows users will have been infected by the malware.
Mozilla has acknowledged that the Master Filer add-on was infected by the LdPinch password-stealing Trojan, and Sothink Web Video Downloader version 4.0 was infected by a version of the Bifrose backdoor Trojan horse. Mozilla removed Master Filer from addons.mozilla.org on January 25th, and version 4 of Sothink Web Video Downloader on February 2nd 2010.
According to security firm Sophos, only Windows users will have been infected by the malware.
Graphene Transistors 10x Faster Than Silicon 170
Asadullah Ahmad writes "IBM has created transistors made from carbon atoms, which operate at 100 gigahertz, while using a manufacturing process that is compatible with current semiconductor fabrication. With silicon close to its physical limits, graphene seems like a viable replacement until quantum computing gets to desktop. Quoting: 'Researchers have previously made graphene transistors using laborious mechanical methods, for example by flaking off sheets of graphene from graphite; the fastest transistors made this way have reached speeds of up to 26 gigahertz. Transistors made using similar methods have not equaled these speeds.'" The other day we discussed what sounds like similar research by a group of scientists at Tohoku University; that team did not produce transistors, however.
UCLA Profs Banned From Posting Course Videos 134
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "As of Winter Quarter 2010, UCLA professors will no longer be able to post videos on their course websites. Although they've long relied upon fair use protections for educational use, the Association for Information Media and Equipment has made claims that they're copyright infringers, even though the videos are only available on campus and the students are allowed to watch the videos in the Instructional Media Lab. Even though they believe their use of the materials to be fair, the UCLA has decided to back down rather than face litigation. Many professors have commented that this will hurt students, because they now have to watch all videos at the IML, which isn't open on weekends, forcing students to try to fit assigned videos between classes."
Comment disappointing attempts at conventional intercourse (Score 1) 22
Favorite quote from this article - The patient was well aware of the fact that she had no vagina and she had started oral experiments after disappointing attempts at conventional intercourse. Just before she was stabbed in the abdomen she had [sic] practised fellatio with her new boyfriend and was caught in the act by her former lover. The fight with knives ensued.
This may be the only instance the phrase "Oops, wrong hole." can be a question instead of a statement.
BTW, I am thinking about making the quote "The fight with knives ensued". as my sig.
This may be the only instance the phrase "Oops, wrong hole." can be a question instead of a statement.
BTW, I am thinking about making the quote "The fight with knives ensued". as my sig.
Submission + - Vitamin D Deficiency Effects Billion Plus (singularityhub.com)
kkleiner writes: If you are like most people in the world, you have absolutely no clue if you are getting enough vitamin D even though it can be determined with a simple blood test. Our bodies create vitamin D naturally from sunshine, but with a culture of sun starved people that are scared of skin cancer and stuck in front of computer screens all day, we have a perfect storm for a vitamin D deficiency epidemic. Estimates place as many as 1 in 5 of the world's 6 billion people deficient in vitamin D. The solution is as simple as going outside for just 10 minutes of full sun per day or to take a daily pill, but sadly more than a billion people are not doing so. Vitamin D is crucial for proper bone growth and maintenance, and a deficiency in vitamin D results in an increased risk of osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, chronic pain, and several other bad things.
Comment Re:Safely. noted this one on /. before: (Score 1) 749
I drove an early 90's BMW 3 series back in the day which had a speed control system that used a lever on the bottom right side of steering wheel. Once cruise was activated a click forward on the lever accelerated 1mph and a click down the opposite. One day when messing with this feature I noticed that if I held the lever forward my car would just accelerate (at a pretty high rate I might add), as well as making the petal hit the floor without touching it, just like when using regular cruise control and your car is going up a hill etc you can feel the petal move. Yet I was easily able to disengage this sudden acceleration by either letting go of the lever or hitting the break. I eventually starting using this as a lazy driving technique.
My thought is maybe the WOZ is mistaking this "Scary" acceleration as just a feature ( I have not researched this), like the coast function which slows you down. Also the system could be queuing his successive "Nudges" as 10 or so MPH and applying them at once. It does take some time for a car to go from 80 to 81 depending on the car, but having a Prius I do not see it getting from 80 to 81 in an instant...
I understand this could be a scary situation if you have never experienced it but if he is easily able to hit the brake, which would stop acceleration effectively cutting off cruise, maybe he is mistaking this "bug" for a "feature".
