Comment Re:More than 10 years ago? (Score 1) 505
Ten years ago my university was big on us using iomega zip drives. Those were my transition from 3.5" to CDs.
Comment Monkey version of Timber (Score 5, Funny) 197
The monkey version of "Timber!" is “Boom boom krak-oo krak-oo krak-oo". So, in monkey it's 8 sylables, and in English it's 2. No wonder humans became the dominant species, we had more time to get out of the way after the falling tree warning.
Comment real reason (Score 5, Funny) 928
I think the real reason men feel they're more intelligent than women can be summed up in two words: "Twilight Saga".
Comment 1000 years (Score 1) 416
The discs might last for 1000 years, but it's a good bet in 3009 the MPAA still will not have let the contents of those discs slip into public domain by then!
Submission + - Intel's New E-Reader for the Visually Impaired (bblogic.com) 3
serverguy writes: A win for all visually impaired members of society with Intel releasing a new device called the Intel Reader. It allows visually impaired people to take a snap shot of a newspapers, books and magazines and have it read back to them. It's estimated that in the US alone there are as many as 55 million people who could make use of such a device. It comes at hefty price though, costing US$1,499 for the paperback sized device which contains a 5 megapixel camera and is powered by a Linux OCR system that converts text into spoken words. The device can contain up to 2GB of data which would equate around 600 snap shots, in addition to reading text to words the device can also play back a Audio Books in a number of supported files such as MP3s and WAV.
The device is expected to be released next Tuesday.
The device is expected to be released next Tuesday.
Submission + - Ten New Nuclear Plants Get Go-Ahead in UK
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Telegraph reports that Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has announced ten sites to house the new generation of nuclear power stations to expand Britain’s nuclear power capability as consumer groups warned that fuel bills could rise to pay for building program. The new plants will be built on the sites of old nuclear power stations or those soon to be decommissioned and the first new power plant should be operational by 2018 as the Government hopes that by 2025, nuclear will generate a quarter of the country’s electricity compared to 13 per cent now. "In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse, low-carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel," says Miliband. Conservatives attacked the plans for being "10 years too late" and Greg Clark, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, said: "Ed Miliband’s statement is made necessary by the Government’s admission in July that it expects power cuts in 2017 " adding that "15 successive energy ministers — a new one every nine months — behaved like the ostrich and stuck their heads in the sand rather than face up to the action that was needed to address our energy black hole.""
Submission + - Supreme Court skeptical of business method patents (scotusblog.com)
Trepidity writes: "The U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument Monday in Bilski , a business-methods patent case that might also have important implications for software patents (Slashdot's previously covered the case several times). The tone of the argument appears to be good news, as the justices were very skeptical of the broad patentability claims. They even brought up a parade of absurd hypothetical patents quite similar to the ones Slashdotters tend to mention in these kinds of debates. Roberts surmised that "buy low, sell high" might be a patentable business method, Sotomayor wondered if speed-dating could be patentable, Breyer questioned whether a professor could patent a lesson plan that kept his students from falling asleep, and Scalia brought up the old-time radio soap opera Lorenzo Jones , featuring a hare-brained inventor with delusions of getting rich."
Comment Stop becoming Soap Operas (Score 2, Insightful) 708
What I want most of all is for Sci Fi to stop with all the soap opera type plots, such as the recent "Defying Gravity".
Comment Re:GDP (Score 1) 383
It was Gross National Product before GDP. I think the difference is/was the GNP also counted money made in other countries by companies and GDP only counts money made in the same country the company is based in.
Comment chestnut vs blue-black (Score 3, Funny) 153
So, the difference comes down to the birds wanting to have sex with other birds with the same belly color? First parrots taught us birds can talk, and ravens taught us birds can use tools, now we find out birds can be racist! Forget the AI Singularity, birds will be the death of us all as soon as they invent their own laser weapons!
Comment Does anyone actually play it? (Score 3, Insightful) 45
I am always amazed at how often Second Life is mentioned in various news articles and web sites (and an episode of The Office), because I still have yet to find one person I know who actually plays it or has ever even tried it. Maybe Second Life is really big in the CNN breakroom or something.
Comment pointless (Score 1) 105
This reminds me of McDonald's "how to make a sandwich" patent.
Comment nothing (Score 2, Insightful) 457
Maybe my parents were just cheap while I was growing up, but I've never felt the need to eat anything at a movie theater.
Journal Journal: Wii Fit
I'm starting to wonder if lack of depth is a purposeful feature built in to Nintendo's casual games. Each Animal Crossing is basically the same game as the one before it. And Wii Fit, the mega-selling game for Nintendo at the moment, can't even come up with a week's worth of fitness tips to tell you as you begin your game.
Comment points (Score 1) 1582
There should also be an achievement for getting an achievement point. - But one for getting that achievement, we don't need an endless achievement feedback loop.
