Comment Sigh... (Score 1) 430
Unfortunately, you could probably also add Motorola to that list, too.
Comment Old news, but.. (Score 1) 215
These images are posted on many of the various radio forums quite frequently.
I've had the chance to meet the guy in person at various hamfests around the country. Just about every radio has it's own antenna and, more surprisingly, they actually work!
Comment Chicago, of course! (Score 1) 920
I grew up and currently live in the Chicago suburbs, so I suppose I am a little biased but hands down, I haven't ever had pizza as good as what you can get in the city.
Comment Hah! (Score 1) 17
Watch & listen from 1:33 - 1:40.... "Vandalism" ;-)
Comment Sorry I missed it! (Score 1) 82
Neat! I reside in Gurnee (about 15 minutes north of Lake Zurich). Wish I would have heard about this happening!
Comment Wait... wha? (Score 1) 8
So, school officials simply "frown" on "Kick a Jew Day"? Is that to say that at one point it was allowed to even occur on campus? What?
Seems like something you would forbid more than just simply frown upon if you ask me.
Submission + - Microsoft acknowledges Linux threat to Windows (goodgearguide.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "Microsoft for the first time has named Linux distributors Red Hat and Canonical as competitors to its Windows client business in its annual filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is an acknowledgment of the first viable competition from Linux to Microsoft's Windows client business, due mainly to the use of Linux on netbooks, which are rising in prominence as alternatives to full-sized notebooks."
New Zealand Creates Safety Billboard That Bleeds When It Rains 137
Officials in Papakura, New Zealand have come up with a billboard that bleeds when it rains. They hope it will encourage drivers to slow down when the weather makes conditions dangerous. Since the billboards have been erected, there hasn't been a fatal accident in the area.
Google Apps Leave Beta 116
Today Google announced that they're removing the "beta" label from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk. They said, "We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase." Quoting the NYTimes:
"'Obviously we haven't had a consistent set of policies or definitions around beta,' said Matt Glotzbach, a director of product management at Google. Mr. Glotzbach said that different teams at Google had different criteria for what beta meant, and that Google felt a need to standardize those. ... Practically speaking, the change will mean precious little to Gmail's millions of users. But it could help Google's efforts to get the paid version of its package of applications, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Docs and other products, adopted inside big companies."
Comment Really? (Score 2, Interesting) 130
I'm surprised that no one has yet pointed out the fact that Thales already released a multi-band radio called the Liberty, competitor to Motorola's APX7000.
http://www.thalesliberty.com/
Submission + - Stem cells used to restore sight for corneal disea (news.com.au)
Sean0michael writes: "Australian scientists have Restored the sight of three human test subjects using stem cells cultured in contact lenses. All the patients were blind in only one eye. Two were legally blind, but can now read the big letters on an eye chart. The third could read the first few lines, but is now able to pass a driver's test. The University of New South Wales reports that these patients all had damaged corneas, and the stem cells came from each person's good eye. The best part--the procedure is inexpensive, raising hopes for being able to push this to the third world sooner than other, more expensive medications."
Submission + - Apple allows banned Slasher app back in App Store (artsiness.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently Apple is reconsidering the status of previously banned apps. One of the first apps to disappear from the App Store back in August of 2008 was Slasher. The author, apparently after many emails and phone calls, managed to convince Apple to reverse its original decision to ban the app. This is extremely good news for others who have fallen victim to the capriciousness of Apple's prior store policy.
Submission + - Geek Disaster Volunteers? (floridadisaster.org)
vrimj writes: "Today we just finished pretending a catastrophic hurricane hit Florida. And what became clear was that while there were a few people with technical skills available there was no real way to contact and mobilize the geeks other then the hobbyist radio community. It sometimes self-organizes, but there is not really a structure emergency response people can reach out to.
So I talked to some people from the Red Cross and Salvation Army, they are interested in trying to help reach out. The people at the Florida Emergency Management Center who train people for initial response (wanna know how to mark houses for search and rescue?) and he is willing to try going to some conventions to do training. We have disaster scenarios that could be turned in to RPG adventures.
So where to start and how? Slashdot, if you would like to be available when the shit hits the fan how can you be reached and how can you help?
The Red Cross and Salvation army are good at what they do, do they just need to reach out to the geeks? Are geeks already pretty organized and some minimal contact system should be set up (say to get in touch with sys admins and GMs and the like and give them a way to make requests to the emergency management community) or does there need to be something more complicated to sustain things like training, supporting people on missions, and keeping volunteer information up to date? If so how the heck do you get started?"
So I talked to some people from the Red Cross and Salvation Army, they are interested in trying to help reach out. The people at the Florida Emergency Management Center who train people for initial response (wanna know how to mark houses for search and rescue?) and he is willing to try going to some conventions to do training. We have disaster scenarios that could be turned in to RPG adventures.
So where to start and how? Slashdot, if you would like to be available when the shit hits the fan how can you be reached and how can you help?
The Red Cross and Salvation army are good at what they do, do they just need to reach out to the geeks? Are geeks already pretty organized and some minimal contact system should be set up (say to get in touch with sys admins and GMs and the like and give them a way to make requests to the emergency management community) or does there need to be something more complicated to sustain things like training, supporting people on missions, and keeping volunteer information up to date? If so how the heck do you get started?"
Submission + - Illegal CD's smell different. (yahoo.com)
sgt scrub writes: "I've never thought about sniffing my CD's before buying them but that is all about to change. According to this Yahoo! news article, dogs can be trained to tell the difference between a legit copy of a DVD and one from those pesky pirates.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — A DVD-sniffing anti-piracy dog named Paddy has uncovered a huge cache of 35,000 discs in Malaysian warehouses, many destined for export to Singapore, industry officials said on Wednesday.
Paddy was given to Malaysia by the MPA to help close down piracy syndicates who churn out vast quantities of illegal DVDs. The dog is specially trained to detect chemicals in the discs."
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — A DVD-sniffing anti-piracy dog named Paddy has uncovered a huge cache of 35,000 discs in Malaysian warehouses, many destined for export to Singapore, industry officials said on Wednesday.
Paddy was given to Malaysia by the MPA to help close down piracy syndicates who churn out vast quantities of illegal DVDs. The dog is specially trained to detect chemicals in the discs."
Submission + - Music streaming "to overtake downloads" (pcpro.co.uk)
Barence writes: "Streaming will overtake download services to become the dominant force in the online music industry, according to industry insiders. The claim comes in the wake of the PRS cutting the amount of royalties streaming services have to pay songwriters by about a third. Sites will now pay the PRS 0.085p per track, compared to the 0.22p they paid previously. On-demand streaming services still have to pay the record labels about 1p for every track streamed, however. Steve Purdham, CEO of music service We7, says the move will accelerate the growing trend towards online streaming which has seen newcomers such as his site and Spotify attract millions of users in less than a year. "Over the next 12-24 months you'll see a move towards listening [online]," Purdham told PC Pro. "Why do you actually need to have something downloaded on your PC? The streaming idea is really the future.""
