Comment Re:What's the catch? (Score 5, Informative) 133
its not really legislation as it has no binding power whatsoever. Its pretty much "Hey, we dont like this idea" shout from them.
Comment Re:That's nothing! (Score 1) 362
2B figure relates to the total cost of program (including PR spendings and other stuff). .
On the other hand there is also some extra computer related costs:
"(...) $227 million in computer costs, including complicated application forms that slow processing times; and $332 million for other programming costs, including money to pay staff to process the forms (...)"
Comment Re:Who still uses silverlight? (Score 1) 247
Very large part of sites that want/need to stream DRMed video content.
Comment Re:Java? (Score 1) 247
Because they just turn java off on regular basis. Sometimes even when user explicitly tells them not to do this
Comment dilbert reference (Score 1) 117
from S1E11 animated series episode:
boss:
"Everybody who donates will get one of these colorful, stylish I-get-to-keep-my-job T-shirts. Of course participation is completely 100% voluntary."
Comment it will about balance itself (Score 2) 212
I guess it may help some people that crash in some remote place in the night (so basically where none would report it anyway).
Unfortunately it solves pretty much the wrong problem. The biggest issue with help is not that it is not notified in time, but that it cant arrive in time. There is not enough ambulances and they often have to travel vast distance to help. Adding new source of calls wont help.
Whats more they will now get more distracting calls from accidents that are resolved by participants or cops (no serious injuries - sensors cant tell about this) or even completely bogus from defective cars, so the ambulances will move around needlessly at some times (likely failing to help some extra people due to extra distance).
Comment Re:stop and RTFA first (Score 1) 228
From the Rockstar announcement:
"In the event we decide to absolve any of these cheaters for their past transgressions they may re-enter play with the general public, however a second offense will result in their indefinite banishment."
So:
1. it only applies to those that get moved back to normal servers
2. word "banishment" may mean ban, but may also mean just being poot in cheaters pool without chance of returning to normal game (and I think second interpretation is the correct one)
Comment Re:Good luck (Score 1) 324
Interesting... Mine is 13 MB while in tray, 20 - 25MB in library. Entering shop I get ~60MB. Seems like switching between html tabs (shop, community, news) wastes some memory (steam uses more after each switch). But after putting steam back in tray all that memory is released and it goes back to 13MB.
Comment docx support? (Score 1) 205
And does it finally have proper support for MS docx format? I rarely write anything in Writer and it works good enough in that aspect. Unfortunately my main use for such application is reading docs (specification etc) send by someone else and docx support is just abysmal - I had to install MS Word Viewer for this. And no, getting them to send it in some normal format is not always an option.
Submission + - 40 Years Of The Microprocessor (v3.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: The Microprocessor turns 40 this year and V3.co.uk celebrates by producing this visual timeline to look back at the history of one of the most important inventions of the last century.
Submission + - bitcoin value implodes (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently unbeknownst to slashdot's editors and in spite of their relentless promotion of bitcoin a few months ago, bitcoin value has completely tanked in the few short months since June. Is it still too late to return those mining GPUs we've bought to Best Buy?
Submission + - The birth of technology in Silicon Valley (digitaltrends.com)
mihamicka writes: A great story about how Silicon Valley showed up and also a story who destroys myths like "Microsoft and Apple made Silicon Valley" when in fact was the other way around.
"From the early days of Stanford, to pioneers who revolutionized the world while Steve Jobs was still in diapers, this is how a humble farming valley transformed into the epicenter of all things tech."
"From the early days of Stanford, to pioneers who revolutionized the world while Steve Jobs was still in diapers, this is how a humble farming valley transformed into the epicenter of all things tech."
Submission + - More Schools Go to 4 Day Week to Cut Costs 1
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Time Magazine reports that as schools return to session in South Dakota, more than one-fourth of students in the state will only be in class from Monday through Thursday as budget constraints lead school districts to hack off a day from the school week. Larry Johnke, superintendant of the Irene-Wakonda school district, says the change will save his schools more than $50,000 per year and in order to make up for the missing day, schools will add 30 minutes to each of the other four days and shorten the daily lunch break. “In this financial crisis, we wanted to maintain our core content and vocational program, so we were forced to do this,” says Johnke. Experts say research is scant on the effect of a four-day school week on student performance but many of the 120 districts that have the shortened schedule nationwide say they've seen students who are less tired and more focused, which has helped raise test scores and attendance while others say that not only did they not save a substantial amount of money by being off an extra day, they also saw students struggle because they weren't in class enough and didn't have enough contact with teachers. "Teachers tell me they are much more focused because they've had time to prepare. They don't have kids sleeping in class on Tuesday," says LaKeisha Johnson, a parent in Peach County Georgia, who sends her fourth-grade daughter to the Boys & Girls Club on Mondays. "Everything has taken on a laser-light focus.""
Submission + - The 12 Biggest PC Duds Ever
adeelarshad82 writes: We're all familiar with the most successful personal computers—the IBM PC, the Apple Macintosh, the Commodore 64—but what about the other side of the coin? In the 30 years since the IBM PC was introduced there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of models that arrived with great fanfare only to tank at the marketplace. These are the redundant, the shameful, the stupid. These are the duds.
Submission + - Chinese to keep us from going extinct in 2036 (technologyreview.com)
wisebabo writes: So as the article says, the Chinese have proposed sending a solar sail driven probe to hit the asteroid Apophis to make sure it has no chance of going through a "keyhole" near earth in 2029. If it goes through the keyhole then it will hit the earth seven years later.
The reason why they need to use a solar sail is because they want the very small probe (10kg?) to hit the asteroid in the opposite direction, a retrograde orbit which would otherwise require an insane amount of fuel (after being put on an escape trajectory it would need to first cancel out the earth's orbital momentum and then basically speed up to a likewise high velocity in the OPPOSITE direction). They are doing this to hit the asteroid at a very high impact speed.
While Apophis may not literally be capable of wiping us out (it "only" weighs 46 million kilograms) it might be able to wreck our civilization. So rather than putting the fate of our species into the hands of an untried technology (no solar sail has yet imparted substantial delta-V to its spacecraft) may I suggest an alternative? By using Jupiter as a gravity assist we could send a much heavier probe to hit it at comparable speeds. For example the Juno spacecraft, recently launched to the gas giant weighs almost 8000kgs.
Jupiter could sling a spacecraft around so as to completely cancel its orbital momentum (with no fuel expenditure!). Then it will fall directly towards the sun and, if guided correctly, could hit Apophis broadside. Considering it will be falling from a height of several hundred million miles it would pack quite a blow. Admittedly, the impact will be on the side rather than head on but that should be okay since all we have to do is assure that Apophis doesn't pass through the keyhole which is only 600m wide.
Don't get my wrong, I hope that solar sails become widely used for the (slow, cheap) transport of cargos in the solar system. It's just that I wouldn't base the defense of earth on them. Then again, if you were able to very accurately control the asteroid impactor, not only could you control IF the asteroid was going to go through the keyhole but WHERE it was going to go through. Then you could determine where, on earth, the asteroid was going to eventually going to hit.
Say on an unfriendly nation (that was preferably on another continent).
The reason why they need to use a solar sail is because they want the very small probe (10kg?) to hit the asteroid in the opposite direction, a retrograde orbit which would otherwise require an insane amount of fuel (after being put on an escape trajectory it would need to first cancel out the earth's orbital momentum and then basically speed up to a likewise high velocity in the OPPOSITE direction). They are doing this to hit the asteroid at a very high impact speed.
While Apophis may not literally be capable of wiping us out (it "only" weighs 46 million kilograms) it might be able to wreck our civilization. So rather than putting the fate of our species into the hands of an untried technology (no solar sail has yet imparted substantial delta-V to its spacecraft) may I suggest an alternative? By using Jupiter as a gravity assist we could send a much heavier probe to hit it at comparable speeds. For example the Juno spacecraft, recently launched to the gas giant weighs almost 8000kgs.
Jupiter could sling a spacecraft around so as to completely cancel its orbital momentum (with no fuel expenditure!). Then it will fall directly towards the sun and, if guided correctly, could hit Apophis broadside. Considering it will be falling from a height of several hundred million miles it would pack quite a blow. Admittedly, the impact will be on the side rather than head on but that should be okay since all we have to do is assure that Apophis doesn't pass through the keyhole which is only 600m wide.
Don't get my wrong, I hope that solar sails become widely used for the (slow, cheap) transport of cargos in the solar system. It's just that I wouldn't base the defense of earth on them. Then again, if you were able to very accurately control the asteroid impactor, not only could you control IF the asteroid was going to go through the keyhole but WHERE it was going to go through. Then you could determine where, on earth, the asteroid was going to eventually going to hit.
Say on an unfriendly nation (that was preferably on another continent).
