Comment Re:And Yet... (Score 1) 140
wat?
Comment And Yet... (Score 1) 140
This entire project will fall by the wayside in America because it's not wrapped up in pretty little buzzwords and it's not backed by grinning suits. I swear that the entire country is suffering Stockholm Syndrome as far as internet access is concerned.
Submission + - Learning Programming in a Post-BASIC World (computerworld.com) 5
ErichTheRed writes: This Computerworld piece actually got me thinking — it basically says that there are few good "starter languages" to get students interested in programming. I remember hacking away at BASIC incessantly when I was a kid, and it taught me a lot about logic and computers in general. Has the level of abstraction in computer systems reached a point where beginners can't just code something quick without a huge amount of back-story? I find this to be the case now; scripting languages are good, but limited in what you can do...and GUI creation requires students to be familiar with a lot of concepts (event handling, etc.) that aren't intuitive for beginners. What would you show a beginner first — JavaScript? Python? How do you get the instant gratification we oldies got when sitting down in front of the early-80s home computers?
Submission + - Best Buy Wants To Sue You For Being a Geek (itworld.com)
itwbennett writes: "Well, maybe not you... yet. But it certainly is eager to sue any company that uses the word geek. 'It was probably legitimate to go after Newegg, which ran a commercial showing a clueless salesteen at a big-box electronics store trying to explain the difference between two laptops, before flashing the slogan 'Take it from a Geek' to show you can learn more reading about a product on Newegg (or anywhere) than from asking even pertinent questions at Best Buy,' says blogger Kevin Fogarty. But the company even 'went after a Wisconsin priest who decided to market either his services or God's (it wasn't real clear who would be handling the service-fulfillment end of the SLA) by painting "God Squad" on his VW Beetle."
Submission + - LulzSec and Anonymous Team Up For AntiSec Op (net-security.org)
Orome1 writes: Over the weekend, LulzSec has seemingly finally moved away from being in it "for the lulz" and has acquired a cause: it has announced it has teamed up with Anonymous and other "affiliated battleships" and that it is launching "Operation Anti-Security". Their top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation.
Submission + - Secrecy and collusion: Nuclear power regulation (cleveland.com) 2
mdsolar writes: "An AP investigation shows that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been systematically lowering safety standards to keep old and failing nuclear plants running. http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/06/nrc_loosens_ignores_safety_rul.html
Records show a recurring pattern: Reactor parts or systems fall out of compliance with the rules. Studies are conducted by the industry and government, and all agree that existing standards are "unnecessarily conservative." Regulations are loosened, and the reactors are back in compliance.
At the same time, the shroud of secrecy is descending on international efforts to investigate the recent nuclear disaster in Japan http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-20/fukushima-disaster-failures-kept-behind-closed-doors-at-un-atomic-meeting.html
Sweeping under the rug seems to be the primary approach to nuclear safety at all levels."
Submission + - Turning memories on/off with the flip of a switch (gizmag.com)
cylonlover writes: Using electrical probes embedded into the brains of rats, scientists have managed to replicate the brain function associated with long-term behavior and found a way to literally turn memories on and off with the flip of a switch. The scientists hope their research will eventually lead to a neural prosthesis to help people suffering Alzheimer's disease, the effects of stroke or other brain injury to recover long-term memory capability.
Comment First HFCS and now this? (Score 1) 417
You Japs are real fuckers, you know that?
Comment You forgot to mention (Score 1) 148
In the wall of logos at the back of the book, even though the EFF was in attendance, they were left out.
Comment No complaints here. (Score 1) 432
The only thing my school did was require Windows users to install a special client onto their machines to verify that their antivirus is adequate. Other than that, they have been good to people across the board, making no effort to discriminate against any operating system.
Keep it that way guys!
Keep it that way guys!
Submission + - Senator Complains That Bitcoin Is Money Laundering (techdirt.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: In a followup to the earlier story about Bitcoin being used for Narcotics, Senator Schumer has already come out condemning Bitcoin itself, claiming that it's a form of money laundering, because there's no way to trace the history. Apparently Senator Schumer is unaware of the untraceable nature of "cash."
Comment Re:Happy Birthday (Score 1) 193
Perhaps. But without Ubuntu I don't think that College Humor would have ever given Linux a nod in any of their videos (Look up The Matrix on Windows). /irrelevance
Comment Re:Happy Birthday (Score 2) 193
Sounds like Canonical has that covered.
Submission + - Star Wars Pole Dance (youtube.com)
An anonymous reader writes: This is what happens when geek girls who love Star Wars do a silly dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ceZ395cCHR0
Submission + - Plans to detect and disable rooted android phones (mydroidworld.com) 1
click2005 writes: Motorola is working with the major carriers to detect and disable rooted Android phones in an effort to prevent "theft of services".
