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Comment Re:Wasn't JAVA supposed to prevent this? (Score 1) 636

You could replace "Android" with "Java" in this story and you'll probably find you have a dupe of a story from 5-6 years ago.

I worked on Java apps for cell phones and ran into all sorts of incompatibilities between handsets. Problems ranged from fundamental differences like screen sizes, variations in what libraries are implemented or not, all the way down to slight differences in behavior of library calls. It seems that unless you have one hardware/software source, like Apple and the iPhone, you're going to come across and have to work around a ton of variations.

Comment Re:Easy for publishers? (Score 1) 155

The ebook prices are ridiculous. I was tempted to download a book for the Kindle app on my ipod touch. Amazon cheerfully informed me the digital version was $9.99, the paperback was $7 new or around $2.50 used. What?! This is exactly the reason that I haven't bought an actual Kindle device.

Comment 1GB USB drive failed on me (Score 3, Interesting) 357

I have a Philips DVD drive with a usb port, and was using a 1GB flash drive to play back video files copied from my PC. The drive failed relatively quickly - I'd had it for about a year, but hadn't used it all that often. I started to notice the video files were corrupt on playback, but initially suspected the file itself, or possibly a problem with the DVD player's decoder. I diagnosed the problem by copying a file onto the drive, then repeatedly checksumming it. The first couple of times, the checksum value would be often be correct, then on subsequent checks it would change on me. I'd end up seeing several different checksum values, never seeing it return to a previous value. Whether this was due to a problem in the interface harware when reading, or memory cells failing to retain their state, I don't know.

Even though it was a year old and I had no receipt, the manufacturer (Kingmax, I think?) was happy to send a free replacement. The new drive has seen much more use, but is still working fine.

Programming

Submission + - Jason Della Rocca, Director of IGDA Interviewed

Sam writes: "GameAlmighty recently sat down with Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association to chat about the IGDA's new crediting white sheet, quality of life, and the evolution of the gaming industry. Check out the full interview at GameAlmighty.com"
Businesses

Submission + - Apple's failed Mac Clones

Gammu writes: Apple's most recent attempt to enter the cut-throat low-cost PC market, the Mac mini, was not its first. In the early-nineties, Apple was looking to license the Mac OS to a major PC manufacturer like Gateway 2000 or Dell. The big PC manufacturers declined, so Apple turned to Power Computing, which ultimately released computers faster and cheaper than Apple's own lineup. Instead of winning new customers, Power merely siphoned off some of Apple's.
Space

Submission + - 'Dead' Rocket Explodes In Orbit

Jacob writes: "A rocket which malfunctioned during launch a year ago recently exploded in orbit over Australia, and a number of amateur astronomers, including Rob McNaught (discoverer of Comet McNaught) were able to photograph the explosion and the resulting debris. NASA are now tracking over 1000 fragments, meaning that this has produced more space junk than China's recent ASAT test, it's possible that the fire and explosion were triggered by an encounter with space junk in orbit, and it's also possible the new junk cloud could impact other satellites in the future."

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