Comment Trust us! (Score 1) 176
Microsoft is the perfect organization to back this.
They've been foisting bugs on humans for years.
Comment Just take your laptop and go! (Score 1) 1095
I don't think you need to fuss with region codes or any such. You'll need to change the timezone and that's about it.
Since you've posted to slashdot asking whether you should bring your laptop, and used the word 'geek' 3-4 times, er yeah you probably are the type that would go into withdrawl without your laptop. It's a bit of a hassle to drag it around but you'll probably want it. If you have something lightweight like a netbook you'll definitely want it. Get a UK power adapter (AAA or pretty much any electronics store).
A laptop is useful for three things while you're traveling: a) planning/researching/arranging tourist stuff, b) uploading photos, c) satisfying your internet/email/gamer addictions.
Most hotels will have internet service for some fee. Your call on whether it is worth the money. You might be able to get free wifi from cafe/pub places but don't count on it.
The British museum will hold your interest for a day. If you're in London for two weeks, you can probably hit all the major tourist attractions. Get any tourist guide and work your way through it. Once you learn the Tube you can pretty much get anywhere you want. Make sure to go to a play or musical or two even if that's not normally what you're into. Go to at least one castle and one cathedral too. For geek cred, go to the Eye of London and try to think of as many movies as you can that had a scene showing that in it.
Comment Switchover was poorly timed (Score 3, Insightful) 589
"Breaking" everyone's analog TV is going to be controversial enough. But to time it to happen right after a new president is inaugurated?
Forget that this changeover has been in the works forever, who is Joe Blow going to blame? I don't blame the Obama administration for wanting to postpone it a bit.
Submission + - Inkscape 0.45 - Pretty blurry release
Bryce writes: "Our first major new release of Inkscape since last June is up. Inkscape is a vector drawing tool along the lines of Illustrator, CorelDraw, etc. but open source and available for Linux, OSX, and Windows. The major new feature is Gaussian Blur, sponsored by Google's Summer of Code program. With this, you can do a lot of photorealistic effects, drop shadows, glows, etc. Check out the Release Notes to see what else is changed, download it, and join the mailing lists."
Submission + - EarthCam's Most Interesting Webcams of 2006
Vicky writes: "EarthCam (www.earthcam.com), the leader in Webcam technology, has posted its anual Most Interesting Webcams list! EarthCam goes through many webcams and compiles a list of interesting, unique, and beautiful webcams. Many webcams are even live streams! It's definitely worth checking out."
Submission + - Terragen 2 Technology Preview released
Chris writes: "The long-awaited follow-up to the "photorealistic scenery generator software" Terragen, Terragen 2, is making its first public release since going into development a few years ago. According to creator Matt Fairclough's website, this Technology Preview is based on the high-end edition of the full program — the release date of which has not been announced — and utilizes most of its features. It has been suggested, however, that the node-based system might scare off the less savvy users and, as such, the release is geared towards the high-end users.
There are two versions of the Technology Preview: one for Windows 2000 and XP (no word on whether it will work with Vista) and one for Macintosh OSX 10.4. As of the time of this writing, the site is severely slow and there seems to be an error with the mirror script Planetside is using, but some members on the Terragen message board are announcing their success in downloading the client."
