Comment Re:Give option by default (Score 1) 163
Or they could just use one of the many commercial products available that do this sort of filtering for you. But no, of course we need the government to do it for everyone.
Comment Re:Huehuehuehue (Score 5, Interesting) 251
Mercury, and essentially every browser on iOS, is just a different UI on top of Safari. Obviously this allows for extra features, but limits how much can be done with them. Apple enforces this rule, and doesn't allow browsers which use a different rendering engine. Android doesn't have this limitation, which allows for a much larger variety of browsers, and much bigger gaps in performance. The same site did a similar test with iOS browsers, and the performance results were very similar, which isn't exactly surprising since they all use the same back end.
Comment Interesting, but not that useful (Score 5, Interesting) 251
While some of the results are interesting, I don't think this is a particularly good comparison. For a lot of the tests they said "This doesn't work on this browser, so we didn't include that test". Surely that should be a win for the browsers that DO support it, rather than just ignoring that feature. Personally, I'd care more that a browser can render more things, rather than if it can render some things a few seconds faster, but fail at others.
Not to mention, it completely ignores things like features, reliability, usability, security, etc, which are very varied between the different browsers. That's what I base my choice on anyway, and many that I've tried either crash, fail to load some pages, render pages incorrectly, or lack important features. Personally I find Firefox works best for me, but results would probably vary with different phones/OS versions, and some features are more important than others for different people
But hey, everyone loves benchmark numbers
Comment Re:What is the ARM bringing? (Score 1) 230
The Intel Atom CPUs actually have pretty low power usage compared to ARM. The Intel powered RAZR i has better battery life than the ARM powered RAZR M (identical hardware besides the SoC). The performance of the Intels isn't quite as good in mobiles, but that's partly down to optimisation.
Comment Re:Qui Bono? (Score 1) 434
Android has been ported to x86, a lot of the code was contributed by Intel themselves. There's only one or two x86 based Android phones out so far though, so you're right that it is primarily an ARM market.
Comment Re:In pieces (Score 1) 130
They've said that they don't plan for Xen to just be an "epilogue", it sounds like they want to make the rest of the game as long as the part they've released so far. Not sure what they have planned. (Source: http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/03/black-mesa-xen-sections-will-be-their-own-expanded-game-says-dev/ )
Submission + - First part of Black Mesa released (blackmesasource.com)
ProbablyJoe writes: The long awaited Source engine remake of the Valve's original Half Life has finally been released. The initial release only includes the story up until Xen, but the developers say they'll be adding the rest of the story, along with an online multiplayer Deathmatch mode, soon. The game is available to download for free, and only requires players to install the Source SDK (included with all Source games, or a free download.
The highly anticipated release has also caused a huge amount of traffic for any servers hosting the files, with GameFront, GameUpdates, and Black Mesa's own CDN brought down within minutes of the release. The project has also been approved by Steam's Greenlight program, and will hopefully be available through Steam soon, though no timeframe has been given.
The highly anticipated release has also caused a huge amount of traffic for any servers hosting the files, with GameFront, GameUpdates, and Black Mesa's own CDN brought down within minutes of the release. The project has also been approved by Steam's Greenlight program, and will hopefully be available through Steam soon, though no timeframe has been given.
Submission + - Microsoft discontinues use of Metro name (geek.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: If you’ve read any news coming out of Microsoft over the past year relating to Windows 8 or Windows Phone, you’ve heard the name “Metro” used quite heavily. Metro refers to the design language and overall style of the interface Microsoft is using for both its desktop/tablet and mobile operating systems.
As of today, Metro is no longer a word Microsoft will be using to describe anything to do with their product line-up. It has officially been killed off as a term Microsoft’s staff and marketing is allowed to use.
The specific reason for this sudden change remains unclear. It was first thought to be due to a trademark infringement Microsoft couldn’t settle with German company Metro AG. Microsoft has since sent around an internal memo stating Metro will no longer be used following “discussions with an important European partner.”
As of today, Metro is no longer a word Microsoft will be using to describe anything to do with their product line-up. It has officially been killed off as a term Microsoft’s staff and marketing is allowed to use.
The specific reason for this sudden change remains unclear. It was first thought to be due to a trademark infringement Microsoft couldn’t settle with German company Metro AG. Microsoft has since sent around an internal memo stating Metro will no longer be used following “discussions with an important European partner.”
Comment Re:No Flash...No Point (Score 1) 58
It's not available on the Play store in JB, or installed by default, but you can still install the APK manually, and it still works in browsers that support it. (Firefox, Opera, Dolphin. Not sure if the stock browser still does on JB)
Besides, if people cared about Flash that much then the iPhone/iPad wouln't be so popular. It's nice having the option of Flash on my phone, but I didn't even realise until last week that I didn't have it installed, after having my current phone for 3 months. It's rare that I have a need for it on my phone.
Comment Re:Old Horses and New Carts (Score 1) 58
Well, yes and no. You can't just take the code they've released and put it on your phone, since that lacks a lot of the hardware drivers and such that are needed to make it compatible with each phone. It's possible for developers to get it to work on most phones, but it takes some time. At the moment, pretty much the only phones which you can put a fully functioning Jelly Bean ROM are the Nexus phones. A lot other recent phones have already got people working on JB ROMs, and many of them have beta versions already, but most of them have problems with various things (eg camera, wifi, audio not working). Chances are they'll get it working before the manufacturers actually release updates.
Once there is a ROM available though, the process of installing it is pretty simple for most devices. Anything that could run ICS should be able to run JB, assuming people are able to port it.
Comment Re:It's going to be GREAT!!!! (Score 1) 78
I think they're just referencing the Kindle Fire, which is very Amazon centric and cuts out a lot of the functionality of Android. It's pretty much designed to use Amazon content and nothing else. It's easy to assume that any phone the produced would be similar.
Submission + - Scientists store information in quantum bits for nearly two seconds. (thebunsenburner.com)
FBeans writes: "Using a pair of impurities in ultra-pure, laboratory-grown diamonds, the researchers announced earlier this week that preliminary results show the ability to create quantum bits and store information in them for nearly two seconds — an increase of nearly six magnitudes, say the scientists. The work, described in the June 8 issue of Science, is a critical first step in the eventual construction of a functional quantum computer that could one day allow for advanced computations."
"One challenge facing quantum computing is creating computers that can remain in a solid-state at room temperature. Most systems rely on complex and expensive equipment designed to trap an atom or electron in a vacuum, and then cool the entire system to nearly absolute zero, or 459.67 Fahrenheit. Researchers say the experiment is an essential finding for the evolution of the quantum computer, saying it will likely serve as cornerstone in the coming years."
"The practical purposes of a quantum computer are nearly endless, say scientists. Quantum computers are expected to play an important role in future information processing since they can outperform classical computers at many tasks."
"One challenge facing quantum computing is creating computers that can remain in a solid-state at room temperature. Most systems rely on complex and expensive equipment designed to trap an atom or electron in a vacuum, and then cool the entire system to nearly absolute zero, or 459.67 Fahrenheit. Researchers say the experiment is an essential finding for the evolution of the quantum computer, saying it will likely serve as cornerstone in the coming years."
"The practical purposes of a quantum computer are nearly endless, say scientists. Quantum computers are expected to play an important role in future information processing since they can outperform classical computers at many tasks."
Comment Re:Never heard of these games (Score 3, Informative) 145
Amnesia is the only one I've played, which is very good. Bastion and Limbo are also very highly rated. Don't know anything about the one.
Comment Limbo Linux port (Score 4, Informative) 145
Unfortunately the Linux 'port' of Limbo is actually just a Wine wrapper. It doesn't even run for me, some say it works worse than running the Windows binary in Wine, or have reported various problems and bad performance.
Pretty lazy when every other game has managed to make a proper native Linux port.
Comment Re:I thought this was already refuted? (Score 1) 272
So are MS just complaining about a problem which was already fixed before Chrome topped IE in their rankings? That's how it sounds at least.
From StatCounter's FAQ, and also noted on all of their graphs for this time period:
"Further to a significant number of user requests, we are now adjusting our browser stats to remove the effect of prerendering in Google Chrome. From 1 May 2012, prerendered pages (which are not actually viewed) are not included in our stats."
