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Google

Submission + - Google Doodle - A Turing Machine Puzzle (i-programmer.info)

mikejuk writes: The Google Doodle is often a masterpiece of design but this time it is a masterpiece of computer science. The doodle is a complete Turing Machine that you can interact with in an attempt to solve a puzzle. You have to select which logical elements are needed to convert one number on the tape into a target number. The article explains the increasingly difficult steps of the puzzle but then lets you solve it — but there is a YouTube video that simply gives you the answers if you really get stuck.

Comment Re:So out of curiosity, (Score 5, Informative) 147

Nope, you misunderstand. I got them to issue one of the free certs for one of my domains (I use Gandi for all of my registrations), and it works perfectly with all major browsers out of the box.
All you have to do is add Gandi's intermediate certificate (the cert that links their signature on your free cert to the base CA cert that's in everybody's browser), but you do that on your server (web/mail/whatever) and offer it up as part of the SSL negotiation. It works perfectly, and transparently. It is definitely NOT like the hassle of a self-signed certificate, where you DO have to either add the "security exception" to every client's browser, or get them to install your cert into their browser ahead of time.

Linux

Submission + - Amazon Unable to get License for Linux Development 3

ritcereal writes: I recently asked Amazon's Kindle Feedback why they did not support Linux while supporting every other major Operating System. Here's the answer I got:
"At this time, the Linux OS is not supported for Kindle applications or Kindle content. The reason it is unavailable is because we haven't gotten the rights from Linux to do so, we have to work with them in order to get the program up and running, and so far they haven't allowed us to do so. We are always working hard to expand our reading options, and appreciate your feedback."
Apparently Amazon is incapable of obtaining the rights from Linux to make an application? I'm calling bullshit on this, what do you think?

Submission + - Paypal alternatives? 6

dotancohen writes: It seems that everything that I used to do with Paypal is gone, and nobody has found a good alternative yet. This month I tried donating to Anki (but Paypal is no longer serving Japan for donations) and Virtual Identity (which stopped accepting Paypal due to the Wikileaks incident). The authors of both software are looking for alternatives. What can we recommend to them? What reliable and inexpensive money-transfer services exist today? What do you use?

Comment Re:Electricity, and gas (fuels) too... (Score 1) 507

These sort of usage meters are *great*. I got one of these: http://www.egauge.net/

Pricier, sure. But mine includes up to 12 customizable channels of measurement and a 20+ year non-volatile memory for historical data.
It also runs Linux (bonus points around here, right?) and has this spiffy web interface where you can watch me go broke in real time because I'm running a server/storage farm in my basement: http://egauge614.d.egauge.net/
I'm still surprised the narcs haven't busted down my door because they THINK I have a grow op.

Idle

Submission + - Police called over 11-year-old's science project (boingboing.net) 2

garg0yle writes: Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of "a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics", after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family "get counseling". Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?

Comment Re:To many shops think HA==DR (Score 2, Informative) 711

People who care about their data and their business know what they mean.

Although, at my particular shop, we use the term "BC" instead of "HA".
BC = Business Continuance (HA = High Availability)
DR = Disaster Recovery

BC = "Looks like we just lost a drive in the array. Better replace that right away." or "Oops, broke one of the multiple fibers to the SAN. Where's the spare again?"
BC also applies to our load-balanced clusters of web servers and application servers that allow for the offlining or loss of entire machines without losing functionality. You need more than your data existing on media to Continue Business - you and your customers need to be able to GET to it somehow.

DR = Your building just burned to the ground, taking every single piece of furniture, equipment, paper, and magnetic media inside along with it. Now what?
Please note that the coolest, slickest, snapshotted NAS with terabytes and terabytes of awesome cheap SATA storage in it is worth exactly JACK in this scenario if it's in the same building as the source material. Offsite backups are not optional, and offsite storage of hard drives isn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

Software

Submission + - Laplink Turns 25 and Gives Everything Away! 2

crackerjack2008 writes: "25 years is a long time for a birthday party. And when you have a birthday party, aren't you the one who is receiving gifts? We'll Laplink has decided to do the opposite. Laplink is giving away PCmover for free for 24 hours only. This product sells for $50. PCmover transfers all of your files, applications and settings from your old PC to a new PC. Laplink Software is celebrating its 25th Anniversary on May 15th, with a free giveaway of their award winning PCmover. Just visit http://www.laplink.com/ on May 15th for your free copy of PCmover and also the chance to win many great products such as; Gateway Laptops, Targus laptop bags, Microsoft products, USB sticks and much more."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPod Touch screen problems - defect or design? 2

The Blue Meanie writes: As reported by a friend of mine, and confirmed with a thread or two elsewhere, people are noticing that a number of the new iPod Touch screens are producing really BAD video, especially in darker areas. Is this just a case of Apple picking a lousy screen for this model, or is this a manufacturing defect? They obviously didn't use the screen from the iPhone — are Touch users destined to suffer with sub-par video?
Businesses

Submission + - Comparison of Working at the 3 Big Software Giants

castironwok writes: "Finally, everything you've ever wanted to know about being an employee at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Tastyresearch describes his (or her) past few years interning and working at the three companies. Things I didn't know from before: Bill Gates wears old shoes, Google's internal security watches you like a hawk, the office styles of each company, and how to fill your suitcase with Google T-shirts. He calls the few select companies the 'prestigious internship circle', noting "once you have worked at one, it's a lot easier to get into another". But what *I* really want to know now, is who has a more equal male-female ratio?"
Networking

Submission + - Charter pulls a Verisign

_peter writes: As of sometime today, Charter internet customers, at least in the St. Louis area, got their own version of SiteFinder. I just finished talking to their tech support for about an hour, and have verified that it is intentional, and the only way to ``opt-out'' is to let them set a cookie in your browser. Obviously this doesn't work for connections that aren't browser-based. When I asked to be transferred to account services to cancel, the very nice representative begged for a day to look into the issue. Perhaps any other Charter customers might want to check to see if they've received this feature as well.
Spam

Submission + - Is there any reason to report spammers to ISP's?

marko_ramius writes: For years I've been a good netizen and reported spam that I get to the appropriate contacts at ISP's. In the entire time that I've done this I've gotten (maybe) 5 or 6 responses from those ISP's informing me that they have taken action against the spammer.

In recent years, however, I haven't gotten any responses.

Are the ISP's so overwhelmed with abuse reports to respond to ANYBODY that reports spam? Do they even bother acting on the reports?

Is there any real reason to report spammers?
Google

Submission + - Turns Out Google Really Does Listen

SamThomp writes: "There's a perfect Google underdog story going on right now. It goes like this: A college student named Aaron Stanton has an idea he thinks Google will love. He tries to get in touch via phone, e-mail, and their web forms with no luck. Then, spurred by his father nearly dying of an embolism near Christmas, he takes a chance and flies to Mountain View, CA without an appointment, intending to sit in their lobby "like a spoiled child" until he gets a chance to meet with someone. He's been there about three days, now.

Here's where it gets interesting. He creates a website called CanGoogleHearMe.com, and uses Google Video to document his journey in hopes that it might be seen by someone at Google and they'll show pity. At first he's turned away (links to Google Video) at the door and doesn't get a chance to talk to anyone. Then, apparently someone in Google does notice the website and it spreads — word of mouth — inside of Google like wildfire; 600 people visit the site in two hours from inside of Google's headquarters at Mountain View.

Then, late last night — three days into his trip — the guy gets an e-mail with the subject line, "We can hear you :)" that says they're willing to listen to him. No meeting for sure yet, but a step in the right direction.

It's like "actual" reality TV. :) If you're looking for an interesting story to pay attention to for the week, it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. So far, Google seems to be living up to their image of being a large company that's open to ideas. As far as I'm concerned, best of luck to them both."

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