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Submission + - The Amazon Fire Is the Dirtiest Smartphone

Jason Koebler writes: The biggest thing that sets the Amazon Fire Phone apart from its Android and Apple competitors probably isn't the clean interface or the unlimited photo storage—it's the dirty power behind it. When Fire users upload their photos and data to Amazon's cloud, they'll be creating a lot more pollution than iPhone owners, Greenpeace says.
Apple has made a commitment to running its iCloud on 100 percent clean energy. Amazon, meanwhile, operates the dirtiest servers of any major tech giant that operates its own servers—only 15 percent of its energy comes from clean sources, which is about the default national average.

Submission + - The Earth barely missed solar storm equal to the Carrington event

eclectro writes: NASA is reporting that in July 2012 that a huge solar storm crossed the path that the Earth takes, with Earth missing it by a week. If the storm had occurred a week earlier it would have at least equaled the 1859 Carrington event. It would have sent civilization back to the 18th century costing the world economy 2 Trillion dollars. A scientist has calculated that the odds of this happening in the next ten years is 12%.

Submission + - ScummVM 1.7.0 Released

jones_supa writes: It's been a while since a new ScummVM release, but version 1.7.0 is now here with many exciting features. New games supported are The Neverhood, Mortville Manor, Voyeur, Return to Ringworld and Chivalry is Not Dead. The Roland MT-32 emulator has been updated, there is an OpenGL backend, the GUI has seen improvements, AGOS engine is enhanced, tons of SCI bug fixes have been applied, and various other improvements can be found. This version also introduces support for the OUYA gaming console and brings improvements to some other more exotic platforms. Please read the release notes for an accurate description of the new version.
Technology

Texas Town Turns To Treated Sewage For Drinking Water 242

Scientific American reports that Wichita Falls, Texas has taken an unusual step, precipitated by the years-long drought that Texas has faced: it's using treated sewage for drinking water. From the article: To launch what it calls its "Direct Potable Reuse Project," the city pipes water 12 miles from its wastewater treatment plant to this treatment facility where it goes through microfiltration. A pump pulls water through a module filled with fibers that removes most of the impurities. Then it is forced through a semi-permeable membrane that can remove dissolved salts and other contaminants. The process, called reverse osmosis, is used by the U.S. military, in ships and in the manufacture of silicon chips. The water then gets blended with lake water before going through the regular water treatment system. ... At 60 cents per 1,000 gallons, it's far cheaper than any other source of water, [Wichita Falls' public works director Russell] Schreiber said. ... He said there have been few complaints so far. A glass of the finished product, sampled at a downtown restaurant, tasted about average for West Texas.

Comment And you aren't going to find anyone either Sherlok (Score 1) 401

I've been trying to hire developers for multiple high-compensation positions in NYC

At an average wage of $70K for a STEM candidate (or are you offering less?), it will be impossible to find someone for your position - even an H1B candidate. Because apartments are starting at $2500/month for barely a closet space (if you can find one) in NYC. And most people want better than that. Even the people you want to drag in from overseas will need to find a place to live

You don't have a STEM problem, you have a housing problem.

Comment Re:Irresponsible parents are part of the problem h (Score 1) 137

I don't want a nanny state. Stop forcing it on me

We need to have the "nanny state" for those adult programmers who can't tell right from wrong and engineer there games in a deceptive and unfair way.

Sorry that it might interrupt your revenue stream, but the the games really should have a twenty for hour "refund" window, where there is an unconditional refund given to in-app purchases.

Comment Re:The Amazon AppStore Auto-consent (Score 4, Insightful) 137

They know about it. It isn't a bug, it is a feature that enables profits.

The games are purposefully engineered to be faulty so that you are *required* to make an in app purchase. And with the 'one click' nature of the in app purchases, it is easy for the game to make a purchase for you - either by mistake or by design!

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