Comment Re:arg (Score 1, Funny) 92
You're a missing close paren, oodaloop!
YOU'RE A MISSING CLOSE PAREN!!!
Comment arg (Score 4, Insightful) 92
They describe it as "automagic", SO I HAVE NO #$%&*(*+&% INTEREST IN IT!
Ever! Arg!
Comment Re:How is this different than any other tablet? (Score 2) 303
OK, that's it.
If you people want to win the PR war, stop using the enemy's PR terms!
It isn't a walled garden. NO WAY.
That implies something wonderful and pleasant and beautiful and...
Walled garden? Nope, it is a JAIL. Designed so you CAN NOT escape, and your free will is negated.
Stop using their PR terms!
(note: Wattos.. you just happened to be the dude I replied to. Nothing personal, everyone seems to be using the enemy's PR terms)
Comment Re:Until of course the valve sticks open... (Score 1) 207
I live in an area with very poor roads.
I must have driven at least 1000 km on flats in my life, with nary a damaged rim to show for it.
Heck, a year ago, I drove for 2 days on a flat, until the entire tire ripped away and tore apart.
The rubber of the flat itself seems to protect the rim just fine, as long as you avoid deep potholes and such. So, yeah, when the rubber disintigrated, I put oon the spare.
Other than that... may as well drive to the garage on the flat. Heck, I've driven to the garage.. slowly, and even had them plug the tire. The garage was 15 km away...
Comment Re:Sounds different from the bike one. (Score 1) 207
As soon as you start driving, your tires warm up..
Why America's School "Lag" Has Never Mattered 361
The Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD), a forum of the top 34 developed economies, has released an annual education report, and guess what? The U.S. has once again ranked poorly in relation to many other developed countries. An article at TechCrunch argues that we needn't worry because it doesn't matter: "However, the report implies that education translates into gainful market skills, an assumption not found in the research. For instance, while Chinese students, on average, have twice the number of instructional hours as Americans, both countries have identical scores on tests of scientific reasoning.
'The results suggest that years of rigorous training of physics knowledge in middle and high schools have made significant impact on Chinese students’ ability in solving physics problems, while such training doesn’t seem to have direct effects on their general ability in scientific reasoning, which was measured to be at the same level as that of the students in USA,' wrote a team of researchers studying whether Chinese superiority in rote scientific knowledge translated into the kinds of creative thinking necessary for innovation."
Rewiring the Autistic Brain 139
sciencehabit writes "Signs of autism — such as impaired social skills and repetitive, ritualistic movements — usually begin to appear when a child is about 18 months old. Autism is thought to result from miswired connections in the developing brain, and many experts believe that therapies must begin during a 'critical window,' before the faulty circuits become fixed in place. But a new study (abstract) shows that at least one malfunctioning circuit can be repaired after that window closes, holding out hope that in some forms of autism, abnormal circuits in the brain can be corrected even after their development is complete."
Comment no way (Score 3, Insightful) 60
Google will fail utterly and completely at this.
Why?
Customer service. They have a horrible, HORRIBLE customer service record. They just simply are unable to do customer service.... and this product needs it.
Acer: Microsoft Surface 'Negative For The Whole PC Industry' 360
Shortly after Microsoft announced its upcoming Surface tablet, there was speculation that it might sour the company's relationships with OEM partners. Statements from an Acer spokesperson indicate that's definitely the case. The spokesperson told Bloomberg, "On one hand Microsoft is our partner, but on the other, Microsoft’s move makes them compete not only with us but all PC makers. We think that Microsoft’s launch of its own-brand products is negative for the whole PC industry." The company is reportedly considering whether or not they want to keep relying on Microsoft's software products.
Comment Re:From Minnesota here (Score 1) 122
Partially frozen chocolate milk is AWESOME when she's hot outside...
Church of Scientology Enlisting Followers In Censorship 628
DrEnter writes "Apparently, the recent very public divorce of Katie Holmes and devout believer Tom Cruise is reflecting negatively on the Church of Scientology. Adding to this are other recent issues causing problems for 'church' leadership. In response, the 'church' has decided to encourage its followers to censor online chatter and comments about the 'church' and the divorce. This Yahoo blog post sums it up nicely. In short, they are encouraging members to complain about people posting negative comments about the 'church' as violating the Code of Conduct' in the posting venue. I can only imagine they are hoping these complaints will just be rubber-stamped and respected without investigation, but I think the campaign deserves a bit more attention."
Comment What the?! (Score -1) 134
A months notice?
Bizarre. Apple usually isn't this silly.
Any quality company should give months and months notice for something like this. A year would be good.
Hell, some people's summer vacation will last longer than the whole warning period!
Burned people will remember this!
Comment yeah, but... (Score 0) 170
Yeah.. but does printing work yet?
A decade?
Comment Re:Singing the Blues (Score 1, Informative) 492
That was never the case, ever.
GNU/Linux Running On An 8-Bit Processor 361
dartttt writes, quoting Ubuntu Vibe: "Dmitry Grinberg has successfully booted Ubuntu 9.04 on an 8 bit micro machine with 6.5 KHz CPU and 16 MB RAM. Grinberg did this experiment on a ATmega1284p, 8-bit RISC microcontroller clocked at 24MHz and equipped with 16KB of SRAM and 128KB of flash storage. Since the RAM was too low, he added 30-pin 16MB SIMM to the machine and a 1 GB SD card to host Ubuntu image. ... To get the world's slowest Linux Computer running, he had to write an ARMv5 emulator which supports a 32bit processor and MMU. A similar machine can be made very easily and everything should come in about $20."
There is source code available, but it's under a non-commercial use only license. Just how slow is it? "It takes about 2 hours to boot to bash prompt ('init=/bin/bash' kernel command line). Then 4 more hours to boot up the entire Ubuntu ('exec init' and then login). Starting X takes a lot longer. The effective emulated CPU speed is about 6.5KHz, which is on par with what you'd expect emulating a 32-bit CPU & MMU on a measly 8-bit micro. Curiously enough, once booted, the system is somewhat usable. You can type a command and get a reply within a minute." If you like watching a whole lot of nothing, there's a video of the boot process below the fold.
