Comment Simple. (Score 5, Informative) 263
Couldn't an employee just use their own phone to send private texts?
Tearing Apart a Hard-Sell Anti-Virus Ad 192
climenole writes "I came across an email sent by a security vendor, reminding me, no urging me with the liver-transplant sort of urgency, to renew my subscription to their product, lest my pixels perish. I spent a minute or two staring at the email, thinking about all the poor souls out there who do not have the comfort of being a geek and who may actually take the advertisement seriously." That led to this insightful deconstruction of these over-the-top ads, the kind that make it hard to keep straight the malware makers and the anti-malware makers.
Comment Re:Good thing (Score 1) 949
I want to know how they can get a users name when they only have the IP address. I was assuming that ISPs don't just hand over that info. Am I missing something?
Comment He's paying for it? (Score 1) 139
The designer, Enrico Dini, is even talking with various organizations about making the printer compatible with moon dust, paying the way for an instant moonbase!"
He's paying for it? Is Mr. Dini some sort of James Bond villain? (I think it could of meant paving the way.)
3-D Printer Creates Buildings From Dust and Glue 139
An anonymous reader writes "D-Shape, an innovative new 3-D printer, builds solid structures like sculptures, furniture, even buildings from the ground up. The device relies on sand and magnesium glue to actually build structures layer by layer from solid stone. The designer, Enrico Dini, is even talking with various organizations about making the printer compatible with moon dust, paving the way for an instant moonbase!"
Comment Re:Dvorak isn't better (Score 1) 425
Looking over at my wife's Qwerty, A and S are are close.
Dvorak doesn't stop mistakes like that!
Comment Re:Dvorak isn't better (Score 1) 425
(3) at least one study indicates that placing commonly used keys far apart, as with the QWERTY, actually speeds typing, since you frequently alternate hands[.]
That sounds backwards. A Dvorak has, for example, A and S on opposite sides of the keyboard. In fact, all the vowels are on the left side of the home row. And all of your most popular consonants are the other side.
Looking over at my wife's Qwerty, A and S are are close. So are E and R.
[This is off topic in regards to the above quote] Please realize that there's hardly anyone that just types Dvorak. Those that have two weeks to learn the new layout type both Qwerty and Dvorak! Your Qwerty speed can't go down, unless you neglect Qwerty entirely for years.
Comment Re:Firefox plugin install method (Score 1) 951
Just put a timer on the buttons that won't let them click it for 10 seconds [like Firefox's plugin install method]
That's kinda neat. I thought it was allowing time for Firefox to download the plugin or somesuch. Had me fooled, to their credit.
Comment Re:Legislate a technical solution. (Score 1) 180
Bwhen some idiot is breaking the rules to install some sort of software that they're already not allowed to install...
What sort of rules are you talking about exactly?
Copyright and the Games Industry 94
A recent post at the Press Start To Drink blog examined the relationship the games industry has with copyright laws. More so than in some other creative industries, the reactions of game companies to derivative works are widely varied and often unpredictable, ranging anywhere from active support to situations like the Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes debacle. Quoting:
"... even within the gaming industry, there is a tension between IP holders and fan producers/poachers. Some companies, such as Epic and Square Enix, remain incredibly protective of their Intellectual Property, threatening those that use their creations, even for non-profit, cultural reasons, with legal suits. Other companies, like Valve, seem to, if not embrace, at least tolerate, and perhaps even tacitly encourage this kind of fan engagement with their work. Lessig suggests, 'The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check with a lawyer.' Indeed, the more developers and publishers that take up Valve's position, the more creativity and innovation will emerge out of video game fan communities, already known for their intense fandom and desire to add to, alter, and re-imagine their favorite gaming universes."
ioquake3 1.36 Goes Gold 176
Time Doctor writes "The de-facto standard in Quake 3 engine technology, ioquake3, has hit version 1.36 recently. It includes a garbage bag full of improvements: in-game VOIP; optional external Mumble (voip); OpenAL; IPV6; anaglyph stereo rendering; Full x86-64 architecture support; Rewritten PowerPC JIT compiler, with ppc64 support; new SPARC JIT compiler, with support for both sparc32 and sparc64; improved console command auto-completion; persistent console command history; improved QVM (Quake Virtual Machine) tools; colored terminal output on POSIX operating systems; multiuser support on Windows systems (user-specific game data is stored in their respective Application Data folders); PNG format support for textures. Of course, there are even more fixes for security holes and other bugs in there. So, if you don't like ads and queues in your Quake 3 experience, get a copy of Quake 3 off Steam and copy your data files and key into your ioquake3 directory."
Segway, GM Partner On Two-Wheeled Electric Car 394
Slartibartfast was one of many readers sending in news of GM's partnership with Segway to develop a two-seater urban electric vehicle. It's called the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or "PUMA." This is just a prototype, so don't get your credit card out yet. Its total cost of ownership could be about 1/4 that of a traditional car, GM says. The prototype runs for 35 miles, at a top speed of 35 mph, on lithium-ion batteries. It features the now-familiar Segway balancing technology, though fore-and-aft training wheels are visible on the prototype. Some commentators have likened it to a high-tech rickshaw, others to a golf cart. Engadget describes how the ride feels.
Comment Re:Missing Option (Score 1) 509
You sir lack imagination.
You, sir, lack commas. (What's a "sir lack"?)
