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Comment Misguided Authority Rules Again (Score 4, Insightful) 75

by Unknown1337 (#45556301) Attached to: French Court Orders Search Engines, ISPs To Block Pirate Sites
Another ridiculous case where the courts attempt to stop a leak by putting a bucket under it; instead of turning off the water. Whether you agree or not with the operation of the sites is not valid in this argument. The entertainment companies can't stop the real problem so they are targeting anyone who makes it easier to find. Perhaps we should think bigger. Sue the entire US government for supporting the Internet because it helps people find search engines which offer routes to illegal content. Or perhaps bigger yet, sue copper manufacturers or OS development companies for without them there would be no reasonable computer access... Just a farce as far as I'm concerned, they can't win the real battle so they'll sabotage anyone they can get their hands on... the media industry needs to grow up.

Submission + - Is Nissan Going To Take On Google Glass? (thecarconnection.com)

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Oh dear. We've heard rumors of Google Glass competitors from everyone, including Apple, Samsung, and other electronics companies. But now we have an, uhm, automaker jumping into the fray, and it's not a rumor. Nissan is unveiling a gadget called 3E that's clearly meant to compete with Google Glass. A teaser video released on YouTube says the 3E is a glasses-type wearable device currently under development. It can be connected to the Internet in real time, allowing the users to overlay acquired information on the glasses, record projected images, communicate with others by sending information to their glasses, and more. Nissan plans to unveil the 3E at the Tokyo Motor Show next week. Seriously, is wearable technology a smart category for an automaker to jump into, or should this be left to the likes of Apple and Google?

Submission + - Microsoft drops reviled "Stack Ranking" employee review system (theverge.com)

Submitted by symbolset
symbolset writes: The Verge is reporting that in a company-wide email today Microsoft HR Chief Lisa Brummel announced a new employee review system that unambiguously drops the stack ranking system. The prior system had been widely blamed by analysts for counterproductive internal competition.

Comment Re:The thing about relative measures... (Score 3, Informative) 249

by Unknown1337 (#45399969) Attached to: Netflix, Youtube Surpass 50% Mark of Internet Traffic
Exactly what I was thinking. Netflix has expanded its coverage of HD and 'super HD' while Youtube has increased the quality/resolution of its content as well. Increased quality comes with increased data transfer, while a 700MB file will always transmit 700MB. The customer base has probably grown and there is likely some relationship between the cost effective viewing and increased usage of these services, but overall they are simply sending more data for the same content which makes this a nearly irrelevant thing to measure. It would be like proving global warming by switching to Fahrenheit when you used to use Celsius... it just doesn't add up and the 2 are not comparable without conversion.

Submission + - Fire-Eaters - The Search For The Hottest Chili (newyorker.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From the New Yorker, "Chilis have become an attractive business. According to a report by IBISWorld, a market-research firm, hot-sauce production is one of America’s ten fastest-growing industries, along with solar-panel manufacturing and online eyeglass sales. Last year, the Los Angeles hot-sauce company Huy Fong Foods sold more than sixty million dollars’ worth of sriracha. (Americans bought so much sriracha in 2007 that there was a three-month national shortage.) Chilis are the male equivalent of cupcakes, tempting entrepreneurial amateurs with dreams of a more flavorful life. Gerald Fowler said, “In the last five years, you find somebody’s been made redundant, he likes chili, he’ll set up a chili business.” The month after the Naga Viper got the Guinness record, Fowler made an extra forty thousand dollars. ... (A recent study found a positive correlation between chili-eating and “sensation-seeking” behavior.) As a leisure activity, superhots offer some of the pleasures of mild drugs and extreme sports without requiring one to break the law or work out. They are near-death experiences in a bowl of guacamole."

Submission + - River City Ransom: How A NES classic returned 20 years on (redbull.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: River City Ransom: Underground is the latest high profile game campaign on Kickstarter but as an interview with the title's creators this week highlights, it's not exactly a new game. Rather, it's an official sequel to a Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom classic, belt-scroller River City Ransom. Remarkably, getting the license and the help of original River City creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto proved easy for the team, indie developers who were submitting game designs to Atari in crayon aged six.

"I asked for the license and I asked Kishimoto-san if he had an interest in helping us make a better Kunio-kun game,” producer Daniel Crenna says. “It’s not particularly dramatic to say that, but I asked." As the author points out, it's interesting to imagine what other games could be resurrected with a little bit of polite curiosity."

Submission + - Lego astronauts launced into near-space for £300 (pcreview.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two lego astronauts have been launched to around 100,000 feet (high enough to see for 619km), for around £300. The "Manchester Meteor" high altitude balloon was launched from in Wales and landed in Yorkshire, England, complete with HD footage. Just after apogee, one of the lego astronauts came loose from the payload and make an unintentional space-walk, which has been captured on film (on page 2 of the article).

The project was completed using off-the-shelf items and no specialist equipment, with the intention of demonstrating how easy it is to create an interesting project like this and take near-space photos of your own.

Submission + - Almost Certain Chance of Catching Next Supernova (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The last star to go supernova in the Milky Way—that astronomers know of—exploded in 1604, before Galileo first turned a telescope to the heavens. But with a neutrino detector now being built within a Japanese mountain that could come online as early as 2016, researchers might be able to do something as yet undone: Make detailed observations of a supernova in our galaxy before it visibly explodes. First, astronomers would be alerted to the unfolding event by the flood of neutrinos generated when a supernova collapses. Within minutes, they could determine the general area of the sky where the explosion would occur, point their infrared telescopes in that direction, and wait for the fireworks. With the new sensor in place, instruments—especially infrared telescopes—would have an almost 100% chance of observing the next supernova in our galaxy, the researchers report.

Submission + - 20-Somethings Think It's OK to Text and Answer Calls in Business Meetings (neoacademic.com)

Submitted by RichDiesal
RichDiesal writes: In an upcoming article in Business Communication Quarterly, researchers found that more than half of 20-somethings believe it appropriate to read texts during formal business meetings, whereas only 16% of workers 40+ believe the same thing. 34% of 20-somethings believe it appropriate to answer the phone in the middle of a meeting (i.e., not excusing yourself to answer the phone — answering and talking mid-meeting!). It is unclear if this is happening because more younger workers grew up with mobile technology, or if it's because older workers have the experience to know that answering a call in the middle of a meeting is a terrible idea. So if you’re a younger worker, consider leaving your phone alone in meetings to avoid annoying your coworkers. And if you’re an older worker annoyed at what you believe to be rude behavior, just remember, it’s not you – it’s them!

Submission + - Cornell team says it's unified the structure of scientific theories (scienceblog.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Cornell physicists say they've figured out why science works, or more specifically why scientific theories work – a meta theory. Publishing online in the journal Science Nov. 1the team has developed a unified computational framework they say exposes the hidden hierarchy of scientific theories by quantifying the degree to which predictions – like how a particular cellular mechanism might work under certain conditions, or how sound travels through space – depend on the detailed variables of a model.

Comment Fall in line (Score 2) 215

by Unknown1337 (#44632271) Attached to: Comcast Threatens TorrentFreak For Posting Public Court Document
This just joins the long list of who cares copyright infringement notices that all major companies seem to think is necessary. I sure hope some CEOs and/or legal departments grow up soon, because I've had enough of everyone suing everyone over such insignificant crap. Especially when the reasoning is nill.

Submission + - Mobile First? Not So Fast! You're Designing Wrong. (oreilly.com)

Submitted by occidental
occidental writes: Laura Klein asks: "Are we done with the Mobile First meme, yet? Can we be? Please?

The problem is that “mobile first” often equates “mobile” with “small screen” or “responsive layout” or “native vs. mobile web.” Now, those are all incredibly important decisions. But if you’re thinking about the size of your screen or the technology you’re going to use first, you are designing wrong."

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