Comment Re:Valuable Life Skills (Score 1) 634
Red Alert 3 isn't free. Red Alert, however is.
Excellent point. I'll just go back and edit my post...
Shit.
Comment Valuable Life Skills (Score 5, Funny) 634
Don't think of just entertainment, choose games that will teach the children valuable life skills. For example:
Teach them to Rule the World: Freeciv
Teach them the value of running over hookers: GTA 1&2
Teach them the awesomeness of fighting robots: One Must Fall 2097
Teach them to conquer the world in a different way: C&C Red Alert 3
And finally, teach them to conquer the world of worms (you never know): Wormux
Comment Not too difficult... (Score 1) 412
I've never had my own home phone service, and getting the internets isn't too much of a challenge. Here are your options:
DSL:
Both Verizon and ATT offer dry-loop DSL. This means you get a phone line that's exclusively for DSL, no home phone service. Dry loop service generally costs a bit more than traditional DSL, but you'll still save over paying for a phone line that you don't use. I think in my area Verizon's starts at around $25/mo and goes up from there.
FIBER:
Both Verizon FIOS and ATT U-Verse offer very fast internets over Fiber, without any mandatory phone service. Again, you'll probably pay a bit more for internet alone than you would in a with-phone bundle, but c'est la vie.
CABLE:
Just about every cable provider in the country offers high speed internet access. Mine's through Time Warner / Road Runner, and I can typically download things at around 1MB/sec along with low latency to close-by servers. I pay $45/mo for 15mbit service.
WIFI:
Check for a local WiFi-based ISP. Where I grew up in rural Washington, it wasn't a bad way to go. YMMV.
CELLULAR WIRELESS:
If you live in an area with 3G or EVDO coverage, you could get pretty decent access through a cellular provider. They all impose download caps, and the bandwidth isn't crazy, but you can't beat the flexibility.
SATELLITE INTERNET:
Hughesnet offers some fairly affordable satellite internet packages. There might be other providers, Google will tell you. But, be ware of less than spectacular bandwidth and very high latency. Say goodbye to online FPS gaming. If you're in the boonies, this might be your only option.
ROLL YOUR OWN:
Beg, borrow or steal wireless access from a neighbor, set up an internet sharing cooporative in your neighborhood, get a Pringles can and have a go at it. If you have the time and ability, the possibilities are endless.
Obama Wants Broadband, Computers Part of Stimulus 901
damn_registrars writes "President-elect Barack Obama announced in his radio address that his administration's economic stimulus package will include investing in computers and broadband for education. 'To help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.'
He also said it is 'unacceptable' that the US ranks 15th in broadband adoption." No doubt with free spyware and internet filtering. You know... for the kids.
Comment *Possible Spoiler* An Actual Ending!! (Score 5, Interesting) 356
Unlike every other Stephenson novel - this one has a real conclusion!
While I'm a big lover of Stephenson's work, I've felt like in his other novels the end is just hacked off without literary justification. This time, Stephenson provides us with a satisfying conclusion. It sort of blew my mind.
As to the rest of the novel, I enjoyed it overall. But I felt like Stephenson did fall prey to the trap of letting his characters discusses theoretics overmuch at the expense of some narrative.
Also, I'm not sure that forcing readers to learn so much invented vocabulary for the sake of his imaginary world was entirely worth it. Sure, there might not be a word in the English language that perfectly encapsulates the idea he was trying to communicate, but most writers are forced to overcome this obstacle every day, and do so without making up new words. It added a layer of complication to Anathem that was unnecessarily daunting.
So, read the book if you're already into Stephenson, you'll probably love it. But - as the review said - you'd be better off falling in love with the man's writing somewhere else.
Comment Re:have a problem with made up words? (Score 2, Insightful) 356
Don't read Tolkien's less common stuff. By less common, I mean, haven't had a movie made out of it yet.
There's a reason that his popular stuff is popular, and his obscure stuff is obscure.
Tolkien found a good balance between the background paraphernalia that gave his world depth and narrative in The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Much of his less popular stuff doesn't find that balance, which makes it fine for us more obsessive nerd types, and not much fun for the average reader.
Anathem
356
Max Tardiveau writes "I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's latest novel, Anathem. I was awaiting it with some anticipation because I absolutely loved Stephenson's best-known novels: Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon. One of Stephenson's non-fiction pieces, called In the beginning was the command line, simply wowed me when I read it. The man can write. A few years ago, I got really excited when I heard that he was writing a whole cycle of novels (the Baroque cycle). But I read the first book of the cycle — Quicksilver — and I was somewhat disappointed, so I skipped the rest of the cycle. I realize that many people enjoyed these novels, but I was hoping that Stephenson would get back his old style and inspiration. So, when Anathem was announced, I was full of anticipation — was this going to be the one? Would he find his mark again?" Keep reading for Max's impressions of Anathem
Comment Re:It depends (Score 1) 322
Dude, have you ever hung out with a domesticated hamster? There's definitely some genetic defects going on there. They're $@#&'ed up.
NASA Orbiter Reveals Details of a Moister Mars 94
Matt_dk writes "NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars. This discovery suggests that liquid water remained on the planet's surface a billion years later than scientists believed, and it played an important role in shaping the planet's surface and possibly hosting life."
Ted "A Series of Tubes" Stevens Found Guilty 565
techmuse writes "According to a series of tubes sites, Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty of lying about free home renovations that he received from an oil contractor. He faces up to 5 years in jail, and the outcome of his current reelection bid is now in doubt. 'The conviction came after a tumultuous week in the jury room. First there were complaints about an unruly juror, then another had to be replaced when she left Washington following the death of her father. Finally, jurors on Monday discovered a discrepancy in the indictment that had been overlooked by prosecutors. Jury deliberations in this historic trial have at times been as contentious as some of the proceedings The Justice Department indicted Stevens on July 29, and the Alaska Republican took a huge legal gamble and asked for a speedy trial in order to resolve the charges before Election Day. Judge Emmet Sullivan complied with Stevens' request, and in less than three months from the time of his indictment, Stevens was found guilty.'"
Browsing Frugally Without Wasting Bandwidth? 450
forrestm writes "At home, my internet connection is limited to 1GB / month before I have to pay extra. At my university, I'm charged around 2.5c per megabyte. I rarely download anything big, but I often go through a large amount of bandwidth by simply browsing around. For example, when I play a YouTube video, click a link, and then return to the video, the whole video reloads. When I read some websites, such as BoingBoing.net or Cnet.com, my status bar shows a whole lot of data being transferred through other domains. Some pages seem to send/receive data at certain intervals for the duration of my visit. When I begin to enter a search in Firefox's search bar, a list of suggestions is automatically downloaded. In addition to this, Firefox often requests internet access of its own accord, even though I have automatic updating turned off. All this is costing me! How do I stop unsolicited use of my internet connection? How do I go about not wasting bandwidth like this?"
Picasa Rolls Out 3.0 — Now With Facial Recognition 243
eldavojohn writes "If you use Picasa (Google's photo sharing site), they have upgraded to 3.0 and are purportedly offering facial recognition. That's right, why tag photos of your friends when the software will group similar faces together for you? There's a new list of features including repairing old photographs by touching them up and even writing on your images. As expected, not everyone is 'ok' with Google automatically recognizing you in pictures."
Feed Engadget: Oregon begins building first "solar highway" project (engadget.com)
Filed under: Transportation
Just over a year ago, we passed off a far-out proposal that would turn highways into wind farms. Now, however, the state of Oregon is proving that such feats are actually within reach as it breaks ground on the first so-called "solar highway" demonstration project. The project will be installed at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin, where it will cover around 8,000 square feet and produce 112,000 kilowatt hours per year. The total cost for the 104-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system is $1.3 million, and believe it or not, it should be completed and operational in December of this year.[Via Digg]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
Android Phones Delayed 167
CommanderData writes "PC World reports that Google's Android phone rollout is facing delays. Originally expected to have handsets on the market and in consumers' hands this summer, it appears that Q4 2008 or even sometime in 2009 is more likely. Software developers are also complaining that programming is difficult on the Android platform due to regular changes being made by Google." Update 21:14 GMT by SM: Google has (via Google Watch) refuted widespread claims that Android will be late, so I guess only time will tell.
