Comment Re:It was funny in 1995 (Score 4, Insightful) 313
the FSF's approved list of completely free distributions. It's basically Ubuntu with a free kernel and without the option of installing Flash.
There goes my irony quota for the day.
Comment Re:/etc/hosts (Score 2) 646
Homer: Hey, what gives? I thought you had a Internet access.
Ned: Sure doodily-do. Over 131,572 sites locked out!
Comment iPad 2 Already Beat Tegra 3 (Score 4, Interesting) 198
Considering that these graphics benchmarks from Anandtech show the iPad 2 GPU handily beating a Tegra 3, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch that the iPad 3 GPU should beat it further.
Comment Re:Wi-Fi? (Score 2) 164
The vehicles do have wi-fi and Bluetooth. I can, for example, tether my phone to my vehicle which will, in turn, create a hotspot that other wi-fi devices can connect to (in the days of mobile iPhone and Android hot spots, this seems like a pretty unnecessary feature).
I would imagine that Ford is already sweating the self-server USB updates enough that they wouldn't want to risk over-the-air updates on the first go-round.
Give it a few years.
Comment Physical Media is So Last Decade (Score 1) 1162
Compared to services like iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and, let's face it, torrents, physical media is a pain in the butt. No need to switch discs, access from (most) any device, no unskippable ads, etc.
I think a lot of the tech geeks and early adopters have already moved on; with or without the entertainment industry.
Comment Detection Features (Score 1, Insightful) 163
Duck face detected. Please retake photo.
Comment Guess that explains that (Score 2) 267
That should solve the mystery of why Wikileaks "went back" to EasyDNS for hosting. Shame that people didn't dig a little deeper when that seemed weird.
Comment Another VLC Developer's Take (Score 5, Interesting) 717
He thinks there's no real issue here.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1850340
As a major VLC developer, I have to say that the FSF is pushing bad faith and FUD.
Comment Maybe not the best example. (Score 1, Interesting) 298
a photography app that was rejected because it used the volume buttons as trigger
It's a volume button. I don't have a problem with Apple with rejecting an app that subverts the defined usage of a hardware button. I haven't used (or heard of) this app, but what does it do if you try to change the volume of your music or phone call when also trying to take a picture?
Comment Vicious Cycle (Score 2, Insightful) 254
'Why would you spend a lot of money trying to build a service in Canada when Canadians take so much without paying for it?' said Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association
How are Canadian music lovers supposed to pay for music if no one builds a service to do so?
Comment Re:I'm surprised nobody has said this yet, but.. (Score 1) 622
The short version is that Christian salvation is free. I can go to church, I can read the bible, I can get into heaven without ever giving a cent to a Christian denomination.
Christianity is only free if your time is free.
Star Guard — an Old-School Platformer Done Right 107
An anonymous reader writes "Rock, Paper, Shotgun points out a new game called Star Guard, a Flash-based platformer for Mac and PC that's a throwback to the early days of computer gaming, yet still entertaining. They describe it thus: 'Its greatest strength, to my mind, is throwing out the old-school traditions of difficulty. It does certainly get tricky, requiring the platformer standbys of carefully timed jumps and learning enemy patterns — there's something of a Metroid vibe to it. But you don't get punished for failing to meet one of its challenges — you're just plunged a few feet back to most recent checkpoint, and carry on. Lives are not finite, but the small mound of green pixels that mark your corpses are a maudlin testament to your ineptitude. However, death is useful — I ritually found myself sending in a suicide spaceman, taking out an enemy or a mine so that the path was clear for my next go. ... However, it doesn't leave people who pride themselves on their gaming skill, and demand their games to be hard, out in the cold. At the end of each level, your score alters dramatically depending on how many times you died.'"
US Colleges Say Hiring US Students a Bad Deal 490
theodp writes "Many US colleges and universities have notices posted on their websites informing US companies that they're tax chumps if they hire students who are US citizens. 'In fact, a company may save money by hiring international students because the majority of them are exempt from Social Security (FICA) and Medicare tax requirements,' advises the taxpayer-supported University of Pittsburgh (pdf) as it makes the case against hiring its own US students. You'll find identical pitches made by the University of Delaware, the University of Cincinnati, Kansas State University, the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, Iowa State University, and other public colleges and universities. The same message is also echoed by private schools, such as John Hopkins University, Brown University, Rollins College and Loyola University Chicago."
Robot Fish To Hunt Down Pollution 55
An anonymous reader writes "According to the Financial Times, scientists are building a shoal of robot fish to be let loose in the port [of Gijon, Spain] to check on the quality of the water. The fish are equipped with tiny chemical sensors capable of detecting pollutants in the water. These let them home in on the sources of hazardous pollutants, such as leaks from vessels or undersea pipelines. Modeled on carp and costing about £20,000 ($29,000) each to make, the fish are to be lifelike in appearance and swimming behavior so they will not alarm their fellow marine inhabitants."
Vim 7.2 Released 106
sanguisdex writes "After fifteen months of work: a brand new Vim release! This is a stable version. There are many bug fixes and updated runtime files. The only new feature worth mentioning is support for floating point. Upgrading from a previous version is highly recommended: a few crashing bugs and several security issues were fixed. For the details see the announcement or go directly to the download page."
