Comment At least one moon (Score 1) 253
how many other moons are there to shoot for?
Battery life. Never ending battery life.
Submission + - Is Bitcoin the Key to Digital Copyright? (reason.com)
SonicSpike writes: Bitcoin’s technology could help solve one of the gnarliest problems of 21st Century copyright. If you buy a book at Barnes and Noble, you are free to give it away to a friend after you’ve read it, or sell it to a used book store. But you can’t if you buy that same book for your Kindle or iPad. To lend, sell, or give away a digital copy of a digital book or song is copyright infringement.
The Bitcoin network allows one to transfer tokens called bitcoins, and to date these tokens have been used to represent money. But there’s no reason they could not represent a particular instance of a song or a book or a movie.
Particular music files could be associated with a particular user’s public Bitcoin addresses and encrypted in such a way that the user’s corresponding private key is needed to play the songs. Selling, lending, or giving away a song or a book would be as simple as sending it to someone else’s public address. At that point, only recipient’s private keys can unlock the file. And this would all be cryptographically provable, without requiring trust.
An astute reader will have noticed that this would essentially be a kind of universal digital rights management (DRM) scheme, and that’s certainly the case. But unlike traditional DRM, the system would not rely on central corporate authority, but on a decentralized network that is quickly emerging as a new standard Internet protocol. Alternatively, no DRM can be employed and the blockchain can simply serve as registry to legitimate transfers.
The Bitcoin network allows one to transfer tokens called bitcoins, and to date these tokens have been used to represent money. But there’s no reason they could not represent a particular instance of a song or a book or a movie.
Particular music files could be associated with a particular user’s public Bitcoin addresses and encrypted in such a way that the user’s corresponding private key is needed to play the songs. Selling, lending, or giving away a song or a book would be as simple as sending it to someone else’s public address. At that point, only recipient’s private keys can unlock the file. And this would all be cryptographically provable, without requiring trust.
An astute reader will have noticed that this would essentially be a kind of universal digital rights management (DRM) scheme, and that’s certainly the case. But unlike traditional DRM, the system would not rely on central corporate authority, but on a decentralized network that is quickly emerging as a new standard Internet protocol. Alternatively, no DRM can be employed and the blockchain can simply serve as registry to legitimate transfers.
Submission + - HTML5 vs. Native apps: Developers offended by Zuckerberg knock on HTML5 make app (networkworld.com)
BButlerNWW writes: "A team of mobile app developers offended by Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg dissing HTML5 have created a Facebook app that they say works better than native versions because of the HTML5 coding.
Zuckerberg famously knocked HTML5 in an interview this fall when he said relying too much on it instead of developing native mobile apps was "the biggest mistake we made as a company."
"When Mark Zuckerberg said HTML5 wasn't ready, we took a little offense to the comment," wrote developers at Sencha, a mobile app company that focuses on HMTL5 development.
Sencha Monday released Fastbook, a mobile app that performs almost the exact same functions as native Facebook apps for smartphones, but is built on an HMTL5 framework. The HTML5 version has faster load times, more responsive formatting and increased ability to toggle between different views without needing to reload information compared to the iOS and Android native Facebook apps, the developers claim. "We set out to show that you can build the challenging parts of the native Facbeook app in HTML5 and we built a framework that makes that possible," says Jamie Avins, an engineering manager at Sencha. "We believe HTML5 is the technology and it's ready right now.""
Zuckerberg famously knocked HTML5 in an interview this fall when he said relying too much on it instead of developing native mobile apps was "the biggest mistake we made as a company."
"When Mark Zuckerberg said HTML5 wasn't ready, we took a little offense to the comment," wrote developers at Sencha, a mobile app company that focuses on HMTL5 development.
Sencha Monday released Fastbook, a mobile app that performs almost the exact same functions as native Facebook apps for smartphones, but is built on an HMTL5 framework. The HTML5 version has faster load times, more responsive formatting and increased ability to toggle between different views without needing to reload information compared to the iOS and Android native Facebook apps, the developers claim. "We set out to show that you can build the challenging parts of the native Facbeook app in HTML5 and we built a framework that makes that possible," says Jamie Avins, an engineering manager at Sencha. "We believe HTML5 is the technology and it's ready right now.""
Submission + - Sony will update only some of its 2012 smartphones to Jelly Bean (sonymobile.com)
Lalakis writes: Sony announced that it will, during 2013, upgrade some of its 2012 phones to android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". Big news is that sony will never upgrade Xperia U, Xperia miro, Xperia tipo, and Xperia sola beyond Android 4.0 even though they are just some months old! In other news, the touted killer feature "floating touch" introduced in xperia Sola, is officially dead along with Sola itself. How do you feel?
Comment Re:Bus if you can, but... (Score 1) 566
I desperately want to bike, but my nuts simply say no. I genuinely cannot understand how men can sit on these seats for such long periods of time! I've tried some "testicle-safe" seats, but they seem to be just as uncomfortable.
Maybe it's your clothing. A different style of undergarment and/or biking shorts might get your dangly bits out of the way by storing them higher than the bottoms of your thighs.
I would suggest lowering the tip of the saddle to point a little downward. This can make a huge difference.
Also, getting the right saddle for you and your way of riding is equally important. Consult with someone knowledgeable and I'm sure you will find the solution that works for you.
Comment Re:Manned flight (Score 1) 289
if it requires a ballistic chute to not kill anyone if there's a computer or engine failure because this seriously limits the chances of it ever being a certified aircraft by any aviation authority in the world.
Most modern airplanes are flown with Fly by Wire systems that are also computer based. Aviation authorities seem to be happy with them, so, I guess, with the proper redundancy and backup provided, this technology will be welcomed too.
Submission + - Adobe Launches Flash 10.2 with 'Stage Video' (ibtimes.com)
iamrmani writes: Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) launched its Flash Player 10.2 for Windows, Mac, and Linux and features Stage Video, a full hardware accelerated video pipeline for beautiful video across platforms and browsers.
With Stage Video,Flash Player can play even higher quality video while using dramatically less processing power
With Stage Video,Flash Player can play even higher quality video while using dramatically less processing power
Comment Re:This is slashdot? (Score 1) 2254
Please tell me one valid reason for having the web browser fullscreen on an 1900px width monitor, that doesn't involve some kind of brain damage.
And while you are at it, please explain why this "new" design needs at least 1040 (!) pixels of width in order to not show a horizontal scrolling bar. Please...
Comment Re:Security Questions Security Risk (Score 5, Insightful) 257
I can't believe that no one blames the online services for requiring and using security questions as a security measure(!). This is such an insecure practice that I'm just baffled from the so much widespread use of it!
Theoretically, security questions could be used as an ADDED security measure and be marginally effective at that, but in most times you can't know exactly how your answer will be used, so the sane response would be something like kashiqewnchkdhsflakjshflvkdsvhpexiojnasdjlna.
Comment Re:Specification (Score 3, Informative) 98
I will promptly curse you for requiring me to buy YET ANOTHER compact flash reader.
It seems you will need it, as this proposed CF is PCIe based and not PATA. Also, the article indicates a different form factor from the current CF cards.
Comment I blame birth control (Score 1, Flamebait) 411
It's obvious that lighter and taller women have more sex than the heavier and shorter ones, so it's birth control that we should blame for the study's results!
Submission + - Google Voice rejected for its dialer functionality
whoop writes: "From TechCrunch, "In a letter to the FCC today, Google disclosed previously unpublished information about Appleâ(TM)s rejection of their Google Voice application... 'Apple representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone'""
Google Latitude Helps Catch Robber 5
linuxwrangler writes "Janina Valiente was robbed by a purse snatcher while waiting for a bus in San Francisco. But she remembered that she had recently downloaded Google Latitude as a joke so she and her sisters could 'stalk each other.' Using a bystander's phone, she called her sister who told her the phone was at Fell and Ashbury which is exactly where police located and arrested the robber."
Comment A new hope (Score 1) 191
RedHat seems to have a firm understanding of how the current patent system works. I salute them and hope in the future for them to own a lot of stupid patents like this one.
Comment Re:SI units...... (Score 1) 209
...really? 0.90718474? Did you EVER take a science class? You can't add all that extra precision because it doesn't exist in the original measure.
Well, what if the original measure was 2.00000000 pounds? I guess that would make a difference for you.
