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Comment Just Another Cockup by Corporate Overloards (Score 1) 1191

If I could reply, I would add a reply to my prior comment about incomplete summaries. Now that I'm on my desktop I can see that there is a goofy multi-bar icon, and when I click on it I can select classic view. Or at least pseudo classic view.

What's with the fixed width content and all the white space? Yuck. Please let me pick the width of the content area by changing the width of the window.

What's with all the white space. Did WalMart have a sale on blank pixels?

What happened to the "From the ... Dept." tag under the title. Are we now too grown up for levity?

Why is the fortune cookie now virtually invisible in small font with a low contrast?

The whole new look and feel, the removal or minimization of light-hearted portions of the site, and other features give me a strong sense that your corporate overlords have decided that you should look just like all the other sites that various corporate overlords control.

Increasingly /. seems to becoming irrelevant. I read Google News before getting to /. and increasingly I've already read stories about an issue before I get to /., sometimes days earlier. Slashdot used to be a site where one could find interesting stories about the tech world that generally weren't covered in the mainstream press, or at least we'd learn about them before they became mainstream. Not so much anymore. The new layout seems to be completing /.'s trip to being a JANS. (Just Another News Site)

Comment Incomplete Summaries -Fail (Score 1) 1191

The title says it all. I don't want to have to load a new page, along with all the comments to read the whole summary. Additionally, with more and more people using mobile devices, loading a new page with a whole whack of comments that won't necessarily be read, just to get the whole summary, is a waste of metered bandwidth.

Announcements

Come Try Out Slashdot's New Design (In Beta) 1191

Slashdot's biggest redesign effort ever is now in beta and you're invited to help guide it. This redesign has been shaped by feedback from community members over the past few months (a big thanks to those of you who participated in our alpha testing phase!), and we'd like your thoughts on it, too. This new design is meant to be richer but also simpler to use, while maintaining the spirit of what Slashdot is all about: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. Read on for the details of what's included, or read this blog post. Update: 10/02 19:16 GMT by T : Since this post went live, we've been reading through the comments below as well as your (hundreds!) of emails. These are all valuable, as we continue to implement our current features into the Beta. Keep 'em coming; we love the feedback. Please keep in mind that this is called Beta for a reason; we've still folding in lots of improvements. One important thing to bear in mind is that the images are optional: check out the Classic mode by clicking on the view selection widget (just above the stories) on the Beta page.
Music

New Headphones Generate Sound With Carbon Nanotubes 102

MTorrice writes "A new type of headphone heats up carbon nanotubes to crank out tunes. The tiny speaker doesn't rely on moving parts and instead produces sound through the thermoacoustic effect. When an alternating current passes through the nanotubes, the material heats and cools the air around it; as the air warms, it expands, and as it cools, it contracts. This expansion and contraction creates sound waves. The new nanotube speaker could be manufactured at low cost in the same facilities used to make computer chips, the researchers say." And it exists in the real world: "The Tsinghua researchers integrated these thermoacoustic chips into a pair of earbud headphones and connected them to a computer to play music from videos and sound files. They’ve used the headphones to play music for about a year without significant signs of wear, Yang says. According to him, this is the first thermoacoustic device to be integrated with commercial electronics and used to play music."
Blackberry

How BlackBerry Blew It 278

schnell writes "The Globe and Mail is running a fascinating in-depth report on how BlackBerry went from the world leader in smartphones to a company on the brink of collapse. It paints a picture of a company with deep engineering talent but hamstrung by arrogance, indecision, slowness to embrace change, and a lack of internal accountability. From the story: '"The problem wasn't that we stopped listening to customers," said one former RIM insider. "We believed we knew better what customers needed long term than they did."'"
Cellphones

Video Apple Has a Lot In Common With The Rolling Stones (Video) 147

Tech journalist Ron Miller (not a relative) wrote a piece titled Apple has a lot in common with The Rolling Stones, based on the song It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It). In the article, Ron writes: "Much like the Rolling Stones, Apple has to get up on stage again and again and figure out a way to blow the audience away – and it’s not always easy." In fact, Apple's latest iPhone announcement seems to have been greeted with a massive "ho hum" instead of the frenzied interest some of their earlier product announcements have created. In today's video, Ron tells us why he thinks this is, and ruminates briefly about the future of Apple and what kinds of products might help people get excited about Apple again.

Comment Re:Movies (Score 1) 322

The problem with movies, and to a similar extent comics, is that you are captive to come body else's interpretation. Non visual media allows you to craft your own vision on top of the story. I personally find that much more rewarding, but it does require a practiced imagination.

Comment Re:Weekly/Monthly Salary (Score 2) 1103

I'm not sure what bank you deal with, but at my bank funds are available the next business day after I deposit, and the first $100 is available immediately. Maybe that's "float", but not enough that I'm going to squawk.

One important thing for people to realize is that even if the bank clear the check immediately, as in the instant you present it, it can still bounce. All the electronic clearing does is validate that the account number is real and that the account has sufficient funds to cover the check. The account holder can still claim that the check is a forgery and you are then liable for the amount of the check unless some other resolution is arrived at, e.g. it can be shown that the presenter of the check is lying that it is a forgery.

Comment Re:Guy deserves getting beaten (Score 1) 188

Just remember, curious is not synonymous with approve or accept.

If I met somebody with a Google Glass I too would be curious. That doesn't mean I would approve or welcome the person taking a video of me. As irrational as it is, to a lot of people there is a big difference between somebody standing there blatantly videoing you Vs the ever present surveillance cameras, at least from an emotional perspective.

Comment Re:But of course they do! (Score 4, Insightful) 174

The wealthy(especially so in countries with high levels of economic inequality) are where the assets are, often a commanding percentage of them; but they also have by far the most sophisticated measures for avoiding taxation.

Like the USA? We have greater economic inequality since the robber baron era. And we seem hell bent on becoming the newest third world country.

Comment Weeks and Highly Mobile (Score 2) 398

Let see, an ocean capable and proven boat, a full load of fuel, generator, watermaker, long range HF radio equipment... We could easily last for an extended period with only food being the limiting factor. Unless a tsunami takes out the harbor, we can easily just untie the boat and leave for an area not affected by whatever the problem is.

Comment Anything that's not animated (Score 4, Insightful) 137

While some of the logos are great artist creations, they were mostly, or totally I can't remember exactly, animated. Web page logos shouldn't be animated. Anything animated calls or attention to it and distracts us from the rest of the page. If the purpose of a web page is to show off animated icons, then by all means, proceed. But if the purpose of a website is to provide content to the user the best thing you can do is banish all animation.

Comment Don't Like the Laws? Don't go. (Score 2) 218

I don't know the legal issues at hand, nor do I know the laws of China, but if what you are planing to do is a violation of those laws you should be prepared for an extended stay as a guest of the Chinese government.

While you might not believe that what they do is correct, moral, or defensible, it is non the less their country. Just as you would expect foreign visitors to your own country to respect the local laws, you should respect the laws of a country that you visit. If you find the laws so personally distasteful that can not abide by them, don't go.

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