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Comment Re:So, basically (Score 1) 307

by jacoby (#26444533) Attached to: A Look Back At Kurzweil's Predictions For 2009

I'm not sure that is true. Not if the initial learning curve is too high, and not if the investment into a programmer's existing way of working is too high. Hardware-wise, a programmer's tools are vastly different then what they were 20 years ago -- MB vs TB, MHz vs GHz, etc. -- but we're still talking about slight variations of the same tools when it comes to the software. Seriously, the big editor war is vi vs. emacs. I'm just now beginning to look at ctags and enabling highlighting in my vi, and I've payed the bills with my Perl-writing skills for ten years now.

And even with the hardware. I own a Dvorak keyboard. I don't use it, even though, if I did learn it, studies say I could type much faster.

GMail puts different levels of replies as different colors. Why couldn't your IDE let you use Arial (I'd prefer Gill Sans, myself) and allow you to see the nest levels by color difference instead? There's a bunch of stuff from graphic design that we could use to make programming more pleasant and maybe even easier.

Droid Sans Mono is my favorite programming font, followed by Consolas.

Comment Re:I am confused... (Score 2, Insightful) 315

by jacoby (#26372751) Attached to: The Illuminati Project Pushes For Dark Skies In 2009

Nothing provides help for criminals like a poorly designed streetlight that provides strong cover shadows while blinding would-be crime watchers. Most super bright nighttime lighting does exactly this. People like you who think any light is a good light are part of the problem, both for crime and seeing the stars.

C'mon. If nobody's watching, then all a streetlight does is let the criminal see what he's doing.
Image

User Charged With Taking ISP Tech Hostage 327

Posted by samzenpus from the to-kidnap-or-not-to-kidnap dept.
User AttheCoalFac pointed us to an interesting tech support story from Canada. Halifax actress and playwright Carol Sinclair was arrested and is now facing criminal charges after a repairman says she threatened to hold him hostage until he fixed her Internet connection. Mrs. Sinclair denies the allegations and says that she merely stated, 'I don't want to hold you hostage, but would you mind hanging around until the other technician arrives so that the two of you can sort it out.' She was arraigned in Halifax Provincial Court Friday and is now free on conditions including that she have no contact with the repairman or any employee from her ISP. Having a lot of experience on both sides of this issue, I'm not sure who I'm cheering for.
Windows

Mass Effect DRM Still Causing Issues 593

Posted by kdawson from the three-strikes-and-you're-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes "There was some discussion last month about the proposed DRM for Mass Effect and Spore that required the game to phone home every ten days. They backed down from that, but have left in that a user is only allowed 3 activations per license key. A license key is burned up when the O/S is reinstalled, when certain hardware is upgraded (EA refuses to disclose specifics of what), and possibly when a new user is set up in Windows. Only in its first month, some users are already locked out of their games from trying troubleshooting techniques to get the game running."
Privacy

Supreme Court Won't Hear ACLU Wiretap Case 323

Posted by kdawson from the standing-knee-deep-in-paradox dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The US Supreme Court refused without comment the ACLU's appeal of a lower court ruling that prevented them from suing over the government's warrantless TSP program. The problem was a Catch-22: they lack legal 'standing' to sue over it because they can't prove that they were suspected terrorists, but neither can they find out who was actually suspected, because this is a matter of national security." Update: 02/20 00:17 GMT by KD : Removed an incorrect statement after a reader pointed out that, with the expiration of the Protect America Act this weekend, foreign surveillance will revert to oversight by the FISA court.
Music

Submission + - Digital sales surge 50 percent in 2007 as CDs tank

Submitted by Avantare
Avantare writes: From Arstechnica is an article explaining why the music industry is tanking by comparing this years report on the state of the entertainment industry to last years. After reading TFA the results do not surprise me at all. The music industry needs to rebuild their business model or die. And not because of people downloading via p2p. This is a moot point forever more. The fact is the competition from the gaming and movie industries are sucking the life out of them due to the consumers choice of where they spend their money for entertainment. An example would be when movie DVD's first hit the market. They were $80 US and up. I can purchase movie DVD's for $5 for >6 month old releases and $20 for new releases. Why can't the music industry get it right? Or, because of good old fashioned capitalism, they will be put out of the market as a viable business as they function now? Please, do not bash the industries in this article. Just give solid input as to why.
Power

Submission + - Government Mandated Bulbs and Migranes (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by
nick_name35
nick_name35 writes: "Energy saving light bulbs can trigger migraines, health experts and charities warned last night. They have been inundated with complaints about the fluorescent bulbs, which are due to become compulsory in homes within four years. The warning follows concerns that eco-bulbs can trigger dizziness, loss of focus and discomfort among people with epilepsy. Campaigners are calling for the Government to allow an opt-out for people with health problems so they can continue to use old-style bulbs."
Education

Indiana University Dumps Google for ChaCha 211

Posted by Zonk from the forbidden-dance dept.
theodp writes "Come Monday, no more Indiana University searches will be powered by computer-driven Google. Only by people-powered ChaCha. The move was announced by new IU President Michael McRobbie, who until recently sat on ChaCha's Board of Directors (5-29 SEC filing, PDF). IU will draft hundreds of librarians and IT employees to be ChaCha Guides for the university's websites, although a FAQ accompanying IU's press release tells librarians not to expect any checks for their efforts from ChaCha, which IU notes is backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Compaq founder Rod Canion."
Space

The United States Space Arsenal 297

Posted by samzenpus from the Q-36-explosive-space-modulator dept.
ntmokey writes "When China tested a missile on its own satellite in January, the nation's aggressive statement immediately raised eyebrows among the world's other space-faring nations. Popular Mechanics looks at the implications of a conflict in space — including debris that could render space unusable for decades — and examines the United States' own space arsenal."

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