Comment Re:Will it have a button... (Score 1) 71
For anyone wanting to see the original discussion of this, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bohemian_Rhapsody/Archive_2#Analysis_by_Two_Music_Scholars
Comment Free Cobol compiler (Score 1) 276
If you want to play with a free compiler, try OpenCOBOL at http://www.opencobol.org/.
There is a list of other free COBOL compilers at http://mainframewizard.com/content/free-cobol-compilers but some of them look pretty old.
Comment 1974, New Zealand (Score 2) 632
I don't think we were taught anything about computers in class, but there was a computer programming club. We used PORTRAN, which is a cut-down version of FORTRAN - I think it stands for Port-a-punch FORTRAN. The cards were sent away to a computer a few hundred km away, and a syntax error listing came back by the following week. It wasn't exactly a productive environment, so we competed to see who could get the most different errors in a single program.
Comment Re:It's a three-way including New Zealand (Score 1) 79
Far more countries than that involved. Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia, Mauritius and Madagascar will all have dishes too.
Comment Fifth group (Score 1) 387
Those of us who grew up in areas where there was no electricity. Even in developed nations, electricity wasn't available in some country areas well into the 1960s. In my case, this was Northern Ireland, only a mile or two out from a small city.
Comment New Scientist (Score 3, Interesting) 562
New Scientist is possibly the best popular science magazine available. Scientific American is pretty good too, but doesn't have the same coverage because it's monthly, while NS is weekly.
Comment Re:Mod parent funny (Score 1) 142
The original Ghost is still produced as Ghost Solution Suite. See http://www.symantec.com/business/ghost-solution-suite. Symantec also produces Norton Ghost which uses a different code base and incompatible image file formats.
Comment First in the world (Score 1) 359
How could you want to live anywhere other than the place which is the first developed country to see the sunrise every day? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZST) I understand if you would rather live in the Chatham Islands (45 minutes earlier still), or Kiribati (an hour earlier), but New Zealand has some advantages in comfort and lifestyle.
Final Fight Brings Restrictive DRM To the PS3 240
Channard writes "As reported by Joystiq, the PS3/PlayStation Network version of Final Fight Double Impact features a rather restrictive piece of digital rights management. In order to launch the game, you have to be logged into the PlayStation Network and if you're not, the game refuses to launch. This could be written off as a bug of some kind except for the fact that the error message that crops up tells you to sign in, suggesting Sony/Capcom intentionally included this 'feature.' Granted, you do have to log into the PlayStation Network to buy the title but as one commentator pointed out, logging in once does not mean you'll be logged in all the time. Curiously, the 360 version has no such restrictions, so you can play the game whether you're online or offline. But annoying as this feature may be, there may be method in Sony's madness. "
OpenTTD 1.0.0 Released 107
Gmer writes "Eming.com reports that OpenTTD, the open source clone of the Microprose game Transport Tycoon Deluxe, has reached a milestone. OpenTTD 1.0.0 has been released 6 years after work started on the first version, with the help of hundreds of contributors and thousands of testers/players. Over 30 language translations are considered complete, and OpenTTD is available for *BSD, Linux, Solaris and Windows. OpenTTD is a business simulation game in which the player is in control of a transport company and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea or air."
World's Smallest Superconductor Discovered 72
arcticstoat writes "One of the barriers to the development of nanoscale electronics has potentially been eliminated, as scientists have discovered the world's smallest superconductor. Made up of four pairs of molecules, and measuring just 0.87nm, the superconductor could potentially be used as a nanoscale interconnect in electronic devices, but without the heat and power dissipation problems associated with standard metal conductors."
Comment Re:Define "Conventional" (Score 1) 357
You think more than 5 jobs in a lifetime is unstable? I've had about 5 different careers, and I'm only just into my 50s. If you don't change directions occasionally, you get stuck in a rut.
Why Don't We Invent That Tomorrow? 439
museumpeace writes "In the NYTimes book review blog, David Itzkoff takes a look at a new book devoted to predicting which 'science fiction' technologies may really fly some day. The author is Michio Kaku, one of the inventors of string theory, so he bears a hearing. His picks include light sabers, invisibility and force fields." Which sci-fi tech do you think needs to get invented over the weekend?
Intel, Micron Boost Flash Memory Speed by Five Times 67
Lucas123 writes "IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between Intel and Micron, announced they've been able to improve NAND memory and its circuitry in order to boost read/write speeds by five times their current ability. The new 8Gbit single-level cell, high-speed NAND chip will offer 200MB/sec read speeds and write speeds of up to 100MB/sec, which means faster data transfer between devices like solid-state drives and video cards. IM Flash Technologies plans to begin shipping the new chip later this year."
TiVO Patent Upheld, Dish May Have to Disable DVR 235
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a ruling by a lower court that Dish Network DVRs infringe upon TiVO's patent on a 'multimedia time warping system'. According to some analysts, this could not only make Dish liable for damages, it could force them to shut down their DVR service, harming their customers. The patent in question has already been reexamined once and the ruling on appeal (PDF) was unanimous."
