Comment Redacted, huh? (Score 2, Insightful) 52
Hmmmm. I will have to see if they screwed the pooch and made a mistake that has been so common lately with .PDF redactions.
Comment Re:Where do free items fit in? (Score 4, Insightful) 194
Ummmm. I don't like watching movies or television shows on a computer. That's why I buy (yes, I actually pay) for DVDs.
Or, at least, I used to. A few years ago I got sick and tired of being FORCED to watch advertisements for movies I will NEVER watch, and FBI warnings that mean nothing to me. So, I stopped buying DVDs.
Now I just watch them at the theatre if I think they will be good or just wait for them to appear on U-Verse.
***offtopic***Will someone tell those ass-wipes in Hollyweird that they are losing valuable customers with this practice of putting in useless ads and trying to force people to watch them. I have DVDs that are getting long in the tooth and it's kind of sickening to see ads for movies that have come and gone. Why can't things be like my DVD of The Matrix? When I put The Matrix into my DVD Player, the thing starts at the movie! What a unique concept! DUMBASSES!
Don't even get me started on Blu-Ray. I'm supposed to buy my movie collection again just to get innundated with the same crap?***offtopic***
Comment Re:Sounds like he got the long tail (Score 1) 194
A great comic. A stank-ass movie. About the only thing it's good for is as an example of a horrrrrrrrrrribbbbblllllleeee (geez, I still get the shivers) movie.
Comment Re:Sounds like he got the long tail (Score 4, Insightful) 194
"The Long Tail" did not suggest that Harry Potter would sell less. It suggested that a less well-known, or liked, book could make as much money as a Harry Potter or more because the internet would allow those who liked such things to find them more easily.
For instance, we all know about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because of all the advertisement money spent on it and the use the Oprah Winfrey's show as an additional ad vehicle along with "E" and other such crap that fills the airwaves.
If "The Long Tail" is accurate, then there could be a much smaller independant movie that will could be released at the same time as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and that will make as much money as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but in a longer time frame. This is because you and I think this independant movie stinks when we hear about it, but your neighbor and mine thinks it's the Bee's Knees and search out art-house showings and buy the DVD and watch it whenever it shows on the Idependant Film Channel and Sundance and spread the word so that the thing takes on it's own life in a manner similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Of course, if "The Long Tail" is wrong, then this independant film will more likely resemble "Howard The Duck".
Comment Re:Technical reviewers are called readers nowadays (Score 1) 325
Editors deterimine whether there is or is not a market for the book. They function as pre-screeners. They are what is missing on the web.
If a book makes it to print (dead tree edition) then someone, usually the editor, has determined that a minimum number of people would like to not only read the book but purchase it as well. This is a difficult task as evidenced by the many books you can find in the clearance section of Half Price Books and other stores that buy the many remainder books publishers were unable to sell at the asking price. In other words, editors have the ability to risk the publisher's money and the health of the publishing company! They are not proof-readers as many people expect.
Submission + - Do you know your rights during police encounters?
stry_cat writes: Think you know your rights during police encounters? Like most Americans you probably know less than you think. FlexYourRights.org has a short quiz to see if you know what to do when you encounter the police.
I'll give you a hint, it's not like how they make it out on TV.
I'll give you a hint, it's not like how they make it out on TV.
Submission + - Can Sun Spark A Comeback?
Anonymous writes: "Despite Sun's precarious slide in recent years, its fortunes appear to be on the rise, according to a ChannelWeb.com analysis. The vendor's revenue is steadily creeping north, it's gaining share at the expense of larger rivals Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, and it has realigned the organization into four business units. The question is, is it enough to spark a comeback?"
Submission + - Ten Tips for Choosing the Right CPU
ThinSkin writes: "Loyd Case over at ExtremeTech has come up with ten tips for choosing the right CPU, citing that "on the surface, the fastest processor you can afford for your needs" is the first misstep someone can take. Some tips include building a well-balanced system, recognizing your usage patterns, and considering power output."
Submission + - Torrent Overview | goitexpert.com | XP-Erienced IT
Tdak writes: "This article offers a simple, no high tech stuff, description of the BitTorrent network and how it works, it also offers a list of most popular Torrent applications, with pros and cos of them. One section is dedicated to tweaking your bit torrent.
From the article:
"BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer network based on the idea that many people sharing a single file is more productive than a single host for a single file. It was not designed as a haven for pirates and copyright violation."
Also this article offers an overview of common bit torrent files Click here to read it "
Submission + - Luxpro sues Apple for damages and "power abuse
Dystopian Rebel writes: The Financial Times reports that Taiwanese company Luxpro (discussed on Slashdot last year) intends to sue Apple for US$100 m for "lost revenue caused by Apple's abuse of their global power." In 2005, Apple had obtained an injunction against Luxpro's Super Shuffle/Super Tangent but the Taiwanese Supreme Court has overturned the injunction, opening the door to Luxpro's legal action.
From the article: "The {Luxpro} product had almost the same measurements and weight, came in a white plastic casing and had similar buttons on the front. Its name, Super Shuffle, also closely resembled the original."
The Luxpro product has OLEDs on it but visit your optometrist immediately if you don't see other similarities.
Apple has since changed the design of the Shuffle significantly.
From the article: "The {Luxpro} product had almost the same measurements and weight, came in a white plastic casing and had similar buttons on the front. Its name, Super Shuffle, also closely resembled the original."
The Luxpro product has OLEDs on it but visit your optometrist immediately if you don't see other similarities.
Apple has since changed the design of the Shuffle significantly.
Submission + - Fires, rootkits and what it all means for a brand
netbuzz writes: "The Sony brand name took a beating last year over all those burning batteries and the rootkit fallout, right? Wrong, at least according to a recent survey of 2,000 adults who are apparently willing to forgive just about anything ... if you give them the right reason. Other technology companies, most anyway, also fare well in the brand survey.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1026 7"
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/102
Submission + - Flaw found in ADOBE PDF reader
Englishuk writes: Web users are being urged to upgrade their Adobe reader software as a security flaw is found in older versions of the program.
Millions of people use the reader software to view documents prepared in the popular PDF format.
Security researchers said malicious hackers exploiting the flaw could view victim's hard drives or use it to make phishing scams look more plausible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6234181.stm
Millions of people use the reader software to view documents prepared in the popular PDF format.
Security researchers said malicious hackers exploiting the flaw could view victim's hard drives or use it to make phishing scams look more plausible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6234181.stm
Submission + - French court slaps down Sony DRM
john-da-luthrun writes: A French court has ruled that Sony's CONNECT Store infringes French consumer law, reports the TechnoLlama IP blog. Under French law, it is illegal to tie the purchase of a service (such as downloading a music file) to the purchase of a another product, so Sony were held to be breaking the law by selling music files that required a Sony player in order to access them. The court also found that Sony had failed to inform customers that its ATRAC 3 files can only be played on Sony digital players. A similar case in France involving Apple's iTunes/iPod tie-in is ongoing.
Submission + - Army "Smellcheck" Sniffs Terrorists &
docinthemachine writes: "Cutting edge military R&D from DARPA has developed a way to smell out bad guys- literally. Move over fingerprints and biometrics- this is what I call "smellcheck".
Darpa's "Unique Signature Detection Project (formerly known as the Odortype Detection program)" aims to sniff out genetic markers in "human emanations (urine, sweat, etc.)" that "can be used to identify and distinguish specific high-level-of-interest individuals within groups of enemy troops."
There is real science behind this. Specific molecules excreted in urine were related to MHC molecules. The MHC (major histocompatibility complex) antigens are molecules on the surface of cells that the body uses to recognize self vs non-self. The MHC genes are the genes that code for these molecules. Whena person is "matched" for an organ or bone marrow transplant these are the factors that are being matched. Therefore- this new military technology being used to sniff out terrorists in a group could be used to rapidly and noninvasively screen large groups of people for potential transplant matches.
This medical concept has already been tested in mice and appears to work. Just get ready to have your arm pits sniffed at the border to see if you are a suspected terrorist. That's another bad job for the list.
You can read further details at docinthemachine.com at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/01/05/smellcheck/"
Submission + - Wireless + Biodynamic Farming in Organic Vineyard
An anonymous reader writes: From Green RFID Guy: Ceago Vinegarden, an organic winery in Northern California, applies biodynamic farming methods to enhance vineyard biodiversity. It also incorporates a mashup of radio frequency identification (RFID), Google Earth and NASA-developed wireless sensor pods to help monitor grapes' growing conditions.
