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Comment Struggling with this in my household (Score 5, Interesting) 489

My eldest son is a whiz- he's a couple years ahead and should get through AP Calculus and Stats by the time he gets through HS.

On the other hand we adopted 5 girls from foster care and it is a STRUGGLE. I don't know how much of it is organic (all of them were exposed to drugs/alcohol in utero) and how much of it is early formative, but they all have incredible difficulty making the most basic inference or deduction or story problem. I'm really concerned for them because I forsee them potentially running into the roadblocks referenced by the article summary. But there are in fact SOME excuses for saying "I can't do maths." Some people may never be able to master the basics no matter how hard they try.

Not to say we are in any manner giving up. They get extra tutoring at school and spend hours doing homework, despite being in elementary school, but different people have different top levels of achievement and sometimes that level is below what any of us would like.

Comment Where this will hurt is Steam.... (Score 2) 458

when my 12 yr old grows up and moves out a lot of the games, but not all, were bought more for his benefit. I don't mind getting logged out occasionally now since he'll generally ask since he's in the house anyway. But when he moves out and 1/2 way across the country, potentially, co-ordinating the use of a single account will be a pain. I'll probably have to create a 2nd account for my exclusive use, since most of the money is tied up in his games...

Comment Both my wife and I regularly receive email... (Score 1) 204

intended for others. I have a full name @mac/@me account and my wife has a full name @gmail.com and I assume these people chose 1stnameLastname+1 account names making it very easy for their friends and business acquaintances to wrongly send us their email instead. I've gotten sensitive business information, invitations to exclusive events (unfortunately in the UK so I can't attend) . My wife has had an interesting time unintentionally following the life of a New York mover and shaker.

We don't know the real recipients actual email addresses so we can't warn them and have to read our own email to find out if it is intended for us or not so we can't help but read their email. Interesting conundrum.

This research result is not at all surprising- it is the same thing, just at a bigger scale and deliberate.

Comment Most important info not released... (Score 2) 205

The most important info was left out. The reason this all played out was that Nokia was unwilling to license to Apple on the same RAND terms that they had committed to, and used with everyone else. They wanted access to specific 'touch' patents held by Apple in addition to the usual monetary payments that Apple had always expected to pay.

We now know Apple is paying to access Nokia's patents, but:

Did Apple give access to their iPhone-related patent portfolio in return?
Did Apple pay a premium over RAND terms?
Did Nokia no longer need access to Apple's patents due to indemnity from Microsoft since they are moving to WP7?

Comment If it compromises a bundled runtime... (Score 4, Insightful) 244

its a Chrome "pwn". If you bundle it, you own it. You see Apple going the opposite direction by un-bundling Flash because it didn't want to own the security issues and battery draining properties associated with it. They recognized their brand was getting tarnished via that association and decided to make Adobe stand on their own.

Comment Can't read the slashdotted article but... (Score 1) 255

Its likely Intel would be a contract manufacturer in this case, just manufacturing Apple's custom designed processor. Not something Intel would usually embrace, but with their current impotence in the mobile market, it may be the best they can hope for. They keep Apple close and get back in the ARM game (indirectly). Apple gets world class fabs from someone who isn't directly competing with them at retail.

Windows

Windows 7 To Include "Windows XP Mode" 364

Z80xxc! writes "Paul Thurrott's WinSuperSite reports that Windows 7 will include a built-in virtual machine with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Professional SP3. The VM runs in a modified version of Virtual PC, and applications running in the VM can interact directly with the host operating system as if they were running on the Windows 7 installation itself. While details are scarce for now, it looks as if this feature will only be available as a (free) addon for Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. Also, a processor supporting hardware virtualization will be required, indicating that this is perhaps aimed more at power users and corporate users, rather than consumers. Microsoft confirmed the feature last night."

Comment 6- (Score 1) 435

Don't overstate the case. It would make the planet less live-able in certain areas (principally by being underwater) and make other areas much more live-able for humans. The problem is the dislocation (which would likely happen over multiple generations) not any threat to the species.

Spam

Lexus To Start Spamming Car Buyers In Their Cars 317

techmuse writes "Lexus has announced plans to send targeted messages to buyers of its cars based on the buyer's zip code and vehicle type. Unlike regular spam, these messages will be delivered directly to the buyer's vehicle, and will play to the vehicle's occupants as audio. Lexus has promised to make the messages relevant to the car buyers." Imagine the fun that some targeted malware could do — not that such a thing could happen to a Lexus.

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