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Submission + - Macs Plus iOS Devices Outnumber Windows PC Sales Worldwide 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For a very long time, Windows has had supreme dominance of the desktop market: over 90% for decades. Thats still true. But computing has in many ways moved beyond the desktop. As of last quarter, combined worldwide sales of Macs, iPads, and iPhones outnumber those of Windows PCs. If you add Windows phone, then Microsoft can still claim dominance. Also, if you subtract the iPhones (just keeping iPads), Microsoft is still ahead... but for how much longer? Internet Explorer moved from the ubiquitous browser to a continuously shrinking player solely in the desktop market. How much longer can Microsoft keep its reputation as the OS of choice for computing?

Submission + - Federal smartphone kill-switch legislation proposed (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Pressure on the cellphone industry to introduce technology that could disable stolen smartphones has intensified with the introduction of proposed federal legislation that would mandate such a system. Senate bill 2032, "The Smartphone Prevention Act," was introduced to the U.S. Senate this week by Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat. The bill promises technology that allows consumers to remotely wipe personal data from their smartphones and render them inoperable. But how that will be accomplished is currently unclear. The full text of the bill was not immediately available and the offices of Klobuchar and the bill's co-sponsors were all shut down Thursday due to snow in Washington, D.C.

Submission + - South Carolina Education Committee Removes Evolution from Standards

Submitted by Toe, The
Toe, The writes: The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee approved new science standards for students except for one clause: the one that involves the use of the phrase 'natural selection.' Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, argued against teaching natural selection as fact, when he believes there are other theories students deserve to learn. Fair argued South Carolina's students are learning the philosophy of natural selection but teachers are not calling it such. He said the best way for students to learn is for the schools to teach the controversy. Hopefully they're going to teach the controversy of gravity and valence bonds too. After all, they're just theories.

Submission + - South Carolina Education Oversight Committee Removes Evolution from Standards

Submitted by Toe, The
Toe, The writes: The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee approved new science standards for students except for one clause: the one that involves the use of the phrase 'natural selection.' Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, argued against teaching natural selection as fact, when he believes there are other theories students deserve to learn. Fair argued South Carolina's students are learning the philosophy of natural selection but teachers are not calling it such. He said the best way for students to learn is for the schools to teach the controversy. Hopefully they're going to teach the controversy of gravity and valence bonds too. After all, they're just theories.

Submission + - Is Device 6 2013's Journey?

Submitted by SlappingOysters
SlappingOysters writes: In 2012, one indie title took the video game award season by storm — thatgamecompany's Journey knocked over big console blockbusters like Borderlands II, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Far Cry 3 to get the top gong at a host of respected ceremonies. But it was still, itself, a console game. In 2013, another indie has emerged on an even less fancied format as the game to beat — iOS title Device 6 is up for multiple awards, with developer Simogo even included as one of three developers in Edge Magazine's studio of the year category (alongside Rockstar North and Naughty Dog). Grab It Magazine included Device 6 in its 50 Best Indie iOS Games of 2013 awards, and has put together this article discussing what Device 6's success says about the growth of indie gaming.

Submission + - Surveillance Cameras, Hazmat Squads, Bomb-sniffing Dogs, etc. for the Super Bowl 1

Submitted by Toe, The
Toe, The writes: The New York Police Department has quietly installed about 200 temporary surveillance cameras in midtown Manhattan to help spot trouble along 'Super Bowl Boulevard,' a 13-block street fair on Broadway that's expected to draw large crowds during the windup to the game. The temporary cameras for the Super Bowl festivities will supplement a system of thousands of permanent cameras covering midtown and Wall Street that the NYPD monitors from a command center in lower Manhattan. The department has pioneered analytical software that allows it to program the cameras to detect suspicious activity, such as a bag or other objects left in one place for a long time. Hazmat and bomb squads will be on standby. Others officers will patrol with bomb-sniffing dogs. Still more will watch from rooftops and from police helicopters. At a recent security briefing at the stadium, police chiefs and other officials said success will be measured in part by how well authorities conceal all the concern over potential threats.

Submission + - 16GB Smartphones Have Between 12.6GB and 8.6GB of Available Memory

Submitted by Toe, The
Toe, The writes: All smartphones use a notable chunk of their advertised memory for operating system and uninstallable apps/resources. In a comparison of 16GB phones, it was shown that that available memory ranges from 12.6GB for the iPhone 5c (79% of advertised) to 8.56GB for the Samsung Galaxy S4 (54% of advertised). Two mitigating factors are that some phones (including the Galaxy S4) have slot-expandable RAM (though Android restricts what that can be used for) and that phones larger than 16GB have a larger percentage of advertised memory. Regardless; is it really fair to sell a 16GB phone that has half as much available memory?

Comment Where's the "safest" place on Earth? (Score 1) 115

by Toe, The (#46052185) Attached to: Midwestern Fault Zones Are Still Alive

This segues nicely with a question I've been idly wondering.

Consider all natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornados, volcanoes, hurricanes, forest fires (kinda natural), tsunamis, mudslides, etc.

Now consider all human safety factors, such as crimes of violence, unsafe nuclear/chemical plants, likelihood of being targeted/invaded by a foreign entity, random government oppression, and so on. And I suppose you should consider automobile fatality rates (which probably outweigh all other factors combined).

Plus toss in random other safety factors such as poisonous insects/spiders/snakes, rising ocean levels, and whatnot.

Now where in the world would you say is the safest place to live?

Maybe central Canada somewhere?

I'm just askin'. It't not like I live my life by these considerations (though I have shied away from Western North America a bit... ya know, 'cause o the big one).

Submission + - Mobile device data consumption may outstrip capacity gains

Submitted by Toe, The
Toe, The writes: A study of over one million subscribers in a 'Tier 1' European market and another one million subscribers in an unnamed developing market, found 4G devices such as the latest iPhones and iPads crowding the lists of top consumers of download and upload data. 'The faster the speeds that mobile operators provide, the more consumers swallow it up and demand more,' says the author of the study. 'One would expect a honeymoon period in which early adopters test their toys. But for 4G users to consistently exhibit behavior 10 times more extreme than 3G users well after launch constitutes a seismic shift in the data landscape.'

Comment Your data is in everyone else's hands (Score 4, Insightful) 115

by Toe, The (#46042569) Attached to: Security Vendors Self-Censor Target Breach Details

Exactly. The story that still isn't being expressed well is that your data is in the hands of every company you have transactions with.

And so you are entrusting all of them to have top-notch IT (better IT than all hackers interested in targeting them). What are the chances that's the case?

I'd hazard that 10% of companies have good, solid, rigid security policies (and it's the policies that matter much more than the tech, usually). So that implies that 90% of the time you hand out your personal info to someone, it's highly vulnerable.

Just chew on that for a bit. I'd be very interested in hearing proposals for a global solution.

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