liquidice5 - Slashdot User

The Biggest Cults In Tech 397

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday May 04, 2009 @06:22PM from the nobody-can-match-the-apple-fanbois dept.

bobby f. writes "Infoworld has published its list of the biggest cults in tech — including Palmists, Newtonians, Commodorians, the Brotherhood of the Ruby, IBM power systems fanboys, Ubuntu-ists, and Lispers. A pretty fun read (unless you really are a cult member)." Although I think it's pretty clear that the Apple camp isn't an opinionated cult, they're just always right. Fire away.

Your Mashup Is Probably Legal 149

Posted by timothy on Tuesday July 08, 2008 @09:22AM from the oh-thank-you-2-live-crew-thank-you dept.

TV Barn writes "We've been conditioned to think that if you pull something off the web and use it, you're committing some sort of copyright infringement. But increasingly, the law is moving in the opposite direction. Provided you are making a truly new use of the content, you are free to make money off those copyrighted images and video and sound. On Monday the Center for Social Media released 'Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video,' which reflects the latest changes in copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' Already Miro has endorsed the guidelines, as have several public broadcasters. The Center has a good track record, having issued guidelines for documentary filmmakers that have greatly reduced copyright claims in that area. The website has plenty of resources for mashers and mixers; I interviewed the Center's director in this podcast that summarizes the most important findings of the report." On the other hand, says reader kaliphonia, your guitar tablature sites may not fare so well.

Bookmark Smoking in Public Places (socyberty.com)

by nayie on Sunday April 29, 2007 @11:58PM

Submission + - OpenOffice vs MS Office 2007, a sad day for OO

Submitted by

NexTechNews

on Sunday April 29, 2007 @11:14PM

NexTechNews writes: "With advocates of OpenSource bashing on Microsoft Office 2007 for its high price tag and supposed bloatedness, one blogger decided to take the plunge and put the latest from Microsoft and the Latest from OpenOffice and put the 2 systems to the test. The most astonishing test was probably the simplest possible, just opening up some OOXML and ODF format files.

The result though might put some opensource viewers to shame as Microsoft Office not only opened the files 5 times faster than the opensource counterpart, it also managed to use 4 times LESS memory than open office 2.2 did. The reviews show that OpenOffice has definitly made leaps and bounds since its previous versions, but its in no way ready to outperform MS Office 2007.

This comes at a critical time as many offices are deciding whether the upgrade to MS office is worthwhile when free alternatives exist. But the review shows what many don't see, while office integrates a new ribbon and may look like its bloated microsoft managed to keep performance leaps ahead of its opensource competitor, while still including a rich UI with new things like the Citation Manager that OpenOffice 2.2 just flat out doesn't have a counterpart for."

How Google Earth Images Are Made 122

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 29, 2007 @10:41PM from the it's-all-in-the-f-stop dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Google Librarian Central site has up a piece by Mark Aubin, a Software Engineer who works on Google Earth. Aubin explains some of the process behind capturing satellite imagery for use with the product. 'Most people are surprised to learn that we have more than one source for our imagery. We collect it via airplane and satellite, but also just about any way you can imagine getting a camera above the Earth's surface: hot air balloons, model airplanes - even kites. The traditional aerial survey involves mounting a special gyroscopic, stabilized camera in the belly of an airplane and flying it at an elevation of between 15,000 feet and 30,000 feet, depending on the resolution of imagery you're interested in. As the plane takes a predefined route over the desired area, it forms a series of parallel lines with about 40 percent overlap between lines and 60 percent overlap in the direction of flight. This overlap of images is what provides us with enough detail to remove distortions caused by the varying shape of the Earth's surface.'

Submission + - The best gamer furniture?

Submitted by jsenek on Sunday April 29, 2007 @08:25PM

jsenek writes: I'm moving into a new apartment, and since my previous one came furnished and the new one does not, it's time to pick out some furniture. What should I look for, as a gamer, that will be comfortable for those long sessions of WoW, but not break my budget? Should I go the "gamer chair" route and look for some kind of keyboard/mouse stand, or should I stick to the tried-and-true office desk and chair combination?

Submission + - Sony loses it's freakin mind!

Submitted by mrneutron2004 on Sunday April 29, 2007 @08:04PM

mrneutron2004 writes: n the official Playstation Magazine, they had a feature on the release of Gods Of War II for the PS2, and featured images of the launch event in Greece. Images that show a slaughtered goat dripping blood from it's partially attached head and neck. http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/sony-loses- its-freakin-mind.html?Itemid=60

Submission + - Real D: The Future of Cinema

Submitted by GunSlinger on Sunday April 29, 2007 @07:46PM

GunSlinger writes: On IGN Movies — linkage . 3-D is making a cinematic comeback via Real D's sophisticated new tech. (Yes, you still wear glasses, no you don't get a headache, and yes the effect is fantastic). This story looks at the technology, past and future projects, and why just about every major studio is now planning in three dimensions.

Star Trek Shields Now a Possibility? 220

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday April 18, 2007 @04:11PM from the red-alert dept.

An anonymous reader writes "British scientists have announced their intent to build a Star Trek-style magnetic shielding system to help protect astronauts from radiation. 'There are a variety of risks facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation encountered when missions venture beyond the protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere, which shields the Earth against these energetic particles. The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.'"

Submission + - Three Cheap Ways to Boost Security

Submitted by narramissic on Wednesday April 18, 2007 @04:01PM

narramissic writes: In a recent article, security consultant Brent Huston offers three quick, inexpensive tips for small businesses that are looking to increase the overall security of their networks. His first tip, not too surprisingly, is to migrate users away from Internet Explorer. Inexpensive? Yes. Quick? I'm not so sure. Trying to change users' habits isn't generally an easy proposition.

Submission + - Dell first to market with slot Blu-ray drive on XP

Submitted by

Anne Camden

on Wednesday April 18, 2007 @03:31PM

Anne Camden writes: "Dell's added an optional 2X slot Blu-ray Disc drive on the XPS M2010, partnering the best movie quality and highest optical disc storage capacity with 20.1-inches of widescreen viewing and built-in high-definition audio. Some of the benefits of Blu-ray technology include: Highest picture quality: up to 1080p high definition resolution at 40 Mbps; Up to 50GB of optical disc storage, five times the capacity of DVDs; Backwards compatibility with CD and DVD allowing DVD and BD movie playback, DVD and BD authoring and CD, DVD and BD data burning Dell is a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association. More information on Blu-ray, including an updated list of movies can be found at www.blu-ray.com."

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