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Comment Re:No (Score 1) 480

by Scuff (#28956029) Attached to: Can We Abandon Confidentiality For Google Apps?

Think about it... you are getting standard edition for "free". Google wouldn't do unless some non-trivial number of users is READING and CLICKING on those ads. If your secretary is working on a budget spreadsheet, and gets distracted by an google ad in the corner of her spreadsheet, gets distracted and clicks on it, and goes browsing for 20 minutes as a result... that costs you money. And THAT is PRECISELY what your beloved partner google is counting on. THAT is their entire business model. Give you the app for free, and then extract a profit by luring your staff to click ads instead of work.

There are no ads in google docs.

Comment Re:Logitech MX Revolution (Score 1) 569

by Scuff (#28643835) Attached to: Best Mouse For Programming?
While we're extolling the benefits of nicely contoured mice, the Logitec MX 610 is a similar model to this but is also available in contours for left-handed people. This probably doens't help the original poster, but may be useful information to others in this thread. I've been very happy with mine.

Comment Re:depends (Score 1) 1137

by Scuff (#27871223) Attached to: Your Commuting Costs By Car Vs. Train?
I'm not exactly sure how it works in Canada, but in many places in the US, speeding tickets will affect your car insurance at least as much as a minor accident. Get a couple of them close together and they could consider you a risky driver.
Privacy

Wikipedia Opts Out Of Phorm 98

Posted by timothy from the phorm-of-their-objection dept.
ais523 writes "Wikipedia (and other websites run by Wikimedia) have requested to opt-out from Phorm; according to the email they sent, they 'consider the scanning and profiling of our visitors' behavior by a third party to be an infringement on their privacy.'" Another reader points to this post on techblog.wikimedia.org which includes a confirmation from Phorm that those sites will be excluded.
Books

Lose Your Amazon Account and Your Kindle Dies 419

Posted by timothy from the just-give-us-the-money-and-nobody-gets-hurt dept.
Mike writes "If you buy a Kindle and some Kindle ebooks from Amazon, be careful of returning items. Amazon decided that one person had returned too many things, so they suspended his Amazon account, which meant that he could no longer buy any Kindle books, and any Kindle subscriptions he's paid for stop working. After some phone calls, Amazon granted him a one-time exception and reactivated his account again." Take this with as much salt as you'd like.
Math

Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking 415

Posted by CmdrTaco from the over-your-head dept.
explosivejared writes "Humans don't always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply 'wishful thinking.' This paradoxical human behavior has resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. But now, scientists have shown that a quantum probability model can provide a simple explanation for human decision-making — and may eventually help explain the success of human cognition overall."
Networking

James Bond Villain Data Center 103

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-expect-you-to-die dept.
jeet writes "Data centers are boring and NOCs are doubly so. But this one sure beats all of them. Found this video of a data center suited for james bond villain on Data Center Knowledge website. The facility is established in a hydrogen bomb safe bunker and has generators used in German submarines. The CEO takes you around and shows some other cool features."

Comment Re:Earth to Guitar Hero: (Score 1) 86

by Scuff (#27077749) Attached to: Warner Music Playing Hardball With <em>Rock Band</em>
Harmonix, the company that makes Rock band, already puts in indie artists as either "bonus songs" on the disk or as free downloadable content. They also have had a contest like you suggest in the past and put a song from the winner in the next game they released. I am pretty sure they still need popular music to sell the games initially, though it's been proven in the past that they can get away with cover versions of those. It's only since the games became really popular that they've been using the original recordings.
PC Games (Games)

Left 4 Dead DLC, SDK Announced 66

Posted by Soulskill from the we-supply-the-tools-you-supply-the-braaaaains dept.
Today Valve announced plans for Left 4 Dead's first DLC, called The L4D Survival Pack. It will include a new game mode and two campaigns for Versus mode. The new content is coming to both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game (a PS3 port to the base game still seems unlikely). The press release goes on to say, "In addition, for PC gamers and aspiring developers, the first Left 4 Dead release for the Source Software Development Kit (Source SDK) will allow the creation of custom Left 4 Dead campaigns that will be discoverable via L4D's matchmaking system. The SDK update is also due for release this spring, and is free of charge to all owners of L4D on the PC." The Opposable Thumbs blog also reports on a way to play Left 4 Dead in 3D.
Announcements

Submission + - Possible Design Flaw Identified in Bridge Collapse (hughpickens.com)

Submitted by
Pcol
Pcol writes: "The New York Times is reporting that investigators of the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis last week have found what may be a design flaw in the gusset plates that connect girders and raises the possibility that the bridge was structurally deficient from the day it opened. Although officials said they were still working to confirm the design flaw, in making their suspicion public, they were signaling that they considered it a potentially crucial discovery. Federal authorities said there was added stress on the gusset plates from the weight of construction equipment and nearly 100 tons of gravel on the bridge, where maintenance work was proceeding when the collapse occurred. A construction crew had removed part of the deck with 45-pound jackhammers, in preparation for replacing the two-inch top layer, and that may have also altered the stresses on the bridge, some experts said. If the engineers who designed the bridge in 1964 miscalculated the loads and used metal parts that were too weak for the job, it would recast the national debate that has emerged, about whether enough attention has been paid to maintenance."
XBox (Games)

Fallout From the November Console Wars 182

Posted by Zonk from the whew-i-can-finally-take-off-this-helmet dept.
All three 'next generation' consoles are out, and we can finally stop using that term. The NPD numbers for last month have been released, and there's plenty of information there to discuss. Analysts have already made some observations, with brandintel specifically pointing out the Xbox 360's 'surprising' role in last month's fight. For some more well-reasoned thought, Dean Takahashi's take is the place to turn: "At this rate, Microsoft isn't going to hit its goal of 10 million units by year end ... Sony's number is consistent with its warnings, but 197,000 is worse than what many expected ... the fair fight is really going to be what happens in the year 2007, when all three console makers should be able to ship as many consoles as consumers want. To me, this looks like consumers are hit with a case of sticker shock. The mass market is paying for cheap PS2s, DS Lites, and GBAs." Despite the Wii's success last month, it should be noted that Nintendo is no longer bragging of 1 Million units in the U.S. by the end of the year. So, essentially, it looks like all three companies will fail to hit their console goals for the year.

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