Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Australia voted... for a kick in the nuts. (Score 4, Interesting) 212

This is part of a long term global effort by deranged moguls like Rupert Murdoch. Take the quote below:

The Murdoch tabloids’ trademark sensationalist coverage of crime, and accompanying campaigns for draconian law-and-order politics such as harsher sentences and more police powers, has always been in the framework of self-righteous claims to be the voice of victims.

Another trademark of the Murdoch media globally is Islamophobia. From Fox news’ hysterical reaction to President Barack Obama’s Arabic middle name, to the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s current anti-Burka campaign, the Murdoch media has consistently vilified Muslims in the name of protecting Western society from terrorism.

In Australia, not only has Murdoch used his media to campaign for anti-terror laws but, in several cases after such laws have been introduced, authorities used the Murdoch media during prosecutions to spread allegations against defendants in terrorism trials. Such allegations cannot be refuted in open court, or spoken about by the accused, because of secrecy provisions in the anti-terror laws.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/n...

It reads like it was written yesterday, but in fact it's a story from 2011, during a previous successful push to whittle away more civil liberties, not just in Australia, but worldwide.

Until us ordinary people can recognise the war being waged against us by the Murdochs of the world, and discover the courage and weapons to fight them, we will continue to lose those few liberties we have remaining.

Comment Re:Please make this thing useful for development (Score 4, Interesting) 101

It is not designed for mouse so the result is a complete user frustration.

1. I've used Android apps with an external mouse on my Asus transformer, and found the experience reasonably sensible.
2. Don't forget the "nearly every platform" comment from TFA. Apps aren't currently designed for use with a mouse, but it doesn't have to stay that way. The Android app format is coming close to being the fabled "universal binary", finally giving developers the long-promised write once, run anywhere ability.
3. In light of 2. above, it isn't too hard to imagine a future UI toolkit that can sensibly switch between touch and pointer modes.

Comment Re:Dial up can still access gmail (Score 3, Informative) 334

Does Chrome OS even support dial-up?

It could, with an ethernet dial-up modem.

Having said that, I think the best solution would be Debian with Eldy installed, and a few scripts for parent-specific needs (like a revert-to-default/familiar setting) linked to big, clear buttons.

Comment Re:KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score 2) 352

I don't doubt you,

I doubt everyone, so I checked.

OP and the other posters are wrong. The stone is not granite, it's sandstone, and was chosen for it's color and consistency, not it's wear capabilities.

Now it’s revealed that the process of creating the stone floor tiles and large wall slabs falls to the Il Casone quarry, formed in 1962 by four stonemason families with generations of experience in creating subtle beauty from rough rock. The company’s quarry is north of Florence in the small town of Firenzuola, in the heart of a geologic region of sandstone called Pietra Serena. The blue-gray color of the stone, its texture and tone all contribute to the overall look of the finished Apple store.

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/2...

Comment Re:Please retire... (Score 4, Insightful) 266

Please retire

Hell no!

Romero is right. Good quality entertaining FPS have been thin on the ground lately.

It's become a stagnant genre, and it's time we had an Doom/Duke Nukem/Unreal/Half-Life successor. Daikatana was a failure in a large part because the AI for both enemies and the NPC sidekick characters was crap and messed up the rest of the gameplay. The bad guys, Barney and Alyx etc in HL2 showed that's a solved problem now.

In the words of the Duke, I say "Bring it on!".

Comment Re:Things (Score 4, Insightful) 191

It's all about degrees of disaster. If there's a real disaster, I wouldn't give a rodent's behind about my electronics and I too would be happy with my emergency stash of food and water.

You think so now, but you need recovery plans as much as immediate survival materials and equipment. Getting back to normal life is the real goal after a disaster.

I've been involved in several disaster recovery efforts, including earthquakes, floods, fires, and tsunamis. Each of those events had their own challenges, but there were some clear and consistent ways you can prepare to improve the eventual outcome.

1. Don't be there.
Seriously, this is the best option if there's ANY warning at all, or even post-disaster if you're mobile. Have and share a plan with pre-established criteria for getting out. Know what you're going to pack, what you'll protect in place (eg, plastic wrapped tools etc), and where you're going to go well before any threat is on its way. Stick to the plan.

2. Communications.
In every scenario so far, the most robust means of communicating and getting help has been SMS.If you can keep your phone charged for the duration, your chances of getting help (initially from first responders, then from community and family) is vastly improved. SIM cards are surprisingly robust, but have more than one phone available (eg, an old handset in sealed in plastic). Most importantly, have a car charger or two for your phone. Even wrecked cars can top up a phone battery.

3. Social Networking.
Stay in touch with friends and neighbors. If you're absent minded or mostly antisocial, have a list/schedule of people (in robust storage, and preferably hardcopy) to touch base with every month or two.

4. Entertainment.
Don't underestimate the importance of this. Boredom and depression can be devastating, so plan on ways to keep yourselves informed and relatively cheerful.

5. Documents.
Surprisingly, this has mattered less than I expected as recovery efforts generally take document loss into account. Having said that, things like insurance records etc are worth having copies located in several places (eg, with family or left at work).

Disasters are inherently somewhat unpredictable, but human needs are not. You can make life a lot easier for yourself if you choose to.

Comment Re:Funny money (Score 5, Interesting) 409

PV doesn't make sense at any scale.

I've just installed a 2.5 kW Solar system on my house in Western Australia, at a cost of just over $2500. Based on initial readings, output from the unit looks like being between 3,500 to 5,000 kWh/year. My electricity provider charges between 30 and 45c per kWh, and pays 8c per kWh for electricity fed back into the grid.

So my payback time for the initial investment is somwhere between 1 and three years if I consume mostly self-generated power. The panels and inverter I've installed have a 25 year warranty,

How does this not make sense?

And I'm not alone in this, Australia faces an unprecedented oversupply of energy, with no new energy generation needed for 10 years. Coal power stations are sutting down, and even new gas power stations are being mothballed as they are unable to compete.

http://www.aemo.com.au/Reports...

Comment Re:Laugh all the way to the bank (Score 1) 83

Nobody knows for sure (except certain corporate lawyers) what these patents entail.

They do now. The Chinese Government released details of all 310 Microsoft patents used in Android licensing agreements last month. You can download the list here: http://images.mofcom.gov.cn/pe... (warning: docx)

That could be another reason why Samsung is now willing to contest the extortion. Very few of the patents are novel or non-obvious.

Comment Re:It's not a marketplace.. (Score 1) 258

Which confirms what I thought about this market all along, that it was foolish developers chasing nickels in place of dollars.

And I'm fine with that, as long as the market remains a competitive Darwinian pool.

The nature of any rapidly expanding ecosystem is that there will be a multiplicity of variously capable denizens that'll be culled to the fittest survivors, particularly as resources become scarcer. Apple's app store is transitioning from that explosive expansion phase and is now hitting the resource ($) limits as iOS loses ground against their competitors. Other app stores will follow suit as they also reach saturation point, and that's - potentially - a good thing.

The only reason it could become a negative is if App store owner/managers promote products for their own reasons instead of letting competition cull the weakest.

Slashdot Top Deals

If all else fails, lower your standards.

Working...