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Comment Re:Fuck those greedy bastards. (Score 1) 510

by Falc0n (#41944101) Attached to: Tesla Motors Sued By Car Dealers
Definition of Motor vehicle (Per TFA): “Motor vehicle”, any motor driven vehicle or house trailer required to be registered under chapter 90 regardless of curb weight or required to be registered under sections 20 to 35, inclusive, of chapter 90B having a curb weight of not more than 1,000 pounds, or a truck camper. Sure sounds like Tesla falls under that model to me!

Comment Remote Controls (Score 5, Interesting) 301

by Falc0n (#41105065) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Use For an Old Smartphone?
I use old phones over wifi to control my XBMC media boxes. When I build my new house in a few years, I'll probably incorporate them into home automation since I'll have around 10 lying around. Most phones in airplane mode with wifi will last at least a week, and it lets me have chargers around the house to keep them (or my current phone) plugged in most of the time.

Comment Whos fault? HTC or Verizon? (Score 1) 143

by Falc0n (#37826854) Attached to: Is Verizon Breaking FCC Regulations With Locked Bootloaders?
I have the HTC Thunderbolt, unlocked running BAMF. According to the verizon rep, the bootloader lockdown was at the request of HTC. Additionally, the warranty is handled by the manufacturer, and would be void by them, not verizon. He told me that I could return the phone, and verizon only does some cursory testing to see if it turns on, functions, etc. The fact it was rooted wouldn't be detected until handed to HTC.
Now this is all assuming Verizon isn't lying to me. It could very well be all false. But it seems like they're trying to pin the fault on locked down phones to the manufacturer, NOT themselves. Aren't there some Android phones, made by Verizon that are unlocked?

Comment Teen Tech Fest anyone? (Score 1) 116

by Falc0n (#36841256) Attached to: Fond Memories of Nerd Camp
I was one of those lucky high school tech nerds that attended Teen Tech Fest 2000 sponsored by AcePlanet and Microsoft. It was its first and last year, since AcePlanet went belly up like many other startups of the time. AcePlanet was going to do annual computer-themed summer camps for kids, but I guess there wasn't enough money in it.

Already being already an F/OSS person, it was a very fun camp. Despite being Microsoft sponsored (and getting a free copy of VS6 and tour of the MS campus), many of the kids there were very open source users and programmers. Many to this day I still talk to and are in tech related industries, including a few working at Google and Intel.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Drupal heading for space (drupalinspace.com)

Submitted by
Falc0n
Falc0n writes: "Not to be outdone by various other weather balloon projects, this week at drupalcon, a group of crazy drupalists decided to become engineers and take on a project to launch drupal into space. Its currently using APRS on the ham radio frequency to track its progress. You can track its progress live. More information can be found at drupalinspace.com."

Submission + - Drupal 7 released (drupal.org)

Submitted by dzogchen
dzogchen writes: Drupal 7 arrived today after a multi year development cycle that saw huge growth in the use of CMS software in general. Release parties are scheduled around the world.

Comment Mini Options! (Score 4, Interesting) 169

by Falc0n (#34271944) Attached to: New Device Puts SSD In a DIMM Slot
Actually I find this potentially quite cool. Not as much for the power source, but the size. Since most mATX boards don't come with mini PCIe slots, if you want to use an SSD drive you need a 2.5" drive or a PCIe card with a mini-slot on it. Both are much larger than a DIMM option.

And with 50gb, this would be very useful in a media box streaming from a server. Now only if the price could come down.
Cellphones

Journal Journal: Rumor: 500 Kin Phones 9

Journal by symbolset

When Microsoft's Kin was released a month ago, it came with the usual sequence of tittilating leaks (project Pink), a swell of coverage leading to liveblogging of the release press conference, and an advertising blitz impressive in its scope. Since it's supposed to be a social phone of course it has numerous fansites including Facebook and Twitter. Of course there's a Wikipe

Comment Ham Radio + GPS = Fun! (Score 4, Interesting) 368

by Falc0n (#31753944) Attached to: Ham Radio Still Growing In the iStuff Age
My 4x4 group (hot4x4.ca) uses VHF almost exclusively due to its reach above and beyond CB. Cell phones usually don't work where we travel either. Depending on the terrain, we can reach over 75kms from each other on just the 2m band w/o a repeater. This only requires a technician (basic) license as well.
Add in the APRS + Garmin GPS, and your rig turns into a mobile GPS transmitter. We then can track each other, which makes it really easy to find each other. APRS also allows us to send text messages via a p2p network of Ham Radios. Example: we had guys in Reno who we needed to contact because we broke a part on the Rubicon. Couldn't reach them via radio, but with APRS, our txt msgs could be relayed.
None of this requires anything but the first class license. Its an awesome hobby and there is a lot you can do with it, in addition to Geek cred and ecomm or search/rescue.
Media (Apple)

Apple's "iPad" Out In the Open 1713

Posted by timothy from the will-care-when-it-runs-linux dept.
Reader oxide7 is one of the many to note that the heaviest speculation is mostly over (still waiting on the price, though) about Apple's anticipated new device (though there are surely plenty of questions about the device's hardware capabilities and the scope of its software and content marketplace): "At an event in San Francisco Apple released its anticipated iPad.'[It's] Way better than a laptop, way better then a phone. You can turn it any way you want. To see the whole page is phenomenal,' said Jobs." The (0.5") skinny: 1.5 lbs, multitouch, up to 64GB of flash, 9.7" screen, and a 1Ghz "Apple A4" chip (more about the A4 in Engadget's developing story). The iPad is closer in concept to an expanded iPhone (OS and all) than a miniaturized laptop, though it doesn't have quite as much connectivity as you might expect, with no 3G connection built in. (You'll have to make do with 802.11n, Bluetooth, and tethering.) Live coverage is ongoing at gdgt live, Engadget, and Gizmodo, as well as various others. Update by timothy, 19:58 GMT: Got the 3G part wrong; 3G is indeed an option. Prices run from $499 (16GB flash, WiFi but no 3G) to $829 (WiFi and 3G, 64GB flash). Should start shipping in 60 days (WiFi only), in 90 days for 3G. Surprsingly, no built-in camera.

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