Comment Can someone explain the "dog" reference? (Score 1) 647
I don't get it -_-
Comment FTA (Score 1) 88
That group has also recorded a rough spectrum of the star, which Mamajek says confirms his prediction that the companion is a cool and dim M-class dwarf star.
...so it should at least have Roddenberries
Comment repurpose, refill (Score 4, Informative) 970
Well, you could use it for some DIY project. Printers have nice stepper motors and the guiding rod is pretty straight too.
But it doesn't have to be like that. You could just go buy an ink refill kit and refill existing cartridges
Comment Re:4chan (Score 2, Funny) 218
/b/ is the fist thing that came to my mind as well
Comment Install AV/firewall (Score 1) 932
Set them to autoupdate daily & make them scan pretty much everything - email attachments, downloads..
It slows the computer down overall but that's the price they'll have to pay if they don't want to learn.
Of course this is in addition to warning them to check for obvious signs:
* who is this email really from?
* does the URL actually go where it pretends it will go?
* am I downloading from a legitimate site?
* did I remember to scan the file I just downloaded? -- there used to be firefox addons that did this automatically..
Installing Linux as some are suggesting works in some cases only.
* They won't be able to use some sites (think Silverlight)
* If they run programs other than standard email/browser/IM combo, it might be a problem. OpenOffice is great but not a perfect substitute for MS Office.
HTH
Comment Re:Cost of printing? (Score 1) 227
Each ballot has a unique ID number to start off with, so they have that system in place already.
They just need to add printing a unique cryptographic IDs with special ink to the process - might not even require a 3rd reprint
Comment Re:Old school (Score 1) 823
Second.
I've tried it all and pen&paper is the best choice.
Comment Re:Simply generate electricity locally. (Score 1) 271
I agree with you, but just want to point out that if those power plants used superconducting generators, they would probably generate a lot less heat
Comment What are recovery options? (Score 2, Insightful) 129
What if something happens to the legitimate user's hand? Injury, for instance. Or, even simpler - typing with one hand because of holding a coffee mug in another.
How To Send Email When You're Dead 165
The Narrative Fallacy writes "'The Last Messages Club' is a new service that sends personal emails written prior to one's death to loved ones in the future. The messages can range from a final love letter, guidance for someone left behind, a list of instructions, details on life insurance and other financial information. 'No one likes to think about their impending "demise," but it is much better to be fully-prepared, so that there is less stress on your loved ones after you pass away,' says founder Geoff Reiss. The system works by giving each member a secure and private vault where they are able to create messages to be sent specifically to their chosen recipient. A secure process ensures that messages are only sent after at least two people appointed by the user have confirmed that you have died and other safety criteria are met. 'I thought at first that maybe it was a bit ghoulish but on consideration I think it's a great idea as it would be nice for loved ones to receive messages from me when I'm no longer here,' says a technical adviser to the company. 'It's strange really as it makes you confront your own mortality in a sense.'"
Submission + - Fan makes life size companion cube (b3ta.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A guy on a creative site I use has created his own life-size companion cube. You have to admit, you want one.
Submission + - Apple censors the Ninjawords dictionary (daringfireball.net)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple has read 1984 and is now policing dictionaries, and the Twitter community is fuming with outrage. John Gruber reports: 'Ninjawords for iPhone suffers one humiliating flaw: it omits all the words deemed "objectionable" by Apple's App Store reviewers, despite the fact that Ninjawords carries a 17+ rating.
Apple requires you to be 17 years or older to purchase a censored dictionary that omits half the words Steve Jobs uses every day.'
Submission + - HD DVD returns (zdnet.com)
Way2Random writes: "Interesting article on HD-DVD getting another run.
Just when Blu-ray thought it had clear sailing, a tempest has risen in the East: China Blue Hi-definition Disk (CBHD). Toshiba has licensed its HD DVD to them and it will be the unit world leader in HD optical technology in just 12 months.
Why? The Times Online reports that the CBHD players are outselling Blu-ray in China by 3-1 and the CBHD disks cost a quarter of Blu-ray.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=562&1=1"
Submission + - Britain wants to ban airbrushed images (nymag.com)
dougrun writes: "Britain is continuing its battle against Photoshop. Liberal Democrats are in an uproar over recent Oil of Olay ads featuring Twiggy with glowing, almost perfect skin. Amazing for a woman of her age. But then photos of the model shopping at Marks & Spencer surfaced, and she looked — dare we say it — her own age, with actual wrinkles and jowls, making the image in the ad seem downright silly. Lawmakers are getting their brows furrowed worrying over what effect this could have on young girls."
Submission + - First Person Shooter using real guns (or shovels) (blogspot.com)
Blake writes: This group rigged up a few accelerometers to a large wall and projected a first person shooter onto it. Using some math they can triangulate the position of impacts on the wall, so naturally they found someone with a gun and bought a large case of ammunition. Hilarity ensues.
Even cooler, this group usually posts a "how we did it" video a few weeks after a project's debut including source code.
