26802600
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
How many incandescent light bulbs have you replaced in your house with fluorescent equivalents?
None – and never will.
1-2
3-5
6-10
10-20
>20
Waiting for LEDs/Light Bulb Next.
I use pre-incandescent lighting technology
23672872
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Reason I most oppose the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: ..Less competition = higher prices ..AT&T will kill all the great T-Mobile price plans ..I moved to T-Mobile to get AWAY from AT&T ..Don't want to lose the hot T-Mobile girl ads ..I don't oppose the merger ..What merger? ..Other (specify)
23634176
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
After their recent (up to) 60% price increase, and now losing Starz out of their streaming lineup early next year, Netflix is starting to ship deficient DVD's. I got The Adjustment Bureau from them on DVD. I've preferred DVD's ever since the DVD version of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story had nearly 20 more minutes of movie on it than the streaming version. But with The Adjustment Bureau, all of the bonus features (but not the movie previews) had been stripped out of the DVD and replaced with an ad encouraging the purchase of the retail DVD and/or BluRay version. And no warning on the Netflix page for this movie that this wasn't the full real DVD that they were shipping. What the heck? Is Netflix trying to commit corporate suicide? I'll probably spend a buck at Red Box just to see the bonus features for this film, and have a bad taste in my mouth over it regarding Netflix.
22311510
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
I just got notice that my current $9.99/month Unlimited DVDs (1-at-a-time) and Unlimited Streaming plan is now split. Now I must choose by September 1 between Unlimited DVDs (1-at-a-time) for $7.99/month (no streaming), or Unlimited Streaming for $7.99/month (no DVDs). Or I can have both – otherwise described as exactly what I have now – for only $15.98. This amounts to a 59.9% increase over my current plan. They must really believe that they have pricing power in this weak economy to try to get away with such a huge price increase since they would lose money from anyone who uses only one of their two services. So much for falling data transport prices making everything cheaper by the year.
22128330
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Labor Unions?
o A universal good.
o A qualified necessity.
o Generally fine, but not for me.
o Necessary once upon a time.
o Obsolete and damaging in today's world.
o I'm self-employed, you dolt.
o There's no union for the unemployed.
20591564
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Only a decade ago the idea of Apple topping Microsoft would have seemed impossible, yet one cannot deny their relative valuations today. But how was it done? A great analysis of just how: Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it's enemy action shows how Apple's long-term strategy of cheap software may well win out over Microsoft's very opposite approach.
20548372
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
In Processor Whispers — About latencies and compilers Andreas Stiller opines on released information that AMD Bulldozer integer cores are less capable than their K10 predecessors. "The Bulldozer's integer core has only two instead of three ALUs (EX0, EX1). In exchange, it comes with slightly enhanced AGLUs (address generation logical units). Besides, the throughput specifications would draw attention to the fact that the Bulldozer's integer cores each have one pipeline less than the integer cores of its predecessor K10, although AMD boldly draws four pipelines into its block diagram – as the scheduler can now support the two ALUs (EX0 and EX1) and the two address generation units (AG0 and AG1) separately, whereas before these units were jointly operated by glued-together micro-operations. Still, this is no serious compensation for the three capable ALUs that the K10 and the competition's Sandy Bridge feature, as the two AGUs can only offer very limited aid – apparently, they can only participate in calculations related to the instructions CALL and LEA." Is AMD, once again, about to disappoint?
20232398
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
After the Pandora personal information tracking fiasco (I wondered why that app always started every time I rebooted, even when I hadn't used it for weeks), and now having yet another app (today it's Layar) ask in its latest update for access to even more personal information that it absolutely doesn't need to do its job, I'd like to know: Can I make my Android phone just outright lie to these applications that don't need this personal information to start with? After all, it is MY phone.
18305586
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Recently word leaked out about Amazon removing titles containing fictional incest. Surprisingly that ban didn't extend to the 10 titles of Science Fiction Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein that incorporate various themes of incest and pedophilia. Now, it seems that the censorship is expanding to m/m gay fiction if it contains the magic word "rape" in the title. Just how far is this going to be allowed to proceed in relative silence, and who is pushing these sudden decisions on Amazon's part?
18022308
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Back in April of 2009, with no notice or stated policy, a large swath of LGBT titles suddenly disappeared from Amazon.com. The ensuing uproar soon got them restored with Amazon claiming it was all some sort of never well described, but very selective, glitch. Then in July 2009 Amazon suddenly removed purchased books from customer's Kindles citing a copyright cock-up. Amazon's next trick earlier this year was to remove titles with suggestive covers from their All Departments default search, which is blatant censorship since that is the only search many Amazon customers know how to use. They may have been spooked by this hit piece in Slate. And while those titles seemed to still be available if you know where to drill down in your search, removing then from the most commonly used All Departments default search was blatant censorship in the digital age. You'd almost be tempted to think that Amazon didn't want to be in the book sales business. Now Amazon seems to be at it again regarding adult material – fictional incest stories among others. It is also under discussion on the Amazon forum – for now. With no warning to authors, publishers, or their customers, titles have suddenly disappeared over the weekend, including reports of yanking existing sold books from Kindle via the subterfuge of corrupting the downloaded book, offering a refund, and then refusing the ability to repurchase the title with the refund. These are titles that obviously have a market, some of them doing quite well on the bestseller lists for their genre. So just what is The World's Biggest Bookstore up to now and why are they being so quiet about it? Is it time to celebrate Google Books as the freer Amazon alternative?
17227888
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
SLASHDOT POLL
Should there be a Harry Potter #8?
Yes, Harry Potter and the Battle for Hogwarts.
Yes, other (see comments).
No, 7 are just right/more than enough.
No, Warner Brothers has already made enough money.
No, J. K. Rowling is already richer than the Queen.
No, the actors are too old.
Who is Harry Potter?
16929266
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
It seems that Amazon has embarked on a new policy of quiet bookcover censorship. It's possible that they were spooked by this hit piece in Slate, or there may be some other reason, but bookcovers featuring even tasteful nudity have been removed from the "All Departments" general search. Of course they never made this a public announcement; books just started disappearing from their general search without notice. Authors and publishers are being left with two choices: 1) Redo the cover to remove the nudity. 2) Have your title relegated to only Erotica searches for now. Their alleged excuse is that some minor might accidentally stumble upon an offending cover, but this seems to overlook the obvious fact that even with the cover changed Amazon is still selling the same unaltered content to that, or any other, purchaser. And is this only the first step for them? So far this hasn't apparently spread to other eTailers such as Fictionwise, making it possible to compare erotic titles on the two sites and see the Amazon required censorship in the changed cover art. So how do you feel about Amazon setting these rules for everyone?
12663022
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Yes Fake Steve Jobs (aka Dan Lyons) is dumping his unreliable AT&T/iPhone for Verizon/Android. Among the factors he cites in his decision include the HTC Incredible phone itself, the highly-regarded Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, and too many dropped calls on his current network. Who wudda thunk?
12662970
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Yes Fake Steve Jobs (aka Dan Lyons) ishttp://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2010/05/20/sayonara-iphone-why-i-m-switching-to-android.aspx">dumping his unreliable AT&T/iPhone for Verizon/Android. Among the factors he cites in his decision include the HTC Incredible phone itself, the highly-regarded Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, and too many dropped calls on his current network. Who wudda thunk?
12224520
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Sharp Aquos brand televisions are making a big deal about their Quattron technology of adding a 4th yellow pixel to their RGB sets. While you can read a glowing review of it here, the engineer in me is skeptical because of how all the source material for this set is produced in 3-color RGB. I also know how just making a picture brighter and saturating the colors a bit can make it more appealing to many viewers over a more accurate rendition – so much for side-by-side comparisons. And I laugh at how you are supposed to see the advantages of 4-color technology in ads on your 3-color sets at home as you watch their commercials. It sounds more like hype to extract a higher profit margin than the next great advance in home television. So is it real?
