Comment Re:Can confirm the issue from personal experience (Score 1) 351
And what a total pain in the arse it all is when you're trying to get actual work done.
Comment Give it time (Score 1) 2
Android is still new and until very recently there was only a single handset and it had bit of a geeky reputation. There are a whole bunch of Android phones from a fat handful of manufacturers about to hit the market before the end of this year which is going to change the landscape completely. I've had the HTC Hero for a few weeks. It's a brilliant phone and impresses everyone who sees it. I was showing it to a couple of guys in a shop and before long I had a small crowd who were all saying they wanted one.
Submission + - 1,000 London CCTV cameras 'solve one crime' (bbc.co.uk)
SpuriousLogic writes: Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed.
The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.
In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.
David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: "It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent." He added: "CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness.
"It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.
"The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV."
Submission + - Real Networks Planning Rhapsody iPhone App
adeelarshad82 writes: Real will submit its application for an on-demand streaming version of Rhapsody for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Rhapsody subscribers will be able to sign into the app with the same username and password they use on the PC. Non-subscribers will be provided with a limited time free-trial period.
Submission + - The dangers of the Free Public Wi-Fi ad hoc (techtarget.com)
L3sPau1 writes: "It can be tough to convince users — especially those challenged by shrinking travel budgets — to avoid the allure of free wireless Internet. When employers can't or won't pay for unlimited wireless Internet, employees get creative. Why should they waste thankless hours waiting for planes and trains when they could be using Free Public WiFi to catch up on mail, download iTunes, or watch a little Slingbox?
Unfortunately, Free Public WiFi isn't what it sounds like. In most cases, this unsecured wireless network is actually being offered by a nearby laptop or smartphone. Any naive user who tries to connect may well succeed, but the ad hoc node (wireless peer) at the far end isn't an on-ramp to the Internet. At best, it's a wireless cul-de-sac; a dead end for IP packets. At worst, it's a thief using KARMA to spoof destination servers, launch man-in-the-middle attacks and steal personal and business identities."
Submission + - Discovery could lead to computer revolution 1
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have shown that the electron can be divided into other particles.
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009073101
From the article published 31 July 2009;
"The electron is a fundamental building block of nature and is indivisible in isolation, yet a new experiment has shown that electrons, if crowded into narrow wires, are seen to split apart."
The new particles are called the Spinon and Holon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holon_(physics)
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009073101
From the article published 31 July 2009;
"The electron is a fundamental building block of nature and is indivisible in isolation, yet a new experiment has shown that electrons, if crowded into narrow wires, are seen to split apart."
The new particles are called the Spinon and Holon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holon_(physics)
Submission + - Intel Outlines Process Technology Roadmap - X-bit (xbitlabs.com)
Precision writes: "Intel Aims at 4nm Fabrication Process in 2022"
Submission + - Why the Google Phone Isn't Taking Off 2
Hugh Pickens writes: "Farhad Manjoo writes in Slate that while the iPhone commands nearly 14 percent of smartphone sales and BlackBerry about 21 percent. Android has only 3 percent and that even though it's far friendlier to developers, Android has failed to attract anywhere near the number of apps now clogging the iPhone. Manjoo writes that Google went wrong by giving handset manufacturers and carriers a great deal of control over the design and marketing of Android phones so there is no idealized "Google phone"--instead, Android devices get names like the T-Mobile G1 or the myTouch 3G, and each is marketed separately and comes with its own distinct capabilities and shortcomings. "Outside handset manufacturers lack ambition--none of them even seems to be trying to match the capabilities of the iPhone, let alone to knock us down with features that far surpass those of Apple's device," writes Manjoo. "A smart handset manufacturer could build a top-of-the-line Android device that outshines Apple's phone in at least a few areas--better battery life, a much better Web browser, a brighter or bigger screen, faster or more functional controls ... something that might help Android inspire gadget lust. But so far, that's not happening." John Gruber adds that the goal should be to make a phone that is better than the iPhone. "Carefully select a handful of areas where you can beat the iPhone, and then promote the hell out of these features," writes Gruber. "If your hope is to gain a strong foothold in the market with a sub-par device, you are mistaken. If Apple is BMW, you can be Porsche.""
Comment Re: Duh? (Score 1) 347
Well, I would have modded it funny.
And, while I'm at it, can we stop trying to make things smaller by multiplying them by large numbers? "1000 times less intense" is a nonsense. "A one thousandth as intense" or "a thousandth of the intensity" is what they mean. If you can't handle fractions, then "it would need to be a thousand times brighter to be visible to the naked eye".
And, while I'm at it, can we stop trying to make things smaller by multiplying them by large numbers? "1000 times less intense" is a nonsense. "A one thousandth as intense" or "a thousandth of the intensity" is what they mean. If you can't handle fractions, then "it would need to be a thousand times brighter to be visible to the naked eye".
Comment Image uploads are restricted (Score 5, Informative) 572
I have a bunch of high quality images that I've taken and am happy to donate. However, when I tried to upload them I was prevented due to not having updated a sufficient number of articles. Until you've updated the text on something like 10 articles you can't upload any images. I simply haven't found that many articles I felt I could make a useful contribution to yet.
It seems like an odd restriction to me. Unless you can prove you can write readable text, you can't upload pictures.
Comment Re:I wouldn't publish on Kindle if it was Open (Score 1) 315
DRM helps no one achieve anything. Best selling author and former Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cory Doctorow http://craphound.com/ is an interesting guy and practices what he preaches. He lets you download his books from his website for free. Of course, if you want a nicely bound paper version, you can buy a copy. Of you can go to see the stage show of the book or the film of the book. I don't think he's starving.
Comment Too much hyperbole (Score 1) 790
It may be extreme and excessive in some departments but not all as the author would like you to believe. That sort of acceleration has been commonplace on sports motorbikes for years and my eyeballs haven't deformed yet.
Comment Get someone else involved (Score 1) 601
Find a partner. Programming in a team is a whole lot more motivating and productive than solo. You're forced to work to produce code if the other guy needs to integrate with it. You'll also get someone to bounce ideas off this can inspire and motivate. Set milestones and reward yourselves when you reach them.
Comment Get involved (Score 1) 1354
Go out and do stuff, like join clubs or get involved in local events. Some ideas:
1. Join a local amateur dramatics society. You don't have to act/sing/dance. You can work backstage on lights and sound (geeky stuff) or build sets. There are always more females than males at these things. The social side is huge.
2. Join a club to learn or enjoy one of your less geeky interests, like maybe dancing, playing music, photography, walking, etc.
3. Work in a bar at weekends. Girls you don't know will come up to you and talk to you - and order drinks.
4. Join a gym (you probably need to anyway) and look out for social activities.
5. Read the local papers for activities and events in the area.
Also: wash, shave, brush your teeth, cut your hair, wear clean clothes. Remove other useless blemishes such as iPhones.
Good luck.
Submission + - Panasonic and Sumitomo teaming up to make OLED TVs (cnet.com)
rallymatte writes: "Currently, there's only one consumer model available of OLED displays, it's the Sony XEL, that will be yours for a mere $2,500, giving you a screen at the size of 11 inches. But now Panasonic and Sumitomo are teaming up to develop 40 inches or larger OLED TVs by 2010. OLEDs enable a greater range of colors, gamut, brightness, contrast and viewing angle than LCDs because OLED pixels directly emit light. OLED pixel colors appear correct and unshifted, even as the viewing angle approaches 90 degrees from normal. LCDs use a backlight and cannot show true black, while an off OLED element produces no light and consumes no power."
