Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Before anyone gets in a huff... (Score 5, Informative) 1217

by Jorkapp (#32541450) Attached to: MA High School Forces All Students To Buy MacBooks

FTFA:

"Parents can pay for the computers upfront or lease them from the district, with the option to buy after three years. The payments should work out to about $20 to $25 per month, Hayes said. The cost also includes free tech support.

"We realize for some families that will be a stretch," he said. In those cases, the district will provide financial assistance.

Students who don't participate will be able to borrow a school-provided laptop during the day, but they won't be able to take it home, Hayes said."

---

IMO, $20-25/mo is a fair plan. That should be well within the finances of most families, and as they noted, they will provide financial assistance.

That said, using a unified platform is not a bad idea, but why make students buy heavily marked up hardware? Why not Netbooks with Linux?
Censorship

Porn Ban Being Considered In South Africa 240

Posted by Soulskill from the have-an-easier-time-blocking-gravity dept.
krou writes "Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba has gone to South Africa's Law Reform Commission to see whether the law can be changed to allow a complete ban of digitally distributed pornography. Gigaba has also been in discussion with The Justice Alliance of South Africa, 'a coalition of corporations, individuals, and churches committed to upholding and fighting for justice and the highest moral standards in South African society,' which has written its own draft bill regarding the issue, which covers the banning of pornography on television, mobile phones, and the Web. Using a car analogy, Mr. Gigaba said, 'Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts.... There is no reason why the Internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it.' Related documents and the JASA's proposed bill can be found online, one of which has the wonderful title 'A reasonable and justifiable limitation on Freedom of Expression and Right to Privacy.'"
Emulation (Games)

First Pandora Console Reaches Customer 271

Posted by Soulskill from the insert-pandora's-unboxing-pun-here dept.
neogramps writes "It's been a long time coming, but the first Pandora consoles are finally rolling off of the production line. (Well, this one actually walked out the door to a customer who lived near the 'factory.') Initial estimates had put production and development at taking two months, but Murphy had other ideas. Banking issues, design problems, problems communicating with the Chinese moulding company, escalating assembly costs, and even a volcano all managed to get in the way, but the small and dedicated team soldiered on, and just over a year and a half later, the wait is coming to an end for the 4,000 pre-orderers."

Comment Opera on other platforms (Score 1) 240

by Jorkapp (#31847590) Attached to: Opera Mini For iPhone Reviewed
I don't own an Apple mobile device, but Opera Mini has always been a fixture on my Windows Mobile devices for the past couple years. When I found out Opera Mini 5 was going to have a native WM version, I was overjoyed (no more waiting for the JVM to start)

As far as my opinions of the browser: No, Opera Mini doesn't have Javascript, Flash, Java, or HTML5 support, but that's not critical. Why? Simple: when I'm browsing on the go, that content doesn't matter. I want the text, images, and a proper layout, and I want it quickly. I've used full browsers on Windows Mobile before (Opera Mobile, IE Mobile 6, Iris Browser) and none of them render fast enough. Furthermore, Flash is terrible on mobile devices - slow and battery consuming.

A quick speed test to prove my point: My favorite web comic (Air Force Blues) on a 5Mbit Wifi connection takes roughly 15 seconds to render on Iris Browser 1.1.9*, but only 2 seconds through Opera Mini 5. Sure, not having JS means I get to miss out on the comments below the comics, but that's a small price to pay.

So is Opera Mini a full browser? No. I do think that it is a good general purpose mobile browser, especially if you're in a country where the Telecom companies all have caps on mobile data (I'm looking squarely in your direction, Canada).


* Iris Browser is based on Webkit, and uses SquirrelFish Extreme for JS. It was probably one of the best full browsers for WM before RIM bought out Torch Mobile and they stopped WM development and distribution.
Science

Why a High IQ Doesn't Mean You're Smart 808

Posted by CmdrTaco from the but-not-all-idiots-are-savant dept.
D1gital_Prob3 writes "How can a 'smart' person act foolishly? Keith Stanovich, professor of human development and applied psychology at the University of Toronto, Canada, has grappled with this apparent incongruity for 15 years. He says it applies to more people than you might think. To Stanovich, however, there is nothing incongruous about it. IQ tests are very good at measuring certain mental faculties, he says, including logic, abstract reasoning, learning ability and working-memory capacity — how much information you can hold in mind."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like `Psychic Wins Lottery.'" -- Comedian Jay Leno

Close