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Comment Re:Autopsy killed the Post office (Score 1) 297

You do know that you missed the "manually" part right in the very sentence you quoted, right? It's no different than writing out a check as far as the ability to check for errors.

I have bill pay set up through Schwab, and I get all of my reminders for services that are set up that way through their system. However, just like GGP, I am concerned about errors and forgetting. I absolutely still get paper copies of every single bill, verify the amounts, and then manually enter the payment amount through the bill pay system. The system saves the biller's information, so all I have to enter is the amount and the payment post date.

Comment Re:Go the whole hog... (Score 2, Interesting) 405

The compelling reason to use OpenSolaris is a mature ZFS implementation. That's why I use it as a home fileserver. I was running a SXCE build from early 2008 to get ZFS, but then I just blasted away my boot drive and dumped OpenSolaris on it. Imported my pool and away it went. And now the install runs on its on pool (root pool, or rpool), so things are even easier.

Different OSes do different things really well. This is one area where OpenSolaris shines.

Desktops (Apple)

Most Mac Owners Also Own a Windows PC, But Not Vice Versa 814

Barence writes "More than eight out of ten Mac owners also own a PC, according to a new piece of research. The NPD survey found that 12% of US computer-owning households have a Mac. However, 85% of those also own a Windows PC, suggesting that the Mac/PC divide is nowhere near as clear cut as both Apple and Microsoft suggest. Mac owners are also far more likely to have multiple computers in the house. Two thirds of Mac owners have three or more computers in the home, while only 29% of PC owners have two or more PCs."

Comment Re:I think (Score 1) 219

Assuming your problem there was DRM (which it likely wasn't), the individual applied DRM restrictions to media which foreclosed external playback on a projector, to which you were entitled by the agreement. How would that be DRM's fault, and not the fault of the individual who inadvertently applied the restriction?

It's the same as if you hire someone to code something for you and give you the source code, but at the end of the project they only give you the binaries. That's not a problem with binaries (plenty of people don't need the source code to everything, and aren't willing to pay for the privilege to obtain it), it's a problem with performance of the contract.

Comment Re:I think (Score 1) 219

Last I checked, the only thing Netflix was selling was a subscription service.

Here's the thing about DRM: You want unfettered access to a particular media file? You want to be legally entitled to do whatever you please with it? That's worth a completely different amount than the limited ability to only play it on a single specified device, as governed by DRM.

Why would anyone want DRM? Because I don't particularly enjoy paying several thousand dollars for an unrestricted license to something when the ten dollar version with DRM that blocks uses I don't care about suits me.

What happens if you do away with DRM, nay, copyright, entirely? I mean, surely any "purchase" of a copyrighted work should let you do *whatever* you want with it! Heck, first sale doctrine is too restrictive, I want to make additional copies of it, and sell those! Who are you to tell me otherwise?

I'll tell you what happens -- the cost for the initial unit will be prohibitive. DRM is my friend, because it allows me to enjoy more affordable licenses, particularly subscription services (e.g., Zune, Netflix video on demand, etc.) which otherwise *would not exist*. Is that too complicated?

Comment Re:Redirect the evil! (Score 1) 594

The US judge doesn't need jurisdiction over you to nuke your e-mail account. They just need jurisdiction over your e-mail account, which they have in the case of Gmail. This isn't an "increasing tendency by American companies to conflate US Law with World Law," (whatever "World Law" may be??) it's just how the law works in current and former Commonwealth countries. Yes, yours included. If I, as a US citizen, had an account with BigPond, you damned well better believe it's subject to Australian jurisdiction.

Encryption

Alan Turing Gets an Apology From Prime Minister Brown 576

99luftballon writes "The British government has officially apologized for the treatment of Alan Turing in the post war era. An online petition got more than enough signatures to force an official statement and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a lengthy apology. 'Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.'"
Privacy

"Wiretapping" Charges May Be Oddest Ever Recorded 439

netbuzz writes "Guy kicks up a fuss at a Massachusetts car-repair shop, employees call the police, guy allegedly gives them a hard time, too, and they charge the fellow with a variety of expectable charges: disorderly conduct, resisting arrest ... and 'unlawful wiretapping and possessing a device for wiretapping.' The device? A digital voice recorder. Massachusetts is one of only 12 states that prohibit the recording of a conversation unless all parties to it are aware it's being recorded."
Medicine

Liposuction Leftovers Make Easy Stem Cells 67

uuddlrlrab sends along this quote from a report in Nature: "The Stanford researchers used liposuction to extract a couple liters of fat from the bellies of four overweight individuals aged 40 to 65. They then treated the tissue to remove all the gooey, globular fat, leaving behind a collection of fat tissue stem cells. Unlike standard techniques, which require about a month to culture skin biopsies to populations large enough for the reprogramming process, the fat tissue was ready to go after two days of pretreatment. What's more, the cellular reprogramming took only two more weeks and was 20-times more efficient than when converting fibroblasts using the same technique. 'We basically shave off six to eight weeks compared to what the other guys are doing with fibroblasts,' says [Stanford's Joseph Wu], who is now working to find safer ways to reprogram fat without using viruses."
Robotics

Exoskeletons For Rent In Japan 226

destinyland writes "Cyberdyne has started renting their exoskeleton body suits in Japan. The mind-controlled wearable machine increases strength and endurance, and rents for $2,300 a month. (Sensors on the skin detect traces of nerve signals from the brain, synchronizing the power suit's movements with the user's own limbs.) New video shows the suits in use on the streets of Tokyo, and the concept may be catching on. DARPA now has a program called Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation 'to develop devices and machines that will increase the speed, strength and endurance of soldiers in combat environments.'"
Programming

First Hot-Ice Computer Created 120

KentuckyFC writes "Sodium acetate is the stuff inside chemical handwarmers that emits heat when it crystalizes after you press that little metal widget. That's why it is known as hot ice. Now a computer scientist in the UK has created a computer made entirely out of hot ice. The device processes information by exploiting the movement and interaction of wavefronts of crystallisation as they move through the material. The data input is in the form of metal wires that trigger crystal nucleation. The output works by reading off the direction of the moving wavefronts and the edges of the resulting crystals. The researcher has created AND and OR gates and solved a few problems such as finding the shortest path through mazes. There are even a few videos of the computer in action. The resulting computer is far from perfect, however. The data readout sometimes gives no solution and at other times gives circular results, the hot ice equivalent of a BSOD."

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