Comment close (Score 1) 781
i have a DAW that also plays games.
Comment Re:+Troll (Score 1) 781
yes, windows has games. also MUCH more extensively developed for and supported if you're doing professional audio work. games and audio are what my computer is FOR.
Comment Re:+Troll (Score 1) 781
sorry, should have been more specific.
let me know when i can play simcity 4 on ubuntu and have it just work. no tweaking, no experimenting. i want to put a cd in a drive, have the program install, and crash less than once a month. also, i want to be able to use all the windows SC4 utilities like terraformer.
kudos to whoever is willing to help out with this project, but i'm willing to put up with microsuck if it means i get more out of what little free time i have.
and we won't even get started on how long it would take me to rebuild my collection of VST and VSTi plugins.
sorry kids, linux is just not for everybody.
Comment Re:+Troll (Score 2, Insightful) 781
uh, directx?
ubuntu's awesome. i'm thinking about putting it on my fiancee's old P3 because she only needs basic stuff for school.
but as for my computer, uh, let me know when i can play simcity 4 on it.
Comment Re:Saves money, too (Score 1) 550
"For example, the country that brought you the Stealth Bomber also designed the iPod."
uh, you are aware that the first mp3 player was the MPMan, from south korea, right? and that the first, non-mp3 based, prototype digital music player was invented in the UK?
the ipod was just apple doing what it does best - taking somebody else's idea, polishing it to a high gloss, and marketing it very, very well. the mp3 player was not an american invention.
you're right that military R&D doesn't preclude innovation on consumer goods, but it is the primary driver of them. from interstate highways to non-stick cookware to the internet itself, almost every improvement in the american way of life was merely a side-effect of something the military just happened to be doing.
Comment Re:Even Google (Score 4, Funny) 407
yes, but now how do you appease the "everything is photoshop" crowd?
Comment Re:Am I missing something? (Score 1) 87
uh, if you've ever tried to read 12-point text on a non-HD glass tube, then yes, you are definitely missing something.
i tried out the new interface last night. it's great. simple and streamlined, yet functional. unfortunately it doesn't solve the crappy framerate and buffering problems.
Comment option 1 (Score 1) 32
since 2006
Submission + - Install Debian Linux from Windows
Anonymous Coward writes: "So you want to install Debian Linux from Windows, right? But, you don't want to hassle with yet another CD image, any complicated network (tftp,pxe), usb or floppies. Designed to work with any NT release of Windows using NTLDR. See the site for a quick walk through to see how it works. Now all you need is a working internet connection. (well, and Windows...). Does not work with Win9x (or earlier) or WinMe. Not expected to work with Vista (yet)."
Submission + - New material stiffer than diamond
sporkme writes: "A team has developed a new material that has taken the hardest substance crown from diamond. From the article:
The work was done at universities in the United States and Germany."They mixed molten tin, heated to about 300C, with pieces of a ceramic material called barium titanium — often used as an insulator in electronic components. The particles were each about one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter and were dispersed evenly through the tin using an ultrasonic probe.
Submission + - Tough new optical disc coatings
An anonymous reader writes: As everyone who uses Netflix knows, scratches on DVD are frustrating and
create significant customer support costs. Blu-ray is the first major disc format to
address the problem. The chemistry
[1] [2] [3]
behind these coatings
a radical-curing urethane(meth)acrylate and a curing monomer, and is applied
unformly over the disc. The results are impressive — this
video
shows a Blu-ray disc surviving steel wool and a pizza cutter,
which would have destroyed traditionally-coated formats (e.g., CDs, DVD, or HD-DVD).
Fewer scratched discs also means less waste.
Submission + - Mooninite "Bombs" Setoff Copyright Battle
buckminster writes: "If you had any doubt about America's national priorities, consider this: Yesterday's bomb scare has become today's copyright violation. Those Aqua Teen Hunger Force signs that brought Boston to a halt earlier this week are now setting off copyright alarms on eBay. It's strange because the signs being auctioned are apparently authentic. Which means they aren't copies, and as a result are not in violation of copyright. Could it be that someone just wants these signs to go away so they won't suffer any more embarrassment? Medialoper has the details in How To Copyright An Atomic Bomb."
Submission + - MS Confirms 5th Office Zero-day Attack
El Tiante writes: "Microsoft has confirmed a fifth zero-day attack against Microsoft Office users, warning against opening Excel files that arrive unexpectedly, even if it comes from trusted sources. Although .xls files are currently being used to launch the attacks, users of other Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, etc.) are potentially at risk. Confirmed vulnerable: Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Office 2004 v. X for Mac."
Submission + - The semantics of climate change
gollum123 writes: "A nice article on the BBC talks about the difficulty in curbing the growth of greenhouse gases because scientists and politicians are speaking a different language ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own _correspondent/6324357.stm ). Quoting the author " I have wondered long into many nights why it always ends up like this; why it is so difficult to curb the global growth in greenhouse gas emissions which now runs above 2% per year. I have been concentrating on semantics. And it has brought me to a conclusion which is so simple I cannot believe I missed it years ago. The crux of the matter, it seems to me, lies in the different ways that scientists and politicians use language. Science is nothing without precision... political language, on the other hand, is a triumph of misrepresentation. When a scientist talks about 'reducing greenhouse gas emissions' he or she means just that; actually reducing them. But what it is coming to mean in the political lexicon is something very different. The emissions will still rise, but a bit less quickly than they would have done otherwise. Having them grow less fast becomes equivalent to reducing them.""
Submission + - Plextor Exits DVD drive market
mrshowtime writes: "It's a shame, but Plextor, maker of the best DVD burners in the business has decided to exit the business. They cited competition from Korea and falling profit margins.
http://wesleytech.com/plextor-exits-cd-dvd-marke ts/"
http://wesleytech.com/plextor-exits-cd-dvd-mark
