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Cellphones

Verizon Doubles Early Termination Fee and More 520

An anonymous reader writes "If you buy a smartphone through Verizon, be prepared for an increase in the early termination fee. Verizon is doubling the phone-subsidy to $350. What's more, is that Verizon also actively charges customers for accidental data transmissions of as little as 0.02kb. 'They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit keystrokes to launch 'Get it now' or 'Mobile Web'—usually a single key like an arrow key. [...] The instant you call the function, they charge you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn't matter; they've told me that ANY data--even one kilobyte--is billed as 1MB. The damage is done.'"
OS X

Microsoft Responds To "Like OS X" Comment 505

Z80xxc! writes "After a comment by a Microsoft employee claiming in an interview that 'what we [Microsoft] have tried to do with Windows 7... is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics,' the Windows 7 team has issued an official rebuttal, saying that the comment came from an employee who was 'not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7,' and that it was 'inaccurate and uninformed.'"

Comment Check out Springloops (Score 3, Informative) 244

It's hosted Subversion, with a slick web interface that walks you through darn near everything. You can configure development / test / production servers that can be accessed via FTP or SFTP and deploy new builds to any of them with just a couple of clicks. It integrates with Basecamp for project management, and it is really cheap - it sounds like either their Garden or Field plans would meet your needs, and they're both under $50/month.

Check them out here.

Not affiliated with them in any way, other than as a satisfied customer.

Comment Re:Sick of the anti-gay groups (Score 1) 1364

To bring this more on-topic: if I were a JotP, I would refuse to perform marriages for gay couples. I don't believe the State need recognize any rights for a union that cannot create a biological family, even in theory. (I know that not all heterosexual couples can or even want to have children, but the law is not about individual cases.)

So I would assume that you are also against marriages involving post-menopausal women? How about men who have had vasectomies?

I can see the bumperstickers now:

MARRIAGE = 1 (UNSNIPPED) MAN + 1 (FERTILE) WOMAN

Comment Re:No one should have expected (Score 2, Insightful) 1364

Freedom of speech means that you have the right to express your beliefs secure in the knowledge that the government will not persecute you for your opinions.

It does not mean that you will be protected from being ostracized by the rest of society, however. Decisions have consequences, and if you decide that your beliefs require you to endorse state-sanctioned bigotry, then when that endorsement is made public, AS IT SHOULD BE, then you are going to have to face the consequences of your decision. If that means you lose business, or that your workplace becomes less welcoming, or that your picture shows up on a website, then maybe you should consider keeping your bigoted opinions to yourself.

No matter what your pastor says, gay rights ARE civil rights. Period.

Comment That's not how it works... (Score 1) 1

You negotiate up front. If you think something is outside the scope of your job and you deserve to be paid more for it, then you ask for additional compensation when the duties are assigned. Just because management feels that they need to dedicate a FTE to this now and have taken it off your plate doesn't mean that you can say, "Oh, since you're paying him for that, here's the bill for when I was doing it."

Asking for money now will get you laughed at, fired, or both.

Comment If Economics isn't a required course... (Score 1) 2

you should change schools ASAP. Computer Science is a great subject, but you can't consider yourself well-rounded if you don't have at least a cursory understanding of how the world of money operates. No matter what you decide this semester, you should plan to take at least two Econ classes (micro and macro) while you're in school.

Comment Don't use personal property for work (Score 2, Insightful) 395

It creates an expectation that you will provide your own tools in every circumstance, and you shouldn't be subsidizing your company in any case. Create a line between your personal and business life or you will find that your personal life will erode away. That isn't fair to you or those in your personal life. No matter how much you love your job, it's still just a job at the end of the day. Don't be a sucker.

Image

Company Denies Its Robots Feed On the Dead Screenshot-sm 154

Back in January we covered the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, or EATR. The EATR gets its energy by "engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment ..." So many news outlets picked up the story and ran it with titles alluding to the robot "eating flesh" or even "eating corpses" that a company spokesperson put out a press release saying, "This robot is strictly vegetarian." The statement says in part, "RTI's patent pending robotic system will be able to find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment. Despite the far-reaching reports that this includes 'human bodies,' the public can be assured that the engine Cyclone has developed to power the EATR runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips — small, plant-based items for which RTI's robotic technology is designed to forage. Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions, and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone or RTI."

Comment Re:Depressing... (Score 1) 670

I just don't get why Science even needs to prove or disprove a God. Can't we just leave it in a box with Schrodinger's cat?

It is literally impossible to prove or disprove the existence of God. See Russell's Teapot if you don't understand this.

What science attempts to do is provide explanations for the workings of the universe. Religion purports to have already answered these questions. The only problem is that religion provides only one answer: "Goddidit!" That sort of thinking discourages rational inquiry, and is ultimately harmful, because it impedes real progress. Religion (at least, the monotheistic versions I am familiar with) offers a "go along, get along" view of the world - if you follow our rules for your whole life, we'll all be happy, and our invisible friend will be really good to you after you die. Science, on the other hand, searches for truth without regard to how it makes you feel, and that is uncomfortable for many religious types. Science's explanations for natural phenomena leave less and less room for the "Goddidit" view of things, and that threatens a large group of people who make their living off "Goddidit".

Comment Move closer to work, or get a different job. (Score 1) 865

There is no way that you are being paid enough working first level support at night in a NOC to justify a three hour daily commute. I know the economy is in the shitter right now, but you are simply abusing yourself. Your question doesn't say what your personal situation is like (do you have a spouse/significant other, what does she do, etc...), but your first priority needs to be to relocate as close to work as possible, or, alternatively, to find a job in the same zip code where you currently live. That three hour commute is essentially three hours a day of unpaid work. Over the course of a year of 4 day weeks, that is almost an entire extra man-month dedicated to your job, for free. Don't be a sucker.

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