Smart phones don't have to cost $100's mine cost me 69 euro prepay not the biggest or the best but it has pretty much all the functionality of its pricier rivals. I get unlimited data if i top up by 20 euro for 30 days, compared to any other broad band package its around half the cost of most plans when you add in line rental and i get to use that credit for calls and texts i already get 3000 texts a month and 3000 weekend minutes any way for that month. How does that compare with your bills?

The one thing that is of interest is there is an app for potholes! Over winter here in Ireland potholes are a major problem, it seems they only get fixed in spring. unfortunately the pothole app isn't available here or you could bet there would be a lot of people running it. Although realistically the council would still go patching in spring regardless.

If people know about the pothole app it will get installed where ever its available potholes damage all cars. If affluent area's are getting potholes fixed sooner that sounds more like a political choice rather than lack of data. It is a poor example of how smartphone data can be used. However it doesn't change the fact that some commercial companies can use the data to target certain markets. you generally would be wasting money targeting say double glazing to people who rent their homes but you might target over priced short term loans to that market instead.

Daytime TV adverts are an interesting area to observe. Full of adverts for accident compensation solicitors and over 50's life cover. Pretty obvious who they are targeting.

In a post apocayptical world, you would have to have amniesia to not get a working electricity supply back fairly quickly. The obvious renewable is wood and with water that gets you steam which can drive a turbine which drives a generator. Would it really be so hard to ramp up to modern civilisation? Its not like we would have to invent things more reimpliment the things that already have existed in one form or another.

While i happen to have a plc that would run off 12 volts. its basically relay logic anyway so scavange from a few cars and i can automate from that basis. probably the two most important things needed are electricity and refridgearation. computers would be one of the best accelerators of recovery.

Yes, but it is a learning experience, once you have been burned you should learn that you need at least 2 copies and if it matters a third at least.

Actually it would be a good idea if say office programs would save in a couple of locations by default and perhaps some versioning as well.
 

grive is available as a linux client for the google gdrive. It syncs a folder to the gdrive so you don't have to be on a particular computer/phone/tablet or operating system.

It's pretty useful especially to students, they get network storage in the college but its not really much use to them outside of the college most use unbacked up usb sticks which is fine until they fail...

typically downed tools and walked off the job.

They put down the tools they were working with and walked off the job.
Or Down tools we're on strike.

usually its some form of strike action followed by up tools and back to work.
in this case they stopped work and walked out.

well your free to do as you please but for mint 16 and probably ubuntu users this snippet may be of interest

You can use this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~dirk-co... ... 2-backport. Just open Software Sources from your menu, go to PPA, click Add, and enter this: ppa:dirk-computer42/c42-backport

It gives you iceweasel at version 24 (you can also keep firefox v28 but not run both at the same time).
Personally I think its a reasonable compromise.

A lot has changed in 30 years :) though steel is still crystalline:) There has been some increase in knowledge since my day (we used electron microscopes and we liked it) cold drawing of steel takes some force hard to imagine it being done on less than an industrial scale. anyway agreed we're in violent agreement :)

I guess it might be possible to make composite materials by 3d printing in quite complicated forms but generally the strength is never going to match our metals and alloys.
 

Trouble is your broadband typically relies on pots to work, cable tv providers don't reach everybody even in cabled area's.

I live in an area where there is never going to be cable tv its uneconomic for them to lay cable this far out. DSL via the phone line is also not possible due to distance from the exchange and 3g barely works.
Cell service is adequate for text messaging but making voice calls is tricky you have to be in precisely the right place for you and the person you are talking too to hear each other.

when it rains the 3g service becomes intermittent. Even the satellite tv broadcaster needs a pots connection to use their broadband option.

no it isn't Steel is an alloy of primarily iron crystals with interstitial carbon atoms which lock the slip plains of the iron crystals. There is a lot more to it than that but making a high tensile steel wire is not like making a rope although it is drawn done through dies. But you are right you will not be 3d printing a high tensile steel wire but not for the reasons you have stated.

Yesterday I was involved in an issue installing reason5 on a mac running maverick
it doesn't work using normal instalation methods.

Later versions version 6 and version 7 do but require more resources and a new licence. There is more than one program on OSX which doesn't work with Maverick.

I did get it working by installing the (3.9GB) demo version of reason 7 it patched the system and while having that open and running I was able to install reason 5 (it overwrote the reason 7 files) a couple of files also had to be copied into the reason folder from the reason5 install disc. However once i'd done this Reason version 5 was installed and running correctly.

So from my experience with OSX I'd have to conclude that it is user friendly except for the times when it isn't.
Much like other operating systems really.

I do wish developers would try to be helpful when their programs crash or fail. Or failing that a program like snoopdos from the Amiga would be wonderful. This program would monitor a program and tell you where it succeeded or failed. The Amiga used shared library files much like .dll files on windows Snoopdos would tell you the version number it was looking for and if it failed it might be something like arp.lib version 1.4 and version 1.3 was installed so it would normally be a matter of finding version 1.4 or later putting that in the libs folder and then the call would succeed. The nice thing about libs was that later versions extended functionality but never removed existing functions. Other calls might be for a particular font to be loaded and you would know that was needed to get the program to work. I know Amiga os is a dinosaur in todays world but they got a few things spot on.

Most posts on Slashdot are unhelpful drivel, although some are golden.
How do comments made on slashdot relate to Linux?

I read your comment why wouldn't I have read the summary? but yes it is at the top of the page if you use your page up button you can check for yourself. do you have a UI that allows you to do that? You might consider my reply insulting but look at what you wrote.

which community? which situation? That a Slashdot story has a lot of crappy comments? That you post flamebait and it gets modded insightful? As a member of the same species as yourself its a sad situation to see posts like yours and the story was overstated. A feature of sticky keys was broken.

from latter posts it appears there is a patch for it, but it appears that it has to be approved and tested by one guy who is overworked, thats not a good situation but perhaps someone who has the knowledge and ability to work on X might step up to help out.

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly! :)

keywords turkey helicopter and thanks giving if you don't get the reference.

they have some shockingly badly supported gpu;s on netbooks. that with cinimon are running the cpu at 250% at idle due to software rendering. with mate its around 5% idle. But no 3d anything and im sure the gpu could work quite well