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Comment Just ship with a low-draw driver (Score 5, Interesting) 303

Have the driver that ships with the card be designed to stay under the draw cap so the card is still in regulation, and the manufacturer can just offer the normal drivers on the site for people to download.

Naturally anyone who cares will install the real driver, so the law-breaking is on the part of the consumer, not AMD or Nvidia. Seems like a simple workaround as long as you can say 'it's the consumer breaking the law, not us'

Comment "Reliably better" (Score 4, Interesting) 287

How many standard deviations above 'random guessing' are we talking about? Over how many trials? And 2 weeks is fine, but what about 6 months to a year?

I still prefer 80+ character passphrases lifted from song lyrics whenever possible. If you know the song well enough it's impossible to crack, and the search space is still large among people who know you like that particular song

Comment Load balancing and an experienced sysadmin (Score 4, Insightful) 197

The load balancer to take the brunt of the attack and distribute traffic to multiple mirrors, and the sysadmin to watch the attack and start blacklisting IP ranges. Your service provider should have some kind of service in place unless you got the cheapest of cheap hosting solutions.

With that being said, hiring a third party ddos mitigator is entirely a cost benefit analysis that should be done on your end. Can whoever's providing your hosting now provision some extra servers and some harried sysadmins to keep you floating? See if you can ask for additional service support from your current provider.

Comment I pay my Math Tax all the time. (Score 5, Informative) 301

If I stop by a convenience store or gas station and happen to see a lottery booth, I'll usually pick up a $1 quick pick.

I fully understand that I have no chance of winning. I don't really care. A good portion of the cash goes towards the woefully underfunded public school system in my state, I consider it a fun idle activity to occasionally check winning numbers and to complain about never winning, and the $1 every so often is utterly inconsequential to me.

Some people have problems buying huge numbers of tickets, and that's a gambling problem, but it's absurd to seriously call it a math tax. Nobody buys tickets expecting to win.

Comment That's kind of a stretch. (Score 3, Insightful) 136

Those parts are outdated for anyone who cares to be on the 'bleeding edge' in gaming, and anyone who doesn't can build their own version of that rig at about half the price (ignoring the form factor).

Given the probable lifetime energy savings of that $800 box over the $400 DIY job, plus the base environmental costs of building all those parts, you're essentially spending money to have someone else make you feel better.

Comment Just an ED troll (Score 1) 182

As a general rule, taking trolling into real life and then going 'LOL I TROLL U IRL' after you act like a jackass will get you hit by the real life equivalent of a ban.

There's a strange subculture that validates this kind of douchebaggery in the name of 'epic win', and I'm unsure if any of them are past the mental age of 15.
The Internet

Submission + - Evolution of the 'Captcha' (nytimes.com)

FireballX301 writes: The New York Times is running an article about the small word puzzles various sites use in order to defeat automated script registration while still letting humans through. It seems many people can't actually solve them anymore, so new alternatives (image recognition) are being created. This, of course, seems breakable as well — is there a feasible alternative to the captcha, or are we stuck jumping through more and more hoops to register at places?
GNOME

Submission + - 50 000 GNOME Linux desktops in Brazil

An anonymous reader writes: BitWay Computadores, EnabledPeople and IMTECH Brazil companies today announced that they made large PC desktops deployments for Computers for All Brazil federal government program. Ready PC solution provided by Bitway includes preinstalled Linux XP Desktop operating system developed by EnabledPeople and supported by IMTECH. Estimated month deployment is about 10000 desktops with 50000 desktops already delivered.

Full press release
Windows

Submission + - CAD software on Vista up to 50 times slover

stasike writes: The upFront.eZine reports that according to the article on Tom's Hardware many popular 3D CAD and modelling programs run 10 to 50 times slower on Vista than on XP. An average modelling program, like 3ds max, runs "only" 10 times slower. UGS NX, on the other hand runs more than 50 times slower. This is a direct result of killing an OpenGL and implementing god-only-knows-what protective features into the Vista for our own good.
Security

Submission + - Auditors report FBI fails in tracking lost laptops

An anonymous reader writes: The Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General is reporting that the FBI has lackluster performance when it comes to tracking data lost on missing laptops. In a recent 44-month audit (ending in Sept. 2005), the FBI reported 160 lost or stolen machines. Of those, ten were confirmed to have sensitive info. A startling 51 of these machines had unknown information — in other words the FBI never knew what they lost. Some of these machines likely contained some of the most sensitive security information the FBI has, as there were several in the bunch that belonged to members of the Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Divisions. But the FBI was never able to properly respond to these losses because someone didn't fill out the right paperwork. The OIG has a copy of the audit for public consumption.
United States

Submission + - "A Viable Solution to the Middle East?"

Your Highness writes: "Another news alert from Iraq, "45 people killed and 150 injured in 2 bombs detonated in Baghdad," when will it all end? I have been struggling to understand what it is we are actually battling in the Middle East, as I am confident many others are, and further, "How can this battle be won?" I started not with how the war started, but where we as a nation are today. The gist, I am told, is we are facing radical fundamental Jihad warriors hell-bent on chaos and destruction in an effort to kill all infidels to achieve supreme world domination in the name of Islam to the detriment of all others. That was a mouth full! How did this radical fascist movement birth itself? To answer that question, one has to go to the source, The Koran. I spent countless hours pouring over in detail the verses and passages and did indeed find the root ideology at the heart of this now ever-expanding global conflict. Let me elaborate further... According to The Harvard Classics 1910 edition, "Sacred Writings: Buddhist, Hindu, Mohammedan (leather bound, so it must be imperatively important) we find the following passage from the section entitled, "The Chapter of Women:" "Why are ye two parties about the hypocrites, when God hath overturned them what they earned? Do ye wish to guide those whom God hath led astray? Whoso God hath led astray ye shall not surely find for him a path. They would fain that ye misbelieve as they misbelieve, that ye might be alike; take ye not patrons from among them until they too flee in God's way; but if they turn their backs, then seize them and kill them wheresoever ye find them, and take from them neither patron nor help, — save those who reach a people betwixt whom and you is an alliance — or who come to you while their bosoms prevent them from fighting you or fighting their own people." In black and white, these scriptural words direct its faithful followers to destroy all "misbelievers." What is meant by "misbelievers" is of course entirely a purely speculative matter. Let us just assume that it is literally interpreted to take aim at all who are not ardent followers of Islam a.k.a. "infidels," although at least 90% our nation's population is a "believer" in God, the Creator of all mankind. "God" is "God," is it not? (in theory at least?) According to the Islamic prophet Mohammed, God sent his Angel to him in a "vision" while wandering "a desolate mountain" (sound familiar?) to proclaim His word to others in the year of our Lord, 611AD. To elucidate upon a "vision" is most definitely in the realm of "The Mysteries," nowhere I tread with arrogant skepticism. I must gleam however, from the "Introductory Note" contained in the Harvard Classics edition a modest amount of skepticism, as the author states that Mohammed from "youth ... had suffered from a kind of hysteria, and this vision seems to have increased his tendency to hallucinations and ecstasy." It is almost ironic that the 1910 passage describes Mohammed's mental state as a form of perplexing "hysteria," which is exactly what I would ascribe to the current affairs in the Middle East! It is currently unknown exactly how many "believers" Mohammed has enlisted in his religious legion, but according to the figure stated in this edition, 170 million devotees had pledged their "undying" loyalty to this "Prophet" in 1910. The number now, nearly 100 years later, must be too staggering to fully comprehend. Fanaticism has reared its ugly head every now and then throughout our history; yet, I do not recall such longevity as the radical ideology of the enthusiastic, radical Islamic fundamentalists under the influence of the Koran's literal dictates. "How can we ever defeat such a foe?" This question seems too large for my small brain to wrap its sinewy tentacles around; nonetheless, I will give it a stab! I can not possible do worse than the best minds in Washington resolutely "staying the course," mired down in abominable and mounting causalities, both civilians and our beloved soldiers. Again, I looked to the Koran for answers. To fight religious ideology, one must use its own fanatical tenets against itself and the "believers" who follow these precepts. Of course I turned to the section entitled, "The Chapter of Misbelievers" to gleam this absolute jewel of wisdom: In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Say, 'O ye misbelievers! I do not serve what ye serve; nor will ye serve what I serve; nor will I serve what ye serve; nor will ye serve what I serve; — ye have your religion, and I have my religion!' Seems clear enough to me — religious toleration of diversity as a viable solution proves to be an obvious solution. I am still unconvinced that one passage will end all the bloodshed, so I dug further for more compelling verses to persuade those engaged in mortal combat to end this "Holy War." Incredulously, I found what I was searching for back in "The Chapter of Women" where all this seems to have started: "But had God pleased He would have given you dominion over them [misbelievers], and they would surely have fought you. But if they retire from you and do not fight you, and offer you peace, — then God hath given you no way against them." So according to the Koran, an offering of peace is all that it would take to solve the entire Middle East crisis. Surely the followers of the Koran know this and must follow the dictates contained therein literally. The only prerequisite to ending the "war of all wars" is a simple "peace offering?" Diplomacy should do the job, is my official conclusion based on this new found "rational course" in the Iraqi quagmire. The next question will be: "How do you offer peace to those who will not listen?" If not through words, then maybe by our actions should settle that inquiry. After all, "actions do speak louder than words." If some kind of peaceful solution is not arrived at toute suite, we may be rebuilding a nation on a "wasteland," such as the infamous Mary McLeod Bethune was tasked to do in 1904. On pure faith alone, she built the Bethune-Cookman College literally out of a garbage dump. If such can be accomplished, something as miraculous as that monumental feat, so we too can overcome the bitter divisiveness and religious intoleration humanity founders in. The solution lies with the beginning of a peace offering. The rest will follow naturally, as the unrest becomes restful once again. "When in doubt, reach out!" is a personal credo that I follow when confusion and chaos descends. Maybe those in Washington can ponder that new transition of thought to change course in Iraq to save future lives from annihilation and a nation from total destruction. Nancy J. Bezanson 2/13/07 3:08:56"
Printer

Submission + - Kodak 'halves cost of photo prints'

adpsimpson writes: Personal Computer World is reporting that Kodak has developed a new range of inkjet photo printers — and is ready to turn the inkjet advertising and pricing model on its head by halving the total cost per print of competitors.

From the article:

Analysts say the products have the potential to disrupt the much-criticised industry practice of selling consumer printers at close to cost price, or even cheaper, with the aim of gaining continuing revenues from ink cartridges.

This has led to confusion about the true cost of printing, and in some cases it has been cheaper to buy a new printer than a refill.
Data Storage

Submission + - Network-Attached Storage With FreeNAS

hausmasta writes: "This tutorial shows how you can set up a network-attached storage server with FreeNAS. FreeNAS is based on the FreeBSD operating system and supports CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, RSYNC, SSH, local user authentication, and software RAID (0, 1, 5). It comes with a powerful web interface and uses very little space on the hard drive — about 32MB.

http://www.howtoforge.com/network_attached_storage _with_freenas"

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