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Comment Re:Wrong approach L3 (Score 1) 548

by Pfhreakaz0id (#34388104) Attached to: Level 3 Shaken Down By Comcast Over Video Streaming

I guess if you have a house full of people and no option to upgrade over 1.5mbps. I have the "pro" dsl package in my area for like $35 a month. It is supposedly 7.68 mbps. I speedtest at like 5.5. I've had netflix going in two rooms before at good quality. That's enough for me. I can get 600k or so on a solid,well seeded torrent.

Frankly, I've been much happier with switching from dsl to cable about 3 years ago. My bandwidth is much more consistent and certainly less flaky than cable in my area.
Earth

The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater 250

Posted by Soulskill from the dent-in-the-world dept.
tetrahedrassface writes "When I was very young, my dad took me on a trip to his parents' farm. He wanted to show me 'The Crater.' We walked a long way through second generation hardwoods and finally stood on the rim of a hole that has no equal in this area. As I grew up, I became more interested in The Crater, and would always tell friends about it. It is roughly 1,200 feet across and 120 feet deep, and has a strange vibe about it. When you walk up to it, you feel like something really big happened here. Either the mother of all caves is down there, or a large object smashed into this place a long, long time ago. I bought aerial photos when I was twelve and later sent images from GIS to a geologist at a local university. He pretty much laughed me out of his office, saying that it was a sinkhole. He did wish me luck, however. It may be sinkhole. Who knows? Last week I borrowed a metal detector and went poking around, and have found the strangest shrapnel pieces I have ever seen. They are composed of a metal that reacts strongly to acids. The largest piece so far reacted with tap water and dish-washing detergent. My second trip today yielded lots of strange new pieces of metal, and hopefully, one day the truth will be known. Backyard science is so much fun. And who knows; if it is indeed a cave, maybe Cerberus resides there."
Emulation (Games)

A JavaScript Gameboy Emulator, Detailed In 8 Parts 62

Posted by timothy from the behind-the-scenes dept.
Two9A writes "JavaScript has shed its image of being a limited language, tied to DOM manipulation in a browser; in recent years, new engines and frameworks have given JS a reputation as a language capable of bigger things. Mix this in with the new elements of HTML5, and you have the capacity to emulate a game console or other system, with full graphical output. This series of articles looks in detail at how an emulator is written in JavaScript, using the example of the Gameboy handheld: starting at the CPU, and (as of part 8) running a copy of Tetris."

Comment Re:So obvious question... (Score 4, Insightful) 388

by Pfhreakaz0id (#34023350) Attached to: Oracle Needs a Clue As Brain Drain Accelerates

this. Its definitely the support/consultants who make the $ for oracle. I used to gripe about Oracle's horrible documentation, lack of good samples, bad tools, etc, and then I realized (when I got offered by support to get a consultant down there for the nth time) that they have little incentive to document/make their products easy to use).
Image

Cooking With Your USB Ports 188

Posted by samzenpus from the sorry-your-dinner-crashed dept.
tekgoblin writes "Wow, I would never have thought to try and cook food with the power that a standard USB port provides, but someone did. A standard port provides 5V of power, give or take a little. I am not even sure what it takes to heat a small hotplate, but I am sure it is more than 5V. It looks like the guy tied together around 30 USB cables powered by his PC to power this small hotplate. But believe it or not, it seems to have cooked the meat perfectly."
Handhelds

When You Really, Really Want to Upgrade a Tiny Notebook 104

Posted by timothy from the faint-of-heart-attack dept.
Benz145 writes "The famous Sony VAIO UX UMPC may have been cancelled a few years back by Sony, but the community at Micro PC Talk won't let it die. Modder Anh has carefully removed the relatively slow 1.33Ghz Core Solo CPU and installed a much faster Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 (a process which involves reballing the entire CPU). On top of this, he managed to install an incredibly small 4-port USB hub into the unit which allowed for the further instillation of a Huawei E172 modem for 3G data/voice/SMS, a GPS receiver, and a Pinnacle HD TV receiver. All of this was done without modifying the device's tiny external case. Great high-res pictures of the motherboard with the modded hardware can be seen through the link."
Businesses

Game Prices — a Historical Perspective 225

Posted by Soulskill from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.
The Opposable Thumbs blog scrutinizes the common wisdom that video games are too expensive, or that they're more expensive than they were in the past. They found that while in some cases the sticker price has increased, it generally hasn't outpaced inflation, making 2010 a cheaper time to be a gamer than the '80s and '90s. Quoting: "... we tracked down a press release putting the suggested retail price of both Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 at $69.99. [Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumer's Association] says that the N64 launch game pricing only tells you part of the story. 'Yes, some N64 games retailed for as high as $80, but it was also the high end of a 60 to 80 dollar range,' he told Ars. 'Retailers had more flexibility with pricing back then — though they've consistently maintained that the Suggested Retail Price was/is just a guide. Adjusted for inflation, we're generally paying less now than we have historically. But to be fair, DLC isn't factored in.' He also points out all the different ways that we can now access games: you can buy a game used, rent a game, or play certain online games for free. There are multiple ways to sell your old console games, and the competition in the market causes prices to fall quickly."

Comment Re:Next up (Score 1) 150

by Pfhreakaz0id (#33684180) Attached to: IBM Demos Single-Atom DRAM

the RIAA are busy preparing the conditions for a big bang of a new universe with DRM built in at the subatomic level.Unfortunately, I predict that the encryption key will get leaked and they will either be forced to recall the entire universe, or just admit that they can't EVER stop you from doing whatever the heck you want with the content you purchased.
Medicine

High Fructose Corn Syrup To Get a Makeover 646

Posted by samzenpus from the same-great-taste dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With its sweetener linked to obesity, some cancers and diabetes, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) doesn't want you to think 'fructose' when you see high fructose corn syrup in your soda, ketchup or pickles. Instead, the AP reports, the CRA submitted an application to the FDA, hoping to change the name of their top-selling product to 'corn sugar.'"

Comment Re:Big Software Corps (Score 1) 278

by Pfhreakaz0id (#33545968) Attached to: Patent Office Admits Truth — Things Are a Disaster

umm, ok, how about this? We had an officer who won a national "hero" award for jumping in a creek and saving a kids life (rightly so, it was raging with flood waters), who was later fired because he stopped a random woman, fell in love with her and began stalking her.

We had another two officers fired when they stopped a vehicle, found a bunch of pot in the trunk. Let the guy go and they sold the pot. They eventually got caught when the druggie in question got busted about a year later and gave them up in a plea deal.

I could go on and on. There are great, honest policeman. But for the most part, at least the cops I hung around, weren't too far removed personality wise, from "criminals". Also, so I don't sound so biased, I'll say this: The job wears on you. Being a cop sucks. You are put in danger, get paid crap and as one 20-year officer told me "everyone lies to you. Everyone."

In summary, if you think cops don't take bribes, steal, etc (and get away with it much of the time), you are hopelessly naive and frankly, know not of what you speak).

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