Comment They got X motion block acceleration on a mobile? (Score 0) 97
Cool, maybe the mobile can effortlessly handle MPEG video now.
Whoops! They said XBMC, not XVMC. My bad...
Comment If I know public schools... (Score 0) 474
They'll teach ONLY the computer science part, to such a narrow degree that students come away from it with no idea how to connect the ideas to actual computer programming or computer anything (like what schools seem to do with math).
My other concern of course is whether this will be forced on students vs. being an elective. Most people I know wouldn't give a shit about computer science topics, so I sincerely hope they don't foist this upon everyone.
Sorry if I sound negative about it, it's just that I have no confidence in schools whatsoever.
My other concern of course is whether this will be forced on students vs. being an elective. Most people I know wouldn't give a shit about computer science topics, so I sincerely hope they don't foist this upon everyone.
Sorry if I sound negative about it, it's just that I have no confidence in schools whatsoever.
Comment Re:Saline Scrotum Swelling, a Slashdot Solution (Score 0, Offtopic) 107
Congratulations. In the 5 years I've been on slashdot this is the weirdest troll post ever.
Comment Thumbtack? (Score 4, Funny) 107
So does that mean their product is a pain in the ass?
Comment Does that mean... (Score 1) 329
When I'm googling around for programmer documentation I no longer have to fear Google showing one thing but the website auto-redirecting to Antivirus 2009 and it's infernal fake nagging "scan" page?
Thank God.
Having hit three in a row thought it would be nice to vent my frustration by mirroring it and defacing the mirror.
Thank God.
Having hit three in a row thought it would be nice to vent my frustration by mirroring it and defacing the mirror.
Comment This is what bugs me... (Score 2, Insightful) 75
I work in a video production company that makes promotional videos for schools and lately the stuff they say: more school hours and higher standards for our "Global Knowledge Based Economy" bugs me, especially when seen against laws like this where violating some stupid patent has such severe consequences. If what is planned out is what I think it is, a lot of kids that go through this "feel good knowledge based economy" bullshit are going to have a very rude awakening when they're older.
Coincidentally notice that what the schools teach tend to be so narrow in scope regarding technology, as if to ensure the resourceful hackers of yesteryear never happen again.
Coincidence?
Coincidentally notice that what the schools teach tend to be so narrow in scope regarding technology, as if to ensure the resourceful hackers of yesteryear never happen again.
Coincidence?
Sharp's Tiny LCD Doubles As Scanner 69
morpheus83 writes "It's all of 3.5-inches but this LCD screen from Sharp features an integrated optical scanner that could be used to scan business cards, but also be used as a method for multi-touch input. The prototype was seen at the Ceatec exhibition. Possible uses include the ability to recognize fingers or other objects and as biometric lock on your phone. And since each pixel has a scanner it may as well be a multi-touch screen."
Submission + - Microsoft furthers open source patent threats (groklaw.net)
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft furthers open source patent threats. See http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071008205138925 .
Feed Engadget: Keepin' it real fake, Part LXXXVI: iPod nano rip-off does double duty as camera (engadget.com)
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Portable Audio, Portable Video
You can tell the Chinese PMP knock-off factories are getting a little bored. They're starting to mutate their typically staid, blatant thefts into something just a little bit more exciting. Enter the UE-Technology UE-M4088, a totally fresh new entry that rips off both the new iPod nano, and a generic digital camera. Of course, it has all your favorite Chinese PMP features, like a 2.4-inch LCD display, FM radio, playback of MPEG-4, ASF, MP3, WMA, WAV and MIDI files, an SD slot, and of course that 1.3-megapixel camera. The player seems to be available now, though no word on price. Finally, you can have it all... just don't let the authorities see you having it all.[Via PMPToday]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Feed Microsoft sued over DVR patent negotiations (engadget.com)
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Microsoft has been sued by a group of interactive television patent holders who claim that Microsoft duped them into granting a royalty-free license on the grounds that the company was not planning to release its own DVR system. Only weeks after negotiations took place between the group of patent holders -- operating under the name Intellivision, unrelated to the 90s game console -- and Microsoft, the corporation launched and started advertising for its Ultimate TV DVR product. The negotiations apparently took place way back in 2001, so it's slightly odd that the inventors waited until January of this year to file their claim to revoke the original licensing deal (and gain unspecified damages, naturally). Microsoft hasn't yet responded to the case other than to file a purely procedural motion, so we'll have to wait to see how this one plays out.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Submission + - Why are webmasters stupid about foreign addresses?
EWAdams writes: I don't know how many websites I've tried to register on that assume that I live in America. They demand that I pick a state from one of the 50 listed, and provide no alternative if I live elsewhere. They demand that I enter a ZIP code in exactly five digits, no letters allowed. (Canada and the UK use letters in their postal codes. Ireland does not use postal codes at all — the entire population of Ireland is less than that of New York city, so why bother?)
They demand that I enter a phone number in the form XXX-XXX-XXXX and no other. Sometimes they do this even when they provide a field to indicate that the country I live in is not the USA. The international standard format for a phone number is +[country code]-[city code]-[local number]. There are no guarantees about how long any of those will be in any given country.
What's this about? Are webmasters just routinely narrow-minded, blinkered, pig-ignorant morons, or is there some vast American conspiracy to pretend that it's the American Web rather than the World Wide Web? I'm not just talking about mom-and-pop operations here; some of the worst offenders are multinationals! I'm usually forced to resort to the telephone to straighten it out — a waste of their time, my time, and my money. What can be done about it? How does one get the message through to the idiot who programmed, and maintains, the site?
They demand that I enter a phone number in the form XXX-XXX-XXXX and no other. Sometimes they do this even when they provide a field to indicate that the country I live in is not the USA. The international standard format for a phone number is +[country code]-[city code]-[local number]. There are no guarantees about how long any of those will be in any given country.
What's this about? Are webmasters just routinely narrow-minded, blinkered, pig-ignorant morons, or is there some vast American conspiracy to pretend that it's the American Web rather than the World Wide Web? I'm not just talking about mom-and-pop operations here; some of the worst offenders are multinationals! I'm usually forced to resort to the telephone to straighten it out — a waste of their time, my time, and my money. What can be done about it? How does one get the message through to the idiot who programmed, and maintains, the site?
Submission + - Baby Vista is born, 5 pounds and 11 ounces
jollyreaper writes: File this under the category "Will parents never learn?" Naming your kid after an operating system. It'd be geeky enough if the kid was named Linux or OSX but no, this poor kid is named Vista. The proud father says: "Okay, first I know that most of you are reading this on the bus, at home, at work, and you're laughing. Some people are shocked and probably scratching your head why a nerd would potentially put their child through the slings and arrows of naming their spawn after an operating system. Hopefully by the time she's old enough for someone to make fun of her name, nobody will remember where it came from."
He might want to ask Moon Unit Zappa about that.
Feed Intel reveals quad-core laptop chip in the pipeline for 2008 (engadget.com)
Confirming something that we had already seen hints of, Intel has announced that it is looking forward to quad core laptops hitting the scene throughout 2008. Mooly Eden, GM of Intel's mobile platform group, said that we won't see these quad cores in business class laptops for a while, even being honest enough to admit that there aren't enough multi-threaded applications out there to justify it. In practically the same breath, PC World mentions that the chip will target high-level gaming laptops, which is cool because gamers will no doubt lap the new chips up: even if gaming is for the moment a very much single-threaded activity. Architecturally the new chip will have to differ from Intel's current offerings such as Santa Rosa, so you can probably expect to pay quite a premium until they hit the mainstream. (Not that you didn't know that already.)
[Image credit]
P.S. Bonus points for most imaginative insult in response to the fatal mistake of using Apple's Intel logos to illustrate this post.
[Image credit]
P.S. Bonus points for most imaginative insult in response to the fatal mistake of using Apple's Intel logos to illustrate this post.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Guitartabs.com Suspends Under Legal Pressure 348
Music publishers are stepping up their campaign to remove guitar tablature from the Net. Recently Guitartabs.com received a nastygram from lawyers for the National Music Publishers Association and The Music Publishers Association of America. These organizations want to stretch the definition of their intellectual property to include by-ear transcriptions of music. Guitartabs.com is currently not offering tablature while the owner evaluates his legal options.
Journal Journal: McCain would hire Steve Ballmer to US Cabinet if Elected. 431
Astute blogger and part time programmer RMS found an interesting summary of John McCain's technical blunders from May 30th. While most people jumped all over McCain's wrong headed view of the network neutrality issue, fe
