Comment Re:What I don't understand ... why just not leave? (Score 1) 1198
Not true. It's called "cuarto de libra" accross all of Spanish-speaking Latin America and most of those countries use the metric system.
Comment Re:Bullies. (Score 1) 397
GP said "vulnerable". He didn't specify "good" or "bad".
Submission + - The End of Cheap Labor in China (time.com) 3
hackingbear writes: The Time magazine reports, in what is supposed to be a land of unlimited cheap labor — a nation of 1.3 billion people, whose extraordinary 20-year economic rise has been built first and foremost on the backs of low-priced workers — the game has changed. In the past decade, real wages for manufacturing workers in China have grown nearly 12% per year. The hourly cost advantage, while still significant [comparing to the West], is shrinking rapidly. The changing economics of Made in China will benefit both the rich and poor world. Countries like Cambodia, Laos, India and Vietnam are picking up some of the cheapest labor manufacturing left by the Chinese. And there is already evidence of at least the beginning of a shift in manufacturing operations returning to the U.S. Perhaps we will soon stop picking at "Made in China" but instead complaining "Made in Vietnam/Cambodia", while serving the flood of Chinese tourists stocking up brand-name merchandises on US tours and Chinese students paying high tuitions to our cash-strapped universities.
Submission + - Upgrading From Windows 1.0 to Windows 7 (youtube.com)
An anonymous reader writes: YouTube user Andrew Tait has uploaded a video entitled Chain of Fools : Upgrading through every version of windows. Tait starts with MS DOS 5.0 running Windows 1.0 and keeps upgrading the operating system until he reaches Windows 7, taking note of the changes to system settings and application compatibility along the way.
Submission + - Comics Code dead (comicsbeat.com)
tverbeek writes: After more than half a century of stifling the comic book industry, the Comics Code Authority is effectively dead. Created in response to Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, one of the early think-of-the-children censorship campaigns, and Congressional hearings, the Code laid out a checklist of requirements and restrictions for comics to be distributed to newsstand vendors, effectively ensuring that in North America, only simplistic stories for children would be told using the medium of sequential art. It gradually lost many of its teeth, and an increasing number of publishers gave up on newsstand distribution and ignored the Code, but at the turn of the century the US's largest comics publishers still participated. Marvel quit it in 2001, in favor of self-applied ratings styled after the MPAA's and ESRB's. Last year Bongo (publishers of the Simpsons comics) quietly dropped out. Now DC and Archie, the last publishers willingly subjecting their books to approval, have announced that they're discontinuing their use of the CCA, with DC following Marvel's example, and Archie (which recently introduced an openly gay supporting character, something flatly forbidden by the original Code) carrying on under their own standards. The Code's cousins: the MPAA and ESRB ratings, the RIAA parental advisory, and the mishmash of warnings on TV shows still live on, but at least North American comics publishers are no longer subject to external censorship.
Submission + - The End of Scarce Oil and Atmospheric CO2 Problems (theglobeandmail.com) 1
Saysys writes: n September, a privately held and highly secretive U.S. biotech company named Joule Unlimited received a patent for “a proprietary organism” – a genetically engineered cyanobacterium that produces liquid hydrocarbons: diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline. This breakthrough technology, the company says, will deliver renewable supplies of liquid fossil fuel almost anywhere on Earth, in essentially unlimited quantity and at an energy-cost equivalent of $30 (U.S.) a barrel of crude oil. It will deliver, the company says, “fossil fuels on demand.”
oule says it now has “a library” of fossil-fuel organisms at work in its Massachusetts labs, each engineered to produce a different fuel. It has “proven the process,” has produced ethanol (for example) at a rate equivalent to 10,000 U.S. gallons an acre a year. It anticipates that this yield could hit 25,000 gallons an acre a year when scaled for commercial production, equivalent to roughly 800 barrels of crude an acre a year.
oule says it now has “a library” of fossil-fuel organisms at work in its Massachusetts labs, each engineered to produce a different fuel. It has “proven the process,” has produced ethanol (for example) at a rate equivalent to 10,000 U.S. gallons an acre a year. It anticipates that this yield could hit 25,000 gallons an acre a year when scaled for commercial production, equivalent to roughly 800 barrels of crude an acre a year.
Submission + - Larry Page to replace Eric Schmidt as Google CEO (blogspot.com) 1
D H NG writes: While announcing its Q4 financial results, Google had also announced some changes in leadership. Starting April 4, Google co-founder Larry Page will replace Eric Schmidt as CEO. Sergey Brin will retain the title Co-Founder and Eric Schmidt becomes the Executive Chairman and retains his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Polynomial Time Code For 3-SAT Released, P==NP 700
An anonymous reader writes "Vladimir Romanov has released what he claims is a polynomial-time algorithm for solving 3-SAT. Because 3-SAT is NP-complete, this would imply that P==NP. While there's still good reason to be skeptical that this is, in fact, true, he's made source code available and appears decidedly more serious than most of the people attempting to prove that P==NP or P!=NP. Even though this is probably wrong, just based on the sheer number of prior failures, it seems more likely to lead to new discoveries than most. Note that there are already algorithms to solve 3-SAT, including one that runs in time (4/3)^n and succeeds with high probability. Incidentally, this wouldn't necessarily imply that encryption is worthless: it may still be too slow to be practical."
Submission + - Sony, Universal to Beat Piracy with 'Instant Pop' 1
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Guardian reports that Britain's two biggest record labels, Sony and Universal, plan to beat music piracy by making new singles available for sale on the day they first hit the airwaves hoping the effort will encourage young people to buy songs they can listen to immediately rather than copying from radio broadcasts online. Songs used to receive up to six weeks radio airplay before they were released for sale, a practice known as "setting up" a record. "What we were finding under the old system was the searches for songs on Google or iTunes were peaking two weeks before they actually became available to buy, meaning that the public was bored of — or had already pirated — new singles," says David Joseph. Sony, which will start the "on air, on sale" policy simultaneously with Universal next month, agreed that the old approach was no longer relevant in an age where, according to a spokesman for the music major, "people want instant gratification"."
Submission + - Logitech is selling fake speakers
mvkx0 writes: I was kinda done with my X140 speakers, the high pitched noise coming out of it was driving me nuts. As a bit of nerd as i am, i decided to open them up, and have a look inside to see if i could find something. So i started to look around and wondered if it maybe needed a bit of extra shielding on some parts. While looking trough the parts, i actually noticed that there are NO wires connected to the bottom speaker-drivers, its simply looking like a speaker on the front of it- but it doesn't have a coil, or wires connected to them.
What it comes down is, you buy this set of speakers — with from what you think are four drivers, you only get two working drivers.
This is misleading, i feel tricked by Logitech, and from now on, boycotting them.
inside: http://i51.tinypic.com/142aj3b.jpg
outside: http://www.caron-informatique.fr/catalog/images/Image/enceintes/x_140_1.jpg
What it comes down is, you buy this set of speakers — with from what you think are four drivers, you only get two working drivers.
This is misleading, i feel tricked by Logitech, and from now on, boycotting them.
inside: http://i51.tinypic.com/142aj3b.jpg
outside: http://www.caron-informatique.fr/catalog/images/Image/enceintes/x_140_1.jpg
Periodic Table of Elements To Get an Update 99
Lazarian writes "Scientists from around the world have put forth an update to the Periodic Table of Elements. In particular, they are changing the manner in which atomic weights of ten elements are expressed. From the article: 'For example, sulfur is commonly known to have a standard atomic weight of 32.065. However, its actual atomic weight can be anywhere between 32.059 and 32.076, depending on where the element is found.'"
Submission + - Atomic weight not so constant (yahoo.com)
DangerousBeauty writes: Yahoo has a Canadian Press story up about new changes to the periodic table of elements, concerning the weight of specific elements, and the fact that the weights fluctuate based on where they are found in nature. From the article ""People are probably comfortable with having a single value for the atomic weight, but that is not the reality for our natural world." says University of Calgary associate professor Michael Wieser.
Submission + - 25 Years of Super Mario Bros. (technologizer.com)
harrymcc writes: On September 13th 1985, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom (NES) in Japan. It went on to become the best-selling video game of all time, a title it only recently lost. Over at Technologizer, Benj Edwards is celebrating the anniversary with a look at some of the weirdest variations, spinoffs, and tributes the game has inspired over the years, from edibles to art projects.
Submission + - The Many Iterations of William Shatner (nytimes.com) 1
pickens writes: The NY Times weekend magazine has a long profile, well worth reading of self-described "working actor" William Shatner who began acting at age 6 and who at one point in the late 1950's was mentioned in the same breath as his contemporaries Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Robert Redford — until, without explanation, his career faded before it bloomed. Shatner, now 79, pulls no punches in his memories of the Star Trek years. "I never thought it'd become a big deal, just 13 episodes and out," says Shatner. "I didn't think I was hard to get along with. There were a few disaffected actors who came in once a week. I had nothing to do with them. Friendly! I was working seven days a week, learning 10 pages of dialogue a day. They had one line! Then after the show was canceled and the Star Trek phenomenon began, those actors would go to the conventions. They'd get applause, praise, and begin to think, 'Hey, I was wonderful, and Shatner stole the spotlight.'"
Submission + - Argentine ISP to close in 90 days by Govt decision
Doctor Jonas writes: Argentine ISP Fibertel has been barred to follow up their operations because of the dissolution of their status as a company, previously being absorbed by Cablevisión of Argentina, now part of media conglomerate Grupo Clarín. The Minister of Planning Julio de Vido announced the measure, and said it was Grupo Clarín's own doing by having shut down the Fibertel company and turning it into merely a commercial brand, and that ISP licenses are not transferable after acquisitions from one company to the other. The Argentine opposition said the move was another attack into Grupo Clarín's standing and another part of the feud between them and President Cristina Fernández and her husband, former president Nestor Kirchner. Cablevisión has promised to go to the courts to overturn the decision, even with TV ads, and the opposition seeks to protect Fibertel's continuing operations through a bill in Congress. More than a million households and businesses would need to change ISPs in merely 90 days, possibly strengthening the internet provisioning dominance of both Telefónica (subsidiary of the Spanish Telefonica) and Telecom.
