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Space

NASA Satellite Sees Black Hole Belching Out Hundred-Million-Degree X-rays 74

The Bad Astronomer writes "NASA's NuSTAR satellite, designed to detect cosmic X-rays, detected a flare of high-energy emission coming from the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole. The X-rays were the dying gasp of a small gas cloud being torn apart, heated to a hundred million degrees, and then falling into the black hole itself. Events like this are relatively uncommon, so it's fortunate NuSTAR happened to be observing the black hole when it flared."

Comment Re:First support your phones (Score 1) 124

I'm torn on the issue.

I think they should keep updating phones while they're continuing to sell them. The iPhone 3gs has iOS 5 because they're still selling it. This helps drive sales of older models (which may have higher margins as they age) because people are more likely to buy the comparable device with newer software & better features over the one with older software.

It would certainly be nice if they kept updating software after they discontinue it. My issue is that people shouldn't be buying phones (or any other tech) based on what it "will do" and buy more for what it does. This will also help discourage manufacturers from releasing products knowingly that suck now but will not suck later.

I applaud Samsung for this because if they don't want to keep the devices up to date then at least the community can. It would certainly be nice if they could keep the things up to date on their own, but I'd be willing to bet most of their share holders are interested in seeing their money go towards new products than old products that don't make money.

Comment Re:Buy a Macbook Pro, even for Windows/Linux (Score 2) 732

Other pro-Mac considerations:
1. Battery life. My 13" unibody MacBook Pro is almost 3 years old now and I still get decent battery life, 3 hours easily under moderate load. My previous HP dv1000 series laptop was lucky to get 2 under light load when it was new.
2. Trackpad - the Mac touchpad/trackpads are fantastic!
3. Magsafe adapter!! I cannot emphasize this one enough, especially with kids around.
4. Backlit keyboard. This is available on many PC laptops but not all. I very much miss this when I'm using other systems as I often like to work in environments where light doesn't seem to hit the keyboard sufficiently.
5. The screen is a huge benefit. I'm amazed at how lousy the screen is on a lot of laptops still these days. I could be mistaken but I believe it is systems with these TN panels where as Apple only uses IPS panels. Difference is night and day compared to most of the budget systems friends & family own.

Comment Re:Privacy? (Score 1) 265

It does not upload 100mb of data. Dropbox syncs at the block level using an rsync-like algorithm. Dropbox definitely needs to scan the entire container to figure out which blocks have changed and upload. I don't know what the block size is like or if it is determined by Truecrypt/Dropbox/both, but chances are if you change 1mb it is only going to upload approximately 1mb.

Comment Re:Privacy? (Score 1) 265

Yes, it only uploads the changes. The Dropbox client still needs to scan the entire container to determine what has changed however.

The only other downfall I have to using Dropbox+Truecrypt is remembering to unmount the volume each time. If you have a Truecrypt volume mounted in multiple locations you end up with a conflicting file which you need to manually correct. It can be a pain.

I use EncFS in my Dropbox (which BoxCryptor is built on). This way the contents are encrypted and the synchronization happens at the file level, less chance of conflicting files. This also means I can set up my home machine to automatically mount the EncFS volume. My concern is about cloud privacy, not about physical privacy in my home so this works well.

Comment Re:Also, (Score 2) 516

If it makes you feel better it's not just the Yaris. The Saturn Ion had it in the centre, and the Yaris's predecessor the Echo had it there too (though both were turned slightly toward the driver.

I love it in my Yaris actually, but I'm probably a minority because Toyota moved it back to the more traditional location for 2012.

Comment Re:Simpler than that (Score 1) 599

Funny, my 2008 Yaris has the instrument panel in the dead center. The Echo had it that way too except it was turned slightly towards the driver. I actually like it that way, gives me a glove box behind the steering wheel and the steering wheel can't block the gauges. Driving other cars that has been a problem for me.

They moved it behind the steering wheel for the 2012 model.

Back to the OP comparing the Yaris to the Prius, I don't think that's a fair comparison. The Prius is a larger, roomier, comfier car. If you're looking at a Yaris you don't choose a Prius to save gas.

Facebook

Facebook Flaw Exposed Private Photos 201

Velcroman1 writes "A security hole in Facebook allowed almost anyone to see pictures marked as private, an online forum revealed late Monday. Even pictures supposedly kept hidden from uninvited eyes by Facebook's privacy controls aren't safe, reported one user of a popular bodybuilding forum in a post entitled 'I teach you how to view private Facebook photos.' Facebook appears to have acted quickly to eliminate the end-run around privacy controls, after word of the exploit spread across the Internet. It wasn't long before one online miscreant uploaded private pictures of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg himself — evidence that the hack worked, he said."

Comment Re:Try SparkleShare (Score 1) 122

Sparkleshare looks like a really slick application but it still needs to mature. Most importantly, it doesn't run on Windows!

So let me try at least give it a shot:
My Debian box - nope, not in the repositories yet. Wasn't able to get it running manually
My Windows 7 machine - nope, no Windows version
My Macbook Pro - nope, doesn't run on Mac OS Lion

I'm sure these issues will be resolved in time but until they at least run on Windows they aren't going anywhere.

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