teebob21 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:If you can watch it on a computer (Score 3, Interesting) 225

by teebob21 on Sunday June 15, 2008 @11:50AM (#23800663) Attached to: MPAA Wants To Prevent Recording Movies On DVRs

Fortuantely for the parent, there is no -1, Wrong moderation option.

The cable companies do not encrypt the digital stream unless the channel is on a pay tier, or the content provider mandates it. My employer had been carrying ESPN HD, Discovery HD, History HD, and a few other national channels in the clear for almost a year. Contract renegotiations have come up, and those channels now must be encrypted for us to retain the rights to carry them. As a result, the cable co looks like the bad guy when we must tell our subs that they now must lease a converter box or CableCard to decrypt the channels we previously could send in the clear.

In regards to being forced into using the company's cable box, the FCC has mandated this to be illegal. Simply go down to your local electronics store and pickup a CableCard enabled converter...which according to the FCC, should be available nationwide. Oh wait...no manufacturer has started making them in the last 3 years. Go FCC! There's always TiVo, I suppose...

Submission + - Should Wikipedia Allow Mathematical Proofs? (wikipedia.org) 4

Submitted by

Beetle B.

on Saturday December 15, 2007 @08:07PM

Beetle B. writes: "An argument has arisen over whether Wikipedia should allow pages that provide proofs for mathematical theorems (such as this one).

On the one hand, Wikipedia is a useful source of information and people can benefit from these proofs. On the other hand, how does one choose which proofs to include and which not to? Should Wikipedia just become a textbook that teaches mathematics? Should it just state the bare results of theorems and not provide proofs (except as external links)? Or should they take an intermediate approach and formulate a criterion for which proofs to include and which to exclude?"

Submission + - Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team 1

Submitted by Curlsman on Saturday December 15, 2007 @07:55PM

Curlsman writes: Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team

Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately.
We don't know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years.

If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com — we hope someone at CBS will read them.

Thank you for your loyal fandom over the years. It has been a pleasure to serve you.

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/2316633.html

Is this site worth a write-in campaign?

Submission + - Facebook Censoring Mothers' Breastfeeding Photos (breastfeeding123.com)

Submitted by

NewsCloud

on Sunday November 11, 2007 @10:26PM

NewsCloud writes: "Some Facebook moms report having their accounts deleted for uploading photos of breastfeeding their newborns. 'Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our Terms and are removed,' says Facebook. In response, more than 33,431 concerned Facebook members created the "Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" [group req. reg.]. Facebook's censorship thresholds were covered earlier on Slashdot. Meanwhile, Flickr's foot fetish groups are going strong."

Four Wheels of Fury Invade World of Warcraft 1

Posted by Zonk on Monday October 08, 2007 @05:39PM from the i-am-the-lawgiver dept.

If you have yet to see the World of Warcraft/Toyota crossover commercial, you owe it to yourself to enjoy the precise moment when Massively Multiplayer games became mainstream.

Submission + - Virtual robots fooled by visual illusions

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Sunday September 30, 2007 @11:23AM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Researchers at University College London (UCL) have written a computer program using neural networks which are duped by optical illusions the same way as we do. Their virtual robots, which were trained to 'see' like us, could help to understand why we fall for optical illusions. This might also be important for robot vision. If robots are trained to 'see' like us, they will act like us — and make mistakes. Very interesting... But read more for additional references and one of the visual illusions featured on the Web site of the lead researcher for this project."

Submission + - Student Attacked After Dropping Cake (infowars.net) 17

Submitted by on Sunday September 30, 2007 @01:49AM

An anonymous reader writes: "School security guards in Palmdale, CA have been caught on camera assaulting a 16-year-old girl and breaking her arm after she spilled some cake during lunch and left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning it up. The girl, Pleajhai Mervin, told Fox News LA that she was bumped while queuing for lunch and dropped the cake. After being ordered to clean it up and then re-clean the spot three times, she attempted to leave the area out of embarrassment but was jumped on by security who forced her onto a table, breaking her wrist in the process."

Submission + - Apple's aims to stop second-hand iPod trading (cnet.co.uk) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28, 2007 @09:57AM

An anonymous reader writes: CNet is running a story that highlights how Apple's apparently generous offering of free iPod engraving, is actually an effort to curb any resale of used iPods. This stops any second-hand trading and forces buyers to seek brand-new models, full-price, directly from Apple. One commenter notes that this engraving also voids any option of replacement iPods through AppleCare.

Submission + - Text messaging in 1985 (allcoolandnew.com)

Submitted by odiers on Saturday September 15, 2007 @10:23AM

odiers writes: This fragment from a science show in The Netherlands called World of Miracles (1985), shows how people used to text with their phone back then. http://www.allcoolandnew.com/text_messaging_in_1985_video.php

Submission + - Star Wars fan puts himself in Carbonite (thesneeze.com)

Submitted by sneezesteve on Monday August 20, 2007 @12:30AM

sneezesteve writes: How do you secure your nerd-cred for eternity? By acquiring a life-size replica of Han Solo in Carbonite, having Han's face removed, and replacing it with your own.

"It is made from fiberglass, and the short story is that a friend who is a special effects guy owned the piece, which was a direct casting off the original prop. He was moving, (aka getting married and yelled at) and asked me if I wanted it. I screamed a huge lispy "Yes!", and picked it up, but knew I wanted to do something cool with it. So I called my other nerdy special effects pals, and they offered to replace Harrison Ford's face with mine. I was so tired of hearing this offer in my daily life, but decided to finally consider it, so off it went.

KNB Effects in the valley took an algae mold of my entire head, then cut off Han Solo's, and replaced it with mine. They even added the frozen saliva that rushed out when Han got frozen."

Submission + - The Top 15 most controversial Microsoft statements (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by StonyandCher on Sunday July 08, 2007 @07:12PM

StonyandCher writes: In the pantheon of controversial Microsoft comments CEO Steve Ballmer's recent quote about the Apple iPod: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a US$500 subsidized item," ranks right up there.

But Between Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates that comment would be hard pressed to crack the Top 15 all-time most controversial or even colorful things the two of them have uttered in the past oh, 20 years or so.

Submission + - Microsoft stealing Ubuntu logo?

Submitted by

ggravier

on Monday July 02, 2007 @02:03AM

ggravier writes: "Could it be that Microsoft is trying to appropriate the Ubuntu logo?

Have a look at the Microsoft Alumni Network page... as well as the Ubuntu Home Page... and compare the logos... Same notion of 3 people. Same circle. Same holding hands. Same variation style on the earth / sand brown color. Hum... If I were a copyright lawyer, I'd start heating up my work processor (OpenOffice.org, of course) and writing a cease and desist letter to the guys in Redmond."

Submission + - Senate Refuses to Increase H1-B Visa Quota (eweek.com)

Submitted by teebob21 on Friday June 29, 2007 @02:39AM

teebob21 writes: Eweek reports that the Senate refused to carry forward legislation that would have increased the number of H1-B visas granted each year. The immigration reform bill (S-1639) was heavily lobbied for by companies such as Microsoft, who rely heavily on H1-B visa holders to staff their IT and technical departments. The immigration bill included a provision to raise the yearly limit on H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000. The H-1B supply for the 2007 fiscal year was used up in just over one day last year.

Submission + - Microsoft behind the latest UFO hoax? (littlemanwhatnow.com)

Submitted by

Charles.Pooter

on Friday June 29, 2007 @02:37AM

Charles.Pooter writes: "In April some rather pretty photos started appearing on UFO websites, including the site of the popular Coast to Coast AM radio show. Then recently someone calling themselves "Issac" launched a unusually well-written (by the usual standards of UFO exposes) website revealing the "truth" behind the photos, with some more lovingly-crafted, supposedly leaked photos and documents from his time reverese-engineering alien tech for the US Government. So who is really behind all this? Answer: Slashdot's favourite villain: Microsoft!"

Submission + - Technology Predicts Earthquakes (newsblaze.com)

Submitted by

newsblaze

on Friday June 29, 2007 @01:46AM

newsblaze writes: "Japan's Meteorological agency distribution network connects to the Internet, sending a signal to activate a device that delivers a loud countdown of up to 20 seconds preceding the beginning of a tremor. The Agency is to begin the first warning broadcast on radio and television within four months and later this year starts sending to a new version of cell phones. In Shake, Rattle & Roll — Don`t Panic, Strasbaugh outlines how it works and notes that JEITA, Electronic Industries Association of Japan says there can be false alarms. As long as there aren't too many and people take notice, that will be OK. I know, wrong Quake, but how to classify this?"

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