evil_Tak - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Microsoft just announced plans for their fix (Score 0, Flamebait) 806

by evil_Tak on Tuesday September 25, 2007 @02:18PM (#20746467) Attached to: Excel 2007 Multiplication Bug

Why is it that we have to wait for FF3 (or worse, run the unstable CVS copy)

I think you just answered it right there.
There are a lot of things involved in a release; they're not going to do a code freeze, strings freeze, etc., every time they fix a bug that annoys somebody. If you really want it now, you're perfectly able to get the fix from CVS and backport it to your copy.

Submission + - Debian Etch Review

Submitted by

TidyIncision

on Friday April 13, 2007 @07:21AM

TidyIncision writes: "Some wise guy has whipped together a ludicrous review of Debian Etch, as if it were reviewed by your average clueless-about-open-source-software journalist. From the article: 'Debian developers to this day still separate themselves from the rest of the Linux community by their pride in not stealing from other operating systems to build their version of Linux. (All the other versions are based directly on Windows.) This is known as the 'Debian Free Software Guidelines' or as it's commonly known The GPL.'"

Submission + - Review of Debian Etch, the Game

Submitted by

TheSanitaryRazor

on Thursday April 12, 2007 @10:46PM

TheSanitaryRazor writes: "Some wise guy has whipped together a ludicrous review of Debian Etch, as if it were reviewed by your average clueless-about-open-source-software journalist. From the article: 'I tried running Halo 2, Final Fantasy X, Guitar Hero, Gears of War, Zelda: Twilight Princess and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on this latest version of Debian, and none of them worked. Absolutely none of them. This only goes to prove that Debian is a lousy gaming system. How do they expect to compete with Enterprise Ready gaming systems like Vista with these sorts of limitations?'"

Submission + - Linux on the desktop-problem solved!

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22, 2007 @05:26PM

An anonymous reader writes: It seems that Steven Goodwin (www.bluedust.com) has a really novel solution for Linux vs Dell vs the Desktop. He suggests packaging Linux as if it were a Mac, with custom hardware, and a specially built kernel. http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/2151 I can see this getting the old granny set, but it would kill off Linux if it ever came to pass.

Submission + - Poll: What is your favorite RIAA target?

Submitted by davidwr on Thursday March 22, 2007 @04:40PM

davidwr writes: With all the **AA posts lately, it's time for an RIAA POLL:

What is your favorite RIAA target?

College Students
Single Mothers
Dissabled Vets
Household pets
The Deceased
Newborn babies
People without internet
PirateNeal

Credit where credit is due: This is inspired by by Drakin020's comment #18447205 Re:Welcome to ...

Submission + - CLEFIA - A Faster, Leaner Open Cipher

Submitted by

QuantumCrypto

on Thursday March 22, 2007 @03:22PM

QuantumCrypto writes: "Sony announced today the introduction of CLEFIA, a new high throughput, low process spec encryption algorithm (cipher) that conforms to the Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) and the ISO/IEC 18033-3 International Standards. The hope is that CLEFIA will be "able to provide advanced [encryption] capabilities, even in restrictive environments such as smart cards and mobile devices." CLEFIA will be presented at the Fast Software Encryption 2007 Conference on March 26 in Luxembourg."

Submission + - France opens secret UFO files covering 50 years

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22, 2007 @02:19PM

An anonymous reader writes: France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades. Here's an interesting tidbit from the article: A phalanx of beefy security guards formed a barrier in front of the space agency (CNES) headquarters where the announcement was made, "to screen out uninvited UFOlogists," an official explained. Website at: http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/

Submission + - proof that tin-foil hats actually work

Submitted by Dr. Zarkov on Thursday March 22, 2007 @02:02PM

Dr. Zarkov writes: This article might belong in the old "it's funny — laugh" category, but I found it interesting because of the evidence that aluminum foil can be used to shield against radio waves (specifically, RFID)... when Big Brother forces me to carry papers to travel, I'm keeping my RFID passport in a foil-lined wallet!

Submission + - Heavy metal 'a comfort for the bright child'

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @05:48PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Daily Telegraph is reporting that intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented, according to research. Researchers found that, far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent "metalheads" are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders.

Submission + - Free Linux CD in Windows Vista Day!

Submitted by thaidn on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @04:50PM

thaidn writes: Tomorrow 22/03/2007, Microsoft will hold something called Vietnam Windows Vista Day in Ho Chi Minh City. We think this is a very good chance to promote Linux so that we decide to deliver free Linux CD and documentation at that very fair. 300 "Gift from the Penguine" packages, each containing a free Ubuntu Linux and a quickstart manual in Vietnamese, will be delivered to students, programmers, developers and anyone else interested in Linux.

Submission + - Microsoft .NET DST Patch Insufficiencies

Submitted by sainsworth on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:38PM

sainsworth writes: Take a look at this: How the changes to DST in 2007 affect the .NET Framework and ASP.NET. (Summary: in fixing DST for 2007, everything before 2007 is now broken.) How are other developer's handling this sort of flubbed DST fix (and other date/time errors) in the libraries and "platforms" you are dealing with?

Submission + - Small Developer Feels Pinch of Software Patents

Submitted by Penguinisto on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:33PM

Penguinisto writes: A business has so far felt the very real pain of sotware patent enforcement — but this time, it is a large company who extinguished the little guy. Reyes Infografica had recently sent a Cease and Desist notice to a small Poser hobbyist programmer named Phil Cooke for his "Clothing Creator" program, claiming that it violates one of their patents (Phil's own site/support forum contains the copy of Reyes' C&D, Phil's announcement, and relevant discussions.) Clothing Creator has been out for a couple of years now. Basically, it builds quick custom clothing for humanoid 3d figures within the 3d compositing/rendering program called Poser. Recently, E-Frontier, the current owner of Poser, had partnered with Reyes to sell a competing product in E-Frontier's online store, called "Virtual Fashion". To E-Frontier's credit, they recently announced that they would stop selling the Reyes product until the dispute is settled, though at time of writing the product is still available for sale. So is this the "innovation" that software patents were supposed to foster?

Submission + - Subliminal images do affect the brain

Submitted by Parallax Blue on Friday March 09, 2007 @06:31PM

Parallax Blue writes: The BBC is reporting on a new study by UK researchers in Current Biology that suggests subliminal messages may register in the brain if it has 'spare capacity'.

Participants in the study were asked to carry out an easy task and a hard task while being flashed with everyday objects in one eye and a strong flashing image in the other. The strong flashing image cancelled out the images of everyday objects in the other eye so that the participants were unaware of them. When the participants were carrying out an easy task, the brain scan detected activity in the primary visual cortex, indicating the subliminal images did register. However, when carrying out the hard task there was no activity, indicating the images did not register.

The implications for such uses as subliminal advertising is interesting, suggesting that subliminal messages in ads may work. However, further studies will have to be done to evaluate the precise impact of subliminal words and images.

Submission + - New Drugs Enhance Performance, Eliminate Sleep

Submitted by

docinthemachine

on Friday March 09, 2007 @06:24PM

docinthemachine writes: "New drugs in the eugeroic family are completing trials that offer improved memory, mood enhancement, improved alertness and cognitive powers without any of the nasty side effects and mass murder of speed and crank. They are a class of novel stimulants that produce long-lasting mental arousal. They are unique in producing hypervigilence and alertness without peripheral effects or addidition of usual stimulants. Strangely, they have minimal effect on sleep structure, and do not cause rebound hypersomnolence (crashing). Related are Ampakines that also cause memory enhancement (just a bit of abuse potential there). One of these — a drug code-named CX717 enabled sleep deprived rhesus monkeys to outperform rested normal monkeys on memory tasks. you can read details of the drugs and studies at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/03/09/eugeroic/"

Submission + - TomTom One Review - Linux-using $300 navigator

Submitted by

Bruce Perens

on Friday March 09, 2007 @05:19PM

Bruce Perens writes: "TomTom One is a $300 Linux-running car navigation system, about as good as units costing twice as much. It can even speak in the voice of John Cleese. I put one in my car recently, here's what I've experienced."

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