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Comment Re:Just goes to show. . . (Score 1) 256

Yes, you could write a stopwatch app which runs on the bare metal, without relying on anything but the hardware (OK, and the part of the BIOS which starts the bootloader, unless you want to re-flash the BIOS). However that would be more complicated than you think. You'd have to initialize all the hardware yourself and handle everything on the lowest level.

The BIOS initializes all that is needed for a text-mode stopwatch. It would really not be hard to write in asm.

Doing a GUI stopwatch on the bare metal would be no more complicated than doing a text stopwatch on the bare metal ("CLI" wouldn't exactly apply then, because without some operating system, there would not be a command line to begin with, unless you'd take the unnecessary complication of additionally writing a CLI to run your stopwatch from). Just the data structures to be copied into video RAM would be a bit bigger. But then, the mouse handling code would probably be much simpler than the keyboard handling code you'd need for the text version.

While USB keyboards work in compatibility mode - requiring no USB driver, the same is not true for a mouse. That would require USB drivers. That in it self would be far more complex than writing a text-mode stopwatch.

Android

Submission + - XBMC Hardware-accelerated Android-build available

repvik writes: Yesterday, Ricardo Cerqueira posted this on Google+:
"As I mentioned in a comment for another post, +XBMC is currently undergoing extensive work for native video acceleration in Android. I was about to post my own build (which works on the Nexus Q's OMAP4), when I noticed they have just posted a build based on the same patchset (it's theirs, after all :) Great job, guys!)

So... http://mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/android/xbmc-20130118-d2c78f5-android-hwaccel-armeabi-v7a.apk . I've tested this build on Qualcomm S4, OMAP4, Exynos4, and Tegra3, all of them on CM10.1, and got accelerated video on all. Go get it :)"

I've tested it, and it looks great!
Apple

Ad Agency's Bizarre Steve Jobs Tribute Flash Mob Hits Seattle 75

theodp writes "File this one under it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time. The Filter digital agency decided to show off their Steve Jobs spirit on the first anniversary of Jobs' death by declaring Friday Steve Jobs dress-up day. But where things really took a turn for the worse was in Seattle, where Filter employees took it to the local Apple Store where they formed a Flash Mob of Steve Jobs dress-alikes dancing Gangnam Style. Hey, even our best of intentions sometimes go awry."

Comment Re:SSD Drives (Score 3, Informative) 140

Bare NAND is presented as a block device. NAND SSDs are also presented as block devices. That does not imply that they are equal. SSDs have a controller that does remapping on the fly, in many cases on the fly compression, bad block handlling and much more. Bare NAND does not have that layer. That is why the ACs comment should be moderated informative, and you should be moderated "plain wrong".

Comment Re:COME ON! (Score 0) 305

So, no, he doesn't have the wrong definition of nutritious. You just read the first two paragraphs or so.

He also has the completely screwed-up definition of nutritious:

How can something that reduces your exposure to pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria not be “more nutritious” than food that doesn’t?

Nutritious means to provide nutrients, not to exclude other stuff. And he also jumps to an unsubstanciated conclusion in that sentence. Minor exposure to pesticides might not be harmful at all. Minor exposure to bacteria is in many cases beneficial, since the immune system builds up immunity...
His article is at least as flawed as the study, and thus can be ignored.

The Internet

The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link Sold To Its Members 36

New submitter nadaou sends this quote from the NY Times: "One of the earliest online communities, The WELL, has a new owner: its members. On Thursday evening, Salon Media Group, the previous owner of The WELL, said it had sold the community to the Well Group, a private investment group consisting of longtime members of the community, which was founded in 1985, long before the rise of the Web."

Comment Re:iPhone can stream video to TV... (Score 1) 466

How many AirPlay-compatible TVs are there?

Anything with HDMI.

So my TV is AirPlay-compatible? How come my TV doesn't come up as an Airplay device? There is no such thing as an AirPlay-compatible TV, atleast that I am aware of. Feel free to enlighten me if I'm wrong.

So you ask how many TV's I can stream to, but then bring up a small subset of TV's that support your WiFi streaming.

Because you specifically said that the i-products could stream to the TV, when that is obviously not the case. AFAIK, there is not a single TV being sold that has AirPlay-support. Again, feel free to correct. There are, OTOH, thousands of different models that do support streaming from Android devices. They don't need to have WiFi, but it's nicer that way.

How is that any different really?

Now, let me see:
System that requires extra hardware, cabling, power. Versus system that has built-in support. No difference there, obviously.

I'll bet you paid more for your TV than I did for mine, and with the extra money saved you can buy an AppleTV to work with whatever modern TV you have.

It was quite possibly more expensive than yours. But the price difference I paid for a "smart" TV, vs. the otherwise identical "dumb" version was somewhere between $30 and $40. I haven't seen AppleTVs in that pricerange, at least not yet. And buying an AppleTV doesn't make my TV AirPlay compatible. I'll just be connecting a HDMI-device to my HDMI-compatible TV.

Why would you prefer a system which limits the TV's you can buy?

Because I don't want more crappy boxes underneath my TV. I don't want more cables messing up the living room. That's not a very hard concept to grasp, is it?
Why would you prefer a system which limits the devices that can stream to your TV? I can stream from Windows, Linux, Android and iOS directly to my TV effortlessly. For me, that makes sense. Why would I buy an extra device that can only stream from OS X and iOS, when my TV supports streaming from pretty much any mainstream device/operating system available?
(Yes, I consider AirPlay OSX/iOS only. It's a proprietary protocol which has horrible support on other oses)

You should try it again, there's more uptake than you think (it's cross platform across a lot of different platforms). Google doesn't show police either.

Well, I don't think I'll be trying Waze every other week. It isn't growing that fast. Google has had proper traffic info since this summer. Waze has nothing yet.

Comment Re:turn-by-turn (Score 1) 466

Remember that one time when Google implemented turn-by-turn directions for iOS maps app? Yeah, me neither

How do you propose Google make changes to an app that Apple developed in-house? The Google maps app wasn't written by Google. It was written by Apple. Throw your feces in the correct direction please.

Comment Re:iPhone can stream video to TV... (Score 0) 466

It can, using AirPlay.

How many AirPlay-compatible TVs are there? Oh, so you can't stream to the TV, you can stream to another "accessory" that is connected to the TV, and adding to the already bad cable mess. Excellent.
My android devices can stream to my TV. Using wifi. Not a single cable, no extra devices, nothing.

Like the AC said, get Waze. This has crowdsourced traffic... but also Apple wil be offering crowdsourced traffic to (in fact because of the Waze partnership it might even BE Waze traffic data).

Meh. I've tried Waze. Concept good. No uptake among locals. OTOH, google maps gives me pretty accurate traffic info.

Comment Re:Why is everyone saying power consumption is hig (Score 2) 64

The Atom Z2460 beats most phones in benchmarks, and plays in an even field regarding power usage.

Compared to most phones produced last year, yes. Compare it with HTCs One X or the Samsung Galaxy SIII (or the iPhone 5), and try again.
Also, it beats few phones on GPU performance. That, and power consumption, is probably why Motorola slapped a crappy 540x960 screen in the phone.

Also, the Motorola Razr i has a 1780mah battery while the old Razr M had a 2000mah. Both are specified to run roughly 24h.

Spec sheet for the Razr i says "Up To 20 Hours". That's make it worse off for power consumption than the old Razr M.
Seriously though. Are those actual standby numbers? Do these phones have to be charged atleast once daily, without being used?
I easily get 48h+ on my Galaxy Nexus with light usage (a few phonecalls, some sms/gtalk, checking twitter/mail). It's got a 1750mAh battery.

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