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Entertainment

Submission + - Need E-Reader Recemmendations 1

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "Black Friday is coming on strong. The one thing I'm looking for this year is an e-reader. Actually, it doesn't need to be a dedicated e-reader like a Kindle or Nook, it could be a tablet. The requirements are: it has to read as many formats as possible (.pdf, .lit, .mobi, .txt, .etc). It should play .mp3s (audio books). It should be as inexpensive as possible, yet actually available. I don't mind jail breaking or rooting a device if that will increase the available formats. It would be nice if it had a memory card slot, or would br able to access my home nerwork (smb server). I've got terrible eyes, so it would be nice if it was backlit, but not a requirement. Suggestions?"

Submission + - Michael O'Hare Dead at 60 (hollywoodreporter.com)

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "'Babylon 5' Star Michael O'Hare Died at 60 from heart attack. O’Hare, who starred as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair on the first season of the sci-fi series Babylon 5, died Friday after suffering a heart attack five days earlier. He was 60.


“This is a terrible loss for all B5 fans, and everyone involved with the show wishes to convey their condolences to the O'Hare family,” series creator J. Michael Straczynski wrote on his Facebook page. “He was an amazing man.”


O'Hare left the show after the first season (Straczynski at the time called it a "mutual, amicable and friendly separation," with the star being ostensibly replaced by Bruce Boxleitner), but the actor came back for an episode in season two and back-to-back installments in season three to wrap up his character's storyline.


More at The Hollywood Reporter and Huffington Post.


I guess this will spark another "Kirk vs. Picard"-style squabble."

Comment Re:What needs reform is.. (Score 4, Interesting) 93

by Sooner Boomer (#41295147) Attached to: The Fight To Reform Forensic Science

Too often the forensic office is friends with and/or pressured by the police or DA to get results.

More likely they are willing to do whatever they can to "fight crime". As an example, I give you the case of Joyce Gilcrist. From the Wilipedia entry

"Joyce Gilchrist is a former forensic chemist who had participated in over 3,000 criminal cases in 21 years while working for the Oklahoma City police department, and who was accused of falsifying evidence. Her evidence led in part to 23 people being sentenced to death, 11 of whom have been executed."

We'll never know how many of those 3000 were actually innocent, while the guilty walked free. She should have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder through depraved indifference, but that's just my opinion.

Comment The Register says exact opposite (Score 4, Informative) 385

On 30th August 2012 00:44 GMT, there was an article on The Register titled "Customers dumping Samsung phones in wake of Apple suit"

Apple CEO Tim Cook might be pleased with the verdict in his company's recent patent legislation against Samsung, but Samsung customers are definitely not, according to the market watchers at mobile phone trade-in firm Gazelle. "Consumers seem to be jumping ship," Anthony Scarsella, Gazelle's "chief gadget officer," told MarketWatch. "We expect this trend to continue, especially with this latest verdict." Scarsella says his company, which buys used mobile phones from consumers, has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of customers looking to unload Samsung kit since Monday alone. The sudden upsurge in supply has led Gazelle to drop the prices it pays for Samsung mobiles by 10 per cent.

So which is it? Buying or dumping?

Submission + - How to share pics, text, other files for mail list?

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "I'm a member of a long-running mail list. We recently migrated back to it from years-long trials with efforts involving google and yahoo groups. The legacy mail list does not allow the posting of binary files, so no pictures, PDFs, or similar files can be shared. The folks are not very tech savy, and don't want to download/install programs like what are needed for dropbox and other services. Other web free sites such as Photobucket are picture and video only. What other free solutions are there to allow the list members to share files, preferably with password protection to try to limit it to only the list members?"

Comment Something similar on Twitter (Score 2) 141

by Sooner Boomer (#40893013) Attached to: Australian Agency Rules Facebook Pages Responsible For Comments

People are using the anonymous cover of Twitter to hide behind and post abusive and hateful, even threatening messages. This was highlighted last week by the arrest of a young man in England who posted about Olympic diver Tom Daley. There are increasingly louder calls for Twitter to censor the messages. Excellent article examining recent problem related to the Olympics; http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/pressure-grows-on-twitter-to-curb-abusive-trolls-8007756.html
Medicine

Submission + - Dental cavaties a thing of the past? (geek.com)

Submitted by
Sooner Boomer
Sooner Boomer writes: "A scientest ib Chile has discovered a chemical that could keep us cavity-free, no matter how much sugary treats we eat. The chemical, KEEP 32, kills the bacteria, Streptococcus Mutans, that livew on our teeth, metabolizes the sugar, and produces acid (causing cavities). The inventors have a provisional patent on the molecule in the U.S. and are seeking funding to complete human trials for a period of 14 to 18 months, preparing a product for the market. "The molecule can not only be incorporated into a gum, but products like toothpastes, mouthwashes, toothpastes sheets, candies, dental night gel and other (products) who may be inside the mouth 60 seconds at least," said Erich Astudillo , CEO of Top Tech Innovations, a company that hosts this development. "In Chile we were seeking funding for two years and no one is interested in putting resources to R & D," he says. So he joined the Founder Institute (one of the largest incubators and business accelerators in the world) to better model the business and looking for capital in international networking. more at http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.df.cl%2Fcientificos-chilenos-patentan-molecula-que-elimina-las-caries%2Fprontus_df%2F2012-06-29%2F195432.html (Google translation)."

Comment Not the first... (Score 3, Informative) 75

by Sooner Boomer (#40471957) Attached to: New Manufacturing Technology Enables Vertical 3D Transistors

I don't believe this is actually the *first* fab process using vertical structures (having actually RTFA). I worked at Texas Instruments in the mid-80's and most of the ALS (Advanced Low power Schottky) devices were of vertical well construction (as opposed to planar process or lateral junction bipolar construction). Looks like the sizes are a lot smaller, and the ratio of depth to width is a lot higher (a lot more junctions stacked in one well).

Comment Re:They should be forced to release video (Score 1) 299

by Sooner Boomer (#40302643) Attached to: Police Using YouTube To Tell Their Own Stories

In case of a legal dispute, the police should be forced to release their video, as to provide the clearest possible picture of the case. They should not only release them when it suits them. Unfortunately, presumably incriminating police videos often end up "missing", with little or no consequences for the policemen.

This is called "discovery", and is part of the legal proceedings. The problem is that the authorities ("the police") have the power of a warrant which allows seizure, whereas the public in general only have the power of subpoena (give it to us, pretty please...).

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