david_g17 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:A solid milestone... (Score 1) 166

by david_g17 on Monday June 25, 2007 @09:17AM (#19634683) Attached to: First Quantum Computing Gate on a Chip

What is a quantum computer good for, anyway? So far all I've seen is cracking encryption and other stuff involving gigantic calculations. Is there anything in the mainstream market it'd be useful for, like sound/video processing?

<insert random vista joke>

Submission + - Why Windows Vista isn't ready for geeks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22, 2007 @11:57AM

An anonymous reader writes: The boys over at Short-Media have a pretty convincing write up about Vista. They are advocating that all geeks stay away from the new MS operating system. "Games wouldn't run, applications wouldn't install, and a slew of Vista options could not be disabled even if it would've helped the PC's performance or my sanity; it all just went to hell." They also try to cut out some of the Vista's bloat by going over all the services and disabling the ones that are unnecessary. They were able to get their system from 42 Processes, 607MB paged and 532MB of RAM used to a lowly 29 processes, 368MB paged and 400MB memory usage; an accomplishment any true geek would recognize.

Submission + - Dungons & Dragons & IT - Why we crave boun

Submitted by

boyko.at.netqos

on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @04:14PM

boyko.at.netqos writes: "An editorial in Network Performance Daily tries to take a (1d6) stab at explaining why geeky engineering types are also typically the types that enjoy a rousing game of D&D. "The greatest barrier to creativity is a lack of boundaries. Counter-intuitive — almost zen-like — but we've found it to be true. And this is why people play Dungeons & Dragons (and similar games), and why network engineers often spend time putting out fires when they could be improving the network... Have you ever noticed that, in your job as a network engineer, you spend quite a lot of it putting out fires, as opposed to starting new initiatives? Those network emergencies are obstacles. You have defined parameters and you must overcome the obstacle. Engineers trained to find the best solutions to problems usually feel most in their element when solving a problem!"

How to Turn A Music Lover to Piracy 521

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @02:52PM from the self-defeating-drm dept.

dugn writes to tell us The Consumerist is running a story about how a run of the mill (read non-tech-savvy) music lover was pushed to become a pirate. "I've devoted a not-inconsequential chunk of my life to collecting music; to tracking down obscure records, cassettes, 8-Tracks and CD's of all genres and styles. And now apparently that is all but over. Music has somehow evolved from tangible things into amorphous collections of 1's and 0's guarded over by interested parties as if they were gold bullion. How so very sad."

Submission + - RIAA Adds More Colleges to Hit List

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:44PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA has sent 405 more blackmail letters, adding to its hitlist an additional 23 universities, including Boston University (50 pre-litigation settlement letters), Columbia University (20), Dartmouth College (11), DePaul University (18), Drexel University (20), Ferris State University (17), Ithaca College(20), Purdue University (38), University of California — Berkeley (19), University of California — Los Angeles (21), University of California — Santa Cruz (17), University of Maine system (27), University of Nebraska — Lincoln (25), University of Wisconsin system (66, including the following individual campuses: Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee, Parkside, Platteville, Stevens Point, Stout, and Whitewater), Vanderbilt University (20), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (16). This follows on the heels of the offensive it launched last month targeting 400 students at 13 institutions."

Submission + - Groklaw-IBM Connection Reported

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:15PM

An anonymous reader writes: InformationWeek is reporting that the University of North Carolina's ibiblio project provides free Web hosting services to Groklaw and that ibiblio is funded in part by grants from IBM. The source of the story is Paul Jones, director of ibiblio, who's no relation to Groklaw founder Pamela Jones (aka "PJ"). Of course, this will lead to charges that Groklaw is biased and less than independent. But isn't that a tempest in a teapot? What can hosting services for a small-to-mid-sized site like Groklaw be worth, anyway? Not more than a few hundred dollars a month.

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