Comment Re:Image Intensifier Astronomy. (Score 1) 43
For only $3000 or so? It's a steal. Looks awesome, but I think I'll be watching with the naked eye this weekend.
Comment Re:Stop whining... (Score 1) 347
Don't need to uninstall/reinstall. Just stop skype (well, it's probably already crashed if this is happening to you), delete the shared.xml, and restart it.
Gubernatorial Candidate Wants to Sell Speeding Passes for $25
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If Nevada gubernatorial candidate Eugene "Gino" DiSimone gets his way, $25 will buy you the right to drive up to 90mph for a day. DiSimone estimates his "free limit plan" will raise $1 billion a year for Nevada. From the article: "First, vehicles would have to pass a safety inspection. Then vehicle information would be loaded into a database, and motorists would purchase a transponder. After setting up an account, anyone in a hurry could dial in, and for $25 charged to a credit card, be free to speed for 24 hours."
Comment Geotagging isn't the problem (Score 1) 175
The real problem is that people are uploading their private photos to public places in the first place. It's already an invitation to crime, stalking, and government and business interference in private affairs. Why have people abandoned one of our most cherished rights so easily?
Sure, if you must upload pictures of you getting drunk or your new gadget at least strip the tags, but how about only sharing it with your friends using a more private method instead?
Comment Re:Steganography is not all that invisible (Score 1) 81
Works much better on natural camera images that already have some noise. At reasonably low bitrates it really is invisible.
Best Alternatives To the Big Name Social Media? 451
rueger writes "Over a couple of years I have actually found Facebook pretty useful and/or entertaining. It has certainly allowed me to stay connected with a lot of people with whom I otherwise would have lost track, and for all its weaknesses it was handy for sharing links and such. This week, though, the privacy escapades have pushed me (and a lot of other people) over the edge. If Twitter's 140 characters aren't enough, LinkedIn is too business-oriented, MySpace too ugly, and Buzz — does anyone even use Buzz? What social media options are out there for all of those non-uber-techy folks?"
A Wireless Hotspot For Your Car — Why Not? 135
nk497 writes "UK mobile operator 3 has unveiled a wireless hotspot for cars. It's essentially a repackaged version of their MiFi wireless router, which lets users create their own wireless hotspot using the 3G network. While drivers will hopefully steer away from using the web at the wheel, 3 predicts the mobile hotspot will let passengers entertain themselves as well as offer a hookup to email, music and traffic data."
What Free Antivirus Do You Install On Windows? 896
Techman83 writes "After years of changing between AVG Free + Avast, it's coming time to find a new free alternative for friends/relatives who run Windows. AVG and Avast have been quite good, but are starting to bloat out in size, and also becoming very misleading. Avast recently auto updated from 4.8 to 5 and now requires you to register (even for the free version) and both are making it harder to actually find the free version. Is this the end of reasonable free antivirus, or is there another product I can entrust to keep the 'my computer's doing weird things' calls to a minimum?"
The Arctic Is Leaking Methane 303
registerShift and other readers sent in news that the Arctic Ocean seabed is leaking methane. "...climate experts familiar with the new research reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science that even though it does not suggest imminent climate catastrophe, it is important because of methane's role as a greenhouse gas. Although carbon dioxide is far more abundant and persistent in the atmosphere, ton for ton atmospheric methane traps at least 25 times as much heat. ... [One scientist] estimated that annual methane emissions from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf total about seven teragrams. (A teragram is 1.1 million tons.) By some estimates, global methane emissions total about 500 teragrams a year. ...about 40 percent is natural, including the decomposition of organic materials in wetlands and frozen wetlands like permafrost."
Comment SCons (Score 1) 310
Come help work on SCons!
SCons is an Open Source software construction tool—that is, a next-generation build tool. Think of SCons as an improved, cross-platform substitute for the classic Make utility with integrated functionality similar to autoconf/automake and compiler caches such as ccache. In short, SCons is an easier, more reliable and faster way to build software.
It's under active development, and it's the best way to build C, C++, LaTeX, and lots of other types of projects. Build scripts are 100% python so you have the full power of a real language in your build. And... we need new developers to get to the next level! We have lots of ideas for ways to improve it. Come and take a few Easy-tagged tickets and implement them, you'll be amazed how easy it is to contribute. Plus we're friendly.
Dragging Telephone Numbers Into the Internet Age 239
azoblue writes with this teaser from Ars Technica, presenting a tempting suggestion for online consolidation: "E-mail, IM, Facebook, phones—what if all of these ways to reach you over a network could be condensed into a single, unique number? The ENUM proposal aims to do just that, by giving everyone a single phone number that maps to all of their identifiers. Here's how it works, and why it isn't already widely used."
Comment Re:Do not want. (Score 1) 199
Except... it's not at all close to paper. I've had a Kindle for a year and it's my main reading device, and the fact that the "paper" is about 30% gray, not even *close* to white, is the thing that bugs me the most. Of course the blacks are nowhere near as black as print either, so the overall contrast level is tiny compared to paper. I can easily read a paper book in light levels that are way too low to read my Kindle2. The main way it's "very close to paper" is that it's illuminated by ambient light.
(Not to say I don't love it -- the convenience factor is amazing.)
Microsoft, Other Rivals Slam Google Chrome OS 324
CWmike writes "Microsoft is, predictably, not all that impressed by Google Inc.'s demonstration of its upcoming Chrome OS. 'From what was shared, it appears to be in the early stages of development,' a Microsoft spokeswoman said. 'From our perspective, however, our customers are already voicing their approval of the way Windows 7 just works — across the Web and on the desktop, and on all sizes and types of PCs — purchasing twice as many units of Windows 7 as we've sold of any other operating system over a comparable time.' But neither were potential rivals who make Linux and instant-on operating systems. Chrome OS claimed 7-second boot times and the ability to run Web apps within another 3 seconds, which failed to impress Woody Hobbs, president and CEO of Phoenix Technologies, a long-time BIOS software maker that has re-invented itself with a Linux-based instant-on OS called HyperSpace. 'Instant-on is about being able to access your Internet applications in one second. Seven seconds is too long,' Hobbs said. 'There is no such thing as "cold boot" for today's mobile PCs such as netbooks and smartbooks. You should be able to use your netbook like you use your smartphone — a press of a button and you are "on."' Mark Lee, CEO of DeviceVM Inc., said Google's favoritism towards its own browser and Web apps could rub some users the wrong way, especially those outside of the US. 'In China, users prefer Baidu, not Google,' Lee said. DeviceVM's Splashtop platform boots into Firefox within seconds and uses Yahoo or Baidu as default search engines instead of Google."
Comment Re:I want to join in! (Score 1) 485
Interestingly, when Cyanogen (homebrew Android ROM maker) was C&D'ed by Google, someone wrote an app to support him (simple voting/contrib app). Of course since there's no approval process needed, it shot to the top of the popularity charts in no time.
Ted Dziuba Says, "I Don't Code In My Free Time" 619
theodp writes "When he gets some free time away from his gigs at startup Milo and The Register, you won't catch Ted Dziuba doing any recreational programming. And he wouldn't want to work for a company that doesn't hire those who don't code in their spare time. 'You know what's more awesome than spending my Saturday afternoon learning Haskell by hacking away at a few Project Euler problems?' asks Dziuba. 'F***, ANYTHING.'"
