Lord Byron II - Slashdot User

Touchscreen device for the elderly? 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Thursday November 03 2011, @11:52PM

Lord Byron II writes "My grandma is in her 80's, is bed-ridden, in a nursing home, and is basically reaching the end of her life. Her legs are weak, meaning that she is confined to her bed, and her hearing is pretty much gone. Her sight is good and her mental facilities are still there, but even so, she spends most of her days just watching daytime TV, like the Price is Right and talk shows. The family has tasked me with finding her an easy-to-use, not overly expensive device that would mentally challenge her. Ideally, I would like to get something iPad like so that she could play card games and such. But the Internet connectivity and advanced features are completely unnecessary. Is there a simple device that will let her easily play some games?"

What do you sleep on? 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Monday September 27 2010, @12:59PM

Lord Byron II writes "We spend roughly a third of lives asleep and the majority of us spend it on a mattress that is heavy, takes up a large amount of space, filthy (including mites and bed bugs), and leaves many of us feeling sub-optimal in the morning. Where do you sleep? Star Wars sleeping bag? Murphy bed? Foam mattress? What geeky solutions are there to getting a good night's sleep?"

Netflix Watch Now Available for the Wii-> 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Monday April 12 2010, @10:15AM

Lord Byron II writes "As of today, all Netflix customers who ordered a movie streaming disc for the Wii will be sent one. Still, only standard definition is available, but apparently the earlier beta test went well. You can order a disc or, if you've already ordered one, the same link will tell you the status of your disc."
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Dell: Linux netbook returns are a "non-issue&# 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Friday August 14 2009, @01:16AM

Lord Byron II writes "First, Microsoft said that Linux netbook returns were four times higher than Windows netbook returns. Then, Asus said that they were "on par". Now, Dell has weighed in saying "the number of Linux returns are approximately the same as those for Windows netbooks"."

Fixing Hubble Easier than Watching a DVD-> 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Saturday May 23 2009, @08:25AM

Lord Byron II writes "Astronauts were able to perform the repair job on Hubble in only a few days, but playing a DVD was too difficult. Once in space, the crew of Atlantis discovered that their laptops did not have the proper playback software and Mission Control was unable to assist. There's no word if they were simply unsure of which region code they were supposed to use while in orbit."
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Original Sierra games available through a browser-> 0

Submitted by Lord Byron II on Friday April 24 2009, @07:52PM

Lord Byron II writes "Like Quake III and Zork, Sarien.net has converted and made available many of the earlier Sierra adventure games. Currently, Space Quest, Police Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry are playable. More are on the way. They are Javascript based and require no Flash."
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How to detect malware on a Windows pc? 0

Submitted by

Lord Byron II

on Wednesday November 12 2008, @06:17PM

Lord Byron II writes "Although I almost exclusively use Linux on all of my computers, I keep an XP install on my laptop for those rare times when I need to run something Windows-only. Recently, a yellow exclamation mark icon has been showing up in the system tray. If I click on it, it disappears. I saw a machine about a year ago that was infected with adware and presented with the same icon, only in that case, if you clicked on it, you got an ad for a fake anti-spyware program. Both that computer and mine showed no infection according to Ad-Aware, Microsoft's Malicious Software tool, TrendMicro AV, and ClamAV.

Considering the number of hacked machines out there sending spam, participating in botnets, eavesdropping for credit card numbers, et cetera, and considering that (in my experience, at least) most AV programs tend to be ineffective in detecting these threats, how can a Windows user definitively determine if their machine has been compromised or not?"

Free Unbox Videos DRM-Free, Courtesy of Adobe 0

Submitted by

Lord Byron II

on Friday September 26 2008, @09:15PM

Lord Byron II writes "Apparently the latest version of Flash has a major flaw which allows the wholesale downloading and copying of any video that Amazon offers through their Unbox service. The worst (best?) part is that the videos are DRM free. It seems that Amazon and Adobe need to coordinate a little before they give away any more movies for free."

Court Finds That Dell Deceived Customers-> 0

Submitted by

Lord Byron II

on Wednesday May 28 2008, @09:47AM

Lord Byron II writes "A New York state judge has ruled that Dell deceived customers by promising low financing rates at the time of sale. When the customer would get their first bill, it would be at a much higher rate than promised. He also found that Dell failed to provide the promised level of tech support and warranty repairs."
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Kmart Drops Blu-Ray Players-> 0

Submitted by

Lord Byron II

on Thursday November 01 2007, @05:41PM

Lord Byron II writes "K-mart has decided to stop selling Blu-Ray players in their stores, primarily because of the high cost of Blu-Ray compared to HD-DVD (now under $200). They will continue to sell the PS3 for the time being. Will lower prices speed the adoption of HD-DVD in the upcoming holiday shopping season?"
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