Mantic - Slashdot User

AT&T Says Net Rules Must Allow 'Paid Prioritization' 390

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday September 01 2010, @09:50AM
from the also-grilled-cheese dept.

suraj.sun writes "AT&T said Tuesday that any Net neutrality plan restricting its ability to engage in 'paid prioritization' of network traffic would be harmful and contrary to the fundamental principles of the Internet."

Google Reported Ready To Leave China April 10 176

Posted by kdawson on Friday March 19 2010, @12:33PM
from the so-he-says dept.

A number of readers including tsj5j and bruleriestdenis wrote to alert us to this CNET story: "Google is expected to announce on Monday that it will withdraw from China on April 10, according to a report in a Beijing-based newspaper that cited an unidentified sales associate who works with the company. 'I have received information saying that Google will leave China on April 10, but this information has not at present been confirmed by Google,' the China Business News quoted the agent as saying. The report also said Google would reveal its plans for its China-based staff that day."

Health Insurance When Leaving the Corporate World? 1197

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 22 2010, @12:44PM
from the hey-that-could-be-useful dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I've been working at a large company since I got out of college, so I didn't have to give much thought to getting my own healthcare plan. Now I'm thinking about leaving the corporate world and starting out on my own. I have a family now, so I need to make sure we're going to be covered should anything happen. Researching online turns up horror stories of people trying to get individual healthcare plans, or getting denied coverage on plans they thought they had. Does anyone else have experience going through this and what you've had to deal with, or am I making too big a deal of it?"

Comment: Re:Try Webfaction. Here's why: (Score 5, Insightful) 456

by Mantic on Monday February 22 2010, @01:29AM (#31226216) Attached to: Things To Look For In a Web Hosting Company?

That wasn't a review in some non-biased comparison between multiple hosts. It's my biased opinion.

I'm not a professional critic trying to be as non-biased as possible. I rather like Webfaction and think it's worth a shot. If you shared something really cool that I ended up purchasing, I wouldn't hesitate to give you credit. That's what the whole referral business is for.

A snake-oil thing to do would be if I tried to trick people into clicking the link. Instead, I offered the referral option AFTER posting a direct link to their site.

"I mean, if you don't sell me on their service, I'm not going to give you your referral bonus." Exactly, hence my disclaimer "If you DO decide to join, don't be afraid to use me as your referrer." Besides, I believe the bonus is only for those who register an account. Clicking does nothing for me.

Anyway, thanks for your honesty!

Comment: Try Webfaction. Here's why: (Score 2, Interesting) 456

by Mantic on Sunday February 21 2010, @10:53PM (#31225010) Attached to: Things To Look For In a Web Hosting Company?

I have been VERY pleased with Webfaction. They are basically a bunch of geeks that make web hosting a pleasure for other geeks. Their servers have all the latest tools, dev packages, and they have an automated application install for over 20 different applications (PHP, Ruby, Python, etc etc). Their support system is fast and competent, and I've learned a ton on their community forums.

If they don't have a particular app that you want, it's not that difficult to download and install it yourself.

http://www.webfaction.com/

If you DO decide to join, don't be afraid to use me as your referrer: http://www.webfaction.com?affiliate=mantic

Microsoft Facing Class-Action Suit Over Xbox Live Points 107

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 27 2010, @04:45AM
from the demo-suit-is-free dept.

An anonymous reader tips news that a lawyer in Pennsylvania has filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that the company's handling of Xbox Live transactions is, in some cases, fraudulent. "Samuel Lassoff, of Horsham, PA, said an invoice he received earlier this month from Microsoft included charges for purchases he couldn't complete due to a balky download system — and he claimed it wasn't an accident. Microsoft 'engaged in a scheme to unjustly enrich itself through their fraudulent handling' of his account, Lassoff charged in papers filed earlier this week in US District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania. ... 'Microsoft breached that contract by collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided,' Lassoff said in his lawsuit."

Sitting Down Too Long Is Bad Even If You Exercise 376

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday January 20 2010, @06:02AM
from the get-a-move-on dept.

Ant tips the week-old news that sitting down too much is not good for you, even if you are otherwise fit. A blog at the LA Times reports a followup from Swedish exercise experts: they propose "establishing a new way of thinking about sedentary behavior. They suggest abolishing 'sedentary behavior' as a synonym for not exercising. Instead, sedentary time should be defined as 'muscular inactivity' to distinguish it from not doing any exercise at all." These experts warn that the excessively sedentary are running serious health risks, irrespective of how much exercise they get when they're not plonked behind a desk or lying on a sofa.

Organ Damage In Rats From Monsanto GMO Corn 766

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday January 13 2010, @09:16AM
from the ditch-the-high-fructose-corn-syrup dept.

jenningsthecat writes "A study published in December 2009 in the International Journal of Biological Sciences found that three varieties of Monsanto genetically-modified corn caused damage to the liver, kidneys, and other organs of rats. One of the corn varieties was designed to tolerate broad-spectrum herbicides, (so-called 'Roundup-ready' corn), while the other two contain bacteria-derived proteins that have insecticide properties. The study made use of Monsanto's own raw data. Quoting from the study's 'Conclusions' section: 'Our analysis highlights that the kidneys and liver as particularly important on which to focus such research as there was a clear negative impact on the function of these organs in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.' Given the very high prevalence of corn in processed foods, this could be a real ticking time bomb. And with food manufacturers not being required by law to declare GMO content, I think I'll do my best to avoid corn altogether. Pass the puffed rice and pour me a glass of fizzy water!"

Antarctic's first plane found in ice-> 0

Submitted by Arvisp on Tuesday January 05 2010, @08:09AM

Arvisp writes "In 1912 Australian explorer Douglas Mawson planned to fly over the southern pole. His lost plane has now been found. The plane – the first off the Vickers production line in Britain – was built in 1911, only eight years after the Wright brothers executed the first powered flight.
For the past three years, a team of Australian explorers has been engaged in a fruitless search for the aircraft, last seen in 1975. Then on Friday, a carpenter with the team, Mark Farrell, struck gold: wandering along the icy shore near the team's camp, he noticed large fragments of metal sitting among the rocks, just a few inches beneath the water."
Link to Original Source

HDD Manufacturers Moving To 4096-Byte Sectors 442

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 28 2009, @11:30AM
from the zomg-the-world-will-collapse dept.

Luminous Coward writes "As previously discussed on Slashdot, according to AnandTech and The Tech Report, hard disk drive manufacturers are now ready to bump the size of the disk sector from 512 to 4096 bytes, in order to minimize storage lost to ECC and sync. This may not be a smooth transition, because some OSes do not align partitions on 4K boundaries."