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Comment: Not a great weapon (Score 2) 273

by MjDelves (#38447020) Attached to: US Asks Scientists To Censor Reports To Prevent Terrorism
Umm. Is it just me, but even ignorant terrorists must be able to work out that creating and releasing a highly transmissible lethal flu virus is a bit stupid. Judging by most recent flu pandemics, they travel everywhere, not just the country/people/religion you hate. Not very targeted. How about a nuke instead?

Comment: Profound idea? No pointless. (Score 1) 126

by MjDelves (#37467774) Attached to: Augmented Reality's Disruptive Potential
Why bother making a "virtual" store that is only accessible at one physical location?? The whole point of the internet is that you can access it anywhere. Surely it makes more business sense to make barcode scanning app so that someone can walk into any store, scan the item that they are interested in and either be given a list of online stores to buy it from at a cheaper price or a list of recommended alternatives based upon their tastes?

Comment: Finally! (Score 2) 247

by MjDelves (#37420132) Attached to: British Schoolkids To Be Taught Computer Coding
When I started secondary school in the early 90's we had BBC Basics in our ICT suite. By the time I left we had PCs. They upgraded the computers but forgot to upgrade the teachers. Our ICT lessons consisted of training the teacher how to make text italic, how to enter data into a spreadsheet or (more frequently) how to mute the sound if he had a hangover. As a consequence none of us bothered to take ICT GCSE.
XBox (Games)

What To Do With a Free Xbox 360 Pro? 416

Posted by samzenpus
from the donate-it-to-me dept.
OzPeter writes "Last week I won an Xbox 360 Pro. However, I am not a gamer, and after looking at the current MS offerings, I am not tempted to become one. But I am in the market for a Media Center PC that I can use for streaming TV shows off the 'net as well as general web browsing and displaying video through the HDMI port. With that in mind, I again looked at MS and saw they seemed to have positioned the Xbox as an adjunct to a separate Windows Media Center PC and not as a stand alone unit (which is not what I want). So, once again, I did some more research into the Xbox homebrew scene and discovered things like Xbox Linux. But after reading that site, it is apparent that MS is trying to beat down the homebrewers, and I am left wondering how much hassle it would be to go down that path. So my question is: how should I re-purpose my Xbox? Is it worthwhile doing the Homebrew/Linux option (and can anyone share any experiences)? Are there other ways of re-purposing the device that I haven't considered? Or should I just keep it boxed up as a Christmas present for a favorite nephew?"

Comment: Re:Killing is so 1940's (Score 2, Insightful) 360

by MjDelves (#29513381) Attached to: Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed

Mutate it to bring forth a strain which is tasty, and make those genes dominant. In 50 years time the goats will come around. Alternatively mutate goats to have no sense of taste.

..... but then it won't spread so fast cos it's busy being eaten, and so unmutated strain will outcompete it leaving you back at square one.... Anything that is so undiscriminating about what it eats will probably eat everything else, posing another problem.

Comment: Re:Will this help? (Score 5, Informative) 259

by MjDelves (#27948611) Attached to: Gates Foundation Funds "Altruistic Vaccine"
Well actually yes this strategy is very sensible. I think you're not quite understanding the research. The vaccine doesn't stop you being bitten by mosquitoes, but would be designed to stop the virus infecting the mosquitoes. This breaks the cycle of infection and prevents many other people being infected. Yes that's little consolation for you, but in the long run, less people being infected does have a direct benefit for you.
Transportation

Snakes on a Quantas Plane!->

Submitted by Timberwolf0122
Timberwolf0122 writes "An Australian airliner was grounded after four baby pythons escaped from their container in the aircraft's hold.
The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson's pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne.
At first it was thought the reptiles may have been eaten by the other snakes, but this was discounted after they were weighed on landing.
Mace Windu was unavailable for comment on account of him having enough of snakes on a Mother f'ng planes."

Link to Original Source
Businesses

Inside Factory China 135

Posted by kdawson
from the making-it dept.
blackbearnh writes "While China is attempting to pull its industry up out of mere manufacturing mode, for now the country is the production workhorse of the consumer electronics industry. Almost anything you pick up at a Best Buy first breathed life across the Pacific Ocean. But what is it like to shepherd a product through the design and production process? Andrew 'bunnie' Huang has done just that with the Chumby, a new Internet appliance. In an interview with O'Reilly Radar, he talks about the logistical and moral issues involved with manufacturing in China, as well as his take on the consumer's right to hack the hardware they purchase."
Microsoft

Microsoft To Open Retail Stores 535

Posted by kdawson
from the world-class-shopping-experience dept.
chaz373 writes "CNET reports that Microsoft is going retail. In the 'Beyond Binary' blog Ina Fried reports, 'After years of brushing off the notion, Microsoft said on Thursday that it will open up its own line of retail stores. Without detailing the plans, Microsoft said it has hired David Porter, a 25-year Wal-Mart veteran, to lead the effort. Sources say that Porter's mission will be to develop the company's retail plans and that the effort is likely to start small with just a few locations.'"

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