doodzed - Slashdot User

Comment: no thanks (Score 1) 244

by doodzed on Thursday October 20, @10:10AM (#37775188) Attached to: Ubuntu Turns 7

I understand that people like ubuntu but it is not really helping linux. I upgraded my box to 11.04 over the past two days from a much older release and around 10.04 got hit with a bug because grub was not updated. This was a well known bug that was spotted in testing and never got fixed. It is not the first time something like this has happened. Frequently updates will bork settings or a function like sound. It has gotten so bad that a non-profit I help out at will not run any updates unless I am there.

Usually a google search and some command line will fix things but this is not how you spread linux. The ubuntu community really needs to get better about making sure that updates/upgrades work. They continue to do good hard work and it is a shame that the work is undermined by stupid bugs that are known but never fixed.

Snoop Dogg Joins the War On Cybercrime 164

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 01 2010, @05:22PM
from the scanning-fo-shizzle dept.

wiredmikey writes "Think you can bust out some silly fresh rhymes on the subjects of hacking, identity theft and computer viruses? In a somewhat untraditional partnership, Snoop Dogg and Symantec's Norton want you to show off your their lyrical skills on the subject of cybercrime and enter the 'Hack is Wack' cybercrime rap contest. If you have the skills and bust out the phattest rap, you'll receive round trip airfare for two to Los Angeles along with two days and two nights' hotel stay to meet with Snoop's management, learn more about his business. You'll also get two tickets to a Snoop Dogg concert and a new laptop pimped out with Norton Internet Security 2011."

Prices Slashed For Nook, Kindle E-Readers 255

Posted by kdawson on Monday June 21 2010, @07:02PM
from the free-falling dept.

b0bby sends in a report from ZDNet about the sudden outbreak of a price war in e-reader devices. "On Monday, Barnes & Noble cut the price of the 3G Nook to $199. It also launched a $149 Wi-Fi version. Just hours later, Amazon responded by cutting the price of the Kindle to $189. At $259, the price of the Kindle and Nook just 24 hours ago, an e-reader purchase competed with an Apple iPad, which started at $499 for a Wi-Fi version. Below $200, a dedicated e-reader purchase makes a lot more sense." Sony dropped prices for its readers three months ago, but the move didn't kick off a price war at that time. Some believe that dedicated e-readers are doomed in the long run to lose out to general-purpose devices such as the iPad — and its coming imitators, many of which will be based on Google Android.

An Early Look At What's Coming In PHP V6 307

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 06 2009, @01:22PM
from the press-harder-please dept.

IndioMan writes "In this article, learn about the new PHP V6 features in detail. Learn how it is easier to use, more secure, and more suitable for internationalization. New PHP V6 features include improved support for Unicode, clean-up of several functions, improved extensions, engine additions, changes to OO functions, and PHP additions." Update — May 7th at 16:47 GMT by SS: IBM seems to have removed the article linked in the summary. Here's a different yet related article about the future of PHP, but it's a year old.

The New ATT requiress cell contract for DSL

Submitted by

doodzed

on Tuesday May 08 2007, @12:20PM

doodzed writes "About one year ago I signed up for Bellsouth Wireless Broadband when I moved into a house in the coverage area. In my area this was WiMax at 2.6GHz and BellSouth supplied a Ripwave modem for $75. The service was never truly speedy and sometimes kind of laggy but for $40 it was not bad. Most importantly, there was no contract and no other purchase was necessary. Since the cable company around here is really bad (Charter,) I was satisfied.

About a month ago I got a letter from Bellsouth saying that as a condition of the merger, they were getting rid of some spectrum and I would be affected. I was told to call them up and switch to some other service. This is when it got interesting.

When I called the Wireless Broadband people, they said that of course they would have a buyback program for the hardware that was going to become worthless. They would give $20 back. That sucked, but maybe they would make it easier to get DSL?

I then got transferred from the capable hands of the Wireless Broadband group to the order line for all other Bellsouth products (888-757-6500.) When I inquired about "unbundled DSL" I was told that it was not available. A "technical" requirement for Bellsouth DSL in my area was either a landline or a Cingular account. I asked for a supervisor and was promptly put through to Ms. B. She again repeated that DSL is only available with a landline or Cingular. Naked DSL is available in 5 cities (including Charleston) but it is not available in my area. I then asked for a policy or fax detailing this policy. I waited on the phone for fifteen minutes. She was pleasant and made sure that I knew she was still on the phone and looking, but in the end she was not able to provide anything written about this "technical" requirement.

So now I am counting down the days till my internet is switched off. I am stuck with at least a $55 loss on my hardware (about $5 per month of service). I can either pay an extra $15+taxes on a phone line I do not need or spend money on a cellular contract and hardware that I do not want. The ironic thing is I was planning on purchasing an iPhone in July and dumping Sprint. This is making me think twice.

Is there anything I can do? Is there any way a cell phone contract can be required for DSL? In the future will they require TV service from them to order DSL?

Don't believe me? Call 888-757-6500 and ask them what the technical requirements are for DSL. Just be nice. There is a person on the other end of the connection."