Comment: Re:The next step is WiFi calling (Score 2) 102
Most T-Mobile android phones have wifi calling built into them. great for calling when outside the US and not paying roaming fee's.
Comment: Re:I don't get it... (Score 1) 190
I believe the contract includes nonrecurring engineering costs. Basically the engineering time to meet NASA requirements for docking to the station that wouldn't have been there just to launch into orbit. SpaceX's website puts per launch costs at around $45-50 million.
Comment: Re:Pico (Score 2, Informative) 74
Picosatellite is just a general classification in the satellite community of 1kg. "Small" satellites are anything from 500kg down. Notice it's not Pico- kg but pico-satellite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_satellite
Comment: Re:Looking forward to more inflammatory articles (Score 3, Interesting) 174
Maybe because VOIP has NEVER BEEN A GOOD 911 OPTION.
What happens when the power goes out?
My UPS kicks in supporting the modem, the VOIP router and the phone.
What happens when the internet goes out?
I assume you mean when your internet connection goes out. I've got DSL and I've had it go out once in three years and that was during a pretty nasty storm. I'm pretty sure the phone was out also though I had no way of checking. So as long as the phone system works my DSL and VOIP are probably up.
What happens when...
The list goes on and on and on and on which is why if you're really concerned about 911 you should have at least one land line phone plugged into an outlet. Why? Because the FBI doesn't need to worry about VOIP service. You should have a 911 phone available.
Why should I be forced to subsidize an out of date POTS when I don't use it? Maybe we should all be forced to buy and maintain emergency radios so we can call first responders when the phone system goes out.
If 911 was REALLY a problem then Comcast shouldn't be able to cut anyone's internet access... ever.
Because the phone company has never disconnected anyone before either.
+ - Google and X Prize Sponsor Moon Race->
Submitted
by
katicli
katicli writes "Google and X Space have offered a prize to whoever can successfully get to the moon, land a rover, and beam a gigabyte of data. The rover must drive over a thousand feet. The team who sends the rover is completely responsible for designing and building the rover and lander and procuring their own launch vehicle. The purse is divided as follows: 20 million to whoever can do it before 2012, 5 million for second place, and 5 million for exceeding the minimum requirements. If nobody makes the 2012 deadline the purse drops to 15 million until 2014 when the contest expires.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_hi_te/google_moon_prize"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Google back private Moon landings->
Submitted
by
ThatGuyPat
ThatGuyPat writes ""Search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon. Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night." BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6993373.stm
This article and prize through the X-Prize Foundation makes me wonder — is it better to have governments landing on the moon (and other planets) or companies? Which would make for a more hectic landgrab?"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Google to offer $20 million prize for moon mission->
Submitted
by
gravis777
gravis777 writes "http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296716,00.html is reporting that Google is offering a $20 million prize for the first private company to land a robotic rover on the moon and transmit back a gigabyte of data and video"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Google's $30,000,000 Lunar X PRIZE-> 1
Submitted
by
chroma
chroma writes "It's been a long time since anyone has explored the surface of the moon. But now Google has teamed up with the X PRIZE Foundation to offer a $30,000,000 bounty to the first privately funded organization to land a robotic rover on the moon. Google, of course, has offered the free Google Moon mapping service for a few years now. Looks like the other search engines have some catching up to do in the space exploration department."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - FAQ: How Real ID will affect you->
Submitted
by
schmaustech
schmaustech writes "Big brother is watching you even more now."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Diebold rebrands what noone wants.
Submitted
by
Irvu
Irvu writes "Diebold has apparently failed in their bid to sell their tainted elections systems unit. Unable to find a buyer the CEO of Diebold promised that the system will be run more "openly and independently." To prove that they are serious, they renamed it. Diebold Election Systems is now Premiere Election Solutions. They still sell GEMS, AccuVote OS and the ever-unpopular AccuVote-TSX which performed so disastrously in California's Top-to-Bottom Review under the same names. Apparently their rebranding effort only goes so far."
+ - Another example of RIAA legal incompetence
Submitted
by
UnknowingFool
UnknowingFool writes "In another move of legal brillance, the RIAA asked for a default judgement on January 25th in the case of Atlantic vs Boggs "on the ground that Defendant has failed to appear or otherwise respond to the Complaint . . ." The court denied the motion because the defendant did appear before the court a month earlier on December 20. What makes the motion appear so boneheaded is that not that the RIAA lawyers seemingly forgot that the defendant appeared, it is that defendant, representing himself at the time, appeared in person before the court while the RIAA phoned in, a move that the court admonished. The transcript seems to show that judge is sympathetic to the defendant in the case.
"The Court: You're not here looking at Mr. Boggs, but I doubt seriously he's doing this. . . these titles don't seem to go along with Mr. Boggs persona."
+ - France bans blogs from reporting violence
Submitted
by
Picass0
Picass0 writes "According to Yahoo News the French Constitutional Council has approved a law that would criminalize filming or broadcasting acts of violence by anyone other than a journalist. "The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law... ...exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday on the night of March 3, 1991." The French government has also proposed a certification system for Web sites, blog hosters, etc..."
+ - Best Buy Confirms 'secret' Website
Submitted
by
Iberian
Iberian writes "Courant.com confirms Best Buy does indeed maintain a second website for what one could only assume is for fraudulent purposes.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com."
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com."
+ - 3D Realms finally shows off Duke!...well a little!
Submitted
by
LatexBendyMan
LatexBendyMan writes "http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=249 63
This link takes you to the screenshot thread for the Duke Nukem Forever screenshot that was posted by 3drealms on a job website. George Brussard confirmed that this is indeed a in-game screenshot of the game and if you read through the entire thread you'll see talk from 3drealms about opening the floodgates. More pics maybe!?"
+ - This is what happens when you don't RTFA
Submitted
by
SQLGuru
SQLGuru writes "http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070124/sc_nm/germs_sp onges_dc_3
People who read the article the other day that talked about how 2 minutes in the microwave would kill 99% of the bacteria on the sponge were complaining that they tried it and it ruined their microwave. Apparently, reading the whole article should have clued them in that the sponge needed to be wet. It isn't just Slashdot where people don't RTFA."
People who read the article the other day that talked about how 2 minutes in the microwave would kill 99% of the bacteria on the sponge were complaining that they tried it and it ruined their microwave. Apparently, reading the whole article should have clued them in that the sponge needed to be wet. It isn't just Slashdot where people don't RTFA."