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Comment: "something like"=/=real thing. technology missing (Score 4, Insightful) 425

by wouterteepe on Wednesday November 07, 2007 @10:59AM (#21267795) Attached to: Apple's "Time Machine" Now For Linux... Sort Of

Claiming to have created a backuptool "inspired on" time machine obliges one to give some more documentation than... ehm... none. A few things I know about time machine, which are not trivial: Every backup in TM is a fully consistend directory tree for which no special software is needed to consult it. Disk space is saved by using hardlinks on the filesystem in a very delicate way, including hardlinks to directories (!!!). As a result, one can very selectively delete backups without corrupting anything. (e.g., you don't want to know the state 11 am, but do want to know the states at 10 pm and 12 pm? easy facilitated without any special software). TM uses a special feature in Leopard to keep track of modified files and directories, in such a way that TM itself does not have to scan for modified files, but is informed by the OS of modified files. This notification does not even require a deamon process. Now I do believe one can wrap together something which does backups. But standard unix/linux tools don't offer the above facilities - AFAIK. And rsync certainly does not facilitate multiple hardlinks to a directory to be made. Therefore, this shameless plug probably does not offer something similar to time machine. Unless the author also claims that a Trabant is something like a Ferrari.

Week of November 5, 2007

Week of July 16, 2007

+ - Google limits lifespan of cookies 0

Submitted by wouterteepe on Tuesday July 17, 2007 @02:13PM

wouterteepe (923706) writes "Google's preference cookies used to last a dazzling 31 years. In a move to please privacy advocacies, they have decided to reduce this to only 2 year. To let your cookie expire, you do have to keep away from google for only 2 years... Of course, all the other issues about Google and privacy are unaffected by this."

Week of July 16, 2007

Week of March 26, 2007

Google Launches Free Wireless Broadband 116

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday April 01, 2007 @08:58AM
from the cheap-at-twice-the-price dept.

SlashRating^©
600673
slashdottit! ^tm

Ashish Kulkarni writes "Google has just announced the launch of Google TiSP (BETA)(TM), a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users' plumbing systems. All the dark fibre that google has supposedly laid out is now fully operational! Check out the description of how it works."

Nvidia To Recall Every 8800 GTX/GTS Card 134

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 01, 2007 @02:43AM
from the cardtastrophie dept.

SlashRating^©
42
slashdottit! ^tm

Bill Stubbs writes "NVIDIA has admitted to a killer bug in all GeForce 8800GTX/GTS cards, and will recall all affected cards and replace them. 'An NVIDIA engineer, who wishes to remain anonymous, has just clued us in on the whole deal. This engineer claims that while allegations of poor gaming performance are correct, the reason is not really poor drivers. Brace yourself for the truth: Right after the G80 was taped out, NVIDIA discovered a bug in the vertex shader that causes the GPU to generate slightly incorrect geometry transformation data. The difference was minimal enough to escape attention but it was significant enough to render a scene incorrectly.' The article also links to a secret website which will allow gamers to purchase Nvidia cards at cost."

How To Properly Archive Data On Disc Media 120

Posted by Zonk on Saturday March 31, 2007 @04:48PM
from the yay-data dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Patrick McFarland, the well-known Free Software Magazine author, goes into great detail on CD/DVD media over at the Ad Terras Per Aspera site. McFarland covers the history of the media, from CDs through recordable DVDs, explaining the various formats and their strengths and drawbacks. The heart of the article is an essay on the DVD-R vs. DVD+R recording standards, leading to McFarland's recommendation for which media he buys for archival storage. Spoiler: it's Taiyo Yuden DVD+R all the way. From the article: 'Unlike pressed CDs/DVDs, burnt CDs/DVDs can eventually fade, due to five things that affect the quality of CD media: sealing method, reflective layer, organic dye makeup, where it was manufactured, and your storage practices (please keep all media out of direct sunlight, in a nice cool dry dark place, in acid-free plastic containers; this will triple the lifetime of any media).'"

48% of Americans Reject Evolution 1856

Posted by Zonk on Saturday March 31, 2007 @03:32PM
from the we-need-just-a-touch-stronger-educational-standards- dept.

MSNBC has up an article discussing the results of a Newsweek poll on faith and religion among members of the US populace. Given the straightforward question, 'Is evolution well-supported by evidence and widely accepted within the scientific community?', some 48% of Americans said 'No'. Furthermore, 34% of college graduates said they accept the Biblical story of creation as fact. An alarmingly high number of individuals responded that they believe the earth is only 10,000 years old, and that a deity created our species in its present form at the start of that period.