druuna - Slashdot User

Home-Built Turing Machine 123

Posted by Soulskill on Friday March 26, 2010 @01:31PM from the i'll-order-a-dozen dept.

stronghawk writes "The creator of the Nickel-O-Matic is back at it and has now built a Turing Machine from a Parallax Propeller chip-based controller, motors, a dry-erase marker and a non-infinite supply of shiny 35mm leader film. From his FAQ: 'While thinking about Turing machines I found that no one had ever actually built one, at least not one that looked like Turing's original concept (if someone does know of one, please let me know). There have been a few other physical Turing machines like the Logo of Doom, but none were immediately recognizable as Turing machines. As I am always looking for a new challenge, I set out to build what you see here.'"

Google Makes Apps Script Available To All 61

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday March 14, 2010 @10:49AM from the come-one-come-all dept.

theodp writes "Formerly only available to Apps Users, Google has made Apps Script available to everyone (sample script), including you Google Docs low-lifers. Apps Script lets you automate actions across spreadsheets, sites, calendars, and other Google services. No spamming, kids!"

Comment Re:Sacrificing privacy for games? (Score 1) 336

by druuna on Friday February 19, 2010 @02:58PM (#31202294) Attached to: Valve's Battle Against Cheaters

> I asked you to post your favorite (commonly known) game/sport to play or watch and you failed miserably at it.

Yes, I ignored it 'cause it had nothing to do with the point I was trying to make.

And it looks like I failed to make you understand my point. Not once but twice. Well, that's too bad.

Comment Re:Sacrificing privacy for games? (Score 1) 336

by druuna on Friday February 19, 2010 @06:16AM (#31197264) Attached to: Valve's Battle Against Cheaters

> This is not about game options are in using in game mecanics to get an advantage.
> This is about preventing third party software...

I'm not talking about in game options alone, I'm talking about all the possible things one can do to improve (cheat if you will) your edge.

Everybody can install third party software (be it legal to the game or not), which makes the level playing field argument none-sense.

This is about sacrificing privacy for games, which is a bad thing. Humans will always try to cheat/find the edge, it is in their nature.

Comment Re:Sacrificing privacy for games? (Score 1) 336

by druuna on Friday February 19, 2010 @04:59AM (#31196838) Attached to: Valve's Battle Against Cheaters

> are you serious?

Yes I am serious, actually I'm superserious.

The "level playing field" argument the article talks about is BS. If anybody can use some option (be it morally good or bad!!!) the playing field _is_ level.

So, yes, sacrificing privacy for a so called level playing field is stupendous to say the least.

Comment Sacrificing privacy for games? (Score 1) 336

by druuna on Friday February 19, 2010 @04:25AM (#31196658) Attached to: Valve's Battle Against Cheaters

> How much privacy are you willing to sacrifice in the interests of a level playing field?

None whatsoever! We are talking about effing games here!

And like someone else already mentioned: This "option" can be used by everybody, hence the playing field _is_ level.

Comment Re:Do we care? (Score 1) 149

by druuna on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @11:34AM (#30458172) Attached to: Dying Star Mimics Our Sun's Death

Mmmmm..... there's always a smarter fish in the ocean..... I stand corrected!

Comment Re:Do we care? (Score 1) 149

by druuna on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @11:06AM (#30457742) Attached to: Dying Star Mimics Our Sun's Death

I beg to differ.... If humans destroy the ozone layer, everything living dies and a bare rock going approximately 107278.87 km/h is all that is left.

Comment Re:too funny (Score 0) 219

by druuna on Sunday December 13, 2009 @07:07PM (#30425974) Attached to: Facebook Founder's Pictures Go Public

You are not all that public..... I see this when I use the link you gave: Sign up for Facebook to connect with Lisa K LaForest Schreiner.

Submission + - Poor Usability of Slashdot

Submitted by Spartacus-Austin on Sunday October 18, 2009 @03:48PM

Spartacus-Austin writes: How about doing a story on the poor usability of Slashdot?

First, if a user has a question who does he/she contact? There is no "Contact Us" on Slashdot.

Second, is it possible to set a view in Slashdot where I do not have to click a hundred times if I want to see every comment in a story? I want to see a "chronological expanded" view. Just show me each comment in full in the order it was entered with multiple pages if there are extensive comments. Doesn't that seem like the simplest and best way to view a discussion?

It seems like the engineers who created Slashdot over engineered the system and totally fracked up the usability in the process.

Submission + - openbsd 4.6 released

Submitted by

pgilman

on Sunday October 18, 2009 @02:53PM

pgilman writes: "the release of openbsd 4.6 was announced today. highlights of the new release include a new privilege-separated smtpd, numerous improvements to packet filtering, software RAID, routing daemons, and the tcp stack, a new installer, and lots more too. grab a cd set or download from a mirror, and please support the project (which also brings you openssh and lots of other great free software) if you can."

Submission + - RedHat sponsors webcast unaccesible to Linux users 1

Submitted by ai_ja_nai on Sunday October 18, 2009 @02:30PM

ai_ja_nai writes: SearchEnterpriseLinux.com offers various webcasts on system administration topics. This time, RedHat gifted us with a nice webcast on 'server sprawl'. Too bad that the os required to view the webcast is Windows or Mac (http://go.techtarget.com/r/9533426/7826622/3)! Clicking on "Test your system", actually, returns you a complaint message about the "unoptimality of your system on webcast viewing". Doh!

Submission + - Are Software Developers Naturally Weird?

Submitted by jammag on Sunday October 18, 2009 @11:25AM

jammag writes: Well, c'mon, yes — let's admit it. As a veteran coder discusses as he looks at his career, software development is swelled with the offbeat, the quirky and the downright odd. As he remembers, there was the 'Software Lyrics' guy and the 'Inappropriate Phone Call' programmer, among others. Are unique types drawn to the profession or, are we 'transformed over time by our darkened working environments and exposure to computer screen radiation.'?

Submission + - Mozilla blocks WPF & .NET Framework Add-Ins (mozilla.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 18, 2009 @02:55AM

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla has blocked the Microsoft WPF Plug-In & .NET Framework add-in. Firefox users on Windows will start seeing these blocked completely by the browser as of Saturday.

Submission + - IMMDb Turns 19 (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by emeraldd on Saturday October 17, 2009 @11:28PM

emeraldd writes: I'd say this is a birthday worth remembering:
"If you load up the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) today, you'll see a new logo commemorating its 19th birthday. Yes, that's really old for the Internet. Google, by comparison, is 11. Meanwhile, Yahoo is 14. IMDb is so old in fact, that is pre-dates the first web browsers."

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