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Comment Re:yet another justification (Score 1) 101

by arodland (#28379315) Attached to: Satellite Glitch Rekindles GPS Concerns

It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that if your GPS happens to be getting a time signal from that one particular satellite, the accuracy might be degraded.

Not even, since there are integral status/reliability bits in the GPS constellation download. The "faulty" satellite is marked as unusable (just as it has been since it was launched in March, because it's in testing), and will be ignored by receivers. There are more than sufficient other satellites to cover the sky, so... no problem.

Comment Lies.301 N Edgewood Ave (Score 1) 519

by arodland (#27351633) Attached to: Old-School Keyboard Makes Comeback of Sorts

Unicomp does not produce "vintage model M keyboards". They produce a line of keyboards that are quite similar, but the key action isn't exactly the same, and their M13-alike is totally wrong; the nub is bigger, and squishy, and doesn't move the same at all. Since Trackpoint is honestly much more important to me than "clicky" action, and since real M13s are super rare and expensive, I've moved on top non-clicky Trackpoint-II boards like the 3923 that are easier to find used.
Networking

Submission + - Comcast blocking www.google.com? 1

Submitted by nate.sammons
nate.sammons writes: Several times in the last few days, my comcast line has given me a "Connection reset" error when connecting to www.google.com. Now, every other site I've tried works, including mail.google.com, news.google.com, etc. However, any attempt to connect to www.google.com gets me a connection reset error. When this happened the other day, it eventually just went away. So-far tonight it's been about two hours.
Patents

Submission + - Orphan 70-Year-Old Plane Data = 'Trade Secrets'?

Submitted by Anonymous Flyboy Coward
Anonymous Flyboy Coward writes: The Experimental Aircraft Association is taking on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has denied a FOIA request for access to construction data to the owner of 70+ year old antique Fairchild F45 aircraft. The FAA sided with a company that was formed in 1990 (and which didn't even know the airplane type existed until the FAA's inquiry) that claims it "owns" the design and manufacturing data to the aircraft, calling the data a "trade secret". The company failed to register with the FAA (as required by law) yet the FAA is standing by it's assertion that they "own" this data, which was turned over to the public domain in the 1950s. Many vintage aircraft owners face a Catch-22 situation: they are required by law to perform maintenance to the manufacturer's specs, but much of this data is unavailable because the FAA refuses to release it without the data's owner's permission... even if there is no such owner. The decision in this case will likely have wide-ranging implications on FOIA requests, as well as affect whether historical antique aircraft will remain flyable or lost forever to a pointless bureaucratic death. The full story is available here.
Networking

Submission + - Bizarre Virus Threatens to Kill File-Sharers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: TorrentFreak reports:

A strange virus which taunts file-sharers and threatens to report them to the police and even kill them, is being distributed on the Winny network. The virus has two variants Troj/Pirlames-A and Troj/Pirlames-B, masquerades as a screensaver and attacks files with these popular extensions — EXE, BAT, CMD, INI, ASP, HTM, HTML, PHP, CLASS, JAVA, DBX, EML, MBX, TBB, WAB, HLP, TXT, MP3, XLS, LOG, BMP — overwriting them with images of comic book character Ayu Tsukimiya.

It's reported that one of the images, which includes a song about fish-shaped pancakes stuffed with jam, has a telephone number included although it's unclear to whom the number belongs.

Another exclaims "This is a visit from the prevalent Piro virus! Stop P2P! If you don't i'll tell the police!" while another threatens "Ah, I see you are using P2P again......if you don't stop within 0.5 seconds, i'm going to kill you!"
Education

Submission + - College Students Narcissistic Jerks, Study Shows

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: American higher education is plagued by vanity more than ever, CNN reports. Where do we cast blame? Why, it's the evil Internet's fault! MySpace, YouTube are among those on the chopping block, with liberal psycho-quacks calling for a parental beatdown. "A potential antidote would be more authoritative parenting." says noted hypocrite Jean Twenge. My question is, why are we blaming the internet for boosting our self-esteem?

From the Article:

"We need to stop endlessly repeating 'You're special' and having children repeat that back," said the study's lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. "Kids are self-centered enough already."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Trek To Return Christmas 2008

Submitted by
Tycoon Guy
Tycoon Guy writes: "Paramount today announced the new 'Star Trek' film is scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2008. The studio also confirmed the film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who said the film will "embrace and respect" Trek canon, but will also "chart its own course." Also today, rumors are out claiming Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise will play Kirk, Spock and Scotty, respectively."
NASA

Submission + - JOULE II launches rockets to study Northern Lights

Submitted by
WaltonNews
WaltonNews writes: "On January 19, 2007 (starting at about 3:29 Alaska Standard Time), NASA launched a project called JOULE II that consists of four rockets to study the aurora display over the skies of northern Alaska. The mission is geared to learn more about the electrical heating of the thin upper atmosphere above the Earth's surface. For more of the story, go to: http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/8885/1066/."

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