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Comment Re:Here I'll help (Score 1) 194

The only reasonable conclusion you can draw from that data is that my pagefile is at least 7 GB large.

And not even that. Executables, DLLs, memory-mapped files, etc. all contribute as well, without necessarily using any actual RAM much less page file real estate.

Technology

Using EMP To Punch Holes In Steel 165

angrytuna writes "The Economist is running a story about a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, Germany, who've found a way to use an EMP device to shape and punch holes through steel. The process enjoys advantages over both lasers, which take more time to bore the hole (0.2 vs. 1.4 seconds), and by metal presses, which can leave burrs that must be removed by hand."
Mozilla

Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox 3.6 RC, Nears Final 145

CWmike writes "Mozilla has shipped a release candidate build of Firefox 3.6 that, barring problems, will become the final, finished version of the upgrade. Firefox 3.6 RC1, which followed a run of betas that started in early November, features nearly 100 bug fixes from the fifth beta that Mozilla issued Dec. 17. The fixes resolved numerous crash bugs, including one that brought down the browser when it was steered to Yahoo's front page. Another fix removed a small amount of code owned by Microsoft from Firefox. The code was pointed out by a Mozilla contributor, and after digging, another developer found the original Microsoft license agreement. 'Amusingly enough, it's actually really permissive. Really the only part that's problematic is the agreement to "include the copyright notice ... on your product label and as a part of the sign-on message for your software product,"' wrote Kyle Huey on Mozilla's Bugzilla. Even so, others working on the bug said the code needed to be replaced with Mozilla's own."
Games

Palm Pre and WebOS Get Native Gaming 49

rboatright writes "WebOS developers have been waiting, and with the 1.3.5 release, Palm's open source page suddenly listed SDL. Members of the WebOS internals team took that as a challenge and within 24 hours had a working port of Doom running in SDL on the Pre, in a webOS card. 48 hours later, they not only had Quake running, but had found in the latest LunaSysMgr the requirements to launch a native app from the webOS app launcher from an icon just like any other app. At the same time, the team demonstrated openGL apps running. With full native code support, with I/O available via SDL, developers now have a preview into Palm's future intent with regard to native code SDK's, and a hint of what's coming."

Comment Re:Umm... (Score 1) 319

No, see... it makes sense: they lose money on folks who don't leave, so they've added the extra termination fees and reduced customer service as a ploy to drive customers away and drive up profits!

But my guess is that this is just the first step; at some point, you'll pay them up-front to avoid signing a contract in the first place...

Comment And you can write whatever you want... (Score 1, Insightful) 319

IIt's a free market, and they can charge anything they like.

It's not a free market, and folks getting upset over the dissemination of phone and plan prices aren't making it any freer.

Another commenter already pointed out that other network providers offer better better deals... The hard part is getting this information to consumers in a form that's clear and easy to understand, when the providers themselves seem dedicated to obfuscation.

Mozilla

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Released 272

supersloshy writes Today Mozilla released Thunderbird 3. Many new features are available, including Tabs and enhanced search features, a message archive for emails you don't want to delete but still want to keep, Firefox 3's improved Add-ons Manager, Personas support, and many other improvements. Download here."

Comment Re:Makes me wonder... (Score 1) 246

Of course, if all you want is to get answers without participating in enriching the knowledge base, then you must pay for the points that you aren't earning.

All I want to do is see what the link I received from Google or a co-worker is about. Yet one tries to mislead me, and the other plain doesn't work.

I'm more than willing to "give back" to sites and communities that don't play stupid games and waste my time. And CodeProject, Stack Overflow, and countless other newsgroups, forums, and Q&A sites manage to pull this off without trying to trick or guilt-trip their users...

The day EE no longer shows up in search results will be a day to rejoice.

Comment Re:Why? (Score 1) 540

The advertising?

Don't get me wrong, OpenDNS is a nice enough service... But opting out of the advertising is a PitA.

Also, Google's nameserver addresses are easier to remember. Can you remember the number 8? Good, you can now use Google's DNS anywhere.

Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."

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