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Privacy

Submission + - What exactly is 2o7.net?

Submitted by rottenSoul
rottenSoul writes: I generally only allow specific cookies in my browser. Recently, I've seen a lot of 2o7.net cookies from 3rd party sites on mainstream sites. It's a web analytics company. Is this doubleclick2 or a harmless cookie? The cookie if different for each site but the root is the same. Here's what I found at 2o7.net: http://www.omniture.com/privacy/2o7?f=2o7#optout
Google

Submission + - Free Pascal, the number ONE compiler for Android (android-google.tk)

Submitted by
hoofdmannetje
hoofdmannetje writes: "Google has announced a contest for their mobile application Android. and they choose Java as their platform. But it turns out that the Free Pascal compiler of the Lazarus open source project is the number ONE compiler for Android project. as you can see on my website www.android-google.tk The enthousiastic developers of the lazarus project have succeeded in their effort to make a revival of the once very populair Turbo pascal compiler. They are winners. Regards"
Real Time Strategy (Games)

Submission + - The Secret to Winning at Rock, Paper, Scissors 1

Submitted by
Time Slows Down
Time Slows Down writes: "While most people are aware that rock breaks scissors, scissors cut paper and paper covers stone, there is a psychological element to the game which many players may have missed. Recent research shows that rock is the most popular of the three possible moves in the game. That means that your opponent is likely to choose paper, because they will expect to you to start the game with stone so by going with scissors, you achieve an early victory. The scissors strategy has proven very successful in the past — in 2005 it secured auction house Christie's a £10 million deal. Rock, paper, scissors is also found in nature. A team of biologists described the curious mating strategies of a species of European lizard where some male lizards (call their type "rock") use force, invade the territory of fellow males to mate with females, others ("paper") favor deception, waiting until females are unguarded and sneaking in, and others ("scissors") work by cooperation, joining together to protect one another's females. Scientists speculate that such games may also describe human behavior in the corporate world, where strategies of force (takeovers), deception (fraud) and cooperation (mergers) also seem to supplant one another in an endless loop."
Handhelds

Submission + - Single-chip x86 chipsets around the corner? (linuxdevices.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Kontron, a giant among industrial single-board computer vendors, yesterday revealed a credit-card sized board apparently based on a single-chip x86 chipset that clocks to 1.5GHz and supports a gig of RAM. It targets portable devices — not x86's usual forte. Kontron isn't saying whether the board uses a Via or an Intel chip(set) — both vendors reportedly have single-chip chipsets in the works, part of their respective missions to drive "x86 everywhere." At 1.5GHz, the new highly integrated x86 SoC — whatever it is — would certainly clobber the currently available crop of 386- and 486-class X86 SoCs, and if truly battery-friendly, could even make x86 somewhat more viable as a portable device architecture.
Media

Submission + - Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data (computerworld.com)

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: Lucas Mearian has a story about a company that plans to demonstrate a new DVD-format at the January CES conference. The .6mm thick disc stores 500GB of data by writing 5GB of data on each of 100 layers within a polymer material similar to Plexyglas. The Israel-based company, Mempile Inc., said its TeraDisc DVDs will offer 1TB of storage for consumers in the next few years, but it's also targeting corporate data archive needs with the new technology that write bits at the molecular level on the florescent-colored polymer. The company plans to sell its first product, a 700GB disc for $30.
Privacy

Submission + - Sears/Kmart "community" a front for spywar (ca.com)

Submitted by Arrogant-Bastard
Arrogant-Bastard writes: Attention Kmart (and Sears) shoppers: here's your chance to have everything you do with your web browser — including your visits to banking sites, etc. — logged by a third party with a history of involvement in spyware and spam. CA's security advisor blog (see link) is reporting that this malware is quietly installed — supposedly to facilitate participation in a "community"...that doesn't appear to actually exist.
Movies

Submission + - Why Blockbuster Total Access Doesn't Work

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In theory, Blockbuster has a better offering than Netflix in that it "lets you rent online with the flexibility to exchange movies in-store, so you never have to wait for a movie." That is, according to the marketing pitch plastered all over its homepage. But I decided to see just how "total" Total Access is: http://www.techconsumer.com/2007/12/21/the-blockbuster-total-access-fallacy/
Privacy

Submission + - Scroogle.org alternative to Google.com spying

Submitted by carp3_noct3m
carp3_noct3m writes: Scroogle.org (please don't go to Scroogle.com, its pr0n) Offers a good alternative to Google.com and their lack of privacy. from http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3055825.ece "The London-based watchdog Privacy International ranked Google as "hostile to privacy" in its survey of internet firms, its lowest rating. Rivals Yahoo and Microsoft also fared poorly." "Google, the industry leader, stores personal information for 18 months, as does Microsoft's search engine. Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL retain search requests for 13 months." So, if you're like me and have been looking for a Google alternative, this may be it, at least until its shutdown.
Microsoft

Submission + - Why all Vista users should upgrade to Windows XP

Submitted by disASM
disASM writes: "Now that Microsoft has announced the availability of the RC version of Service Pack 3 for our old friend, XP, I'm delighted to tell you all that not only is this upgrade substantial and extremely helpful. Believe it or not, this upgrade creates the best Windows experience I have ever used.

I just don't see the point.

Honestly, I must congratulate Microsoft on a job well done. Sure, it has lost its focus, gutted its new operating system just to get it out the door, buckled under the pressure of computer manufacturers who hate its new OS and created a ludicrous version scheme that does nothing but confuse people, but it has done something right: it has created a stellar upgrade to Windows Vista. Save your money — install SP3 and forget about Vista.

"
Software

Submission + - Death of the IT Guy according to BusinessWeek 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: BusinessWeek has an article on small businesses running completely on hosted services and not installing their own servers and having IT consultants. "I am amazed at how cheaply and easily all of the functions of a small business can be set up and shared by employees," says Peter Yared, CEO f wdgtbldr. Does this mean the death of the IT guy? Will medium size businesses start to take this approach as well?
Nintendo

Submission + - Dad sells GH3 for $9000 after son smokes pot

Submitted by
[TheBORG]
[TheBORG] writes: "A Canadian father catches his 15-year-old smoking pot, so he sells the hard-to-get "Guitar Hero III" Nintendo Wii video game that he bought his son for 90 dollars for Christmas at an online auction, fetching 9,000 dollars. "I am still considering getting him a game for his Nintendo. Maybe something like Barbie as the Island Princess or Dancing with the Stars ... I know he will just love them.""
The Internet

Submission + - The Rich Ajax Platform and Eclipse development

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Rich Client Platform (RCP) is a powerful platform technology to build enterprise applications. With the help of Rich Ajax Platform (RAP), it gets more interesting because you can reuse your existing code base and development skills for a Web application. RAP has a lot of noteworthy features, making Web development even more attractive.
Google

The Future of Google Search and Natural Language Queries 148

Posted by Zonk from the teach-us-to-search dept.
eldavojohn writes "You might know the name Peter Norvig from the classic big green book, 'AI: A Modern Approach.' He's been working for Google since 2001 as Director of Search Quality. An interview with Norvig at MIT's Technology Review has a few interesting insights into the 'search mindset' at the company. It's kind of surprising that he claims they have no intent to allow natural questions. Instead he posits, 'We think what's important about natural language is the mapping of words onto the concepts that users are looking for. But we don't think it's a big advance to be able to type something as a question as opposed to keywords ... understanding how words go together is important ... That's a natural-language aspect that we're focusing on. Most of what we do is at the word and phrase level; we're not concentrating on the sentence.'"
Businesses

Submission + - CompUSA not CompUSA - no returns - no help 1

Submitted by
Simon Tag
Simon Tag writes: "Location: Clive, IA — CompUSA — 7:00pm
I went shopping this evening at CompUSA for a digital camera frame. First thing that I noticed was signs and banners everywhere stating closing, going out of business, and all sales final!!!! All sales final?? So after waiting for 20 minutes for help and not getting any I took my camera to the counter and asked what the return policy was. The man at the counter rather smugly said "none". I questioned him and said "so if I purchase this and it will not work 10 minutes after I purchase it what happens?". He responded to me there are no returns under any circumstances and went on to tell me how "they" were so strict about this policy. I further questioned and a different employee stepped in and said "this is not CompUSA anymore, they don't exist." Interesting! Since I was standing in a CompUSA and they were wearing CompUSA shirts. They also have signs that state that you are not allowed to open any item. So no testing for anyone, you have to buy it then you can't return it."

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