Comment Obligatory space elevator post... (Score 0, Redundant) 149
If only we could finish the space elevator, we could use it to bring the garbage back down to Earth! Or bring janitors to the stars!
It's only ten years away!
Comment The Great Lower-Orbit Garbage Patch (Score 1, Interesting) 149
Sounds like the same kind of problem we're wrestling with down here.
Comment Don't they already have a tool for this? (Score 3, Insightful) 242
I thought that's what filters were for.
Gmail is getting a bit cluttered with features. The elegance of it was always one of the big wins for me.
I'd rather have one simple, configurable feature that allows met do many things than a hundred buttons on my screen. Filters and tags already pretty much covered this.
Comment Re:Perhaps you've never heard of saturation (Score 5, Funny) 199
There are only so many people that want game consoles. The idea that their sales will go up and up forever is silly.
Although they did try to address this with a 50%+ failure rate in the first year...
Comment Re:But the real question is: (Score 1) 495
These responses have taken the question with unprecedented seriousness. I forgot where I was.
Comment But the real question is: (Score 2, Funny) 495
Which would win in a fight, the Millennium Falcon or the Enterprise?
Submission + - Navy drone goes rogue, heads for capital (geek.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: In what can only be classed as a “Skynet moment“, one of the U.S. Navy’s flying drones went rogue earlier this month.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout is a 31-foot-long unmanned helicopter which was being flown on August 2nd out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River on the Chesapeake Bay. But something malfunctioned and operators lost control of it mid-flight. Did the drone just hover waiting for a command? Or even go to a fail-safe and land itself? No, it headed for the nation’s capital instead.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout is a 31-foot-long unmanned helicopter which was being flown on August 2nd out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River on the Chesapeake Bay. But something malfunctioned and operators lost control of it mid-flight. Did the drone just hover waiting for a command? Or even go to a fail-safe and land itself? No, it headed for the nation’s capital instead.
Submission + - Powering Electronics with Bicycles On The Go (calstatela.edu)
Alanonfire writes: By attaching a small generator and a 12-volt battery to a standard road bike, a team of three engineering and communications students designed a system that captures the energy that is created as the bicycle wheels turn. That energy—collected whether the bike is stationary or moving—charges a battery, which, in turn, charges a cell phone or other small electronics.
Submission + - Apple blocks iPhones from green ranking scheme (guardian.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple has refused to allow its iPhones to be included in the UK's first-ever green ranking scheme for mobile phones. The scheme gives phones a rating of zero to five based on their environmental footprint and major manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have signed up. The network O2, which is launching the rating system today, said 93% of the devices its customers use will be covered... An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on why the company had decided not to join the voluntary labelling scheme, but highlighted its environmental reporting online.
Comment /. discussions about stupid things... (Score 3, Insightful) 827
There seem to be a lot of /. discussions about obviously stupid things. The comment thread fills up with people competing for the Score 5 (funny) comments. What's the point here, other than ego stroking and karma boosting? Inflated senses of superiority?
Now before anyone answers, I've got some Super SATA stock to liquidate.
Comment Nit-picking about "bugs." (get it? Har har har.) (Score 1) 158
/. is as bad for this as anywhere else on the net as far as I can tell. All bugs are flaws, but flaws are not necessarily bugs. This sounds like a flaw, even a vulnerability, but not a bug.
Sorry, as you were.
Comment Remember when you used aliases to post online? (Score 4, Insightful) 706
This kind of schlock comes from the same corporate minds that have been pushing for real names and credit card information to be associated with all online interactions. I'd like to go back to taking anonymous aliases for granted again please.
Submission + - Data Security In Focus Amid Apple Scandal
oxide7 writes: As former Apple supply chain executive Paul Devine remains under Federal custody after being charged with receiving $1 million in return for offering company data to several Asian parts suppliers, the focus turns to the efficacy of data security protocols employed by big businesses. While applauding the way Apple cracked Devine's data misuse, some analysts feel that valuable data would not have been compromised if better security systems and data protection protocols were in place.
Comment Re:How much more 'silent' was than other bugs? (Score 0, Troll) 259
Isn't that what "New Media" means; sensational?
We require more Google hits!
Comment Re:What I suggest to people (Score 5, Funny) 259
You do realize that Mac is built on a FreeBSD kernel?
Macs can't be exploited. That's why people paid to get into the walled garden, it's safe in there. LA LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.
