Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Cars produce more (Score 1) 976

In an ideal world, we would be able to eliminate CO2 from our atmosphere completely. And ultimately, if we as a species are going to survive, we need to do that. But in the here and now, we have to do the best we can. And cars produce way more of that poison than anyone on a bicycle. The Congressman is just an ignorant jackass who has no understanding of how our biosphere works.

Not sure if this is a troll, or an example of someone who has their head so far up the ass of the radical green movement that their brain has stopped working due to lack of oxygen... (Sorry I didn't mean to post as AC).

Comment Mathematical maturity (Score 2) 1086

by billakay (#40934511) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Many of You Actually Use Math?
If you really want to get into game programming, the advanced math will be your friend. Supposedly even some ancient (and infurating) concepts like quaternions are coming back in computer graphics. For anything else, it still isn't going to be a waste of time. The analytical skills and "mathematical maturity" obtained by taking a good calculus course (and actually applying yourself rather than just trying to pass) will go way further than the actual calculus will for most people.
The Internet

Submission + - Sale of IPv4 Addresses Hindering IPv6 adoption (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by hal9000(jr)
hal9000(jr) writes: While IPv6 day was a successful marketing campaign, is anyone really moving to IPv6? On World Launch Day, Arbor Networks noted a peak of only .2% of ipv6 network traffic. It appears that IPv4 addresses are still valuable and are driving hosting acquistions. Windows 8 will actually prefer IPv6 over IPv4. If you want IPv6, here's what to do about it.

Comment Re:License and registration please? (Score 5, Informative) 884

by billakay (#40446757) Attached to: Arizona H-1B Workers Advised to Carry Papers At All Times

There's a law in the states that citizens are not required to carry identification. Thus all a foreigner has to do is state that they are a resident and there's not much an officer can do about it.

There is a big difference between "resident" and "citizen." In the United States, citizens are technically not required to carry any sort of identification, although it makes things generally easier if you do. On the other hand however, Permanent Residents AKA Green Card Holders are required by federal law to have their identification document (Green Card) on their person at all times. I believe the same goes for non-immigrant visa holders (H-1B, B-1/B-2, J-1, F-1, ...). That being said, if you claim you are a citizen, there is not much they can do on the spot unless they look you up, but if you call their bluff, be prepared to face the consequences. Making a false statement of United States Citizenship carries stiff penalties which can include deportation and extended bans from readmission into the USA.

Comment Re:"Starting with the Nazi military during WWII" (Score 1) 295

by billakay (#39243745) Attached to: The Vortex Gun Coming Soon To a Protest Near You
I can attest to this as well. My wife is Armenian, but was raised in Russia. While her accent is much "softer" than Natasha's it is definitely there, and she thinks she has very little to no accent. I have also become accustomed to adding articles to papers :) Also, for some reason Slavic-language-speaking people tend to be able to understand Ws, but repeat them as Vs.
DRM

Submission + - Bell Labs System Enables 3D Rendering on DisplayLi (phoronix.com)

Submitted by
billakay
billakay writes: ""A recently open-sourced experimental Linux infrastructure created by Bell Labs researchers allows 3D rendering to be performed on a GPU and displayed on other devices, including DisplayLink dongles. The system accomplishes this by essentially creating "Virtual CRTCs", or virtual display output controllers, and allowing arbitrary devices to appear as extra ports on a graphics card.

Story can be found at Phoronix. The code and instructions to get the system running can be found here at GitHub.""
DRM

Submission + - Bell Labs Experimental System Enables 3D Rendering (phoronix.com)

Submitted by
billakay
billakay writes: "A recently open-sourced experimental Linux infrastructure created by Bell Labs researchers allows 3D rendering to be performed on a GPU and displayed on other devices, including DisplayLink dongles. The system accomplishes this by essentially creating "Virtual CRTCs", or virtual display output controllers, and allowing arbitrary devices to appear as extra ports on a graphics card.

The code and instructions to get the system running can be found here at GitHub."
AI

Submission + - Bell Labs builds telepresence 'robots' (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by schliz
schliz writes: Alcatel-Lucent's research arm, Bell Labs, is building low-cost robots that represent remote participants in meeting rooms. Researchers hope it will address the issue of the natural, non-verbal "voting mechanism", by which people determine who should speak based on who most people are looking at. The technology will likely be priced in the "hundreds of dollars" rather than the tens of thousands that the likes of Cisco and Polycom charge for high-end telepresence rooms.
DRM

Submission + - Experimental Code Published For Virtual CRTCs (phoronix.com)

Submitted by billakay
billakay writes: Some experimental code for Linux has been published that allows your graphics card to do 3D rendering, then have the pixels pushed off to an arbitrary device.

Initially implemented drivers enable 3D rendered applications and games on DisplayLink devices, as well as piping the pixels to userspace via Video4Linux2.

Full disclosure: I am one of the developers that contributed to this.
Businesses

Submission + - Apple's Secret Weapon to Influence Industry Pricin

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Nick Wingfield writes in the NY Times that Apple’s present pricing strategy is a big change from the 1990s, when consumers regarded Apple as a producer of overpriced tech baubles, unable to compete effectively with its Macintosh family of computers against the far cheaper Windows PCs. Now within the premium product categories where Apple is most at home, comparable devices often do no better than match or slightly undercut Apple’s prices. “They’re not cheap, but I don’t think they’re viewed as high-priced anymore,” says Stewart Alsop. Winfield writes that Apple uses its growing manufacturing scale and logistics prowess to deliver Apple products at far more aggressive prices, which in turn gives it more power to influence pricing industrywide, and one of Apple's pricing secrets has been it's willingness to tap into its huge war chest — $82 billion in cash and marketable securities last quarter — to take big gambles by locking up supplies of parts for years. One example is when Apple struck a five-year, $1.25 billion deal in 2005 with manufacturers to secure flash memory chips for its iPods and other devices. By buying up manufacturing capacity ahead of time, Apple forces its competitors to scramble for the parts that are still available, raising costs for their products. “We’ve historically entered into certain agreements with different people to secure supply and other benefits,” says Apple CEO Tim Cook. "We think that was an absolutely fantastic use of Apple’s cash. ""

Comment Re:Not Just Hateb by the Left (Score 1) 1425

by billakay (#34412728) Attached to: Sarah Palin 'Target WikiLeaks Like Taliban'

The reason for the progressive tax rate is simple. If everyone had to pay the same amount across the board, most of us would have to pony up more than we make in an entire year.

Who ever suggested that everyone pay the same *amount*?

Everyone should pay the same *percentage*. Wealthy people will pay more, less wealthy people will pay less, as a function of their income. The scale itself shouldn't slide. This is what is patently unfair.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like `Psychic Wins Lottery.'" -- Comedian Jay Leno

Close