Comment DIY internet radio player (Score 4, Interesting) 139
You can always make your own
It works great, only $75
Submission + - Suggestions for programmable music player
An anonymous reader writes: I am an avid music listener and my ipod recently died on me — it's time to find me a nice little music player again. Audio quality is important though I understand headphones are most important in that regard. I am looking for suggestions for some (easily) programmable mp3 players where I can run my own code on the small device as well. Not looking for tens of gigs of capacity on the player. Not planning on buying a new phone either. Any suggestions?
Submission + - Church turns to Facebook to find priests (skunkpost.com) 2
crimeandpunishment writes: The Catholic church of France isn't looking for friends on Facebook....it's looking for priests. The church has turned to Facebook as part of a campaign to attract young people to the priesthood, in an effort to combat its drastically dwindling number of priests. It may be working. The Facebook page attracted more than 1,200 fans in one week.
Submission + - "Lost" and the Emergence of Hypertext Storytelling 1
Hugh Pickens writes: "The tv series "Lost" involves a large cast of characters marooned on a tropical island after a plane crash with episodes that thread lengthy flashbacks of characters’ backstories with immediate plots of day-to-day survival and interpersonal relationships, and a larger “mythos” involving the strange and apparently supernatural (or science-fictional) happenings on the island. Independent scholar Amelia Beamer writes that the series works as an example of a recent cultural creation, that of the hypertext narrative. "In Lost, the connections between characters form the essential hypertext content, which is emphasized by the structure of flashbacks that give the viewer privileged information about characters," writes Beamer. "Paramount are the connections unfolding between characters, ranging from mundane, apparently coincidental meetings in the airport, to more unlikely and in-depth meetings, reaching back through their entire lives and the lives of their families." Beamer writes that the series also pays tribute to video games, another relatively recent interactive means of storytelling. "The introduction of new plot points is heavily foreshadowed, and when the characters finally do break through the hatch, or meet the so-called “Others” "there is a sense of “leveling up," writes Beamer, "passing through a transition point at which a game becomes more complex (and more potentially rewarding)." Another part of the hypertext content is the community created around the series that includes a "Lostpedia" with over 6,000 articles dedicated to the show that elaborate on connections and theories regarding the story. "Lost is evidence of a new kind of cultural creation made possible by technology, where viewers can access and contribute to a huge internet-based fan culture, and are no longer dependent on network broadcast schedules.""
Submission + - An In-depth Look at Gentoo Linux (kernelnews.com)
dhalley writes: This is the first "review" of Gentoo Linux I have seen in recent times. Why don't other reviewers cover Gentoo Linux anymore ? Anyway, this article gives a good overview of how Portage works and even gives good advice and examples of how to configure Gentoo's USE Flags. It also gives compelling reasons why you may or may not want to give Gentoo Linux a try. Nice article, worth a read.
Comment USB (Score 1) 443
Believe it or not after realizing they failed with their internet based DRM they will start to use USB dongles such as this: http://www.elicenser.net/en/
They will say that an internet connection is no longer needed and that you can use the dongle to save your game progress.
Due to the way this dongles work they can be cracked but it takes a huge effort and ammount of time for each different title, so they will have the first year piracy-free.
Comment Re:Why run IPV6? (Score 1) 520
Plus, there's enough address to give each subscriber many septillion. And they don't need to change. No more charging for a static IP...
Fixed.
Submission + - The Value of Two-Thirds (capecodonline.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In Cape Cod, a zoning decision came up for vote, where the results were 136 for, 70 against. The vote required 2/3 approval to pass. The Town Clerk and Town Accountant believe that since .66 * 206 is less than 136, the vote passes. However, an "anonymous caller" noted that a more accurate value of 2/3 would require 137 (or perhaps even 138 votes) for the measure to be considered passed. The MA Secretary of State and State Attourney General are hard at work to resolve this issue. The full story: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090430/NEWS/904300313
Submission + - FreeCreditReport.com UDRP Filed by Cybersquatter (domainnamewire.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A few months ago we discussed FreeCreditReport.com’s win of 1,017 domain names in the largest UDRP (domain dispute) case ever. Now it turns out that CitizenHawk, the domain recovery firm that drafted the UDRP complaint and represented Experian in that case, has itself been accused of cybersquatting by speculatively registering brand new typo domains and by monetizing domain names beyond the contractually agreed-upon period. Further, CitizenHawk’s backer Maveron, the Seattle-based venture capital firm that was founded by Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz, has been accused of hypocritically supporting CitizenHawk’s actions while another of their portfolio companies, iREIT, has removed cybersquatting domain names from their inventory after having been sued by Verizon.
Submission + - HDTV Has Ruined the LCD Display Market (10rem.net)
alvin67 writes: Microsoft Evangelist, Pete Brown rants about the lack of pixels available in today's LCD screens:
Ok, that's it. I've had it. I want my pixels, damn-it!
For a while, screen resolution has been going up on our desktop displays. The trend was good, as I've always wanted the largest monitor with the highest DPI that I could afford. I mean, I used to have one of the first hulking 17" CRTs on my desk. I later upgraded to a 21" inch job that was so huge, that if you didn't stick it in a corner, it took up the whole desk. It was flat-panel, though and full of pixels. It cost me around $1100 at the time.
Ok, that's it. I've had it. I want my pixels, damn-it!
For a while, screen resolution has been going up on our desktop displays. The trend was good, as I've always wanted the largest monitor with the highest DPI that I could afford. I mean, I used to have one of the first hulking 17" CRTs on my desk. I later upgraded to a 21" inch job that was so huge, that if you didn't stick it in a corner, it took up the whole desk. It was flat-panel, though and full of pixels. It cost me around $1100 at the time.
Comment Re:FLOSS alternative? (Score 0) 204
Actually there's a good FLOSS alternative for InDesign: Scribus
Comment Re:mine still works (Score 1) 370
It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees! -Emiliano Zapata (often misattributed to Che Guevara)
Comment Easy enough (Score 1) 82
I'm pretty sure they use this thing called "insurance".
Comment Re:I will be getting that firmware update (Score 1) 750
What I'd really like to have an electrical circuit connection between the brake pedal and the throttle fly-by-wire assembly. When the circuit is tripped, the throttle position output of the assembly drops to 0 regardless of actual pedal position or sensor position.
You could wire the brake lights to a relay on the throttle servo.
DIY Safety
Comment Actually (Score 1) 100
Serious real markets also trade on abstract intangible stuff. Here are some examples
Indexes
Volatility
Interest rates
Weather
Pollution
Payroll
I always thought of a market to invest in film production, where your money went to actually finance a movie and entitle you to a share in revenue (if any). However, film making is a high profit low risk business and as such is reserved to a select number of people, and I'm not sure they need the mass investors for financing, they have enough money.
However I'm not sure where this "movie stocks" and "celebrity bonds" would fit. Technically speaking they are not stocks nor bonds.
