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Comment If only they were safe. (Score 3, Informative) 1051

The problem with this is, the advertisements themselves can not be trusted. Beyond the issue of the sound and animation, advertisements are a malware vector. I'm having a huge problem with 'Antispyware 2010' and its variants. One idiot claims he got his from Microsoft, because it says Microsoft on it. If they were less hazardous, I'd block them less. I turned off blocking for Project Wonderful and for Google's text ads, after all.

Comment Dan 'I'm not a paid shill' Lyons? (Score 5, Insightful) 336

If you've been following Groklaw over the last few years, I should point out that Mr. Lyons is a huge SCO supporter. I can not say Microsoft pays him money, but anything and everything he says is designed to hit Microsoft's opponents from the side. He likes to say bad things about both Microsoft and Microsoft's opponent of the day, but in a way that Microsoft comes off the better of the two.

I'd put more trust into something John Dvorak had to say than Mr. Lyons.

Comment Re:A free _netbook_? (Score 1) 435

Precisely. Now, for checking NewEgg prices, or adding books to my Amazon cart (not checking out, just adding things) or checking mail (which google has already) or... well, any number of walking around sort of tasks, it'd be a handy sort of thing.
Even more so if it read PDFs.

Considering ChromeOS is a thin client, and mandates network storage, I'd assume that some sort of internet access is required for usage, and I'd hope it would be cell phone style like the Kindle. Now, text only, maybe, but I could live with that.

Comment Long term experience. (Score 1) 557

Personally, I'm still using a LJ 6 at home. Work, I support 500 users. The 1XXX series has been... well. The cheap end has been poorly forever, and is all winprinters. The higher end, 13xx or so has wear issues. The 1505 is pretty decent. The 4000 series is brickproof. I'd say bulletproof but I _have_ seen people throw bricks at one and it survived. (It's a drug treatment program. Things get exciting sometimes) But it's _not_ personal-sized, it's freaking huge.

But... I'd go Brother. They're better quality these days and actually make decent stuff.
And one hundred percent go laser. Otherwise the ink will kill you. Color laser is still a cost savings over inkjet, these days.

Comment Greetings, Friend Citizen! What is your clearance? (Score 3, Informative) 41

Hm. Multiple clones. Universal surveilance. Questioning what it means to be alive and human in a world that values neither.
I've been playing this for years! Except it was a bit more brightly colored. And had more Bouncy Bubble Beverage. (It's the Mandatory Thing, you know.)

I'm so far behind the cutting edge I'm in front of it, apparently. Well...

Friend Computer, how may I serve the Complex today?

Comment Re:A minor note: (Score 1) 895

And it's fair game to gank the people fighting other people. It just pisses them off. I certainly understand how it can be pleasurable to do so, but making it the focus of your game is a bit odd and antisocial.

That said, I can now confirm this guy has a much bigger ego than he really should. The name doesn't raise ire in anyone outside of the people on that server who frequented that specific zone at his times. Eg, a number less than a hundred, if greater than 20, by a reasonable estimate.

Comment A minor note: (Score 2, Informative) 895

This behavior as described by the researcher does not get XP for the player. It does not get drops for the player, either. It simply wastes the opponent's time.
Note also that there are two different behaviors described. One, a pattern of teleporting foes into the 'safe zone guards' was later defined as griefing by the developers, and punishable by pretty much the same punishment as threatening people. The other is a matter of waiting till someone is badly hurt, fighting someone else, and picking them off by teleporting them directly into a boss. This is completely legal, it simply imposes an XP penalty on the person killed. It is also, of course, viewed as 'cheap.'

I suspect strongly that our friend did the 'teleport into guard' trick until the day it was declared griefing, then switched to a new tactic, just to cause the maximum social annoyance.

I have seen this behavior in real life, as well. It is the person who drives in the left lane at ten under the limit, on a road where the convention is twenty over. Much like the behavior described in the game, it is technically legal, unless, of course, the cops decide the driver is intentionally blocking the road.

In this case, I suspect he is both intentionally blocking the road _and_ driving with a hat on, barely able to see over the windshield, if he truly does not understand why his behavior was deemed frustrating.

To put it another way, most of us grew out of this behavior when we were six. It's passive-aggressive, and spiritually the same as "I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you."

His survival _after_ this behavior might be an indication of skill... but I doubt he survived for long, simply taking advantage of the lack of death penalty, and various stealth powers to return to play after being killed.

As far as playing by the 'rules', I should note that it has become harder and harder to perform his tactics, due to behavior like this. Why? Because, while the game world may allow it, it was only allowed because the developers didn't actually believe someone would behave like this, to no personal gain and great social cost. As such, they have added equipment, power sets, potions, and direct power changes to make it harder to perform.

Wireless Networking

Submission + - Unlimited gall to cost Verizon $1 million (networkworld.com)

netbuzz writes: Unlimited really means unlimited, even in advertising. So says the New York State Attorney General's Office in squeezing a $1 million settlement out of Verizon Wireless for disconnecting 13,000 of its customers who had the temerity to believe that the unlimited service they were promised came with unlimited service. Verizon's statement explaining the settlement is a gem, too.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20981

Wireless Networking

Submission + - Feasibility of State-Wide WiFi? (greenvilleonline.com)

crtrue writes: "The House here in South Carolina approved a bill several months ago to explore the possibility of blanketing the state in a wireless signal. The idea revolves around using the ETV public television towers as the backbone, probably having both a free, low bandwidth signal and a higher, paid one to help pay for the project / make the state some cash. It seems like fantasy to me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one with a "Put Up or Shut Up" attitude. Still, a good chunk of this state is rural, so this would be really nice in places where the only option realistically available is dial-up. I would also kill to be able to drive across the state and not have to worry about finding public hotspots. So, Slashdot, is there any way this system could work? Or, as I fear, is the idea either too unrealistic or prohibitively expensive to take off the ground?"

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