Comment Re:If you really care, sue (Score 3, Interesting) 437
Yes, of course the EFF would help you sue Cory Doctorow, who is a former EFF staff member, recipient of EFF's 2007 Pioneer Award, and a current EFF fellow.
Long In Development, Toshiba 'SCiB' Battery Debuts 284
relliker notes Toshiba's announcement of the SCiB, a battery we have been following for years. (As usual, use NoScript to avoid the incredibly annoying timed begging popup on Gizmag's site.) Here is Toshiba's SCiB site. The battery's specs claim 6,000+ charge/deep-discharge cycles with minor capacity loss, safe rapid charging to 90% in 5 minutes, and enhanced safety regarding overheating or shorting out. It could make its way into electric vehicles before long.
Comment Re:Spammers will LOVE this (Score 1) 397
I don't even see why this is news. I had an HP printer with "HP Instant Delivery" 12 years ago (in 1998), which could print out a customized newspaper each morning based on your preferences. You would choose the types of stories, the sources it would pull from, and the length. And yes, the newspaper included small ads. It was actually quite handy for reading during the morning commute.
Microsoft Lifts XP Mode Hardware Requirement 205
An anonymous reader writes "This week, Microsoft published a patch that allows Windows XP Mode to run on PCs without hardware-assisted virtualization. Which begs the question: Why the bizarro requirement in the first place? Was it an honest attempt to deliver an 'optimal' user experience? Or simply a concession to the company's jilted lover, Intel Corporation — 'a kind of apology for royally screwing up with the whole Windows Vista “too fat to fit” debacle,' as the blog post puts it."
Comment TurboTax DOES have 1-click facebook export already (Score 4, Informative) 244
I just finished my taxes last week, and in one of the last steps after e-filing TurboTax offered to post a "I just finished my taxes with TurboTax and I'm getting a $XXX refund!" message to my Facebook profile.
Angry AT&T Customers May Disrupt Service 572
g0dsp33d writes "Fake Steve Jobs, the alter-alias of Newsweek's Dan Lyons, is calling disgruntled AT&T users to protest comments from AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega that smart phone (specifically iPhone) usage is responsible for their network issues and his plan to end unlimited data plans. The post, dubbed 'Operation Chokehold,' wants AT&T customers to use as much data service as they can on Friday, December 18th at noon. While Fake Steve Jobs is notable for its satire, many Twitter and Facebook users seem to be rallying to its cry. It is unclear if there will be enough support to cause a DDOS."
Comment Re:I guess it is good news... (Score 4, Informative) 540
4.2.2.2 and their ilk are free and non-redirecting. You can use 4.2.2.1 4.2.2.2 4.2.2.3 4.2.2.4 4.2.2.5 or 4.2.2.6
They are run by L-3 and sitting on major backbones, and the ip addresses are pooled, so that you will likely get a server that is geographically near you when you use one of those addresses.
Student Loan Interest Rankles College Grads 1259
theodp writes "Like many recent college grads, Steven Lee finds himself unemployed in one of the roughest job markets in decades and saddled with a big pile of debt — he owes about $84,000 in student loans for undergrad and grad school. But what's really got Lee angry are the high interest rates on his government-backed student loans. 'The rate for a 30-year mortgage is around 5%,' Lee said. 'Why should anyone have to pay 8.5%? The government has bailed out homeowners. It's bailed out big businesses. Why can't it also help students?' Not only that, federal student loans are the only loans in the nation that are largely non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, have no statutes of limitations, and can't be refinanced after consolidation, so Lee can forget about pulling a move out of the GM playbook. And unlike mortgages on million-dollar vacation homes, student loans have very limited tax deductability. A spokeswoman for the Department of Education blamed Congress for the rates which she conceded 'may seem high today,' but suggested that students are a credit-unworthy lot who should thank their lucky stars that rates aren't 12% or higher. Makes one long for the good-old-days of 3% student loans, doesn't it?"
Comment Re:Works In Congress: +1, Insidious (Score 1) 809
Actually, they often wouldn't even bother with consultants. I got to tour the set of Voyager while it was shooting (S01E13, "Cathexis"), and many of the shooting scripts would simply says [TECH] instead of the technical term, and it was up to the ACTORS to fill in the blank. For example, you'd see a line like: "We've got to [TECH] the [TECH] before the [TECH] [TECHS]". They just relied on the actors using a consistent set of gibberish to fill in the blanks.
Comment Re:10 meters for non-video transmission to a TV? (Score 1) 166
I know it's Slashdot and we don't read the articles, but at least read the first sentence of the summary:
Beneath the 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touch panel (with stylus)
Comment Re:Legal Recourse (Score 1) 438
That's bull. You cannot recover lost wages incurred by appearing in small claims court. The only lost wages you can sue for in small claims court are those lost because the defendant physically prevented you from working (i.e. Sony came to your house and smashed your fingers, preventing you from working as a coder). Suing someone is voluntary. To quote the website of one cities small claims court:
3. THE AMOUNT OF YOUR CLAIM: You may ask for money only. No other recovery is permitted in the Small Claims Division. You may not recover "punitive damages", nor lost wages, traveling expenses, costs of obtaining evidence, baby-sitting and the like, incidental to your filing, preparing, or trial appearance. You may recover court fees and interest from the defendant if you win your case.
FairPort Accused of Faking Network Readiness Test 144
wytcld writes "When Verizon spun off its Northern New England lines to FairPoint, FairPoint leased Verizon's computer network to manage them. This was costly, so FairPoint readied its own network. To prove its own network was ready for the switchover a demonstration was prepared for an outside auditor, Liberty. Now a whistleblower claims: '...when Liberty was watching what they thought was "flow thru" within a system and from one system to another, they were really only seeing a small program that was created to assimilate what they wanted the systems to do. They were not actually in the systems at the time nor were they in the test systems. They were in a newly created small program that used screen shots from the real system to deceive the audience into believing that they were watching a real demonstration.' How easy is it to find auditors who can be fooled by such a simple trick? Whether or not the test was faked, the network has proved so unready that FairPoint is close to bankruptcy, and may have its licenses to operate revoked in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont."
Comment Re:Story? (Score 1) 443
Waterworld is probably the best example of that in recent memory (and yes, it was Sci-Fi). It cost $175 Million in 1995, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time. The movie was terrible, and only made back $88 million.
Comment Re:And my recent trip to the zoo... (Score 1) 656
And of course, you can't go near a tropical fish tank without hearing some parent saying "Look! It's Nemo!"
I was at the smithsonian recently, and saw off in the distance a tropical fish display. I bet the person with me that if we went over there we would hear a parent say "Look! Nemo!" within 15 seconds. It only took 4.
Comment Re:When I can lend a Kindle book to a Sony owner.. (Score 1) 273
Technically, the company does exist. Nuvomedia, the maker of the Rocket, was purchased by Gemstar, who merged with TV Guide to become Gemstar TV Guide, who then merged with Macrovision Corp to become Macrovision Solutions Corp, and finally, just this past month, changed its name to Rovi Corp ( http://www.rovicorp.com/ ).
