Comment Re:Amiga had it first. (Score 1) 86
It was like being in love with a beautiful, adoring, and creative woman with an unfortunate habit of accidentally setting fires and leaving them to burn.
How do you know my wife??
Comment Re:Price (Score 1) 459
I'm telling you, there's something up with tablets in the US. The cheap tablets and handhelds that you can buy everywhere else in the world just aren't in the US. It seems fishy.
You've obviously never been to Australia. In Australia, everything seems to cost roughly twice the US price. Example: iTunes tracks in the US - $0.99. In Australia - $1.99, even though the Australian dollar is roughly the same value as the US dollar.
Comment Re:I hate to say it but (Score 1) 96
Solar is the greenest energy available, hands down. Although I doubt using the sun to provide light would interest many people.
You mean like a skylight? I hear they're quite popular.
Comment Re:It's not open source (Score 1) 406
The N900 is the most FOSS-geek friendly thing I can find at the moment, and I love it.
Actually I saw RMS speaking at Melbourne University a couple of weeks ago, and he recommended HTC mobiles running Android, because apparently you can remove the non-free software and everything that is left is GPL.
Comment Re:I'm so sick of this... (Score 1) 406
Uh, no, that's not it. It's the same reason nobody wants to hear anybody blindly mention how the iPhone solves everybody's problems.
So
Comment Re:Reading problem (Score 1) 363
I
Can you stop yourself from replying to replies to your posts?
Comment Re:Grow up. (Score 1) 448
If you don't ever go to see bands, attend parties, find old acquaintances, know about local events, keep track of people in far away places, etc. then no, I suppose it wouldn't be valuable. But seeing I do all of those things, it is valuable to me.
I've done all of these things and never used Facebook. Do you have a point?
Comment Re:Grow up. (Score 1) 448
E-mail accounts frequently change. Facebook accounts remain constant.
I know I hate it when my e-mail address randomly changes itself.
Comment Re:Help! Get the Vaseline! (Score 4, Informative) 222
4. Australians will stick with their (possibly) slower current technology services when given the alternative of a faster, but significantly more expensive solution.
Not possible. Remember that "agreement" that the government reached with Telstra? They agreed to "sell" their customers to NBN Co. when NBN rollout is complete in an area. This means that once NBN is available in your area you will be forced to use it or use nothing, because all alternatives will be removed by law.
Comment Re:Next step to prevent PC piracy (Score 1) 795
The "$2500 overclocking gaming monster" crowd will easily spend $500 on their rig just on the case and the cooling alone.
Actually I know people who build these things. They don't spend money on games because they don't play games - they spend all their time benchmarking, overclocking, setting up RAID arrays, etc. And when that's done; they move onto something else entirely.
Submission + - Wall Street's Lessons for Nuclear Deterrence (wordpress.com)
Martin Hellman writes: What do auction rate preferred securities (ARPS) and nuclear deterrence have in common? Both work well for a long period of time, but are destined to fail catastrophically. ARPS have already imploded, with many falsely claiming that "no one could have foreseen the crisis." Let's learn our lesson before nuclear deterrence follows suit.
Submission + - Australia delays controversial net filter plan (itnews.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: The Australian Government will delay the introduction of mandatory ISP-level filtering until it completes a review of the refused classification (RC) content guidelines that will govern what content gets blocked under the controversial plan. In the meantime, Australia's largest ISPs — accounting for some 70 percent of internet users — have agreed to voluntarily block child abuse URLs until the mandatory filter is ready. The decision to delay but not dump the plan — which has opposition from just about everywhere — means it will still be an issue in upcoming elections, although the main opposition party has done little to appeal to the tech vote by promising to dump the rollout of a $43 billion national fibre network.
Submission + - 10 reasons why Australia still needs a net filter (idg.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "The proposed Internet filter pushed by Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been a source of controversy. Today it was revealed that the filter will be delayed by at least 12 months, while the Government further considers exactly what content would be blocked. We've compiled 10 reasons why Australia needs an Internet filter — and the sooner the better."
Submission + - Antibodies that prevent HIV infection (scienceblog.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have discovered two potent human antibodies that can stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the laboratory, and have demonstrated how one of these disease-fighting proteins accomplishes this feat. According to the scientists, these antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection.
Submission + - Black hole emits a 1,000 light-year wide fireball (io9.com) 1
PhrostyMcByte writes: "12 million light-years away in the outer spiral of galaxy NGC 7793, a bubble of hot gas approximately 1,000 light-years in diameter can be found shooting out of a black hole — one of the most powerful jets of energy ever seen. The bubble has been growing for approximately 200,000 years, and is expanding at around 1,000,000 kilometers per hour."
