Comment Re:Early adopters. Duh. (Score 0) 833
(Now that I read it, the second sentence is equally poorly written. It seems I'm not immune to being struck with the stupids when I see "Comments (0)" on a new post.)
Comment Re:Early adopters. Duh. (Score 1) 833
(*"THAT". The reason is simply THAT netbooks have changed from a etc. Not "because." Yeesh.)
Comment Early adopters. Duh. (Score 4, Insightful) 833
Of course the actual reason Linux's share of netbooks has dropped is simply because netbooks have changed from a nerds' thing into a mainstream thing.
UNIX's marketshare of all computers did the exact same percentage decline over time as netbooks are having now. It's the early adopters, stupid!
Comment "Click to Unpause"? WTF? (Score 1, Offtopic) 168
Whenever I try to click the header to go back to the homepage, I get some AJAXy crossfadey filth and a big white box with a small black link that says "Click to Unpause."
What is this garbage? I've supported all the upgrades Slashdot has made since Discussion2 was first tested, but this is some horrific love child between 2009's web techniques and 1995's web incompetence.
Anyone else out there with me on this?
STEREO Spacecraft To Explore Earth's L4 and L5 66
Hugh Pickens writes "Launched on October 25, 2006, NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are about to enter the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, special points in our orbit around which spacecraft and other objects can loiter because the gravitational pull of earth and the sun balances the forces from the object's orbital motion. (The spacecraft won't linger at the Lagrangian points; they are just passing through.) 'These places may hold small asteroids, which could be leftovers from a Mars-sized planet that formed billions of years ago,' said NASA Project Scientist Michael Kaiser. STEREO will look for asteroids with a wide-field-of-view telescope. 'If we discover the asteroids have the same composition as the Earth and moon, it will support Belbruno and Gott's version of the giant impact theory. The asteroids themselves could well be left-over from the formation of the solar system.' L4 and L5 are also good places to observe space weather. 'With both the sun and Earth in view, we could track solar storms and watch them evolve as they move toward Earth. Also, since we could see sides of the sun not visible from Earth, we would have a few days warning before stormy regions on the solar surface rotate to become directed at Earth,' says Kaiser."
Comment Re:If you didn't vote libertarian, you ASKED FOR T (Score 1) 785
Your writing is actually pretty horrible if this post is any indication. Maybe English isn't your native language? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
But let's assume that a lot of people wanted to read books' worth of your writing, and let's further assume that most of them decided to download their copy instead of buying it. Did you provide an easy-to-use, well-designed downloadable version of your book?
If not, then you did not provide what there was obviously demand for, and therefore have few to blame but yourself for your books' failure.
People still buy books they want. People still buy things they want. You just have to make the things you sell worth it.
Comment Re:The really funny thing about the voice (Score 1) 174
I think what SuperKendall is trying to say is not that the words are pronounced phonetically differently, but rather that the word is emphasized the wrong way.
It's sort of like the difference between "HE told you that?!" and "He told YOU that?!" Same words, same pronunciations, different meanings.
Comment Re:Topical? (Score 1) 89
Topical? Super Mario Galaxy is a Nunchuk game, not a Classic Controller game.
GGP was not talking about games on a specific controller; he was just saying that the Wii needs more good games, period.
For shooters like Ikaruga
Non sequitur. Did you even read your parent post? He said he was talking about first-person shooters.
Comment Re:Still wired to wiimote (Score 1) 89
You fail, dude. He was on your side. He was sarcastically saying that yes, we had wireless Gamecube controllers seven years ago and that you're right: we should have them today as well.
Google Unofficially Announces GDrive By Leaked Code 342
An anonymous reader writes "Google has unofficially announced the GDrive by source code. In an in-direct way, Google has publicly advertised the new, much-anticipated online storage drive called the GDrive. If you take a look at the source code of some javascript within the Google Pack, you will clearly see the GDrive referenced. The code categorizes the GDrive as an 'Online file backup and storage' device. It also provides the following descriptions; 'GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents' and 'GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device — be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone.'"
Texas Board of Education Supports Evolution 344
somanyrobots writes with this excerpt from the Dallas News:
"In a major defeat for social conservatives, a sharply divided State Board of Education voted Thursday to abandon a longtime state requirement that high school science teachers cover what some critics consider to be 'weaknesses' in the theory of evolution. Under the science curriculum standards recommended by a panel of science educators and tentatively adopted by the board, biology teachers and biology textbooks would no longer have to cover the 'strengths and weaknesses' of Charles Darwin's theory that man evolved from lower forms of life. Texas is particularly influential to textbook publishers because of the size of its market, so this could have a ripple effect on textbooks used in other states as well."
Comment Re:I beta tested this one (Score 1) 39
Were you in Choru, Ubiru, Cyan internal, or other? (If you don't know what any of that means, that's answer enough. :) )
Triple-Engine Browser Released As Alpha 181
jcasman passes along a heads-up on Lunascape, a Japanese browser company that is releasing its first English version of its Lunascape 5 triple-engine browser. It's for XP and Vista only. There are reviews up at CNET, OStatic (quoted below), and Lifehacker. Both the reviews and comments point out that, in its current alpha state, the browser is buggy and not very fast; but it might be one to watch. "How many web browsers do you run? If you're like me, you regularly use Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari. Each of those browsers, of course, has its own underlying rendering engine: Gecko (in Firefox), Trident (in Internet Explorer), and Webkit (in Chrome and Safari). Today, a Japanese startup called Lunascape has released an alpha version of its Lunascape browser ... that allows you to switch between all three of these prominent rendering engines. The company says that the Japanese version of Lunascape has been downloaded 10 million times and touts it as the fastest browser available."
Apple's New MacBooks Have Built-In Copy Protection 821
raque writes "Appleinsider is reporting that the new MacBooks/MacBookPros have built-in copy protection. Quote: 'Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't compliant with the new priority protection measures.' Ars Technica is also reporting on the issue. Is this the deal they had to make to get NBC back? Is this a deal breaker for Apple or will fans just ignore it to get their hands on the pretty new machines? Is this a new opportunity for Linux? And what happened to Jobs not liking DRM?"
Comment Re:Liberties lost (Score 1) 76
Will we be able to take our kids to church?
Oh, please.
