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Comment Re:Has it really come to this? (Score 4, Insightful) 233

by Quinn_Inuit (#39581119) Attached to: Plantronics Helps Make Remote Workers' Lives Easier (Video)

In case this wasn't clear enough, you known that line that companies cross that pisses their users off and sends them into a death spiral, a la Digg? You just crossed it. Step back very quickly or you'll have big problems.

This.

Seriously, did y'all have to kick Taco out before you could pull this crap? I've been reading /. daily, no, more than daily, for nearly 10 years, and this post made me seriously think about quitting.

Comment Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs were right! (Score 1) 9

by Quinn_Inuit (#37773192) Attached to: Brothers Charged With Stealing Bridge
Bridge thieves actually _were_ a threat to the Brass Bridge in Ankh-Morpork. I thought they were just slacking off by guarding the bridge instead of actually investigating crimes, but it turns out they were right when they claimed to be several steps ahead of the criminal element. I stand corrected.

Comment Re:Slashdotted already? (Score 2) 263

by Quinn_Inuit (#37651894) Attached to: Was the iPod Accessory Port Inspired By a 40-Year-Old Camera?

2100 EST on a Saturday night? What are all of you people doing reading /. now?

Seriously? Like, what? Everyone that normally reads slashdot is supposed to be out at a bar right now or something?

Exactly! I posted that from a bar while I was chatting to a pair of Slovakian models. I totally am not sitting around my house in my PJs.

Canada

Submission + - Canadian Bill C-51 turns ISPs into Gatekeepers (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dwayne Winseck, a communications professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University, wrote an article on the proposed Bill C-51: The bill would make it mandatory for telecom providers, ISPs and search engines to monitor, store, retain and not disclose e-mail, Internet and telephone communications at the request of law and security officials. No warrant necessary.
Space

Submission + - Massive Black Hole Devours Star (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by H3xx
H3xx writes: Astronomers have observed a black hole shredding a star and sending a powerful beam of energy towards Earth. When it was first observed March 28th by the Swift spacecraft, it was thought to be the implosion of an aging star, but is now believed to be the result of a star wandering too close to a black hold, imploding and converting 10% of the star's mass into gamma radiation. The energy burst is still visible by telescope more than two-and-a-half months later, the researchers report in the journal Science.
Games

Submission + - Building a Gygax Memorial (gygaxmemorialfund.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It looks like approval to build a memorial to E. Gary Gygax has been granted in Lake Geneva City. The Gygax Memorial Fund is still taking donations for the memorial that may begin construction as early as later this year.

I (like many on /.) spent many years of my youth using Gygax inspired creations as an excuse to socialize, roll dice, and eat chips at impromptu gatherings before computers intruded on the RPG realms.

Comment Re:Boycott (Score 1) 515

by Quinn_Inuit (#35672138) Attached to: Samsung Plants Keyloggers On Laptops
They just lost two customers here, probably for life. My wife's not particularly tech-savvy, but she just saw the post over my shoulder and there's no way she'd buy a Samsung now. And I'll definitely pay extra (if necessary) to know I'm not being monitored with a keylogger. So the price is immaterial...I don't think either of us would take a Samsung computer of any sort for free at this point. (I know I could theoretically wipe it and start fresh, but if it's the manufacturer doing it, who knows what kind of backups they might have built straight into the BIOS or somewhere else on the motherboard?)
Windows

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do you choose a Windows laptop? 7

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "I'm a Mac guy. When our 2004-era Windows XP laptop, which was used primarily by my wife, died last summer, I got myself a new MacBook Pro and she inherited my still servicable 2008 MacBook. But after about six months, she hasn't gotten used to it, and wants a Windows machine. I don't have an ideological problem with this — it'd be her computer, and we've got a bit of money stashed away to pay for it. But trying to pick one out is my job, and I find the the whole process bewildering. Apple's product differentiation is great at defeating the paradox of choice — you have a few base models, the difference between which is quite obvious, and you can customize each. The Windows world seems totally different. Even once I've settled on a vendor for a Windows laptop (something I haven't done yet), each seems to have a bewildering array of product lines with similar specs. Often models that you find in electronics or office supply stores that seem promising in terms of form factor are exclusive to those stores and can't be found online. Obviously people do navigate this process, but I'm just feeling out of my depth. How would Slashdotters go about picking a solid, basic laptop for Web surfing and document editing that won't be obsolete in two years?"
Robotics

Submission + - Is it a bird? No it's a robot (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Festo, well known for their biologically inspired robots, have done it again SmartBird . A mechanism that flys like a bird. It is amazing to watch and all the more amazing when you realise that it just flaps its wings and all of the control is via a torsion drive which twists the wings during each flap. The whole thing depends on the constant intervention of the software to keep it under control.
Media

Submission + - Nuclear Information Gap With Japan (talkingpointsmemo.com)

Submitted by
Quinn_Inuit
Quinn_Inuit writes: "A correspondent at TalkingPointsMemo has compared U.S. media sources covering the Fukushima reactor problems to Japanese sources and found even the most well-regarded of the U.S. sources long on sensationalism and short on facts. Michio Kaku gets special mention for prophesies of doom that were completely at odds with the facts on the ground."

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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