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Comment Re:What is white emiiting? (Score 1) 296

What is white emiiting?

Perhaps it's related an olde English discovery?

Lord Percy Percy: I've done it, my Lord! I've discovered how to turn things into gold! Pure gold!
Blackadder: You have? Show me!
Lord Percy Percy: [takes lid off melting pot, and Baldrick, Percy and Blackadder are bathed in a green glow] Behold!
Blackadder: Percy... it's green.
Lord Percy Percy: Yes, my Lord!
Blackadder: Now, look, Percy, I don't mean to be pedantic or anything, but the color of gold... is gold. That's why it's called gold. What YOU have discovered, if it has a name, is some... Green.
Lord Percy Percy: [removes lump of Green from pot] Oh, Edmund... can it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest Green?

Piracy

Submission + - Microsoft accidentally gifts pirates with a free Windows 8 Pro license key (extremetech.com) 1

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "In an amusing twist that undoubtedly spells the end of some hapless manager’s career, Microsoft has accidentally gifted pirates with a free, fully-functioning Windows 8 license key. As you have probably surmised, this isn’t intentional — Microsoft hasn’t suddenly decided to give pirates an early Christmas present (though the $40 upgrade deal from Windows 8 Release Preview is something of a pirate amnesty). In fact, it’s probably just a case of poor testing and a rushed release by Microsoft. The bug involves the Key Management Service, which is part of Microsoft's Volume Licensing system. Pirates have already hacked the KMS to activate Windows 8 for 180 days — but this is just a partial activation. Now it turns out that the free Media Center Pack license keys that Microsoft is giving out until January 31 2013 can be used on a KMS-activated copy of Windows 8 to turn it into a fully licensed copy of Windows 8 Pro. The massive irony, of course, is that Microsoft originally intended to strip Media Center from Windows 8 Pro — and then, in the face of consumer backlash, decided to offer it as a free upgrade until January 31 2013. Presumably, instead of taking the time to deliver the upgrade properly, Microsoft pushed it out the door as quickly as possible — and this is the result."

Comment Re:no more donuts for Gabe... (Score 1) 768

by Anonymous Cowled (#41891295) Attached to: Valve: Linux Better Than Windows 8 for Gaming
Kudos - you know how to use one particular tool but can't figure out how to use another, well done.

I'd hardly say that you're the only one (especially coming from the Windows camp, where everything is done the Windows way, as opposed to the Unix way), but I think you might be exaggerating when you say "just like all the other people...".

The main problem that you - and people like you (and this isn't intended as an insult), have with Linux/Unix is that you expect it to be a free version of Windows - which it isn't.

Comment Re:Didn't Do The Research (Score 1) 192

by Anonymous Cowled (#41853115) Attached to: Apple Loses Trademark Claim Against iFone in Mexico

Great. I have a question: Has there ever been a trademark infringement lawsuit, where the defendants had both been using the trademark in the market and had originated it before the plaintiffs, and where the plaintiffs won the case? I sincerely doubt it.

"GAIM" changed their name first to "gaim", then to "Pidgin IM" after pressure from AOL, even though GAIM was named long before AOL Instant Messenger was shortened to AIM. Linky. OK, wasn't trademarked, but still.

Comment Re:US Patents lead to technological backwater (Score 1) 553

by Anonymous Cowled (#41202027) Attached to: Apple Adds Samsung Galaxy SIII To Its Ban List

why should companies like Samsung, HTC, etc etc actually bother releasing their products in the US when Apple will use the courts to ban them?

The US is one of the largest (the largest?) market in the world. Why would companies not try to cash in on that?

It's amazing how many of the self proclaimed 'freedoms' and 'ethics' have been quietly swept under the carpet in the name of capitalism and the next quarters profit margin.

"The land of the free" has been a joke to everyone outside of the US for decades.
Bitcoin

Submission + - Bitcoin-Based Drug Market Silk Road Thriving With $22 Million In Annual Sales (forbes.com)

Submitted by Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: Every day or so of the last six months, Carnegie Mellon computer security professor Nicolas Christin has crawled and scraped Silk Road, the Tor- and Bitcoin-based underground online market for illegal drug sales.

Now Christin has released a paper on his findings, which show that the site's business is booming: its number of sellers, who offer everything from cocaine to ecstasy, has jumped from around 300 in February to more than 550. Its total sales now add up to around $1.9 million a month. And its operators generate more than $6,000 a day in commissions for themselves, compared with around $2,500 in February.

Most surprising, perhaps, is that buyers rate the sellers on the site as relatively trustworthy, despite the fact that no real identities are used. Close to 98% of ratings on the site are positive.

Comment Re:Ah, central planning. (Score 1) 611

by Anonymous Cowled (#39066673) Attached to: Aderall Or Nothing: Anatomy of the Great Amphetamine Drought

I wasn't diagnosed until I was in college... ADHD is not a made-up disease, just an over-diagnosed one

So let me get this straight. What you're saying is that ADHD is an over diagnosed disease that you personally have been diagnosed with... and what's more, you have found that with the intake of prescribed amphetamine, your attention span increases?
Censorship

UK Twitter Users Declare 'I'm Spartacus' 213

Posted by timothy from the this-campaign-can't-bomb dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Tweeters have joined forces to support Paul Chambers, the man convicted and fined for a Twitter message threatening to blow up an airport. A so-called 'I'm Spartacus' campaign encouraging users to 're-tweet' his words has also become a huge hit. The hashtag #IAmSpartacus is currently the number one trending topic on Twitter in the UK, with #twitterjoketrial in second place. Chambers is believed to be the first person convicted in the UK for posting an offensive tweet. After the hearing, actor and Twitter fan Stephen Fry tweeted that he would pay Chambers' fine. Comedian Dara O'Briain tweeted that the verdict was 'ludicrous' while Peep Show actor David Mitchell said it was 'punishment for flippancy.'" I suspect not as many people will re-tweet on behalf of Garreth Compton.
Canada

Ontario School Bans Wi-Fi 287

Posted by samzenpus from the balance-the-humors dept.
St. Vincent Euphrasia elementary school in Meaford, Ont. is the latest Canadian school to decide to save its students from the harmful effects of Wi-Fi by banning it. Schools from universities on down have a history of banning Wi-Fi in Ontario. As usual, health officials and know-it-all scientists have called the move ridiculous. Health Canada has released a statement saying, "Wi-Fi is the second most prevalent form of wireless technology next to cell phones. It is widely used across Canada in schools, offices, coffee shops, personal dwellings, as well as countless other locations. Health Canada continues to reassure Canadians that the radiofrequency energy emitted from Wi-Fi equipment is extremely low and is not associated with any health problems."
Idle

Halo Elite Cosplay Puts Others To Shame 115

Posted by samzenpus from the using-your-time-wisely dept.
AndrewGOO9 writes "Pete Mander, a special effects artist from Ontario, Canada seems like he might have either had way too much time on his hands or just really enjoys Halo. Either way, this is one of those costumes that makes all of the cosplayers at a con feel like their best efforts just weren't quite up to par."

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