Comment Re:You'd be betting correctly (Score 1) 219
If you just want a phone for a phone, obviously it doesn't matter if it's open source or what operating system it runs.
Comment Re:Of course we will... (Score 1) 219
The problem was there was no effort to build any interest in it, and it was an clunky, terrible device. People obviously like phones with a lot of programmability, like the iPhone and G1, because they can get innovative apps (and not just overpriced junk like the phone companies offer), and being open source can help with that, but just being open source doesn't mean anything.
Comment Re:Shame (Score 1) 488
The best way to do it is to only have votes when a certian percent of the body is there, somewhere in the hight 90's.
Then it only takes 11 percent to block a bill (by not attending).
Comment Fringe (Score 1) 753
They need to get rid of Fringe. It is one of the most awful television shows I have ever seen. It's just completely unwatchable. I watched the pilot and the plot was incredibly stupid, and the characters were ridiculously fake and uninteresting. The dialogue went beyond vapidity. The sci-fi element was also crappy. They just threw out random nonsense.
It even manages to be worse than Psych.
Even stupid reality shows are much better than Fringe. One is kind of boring and asinine, the other is painful. Fringe might be preferable to celebrity nonsense, I guess.
Comment Re:since when? (Score 1) 587
They still have some electronic components like that. In my experience it's been in a metal cabinet thing in one of the isles in back.
Comment Re:Main mistake they made? (Score 1) 587
The Microcenters I've been in seem like dingy stores. A lot of their display products were damaged and it was kind of hard to find things.
I like Frys.
Comment Re:Ouch (Score 1) 849
$100 isn't really that impressive, though its still obviously ridiculous, but 30 days in jail seems incredibly harsh.
Comment Re:Not just cost, but optics (Score 1) 685
They are also extremely expensive and use expensive esoteric batteries.
I like Fenix flashlights. They sell a lot that use normal AA and AAA batteries. They're also suprisingly bright and they don't lose brightness as battery voltage goes down with charge until the battery is almost done.
Comment Re:Fuel economy (Score 1) 1114
Yes, it is engine braking, and it is good. The same thing happens in a manual, but in a manual you have more flexibility in downshifting (which means you can use more engine breaking, but when done excessively you cause excessive wear).
The engine is meant to slow down the car (and ideally, but in many scenarios not realistically, do most of the slowing down). It is not meant to do it very fast (or come to a complete stop). That's what brakes are for, rather than excessive downshifting.
'Flying Saucers' to Go On Sale Soon 327
gihan_ripper writes "Perhaps the ultimate nerd acquisition, the flying car, is to go on sale in a few months. Speaking to the BBC, the inventor Dr Paul Moller described his creation, dubbed the Flying Saucer, as a VTOL aircraft designed to hover at 10 ft. above the ground. The flying saucer has eight engines and is expected to sell for $90,000. Dr Moller expects to produce a successor within six years, a 'Skycar' capable of a climb rate of 6000 ft./min. and an airspeed of 400 mph."
U.S. Cities Don't Make the Intelligence Cut 350
coondoggie writes "For the second year running, no U.S. city has made the list of the world's top Intelligent Communities of 2007, as selected by global think tank Intelligent Community Forum. The ICF selects the Intelligent Community list based on how advanced the communities are in deploying broadband, building a knowledge-based workforce, combining government and private-sector "digital inclusion," fostering innovation and marketing economic development."
'Over 30' Section For Games Stores? 220
A New York law introduced by Representative Keith Wright seeks just that, a section for gaming stores that keeps 'violent games' under lock and key, and is accessible only to people over 30. The law is one of two poorly-thought pieces of legislation being considered by New York state's legal system. From the 1up article: "The history of the courts striking down such legislation goes just about as far back as politicians who attempt to bolster their own image by capitalizing on the public fear and hysteria over the bogeyman of video gaming. It's interesting to note that recently, courts have begun penalizing entities who purposely waste their time with attempts at passing frivolous and unconstitutional anti-videogame legislation. You'd think might deter motions like [these] somewhat, wouldn't you?" Update: 01/19 04:10 GMT by Z : As ahecht points out in the comments 1up has things wrong here. There is only one bill, and it restricts violent games from being sold to those under 18 only. Line 5 of the bill's text is the section in question.
2006 - The Year the FSF Reached Out 114
nanday writes "Linux.com is running a story
about how the Free Software Foundation has transformed itself into an activist organization in the past year. From the story: 'At the start of 2006, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was largely inward-looking, focused on the GNU Project and high-level strategic concerns such as licensing. Now, without abandoning these issues, the FSF had transformed into an openly activist organization, reaching out to its supporters and encouraging their participation in civic campaigns often designed to enlist non-hackers in their causes. Yet what happened seems to bemuse even FSF employees.'" Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.
Inhabited Island Vanishes Forever Underwater 408
PhreakOfTime writes "For the first time the rising ocean levels have washed away an inhabited island. Lohachara island was at one point home to some 10,000 people. It, along with several other spits of land near the Indian mainland, is now permanently underwater. From the article: ' As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. Eight years ago ... the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.'"
High-Performance Flexible Organic Transistors 25
Roland Piquepaille writes "Organic — or carbon-based — transistors are not new and can be used to design flexible computer displays, RFID tags and sensors. However, these organic single crystals could not be mass-produced because they needed to be individually handpicked. But now, researchers at Stanford University and the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a new method for building flexible organic transistor arrays. Even if the researchers have reached a density of 13 million crystals per square inch (or 2 million per square centimeter), there are still several issues to solve before this method can be used for commercial applications of these fast transistors."
