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Comment 5% to 80%, depending how you count it (Score 1) 280

If you count GB stored, then 5%, if you count devices (as in laptop/pc/ipad) then 80%, if devices (as 8 HDD'ds per PC then 50%)
Only places i don't use solid state storage is my PC (8x500 gb hdd) and one external drive (500gb)
Everything else (Laptop (120gb), ipad (16gb), phone (32gb), ipod (16gb), memory sticks (3x16, 8, 4, 4x2), etc.) is using solid state storage

Comment I want to pay fot the movies i watch... (Score 1) 587

...but no-one wants my money!
Downloading a DVD quality movie takes about 20 seconds (250mbps here), fiddling with my tv remote to start the movie over dlna takes another 5 seconds

When i insert a DVD, it takes 10s for boot up, another 5 sec to load the DVD, 20s of warnings that do not apply to me (Europe), 10 sec of warnings that do apply to me (selling/distributing pirated copies is illegal here, downloading is not), 2 minutes of fast forwarding (if possible) through the trailers, 10s for the menu to load, 10s for the movie to load, 30s of studio logos....

So if i want to pirate the movie, it takes me (from the idea to actual movie) ~25 seconds. When i don't want to pirate the movie, it takes me 185 seconds (if I'm lucky) in addition to the trip to video store?

There are no streaming services available here (i would be more than happy to pay for Netflix) and movie studios keep making paying for their work harder and harder....

For BluRay, the time to start BR disc / download and play from net is about the same for me, but i can go make a sandwich while downloading instead of manically hitting "FF/Next/Play" on my remote
Biotech

Engineered Stem Cells Seek Out and Kill HIV In Mice 95

An anonymous reader writes "Expanding on previous research providing proof-of-principle that human stem cells can be genetically engineered into HIV-fighting cells, a team of UCLA researchers have now demonstrated that these cells can actually attack HIV-infected cells in a living organism. From the article: 'This most recent study shows that scientists can manipulate stem cells — immature cells that can develop into any type of cell — by implanting genes, turning it into killer T cells which can kill the virus in living mice. While the mouse form of HIV is not exactly the same as it is in humans, the infection and progression closely mimic the virus in humans, and eliminating it is a huge step forward, researchers said.'"

Comment i3 htpc + XBMC is the answer (Score 1) 140

Here's what i have:
* i3 2120T with no cooling
* Some Asus micro-ATX board
* 2x4gb of ram
* 2x3 tb Hdd
* Pico PSU
* Media center case with 1 12cm case-fan (the only fan in system)

As a result i have a media server that serves all other systems (primary tv via HDMI, rest via DLNA or fileshares), that is always on (seedbox), can play 60fps 1080p with no problems and takes almost no power (12w idle/seeding, 14w playing 1080p, 75w peak at startup)

Comment Re:Optional extensions? (Score 2) 180

Drop legacy and force extensions? Sounds like M$/Apple (but in this case it's the opposite) this will lead to "Oh, I'm sorry your App X can't connect to the Internet anymore, you know it's already 3.5 years old? Time to buy a newer version!"

But seriously, in the foreseeable future (lets say 10 years) we wont get to a state where mobile devices can be allays on-line, listening for server pushes and not drain the battery in 4 hours.

"You forgot google.com open in your mobile browser? It servers you right that your battery lasted 2 hours... and here is the bill for the 500mb bandwidth it consumed while at it"

Comment Re:Just Might Take Them Up On It (Score 1) 152

This returns a massive profit of 0,007$/h (considering the machine is running 24/7) per virtual machine

If you factor in the power and infrastructure bills you are at loss...

Now this is more like it:
0. Sneak into someone else's server room
1. Install virtual machine
2. Install Chrome
3. Write Python script to browse web continuously
4. ???^h^h^h Sell cache
5. Profit!

Comment Re:Appstore economics. (Score 5, Insightful) 321

I'm a hobby developer for WP7 with 2 of my friends. The first thing we do on every release is upload our app to various torrent sites and seed the hell out of it.

If someone has jailbroken their phone and is capable of and interested in finding, downloading and installing a pirated app on their phone, they are lost revenue for us anyway.
Our only hope of revenue from these users is to provide them with good enough app so that they keep using it and might buy it (and advertise the app within their circle of friends, who might not be competent enough to pirate the app)

If it is easier to buy the app on appstore than to pirate it, then pirates are good for you

I can't say for sure that we wouldn't have made it without piracy, but currently we have 5 simple apps out and with total cost of 2000$ for launch advertising (and "free" work for 2-3 weeks at nights, after our daily jobs) per app, we gross around 6500$ every month

Since we seed our apps ourselves, we see that approximately 20% of installations are pirated (~2000 torrent downloads vs ~10000 sales via store every month) but we are sure that without the 20% "lost" sales, we wouldn't make the top charts of legal downloads... ever....
Cellphones

"Subconscious Mode" Could Boost Phone Battery Life 85

cylonlover writes "University of Michigan researchers have proposed a new power management system for smartphones that could dramatically improve battery life. The system, known as E-MiLi, or Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening, addresses the energy waste that occurs when 'sleeping' phones are looking for incoming messages and clear communication channels. E-MiLi slows down the clock of a phone's WiFi card by up to 1/16 its normal frequency in order to save power, but then kicks it back up to full speed when information is coming in. The phone uses the header of the incoming message to wake itself up from its 'subconscious mode,' so the clock is at full speed to receive the main message. For users on the busiest networks, it could extend battery life by up to 54 percent."
Music

Spotify Sued For Patent Infringement 151

An anonymous reader writes "Celebrated online music player Spotify just entered the US market a few weeks ago, and already it's being sued for patent infringement. Welcome to America! The patent in question is a very very broad patent on distribution of music in a digital form, which basically describes how anyone would ever distribute digital music. The company suing, PacketVideo, has no competing product. It just wants money from the company that actually innovated."

Comment Re:Build it (Score 1) 117

It might take a while to get 1Gbs+ Internet to most homes, but for LAN i feel GbE as a bottleneck today.
When I use DLNA to stream HD content to 3 TV's (one in kitchen, one in living room and 1 or 2 in kids rooms) and use N spec wifi at the same time, the DLNA lags sometimes. By calculations there should be some bandwith left over but not much. The lagging is probably caused by unexpected overheads and GbE switches preforming at "GbE in theory" speeds, but with the world moving towards a phase where every single gadget/device is connected to LAN/Internet this will become a large problem shortly.
Cellphones

Nokia Outsources Symbian OS Work 179

angry tapir writes "Nokia will outsource its Symbian software activities to Accenture, transferring 3,000 employees to the company in the process, as it moves its focus to making phones running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. The Finnish phone manufacturer will also close some of its research and development sites and eliminate a further 4,000 jobs by the end of next year. Last week Nokia announced the signing of a definitive agreement regarding their global mobile ecosystem partnership."

Comment Isn't 100mbps too slow by the time of completition (Score 2) 62

The project will likely take 5 or more years to complete.
I remember having 4mbps/512kbps ADSL line 5 years ago and there is no way i would call that "usable" today.

I've had 150mbps/100mbps cable for a year now, this seems fine at the moment but in 5 years? considering how technology keeps on advancing and using up more-and-more bandwidth i really doubt there will be that many users for 100mbps net in 5 years.

In my opinion they should take the money, invest it in backbone networks and let local telco's compete on rented cables (take Stockholm for example, similar scenario resulted in 4$/mo 100mbps net for the whole city 2 years ago)

Comment Re:It's a very valid model for some games (Score 1) 90

There are two huge problems with this kind of subscription system:
1. How do would they charge you?
- They could book the maximum possible amount ($15.95) up-front but that would result in constant booking on your CC
- They could charge you every time you enter the next level in payment structure, but this would increase the payment overhead fivefold
- They could charge after a period of playing but that would result in massive number of botters/farmers using fake CC details

2. This is exactly the kind of subscription model that APB had and was one of the main reasons for their failure.
People don't like to be presented with options like: "will you be playing 1-10, 10-20 or 20+ hours this month?". MMO's are supposed to be entertainment for free time. Planning ahead "10-20" hours of entertainment will make it feel like work.
It is much more fun to pay $15 and play as much as you like than to constantly worry if I'm going to loose money by playing too little or too much.

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