Comment Mod (Score 1) 63
+1 informative!
Comment Astro lawn (Re:continued crappy ...) (Score 2, Interesting) 106
So... In my opinion, the easiest way fix to your problem with coverage in the boonies is to go visit a verizon store, and just bite the bullet on the BS craptacular locked-down handset they will give you. At least you'll be able to use your phone to... you know... make phone calls...
Your impressive list of Verizon's virtues seems a little suspicious.
Especially when you seem rather sympathetic or unusually knowledgable.
Comment Google news has drawbacks (Score 3, Interesting) 108
I used to read Google News exclusively, then I stopped (well, relegated it to minority status) in favor of other news sites for some reasons:
- More and more stories seem to be opinion pieces / glorified blogs, not genuine news.
- Because of the 15-minute refresh interval, top stories can rotate out before you've had a chance to go see it.
- The RSS feed doesn't seem to be organized by any sensible order; important top news would be a good starting point, at least.
- Every new organization has different standards for story depth; using Google News gives you inconsistent coverage because it doesn't seem to take story depth into account when choosing a source to link to.
And most irritating of all, sometimes the source being linked to wants you to register / login and possibly pay for subscription. I'm not against subscribing in order to pay for the effort, but I'm not going to pay subscription to every news site that Google News links to.
And besides, a local newspaper provides you local-interest stories that can be important to know, in addition to the same kind of news that Google News collects.
Comment Re:This is exciting ! (Score 3, Funny) 65
...introduce some sort of OCR into the works to clean it up a bit
Until then, expect your "sent" folder to be full of unexpected messages. Like the following.
jvjw~~wwwy
You are a typical person.
)(~!!
You are a teeny bopper.
-x-x-x
You were moonwalk dancing.
%!%!%!
You are no longer horny.
Submission + - Constant TV is bad for babies (cosmosmagazine.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Having the television on constantly in a household with infants and toddlers is bad for brain and language development because it reduces the number of words the kids hear and say.
"Audible television clearly reduces speech for both infants and their caregivers within the home and this is potentially harmful for babies' development," said Dimitri Christakis, a professor of paediatrics with the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study.
"Audible television clearly reduces speech for both infants and their caregivers within the home and this is potentially harmful for babies' development," said Dimitri Christakis, a professor of paediatrics with the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study.
Submission + - Voters face cyber harassment by new group
unixan writes: The Seattle Times reports that Washington State votes are being threatened with "uncomfortable conversations" for signing a petition that puts new same-sex laws to a vote. WhoSigned.Org, a newly created organization intended for this campaign, is aiming to organize mass-intimidation of voters into withdrawing their signatures.
The campaign may be backfiring, however. Many comments on the story's page indicate that previously-unaware readers intend to sign the petition in protest of the group's tactics.
The campaign may be backfiring, however. Many comments on the story's page indicate that previously-unaware readers intend to sign the petition in protest of the group's tactics.
Submission + - Court Asked to Strike All MediaSentry Evidence (blogspot.com)
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In Capitol v. Thomas, the RIAA's Minnesota case scheduled for trial on June 15th, the defendant's new attorneys have filed a motion to suppress all of the evidence procured by MediaSentry, on the ground that it was obtained in violation of state and federal criminal statutes. The defendant's brief (PDF) accuses MediaSentry of violations of the Minnesota Private Detectives Act, the federal Pen Register and Trap and Trace Devices Act, and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Ms. Thomas-Rasset recently retained new attorneys. The motion is scheduled to be argued on June 10th."
Submission + - What data recovery tools do the pros use? 2
Life2Death writes: "I've been working with computers for a long time, and every once and a while someone close to me has a drive go belly up on them. I know there are big, expensive recovery houses that specialize in mission-critical data recovery, like if your house blew up and you have millions of files you need or something, but for the local IT group, what do you guys use? Given that most people are on NTFS (Windows XP) by the numbers, what would you use? I found a ton of tools when I googled, and everyone and their brother suggests something else, so I want to know what software "just works" on most recoveries of bad, but partially working hard drives. Free software always has a warm spot in my heart."
Submission + - Tenenbaum Asks Sup Ct to Allow Webcasting (blogspot.com)
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the case targeting a Boston University student represented by a legal team from Harvard Law School's Berkman Center, the defendant has petitioned the United States Supreme Court to allow webcasting of the court proceedings. The lower court had ruled that an oral argument of some motions could be streamed, but was later reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, on the ground that a rule of the district courts prohibited any kind of broadcasting. The petition for certiorari (PDF) argues that the First and Fifth Amendment require a different result, and require that public access via the internet be permitted."
Comment Additive (Score 2, Funny) 894
Sorry, the ending is ambiguous. Let me fix that for you...
... when it is added by the driver.
Makes sense.
... when it is drunk by the driver.
Makes even more sense.
Comment Re:privacy of ebooks? (Score 1) 215
Seems like buying books for cash is more anonymous than leaving an e-commerce trail.
I supposed it depends on how big a town you live in.
The problem is the physical medium itself. If you purchase a bodice ripper, for instance, the book's cover looks awfully eyebrow-raising when found in your bookcase at home when friends, colleagues and family members visit. (Just imagine how awkward it is having your mother over for a holiday, and she gives you a red-faced knowing stare after curiously looking at your book collection.)
You'd have to do something a bit inconvenient (like putting the book in your closet) to give it a good hiding and overcome awkwardness.
"Books" that have no physical cover, of course, don't have that problem. Just be sure not let people read the screen over your shoulder at inopportune times! If you use the text-to-speech feature (play an MP3 audiobook version), you can use headphones when you're not alone.
Comment Streisand Effect (Score 1) 695
Thanks to the Sheriff filing a lawsuit about it, prostitution posts on Craigslist will now receive more attention than ever before.
Comment Re:Darknet != Freedom (Score 2, Insightful) 126
Freedom is being able to do what you want to do without having to hide it.
Hiding is what precedes freedom.
Otherwise premature openness can get you shot down.
Comment It's just configuration data! (Score 1) 67
There's usually no inherent copyright (or other legal) interest in configuration of an ADC (application delivery controller) than there is in the configuration of the routers or switches that inhabit the very same network environment. (An exception to this would be script programming, but I've encountered very few copyright claims regarding ADC scripting.)
Now, if a customer doesn't have their own ADC but does have a vital interest in being able to our-live the relationship with their provider, obviously they should either:
- Design the ADC configuration themselves and have the provider put it in place, or
- Allow the provider to design the configuration but require that they export (or at least allow access to) the configuration data.
Disclaimer: I work for an ADC manufacturer, although I have no relationship to a provider or customer.
Comment Re:Teachers (Score 0, Flamebait) 476
Yeah, mark me as troll, but Microsoft's F'in them.
There, fixed it for ya.
