Comment Re:Up next (Score 1) 382
Isn't this the same as SMS text messages. I don't ask to receive them, especially from spammers, but I still get charged $0.15 per message.
Comment Seattle Roads (Score 1) 343
How about putting that money into improving the deplorable roads of Seattle proper. Despite not using salt come snowy conditions, the roads and especially the highways are full of pot holes. No wonder why everyone actually drives speed limits here, if you go faster parts of your car will start falling off.
Comment Re:Support Amazon (Score 2, Insightful) 195
I would almost never buy an unpacked product because I would be afraid it would interfere with my warranty, and because otherwise there is literally no way to tell who fucked up a product; the manufacturer, or the unpacker.
The products come from the manufacturer in a less packed box--meaning less twistys, blister packing, plastic bags, etc. There is no unpacker involved anywhere in the scheme. The box is also optimized to be shipped individually more so than the standard box, and will actually provide better protection for the customer.
Comment Re:Googlebomb anyone? (Score 1) 333
Please use proper grammar, you meant to say:
jonesday.com are litigious bastards.
Oh and...
litigious bastards
litigious
bastards
turtle
jonesday.com are litigious bastards.
Oh and...
litigious bastards
litigious
bastards
turtle
Comment Re:This just in.... (Score 1) 333
Comment Re:oblig. (Score 1) 267
Gross, to many balls in this picture!
Comment Did anyone else read it as.. (Score 1) 133
Hackable Mind Control-Powered Valentine's Card
That would be so much cooler, and helpful for this crowd.
That would be so much cooler, and helpful for this crowd.
Comment Re:How about... (Score 2, Interesting) 791
Though funny, at the same time this plagues Microsoft's end users,in the form of what does each package actually get, it is used as a great power for Linux, in the form of different niche distributions which have (mostly) defined markets.
We all know some distros for Linux starters, and we all know some for business, and some for the ultimate geek card score. Because these options are provided not as a single product, but as a variety of distributions and even sub-distributions, each product can gain their own community, and in turn, provide better uptake of Linux.
New Law Will Require Camera Phones To "Click" 1235
An anonymous reader writes "A new bill is being introduced called the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act, which would require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken with the phone's camera. It would also prohibit such a phone from being equipped with a means of disabling or silencing the tone."
Comment Why Firefox? (Score 1) 650
Why just firefox and not a slew of different browsers. By doing so, they are promoting more dependence on one browser, for better or worse, and not letting the people decide.
I like firefox, but it still doesn't mean we shouldn't have a choice if we are going to be forced to have one in the bundled software.
I like firefox, but it still doesn't mean we shouldn't have a choice if we are going to be forced to have one in the bundled software.
Comment Food Coloring? (Score 4, Insightful) 384
The material can be rendered edible through chemical processing and can be mixed with fruit juice, sugar, and food coloring to produce jam.
Do we really need to waste precious cargo space and weight to bring up food coloring? I suppose astronauts might want green or purple catchup too.
Comment Re:In other words... (Score 2, Interesting) 94
It's great to see the judgment for this case, however, it will not stop virtual patents in the pharma world (or in software either). Patent lawyers know the system very well, and will use what they learned here to make sure that all virtual patents are tied to a mechanical process or an apparatus. In this case, specifically for US Patent 6420139, evaluating the safety of immunization could become using a simple lab on a chip (the apparatus) that will take the samples from all patients and evaluate their effectiveness in correlation with the schedule of treatment*. The lab on a chip will be novel for detection of a certain disease, virus, etc., which will allow this to be patentable for each new immunization/screening that is needed (with minor tweaks of course).
*Note: this has been written about now, therefor prior art now exists. You may not use this to validate this patent, or others.
*Note: this has been written about now, therefor prior art now exists. You may not use this to validate this patent, or others.
Submission + - Watching cities in 4D 1
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Computer scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Microsoft Research have developed 4D Cities, a software that shows the evolution of a city over time. New Scientist writes that you can see a city change in four dimensions. So far, the team has only modeled Downtown Atlanta by scanning historical photos. The software automatically sorts these snapshots into date order and then builds an animated 3D model that shows changes. This application will be useful for architects, historians or town planners. Now the researchers want to develop models for other cities. Read more for additional references and a 4D map of Downtown Atlanta."
Submission + - IRS Tracking Party Affiliation (thenewstribune.com) 1
cybermage writes: "According to the News Tribune, the IRS is tracking the party affiliation of taxpayers in the over twenty states that require identification of party affiliation on voter registration forms. The IRS is using the voter registration data to try to locate tax cheats. Some in Congress are looking to take steps to have the IRS purge such information and put a halt to IRS plans to outsource collections until the issue is resolved."
Submission + - New York Plans Surveillance Veil for Downtown (nytimes.com)
plaxion writes: Let the Orwellian commentary commence because New York is now planning a London-style Big Brother surveillance system for Downtown. Article Quote: "By the end of this year, police officials say, more than 100 cameras will have begun monitoring cars moving through Lower Manhattan, the beginning phase of a London-style surveillance system that would be the first in the United States...Three thousand surveillance cameras would be installed below Canal Street by the end of 2008, about two-thirds of them owned by downtown companies." But wait, there's more! "Pivoting gates would be installed at critical intersections; they would swing out to block traffic or a suspect car at the push of a button."
