Comment Could be worse (Score 1) 515
At least he doesn't live on a ticonderoga class cruiser, the phased array radar plates produce dead birds in the vicinity and can hard boil eggs in seconds.
Comment Re:How can be? (Score 1) 475
Thinkpads last forever, I hope Lenovo continues to make this a good brand. Although they are a chinese company.... 10 year old think-pads have perfectly working keyboards, even if the letters started to rub off from years of use ( only a cosmetic effect ), they remain perfectly working ( how do they do that?? ). Meanwhile, buy a laptop from futureshop today and within a couple year's you'll be replacing a hard drive, a dvd drive, a monitor, a keyboard etc... A ten year-old think-pad for programmers are great, they do everything you need, do you even need a 1000$ pc? a 1ghz processor is fine unless your programming in java and want to use netbeans/eclipse, even then just use vi as your editor?
Comment Re:Linux laptop is probably next for me (Score 1) 475
There is a company that specially sells linux laptops called "Linux Certified", I work with one of these laptops and it is kick-ass. I heard It wasn't very expensive either, though I didn't buy it. Anyways it has a core 2 duo 2.16 ghz, 4 gb of ram, 1900x1080 resolution screen on a regular sized laptop screen ( 17''? its not particularly large or wide ), the pixel density is insane, full num-pad keyboard. Nvidia GeForce 9600m GT with 512 MB. The brand name label says "Linux Certified", has sleek elegant design, comes with Ubuntu ( 8 or 9, so pretty much the latest ) installed with all the drivers, including the video card and webcam/microphone drivers.
Comment Re:Yes, but whose strategy is superior? (Score 1) 475
I thought apple relies on chinese manufacturers just as much as any other computer company, as per the recent article about the guy who committed suicide over a lost iphone. Also wikipedia says foxconn manufactures like 90% of apples goods.
Comment Re:Apple is not worth the cost (Score 1) 475
Also the screens are generally a lot better on the business brands, these days they make widescreen laptops with low pixel-density, whereas the really old think-pad I mentioned that I have has a 1280x1024 resolution display fit in I think like a 14'' screen? Also even though it's so old the the pixels are still good and bright, whereas a couple years ago I bought a hp laptop just for kicks and now the screen is noticeably dimmer and just generally looks reduced in quality since I first bought it.
Comment Re:Apple is not worth the cost (Score 1) 475
Get a think-pad those are the best laptops. They used to be made by ibm but the brand got sold to lenovo and now they make them, but they still make them the same way and quality. I have a think-pad running windows xp with a 1 ghz processor, made a really long time ago it doesn't even have a dvd drive its so old, but it works fine. The new ones are much nicer. They always include the middle blue mouse-alternative joystick-like stub, which is a really wonderful feature for lazy people too lazy to use a mouse or even a touchpad. They last forever pretty much, made of thick indestructible plastic. Basically when buying a laptop do not buy the brands that are for personal use, like the ones advertised as home / family computers, instead buy the brands they sell to businesses and industry, they are made a lot better, the ones they advertise to home / family use are shit and are just sold to make quick bucks and generally aren't designed to last long.
Comment Re:My Time is worth something (Score 1) 475
You're forgetting that windows users have something called piracy, whereby they get all their software for free, even the operating system. Updates for AV can also be got through piracy.
Submission + - Facebook Permits Advertisers to Use Your Photos
Dan writes: Just browsing through my Facebook today when a friend's status informed me that Facebook permits advertisers to use your posted pictures. Basically, they can use your image to market their products to your friends — essentially pretending that you explicitly endorse their product. While the service does have an opt-out feature, it's unclear if ads featuring you would be retracted. This also suggests that Facebook hopes to continue with the "default setting is consent" practice which has generated user outrage in the past. As a friend of mine put it... Hey Facebook, there's got to be a way to monetize your millions of users without being shady.
Submission + - Pro-Kremlin Government Kills Human-Rights Activist (wsj.com)
reporter writes: "According to a shocking report just published by "The Economist", "IT WAS the kind of scene she had described many times. On July 15th at 8.30am, as she left her flat in Grozny, Natalia Estemirova was forced into a white Lada. She shouted that she was being kidnapped, but those who heard were too scared to report it. By the time her colleagues had found out, she was dead, murdered by three bullets in her chest and a control shot in the head.
There was a mark from a man's hand on her shoulder, where she was grabbed, and a bruise on her face, where she had been hit. Her wrists bore the marks of bindings. Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian Chechen president, considered her an enemy. And she died as one. She documented hundreds of similar cases in Chechnya, supplying witness statements and photographs, forcing prosecutors to investigate and the media to write about kidnappings, torture and killings, often conducted by people in official uniforms. Much of what the world knew about Chechnya came from her and her colleagues at Memorial, a heroic group which started by documenting Stalinist crimes but continued to trace their modern-day consequences, especially in the Caucasus.""
There was a mark from a man's hand on her shoulder, where she was grabbed, and a bruise on her face, where she had been hit. Her wrists bore the marks of bindings. Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian Chechen president, considered her an enemy. And she died as one. She documented hundreds of similar cases in Chechnya, supplying witness statements and photographs, forcing prosecutors to investigate and the media to write about kidnappings, torture and killings, often conducted by people in official uniforms. Much of what the world knew about Chechnya came from her and her colleagues at Memorial, a heroic group which started by documenting Stalinist crimes but continued to trace their modern-day consequences, especially in the Caucasus.""
Submission + - People Emit Visible Light (aol.com)
Anonymous Coward writes: "The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal. Japanese researchers have shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals."
Submission + - Microsoft Exec: "You'll Miss Vista" (crn.com) 3
Oracle Goddess writes: "Years from now, when you've moved on to Windows 7, you'll look back at Windows Vista fondly. You'll remember its fabulous attributes, not its flaws. That's the opinion of Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of the OEM division at Microsoft. "I think people will look back on Vista after the Windows 7 release and realize that there were actually a bunch of good things there," Guggenheimer said in a recent interview. "So it'll actually be interesting to see in two years what the perception is of Vista." A dissenting opinion comes from Bob Nitrio, president of system builder Ranvest Associates, doesn't believe organizations that skipped Vista will ever regret their decision. "I don't think for a second that people are suddenly going to love Windows 7 so much that they will experience deep pangs of regret for not having adopted Vista," said Nitrio. If I had to bet, I'd go with Bob's take on it."
Taxpayer-Funded "Man Cave" Found At NY Capitol 6
Officials say that a pair of New York state employees used taxpayer money to creating a "man cave" at the Capitol Building. The pair transformed a maintenance area in a Capitol garage facility into the mother of all break rooms equipped with a TV, board games, DVDs, couches, rolling papers and marijuana scales. The two are suspended without pay and one is charged with marijuana possession and criminal use of drug paraphernalia.
Submission + - automated voicemail to txt service actually humans (eriklove.com)
mantis2009 writes: So this company Spinvox is like, give us your voicemail password and your phone number, and our advanced software will listen to your voice messages and automagically convert them into text messages. Awesome, right? Turns out, what the company is actually doing is routing messages to call centers around the world, where non-computer workers (humans) transcribe your message. Apparently, the staff at one call center put some voice messages on Facebook the other day for the world to see. Sign me up, please!
Comment Re:Dear Hollywood.. Or at least a book? (Score 1) 298
And hire a good director, like blade runner. Also: scale models > computer graphics. Unless the entire movie is computer graphics, then it is acceptable.
Canadian Gov't Asks Public About New Copyright Law 77
Mike Lawrie writes "The so-called Canadian DMCA has had a long history. Historically, proposed legislation has favoured the views of CRIA, the Canadian arm of the RIAA almost completely. However, this time around the government is consulting the public before drafting the bill. They have launched a (Linux-based!) website designed to provide a public forum for discussion. Now is the time to speak up."
