Comment $69.99+$69.99=$139.98 (Score 1) 419
Hmmm, buy separately and save a penny. Sounds like the groundwork for a new economic policy...
Chrome Does Have a Caps-Lock Key After All 391
Meshach writes "Amidst all the angst about Google taking away the caps lock key from Chrome it now appears that is not the case. With one small change any user can change the Modifier Key from a Search key to a Caps Lock key. Peace has been restored..." If there must be such a thing as a Caps Lock key on conventional keyboards, I wish it could be banished (along with the Insert/Delete pair) to a hard-to-fumble-upon switch on the bottom of the keyboard or laptop.
Comment Re:Hopefully (Score 5, Insightful) 747
Skepticism, I'd argue, is inherently good. Being environmentally conscientious should be a result of good science to be meaningful, not of being on the populist "team green". The moment we take a critical eye off our own views is the moment that our causes lose meaning.
George Lucas to Resurrect Dead Movie Stars? 296
According to his director friend Mel Smith, George Lucas has a plan for upcoming movies more insidious than a whole Gungan cast. Smith says Lucas is buying the rights to old movies in order to put dead actors in his films. He says, "George has been buying up the film rights to dead actors in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together, so you'd have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck alongside today's stars." Even if Smith is lying, it makes you wonder who long it will be until Hollywood starts to recycle actors as well as scripts.
Tour of the Closet Sized Living Quarters On ISS 76
Phoghat writes "Who knew it could take almost seven minutes to get a tour of the teeny-tiny crew quarters on board the International Space Station? But Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly provides an engaging peek inside his personal living space, and an inside look at life aboard the ISS."
Submission + - TSA Told To Tell Children That Groping Is A Game (techdirt.com)
Marc Desrochers writes: Apparently TSA agents are being told that one way to handle the new groping pat downs for children is to try to make it out to be some sort of "game." This is apparently horrifying some sex abuse experts who point out that a common tactic in abuse cases is to tell the kids that they're just "playing a game." The TSA has said that the newer patdowns will not apply to children under 12, but the rules have been somewhat unclear — leading to the statement from a TSA director, James Marchand:
"You try to make it as best you can for that child to come through. If you can come up with some kind of a game to play with a child, it makes it a lot easier."
He also said that the idea of making it a game would become a part of the TSA's training. Ken Wooden, who runs an organization to try to stop sex abuse of children was not pleased:
"How can experts working at the TSA be so incredibly misinformed and misguided to suggest that full body pat downs for children be portrayed as a game?" Wooden asked in an email. "To do so is completely contrary to what we in the sexual abuse prevention field have been trying to accomplish for the past thirty years."
"You try to make it as best you can for that child to come through. If you can come up with some kind of a game to play with a child, it makes it a lot easier."
He also said that the idea of making it a game would become a part of the TSA's training. Ken Wooden, who runs an organization to try to stop sex abuse of children was not pleased:
"How can experts working at the TSA be so incredibly misinformed and misguided to suggest that full body pat downs for children be portrayed as a game?" Wooden asked in an email. "To do so is completely contrary to what we in the sexual abuse prevention field have been trying to accomplish for the past thirty years."
Submission + - Will virtualization destroy the IT economy? (itworld.com) 1
jfruhlinger writes: Like most new IT innovations, virtualization is being touted as a way IT departments can cut costs. Kevin Fogarty contemplates what would happen if those promises turn out to be true: an implosion in IT spending, which could upend the entire industry.
Comment This Will Change Everything... (Score 1) 2
The Beatles were from Mars.
Submission + - Supreme Court of Canada rules on electric meters (brianbowman.ca)
perp writes: According to the privacy blagosphere, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released an important decision today that considered whether an individual home owner had a reasonable expectation of privacy in electric meter data.
The police had asked a local utility company to attach a digital recording ammeter (DRA) to the electric meter on a home in order to monitor electrical usage. The data gleaned from the DRA and from other sources was then used to obtain a warrant to search the home. The search resulted in exposing a marijuana grow op.
The SCC ultimately decided that DRA technology merely indicates electricity use, not what the electricity was used for, so it was a reasonable loss of privacy.
The police had asked a local utility company to attach a digital recording ammeter (DRA) to the electric meter on a home in order to monitor electrical usage. The data gleaned from the DRA and from other sources was then used to obtain a warrant to search the home. The search resulted in exposing a marijuana grow op.
The SCC ultimately decided that DRA technology merely indicates electricity use, not what the electricity was used for, so it was a reasonable loss of privacy.
Comment Baby (Score 1) 890
I don't want to put my baby daughter through a scanner, pure and simple. Studies can say many things (and in this case, they do), but we won't know the true effect of this largely untested family of (lucrative and rushed to market) technologies for 20 years.There are clear shortcomings evident in many of the "its safe" studies (such as the testing which uses volumetric radiation measurements while the technology doesn't pass through (suggesting much higher concentration at a lower depth)).
Short answer: I think all of us (with children) would prefer our children to opt out of the the complimentary skin cancer and just get the college diploma at 21.
Comment Re:oblig. (Score 1) 458
Missing poll option: gravy.
Did Microsoft Alter Windows Sales Figures? 165
Saxophonist writes "InformationWeek claims to have analyzed Microsoft's most recent Form 10-Q and observed that a reported increase in earnings for the Windows unit may be due to accounting trickery rather than actual sales growth. Microsoft apparently increased its reported revenues for its Windows, Server & Tools, and Office units at least partly through shifting revenues from other units. While there may be nothing 'to suggest the company's revisions violate any accounting rules,' the actual growth in Windows sales was likely nowhere near the high double-digit percentage growth claimed. InformationWeek speculates that revenues from Xbox and Surface may have been among the revenues shifted to the other divisions."
Submission + - BackScatter machines really safe? (npr.org)
ameline writes: "A number of respected scientists (expert in relevant fields of study) call into question the safety of the new back-scatter screening machines. Their concerns are well outlined in their letter to the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Dr John P. Holdren. The areas they specifically highlight are the uneven absorbtion of radiation from these machines, and the potential for mechanical or other failures to deliver even more concentrated doses than were intended. Given the cumulative nature of the risk presented by exposure to ionizing radiation, is it really wise to acquiesce to these new security requirements?
Their letter and attached memo can be found at the NPR site: http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf
"
Their letter and attached memo can be found at the NPR site: http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf
"
Scientists Turn Skin Into Blood 229
Breakthru writes "In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin. The discovery, published in the prestigious science journal Nature today, could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions. Clinical trials could begin as soon as 2012."
Submission + - EPIC Lawsuit to Suspend Airport Body Scanners (epic.org)
nacturation writes: "EPIC filed a petition for review and motion for an emergency stay, urging the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to suspend the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) full body scanner program. EPIC said that the program is "unlawful, invasive, and ineffective." EPIC argued that the federal agency has violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment. EPIC cited the invasive nature of the devices, the TSA's disregard of public opinion, and the impact on religious freedom."
