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Comment You don't need a Caps Lock key to get Caps Lock (Score 1) 968

The Chrome keyboard does support Caps Lock, in a design inspired by Steve Jobs' old company. Here's a little history:

The original NeXTcube keyboard (circa 1989) also did not have a Caps Lock key. Instead, Caps Lock was engaged by pressing Command+Shift, which would light up matching green LEDs on both Shift keys. Caps Lock was disengaged by pressing the Shift key a second time. This freed up valuable keyboard real estate, eliminated the possibility of hitting Caps by accident, and allowed the Control key to be placed next to the "A" key, where it has always belonged. It's an excellent design.

Fast forward 20 years and Google is doing the same thing with the Chrome keyboard. Its Shift key also has a green LED to indicate Caps Lock. Presumbaly, Caps Lock is engaged in a similar way as the NeXT keyboard.

Unfortunately, they're putting a "Search" button there in its place, which is just stupid.

Earth

Global Warming 'Undeniable,' Report Says 1657

BergZ writes "Scientists from around the world are providing even more evidence of global warming. 'A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record,' the annual State of the Climate report declares. Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, including Canada, the report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its analysis of 10 indicators that are 'clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.'"
Cellphones

Android Data Stealing App Downloaded By Millions 335

wisebabo writes "A wallpaper utility (that presents purloined copyrighted material) 'quietly collects personal information such as SIM card numbers, text messages, subscriber identification, and voicemail passwords. The data is then sent to www.imnet.us, a site that hails from Shenzen, China.'"

Comment Re:Outside the US? (Score 1) 276

That reason is copyright law...which, unless I'm mistaken, CBS doesn't control

Don't be ridiculous. CBS owns all the streaming rights to their shows. The problem is that they're trying to sell those rights.

By not streaming to, say, Canada, they create a product out of thin air that they can sell: Canadian streaming rights. As far as I know, the only network to buy this new "product" is Canada's Comedy Network, which purchased the streaming rights to a number of Comedy Central shows, including the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. So if you try to stream any Comedy Central shows from Canada you're redirected to The Comedy Network's (awful) website.

US networks have always sold their shows' broadcast rights to foreign TV networks, so it only makes sense that they'd try to do this on the web as well. Unfortunately, the implementation is terrible. For example, The Comedy Network bought the streaming rights to the Colbert Report so they could drive traffic to their site and run their own ads in the streams, but even though the content is legally available in Canada any blog links and embedded videos that point to Comedy Central's web site still won't work at all in Canada (they all redirect to the front page of the Comedy Network). It breaks the web.

I don't think regional streaming restrictions will be around for much longer. For all the money The Comedy Network spent on the streaming rights for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, all they got was a bunch pissed off viewers who direct their rage at The Comedy Network instead of Comedy Central. I sincerely doubt any other networks will bother to buy streaming rights unless these serious implementation problems are sorted out.

Google

New Google Favicon Deja Vu All Over Again? 227

theodp writes "Last June, Google rolled out a new favicon, the small branding icon that graces your URL bar when you visit Google. Which, as it turned out, bore a striking similarity to Garth Brooks' Circle-G logo. Well, Google went back to the drawing board and has come back with a new favicon, which it says was inspired by — not copied from, mind you — its users' submitted ideas. Some are also seeing inspiration elsewhere for the new favicon, which consists of white 'g' on a background of four color swatches. Take the AVG antivirus icon, for instance. Or everybody's favorite memory toy, Simon. Or — in perhaps the unkindest cut of all — the four-color Microsoft Windows logo, shown here with a superimposed white '7'. Anything else come to mind?" What comes to mind for me is just how obsessed many people are with the Google favicon.
Wii

Apple IIe Emulator Released For the Wii 86

fortapocalypse writes "Yohanes Nugroho just released WiiApple, an Apple IIe Emulator for Wii. While the sound doesn't work, some games are playable (he shows a screenshot of Epyx Winter Games as well the execution of a program he wrote in BASIC). He's also released the source code. Using WiiApple requires the Homebrew Channel, which we have discussed in the past."

Comment If you want to see a real Steve Jobs Keynote... (Score 3, Interesting) 371

... checkout this presentation from OpenStep Day, 1995 in which Jobs applies the famous reality distortion field not to iPods and Macs, but to Corba, OLE, Web Objects, and other Enterprisey Middleware.

And the "One More Thing" moment? Using Netscape 1.0 to demo Web Objects and Windows NT 3.1 interoperability.

Microsoft

Obama's "ZuneGate" 608

theodp writes "Barack Obama supporters were left shaking their heads after a report surfaced that the president-elect was using a Zune at the gym instead of an iPod. So why would Mac-user Obama be Zune-ing out? Could be one of those special-edition preloaded Zunes that Microsoft bestowed on Democratic National Convention attendees, suggests TechFlash, nixing the idea that the soon-to-be Leader of the Free World would waste time loading Parallels or Boot Camp in OS X just to use a Zune."
Microsoft

Microsoft Feared Mac Vs. Vista In '05 652

CWmike writes "Gregg Keizer sifted through many threads of e-mails released under the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit to dig up this jewel...More than a year before Windows Vista's release — and long before Apple started poking fun at the OS — Microsoft officials were already worried about comparisons between Mac OS X and Vista. An e-mail thread from October 2005 showed that an article in the Wall Street Journal by Walt Mossberg grabbed the attention of managers at Microsoft. In a column headlined What PC to Buy If You Are Planning On a Vista Upgrade, Mossberg alarmed one Windows manager who forwarded a bit from the column.... 'You won't have to worry about Vista if you buy one of Apple Computer's Macintosh computers, which don't run Windows,' Mossberg had written. 'Every mainstream consumer doing typical tasks should consider the Mac. Its operating system, called Tiger, is better and more secure than Windows XP, and already contains most of the key features promised for Vista.' Warrier added a comment of his own: 'A premium experience as defined by Walt = Apple. This is why we need to address [the column].'"
Image

Math Prof Uncovers Secret Chord 177

chebucto writes "The opening chord to A Hard Day's Night is famous because for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing. Musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players alike had all come up with their own theories, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula. Dr. Brown used Fourier transforms to find the notes in the chord, and deduced that another George — George Martin, the Beatles producer — also played on the chord, adding a piano chord that included an F note impossible to play with the other notes on the guitar."
Role Playing (Games)

Further Details On the Star Wars MMO 129

Now that the recent announcement about Star Wars: The Old Republic has had time to sink in, specific details about the game are beginning to come to light. Massively, in particular, has a variety of interviews and in-depth looks at the classes, the combat, and the setting of the game. "When you play like a Jedi from 1 to max, and then decide to start as a Sith, you won't see any content that will be the same." They also discuss the leveling, questing and companion characters. "We want you to think of them as actual companions on your journeys throughout the game. Your actions are going to change how your companion characters develop." Eurogamer is running a preview of the game, and a wiki has sprung up to catalog all of the new information. Other tidbits: support for Star Wars Galaxies will continue; the new game will be PC only; and LucasArts is hoping to snipe some of the World of Warcraft customer base.
The Internet

The Effects of the Cloud On Business, Education 68

g8orade points out two recent articles in The Economist about the rise of cloud computing. The first discusses how software-as-a-service has come to pervade online interactions. "Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a technology visionary at IBM, compares cloud computing to the Cambrian explosion some 500m years ago when the rate of evolution sped up, in part because the cell had been perfected and standardised, allowing evolution to build more complex organisms." The next article examines how the cloud will force a "trade-off between sovereignty and efficiency." Reader pjones contributes news that the Virtual Computer Lab will be supplementing more traditional computer labs at North Carolina State University, and adds, "NCSU's Virtual Computing Lab and IBM are offering the VCL code as a software 'appliance' for use in schools to link to the program. Downloads are available at ibiblio at UNC-Chapel Hill. The VCL also is partnering with Apache.org to make the software available and to allow further community participation in future development."
Portables (Apple)

Doing the Math On the New MacBook 783

Technologizer writes "Apple's new MacBook is a significantly different machine than its predecessor — a slicker laptop at a higher price point. But does it carry a large price premium over similar Windows PCs? I did a painstaking spec-by-spec comparison versus three roughly comparably-configured Windows machines, and came to the conclusion that the value it offers for price paid is not out of whack with the Windows world." The article uses the phrase "Mac tax," which one commenter points out is a recent Microsoft marketing canard.

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