Comment So he hasn't learned a thing. (Score 5, Insightful) 576
Basically his stance is, "I'm sorry I was a d!ck to someone important. I thought he was just another nobody I could abuse at will."
Comment Re:Obligatory from The Onion (Score 2) 349
Before the analog to digital conversion, I had 5 TV sets in the house. But I couldn't afford/justify the expense of replacing them all so I only bought 2 digital sets.
Now, over a year later, I don't miss the other 3 and have no plans to replace them.
Comment Re:This shouldn't be this difficult (Score 1) 405
Where did you get the idea that they never lose a cent?
I have a friend in the banking industry and she once told me that if the public knew how much money the banks lost ervery day due to electronic fraud, we'd all be hiding our money under our matresses and the whole industry would collapse. Billions slip away every day world-wide, usually as small, difficult to verify transactions of under $100. The banks just consider it part of the cost of doing business and pass the added expense along to the consumer.
Comment Re:#1 (Score 1) 405
Starting a new party doesn't necessarily solve problem #1. You just end up with one more party that sucks.
Comment Re:Simple composting toilets (Score 1) 471
Comment Infinite UC1800 (Score 1) 422
If I have the urge to look back, I dig out the first computer I bought back in '77, an Infinite UC1800 made in Cape Canaveral, Fl. Hardly anyone has ever heard of it, let alone seen one.
I was a poor student at the time and couldn't afford the assembled version or even a case. For my money I received bare, unpopulated boards, some hardware, a few of the harder to find chips and a schematic. I scrounged the rest of the needed parts (including the processor, an RCA CDP1800), soldered it together, debugged my mistakes and screwed the bare boards down to a piece of plywood where it still sits today. Still works, too.
Comment Re:Solution: Use a different DNS server (Score 1) 379
I used to get a lot of 'site not found' errors until I stopped using Mediacom's DNS servers entirely. This was for sites that I KNEW existed and were up and running.
Once I switched to Google's DNS servers the problems disappeared.
/ Yes, I know DNS server is redundant. Sometimes clarity is more important than pedantic accuracy. Sue me.
Google Censors "Piracy Terms" From Instant Search 246
Chaonici writes "A few weeks ago, Google promised that, on behalf of the entertainment industries, they would begin filtering 'piracy related' terms from their search system. Now, TorrentFreak reports that Google has lived up to their promise, and certain keywords (such as 'bittorrent' and 'rapidshare') will no longer produce results with the Autocomplete or Instant Search features. The standard search feature, however, continues to display results as normal. Simon Morris of BitTorrent Inc., RapidShare, and Jamie King (the founder of Vodo) are critical of the change, pointing out the many legitimate uses of popular file-sharing technology."
Comment How many is too many? (Score 1) 559
Just off the top of my head I can count over 50 currently operating microprocessors in my home including multiple desktop PCs, multiple laptops, routers, switches, DVRs, video games, media players, phones, TVs, appliances,...
Plus at least another 50 (probably closer to 100) in my parts boxes. (Including Intel, Motorola, AMD, TI, MOS Technology, RCA, Atmel, Microchip,...) All stuff I've worked on at one time or another.
Yeah, I probably have too many microprocessors, but I only have 11 slide rules!
Man Tunnels Into GameStop, Steals Games 210
An anonymous reader writes "Life imitates Minecraft: Computer game piracy is big business, but there are still those who prefer to get their games the old-fashioned way: by digging a tunnel into their local games shop and making off with as much stock as they can carry. At least, that's the slightly bizarre approach taken by a man from Greeneville, Tennessee, who was arrested late last week after being caught tunneling into his local GameStop store from an empty adjoining building."
Note that the link is thin, and the sources are behind logins and subscription links, so please post better URLs if you can find them.
Comment Re:Idiots (Score 1) 120
Oh, give them a break.
The FBI is just doing its job: ensuring that government of the money, by the money and for the money, shall not perish from this earth.
Survey Shows That Fox News Makes You Less Informed
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A survey of American voters by World Public Opinion shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. One of the most interesting questions was about President Obama's birthplace. 63 percent of Fox viewers believe Obama was not born in the US (or that it is unclear). In 2003 a similar study about the Iraq war showed that Fox viewers were once again less knowledgeable on the subject than average. Let the flame war begin!
Combining Two Kinects To Make Better 3D Video 106
suraj.sun sends this quote from Engadget about improving the Kinect 3D video recordings we discussed recently:
"[Oliver Kreylos is] blowing minds and demonstrating that two Kinects can be paired and their output meshed — one basically filling in the gaps of the other. He found that the two do create some interference, the dotted IR pattern of one causing some holes and blotches in the other, but when the two are combined they basically help each other out and the results are quite impressive."
Malaysian Indicted After Hacking Federal Reserve 132
wiredmikey sends along a security story that looks like it could be one to watch. Lin Mun Poo was arrested shortly after arriving at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in late October, traveling to the US on business. The 32-year-old resident of Malaysia was observed by an undercover Secret Service agent selling stolen credit card data in a diner. After arresting him and seizing his laptop (which was "heavily encrypted"), authorities discovered evidence of far more serious security breaches. According to documents from the Department of Justice, Lin Mun Poo had hacked into the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and stolen over 400,000 credit and debit card numbers. Also, according to authorities, Mr. Poo managed to hack into FedComp, a data processor for federal credit unions, enabling him to access the data of various federal credit unions. He also hacked into the computer system of a Department of Defense contractor that provides systems management for military transport and other military operations, potentially compromising highly sensitive military logistics information.
Debt Collectors Using Facebook To Embarrass Those Who Owe
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Not even the tranquility of FarmVille can save you from the long arm of debt collectors. Melanie Beacham says that a collector from MarkOne Financial contacted her relatives about her past due car note via Facebook. She is filing suit alleging that the company is harassing her family. Tampa based consumer attorney Billy Howard of Morgan & Morgan says, "Now Facebook does a debt collectors work for them. Now it's not only family members, it's all of your associates. It's a very powerful tool for debt collectors to use."
