RicochetRita - Slashdot User

Submission + - xkcd finds Kindle is Perfect for Reading in Bed 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Monday April 13, 2009 @07:57AM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, has an interesting post on his blog about his lifelong search for the perfect way to read in bed. "The ideal position would involve no sustained muscle effort, so I could just let my eyes drift shut as I read, without the book falling shut or my hand slipping or anything." Munroe recently got a Kindle and was surprised to find the ergonomics better than a paperback. But there was one problem: "There's no way to hold it with a finger on the 'next page' buttons that doesn't require a few muscles to hold it upright" so Munroe "got out of bed one night, went to the closet, and got a steel coat hanger and some pliers" and came up with a hardware hack that solved the problem. Take a look at photos of Munroe invention. "Finally, after decades of reading in bed, I have reached that stage of perfect relaxation.""

Submission + - 83% of Businesses won't bother with Windows 7

Submitted by Olipro on Monday April 13, 2009 @05:21AM

Olipro writes: According to a survey conducted by Information Week, Most enterprises stated they won't bother with Windows 7 for at least a year as they simply continue to distrust that compatibility issues won't occur with their mission-critical software.

Costs of upgrading are also cited as a concern as economic uncertainty acts as a measure to dissuade businesses in the "investments" which, coupled with the fact that essentially Windows 7 will simply be Vista with tweaks (those of you who follow the server platform will know that Windows 7 will simply be an R2 release for Server 2008) — essentially the whole OS needs to hit the ground running or be doomed to a similar fate as Vista has been, though, bearing in mind the fact that a lot of Vista's headaches were primarily driver related; and also bearing in mind that as such, almost all hardware now has Vista drivers which will undoubtedly be compatible with 7... it's entirely plausible that uptake of Windows 7 will be better than expected.

The Million Dollar question will be whether the fact that XP -> Windows 7 requires a clean install will prove to be Microsoft's undoing.

Submission + - Worst working conditions you had to write code in?

Submitted by

sausaw

on Monday April 13, 2009 @02:11AM

sausaw writes: "I recently had to write code in a hot dusty room for 20 days with temperatures near 107F (~41C); having nothing to sit on; a 64 Kbps inconsistent internet connection; warm water for drinking and a lot of distractions and interruptions. I am sure many people have been in similar situations and would like to know your experiences."

Submission + - BestBuy Sells 9-year-old Hard Drive Refuses Refund (consumerist.com) 2

Submitted by JagsLive on Sunday April 12, 2009 @08:54PM

JagsLive writes: Consumerist :

Jon spent $250 on a Western Digital VelociRaptor but what he received from Best Buy was a Quantum Fireball, a discontinued hard drive that hasn't been sold for nine years. Best Buy, of course, took no responsibility for the odd swap, and said that Western Digital must have accidentally sold a competitor's discontinued drive. Western Digital, of course, said that a Best Buy employee stole Jon's hard drive. We've seen this happen before with Best Buy, and Jon has made it clear that he knows how to bite back...

"Last week, I purchased a Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive on bestbuy.com for in-store pickup. After receiving the confirmation email, I drove approximately 1 hour to the store I had selected (the closest store to me), picked up my drive, and returned home. When I opened the package (it was sealed), I was shocked and dismayed to find that instead of the VelociRaptor, there was a 9 year old 30GB Quantum Fireball (a drive not even made anymore)."

More at Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5206541/best-buy-sells-9+year+old-discontinued-hard-drive-as-brand-new-western-digital-refuses-refund

Submission + - Itunes prohibits terrorism

Submitted by

Afforess

on Sunday April 12, 2009 @02:34PM

Afforess writes: "A recent closer look at the oft-skimmed EULA agreement for Itunes has an interesting paragraph in it, Gizmodo reports. "You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons." Although humorous, some readers suggested that this may be a defense measure to previously discussed price changes in the Itunes music store."

Submission + - Self Replicating Machines In Your Home - Seriously (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by

Singularity Hub

on Sunday April 12, 2009 @12:26PM

Singularity Hub writes: "Did you know that for about $500 you can have a machine in your living room that can print out a 3D replica of any object from a CAD drawing on your computer? You can use this machine to make door handles, dolls, cars, hooks...anything! This machine is called a reprap, and amazingly the specifications for the machine are completely open source, completely shareable and modifiable by anyone in the world. There is a worldwide community of volunteers working feverishly to support you and anyone else to troubleshoot and improve the machine. Most interesting of all, the reprap is ultimately designed to self replicate all of its parts, bringing us within tantalizing reach of a long envisioned era of self replicating machines."

Submission + - Blogger becomes casualty of Iran cyber-wars (mercurynews.com)

Submitted by InsertWittyNameHere on Saturday April 11, 2009 @11:35PM

InsertWittyNameHere writes: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The first line of his first blog from Tehran in September 2006 asks: "What is freedom?"

Omidreza Mirsayafi answered his own question. "I don't know," he wrote, "but I know someday I will see its shadow falling on my land."

Two and half years later, from behind the gray walls of Tehran's Evin Prison, he phoned his mother. They talked about his battle with depression behind bars. She asked if he was taking his heart medicine.

A few hours later, on a chilly mid-March evening, the 29-year-old Mirsayafi was dead. He was Iran's first known casualty in the skirmishes between bloggers challenging the Islamic regime and authorities striking back with the tools they know best — imprisonment and intimidation.

Submission + - Virginia Says Slashdot Users May Be Terrorists 6

Submitted by megamerican on Thursday April 09, 2009 @01:58PM

megamerican writes: A leaked document from a Virginia Fusion Center titled 2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment lists Slashdot users and other websites alongside Al-Qaeda, HAMAS, "Lone-Wolf Extremists" and many others as potential terrorists. Slashdot and other websites have been labeled under the ominous sounding title of Anonymous:

A "loose coalition of Internet denizens", Anonymous consists largely of users from multiple internet sites such as 4chan, 711chan, 420chan, Something Awful, Fark, Encyclopedia Dramatica, Slashdot, IRC channels, and YouTube. Other social networking sites are also utilized to mobilize physical protests. Anonymous has no leader and is reliant on the collective power of individuals acting in such a way that benefits the movement.

According to the Report, cell phones, digital music players are signs that you may be a terrorist. It lists podcasting as a cause for concern citing a recent ban by Australia. Citizens for a legitimate government, where the document was leaked to has a write-up here.

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