Comment Re:Could you be more vague? (Score 1) 412
Money is like air, its only important if you don't have any.
IBM Hides the Bodies, Eyes US Government Billions 410
theodp writes "As his company was striving to hide the bodies of its laid-off North American workers, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano stood beside President Barack Obama and waxed patriotic: 'We need to reignite growth in our country,' Palmisano said. 'We need to undertake projects that actually will create jobs.' While Sam positions IBM to get a slice of the $825 billion stimulus pie, Big Blue is quietly cutting thousands of jobs and refusing to release the numbers or locations, arguing that SEC disclosure rules don't apply since the US job cuts are immaterial in its big global picture. The layoffs included hundreds in East Fishkill, coming early in the year after NY taxpayers paid IBM $45 million not to cut additional jobs in East Fishkill in 2008. Some are questioning whether IBM incentives are worth the cost."
Comment Re:Second on the drive thing (Score 5, Informative) 835
SMART has its uses, and a quick and easy check is to use the program 'speedfan' as this has a built in feature to read AND analyze (requires net connection) your HDD's smart information, By no means the be all and end all, but it is the quickest way I know to identify a failing hard drive.
Tricked Into Buying OpenOffice.org? 543
mldkfa writes "Recently I told a friend about OpenOffice and how it was a great alternative to the big name pay office suites. She went home and searched on Google for it and thought she found the website, filled typical registration information, and downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.0. The next time she opened her e-mail she found a request for 98 [Euro] for her 1-year subscription to OpenOffice.org 3.0 from the company that she downloaded it from. Apparently the EULA stated this cost and here in Germany she is required to pay up. So I thought I would ask Slashdot, should she pay? On the OpenOffice.org German website there is a warning of these schemes being legal. Shouldn't Sun change the license of OpenOffice.org to protect their fans or are they doing this to protect someone else? It has really made me think about recommending it to any more friends." Below, read Google's translation of the warning; it wouldn't be the first time that open source software has been lightly repackaged and sold in ways that should raise eyebrows among anyone familiar with the wide, free availability of the same apps.
Comment Dlink DNS-323 (Score 2, Insightful) 517
I have evaluated a few different products (I have a retail store) and so far I have been very happy with the DLINK DNS-323
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with DLINK other than I stock some of their goods
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with DLINK other than I stock some of their goods
Comment Here in Australia (Score 2, Interesting) 129
Wireless is really the only hope we have for getting high speed broadband to all our country (7,686,850 sq km), and begrudgingly I must admit that our main carrier (Telstra) is actually doing a very good job.
7.2Mb is available EVERYWHERE, not just next to the tower, not near a big city. Sure, for some people in distant locations they may need a roof mount antennae, but its everywhere.
And they have on their roadmap 14Mb slated for next year, and 28mb for 2010. Now its just a roadmap, but so far they have met their promises with wireless, so I wont disregard them just yet.
Comment Re:Oh boy. (Score 1) 503
I say you still need to hand in your geek card.
Please point me to what '3d accelerator' that runs on ISA bus? My first Voodoo was a PCI card, even the old S3 Virge (minor 3D acceleration) were PCI.
Please point me to what '3d accelerator' that runs on ISA bus? My first Voodoo was a PCI card, even the old S3 Virge (minor 3D acceleration) were PCI.
Comment Re:Interesting (Score 1) 117
Its good to see someone practising what they preach! Bravo
Improving Wikipedia Coverage of Computer Science 186
Pickens writes "MIT computer scientist Scott Aaronson has an interesting post on how to improve Wikipedia's coverage of theoretical computer science. Aaronson writes what while Wikpedia will never be an ideal venue for academics because 'we're used to (1) putting our names on our stuff, (2) editorializing pretty freely, (3) using "original research" as a compliment and not an accusation, and (4) not having our prose rewritten or deleted by people calling themselves Duduyat, Raul654, and Prokonsul Piotrus,' he identifies twenty basic research areas and terms in theoretical computer science that are not defined on Wikipedia, and invites readers to write some articles about them. Article suggestions include property testing, algorithmic game theory, derandomization, sketching algorithms, propositional proof complexity, arithmetic circuit complexity, discrete harmonic analysis, streaming algorithms, and hardness of approximation. One commenter suggests that professors should encourage students to improve the Wikipedia articles about topics they are studying. 'This will help them understand the topic and at the same time improve Wikipedia.'"
Comment Re:fps in the mid 20s = playable? (Score 1) 46
anything below 60fps is unacceptable. It may be ok for the average joe, but if your playing online multiplayer, anything below 60fps is putting yourself at a disadvantage. Considering that I dont have the time to invest in being the best, even a minor disadvantage is frustrating.
Honda Assists With "Next Steps" For Mankind 57
hedonisticaltruism writes "The CBC reports that Honda has just unveiled a new walking-assist device that enhances the walking motion rather than just providing transportation. The device braces and strengthens natural leg movements primarily in walking and crouching. They're looking to market this to rehabilitation cases, the handicapped and industries requiring repetitive crouching and walking movements such as factory work and delivery services."
Comment Re:At last! (Score 1) 369
They'd just rather pay me and make it go away. And that of course is how I like it!
Here here!
What others dont know is profitable to some.
And I like being profitable.
Comment Re:Why... (Score 5, Funny) 428
"The only solution is to burn the place down or kill a few key people, then let them all know why."
If only revolution was not such an outdated ideal.
If only revolution was not such an outdated ideal.
Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth 235
MaxwellEdison writes "Scientists have discovered evidence of magnetic portals connecting the Earth and the Sun every 8 minutes. 'Several speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form: On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun), Earth's magnetic field presses against the sun's magnetic field. Approximately every eight minutes, the two fields briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth. The European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through.'"
Microsoft Announces Windows Azure, Cloud-Based OS 419
snydeq writes "Microsoft today introduced Windows Azure, its operating system for the cloud. The OS serves as the underlying foundation of the Azure Services Platform to help developers build apps that span from the cloud to the datacenter, to PCs, the Web, and phones. Cloud-based developer capabilities are combined with storage, computational, and network infrastructure services, which are hosted on servers within Microsoft's global data center network."
