Comment Re:Don't want the bundle (Score 1) 538
anyone know how to just buy DSL without a phone?
I heard a while back of companies offering DSL by itself, for about $20 more. Not much help...
Comment Re:Binaries not Free (Score 1) 354
The binaries have features not included in the OSE. In addition to the features listed in another comment, OSE doesn't let you use actual hard disks/partitions for the VM disk.
(You might be able to work around that by setting up the VDI with the binary, then switching to OSE. I haven't tried it.)
Submission + - SecondLife Crackdown: Accusations of Child Porn
sboutwell writes: From Secondlife's BLOG http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/09/accusations- regarding-child-pornography-in-second-life/#more-9 52
Recent crack downs and required IDENTITY information updates are coming because of Recent accusations of KIDDIE PORN and Child Adult Sexual Play in Second Life.
From their Blog: On Thursday May 3, we were contacted by German television network, ARD, which had captured images of two avatars, one that resembled an adult male and another that resembled a child, engaged in depicted sexual conduct. Our investigations revealed the users behind these avatars to be a 54-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman. Both were immediately banned from Second Life.
More details on all of this as well as Secondlife's official response can be found on their BLOG.
Recent crack downs and required IDENTITY information updates are coming because of Recent accusations of KIDDIE PORN and Child Adult Sexual Play in Second Life.
From their Blog: On Thursday May 3, we were contacted by German television network, ARD, which had captured images of two avatars, one that resembled an adult male and another that resembled a child, engaged in depicted sexual conduct. Our investigations revealed the users behind these avatars to be a 54-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman. Both were immediately banned from Second Life.
More details on all of this as well as Secondlife's official response can be found on their BLOG.
Submission + - Wal-Mart Shoplifters Hold Signs of Crime
DownintheUpside writes: ""Wal-Mart doesn't want thieves on its property, including two convicted shoplifters ordered by a judge to stand outside with signs reading "I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart."
Attalla City Judge Kenneth Robertson said Wednesday that an attorney for Wal-Mart told him the shoplifters couldn't finish out their sentences in front of the store.
The judge had ordered them to spend two Saturday afternoons holding the signs.
Robertson said the attorney told him that the discount retail giant had safety concerns about the sign-bearing shoplifters outside the Supercenter, where they drew notice last Saturday.
The judge said the main concern was "that people might try to run them down or throw something at them."
I think this is a great idea, this form of punishment should be done to all shoplifters at least once."
I think this is a great idea, this form of punishment should be done to all shoplifters at least once."
Submission + - Surprise arrest for online Scientology critic
destinyland writes: "An online critic of Scientology was confronted at a routine hearing Tuesday with surprise arrest warrants, and thrown into jail. Six years as a fugitive ended in Feburary. (After picketing a Scientology complex in 2000, he'd been arrested for "threatening a religion" over a Usenet joke about "Tom Cruise Missiles.") But 64-year-old Keith Henson had been out on bail, and was even scheduled to address the European Space Agency conference on Space Elevators. He's a co-founder of the Space Colony movement, and one of the original researchers at Texas Instruments. In this interview he discusses both space-based solar energy and his war with the Scientologists — just a few days before he was arrested and sent to prison."
Submission + - the myths of innovation
cgjherr writes: "Ah, the technology history book, normally I'm not a fan. The writing is aloof and dry. The topics are vague, the history misinterpreted, and the lessons presented to vague to be applicable. And don't get me started on the illustrations, which are all too often pyramids with the authors perched at the top looking down on the lowly reader at the base. Thankfully, this book, "the myths of innovation" breaks all of these rules. It's an engaging, fun and quick read. The history is interesting, and the lessons presented are practical. I particularly like the author's tone. It's witty and light. Which makes this a very fast read, one that leaves you wanting even more by the end.
But let step back for a second and introduce the book to you. "The myths of innovation" is about how innovation happens in the real world in companies, universities and garages around the company. The first two chapters really draw the reader in by showing the twin fallacies of the epiphany moment and the historically clean line of innovation. Learning that innovation doesn't just come as a flash, and that lots of successes have come out of copious failure encourages us to try to innovate, and to keep trying even when we believe we have failed.
This short book (147 pages of content) is presented in ten short chapters. The first two show you how anyone can be an innovator. You can think of those as the debunking chapters. The third chapter is where the author starts helping you to build some techniques to innovate. He presents how there are some reasonable methods to spur innovation. And shows examples from Apple, Google, Edison, Craiglist and more.
In chapter four he shows how to overcome peoples fears of innovation and overcome the common problems with the adoption of new technologies. Chapter five, "the lone innovator", debunks the legend of, well, the lone innovator. It sounds good, and plays into our noble story of the hero, but it's none too common in reality. Chapter six talks about ideas and surveys where innovators have found the ideas that they start out with. And of course, where you start is not often where you end. But that's ok since innovation is a lot more about failure than it is about success.
Chapter seven covers something I think most of us can relate to, which is that managers aren't often the innovators. Chapter eight talks about how we believe that the "best ideas always win" but that's least often the case. Of course, it sounds pessimistic, but it's actually an interesting study in how the biggest product with the most feature isn't always the best for the customer. Chapter nine, "problems and solutions", talks about framing problems to constrain the creativity and innovation. The final chapter, "innovation is always good", is at the same time the most amusing and disturbing. It covers innovations from the automobile to DDT and presents that innovation, no matter what, is always good. Agree or disagree the points are well presented.
As I say I really enjoyed this book. It's an easy read that is hard to put down. And what's more it's really motivating. After reading this book you will want to dig right back into those crazy ideas lurking around in the back of your mind and give them another shot. And you will have a few more tools are your disposal to turn your ideas into tangible reality."
But let step back for a second and introduce the book to you. "The myths of innovation" is about how innovation happens in the real world in companies, universities and garages around the company. The first two chapters really draw the reader in by showing the twin fallacies of the epiphany moment and the historically clean line of innovation. Learning that innovation doesn't just come as a flash, and that lots of successes have come out of copious failure encourages us to try to innovate, and to keep trying even when we believe we have failed.
This short book (147 pages of content) is presented in ten short chapters. The first two show you how anyone can be an innovator. You can think of those as the debunking chapters. The third chapter is where the author starts helping you to build some techniques to innovate. He presents how there are some reasonable methods to spur innovation. And shows examples from Apple, Google, Edison, Craiglist and more.
In chapter four he shows how to overcome peoples fears of innovation and overcome the common problems with the adoption of new technologies. Chapter five, "the lone innovator", debunks the legend of, well, the lone innovator. It sounds good, and plays into our noble story of the hero, but it's none too common in reality. Chapter six talks about ideas and surveys where innovators have found the ideas that they start out with. And of course, where you start is not often where you end. But that's ok since innovation is a lot more about failure than it is about success.
Chapter seven covers something I think most of us can relate to, which is that managers aren't often the innovators. Chapter eight talks about how we believe that the "best ideas always win" but that's least often the case. Of course, it sounds pessimistic, but it's actually an interesting study in how the biggest product with the most feature isn't always the best for the customer. Chapter nine, "problems and solutions", talks about framing problems to constrain the creativity and innovation. The final chapter, "innovation is always good", is at the same time the most amusing and disturbing. It covers innovations from the automobile to DDT and presents that innovation, no matter what, is always good. Agree or disagree the points are well presented.
As I say I really enjoyed this book. It's an easy read that is hard to put down. And what's more it's really motivating. After reading this book you will want to dig right back into those crazy ideas lurking around in the back of your mind and give them another shot. And you will have a few more tools are your disposal to turn your ideas into tangible reality."
Submission + - N.Y. Times to data mine customers for profit.
pilsner.urquell writes: The Village Voiceis running this story:
Having Won a Pulitzer for Exposing Data Mining, Times Now Eager to Do Its Own Data Mining.
Barely a year after their reporters won a Pulitzer prize for exposing data mining of ordinary citizens by a government spy agency, New York Times officials had some exciting news for stockholders last week: The Times company plans to do its own data mining of ordinary citizens, in the name of online profits.
Having Won a Pulitzer for Exposing Data Mining, Times Now Eager to Do Its Own Data Mining.
Barely a year after their reporters won a Pulitzer prize for exposing data mining of ordinary citizens by a government spy agency, New York Times officials had some exciting news for stockholders last week: The Times company plans to do its own data mining of ordinary citizens, in the name of online profits.
Submission + - Hottest exoplanet ever discovered
An anonymous reader writes: The online journal Nature describes the finding of the exoplanet HD 149026b, which is the hottest exoplanet yet discovered. HD149026b has a temperature of 3,040 degrees Celsius, which is hotter than some of the coolest stars, and perhaps hot enough to have titanium and vanadium exist as gases, one scientist suggests. The planet would appear charcoal black, but appear to glow a dull red from the infrared heat that it emits.
Submission + - Trusting Your Handheld GPS
thetan writes: "The Age reports that an Australian woman followed instructions from her handheld GPS to navigate some 200km — before getting horribly lost and bogged on a dirt track in heavy bushland at night. Frightened and distressed, she called emergency services but police had some difficulty in locating her. She explained that the GPS unit directed her late-model Toyota Corolla down the track, used only by tractors and motorbikes. In unfamiliar terrain, how would you know when to disregard directions from your navigation system and let your common-sense take over?"
Submission + - Big Brother's new tracking powers...
daffydory writes: "In a recent story, The New York Times writes that "The bill would require the government to establish a public database of clinical trials and their results. Lawmakers said this would make it difficult for drug companies to hide evidence of safety problems, as they said some had done in the past. The database would also make it easier for patients to learn of clinical trials testing drugs that could save their lives."
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Now, I don't know if I found the new bill posted on http://thomas.loc.gov/ or not, Perhaps it's being updated becasuse it's so recently passed [such as my searches -vs- story info is dicy] but this one was disturbing enough, so it could be S. 1024 To improve the underlying science of drug safety decisionmaking and strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to assess, manage, and communicate drug safety information to patients and providers. IANAL, but it seems to indicate (to ME, mind you) that someone will be gathering all kinds of personal medical data and stick it in one searchable databse. Who exactly gets those keys to the kingdom? How is the data finding it's way there? How secure can you make something this large?
Now, do we actually have the processing power and storage, let alone the physical amount of people inputting time, to take on something this size? /.'ers thoughts?? AND THEN, the thought of "should they be able to have my psychiatrist's notes processed through some pencil dot test form submission available to cross correlate with DNA profiles?" Of course that's sounds like some almost disturbing Orwellian news from our Government" [possibly worse-case-scenario, granted] . Even if not, it still gives some weird power to The Powers That Be."
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Now, I don't know if I found the new bill posted on http://thomas.loc.gov/ or not, Perhaps it's being updated becasuse it's so recently passed [such as my searches -vs- story info is dicy] but this one was disturbing enough, so it could be S. 1024 To improve the underlying science of drug safety decisionmaking and strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to assess, manage, and communicate drug safety information to patients and providers. IANAL, but it seems to indicate (to ME, mind you) that someone will be gathering all kinds of personal medical data and stick it in one searchable databse. Who exactly gets those keys to the kingdom? How is the data finding it's way there? How secure can you make something this large?
Now, do we actually have the processing power and storage, let alone the physical amount of people inputting time, to take on something this size?
A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft 435
Dieppe writes "A simple chip added to a DVD disk could prevent retail theft. According to the AP article at MSNBC, the chip would be activated at the register to make a previously dark area of the DVD clear, and therefore readable. Could this help to stem the tide of the approximate $400 million dollars in losses from brick and mortar stores? Game console DVDs could also be protected this way too. Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"
Submission + - Project at Sun aims for a more Linux-like Solaris
An anonymous reader writes: A project at Sun Microsystems code-named "Indiana", led by Debian founder now Sun employee Ian Murdock, aims to make Solaris more like Linux to appeal more to developers who use Linux.
From the article, "Sun has been trying for years to restore the luster of Solaris, a version of Unix that peaked in popularity in the late 1990s, but that since has faced a strong challenge chiefly from Linux. Sun has worked to reinvigorate Solaris by boosting its performance, offering it as a free download, making it an open-source project called OpenSolaris, and pushing a version that runs on servers using Intel's and AMD's mainstream x86 processors ... Sun wants to embrace some Linux elements so 'we make Solaris a better Linux than Linux,' Murdock said, quoting Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, whose latest start-up, Ning, uses Solaris."
Linux has strived to be POSIX-compliant and conform to the Single UNIX Specification, but now it looks like Sun has plans to make Solaris a better fit for Linux users as well.
From the article, "Sun has been trying for years to restore the luster of Solaris, a version of Unix that peaked in popularity in the late 1990s, but that since has faced a strong challenge chiefly from Linux. Sun has worked to reinvigorate Solaris by boosting its performance, offering it as a free download, making it an open-source project called OpenSolaris, and pushing a version that runs on servers using Intel's and AMD's mainstream x86 processors
Linux has strived to be POSIX-compliant and conform to the Single UNIX Specification, but now it looks like Sun has plans to make Solaris a better fit for Linux users as well.
Submission + - Ways People Screw Up AJAX
foo writes: "People are aware of the good that technologies such as AJAX have added to sites such as gmail, digg, and slashdot. The negative aspects and implementations of AJAX have mostly avoided by the media and are rarely spoken. CGISecurity has published a top 5 list of problems which can be encountered by implementing AJAX improperly."
Submission + - UPDATE : Long Range Eye Tracking for Advertisers
Stony Stevenson writes: Roel Vertegaal, the developer of the eyebox2 says although his device is not designed to be used in an Orwellian capacity, it's a very real possibility.
From the article: "But although Vertegaal ruled out the marriage of the eyebox2 technology with retina scanners or image capturing devices, he conceded the possibility was out there and warned that if customers chose to combine the eyebox2 technology with other image capturing devices, there was little his company could do about it.
"[Already], face recognition software is being used in Europe to track shopping mall theft," he said. "While we do not encourage such use, and given that our cameras cannot identify people or provide images, it still seems these directions are already being taken by other companies regardless of our hardware."
From the article: "But although Vertegaal ruled out the marriage of the eyebox2 technology with retina scanners or image capturing devices, he conceded the possibility was out there and warned that if customers chose to combine the eyebox2 technology with other image capturing devices, there was little his company could do about it.
"[Already], face recognition software is being used in Europe to track shopping mall theft," he said. "While we do not encourage such use, and given that our cameras cannot identify people or provide images, it still seems these directions are already being taken by other companies regardless of our hardware."
Submission + - Domain Profiteering from the Va. Tech Shootings
Radon360 writes: Within hours of the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, dozens of domain names that reflected this tragedy were snapped up by those looking to profit from the later auction and sale of these names. Cybersquatting on popular word combinations after a big news event is not uncommon. However, at what point does making money from other people's misfortunes cross the line? When the names of the victims were released, domains such as jarrettlane.com were also claimed.
