Comment Re:Dr. Watson (Score 1) 860
Cheers, I was curious if anybody else picked up on that. Holmes = House. Watson = Wilson. Cocaine = Vicodin. C'mon it was obvious.
Comment Re:Expected (Score 1) 1654
is ndiswrapper too much to expect of anyone to use, even the easy as hell to use gui for wireless because it isn't installed by default?
ndiswrapper probably isn't necessary. The software was most likely VZ Access Manager, which is just a modem dialer. Ubuntu recognizes the modem, so you only need to tell it what number to dial: #777. I'm a total linux noob and managed to get WWAN setup on Ubuntu.
Comment Re:Have they considered... (Score 1) 628
Have they perhaps considered that it's the hallucinations that somehow drive the craving for coffee, and not the other way around?
Yes. FTA:
However, they also suggest that people who are more prone to hallucinations could also be more stressed and more likely to consume large amounts of caffeine.
Comment Re:300 Cups (Score 1) 628
Funny. FYI, though, it was $300 for 100 cups of coffee. It really works, too, by the way. ;)
Comment Re:Control? (Score 1) 628
There is no mention of the control group.
No, there's not, but they did mention that they polled them about a variety of questions, including their caffeine use. The control group would be the subset of those 200 people who admitted to not drinking caffeine.
Comment Re:Despite our "western" aversion to such things.. (Score 1) 384
ANYONE can raise them in a clean, sterile environment for very little in the way of captial
I dunno. To me, "clean, sterile environment" means "no bugs."
Submission + - First Programming Language for Kids? 1
Markus writes: "When I was nine or ten years old, I taught myself BASIC V1.2 — nothing else available — on my (way older) brother's Laser 210 from a book. Now, my son has started school last summer and can now sufficiently read and write to start programming. As in coding, that is, not as in script kiddies.
With the information age on the rise, conscious use of IT becomes a vital skill for following generations — and when I see how teachers over here use computers, I do certainly not want to trust schools with this. So as the days of 10 CLS:? "HELLO WORLD!" are over, what would be a good programming language for a six year old to start with? What concepts are most important to teach first to a kid? Is there something like "Eclipse Kids Edition"? And as our daughter is also due for school in two years — does it also come in pink? :o)
In addition, we want the kids to learn the social aspects of coding, so "free and open source" is a must."
With the information age on the rise, conscious use of IT becomes a vital skill for following generations — and when I see how teachers over here use computers, I do certainly not want to trust schools with this. So as the days of 10 CLS:? "HELLO WORLD!" are over, what would be a good programming language for a six year old to start with? What concepts are most important to teach first to a kid? Is there something like "Eclipse Kids Edition"? And as our daughter is also due for school in two years — does it also come in pink?
In addition, we want the kids to learn the social aspects of coding, so "free and open source" is a must."
Submission + - iPhones, Macs gaining among business users (networkworld.com)
jbrodkin writes: "The focus at this week's MacWorld expo is on consumer technology, but Apple devices are quietly making gains with business users as well. Corporate usage of Mac desktops has quadrupled in the past two years, while 50% of businesses are increasing support for the iPhone, recent surveys show. Industry observers say Apple lacks a broad strategy for penetrating the business market but is making gains despite itself."
Submission + - Phishing is a minimum wage job
rohitm918 writes: "Study by Microsoft concludes that phishers make very little: "low-skill jobs pay like low-skill jobs, whether the activity is legal or not."
They also find that the Gartner numbers that everyone quotes ($3.2bn/year etc) are rubbish.
"Even though it harvests 'free money,' phishing generates total revenue equal
to the total costs incurred by the actors. Each participant earns, on average, only as much as
he would have made in the opportunities he gave up elsewhere. As the total phishing effort increases the
total phishing revenue declines: the harder individual phishers try the worse their collective situation gets.
As a consequence, increasing effort is a sign of failure rather than success."
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/cormac/Papers/PhishingAsTragedy.pdf"
They also find that the Gartner numbers that everyone quotes ($3.2bn/year etc) are rubbish.
"Even though it harvests 'free money,' phishing generates total revenue equal
to the total costs incurred by the actors. Each participant earns, on average, only as much as
he would have made in the opportunities he gave up elsewhere. As the total phishing effort increases the
total phishing revenue declines: the harder individual phishers try the worse their collective situation gets.
As a consequence, increasing effort is a sign of failure rather than success."
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/cormac/Papers/PhishingAsTragedy.pdf"
Submission + - SPAM: MySpace is research place for busybody 'Dr. Meg'
isi4110 writes: Many teenagers cleaned up their MySpace profiles , deleting mentions of sex and booze and boosting privacy settings, if they got a single cautionary e-mail from a busybody named "Dr. Meg."
The e-mail was sent by Dr. Megan Moreno, lead researcher of a study of lower-income kids that she says shows how parents and other adults can encourage safer Internet use.
Submission + - FTC Notice and Request for Public Comments (commentworks.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Federal Trade Commission
Title: Notice and Request for Public Comments
Subject Category: FTC Town Hall to Address Digital Rights Management Technologies — Event Takes Place Wednesday, March 25, 2009, in Seattle
Published: To Be Added
Comments Due: January 30, 2009
How To Comment: Digital rights management (DRM) refers to technologies typically used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, and copyright holders to attempt to control how consumers access and use media and entertainment content. Among other issues, the workshop will address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations. Interested parties may submit written comments or original research on this topic.
Submission + - The 8-wheeled Eliica Car To be Mass Produced (inhabitat.com)
Mike writes: "Designed by a team at Keio University in Japan, the 8-wheeled fully electric Eliica may be short on subtlety, but it has a range of 200 miles and can hit speeds of up to 230mph! Although only two vehicles currently exist, the team has recently announced that they intend to mass produce 200 units and are currently looking for corporate sponsorship."
Submission + - China Announces the World's Largest Solar Plant (inhabitat.com)
Jason Sahler writes: "From the Three Gorges Dam to the Great Wall, China is known for its monumental projects that count among the biggest and grandest in the world. Recently the nation announced its latest supermassive project: the construction of the world's largest solar power plant. Planned by China Technology Development Group Corp and privately-held Qinghai New Energy Group, the project will begin with a 30 MW plant in the Qaidam Basin that will expand to produce 1 GW of solar energy."
Submission + - Groklaw shifts gears - Preservation now priority (groklaw.net)
dan of the north writes: Pamela Jones (PJ) writes: "I think we need to use this time to perfect our work and ensure Groklaw's preservation. It will require shutting down the daily articles and News Picks, at least for the forseeable future, but I'm convinced it's important to do it. One of the core purposes of Groklaw has always been to create a reliable record for historians and law schools to use our materials to teach and inform. [...] I choose to make sure our work as fully reliable, comprehensive and, to the degree humanly possible, permanent. [...] Groklaw's collection of materials is really valuable. I'd like to ensure that it survives. I know many of you have mentioned this over the years, and I always meant to get to it eventually, but now seems like the time. We've covered the SCO litigations since May of 2003, and it's the only complete record of this important phase in IT history. Groklaw also made history, if I do say so myself, because it was the first time the Internet was ever used to put geeks together to help with distributed legal research."
Submission + - VeriSign transitions certificates to SHA-1 (net-security.org)
An anonymous reader writes: VeriSign announced an immediate transition to the SHA-1 algorithm on new RapidSSL brand certificates. The transition to the SHA-1 algorithm came within a few hours of the public unveiling of an MD5 flaw presented by researchers during the 2008 Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Berlin, rendering the MD5 flaw ineffective for all new RapidSSL Certificates.
