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Comment Re:Its been done for years already (Score 2, Interesting) 711

> So we've had a defined standard that was, arguably, not the easiest to understand.

> THEN harddrive manufacturers started their fraud. And THEN people started complaining.

> So what, and please think about this, would be the right decision here?

As far back as I know, and this goes back before the 1970s, C.Sci boffins picked up a defined pseudostandard (that 1024 was close though to 1000 to use K, etc) for concepts that required *only* direct binary addressibility like RAM and CPU registers/caches, and all else used a base 10 definition of K right from the start - that includes tape drive storage, hard drive storage, bandwidth rates, CPU frequencies, display frequencies, screen resolution, sampling rates and so on.

The idea that 1K = 1024 for "everything in a computer" is relatively new. The old guard knew exactly when it was appropriate to use, and did not use it for concepts outside that domain. It's only since the mid 1990s that geek kids fresh out of school want to use it everywhere. Hell, go into a geek IRC channel (usually a bastion of relatively conservative C.Sci geeks) and ask how many Hertz in a 1GHz processor, and a fair number will insist it's 1073741824Hz, or that 10Mbps ethernet is 10485760bps. They'd be wrong, too.

Comment Re:Toxicity? (Score 4, Informative) 218

I expect it's a metal related to these, http://www.indium.com/TIM/solutions/liquidmetal.php which are used as thermal interface materials in machines like Apple's 8 core Mac Pros. The heatsinks on those are wetted with a little of the liquid metal in place of stuff like arctic silver. While working on Mac Pros I found it's like mercury, but sticks to the processor heatspreader and heatsink base. It's liquid even in a cold room. There's toxicity info on that site somewhere, but I'm in a rush at the moment. No doubt someone else will find it and post.
Microsoft

Submission + - Alienware: CableCard Not Ready for Mass Market

An anonymous reader writes: Alienware doesn't think CableCard is ready for the mass market. The Dell subsidiary is coming out with some high-end Media Center PCs but won't sell them directly to consumers because the HD-enabling CableCard "requires the expertise of a reseller and installer." CableCard was supposed to be the savior for Windows Media Center, which has been inhibited by its inability to support high-def content. Alienware made its fortune by selling tricked-out computers to gamers, so it's telling that the company doesn't think its traditional geeky customer can handle CableCard without professional help.
Operating Systems

Submission + - SCO loses - finally 1

An anonymous reader writes: The one summary judgement that puts a stick into SCO's spokes has just come down. SCO doesn't own the Unix copyrights. With that one decision, a whole bunch of other decisions will fall like dominoes. As PJ says, "That's Aaaaall, Folks!".

Hot off the presses: Judge Dale Kimball has issued a 102-page ruling [PDF] on the numerous summary judgment motions in SCO v. Novell. Here is what matters most: [T]he court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare Copyrights. That's Aaaaall, Folks! If anyone can please put this into text for us, that'd be simply great.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200708101 65237718#comments
Quickies

Submission + - Digging Dinosaurs Made Underground Dens

anthemaniac writes: Scientists have long puzzled over how some dinosaurs and other creatures survived the asteroid impact that supposedly caused the KT mass extinction 65 million years ago and wiped out all the big dinos. One idea has been that smaller animals, including mammals, could have endured the fallout, the big chill, the subsequent volcanoes, and whatever else by burrowing. Now scientists have come up with the first evidence of burrowing dinosaurs. They speculate that underground dens might explain how some dinosaurs got through long, dark winters at high latitudes, too.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Open source video editing still has a long way to go 1

Here is Roblimo's take on Linux video editing state of affairs:

Kino captures video (although not high-definition video) competently through a FireWire port, and Cinelerra can do most video editing tasks if you are willing to spend three to ten times as long doing them as you would with Vegas or Final Cut.

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