Comment Re:Not really a condemnation of PDFs, but... (Score 2) 227
But formatting something to be printed, and then expecting people to read it on screen, is pretty much the definition of bad a choice.
You might even say it's a PDFal choice...
Comment Re:Sick leaves (Score 1) 670
Aren't in the US sick leaves taken from your holiday ? You might then have your response right there. Because in europe they are not, and you are quite encouraged (at least in my firm) to take the day off when you are a virus mothership spreading thema round coughing.
Not usually. Most have vacation days and sick days as separate things.
If you are in California, this is probably true, but I haven't seen it as such outside of CA in a while - my past few employers have had different policies for CA and 'everywhere else' and the everywhere else policy funneled everything under PTO
Comment Re:bandwidth tracking prog advice needed (Score 2) 172
Does anybody know any good FREE programs to keep track of bandwidth usage? Something like NerWorx by SoftPerfect. I tried it and I liked it but for some reason it is tracking my usage incorrectly, I think by like a factor of 8 or 10. I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
There are two different units of measure at play here. Network bandwidth is measured in bits, or bits/second. PC storage is measured in bytes, where each byte is made up of 8 bits.
When your provider sells you a connection of, say, 1.544mb/sec - thats megaBITS not megabytes. You need to divide by 8 to come up with your connection speed in bytes.
Storage on a PC is based around a byte, which is 8 bits. The network usage captured is correct - it was simply displaying it in bits, not bytes.
Comment Re:almost tempted to buy some shares (Score 1) 424
but since I'm paying for subsidized phone whether or not I buy one (no discounts for owning my own phone), I'm going to buy one that way.
That's not fully true. T-Mobile will let you go contract-free and subsidy-free if you bring your own phone. For a Smartphone, with data plan, etc, it works out to be about $20 less a month. I think they call it 'Everything More Plus', although you can't buy it online any more, you can from a store or by calling in.
Comment Re:Co-workers who use speaker phone (Score 1) 484
100 square feet? That's amazing. We're looking at putting in cubes, to replace the open floorplan we have now, and the cubes will be 8x6 (or 48 square feet).
People are looking forward to the change, too, because the open plan has been a disaster. Within a group, it may work, but when you've got open plan for four groups doing different things within the plan...
Comment Re:They need something to do (Score 1) 342
Don't forget the legitimate things that they can do during these long flights. Like studing the latest changes to the regulations, the latest company policies, etc. Most of these things are now available in digital form, so now what are they supposed to do? Print them out and scatter the pages throughout the cockpit?
This, I think, was the problem that has generated this rule change. Two pilots for Northwest (now Delta) were discussing the changes in policy around scheduling and flight regulations. One of the pilots had brought out the laptop to go over the new system with the other; they had the auto-pilot on. They then proceeded to overshoot their destination and missed numerous calls from the control towers and the flight crew because they were too engrossed in studying the new applications / changes to the rules. The flight finally got turned around when a flight attendant knocked on the door to get their attention and asked 'Weren't we supposed to land 5 minutes ago'? The pilots then turned the plane AROUND and flew back X miles (like 150?) to land.
Comment Re:Beer (Score 5, Funny) 334
A solution to the problem does exist, though. It's called "everything in moderation."
... including moderation.
I find I personally like my moderation in moderate amounts.
Comment Re:3G Fix? (Score 1) 174
Is the new 4g an actual standard that all of these carriers will use or will 4g be another mismash of frequencies and formats?
No surprise here, but a mismash of frequencies and formats.
Comment Re:3G Fix? (Score 5, Informative) 174
It does make me wonder if it would just be cost prohibitively expensive to put in a radio that supports ALL used frequency band ranges. That way, you have a phone that will truly work on any network, with any provider, without having to buy a new handset.
I've heard rumor of a Qualcomm chip due out this summer that is supposed to support GSM, HSPA, HSPA+ and some CDMA stuff. A quick google turned up the following:
Qualcomm today updated its MDM family of cellular chipsets with some of the first anywhere to support dual, advanced 3G and 4G formats. The MSM7630 supports GSM, HSPA and HSPA+ standards but will also work on CDMA phone networks and support up to EVDO Revision B for 3G on those services. The addition would let a phone work on a CDMA carrier like Sprint or Verizon but still work with AT&T or T-Mobile and roam at speeds of up to 21Mbps on networks from Rogers, other international carriers, and eventually T-Mobile USA.
From http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/12/possible.verizon.iphone.candidates/
Comment Re:Kindle's energy conscious display (Score 1) 123
They could add native PDF support in an update for us Gen 1 owners too, but haven't, so don't hold your breath
People thought they weren't going to add native PDF for the K2 either, and that happened with the new 2.3 release that just came out. I'm not saying it'll happen for the gen1, but people were thinking it wouldn't happen for the k2 either...
Comment Re:Kindle's energy conscious display (Score 3, Informative) 123
If only I could leave a recipe open for more than 10 minutes w/o the stupid screen saver like image coming on.
This has been fixed in the 2.3 update - the screen timeout is now set to 20 minutes.
Swine Flu Outbreak At PAX 374
whisper_jeff writes "There's been a confirmed outbreak of Swine Flu at PAX. Those who attended and are feeling under-the-weather after the con should not write it off as a typical convention cold and go see a doctor to make sure, just in case." The linked post also lists the airplane flights of the cases known so far, so if you flew from Seattle on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday for any reason, you might want to compare your itinerary.
Ball And Chain To Force Children To Study 346
You haven't tried everything to get your kids to study until you've tried the Study Ball. The Study Ball is a 21-pound prison-style device that locks onto your child's leg and only unlocks after a predetermined amount of study time has passed. The homework manacles can't be locked for more than four hours, and come with a safety key. The product website states, "Quite often, students who are having problems concentrating tend to get up every ten minutes to watch TV, talk on the phone, take something out of the fridge, and a long list of other distractions. Were they to dedicate all this wasted time to studying, they would optimise their performance and have more free time available. Study Ball helps you study more and more efficiently." Stop Teasing Your Brother Pepper Spray coming soon.
Database of All UK Children Launched 296
An anonymous reader writes "'A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has now become available for childcare professionals to access. The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net. 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training.'"
Comment Re:Slashdot achievements (Score 1) 1582
Quite.
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FORTRAN is for pipe stress freaks and crystallography weenies.
