Comment Re:How about a decent sized screen? (Score 1) 265
I don't want a hybrid almost-laptop. I just want a Android tablet with a decent sized screen. A 10 inch screen is just too small.
Comment Re:How about a decent sized screen? (Score 1) 265
I don't know about you, but I like the Android OS. I would also love to get a 14" Android tablet, but no way am I going to shell out over $1000 for a Windows tablet.
Submission + - Ease of publishing an ebook (huffingtonpost.com)
ISoldat53 writes: This article describes how easy it is to publish an ebook. The author details the costs to the writer for a major publishing house to publish a book and the savings to the writer by self-publishing. He looks to make the same profit selling the book at $2.99 on amazon.com as he does going though a publisher. The book is Kindle specific for now but the author describes how it can be purchased though amazon.com and converted for other readers. No DRM.
Submission + - The Rise And Fall Of America's Jet-Powered Car
Pickens writes: "The WSJ reports that the automobile designs of these 1950s and 1960s were inspired by the space race and the dawn of jet travel but one car manufacturer, Chrysler, was bold enough to put a jet engine in an automobile that ran at an astounding 60,000 rpm on any flammable fluid including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, peanut oil, alcohol, tequila, or perfume. Visionary Chrysler designer George Huebner believed that there was plenty to recommend the turbine. "Turbines weighed less than piston engines, had fewer moving parts and were easy to work on. What's more, they never needed a tuneup or an oil change and could cruise all day at 100 miles per hour," writes Steve Lehto in Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation. People loved the car. In a publicity scheme to promote its "jet" car, Chrysler commissioned Ghia to handcraft 50 identical car bodies and each car would be lent to a family for a few months and then passed on to another. Chrysler received more than 30,000 requests in 1962 to become test drivers and eventually 203 were chosen who logged more than one million miles (mostly trouble free) in the 50 Ghia prototypes. "Some wanted a turbine car so badly they sent in blank checks made out to Chrysler," Lehto writes. "All Chrysler had to do was name the price and deliver a car." In the end Chrysler killed the turbine car after OPEC's 1973 oil embargo. "How different would America be now if we all drove turbine-powered cars? It could have happened. But government interference, shortsighted regulators, and indifferent corporate leaders each played a role in the demise of a program that could have lessened US.dependence on Middle East oil.""
The Push For Colbert's "Restoring Truthiness" Rally 703
jamie writes "A grassroots campaign has begun to get Stephen Colbert to hold a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to counter Glenn Beck's recent 'Restoring Honor' event. The would-be rally has been dubbed 'Restoring Truthiness' and was inspired by a recent post on Reddit, where a young woman wondered if the only way to point out the absurdity of the Tea Party's rally would be if Colbert mirrored it with his own Colbert Nation.'"
New Wii Menu Update Targets Homebrew Again 258
Nintendo has tried to block homebrew during firmware updates in the past, often unsuccessfully. Now, as it rolls out version 4.3 of the Wii System Menu, stopping homebrew modifications once again seems to be its primary goal. From Nintendo's support site: "Because unauthorized channels or firmware may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 4.3 will check for and automatically remove such unauthorized files." Since it's hard to bill that as an upgrade, they vaguely add, "In addition, there are some behind the scenes enhancements that do not affect any prominently-used features or menus but will improve system performance."
Rock Band 3 To Include MIDI Keyboard 107
xbeefsupreme writes with news that Harmonix has officially demonstrated Rock Band 3's 25-key MIDI keyboard. From USA Today:
"During the game, green, red, blue, yellow or orange keys flow on a 'stream' representing the notes to be played on five corresponding keyboard keys. In a new authentic Pro mode meant to help players segue to actual instruments, all 25 keys are used; the streams shifts left and right to cover the correct keys. The keyboard also works as a MIDI keyboard that can be connected to a computer. 'This is a real instrument and a real device,' says senior designer Sylvain Dubrofsky."
The game will also support more advanced "real" guitar controllers, which have six actual strings you can strum. Hit the link below to see the keyboard in use.
Submission + - Astronaut Group Endorses Commercial Spaceflight (wsj.com)
FleaPlus writes: Buzz Aldrin and twelve other astronauts have published a joint endorsement of commercial human spaceflight, stating that 'while it's completely appropriate for NASA to continue developing systems and the new technologies necessary to take crews farther out into our solar system, [the astronauts] believe that the commercial sector is fully capable of safely handling the critical task of low-Earth-orbit human transportation.' They are confident that commercial systems (which NASA already relies on for launching multibillion-dollar science payloads) can provide a level of safety equal to the Russian Soyuz and higher than the Space Shuttle, while strengthening US economic competitiveness. They also support the expected endorsement of the White House's Augustine Commission regarding NASA's use of commercial spaceflight — the Commission's final report will be released this Thursday.
Submission + - A copyright black hole swallows our culture (ft.com) 2
An anonymous reader writes: James Boyle, professor at Duke Law School, has a piece in the Financial Times in which he argues that a "copyright black hole is swallowing our culture." He explains some of the issues surrounding Google Books, and makes the point that these issues wouldn't exist if we had a sane copyright law.
Submission + - scientology proposes net censorship in Australia (hreoc.gov.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Submitted by the Australian branch of Scientology to the local Human Rights Commission is a proposal to eliminate anonymity on the net and the removal of critical websites.
Submission is listed as #1931 at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/frb/frb_submissions.html
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1: The implementation of Criminal and Civil Restrictions on Religious Vilification.
Recommendation 2: Restriction on Anonymity on acts of Religious
Vilification:
2.1 Websites created with primary purpose of inciting religious vilification shall be removed or their access to the Australian public restricted.
2.2 Creators of websites whose primary purpose is the incitement of religious vilification shall be prevented from concealing their identity.
Recommendation 3: Restriction on Religious Misinformation and
Misrepresentation known or reasonably known to be untruthful in the Media
Recommendation 4: Include a form of Bill or Charter of Rights into the Australian Constitution, which prevents the Commonwealth from making any law, which 'directly, indirectly or incidentally' prohibits the free exercise of religion to the extent of such prohibition
Submission + - Lawsuit Claims WGA is Spyware. (electronista.com)
twitter writes: "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's euphemistically named digital restrictions scheme, is the target of another spyware and false advertising lawsuit.
Microsoft this week was sued in a Washington district court for allegedly violating privacy laws through Windows XP's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) copy protection scheme. Similar to cases filed in 2006, the new class action case accuses Microsoft of falsely representing what information WGA would send to verify the authenticity of Windows and that it would send back information [daily ip address and other details that could be used to trace information back to a home or user].
The complaint further argued that Microsoft portrayed WGA as a necessary security update rather than acknowledge its copy protection nature in the update. WGA's implementation also prevented users from purging the protection from their PCs without completely reformatting a computer's system drive.
There were at least two other lawsuits launched in 2006 over WGA. According to the Wikipedia article, none of them have been resolved. The system is built into Vista and Windows 7. It is something that should be avoided by people who value their privacy and any business that has to follow laws such as HIPPA."
Submission + - Can Ares 1 be saved? (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: "The Augustine Committee has not officially presented its findings to the White House, but already a push back is starting to occur over the possibility that the Ares 1 rocket will be canceled after three billion dollars and over four years of development. According to a story in the Orlando Sentinel contractors involved in the development of the Ares 1 have started a quiet, but persistent public relations campaign to save the Ares 1, criticized in some quarters because of cost and technical problems"
Submission + - C64 Emulator finally approved from App Store (manomio.com)
Gi0 writes: "After a couple of months from its rejection,the C64 Emulator is finally approved in Appstore.To quote its creators"BASIC has been removed for this release; however, we hope that working with Apple further will allow us to re-enable it.Despite it's absence, BASIC is not our focus, ultimately fans of the C64 want games"
It comes with 5 bundled games and will certainly give you an old times taste in your iPhone.
Link to app:http://c64.manomio.com/index.php/commodore64ituneslink/"
It comes with 5 bundled games and will certainly give you an old times taste in your iPhone.
Link to app:http://c64.manomio.com/index.php/commodore64ituneslink/"
Submission + - Police Swarm Bungie Office over HALO replica rifle (kotaku.com) 1
sv_libertarian writes: A panicked person in Kirkland, WA called local police claiming they saw someone walking down the street with an AK-47, when it was actually an Bungie employee carrying an overgrown model of a HALO sniper rifle. Which resembles an AK-47 as much as a Volkswagen resembles a Formula 1 racer...
Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Son's Birthday 410
Hugh Pickens writes "The Charleston Daily Mail reports that machinist Mike Daugherty built his son a working cannon for his birthday — not a model — a real working cannon. 'It looks like something right out of the battle at Gettysburg,' says Daugherty. The 700 pound cast iron and steel howitzer, designed to use comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories with a steep angle of descent, has a 4-inch gun barrel that is 36 inches long mounted on a wooden gun carriage with two 36- inch diameter wheels and took Daugherty about two weeks to build at a cost of about $6,000. 'I've always been interested in the Civil War and cannons, so I thought it would be a good gift,' says Daugherty's 11-year old son Logan. Daugherty said he is not worried about the federal government coming to get his son's cannon because he spoke to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and found it is legal to own such a cannon because it does not use a firing pin and is muzzle loaded so the government does not consider the weapon a threat. Two days after the family celebrated Logan's 11th birthday, father and son offered a field demonstration of the new cannon on top of a grassy hill overlooking Fairmont, West Virginia and on the third try, the blank inside the barrel went boom and a cannon was born. For a followup they popped a golf ball into the gun barrel, lit the fuse, and watched the golf ball split the sky and land about 600 yards away. 'Any rebels charging up this hill would be in trouble with a cannon like this at the top,' Logan says."
