Comment Re:What about... (Score 1) 325
What about just having 1 humongous ship built to take care of the problem, with its front end able to open and scoop up the garbage...
They already turned it into a TV show.
Facebook Apps Facing Delays and Uncertainties 82
NewsCloud writes "After reading about the Facebook platform launch, I spent the next week learning the API and building my application. Facebook's platform has been pretty successful despite complaints of poor documentation, instability and outcries over its application approval process. I've been waiting two weeks for my application to be approved for their directory and had my account disabled (temporarily) after I invited a large number of colleagues. While I'm impressed with the potential of the platform, the experience has made me more concerned about the lack of transparency in privately held social networks and the risks we take as developers when we invest time in a company's platform. Facebook's home page advertises itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you." My concern with Facebook is that there's no one regulating the utility."
Submission + - Closed captioning in web video
mforbes writes: "I, like many geeks, enjoy watching TV, movies, and streamed video. However, I suffer from a problem known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), which essentially means that I often have difficulties separating the sounds of human voices from various background noises.
When watching TV and when watching movies at home, this isn't a problem, as I can simply turn on the closed captioning. I never watch any television programs without CCTV, actually, and find radio to be an annoyance for the same reason.
Given this, and that CAPD only effects two to three percent of the population (see the preceding link), how much effort would it take the major purveyors of internet video (the broadcasting majors, etc) to include an option for CCTV? I ask this not as a technical expert, although I doubt the bandwidth required would be more than 1% of that required for the video already being presented, but as someone who simply cannot understand much of the dialogue due to this handicap.
As a social libertarian, I would never ask that there be government regulation of such an enterprise; I ask only that the major studios be aware of the difficulties that those of us with auditory disorders face. If it's rough for me, how much more difficult can it be for someone who can't hear at all?
To answer the obvious question, "Why did you post this to Your Rights Online?"
The only response I have is through the American with Disability Act. I acknowledge that this is a law, not a constitutional principle, and that it doesn't matter at all in countries other than the US. Nevertheless, as an American citizen who is subject to the ADA, I find that this is the relevant forum for such discussion."
When watching TV and when watching movies at home, this isn't a problem, as I can simply turn on the closed captioning. I never watch any television programs without CCTV, actually, and find radio to be an annoyance for the same reason.
Given this, and that CAPD only effects two to three percent of the population (see the preceding link), how much effort would it take the major purveyors of internet video (the broadcasting majors, etc) to include an option for CCTV? I ask this not as a technical expert, although I doubt the bandwidth required would be more than 1% of that required for the video already being presented, but as someone who simply cannot understand much of the dialogue due to this handicap.
As a social libertarian, I would never ask that there be government regulation of such an enterprise; I ask only that the major studios be aware of the difficulties that those of us with auditory disorders face. If it's rough for me, how much more difficult can it be for someone who can't hear at all?
To answer the obvious question, "Why did you post this to Your Rights Online?"
The only response I have is through the American with Disability Act. I acknowledge that this is a law, not a constitutional principle, and that it doesn't matter at all in countries other than the US. Nevertheless, as an American citizen who is subject to the ADA, I find that this is the relevant forum for such discussion."
