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Comment In a word: No (Score 1) 1

by Dngrsone (#43164025) Attached to: Could Modern Missiles Make Surface Navies Obsolete?
The aircraft carrier killed the battleship. Having a surface-to-surface missile that can reach out to the carrier is nothing new-- the Chinese have had Silkworms for decades. Extended range will only accomplish so much in the way of owning an arena. Until wars are fought using only robots, drones and satelites, then there will continue to be a need to have people in the arena, and therefore there will be a need for surface ships of various design.
Games

Submission + - Is It Time To Adopt Gamers' Bill of Rights 2

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: The SimCity launch debacle is only the latest in an increasingly frustrating string of affronts to gamers' rights as customers. Before SimCity, we had Ubisoft's always-on DRM (that the company only ended quietly after massive outcry from gamers). We had the forced online and similarly unplayable launch of Diablo III. We had games like Asura's Wrath and Final Fantasy: All the Bravest that required you to pay more money just to complete them after you purchase them. And let us never forget the utter infamy of StarForce, SecuROM, and Sony's copy protection, which installed rootkits on computers without users' knowledge. As one recently published article argues, maybe its time for gamers' Bill of Rights.

Submission + - Got a Cell Phone Booster? Well FCC says you have to turn it off (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Dngrsone
Dngrsone writes: Some two million people have bought cell-phone wireless signal boosters and have been using them to get better communication between their phones and distant cell towers. But now, the FCC says they all have to turn their boosters off and ask permission from their providers and register their devices with those providers before they can turn them back on. FCC FAQ: http://wireless.fcc.gov/signal-boosters/faq.html

Comment Okay, but advantages does ext4 have on VFAT ? (Score 0) 1

by Dngrsone (#42956019) Attached to: Why doesn't Android support Linux filesystems for removable storage?
Yes, it seems a bit backward for Android to ignore the ext4 format, considering the roots of their operating system, but what advantages would ext4 have over VFAT when it comes to externally mounted SD cards? Because of the finite write limits of Flash memory, journaling is a bad idea and will never be supported. What about overhead? Is there an advantage in overhead for the ext4 system vs ext2 or VFAT? There are legitimate reasons to have ext4 as a file system manager on a computer. These include having the ability to use larger, more complex file names, journaling, greater capacity storage media and hugely nested directory tree structures. None of these advantages can be reasonably translated onto a (relatively) small storage medium such as an SD card, which suffers, by its nature, a limited life span (finite writes). Yes, you could use ext4 on an SD card, if you hack it right; you have proven that. However, there seems to be no rpactical reason why Android should support ext4 on SD cards.
Internet Explorer

Submission + - IE patch to fix 57 vulnerabilities (zdnet.com) 1

Submitted by Billly Gates
Billly Gates writes: Microsoft is advising users to stick with other browsers until Tuesday when 57 patches for Internet Explorer 6,7,8,9, and even 10.. There is no word if this patch is to protect IE from the +50 java exploits that were patched last week or the new Adobe flash vulnerabilities that were just posted earlier today. Microsoft has more information here. In semi related news IE 10 is almost done for Windows 7 and has a IE10blocker available for the corporations. No word on whether IE 10 will be included as part of the 57 updates.
Government

Submission + - Copyright claim thwarts North Korea (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by ianare
ianare writes: A propaganda video from the North Korean authorities has been removed from YouTube following a copyright claim by games maker Activision. It shows a space craft flying around the world and eventually over a city resembling New York. The buildings are then seen crumbling amid fires and missile attacks. However, the dramatic images were soon recognised as having been lifted from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. By Tuesday, the video had been blocked, with a message notifying users of Activision's complaint shown in its place.
Hardware

Submission + - Magnetic transistor could cut power consumption and make chips reprogrammable (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "Transistors, the simple switches at the heart of all modern electronics, generally use a tiny voltage to toggle between ‘on’ and ‘off’. The voltage approach is highly reliable and easy to miniaturize, but has its disadvantages. First, keeping the voltage on requires power, which drives up the energy consumption of the microchip. Second, transistors must be hard-wired into the chips and can’t be reconfigured, which means computers need dedicated circuitry for all their functions.
Now, researchers have made a type of transistor that can be switched with magnetism. The device could cut the power consumption of computers, cell phones and other electronics — and allow chips themselves to be 'reprogrammed'' (abstract)."

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