Comment Anyone who read the Dune Chronicles knows... (Score 1) 399
it's all very simple, if we just follow Leto's golden path.
Comment something I stumbled upon a few years ago (Score 1) 702
I had a folder (*cough* I mean directory) named reports. Inside that folder (yeah, directory) I had a file named reports.php
I did this: vim reports [tab] [enter] expecting my shell to complete the filename and open it. (I forgot that the reports.php file was in the reports fo^H^H dir) What happened was that Vim said "reports is a directory" and showed me all this stuff... I thought I broke it! But the reality is that vim has a built in file browser. It's very handy! Try it!
PS yes I know that a directory is a file too along with everything else.........
PPS the best vim tip ever: vimtutor
just do it.
Google News Found Guilty of Copyright Violation 223
schmiddy writes "A court in Brussels, Belgium, has just found Google guilty of violating copyright law with its Google News aggregator. According to the ruling, Google News' links and brief summaries of news sources violates copyright law. Google will be forced to pay $32,600 for each day it displayed the links of the plaintiffs. Although Google plans to appeal, this ruling could have chilling effects on fair use rights on the web in the rest of Europe as well if other countries follow suit."
Submission + - Supercruncher Applications
starheight writes: This article contrasts traditional massively parallel supercomputing with a whole new generation of compute-intensive apps that require massively scalable architectures that can deliver both incredible throughput and real-time responsivenes when processing millions or billions of tasks.
http://www.computingatscale.com/?p=25
Is Wikipedia Failing? 478
An anonymous reader writes "A growing number of people are concerned about where Wikipedia is heading. Some have left Wikipedia for Citizendium, while others are trying to change the culture of Wikipedia from within. A recent essay called Wikipedia is failing points out many of the problems which must be solved with Wikipedia for it to succeed in its aim of becoming a reputable, reliable reference work. How would you go about solving these problems?"
Journal Journal: Navy May Deploy Anti-Terrorism Dolphins
Submission + - Amazon asserts right to adjust prices after sale
An anonymous reader writes: On December 23, Amazon advertised a "buy one get one free" sale on DVD boxsets, but did not test the promotion before going live. When anyone placed two boxsets in their cart, the website gave a double discount — so the "grand total" shown (before order submission) was $0.00 or something very small. Despite terms stating that Amazon checks order prices before shipping, Amazon shipped the vast majority of orders. Five days later (December 28), after orders had been received and presumably opened, Amazon emailed customers advising them to return the boxsets unopened or customers' credit cards would be charged an additional amount. (You can read more threads about this here and here.) Starting yesterday, Amazon has been (re)charging credit cards, often without authorization.
On Amazon's side, they didn't advertise any double discount, and the free or nearly-free boxsets must have cost them a mint. But with Amazon continually giving unadvertised discounts that seem to be errors, is "return the merchandise or be charged" the new way that price glitches will be handled?
70% of Sites Hackable? $1,000 Says "No Way" 146
netbuzz writes "Security vendor Acunetix is flogging a survey that claims 7 out 10 Web sites it checked have vulnerabilities posing a medium- to high-level risk of a breach of personal data. Network World's go-to security guy, Joel Snyder, says that percentage is 'sensationalist nonsense' — and he's willing to back that judgment with $1,000 of his own money. In fact Snyder will pay up if Acunetix can get personal data out of 3 of 10 sites chosen at random from their survey list."
No Closed Video Drivers For Next Ubuntu Release 448
lisah writes "Ubuntu's next release, Feisty Fawn, is due out in April and, according to company CTO Matt Zimmerman, proprietary video drivers failed to make the cut for the default install. Zimmerman told Linux.com that although the software required for Composite support is not ready for prime-time and therefore will not be included in Feisty, Ubuntu hasn't given up entirely on including video drivers in future releases. '[T]he winds aren't right yet. We will continue to track development and will revisit the decision if things change significantly.' Ambiguous or not, the decision to exclude proprietary drivers for now should satisfy at least some members of the Ubuntu Community. In other Feisty Fawn news, the Board also decided to downgrade support for Power PC due to a lack of funding." Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.
Submission + - Yahoo Music, chiefs urge labels to 'ditch DRM'
waired writes: "It seem that a trend has begun in the musics industry after Steve Jobs essay. Now a senior Yahoo chief has spoken out in favor of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' call for major labels to abandon digital rights technology (DRM). It points out that consumers are getting confused and that the Microsoft DRM "doesn't work half the time".
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsI D=17184"
Illinois Bill Would Ban Social Networking Sites 293
AlexDV writes "Library blogger Michael Stephens is reporting that an Illinois state senator, Matt Murphy (R-27, Palatine), has filed a bill that 'Creates the Social Networking Web site Prohibition Act. Provides that each public library must prohibit access to social networking Web sites on all computers made available to the public in the library. Provides that each public school must prohibit access to social networking Web sites on all computers made available to students in the school.' Here is the bill's full text."
This local effort harks back to an attempt last May to get federal legislation banning school and library use of social networking sites (Wikipedia summary here). The DOPA bill passed the House but died in the Senate.
Using Technology to Improve Kindergarten? 132
Write Your Valentine On a Spacecraft 100
GingerSnaps writes "Looking for something more fun and less predictable than roses and chocolates this Valentine's Day? Write your love on the side of a satellite. This unusual approach to courting comes courtesy of students at MIT and Georgia Tech, as part of a larger initiative to pay for their research spacecraft, the Mars Gravity Biosatellite. For a tax-deductible donation anyone can post a picture or message of choice on the spacecraft. All donations help the students pay for the development and construction of their Earth-orbiting satellite, to be launched in 2010. The data gathered will be critical to preparing for human missions to Mars and beyond."
Submission + - Top 10 Astronomy Pix of 2006
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Astronomical observatories on the ground and in space return many terabytes of data every year. But which bytes are the best? I combed through thousands of pictures to find the Top 10 astronomy images of the year."
Henry's Python Programming Guide 143
An anonymous reader writes "Seems like someone else has put up another Python programming guide, although this one seems to be a little easier to get through. From the article: 'My name is Henry the Adequate, and I am a Python programming Guru. I know all of their movies, and their TV shows, and can quote the dead parrot sketch in my sleep. In fact I do quote it in my sleep. That may explain why I am single, although it could also have something to do with the flamethrower. Naturally many old-timers want to know what this new-fangled Python thing is all about. "Henry," they say, "What is this new-fangled Python thing all about?" See what i mean? So, here, at last, is the article you have all been waiting for...'"
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