Google +1: Screenshot and Details 73

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday December 09, 2010 @11:07AM from the yes-track-me-please dept.

An anonymous reader noted that a screenshot has leaked showing Google's response to the Facebook 'Like' button that is used to track your every movement throughout the web. It's called Google +1. The product is not announced or launched, nor is the updated toolbar also discussed in the story.

Goodbye, VGA 356

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday December 09, 2010 @09:42AM from the we-definitely-knew-thee dept.

jones_supa writes "Leading PC companies have expressed their will to finally start kicking out legacy display interfaces. Intel plans to end support of LVDS in 2013 and VGA in 2015 in its PC client processors and chipsets. While the large installed base of existing VGA monitors and projectors will likely keep VGA on PC back panels beyond 2015, PC and display panel makers are in strong support of this transition. The DisplayPort connector interface provides backwards and forwards compatibility by supporting VGA and DVI output via certified adapters, while also providing new capabilities such as single connector multi-monitor support."

Comment Re:What's worse that no documentation? (Score 1) 477

by GrimNotepad on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:07PM (#30343568) Attached to: Defining Useful Coding Practices?

best comment i have ever seen in the code i inherited is //insert comment here

Comment "elegant code" overhead coefficient (Score 2, Interesting) 477

by GrimNotepad on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:02PM (#30343542) Attached to: Defining Useful Coding Practices?

In my company i am the sole/lead/only developer, and as such i have my own defined best practices and i follow them adamantly, that said i have written clever couplets of code that "just work" they are commented from here to the nines yet 4-6 months and 3 projects later when it comes time to look at reviewing for a possible update in the project i can sometimes look at it and have to spend extra time to follow the elegant code around to get it "loaded" back into my head to see what i did. i think that so long as programs are written by humans who can sometimes look at it sometimes as an art form there should always be an "elegant code" overhead coefficient worked into every project update.

Virginia Health Database Held For Ransom 325

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @08:59AM from the single-point-of-failure dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post's Security Fix is reporting that hackers broke into servers at the Virginia health department that monitors prescription drug abuse and replaced the homepage with a ransom demand. The attackers claimed they had deleted the backups, and demanded $10 million for the return of prescription data on more than 8 million Virginians. Virginia isn't saying much about the attacks at the moment, except to acknowledge that they've involved the FBI, and that they've shut down e-mail and a whole mess of servers for the state department of health professionals. The Post piece credits Wikileaks as the source, which has a copy of the ransom note left behind by the attackers."

Acorns Disappear Across the Country 474

Posted by kdawson on Monday December 01, 2008 @09:11AM from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Botanist Rod Simmons thought he was going crazy when couldn't find any acorns near his home in Arlington County, Virginia. 'I'm used to seeing so many acorns around and out in the field, it's something I just didn't believe,' said Simmons. Then calls started coming in about crazy squirrels. Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. And a lot more calls about squirrel roadkill. Simmons and Naturalist Greg Zell began to do some research and found Internet discussion groups, including one on Topix called 'No acorns this year,' reporting the same thing from as far away as the Midwest up through New England and Nova Scotia. 'We live in Glenwood Landing, N.Y., and don't have any acorns this year. Really weird,' wrote one. 'None in Kansas either! Curiouser and curiouser.' The absence of acorns could have something to do with the weather and Simmons has a theory about the wet and dry cycles. But many skeptics say oaks in other regions are producing plenty of acorns, and the acorn bust is nothing more than the extreme of a natural boom-and-bust cycle. But the bottom line is that no one really knows. 'It's sort of a mystery,' Zell said."

Comment Re:No secret ballot? (Score 1) 1912

by GrimNotepad on Tuesday November 04, 2008 @11:08AM (#25625995) Attached to: Discuss the US Presidential Election

my guess is they are going to check it against registered democratic/republican voters to gauge electronic machine confidence. (even if they don't check it against if your registered one way or the other, its just instead of a guy doing a tick in the electronic or not columns, they have some kinda unique identifier)