Comment Openbox (Score 2) 611
Right now I'm loving Openbox + Tint2 (for now) ... does what I absolutely need and keeps the system resources available for actual software.
Submission + - Which comic books to start my 3 yr old with? 2
JeepFanatic writes: I've never been one to read comic books however I've always enjoyed superheros. My 3 yr old son is really into superheros (especially Spiderman) and I thought it would be a fun thing to do together to start reading comics to him. Any suggestions on comics that would be more appropriate to start him out with?
Comment Re:Technology is not the problem (Score 0, Offtopic) 233
I wish I had mod points today to mod this comment up.
Comment Re:Model M Keyboard (Score 1) 622
I have 4 of them so I'll be good if in the highly unlikely event that one dies. The one I'm currently using on my main PC is about 18 years old.
Comment Re:Or... (Score 1) 809
Wouldn't 300+ million Americans each receiving $1 million be a bit more than $350 million? Like 6 zeros more?
Submission + - Scientists Find Hole in Earth's Magnetic Field (reuters.com)
Velorium writes:
The Earth's magnetic field has been found to have two large holes that are making Earth's surface vulnerable to solar winds. Despite what scientists originally thought, these holes allow 20 times the normal amount of solar particles through when they are facing away from the sun. This being opposite from what the scientists had originally speculated.
Submission + - What restrictions to place on student laptops?
An anonymous reader writes: We're a school district in the beginning phases of a laptop program which has the eventual goal of putting a Macbook in the hands of every student from 6th to 12th grade. The students will essentially own the computers, are expected to take them home every night, and will be able to purchase the laptops for a nominal fee upon graduation.
Here's the dilemma — how much freedom do you give to students? The state mandates web filtering on all machines. However, there is some flexibility on exactly what should be filtered. Are things like Facebook and Myspace a legitimate use of a school computer? What about games, forums, or blogs, all of which could be educational, distracting or obscene? We also have the ability to monitor any machine remotely, lock the machine down at certain hours, prevent the installation of any software by the user, and prevent the use of iChat. How far do we take this?
While on one hand we need to avoid legal problems and irresponsible behavior, there's a danger of going so far to minimize liability that we make the tool nearly useless. Equally concerning is the message sent to the students. Will a perceived lack of trust cripple the effectiveness of the program?
Here's the dilemma — how much freedom do you give to students? The state mandates web filtering on all machines. However, there is some flexibility on exactly what should be filtered. Are things like Facebook and Myspace a legitimate use of a school computer? What about games, forums, or blogs, all of which could be educational, distracting or obscene? We also have the ability to monitor any machine remotely, lock the machine down at certain hours, prevent the installation of any software by the user, and prevent the use of iChat. How far do we take this?
While on one hand we need to avoid legal problems and irresponsible behavior, there's a danger of going so far to minimize liability that we make the tool nearly useless. Equally concerning is the message sent to the students. Will a perceived lack of trust cripple the effectiveness of the program?
Comment Re:I think we're already there (Score 1) 187
When Chrome came out I had many people who never would have any idea about new browsers come to me and ask for my thoughts on it. Any type of Google related news has a way of making it out into the public. As a result, many discussions get started about the benefits of different browsers and even allowed me to mention other browsers to people that they had never heard of before.
Feed The Register: Spammers crack Gmail Captcha (theregister.com)
Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables
Spammers, fresh from the success of cracking the Windows Live captcha used by Hotmail, have broken the equivalent system at Gmail.
Feed Science Daily: Sign Of 'Embryonic Planets' Forming In Nearby Stellar Systems (sciencedaily.com)
Astronomers are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold "embryonic planets" -- a missing link in planet-formation theories. As scientists try to piece together how our own planet came to be, they look to the forming planets of other star systems for clues. But astronomers have been unable to find evidence for one of the key stages of planet development, a period early in the planet's formation when it is only as large as tiny Pluto.
Journal Journal: Radiohead to release digital download on honour system
The Times Online writes that Radiohead, having left EMI, is self-releasing its new album on its Web site as a digital download - and leaving the price up to the consumer. The Times does not note that the same album will be for sale in a physical format as well, at a predetermined price - £40 - and with lots of goodies.
Submission + - Bloggers who risked all to reveal Junta in Burma 2
An anonymous reader writes: Internet geeks share a common style, and Ko Latt and his four friends would not be out of place in cyber cafés across the world. They have the skinny arms and the long hair, the dark T-shirts and the jokey nicknames. But few such figures have ever taken the risks that they have in the past few weeks, or achieved so much in a noble and dangerous cause.
Since last month Ko Latt, 28, his friends Arca, Eye, Sun and Superman, and scores of others like them have been the third pillar of Burma's Saffron Revolution.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2563937.ece
Submission + - New Explanation for the Industrial Revolution (hughpickens.com)
Pcol writes: "The New York Times is running a story on Dr. Gregory Clark's book "A Farewell to Alms" with a new explanation for the Industrial Revolution and the affluence it created. Dr. Clark, an economic historian at the University of California Davis, postulates that the surge in economic growth that occurred first in England around 1800 came about because of the strange new behaviors of nonviolence, literacy, long working hours and a willingness to save. Clark's research shows that between 1200 and 1800, the rich had more surviving children than the poor and that this caused constant downward social mobility as the poor failed to reproduce themselves and the progeny of the rich took over their occupations. "The modern population of the English is largely descended from the economic upper classes of the Middle Ages," Clark concludes. Work hours increased, literacy and numeracy rose, and the level of interpersonal violence dropped. Around 1790, a steady upward trend in production efficiency caused a significant acceleration in the rate of productivity growth that at last made possible England's escape from the Malthusian trap. Why did the Industrial Revolution first occur in England instead of the much larger populations of China or Japan. Clark has found data showing that their richer classes, the Samurai in Japan and the Qing dynasty in China, were surprisingly unfertile and failed to generate the downward social mobility that spread production-oriented values."
Submission + - Majority of businesses will not move to Vista
oDDmON oUT writes: An article appearing today in Computerworld quotes polling results from a PatchLink Corp. survey, saying that the majority of it's enterprise customers feel there are no compelling security enhancements in Windows Vista, that they have no plans to migrate to it in the near term and that many will "...either stick with the Windows they have, or turn to Linux or Mac OS X".
A majority, 87%, said "they would stay with their existing version(s) of Windows".
This comes on the heels of a disenting view of Vista's track record in the area of security at the six month mark, which sparked discussion on numerous forums.
A majority, 87%, said "they would stay with their existing version(s) of Windows".
This comes on the heels of a disenting view of Vista's track record in the area of security at the six month mark, which sparked discussion on numerous forums.
Submission + - Electric car to change the industry?
An anonymous reader writes: CNNMoney.com is running an article about a Norwegian car company that is hooking up with Google, Tesla, and others to bring an electric car to market that might change the automotive industry the way Dell changed the computer industry.
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