Comment Crossovers for Cash... check! (Score 1) 816
I, For One, Welcome Our New Cartoon Overlords!!
They were the original source material for the Sith anyway.
Comment Texas wants to be more like China?? (Score 1) 734
So, correct me if I am wrong, but independence as an individual requires thinking as an individual, and learning how to do that. It's not something you just grow into by rejecting all of that education provided to you that came before it. The teenage rebellious period of life is completely different then critical thinking. Is Texas trying to emulate China? Maybe the color of China's flag is confusing them? Anyway I guess food preperation specialists, household organizational contractors, and discarded material removal technician's don't actually need critical thinking skills so... WIN?!
Comment In the telecom's it seems to help at least (Score 3, Informative) 368
I work in disconnects for businesses for a major telco, and we have a lot of auditing requirements due to SOx. I'd hate to think of what records would look like without these requirements. Sure people can still cheat, but it's also a CYA for the company that is doing the reporting.
There is still slamming now and then, but there are far fewer disconnects in error, where the telco is at fault. Usually it is the business customer not knowing which location they actually wanted to disconnect on their side, or not reading what they wanted to disconnect.
It would be nice to not have the reports. But you know if a business is not required to do it then there will be no tracking of any type done, which is where major abuses take place.
I don't mind doing the reports in addition my normal workload because I'd been able to go over others work that I am auditing and get it back on track if there is a mistake in it.
Comment Re:Why the book world needs good editors (Score 1) 571
I'm going to go with option three. Raving fans demanding a book asap. With most writers (Jaqueline Carey, Terry Goodkind, David Drake to name a few) on a year to year and a half cycle, Jordans 2+ year cycle on some of the books had fans wanting the books sooner and faster. For books 7,8,9,10 Tor, and Jordan opted for a half editing cycle to get the books out faster to appease the fans. Book 11 which was one of the better ones in the series had a full editing cycle. I think if Tor and Jordan had opted to give it a full editing cycle for those 4 books we'd have series that read differently and flowed better. A lot of fans wanted it as soon as Jordan said my part is done undermining just how important those editors were to keeping his story somewhat focused.
YouTube AntiPiracy Policy Likened to 'Mafia Shakedown' 103
A C|Net article discusses reactions to YouTube's newly proposed antipiracy software policy. The company is now offering assistance for IP holders, allowing them to keep track of their content on the YouTube service ... if they sign up with the company for licensing agreements. A spokesman for Viacom (already in a fight with YouTube to take down numerous video clips) called this policy 'unacceptable', and another industry analyst likened it to a 'mafia shakedown.' YouTubes cites the challenges of determining ownership of a given video clip as the reason for this policy, and hopes that IP owners will cooperate in resolving these issues. Some onlookers also feel that these protestations are simply saber-rattling before an eventual deal: "'The debates are about negotiations more than anything else--who's going to pay whom and how much,' said Saul Berman, IBM's global media and entertainment strategy leader."
Cisco Extends Negotiations on iPhone 74
An anonymous reader writes "Apple and Cisco have just a short while longer to discuss the use of the iPhone name for Apple's new product. Cisco has extended the deadline for a resolution out to February 21st. The two companies are seeking a peaceful resolution to their problems, and the deadline was extended to 'reach an agreement on trademark rights and interoperability.' Early this month, Cisco put their lawsuit on hold to start these negotiations - it's easy to understand why they wouldn't want to scrap a whole month's worth of discussion over a few final details."
Translation of Macrovision Response to Jobs on DRM 284
BoboB-69 writes "Daring Fireball has posted a humorous, and accurate PR-speak to Plain English translation of Macrovision's CEO's response to Steve Jobs' Open Letter on DRM. Highly recommended reading for slashdotters everywhere."
Journal Journal: E-Ink and rollable displays
The latest article on rollable E-Ink displays sounds an awful lot like the PDA video phones used in one of the Gene Roddenberry series. They just happen to be black and white prototypes, and still need some improvement on things like voice and touch-screen input. Tag in the biometric thumb scan security, and you'd have one interesting little overpriced device.
Rollable E Ink Displays Get Real 116
An anonymous reader writes "Two years ago Philips unveiled a prototype of a functional electronic-document reader, called the Readius, which could unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. Unfortunately, that was only a prototype. According to Cnet, however, Polymer Vision, which spun out from Philips in 2006, has redesigned the Readius and turned it into a real product that it is going to be available by the end of this year. There are some notable differences between this Readius and the prototype version, in particular, the ability to display 16 shades of grey instead of just 4 and the connectivity options. What doesn't make sense though, is given the energy efficiency and easy-to-read high contrast functionality of E Ink, why other than Motorola with its Motofone, has no other cell phone manufacturer incorporated E Ink technology into its handsets?"
Interstellar Ark 703
xantox writes "There are three strategies to travel 10.5 light-years from Earth to Epsilon Eridani and bring humanity into a new stellar system : 1) Wait for future discovery of Star Trek physics and go there almost instantaneously, 2) Build a relativistic rocket powered by antimatter and go there in 22 years by accelerating constantly at 1g, provided that you master stellar amounts of energy (so, nothing realistic until now), but what about 3): go there by classical means, by building a gigantic Ark of several miles in radius, propulsed by nuclear fusion and featuring artificial gravity, oceans and cities, for a travel of seven centuries — where many generations of men and women would live ? This new speculation uses some actual physics and math to figure out how far are our fantasies of space travel from their actual implementation."
YouTube Users Attend First Official Get-Together 52
An anonymous reader wrote us with a link to News.com's coverage of the first official YouTube get-together. Video aficionados from as far away as Australia descended on the Pier 39 shopping complex in San Francisco to meet and, of course, videotape each other. An estimated 100 some people attended the 'As One' event, which allowed some of the most popular bloggers and video posters to meet their fans. "'I don't have any groupies yet,' said Ben Going when asked whether his Internet fame has changed his life. The 21-year-old waiter from Huntsville, Ala., has a regular YouTube audience that numbers nearly 26,000. Two minutes after making his joke, Going was approached by two red-haired teenagers who asked him for an autograph. Going, known at YouTube as Boh3m3, shrugged at a reporter and appeared simultaneously thrilled and embarrassed. Lowering his hat, the one Going wears in many of his videos, he signed away."
Journal Journal: Sennheiser PXC 450
This headphones using NoiseGard 2.0 Advance technology for active attenuation of ambient noise from Sennheiser that can protect against ambient noise up to 90.0% . . more
Feed Satellites Seek Substorm Source (wired.com)
Tech Toys Dominate Toy Fair 2007 48
Edis Krad writes "An CNN Money article previews the Hot Toys for 2007 from this past week's Toy Fair. The article is a great place to start looking through the hundreds of new products that were on display at the annual industry event. Among those featured in the article, I was particularly impressed with the Video Journal (blogging for kids?), the virtual bicycle (apparently, riding a real bicycle isn't cool enough anymore), and last but not least, the robotic parrot, that oddly reminds me of the replicant owl in Blade Runner. For more details on tech toys at the event, IEEE Spectrum has a rundown on the nerdier toys available. Artificial snow and a pre-assembled Mentos/Coke kit were two of that journalist's favorites. For different perspectives Forbes has a look at the toy business as it stands since last week, and Wired's Luddite column crabs that kids have too many techie toys nowadays. Dagnabit."
MPAA Violates Another Software License 297
Patrick
Robib, a blogger who wrote his own blogging engine called Forest Blog recently noticed that none other than the MPAA was using his work, and had completely violated his linkware license by removing all links back to the Forest Blog site, not crediting him in any way. The MPAA blog was using the Forest Blog software, but had completely stripped off his name, and links back to his site. He only found about it accidentally when he happened to visit the MPAA site.
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Real programmers don't comment their code. It was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
