OCCT - Slashdot User

Comment Re:live music is so much richer (Score 1) 743

by OCCT on Wednesday March 11, 2009 @07:33PM (#27159287) Attached to: Young People Prefer "Sizzle Sounds" of MP3 Format

I experience the same thing. Without earplugs, live music is far too distorted to hear detail. Once you pop them in, it does get a little too quiet, but you can hear the music much better. I remember my surprise the first time I wore them to a concert - I had thought that live music just sounded terrible.

Urine Passes NASA Taste Test 404

Posted by kdawson on Monday November 17, 2008 @09:35PM from the not-mine dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "Astronauts flying aboard space shuttle Endeavour are delivering a device to the International Space Station that may leave you wondering if NASA is taking recycling too far. Among the ship's cargo is a water regeneration system that distills, filters, ionizes, and oxidizes wastewater — including urine — into fresh water for drinking or, as one astronaut puts it, 'will make yesterday's coffee into today's coffee.' The US space agency spent $250M for the water recycling equipment but with the space shuttles due to retire in two years, NASA needed to make sure the station crew would have a good supply of fresh water. The Environmental Control and Life Support Systems uses a purification process called vapor compression distillation: urine is boiled until the water in it turns to steam. In space, there's an additional challenge: steam doesn't rise, so the entire distillation system is spun to create artificial gravity to separate the steam from the brine. The water has been thoroughly tested on Earth, including blind taste tests that pitted recycled urine with similarly treated tap water. 'Some people may think it's downright disgusting, but if it's done correctly, you process water that's purer than what you drink here on Earth,' said Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper."

Ballmer "Interested" In Open Source Browser Engine 410

Posted by timothy on Thursday November 06, 2008 @08:56PM from the ted-bundy-was-interested-in-women dept.

Da Massive writes "'Why is IE still relevant and why is it worth spending money on rendering engines when there are open source ones available that can respond to changes in Web standards faster?,' asked a young developer to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Sydney yesterday. 'That's cheeky, but a good question, but cheeky,' Ballmer said. Then came the startling revelation that Microsoft may also adopt an open source browser engine. 'Open source is interesting,' he said. 'Apple has embraced Webkit and we may look at that, but we will continue to build extensions for IE 8.'"

Many Universities Spending $100K/Year Enforcing P2P Rules 323

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday October 20, 2008 @10:17AM from the god-bless-america dept.

Scott Jaschik writes "A new study documents just how much money colleges are spending on enforcing P2P rules through software license fees, hardware, and other costs. Many private universities are spending more than $100,000 a year — a major allocation of funds. An article in Inside Higher Ed explains the study and its findings."

Do Software Versions Really Matter? 693

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 15, 2008 @05:45PM from the blame-patrick-volkerding dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I work for a rather large software company and I am currently working on a completely new product. So new in fact, that the official name has not even been decided. I had assumed that the version number for this product would be 1.0 (at most). However recently I learned that the Product Managers want to release this NEW product with a version number somewhere between 5.0 and 8.0 because 'there is a stigma about buying 1.0 products. People assume it's no good.' This latest Dilbert-esque comedy routine nearly sent me over the edge. So to gauge my sanity against that of the upper Product Management, I ask the community: Do version numbers play a role in software decisions, or have product version numbers lost all credibility and meaning? Would the community feel comfortable buying version '6.3' software (and paying tens of thousands of dollars for it) knowing that it was the first release of the product?"

Google Goofs On Firefox's Anti-Phishing List 168

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 21, 2008 @03:13PM from the unless-you-like-it-that-way dept.

Stephen writes "While phishing is a problem, giving one company the power to block any site that it wishes at the browser level never seemed like a good idea. Today Google blocked a host of legitimate web sites by listing mine.nu. mine.nu is available as a dynamic dns domain and anybody can claim a sub domain. All sub-domains are blocked regardless of whether phishing actually occurs on the sub-domain or not. Several Linux enthusiast sites are caught up in the net including Hostfile Ad Blocking and Berry Linux Bootable CD."

Today Is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! 287

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday September 19, 2008 @09:47AM from the arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dept.

lucabrasi999 writes "Ahoy! Drink up the Grog, me hearties! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Grab yer wenches and stop being a bilge-rat." Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket have even provided a short YouTube video to help those who might be a bit more pirate-speak challenged. Even Google is getting in on the action, those swarthy dogs.

Slashdot Top Deals