Comment Re:Punch cards (Score 1) 397
How about Punch cards made out of titanium?
Comment Redundancy by method (Score 1) 397
The key to data protection is risk mitigation. Depending on how important your data is, you should probably consider employing multiple methods of protection, such as a Disk or SSD based copy with a Tape or Optical based copy.
Personally, I'd keep a near-online copy by means of an External Drive or NAS device which can be powered down if necessary, but if you want to go further you could lock that in a fire-resistant safe/filing cabinet, but you should definitely have another copy offsite somewhere.
You could even use an online storage provider? Let them worry about maintaining the hardware? But you still need a second (offline, offsite) copy, imho.
Personally, I'd keep a near-online copy by means of an External Drive or NAS device which can be powered down if necessary, but if you want to go further you could lock that in a fire-resistant safe/filing cabinet, but you should definitely have another copy offsite somewhere.
You could even use an online storage provider? Let them worry about maintaining the hardware? But you still need a second (offline, offsite) copy, imho.
Comment Do you believe models? (Score 1) 541
Some models suggest that space-time expanded at a rate faster than light speed during a period of rapid inflation shortly after the Big Bang.
I don't know about you, but I always take anything that a model suggests with a grain of salt!
I don't know about you, but I always take anything that a model suggests with a grain of salt!
Nintendo Penalizing Homebrew Users? 95
An anonymous reader writes "Bricked your Wii? Not only will Nintendo charge you for the repair, they will now add an additional fee if they detect any homebrew software. 'Should Nintendo have to pay to repair hacked Wiis under warranty? Maybe not, but they have no (moral) right to gouge customers out of spite for having the HBC installed. This actually poses a technical dilemma for us with BootMii. As currently designed, BootMii looks for an SD card when you boot your Wii, and if it finds the card and the right file, it will execute that file. Otherwise, there's no way to tell it's installed.'"
Comment What about the servers? (Score 1) 503
I'm surprised more people didn't vote for their real primary machine... the one doing all the work... the server that has no screen!
...Ahh crap I voted for the wrong option too. :)
iPhone App Refund Policies Could Cost Devs 230
CBRcrash writes "Apparently, if iPhone users decide that they want a refund for an app (users can get a refund within 90 days, according to Apple policy), Apple requires that developers give back the money they received from the sale. But, here's the kicker: Apple will refund the full amount to the user and says that it has the right to keep its commission. So, the developer not only has to return the money for the sale, but also has to reimburse Apple for its commission."
Comment Most of the Chinese Women's team... (Score 1) 113
Looks to me like most of the women on the chinese team look like they're fresh out of the local sex-change clinic... remember the swimming team from a few years back?
Submission + - Linux / Unix boxes sweep Amazon's 'best of" 20 (businesswire.com)
christian.einfeldt writes: "Computers and handheld devices running default GNU Linux or Unix OSes have swept Amazon's 'best of' list for 2007, according BusinessWire.com for 28 December 2007. Best selling computer? The Nokia Internet Tablet PC, running Linux. Best reviewed computer? The Apple MacBook Pro notebook PC. Most wished for computer? Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7-inch PC mobile Internet device, which comes with Xandros Linux pre-installed. And last, but not least, the most frequently gifted computer: The Apple MacBook notebook PC. Microsoft makes only one appearance on the list, and it wasn't in games, but in the best selling software package: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007. Microsoft fans will point out that 'all of these computers are capable of running Windows', but in years past, that line belonged to the Linux / Mac crowd."
Submission + - Snortable Drug Keeps Monkeys Awake
sporkme writes: A DARPA-funded research project at UCLA has wrapped up a set of animal trials testing the effects of inhalation of the brain chemical orexin A, a deficiency of which is a characteristic of narcolepsy. From the article:
Researchers seem cautious to bill the treatment as a replacement for sleep, as it is not clear that adjusting brain chemistry could have the same physical benefits of real sleep in the long run. The drug is aimed at replacing amphetamines used by drowsy long-haul military pilots, but there would no doubt be large demand for such a remedy thanks to its apparent lack of side-effects.The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired. The study, published in the Dec. 26 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, found orexin A not only restored monkeys' cognitive abilities but made their brains look "awake" in PET scans. Siegel said that orexin A is unique in that it only had an impact on sleepy monkeys, not alert ones, and that it is "specific in reversing the effects of sleepiness" without other impacts on the brain.
Submission + - Germany plans to email trojans (bbc.co.uk)
speardane writes: The BBC is reporting that the German authorities are planning to send emails containing trojan horses to suspected terrorists. This is apparently supported by the German chancellor despite protests.
Apparently "the spyware would be used only in a few cases and for a limited time".
It seems to me that this is even more stupid than Sony.
Perhaps the Greman authorities have never heard of emails being forwarded...
Perhaps criminals and terrorists (no I didn't say hackers) won't re-use the weapons the German government have given them...
Apparently "the spyware would be used only in a few cases and for a limited time".
It seems to me that this is even more stupid than Sony.
Perhaps the Greman authorities have never heard of emails being forwarded...
Perhaps criminals and terrorists (no I didn't say hackers) won't re-use the weapons the German government have given them...
Submission + - Microsoft bought Swedens ISO vote on OOXML ?
a_n_d_e_r_s writes: The vote on OOXML looked fairly secured for a No vote in Sweden. Most in the Working Group In Sweden was against the vote to approve OOXML. Suddenly on the day of the vote more companies showed up at the door, some 20 more companies — each one payed about $2500 to be allowed to vote — and vote they did. Most of the new companies was strangely enough partners from Microsoft who suddenly out of the blue joined the working group, payed membership fees and voted yes for approval.
From being a fairly negative group the working group suddely had a huge majority of yay-sayers who voted for Sweden to approve OOXML as an ISO standard.
For those that want to buy the Swedish vote on an ISO standard — it only cost about $50 000 — its not too much money for anyone that want there own bought and payed for ISO standard.
This has started to brew in Sweden and the newspapers are right now starting to write about the coup against the SIS — Swedens Standards Institute http://www.sis.se/ . The workings groups position can be changed if the power to be at SIS wants to — so its not over yet.
OS2World writes about it:
http://www.os2world.com/content/view/14868/1/
Patrik Fältströms blogg about it:
http://stupid.domain.name/node/382
From being a fairly negative group the working group suddely had a huge majority of yay-sayers who voted for Sweden to approve OOXML as an ISO standard.
For those that want to buy the Swedish vote on an ISO standard — it only cost about $50 000 — its not too much money for anyone that want there own bought and payed for ISO standard.
This has started to brew in Sweden and the newspapers are right now starting to write about the coup against the SIS — Swedens Standards Institute http://www.sis.se/ . The workings groups position can be changed if the power to be at SIS wants to — so its not over yet.
OS2World writes about it:
http://www.os2world.com/content/view/14868/1/
Patrik Fältströms blogg about it:
http://stupid.domain.name/node/382
Submission + - Sony again blasted for helping hide malware on PCs (zdnet.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: ZDNet is reporting that Sony's MicroVault USB, which is a biometric USB storage device, cloaks driver software in a Windows directory that could be used by malware to avoid detection from security applications.
Submission + - A campaign to block Firefox users (whyfirefoxisblocked.com) 5
rarwes writes: A website is aiming at blocking Firefox users. This because a fraction of the Firefox users installed an Ad Blocker and thus stealing money from website owners that use ads. They recommend using IE, Opera or IE tab. From the site: Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks, whereas ending resource theft has tremendous financial rewards for honest, hard-working website owners and developers.
Submission + - Adobe may launch Office rival 1
Ulysees writes: Adobe may launch its own office-application suite, taking it into direct competition with Microsoft.
In an interview, Mike Downey, group manager for platform evangelism at Adobe, said that, although he could not reveal any plans at the moment, the possibility should not be dismissed.
"Though we have not yet announced any intentions to move into the office productivity-software market, considering that we have built this platform that makes it easy to build rich applications that run on both the desktop and the browser, I certainly wouldn't rule anything like that out," Downey told Wired.com.
In an interview, Mike Downey, group manager for platform evangelism at Adobe, said that, although he could not reveal any plans at the moment, the possibility should not be dismissed.
"Though we have not yet announced any intentions to move into the office productivity-software market, considering that we have built this platform that makes it easy to build rich applications that run on both the desktop and the browser, I certainly wouldn't rule anything like that out," Downey told Wired.com.
Submission + - Untapped Energy Below Us (yahoo.com) 1
EskimoJoe writes: "BASEL, Switzerland — When tremors started cracking walls and bathroom tiles in this Swiss city on the Rhine, the engineers knew they had a problem.
"The glass vases on the shelf rattled, and there was a loud bang," Catherine Wueest, a teashop owner, recalls. "I thought a truck had crashed into the building."
But the 3.4 magnitude tremor on the evening of Dec. 8 was no ordinary act of nature: It had been accidentally triggered by engineers drilling deep into the Earth's crust to tap its inner heat and thus break new ground — literally — in the world's search for new sources of energy.
On paper, the Basel project looks fairly straightforward: Drill down, shoot cold water into the shaft and bring it up again superheated and capable of generating enough power through a steam turbine to meet the electricity needs of 10,000 households, and heat 2,700 homes.
Scientists say this geothermal energy, clean, quiet and virtually inexhaustible, could fill the world's annual needs 250,000 times over with nearly zero impact on the climate or the environment.
A study released this year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said if 40 percent of the heat under the United States could be tapped, it would meet demand 56,000 times over. It said an investment of $800 million to $1 billion could produce more than 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, equaling the combined output of all 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S."
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Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code. -- Dave Olson
