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Comment Stepping up the policing (Score 1) 865

During my last movie theater visit, Cinemark had a new warning right before the feature film began. "Thank you for your courtesy" doesn't cut it any more. Now they make it clear that they will remove people from the theater. Whether they actually do or not, who knows. Nannies aren't just for kids any more! Thanks to you grandpas, grandmas, parents, other adults, and your kids who can't refrain from tweeting or facebooking for an hour and a half. Now we all get to be treated like babies.

Comment If Linux was democracy I'd likely not be using it. (Score 1) 641

Because I haven't the technical knowledge that the long time LInux users have.

If the majority was always voting for what they wanted, Linux could very well have remained rather obscure. Thankfully, some people decided to make Linux more available to users like myself.

It seems to me that Linux is far bigger nowadays due to a few people opening the door wider. I'm thankful for that.

Comment It's Apple... (Score 1) 1634

I don't have an Apple device and never have specifically because I'm not given enough control over them. This is nothing new. If this device doesn't offer me the openness that I want, I'll pass without letting it hurt my feelings.

Each year there seems to be more whiners and squeakers complaining that some new device isn't what they wanted it to be or doesn't have this or that. The iPad is what is is! You now know what it is! Acknowledge that and move on!

Geez, don't stand next to a Porsche and bitch about the mileage! Don't stand next to a Kia and bitch about its lack of performance!

And please tell me that so many "smart" people didn't really expect some miracle, magic bullet device that executed all other Apple products?! LOL

Comment Tablet appeals to me... (Score 1) 348

I don't own a smartphone and probably never will. Why? I don't care for doing much of anything on a tiny screen and I'm certainly not going to spend an extra $30 a month for a data plan that gives me a window of that size to the internet.

I do own a laptop which is great to have but it's just too clunky to carry around and to deploy in any random wifi hotspot that I come across. Sure I did that at first but eventually got tired of it.

A tablet hits a perfect middle ground for me. It's large enough for me to read any ebooks, etc that I have and gives me a screen large enough to provide a laptop-like internet experience.
Biotech

Intel Says Brain Implants Could Control Computers By 2020 314

Lucas123 writes "Scientists at Intel are working on developing sensors that would be implanted in a person's head in order to harness brain waves that could then be used to control computers, televisions, cell phones and other electronic equipment. Intel has already used Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) machines to determine that blood flow changes in specific areas of the brain based on what word or image someone is thinking of. People tend to show the same brain patterns for similar thoughts. 'Eventually people may be willing to be more committed ... to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.' said Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleau."

Comment Why do I do it?! (Score 1) 1231

Why do I upgrade? That's the question that I've asked myself for at least the last four versions. I spend six months ironing out all the trouble to the point where it mostly works then I upgrade and start all over again.

A year and a half for my mic to work, USB drives that transfer at absolutely crawling speeds (solving in Koala for the first time ever tho!), disk to disk transfer at an absolute crawl (seems much better in Koala), flickering screens, disappearing mouse cursors (happens every time on bootup in Koala - a simple CR in any terminal window brings it back), and a host of little this and that's.

The worst issue though by a mile has been sound. There is always a problem with sound. Without exception. I almost had my sound working perfectly in Jaunty but now something is glitched in Pulseaudio or Firefox or Alsa or something cuz padsp now won't wrap around Firefox.

Ya know, I bought an original sound blaster for a 286 in '89-90 and it blows my mind that something like sound can be such a problem 20 years later. Everyone really needs to get on the same page.

Anyway, despite the problems I continue to use Ubuntu. It still seems the best for my needs out of all the distros that I've tried. And I'd certainly still be wasting far more time in Windows dealing with the anti-virus and mal-ware nightmares that are found there.

I'll keep using Ubuntu. And although I'll probably keep asking myself why I upgrade I'll still do it. ;)

PM

Video Surveillance System That Reasons Like a Human 143

An anonymous reader writes "BRS Labs has created a technology it calls Behavioral Analytics which uses cognitive reasoning, much like the human brain, to process visual data and to identify criminal and terroristic activities. Built on a framework of cognitive learning engines and computer vision, AISight, provides an automated and scalable surveillance solution that analyzes behavioral patterns, activities and scene content without the need for human training, setup, or programming."

Comment Doesn't look like an AK47 but it certainly (Score 1) 746

resembles a real rifle. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was the Barrett 82A1 .50 cal rifle. Take a look and compare. I think this person was justified to be concerned. I do doubt that the game geek that was carrying it looked very menacing though. http://www.barrettrifles.com/home/rifle_82.aspx

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