Comment Prior Art from the 80s (Score 2, Funny) 64
Wasn't this solved in Galaga?
How Neuros Built Their Nearly Silent HTPC 199
JoeBorn writes "Neuros has a blog posting discussing how they created their latest 'thin' HTPC to be nearly silent. Instead of using a net-top architecture (Atom or the like) they used a full 2.7GHz CPU and put their effort into making that nearly silent. The article talks about their efforts on fan selection, placement, control, and vibration dampening. This route was chosen to 'give more headroom' for CPU-hungry apps (web and otherwise) including Adobe Flash. Their solution costs $279; is this an appropriate trade-off for a device powering your TV?"
Comment The Reason Slashdot Posted (Score 1) 202
We're all missing why this was posted to slashdot. I too was outraged by the numbers and finally realized that this post was about the *RESPONSE* to the Wall Street article, not the article itself.
I'll bet not one of us has read the response at http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/app-store-piracy/ . Let's do that before hanging someone.
Comment Retaliation? (Score 1) 591
Break out the tin foil, but is there any chance that this could be retaliation for being involved in the "anti-cap" campaign?
Comment Agreed (Score 1) 242
Short of the totally stupid name, it sounded like it might be a good place
When a multi-year project fails because geeks didn't know about it, it's been kept a secret.
Not even APPLE has that kind of security.
Microsoft Insider Details Xbox 360 Red Ring Problems 415
kylemonger writes "A blogger at the Seattle PI has interviewed a Microsoft insider about the Xbox 360 project. The insider purports to have the background story on the 'red ring of death' (RROD) failures and why they are so common. 'RROD is caused by anything that fails in the "digital backbone" on the mother board. Also known as a core digital error. CPU, GPU, memory, etc. Bad parts, incompatible parts (timing problems) bad manufacturing process (like solder joints), misapplied heat sinks or thermal interface material, missing parts, broken parts, parts of the wrong value, missed test coverage. Any one or more, on any chip, or many other discrete components, would cause this. And many of the failures were obviously infant mortality, where they work when they leave the factory and fail early in use. The main design flaw was the excessive heat on the GPU warping the mother board around it. This would stress the solder joints on the GPU and any bad joints would then fail in early life. There are also other significantly high failure rates in other areas, like the DVD.'"
Training From America's Army Game Saved a Life 379
russoc4 writes "Most people who play the United States Army's freeware FPS sit through training simulations so that they may be able to get into the action and rack up some kills. The medic skills learned in the training allow you to heal teammates in the game, but it seems that they also apply in real life situations. According to Wired and the America's Army forums, 'a North Carolina man who saw an SUV flip and roll on a highway last November was able to provide medical aid to the victims with skills he learned from the America's Army.'" See? We learn things from videogames! Feign Death works sometimes, too.
Journal Journal: Xbox Live: The Christmas Zombie 1
Xbox Live is not working, as mentioned 36 hours ago in an Xbox team blog. Even if you can get logged in, multiplayer matchmaking doesn't find enough players for games. For a while Zune Marketplace was also affected. At present Zune status claims "Up an
U.S. House Says the Internet is Terrorist Threat 457
GayBliss writes "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1955) last month, by a vote of 404 to 6, that says the Internet is a terrorist tool and that Congress needs to develop and implement methods to combat it."
Submission + - The last DC power grid shutdown in NYC (nytimes.com)
cell-block-9 writes: Today the section of the old Edison DC power grid will be shutdown in Manhattan. I guess Tesla finally won the argument.
Submission + - Police swoop on 'hacker of the year' (smh.com.au)
AcidAUS writes: The Swedish hacker, Dan Egerstad, who perpetrated the so-called hack of the year, has been arrested in a dramatic raid on his apartment, during which he was taken in for questioning and several of his computers confiscated. Egerstad broke into the global communications network used by embassies around the world in August and gained access to 1000 sensitive email accounts.
Journal Journal: Writers should blame Steve Jobs and not the studios? 4
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner called the strike by the Writer's Guild a "Stupid Strike" and Steve Jobs should be to blame in his keynote speech on Wednesday morning at the Media and Money conference hosted by Dow Jones and Nielsen. According to Eisner, The studios "make deals with Steve Jobs, who takes them to the cleaners. They make all these kinds of things, and who's making money? Apple! They should get a piece of Apple. If
Submission + - Russia to Build New Spacecraft by 2020 (techluver.com)
Tech.Luver writes: "Russia has launched a project to create a new generation of spacecraft and boosters, the head of national space administration said on Friday, making clear that they would not appear on orbit before 2020.
"A tender to design a new booster and spaceship has been announced," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov as saying. Leadership in space exploration was an issue of national pride in the Soviet Union, which was the first to launch a satellite and a human into space.
Although badly hit in the years of post-Soviet political and economic turmoil, the space sector remains one of a few where Russia remains competitive and on which it pins hopes to diversify its economy heavily reliant on oil and gas exports.
( http://techluver.com/2007/11/09/russia-to-build-new-spacecraft-by-2020/ )"
Submission + - Germany just decided to implement data retention (kreativrauschen.com) 3
G'Quann writes: "Starting next year, all communication providers in Germany will have to store all connection data for six months. This includes not only phone calls but also IP-addresses and e-mail headers. There had been a lot of protest against the new law, but it was ignored by the government. This sucks...
Here's a short summary with links to more detailed (but German) sources."
Here's a short summary with links to more detailed (but German) sources."
Submission + - MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed
Billosaur writes: "Found via BoingBoing, Major League Baseball has just strengthened the case against DRM. If you downloaded videos of baseball games from MLB.com before 2006, apparently they no longer work and you are out of luck. MLB.com, sometime during 2006, changed their DRM system. Result: game videos purchased before that time will now no longer work, as the previous DRM system is no longer supported. When the video is played, apparently the MLB.com servers are contacted and a license obtained to verify the authenticity of the video; this is done by a web link. That link no longer exists, and so now the videos will no longer play, even though the MLB FAQ says that a license is only obtained once and will not need to be re-obtained. The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem."
