Comment This wasn't in the commercials... (Score 1) 570
Seems that the "it only does everything" slogan has greater scope than I initially thought - if "breaking encryption" was advertised explicitly, I may have picked one up...
Comment O.o (Score 1) 187
Isn't this like counselling a drug addict while he's high? And then also getting high themselves?
Comment For anyone who loves these kinds of stories (Score 5, Informative) 324
This website keeps a comprehensive list of tech support horror stories. I come back to this site every couple of months when I need a good laugh.
Submission + - Amazon Patents Including a String at End of a URL
theodp writes: "On Tuesday, Amazon search subsidiary A9.com was awarded U.S. patent no. 7,287,042 for 'including a search string at the end of a URL without any special formatting.' In the Summary of the Invention, it's explained that 'a user wishing to search for 'San Francisco Hotels' may do by simply accessing the URL www.domain_name/San Francisco Hotels, where domain_name is a domain name associated with the web site system.' Here's the flowchart that helped cinch the deal."
Submission + - Drivin' On Up: En-Suite Garages in NYC Hi-Rise
theodp writes: "If the hassle of getting groceries from the parking garage to your 12th floor condo has been holding you back from buying a deluxe apartment in the sky, wait no more. Wired reports on the En-Suite Sky Garages at 200 Eleventh Avenue (Flash) in Chelsea, where an 8,000-pound-capacity freight elevator will whisk your Bentley directly into your pad. The convenience doesn't come cheap — a garage-equipped 2BR starts at $4.7M."
Submission + - Scientist close to being able to steer huricanes (telegraph.co.uk) 1
E++99 writes: "In the wake of Katrina, two rival teams of climate scientists are working on ways to steer hurricanes, so as to be able to avoid direct hits on major cities in the future. Both teams are using the technique of removing power and speed from strategic points in the hurricane, effectively refracting its path. The American team is approaching this by warming the areas of the tops of the hurricane clouds, either by dropping ash to absorb heat from the sun, or directly beaming microwaves on those areas from space. The Israeli team is taking the approach of cooling the bottom of the hurricane by releasing dust along its base.
The concern is raised of lawsuits from the small towns that hurricanes are directed towards in the effort to avoid large cities. But if the space-based solution could be done efficiently, and applied to all large tropical storms, couldn't we one day send them all harmlessly into the North Atlantic?"
