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Comment Re:This is legit !!!! (Score 1) 71

I agree, it's legit. I used it from NY to Seattle, solid service the entire flight. Speedtest.net gave repeated 12M down 1.4M up. Multiple access points with at least three AP channels in 2.4Ghz and three in 5Ghz. Better service than most of the hotels I stayed in.nAnd in coach my knees were 8" from the seat in front of me. Outright spacious. JetBlue is current favorite.

Comment Re:Very interesting (Score 1) 150

I've done similar "now and then" photos this way. After taking the now photo as close to the original location as possible, I use Hugin, the panorama tool, to make the lens characteristics match. Using the same control points in both the old and new photos to transform the images results in a nearly perfect match. It's more striking when you can emulate the lens characteristics of the old photo, especially since the older cameras were often wider lenses with much different characteristics than modern cameras.

Comment Re:why would you ... (Score 1) 435

Landline: $14/mo... I don't have to charge it.... I don't need any additional equipment or AC power (like for VOIP), just plug in any phone made in the last 75 years... Better sound quality... State regulates landline services so I get better service guarantees than crap-ass mobile and VOIP providers... I don't have to put a radio transmitter 1cm from my brain (like for mobile)... 911 will actually work...no stupid contracts and confusing plans.
Software

Submission + - Alpine (Apache licensed Pine) 1.00 Released

TreeDork writes: The University of Washington is pleased to announce the release of Version 1.00 of the Alpine Messaging System. On the surface, Alpine will appear strikingly similar to the Pine Message System, and it is upwards-compatible for existing Pine users.

Alpine is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0. The source code has been reorganized from the ground up to separate the user interface code from the underlying email engine itself. All of the source needed to build Unix, Windows, and Web-based mail user agents is included.

http://www.washington.edu/alpine/
Privacy

Submission + - More voting machine woes: secret ballot at risk (com.com)

JimBobJoe writes: "On Monday, Cnet published the findings I made as an Ohio poll worker regarding a major oversight in my state's election's system: Using a combination of public records, plus the voting machine paper trails, you can figure out how people voted. Though most agree that voting machine paper trails are a necessity, they can cause privacy problems which aren't easily mitigated."

Comment We chose the Internet (Score 1) 267

The invention of the Internet could and would happen the same way. Many may not remember, but in the infancy of the modern Internet those corporate interests did seek to steer the masses away from it and the freedom of the Internet prevailed.

As the Internet was emerging into the mainstream with invention of the web browser it was very, very uncertain that the Internet could win over the masses. At that time Compuserve and AOL were king, they had all the content and it was packaged and controlled. Microsoft was also trying to get in on that by launching MSN which was designed around the Compuserve/AOL paradigm that content providers pay, users pay and everything is managed and controlled.

I worked at a university starting in the late 80's and I had been on the traditional Internet. It wasn't much then but I had seen the democracy of the Internet and what the infant web looked like. The concept that Compuserve, AOL and MSN might actually convince the unnetworked masses that they were the future was frightening. At the time they held all the cards. A seamless interface, email, tons of content. Meanwhile Internet access was harder to configure, email wasn't interchangable with the big services, and the baby web had no content. You either signed up with an ISP and started swimming in the empty wading pool or signed up with the big three and got instant beachside community and pretty packaged content.

Luckily some did choose the Internet. The researchers and education users of the traditional Internet were devoted. Other hardy souls signed on in those early days. The web ramped up and eventually the masses started trickling in. It wasn't long before MSN had to completely redesign to incorporate the web, Compuserve died and finally giant AOL had to adapt.

It was a grassroots evolution rather than a revolution but the power of an open platform won. It happened before and it could happen again.

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