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Comment Re:Pirated copies are good for viewing... (Score 1) 199

by __aawkdb2598 (#35108660) Attached to: Piracy Boosts Anime Sales, Says Japanese Government Study

But, for a permanent place in a collection, the better produced DVDs with extra content are much preferable. I buy the DVDs of the shows I like as soon as they are released. Pirated stuff isn't good enough to be a "keeper".

Not actually true in my experience. I've found that, at least for content released in the US, you can usually find a fansubbing group who did a magnificently better job than whatever group got the US license. There's still worth in buying the US versions to support the industry, but the industry is often producing in months or years a worse product than you can get for free hours after the episode airs in Japan.

Good fansubbing groups are much more conscientious about typography, timing, translation, and explanation than I generally see from the industry. AND I get the whole thing in an easily portable, easily convertible format with neat soft subs. What's not to love?

Buy the DVD and if you're not subjected to horrible voiceovers from the same five people who seem to do every anime ever produced in the US* then you'll have horrible, solid yellow or white, aliased, blocky, poorly-wrapped subtitles that make all kinds of weird decisions about what to translate and how. And I've never seen a U.S. industry release that will translate signs, messages on cell phones, blackboards, notes, etc., much less in the right location on screen and in a font that matches the spirit of the original writing.

If the anime industry in the US ever wants to complain about sales these are the things they should fix. *Disclaimer, there may be some slightly irate exaggeration and/or hyperbole in this statement. Viewer discretion is advised.
Power

Printable, Rollable Solar Panels Could Go Anywhere 187

Posted by timothy from the why-isn't-my-car's-dome-light-an-led dept.
Al writes "A startup based in Toledo, Ohio, has developed a way to make large, flexible solar panels using a roll-to-roll manufacturing technique. Thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells are formed on thin sheets of stainless steel, and each solar module is about one meter wide and five-and-a-half meters long. Conventional silicon solar panels are bulky and rigid, but these lightweight, flexible sheets could easily be integrated into roofs and building facades."
The Courts

Dell Sues Tiger Direct For Misleading Customers 214

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the accountability-a-word-to-get-you-fired-at-tiger dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Dell is apparently suing popular online retailer Tiger Direct, claiming that Tiger violated the resale contract it had with Dell, which included false advertising, misleading representation and unfair competition. Dell has accused Tiger Direct of selling old and out-dated Dell computers that Tiger Direct purchased from other resellers and then saying they were brand new directly from Dell. They also passed the computers off as still having a full warranty, but the warranties had expired long ago."

Comment Re:Define "working well" (Score 1) 314

by __aawkdb2598 (#27544963) Attached to: COBOL Turning 50, Still Important
This is true, but don't even get me started on Objective-C. It has its good points, some of which I even miss when programming in other languages—but it's on the whole a mediocre language propped up by some amazing libraries.
I think this guy said it best.

<rant>
I mean, requiring the programmer to explicitly allocate and de-allocate each member of a class? Explicit allocation and destruction of your super class? It can FAIL and you have to check that in the constructor of every class you write?
</rant>

No thanks.
Transportation

Segway, GM Partner On Two-Wheeled Electric Car 394

Posted by kdawson from the keeping-it-in-balance dept.
Slartibartfast was one of many readers sending in news of GM's partnership with Segway to develop a two-seater urban electric vehicle. It's called the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or "PUMA." This is just a prototype, so don't get your credit card out yet. Its total cost of ownership could be about 1/4 that of a traditional car, GM says. The prototype runs for 35 miles, at a top speed of 35 mph, on lithium-ion batteries. It features the now-familiar Segway balancing technology, though fore-and-aft training wheels are visible on the prototype. Some commentators have likened it to a high-tech rickshaw, others to a golf cart. Engadget describes how the ride feels.

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