Comment Re:Or... (Score 1) 385
The city is looking into alternatives. Recent SCotUS arguments hint that there is a leaning to declare laws similar to the one in Chicago unconstitutional.
Submission + - FCC nixes satellite radio merger
a_nonamiss writes: "Doesn't look like Sirius and XM are going to merge any time soon.
From the article:
From the article:
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Wogically, I know that competition is a good thing for consumers, and monopolies are generally only good for companies. Still, something in my gut tells me that a merger between these two companies would benefit the consumer. I don't like having to choose a car based on which satellite radio service comes preinstalled, or considering whether I'd rather have Howard Stern or Oprah, because there is no practical way to get both. Frankly, it's probably all this exclusivity that has caused me not to purchase either system."Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters after an FCC meeting that the Commission would not approve a merger between satellite radio rivals Sirius and XM Radio.
Even if the FCC were to have a change of heart and green-light a merger between Sirius and XM Radio, it would still have to pass antitrust scrutiny by the Department of Justice. Although a combination of the two radio companies wouldn't have the same effect that it would in the TV market, where satellite is the only alternative for some US residents, it would still have the effect of eliminating competition — something that rarely benefits consumers.
Journal Journal: Monty Hall vs Deal Or No Deal 8
Gee
A while back, I posted that the choice is 50-50 to either keep the original prize door, or swap with the unopened door, and *nobody* bothered to jump in.
The correct choice is to always switch. The real problem is that when people try to explain their solution, they make it overly complex (or they used it as an intro to push their particular brand of "enlighenment"). A simple "truth table" suffices.
Feed Gambling Subpoenas on Wall St. (nytimes.com)
Four investment banks have been issued subpoenas in an investigation into the multibillion-dollar online gambling industry.
Two Snowflakes May Be Alike After All 180
An anonymous reader writes "LiveScience is reporting that it may be possible for two snowflakes to be alike after all. For anyone who studies probability, this seems reasonable, given that the article mentions that 10^24 snowflakes fall in any given year. The article contains links to fascinating snowflake pictures. From the article: 'A typical snow crystal weighs roughly one millionth of a gram. This means a cubic foot of snow can contain roughly one billion crystals ... "It is probably safe to say that the possible number of snow crystal shapes exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the known universe," Nelson said. Still, while "no two snowflakes are alike" might hold true for larger snowflakes, Nelson figures it might ring false for smaller crystals that sometimes fall before they have a chance to fully develop. "How likely is it that two snowflakes are alike? Very likely if we define alike to mean that we would have trouble distinguishing them under a microscope and if we include the crystals that hardly develop beyond the prism stage--that is, the smallest snow crystals," Nelson said.'"
Journal Journal: Why "C:\Program Files\" ?!? 2
I've always installed software to the default location authored by the vendor, usually somewhere under "c:\Program Files\". Most installation software vendors (InstallShield, Wise, etc.) tout that location as an "industry standard best practice" for installing software on Windows systems and point to Microsoft's Application Development Guidelines. Now I'm working on the next release of some software that has been installed to a folder on the root of the hard drive for 25 years (that's not a ty
Submission + - How Steve Jobs blew his iPhone keynote
jcatcw writes: Mike Elgan at Computerworld lists six reasons that Jobs blew his keynote at Macworld: 1) raised iPhone expectations too high; 2) raised Wall Street expectations too high; 3) gave competitors a head start; 4) undermined Apple TV hype; 5) put iPod sales at risk; 6) wrecked Cisco talks.
Submission + - Verizon spins off rural lines
ffejie writes: Verizon has announced that it will be spinning off rural assets to FairPoint Communications. The deal will close sometime in 2007 and is worth $2.7 Billion. 1.6 Million phone lines, 234,000 high speed (DSL) subscribers and 600,000 long distance customers will be moved to FairPoint in an effort for Verizon to shed it's low margin lines in rural areas. The sale has been rumored since at least the summer. With Verizon offering high speed FiOS (FTTP) to only it's local service areas, what will happen to the consumers stuck with a smaller telco like those moving to FairPoint? In the future, will there become an even deeper digital divide between the rural users and the high revenue areas?
Feed Drilling Down: Boys and Girls Use Social Sites Differently (nytimes.com)
Older teenage girls are far more likely to use social-networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, according to a recent study
Submission + - Making light solid
quant-guru writes: Man's domination of light continues. New Scientist is running a story that highlights recent theoretical proposals for a photonic insulator, an engineered material that could make photons solidify. From the article: "OK, it wouldn't be a material in the everyday sense of the word, like a solid you could touch, but it could behave like one in some important ways...photons interacting in a quantum material could give us insights into how real materials with quantum properties work." One proposal by Greetree et al. (Nature Physics) (preprint) imagines a device that will allow many photons to interact with each other simultaneously in diamond, with phases reminiscent of real materials (from superfluid to insulating). This could lead to novel devices based on quantum phenomena, for quantum communication or quantum computers as examples. Similar proposals were made concurrently by two other groups: Angelakis et al. and Hartmann et al. (Nature Physics) (preprint). University of Cambridge physicist Charlie Tahan has more information and links (with step-by-step pictures) on his site.
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