Comment Re:Agile (Score 1) 124
"The implementation of plaid shirts also seems to be a pre-requisite for effective programming." - Thats hilarious :D
Comment Chvyzl1 (Score 1) 124
Anyone ever look in "bbs the documentary" Not exactly PC programming, but very informative. Atari, Apple II, Commodore 64 and others; great DVD.
Comment And why is this surprising? (Score 1) 484
I've always known that the multi-billion dollar computer companies sell crappy hardware to the little guy. If you spend $5,000 on a computer from dell, hp, ect, you'll get a decent PC. However, the average joe that will spend as little as possible to get a running computer will be very disappointed when the things craps out. This is when I am called to fix the problem, usually hd, mb or in most cases psu. This is nothing new. I've been fixing the big name company's screw-ups for years and I hope they keep screwing it up: gives me business!
For GUIs, Just the Right Degree of Realism 256
mr crypto writes "User interfaces make copious use of pictures and symbols, but how abstract should images be? Lukas Mathis has an interesting blog entry on where to draw the line."
100% Free Software Compatible PC Launches 458
crimperman writes "The Open-PC project has announced that its first PC will be available at the end of February for €359. They claim the mini-ITX desktop machine is energy efficient, consumer ready, easy to upgrade, and — significantly — uses only hardware that has free software drivers available. As you'd expect, it comes with GNU/Linux which is running KDE (a €10 donation to the KDE project in included in the price). Interestingly all the key decisions on design, pricing etc. have been made by the community via online polls. The spec of the machine is pretty reasonable for the price: Atom 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 3GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Intel 950 graphics."
Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 vs. Early Fedora 13 Benchmarks 157
Given that early benchmarks of the Lucid Lynx were less than encouraging, Phoronix decided to take the latest alpha out for a spin and has set it side-by-side with an early look at Fedora 13. "Overall, there are both positive and negative performance changes for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 in relation to Ubuntu 9.10. Most of the negative regressions are attributed to the EXT4 file-system losing some of its performance charm. With using a pre-alpha snapshot of Fedora 13 and the benchmark results just being provided for reference purposes, we will hold off on looking into greater detail at this next Red Hat Linux update until it matures."
Tower Switch-Off Embarrasses Electrosensitives 292
Sockatume writes "Residents in Craigavon, South Africa complained of '[h]eadaches, nausea, tinnitus, dry burning itchy skins, gastric imbalances and totally disrupted sleep patterns' after an iBurst communications tower was put up in a local park. Symptoms subsided when the residents left the area, often to stay with family and thus evade their suffering. At a public meeting with the afflicted locals, the tower's owners pledged to switch off the mast immediately to assess whether it was responsible for their ailments. One problem: the mast had already been switched off for six weeks. Lawyers representing the locals say their case against iBurst will continue on other grounds."
Submission + - MPAA wants to turn off analog ports on TV asks FCC (consumerist.com) 1
suraj.sun writes: The Motion Picture Association of American wants to rent movies to TV viewers earlier in the release window, but they don't want anyone potentially streaming that video out to other appliances. That's why last week they went back to the FCC to once again ask for the power to disable analog ports on consumer television sets.
This capability is called selectable output control or SOC, and the FCC banned it back in 2003. SOC would allow "service operators, such as cable companies, to turn off analog outputs on consumer electronics devices, only allowing digital plugs" such as HDMI. The MPAA is arguing that if they could directly turn those plugs on and off, they could offer more goods to consumers.
But that's not what over a dozen public interest groups think, notes Home Media Magazine:
Groups including Public Knowledge, the Digital Freedom Campaign, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Consumer Federation of America and the Media Access Project, are fighting the MPAA over the request, saying it puts control of privately owned consumer electronics into the hands of the movie industry, hurts TiVo and Slingbox owners, and leaves out consumers who own TVs without digital connections.
Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5400626/mpaa-asks-fcc-for-control-of-your-tvs-analog-outputs
This capability is called selectable output control or SOC, and the FCC banned it back in 2003. SOC would allow "service operators, such as cable companies, to turn off analog outputs on consumer electronics devices, only allowing digital plugs" such as HDMI. The MPAA is arguing that if they could directly turn those plugs on and off, they could offer more goods to consumers.
But that's not what over a dozen public interest groups think, notes Home Media Magazine:
Groups including Public Knowledge, the Digital Freedom Campaign, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Consumer Federation of America and the Media Access Project, are fighting the MPAA over the request, saying it puts control of privately owned consumer electronics into the hands of the movie industry, hurts TiVo and Slingbox owners, and leaves out consumers who own TVs without digital connections.
Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5400626/mpaa-asks-fcc-for-control-of-your-tvs-analog-outputs
Submission + - Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users (consumerist.com)
jamie writes: "Mark Pincus, CEO of the company that brought us Mafia Wars, says: 'I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away. I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this Zwinky toolbar which was like, I don't know, I downloaded it once and couldn't get rid of it.'"
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