Comment I hate you all (Score 1) 468
God I hate April 1.
Is Anyone Buying T-Mobile's Googlephone? 454
Hugh Pickens writes "Laura Holson writes in the NY Times that she 'wandered down to the T-Mobile store at Ninth Ave. and 43rd St. in New York City to see what kind of crowds — if any — were lining up to buy the new T-Mobile G1 which went on sale Wednesday' and saw no lines out the door, no crowding at the counter, and a complete lack of crowds. The iPhone appears to still be the gold standard and Etan Horowitz writes that the G1 'doesn't do a great job showcasing its potential. It isn't as intuitive as the iPhone, and it may take average users a while to figure out basic and advanced shortcuts and features' and 'may appeal more to techies who value open-source products and don't mind a somewhat steep learning curve.' Part of the reason for slow interest may also be that T-Mobile's 3G high-speed data network won't be up and running in many cities until the end of the year."
Comment Google? (Score 1) 601
CERN, the Big Bang and Impact On the IT Industry 169
whencanistop writes "ComputerWeekly have put together a nice short guide (with lots of links) of what is going on at CERN. They've got a nice slant though on what this big bang experiment is going to mean for the IT Industry. Interesting slant on the world's largest grid and the database clustering technology that they are using. They have also picked up on the amusing rap video by CERN's scientists that has been wandering around YouTube."
Send the ISS To the Moon 387
jmichaelg writes "Michael Benson is proposing that NASA send the ISS to the moon instead of leaving it in low earth orbit. (While we're at it, we should re-brand it as the 'International Space Ship.') He points out that it's already designed to be moved periodically to higher orbits so instead of just boosting it a few miles, strap on some ion engines and put it in orbit around the moon instead of the earth. That would provide an initial base for the astronauts going to the moon and give the ISS a purpose other than performing yet more studies on the effect of micro gravity on humans. Benson concludes: 'Let's begin the process of turning the ISS from an Earth-orbiting caterpillar into an interplanetary butterfly.'"
First North American OpenMoko/FreeRunners Arrive 180
holdenkarau writes "The North American OpenMoko FreeRunners are starting to arrive. It would appear that the OpenMoko still has problems with some 3G networks, including AT&T. Although, in my own personal completely unscientific test, 2 out of 3 AT&T SIM cards worked. Check out the unboxing of a complete FreeRunner (along with debug board) and my experience getting the FreeRunner up and running. Or a direct link to the pictures for those of you bored with text. If you feel brave enough to take the plunge, you can buy your own FreeRunner from the OpenMoko store."
Nancy Pelosi vs. the Internet 561
selil writes "A story popped up on the ChicagoBoyz Blog. It says 'Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who would like very much to reimpose the old, so-called, "Fairness Doctrine" that once censored conservative opinion on television and radio broadcasting, is scheming to impose rules barring any member of Congress from posting opinions on any internet site without first obtaining prior approval from the Democratic leadership of Congress. No blogs, twitter, online forums — nothing.'"
Submission + - Hard evidence of voting machine addition errors
goombah99 writes: Princeton Professor, Ed Felton, has had a series (1,2,3) of blog entries in which he shows the printed tapes he obtained from the NJ voting mahines don't report the ballots correctly. In response to the first one, Sequoia admitted that the machines had a known software design error that did not correctly record which kind of ballots were cast (republican or democratic primary ballots) but insisted the vote totals were correct. Then, further tapes showed this explanation to be insufficient. In response, State officials insisted that the (poorly printed) tapes were misread by Felton. Again further tapes showed this not to be a sufficient explanation. However all those did not foreclose the optimistic assessment that the errors were benign — that is, the possibility that vote totals might really be correct even though the ballot totals were wrong and origin of the errors had not been explained. Now he has found (well printed) tapes that show what appears to be hard proof that it's the vote totals that are wrong, since two different readout methods don't agree. Sequoia has made trade-secret legal threats against those wishing to have an independent examination of the equipment. One small hat tip to Sequoia: at least they are reporting enough raw data in different formats that these kinds of errors can come to light — that lesson should be kept in mind when writing future requirements doc for voting machines.
Submission + - The Real MIT Blackjack Mastermind-Where Is He Now? (xconomy.com)
Wade Roush writes: "21, the top movie at the box office last weekend, has everyone talking about the real identities of the MIT blackjack team members fictionalized in the movie and in the 2002 book, Bringing Down the House, on which the film is based. Last week a number of stories pointed to former MIT student and Las Vegas resident John Chang as the model for the Micky Rosa character, the club mastermind played in the movie by Kevin Spacey. But Boston-area Internet entrepreneur and real estate developer Bill Kaplan is saying that if anyone is the basis for Micky Rosa, it's him. Turns out Kaplan now battles the "e-mail churn" problem as CEO of Newton, MA, startup FreshAddress, which helps companies correct the outdated e-mail addresses in their customer databases."
Submission + - Casino insider tells (almost) all about security (computerworld.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Cool story on Casino security talks to Jeff Jonas, founder and chief scientist of Systems Research & Development (SRD), who helped build numerous casino systems before 2005 when his company was purchased by IBM. Between 1990 and 2005 Jonas helped pioneer facial recognition technology and various other systems in casinos such as the Bellagio, Treasure Island and Beau Rivage.
"Today possibly half the casinos in the world run something or another that I had my hand in," he said. Jonas reveals some of the secret scams he learned from the casino industry such as the infinite hundred dollar bill, the hollowed out chip cup, the palm (trading cards), the specialty code (inserted by rogue programmer into video poker machine) and the cameraman, as well as detailing how casinos strike back against fraudsters and cheats. "In the old days it was the kneecaps, but those were the old, old days," he says. Jonas also talks about when casinos will actually allow cheating, such as card counters, to continue playing when their actions result in others losing money — thereby ensuring a profit for the casino. A very interesting read with lots of insider info on some of Vegas' most famous casinos
Submission + - Copyright crusade a lost cause? (arstechnica.com)
A. Smith writes: Ars Technica is running an article on the relationship between property rights and copyright, arguing that copyright holders are making a mistake by stressing similarities between property rights and copyright and comparing P2P users to 18th-century squatters in North America. 'Like squatters of old, many ordinary users find copyright law bewildering and are frustrated by the arbitrary restrictions it imposes. Customers wanting to rip their DVD collections to their computers, download music they can play on any device, or incorporate copyrighted works into original creative works find that there is no straightforward, legal way to do these things.'
Submission + - Geek and gadgets set cross-country speed record (wired.com)
Brikus writes: And you thought your car had gadgets. In this story from Wired magazine (http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/magazine/15-11/ff_cannonballrun), we hear about Alex Roy and his quest to break the record time for a cross USA road trip. One of the biggest roadblocks to breaking the record: highway patrol officers, about 31,000 along the way. So Roy decked out his E39 BMW M5 with a thermal camera, radar/laser detectors, GPS devices, police scanners, and other high-tech gadgets and toys.
Submission + - Governator Kills Data Protection Law (eweek.com)
eweekhickins writes: "The Governator killed data protection in California, and it won't be back. Using a tried-and-true argument, that the bill would have "driven up the costs of compliance, particularly for small businesses," California Governor Arnold Schwartzenneger vetoed — and effectively killed — one of the nation's most stringent proposed e-tail data breach security laws."
Submission + - Review of Amazon's DRM-less music download store (blorge.com)
fdmendez writes: "Amazon's long awaited DRM-less music download store just hit the web, and, for a moment there, I thought it might have become vaporware. Thankfully, that didn't turn out to be the case, giving me a chance to put the store through its paces. Here's my review of the Amazon MP3 Download Store.
Amazon is going out on a limb here, offering DRM-less MP3 tracks at 256kbps at $0.89 per song. DRM-less music download stores have been done before, but they usually lack in music selection. Amazon is looking to change the music download world by giving users the opportunity to do anything they want with their music while offering a huge selection of both popular and unpopular/underground artists, but does it do this well?
Summary: Amazon one-ups the iTunes store in every way except for popularity. Never once did I find an album to be more expensive on the Amazon store in comparison to the iTunes store. The download experience was pleasant, and the lack of DRM truly makes it YOUR music. I don't know of any other download service that could top the Amazon MP3 store.
To read the in depth review, which discusses the Amazon MP3 store in greater detail, click here."
Amazon is going out on a limb here, offering DRM-less MP3 tracks at 256kbps at $0.89 per song. DRM-less music download stores have been done before, but they usually lack in music selection. Amazon is looking to change the music download world by giving users the opportunity to do anything they want with their music while offering a huge selection of both popular and unpopular/underground artists, but does it do this well?
Summary: Amazon one-ups the iTunes store in every way except for popularity. Never once did I find an album to be more expensive on the Amazon store in comparison to the iTunes store. The download experience was pleasant, and the lack of DRM truly makes it YOUR music. I don't know of any other download service that could top the Amazon MP3 store.
To read the in depth review, which discusses the Amazon MP3 store in greater detail, click here."
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"A mind is a terrible thing to have leaking out your ears." -- The League of Sadistic Telepaths
