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Comment My Tablet Cost $300... (Score 1) 549

Pffffttttt... Of course, if you are lazy and refused to shop around and look for tablets other than those you can read about in an article summary you would think that they are expensive. Archos who have been making mp3 players since slightly before apple started have some great budget tablets. I have an Archos 70 Internet Tablet and after having it for 2 months I do not regret the purchase. Now don't get me wrong, android tablets are not for the faint of heart. Android 2.2 is not made for tablets, that is for sure. I had to load the regular android market on my tablet before I could download any useful apps. Some apps don't work at all and others will not display properly. All of the problems I have with the device are OS related, I am surprised how well the hardware works. So grandma would still need to shell out $500+ to get something useful, but if you are into computers and don't mind hacking around budget tablets are easy to find.
Books

Land of Lisp 330

vsedach writes "Remember the 1980s and BASIC, when programming was simple, brains flew through space, and everyone ate lasers? Computer magazines came with code listings, and classics like David Ahl's BASIC Computer Games offered a fun and easy way to get started in computer programming. Conrad Barski remembers, and with Land of Lisp, he's set out to demystify programming in the 21st century." Keep reading for the rest of Vladimir's review.
United States

Voting Machines Selecting Default Candidates 794

"Some voters in Las Vegas have noticed that Democrat Harry Reid's name is checked by default on their electronic voting machines. By way of explanation, the Clark County Registrar says that when voters choose English instead of Spanish, Reid's Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, has her name checked by default."
Transportation

Denver Airport Overrun by Car-Eating Rabbits 278

It turns out the soy-based wire covering on cars built after 2002 is irresistible to rodents. Nobody knows this better than those unlucky enough to park at DIA's Pikes Peak lot. The rabbits surrounding the area have been using the lot as an all-you-can-eat wiring buffet. Looks like it's time to break out The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
Censorship

Canon Blocks Copy Jobs Using Banned Keywords 309

aesoteric notes that a future version of Canon's document management system will include the exciting breakthrough technology that will OCR your printed and scanned documents, and prevent distribution of keywords. Documents containing the offending words can be sent to the administrator, without actually telling the user just what word tripped the alarm. The article notes that simply using 1337 for example will get around it.
Social Networks

Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted 305

An anonymous reader writes "Social media is ill-suited to promoting real social change, argues Malcolm Gladwell in this article from The New Yorker magazine. He deftly debunks conventional wisdom surrounding the impact of Twitter, Facebook and other social media in driving systemic social change, comparing them to the organizational strategies of the 1960s civil rights movement. For example, the Montgomery bus boycott, he argues, was successful because it was driven by the disciplined and hierarchically organized NAACP. In contrast, a loose, social-media style network wouldn't have sustained the year long campaign. He concludes that social media promote social 'weak ties' which are not strong enough to motivate people to take big risks, such as imprisonment or attack, for social change."
Software

Code Repository Atlassian Buys Competitor BitBucket 150

Roblimo writes "Wow. Atlassian sent press releases out about this, and we're happy for them. But isn't Git easy to install and use — for free, even if your project is proprietary and secret, not open source and public? Whatever. Some people seem to feel better about proprietary software than about FOSS, and the majority of Atlassian's business comes from meeting the needs of behind-the-firewall, proprietary code repositories. At least Atlassian has free versions of its repository for FOSS and small-scale proprietary developers. Which is sort of nice."
Communications

RIM Doesn't Want 200 Fart Apps 244

andylim writes "Just when you thought it was safe to dev a fart app for a BlackBerry, RIM's VP of platform product management, Alan Panezic, is making it clear that that's not want RIM is looking for. 'We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again. You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device.' Turns out RIM wants 'SuperApps', ones that keep you coming back for more because they add something to your life — be it ongoing entertainment value or doing something for you. Most importantly for developers, these are the apps that will garner the most revenue; whether it comes from premium upgrades, in-app advertising, or additional-cost content."

How Star Trek Artists Imagined the iPad... 23 Years Later 324

MorderVonAllem submitted an incredibly cool article about the computers and set design of Star Trek. If you are into that sort of thing, you're going to really like this one. It says "There are a lot of similarities between Apple's iPad and the mobile computing devices—known as PADDs—used in the Star Trek universe. Ars spoke to designers Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler to find out the thinking and inspiration behind the PADD and how closely the iPad represents a real-life incarnation of that dream."

Comment Um, they did a bad job... (Score 1) 624

One of TFAs said that this group has existed since May 2009. Well they must have been doing a shitty job because on the top articles for the last 365 days on Digg include: Congress Passes Historic Health Care Reform (This praises health care reform) Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered (Obvious) Pirated DVD vs. Legal DVD (Clearly states why stealing movies is better, not very big business friendly) NO to Socialism! (Sarcasm about fox news and the use of the word socialism) Your ISP, if Net Neutrality disappears (Makes light of how awful a non-neutral internet would be) There is not one Rush is the greatest article, or GWB was a better president than Lincoln info-graphics. Because of this I think it is obvious that this conservative Digg group is a failure.

Comment Focus (Score 1) 255

The biggest problem I had with Avatar was that everything in view was not in focus. My eyes were hurting after the first 10-15min before I finally realized why. It was because I was looking around trying to see all of the objects on the screen, and those objects were not in focus. My eyes were becoming strained because they were trying to focus on what appeared to be a 3D object that was not in focus to begin with. Once I just stared at the center of the screen that was in focus and ignored everything else my eyes felt less strain. I thought this caused the opposite effect of what Cameron was trying to accomplish with 3D. Instead of opening up scenes with 3D, I felt the scene was restricted with physical pain as punishment for looking around at an object in frame that was not the direct subject of the scene.
Medicine

'I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!' v2.0 155

theodp writes "Remember those old Lifecall commercials? Well, you've come a long way, Grandma! The NY Times reports on a raft of new technology that's making it possible for adult children to remotely monitor to a stunningly precise degree the daily movements and habits of their aging parents. The purpose is to provide enough supervision to allow elderly people to stay in their homes rather than move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home. Systems like GrandCare, BeClose, QuietCare, and MedMinder allow families to keep tabs on Mom and Dad's whereabouts, and make sure they take their meds. Perhaps Zynga can make a game out of all this — GeriatricVille?"

Comment I get 5 hours, turn off wifi... (Score 1) 454

On a plane when I turn of wifi I can get at least 5 hours watching DVDs out of my Toshiba Satellite U405. I must admit that I do have the largest battery the model came with. The battery is so big that it sticks outside from the regular profile of the machine, but it makes the keyboard at an angle very similar to having your keyboard propped up on their little stands.

Comment Manuals are required (Score 1) 400

If need be I can make a laundry list of games that have a tutorial or training session that do not cover everything in the manual. I read the manuals and I find that there is always something that the game neglects to mention. This has usually been the way a function of the game works. The game will say touch B to do X, but then the manual will say touch B in this situation to do X, press B in another situation to do Y, etc. Otherwise there is some story or background stated in the manual that does not make it into the game. Manuals sometimes have character descriptions, back stories, or environmental information that will mention something the game will take for granted. For example a character back story in a manual will say something to the effect of "The elves homeland is X." Then in the game it will say something stupid like "Take the elf character home." And you can select from town X, Y, or Z. I will admit that printed manuals may be useless, an electronic manual is just as effective. Final Fantasy XIII has done a good job with an in game electronic manual. Oh, and if anyone has ever said RTFM for anything and is now advocating removing manuals for games, STFU.

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