Comment iPhone/Android apps (Score 3, Insightful) 257
You can always develop iPhone and Android apps. Of course, you might not end up making any money. But you could get lucky and strike it big. Even if not, you'll be having fun.
Check out the new SourceForge HTML5 internet speed test! No Flash necessary and runs on all devices.
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Comment Re:so before Sandy Point, they were idiots? (Score 1) 528
What about extreme weather conditions? In many places around the country, these come without much warning. A patch of thick fog or a sudden torrent of rains can easily drops visibility around a section of the highway or curve. If you slow down too much, you may cause accidents where drivers behind you rear end your car. Same with black ice or animals on the road. There are some situations where you can't just blame the driver for negligence.
Driving is inherently risky. You take on that risk and responsibility for driving safely when you apply for a license. That is why you're required to have car insurance.
Comment Re:Kick start my analysis of kick starter (Score 1) 192
All, Please invest in my kick starter project to determine when the kick starter bubble will burst. There is no timeline and no deliverables. Budget is $10 million. First 100 people to invest get an autographed copy of the report. Thanks.
Sadly, projects like this already exists in kickstarter. Exhibit A: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ribwt/step_1_get_money_from_kickstarter_step_2_abandon/
Too bad there's really no way to give feedback. I wish kickstarter would work more similar to a traditional VC. You receive rounds of funding based on performance goals and deliverables instead of a lump sum to spend on whatever you want.
Comment Re:This would also be useful on tropical islands.. (Score 1) 227
That would be really cool. Thought I imagine the maintenance costs (especially due to corrosion from the salty air and tropical storms) may make it a little less attractive than conventional means.
Comment Re:riiiight (Score 3, Informative) 192
They're saying there is no market for investing in new expensive launch vehicles with all the quadruple redundancies and fail-safes imposed by the government. There's already a crop of old but reliable Soviet technology that does the same.
Submission + - Windows 7 sales beat Vista's by 234% in first week
Bimal writes: Ars Technica reports:
Initial sales of Windows 7 boxed software surpassed those of Vista's by 234 percent in the first few days of the operating system's availability on the US market, according to data collected by NPD's weekly tracking service. NPD compares sales numbers for the week of October 18, 2009 to October 24, 2009 as well as Windows 7 preorders sales and compared them to the first few days of Vista's sales. This seems like great news for Microsoft, but it wasn't all positive.
NPD claims that revenue growth wasn't very strong for Microsoft, due to two main factors: early discounts on the preorder copies and no promotional activity for the Ultimate edition (the most expensive one). As a result, the dollar sales were only 82 percent higher than Vista. The average selling price was $76 for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, $147 for Windows 7 Professional Upgrade, and $149 for the Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack (three upgrade licenses).
Initial sales of Windows 7 boxed software surpassed those of Vista's by 234 percent in the first few days of the operating system's availability on the US market, according to data collected by NPD's weekly tracking service. NPD compares sales numbers for the week of October 18, 2009 to October 24, 2009 as well as Windows 7 preorders sales and compared them to the first few days of Vista's sales. This seems like great news for Microsoft, but it wasn't all positive.
NPD claims that revenue growth wasn't very strong for Microsoft, due to two main factors: early discounts on the preorder copies and no promotional activity for the Ultimate edition (the most expensive one). As a result, the dollar sales were only 82 percent higher than Vista. The average selling price was $76 for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, $147 for Windows 7 Professional Upgrade, and $149 for the Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack (three upgrade licenses).
Submission + - traditional chinese food to fight breast cancer (genglob.com)
genglob writes: Two Chinese dietary staples – mushrooms and green tea – may have the power to ward off breast cancer, mounting evidence suggests. A study of over 2,000 Chinese women in the International Journal of Cancer found large quantities of both in the diet slashed cancer risk by up to 90%.
Research suggests chemicals in the foods block tumour growth and boost the body’s natural defences against cancer. But experts say it is unclear whether the benefits will apply to all women. It is known that the rate of breast cancer in China is four- to five-times lower than rates typically seen in developed countries, although this is changing as women are adopting Western diets rich in meat and dairy – and piling on the pounds.
Research suggests chemicals in the foods block tumour growth and boost the body’s natural defences against cancer. But experts say it is unclear whether the benefits will apply to all women. It is known that the rate of breast cancer in China is four- to five-times lower than rates typically seen in developed countries, although this is changing as women are adopting Western diets rich in meat and dairy – and piling on the pounds.
Submission + - Crazy Yelp Lady (sfgate.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Watch what you say on Yelp. But if you don't, at least don't piss off someone who will try to track you down!
Submission + - Synchronize data between Linux, OS X, and Windows? 2
aaaaaaargh! writes: I'm using a laptop with Ubuntu 8.04 for work, a netbook with Ubuntu 9.10 when I'm outside, Mac OS X 10.5 for hobby projects, and Windows XP for gaming. For backups I'm currently using Jungledisk and Apple Timemachine and I use a local svn repository for my work data. Now I need to frequently exchange and synchronize OpenOffice and Latex files and source code in various cross-platform programming languages between one machine and another.
Options range from putting everything online (but Jungledisk disks seem to be too slow for anything else than backup), storing my data on external medias like USB sticks or SD cards, or working with copies by synchronizing folders over the network. I don't want to give my data away to some server outside without strong encryption (controlled by me, including the source code) and external media like USB sticks are a bit too fragile according to my taste. The solution should be reliable, relatively failsafe, as simple as possible, and allow me to continue to use Jungledisk for backup.
So what would you recommend?
Options range from putting everything online (but Jungledisk disks seem to be too slow for anything else than backup), storing my data on external medias like USB sticks or SD cards, or working with copies by synchronizing folders over the network. I don't want to give my data away to some server outside without strong encryption (controlled by me, including the source code) and external media like USB sticks are a bit too fragile according to my taste. The solution should be reliable, relatively failsafe, as simple as possible, and allow me to continue to use Jungledisk for backup.
So what would you recommend?
Submission + - NASA Develops Star Trek-like Replicator Tech. (msn.com) 1
sean_nestor writes: Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars.
The method, called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said.
The method, called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said.
Comment Re:Software engineering is not a new concept. (Score 1) 436
Umm no. I made $60K living outside the DC in NoVA suburbs and I got along just fine. WIth $1200/month payment for shitty condo.
I wouldn't count DC as a major US city. That said, I think only NYC, SF, and parts of LA and Chicago have such ridiculous high costs of living to make 80K only marginally above-average pay. I enjoyed a fairly well-off lifestyle in the midwest before moving moving out here to silicon valley. My monthly rent for my tiny hole-in-the-wall apartment is more than my spacious luxurious condo in the Midwest. Add in the utilities and higher cost of groceries, gas, etc, the 30% jump in salary just doesn't cut it.
Submission + - Lenovo's Answer To The Eee PC, IdeaPad S10 (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "In the ever-crowded market of low cost netbooks,
Lenovo's
new IdeaPad S10 is one of the more interesting releases to date.
Lenovo's design incorporates a 10" diagonal screen, which appears to be what most consumers are drifting towards
for usable screen real estate on a netbook. Also, Lenovo's
build quality is generally perceived as one of the best in the notebook
market with the long history of their rugged ThinkPad series designs. Finally,
Lenovo is being aggressive with competitive pricing on the system and offering the S10 with a
decent feature set based on Intel's new low power Atom processor. Versus
Asus Eee PC, the IdeaPad S10's
performance is about on par but the overall build quality of the machine is
up a notch or two."
Team Fortress 2 Stats Confirm Every Suspicion 110
Valve has released another round of stats, this one concerning all that Team Fortress 2 playing we've been doing. They have things broken out along a couple of different metrics, including lifespan, kills, assists, captures, and even just damage dealt. As Rock, Paper, Shotgun's commentary notes, the stats confirm every suspicion you've had about your fellow players. "Yes, there are more rushy-bastard Scouts than any other class. Yes, campy-bastard Snipers earn the most points. Yes, hitpointy-bastard Heavies get the most kills. Yes, hidey-bastard Engineers live longest. And so on. What's slightly odder is the breakdown of which side wins most frequently on each map. BLU has the edge in every killing field except Dustbowl and Gravelpit. Why? How? I thought we were all the same! Damn you for not being neater, demographics." We previously discussed Valve's stats release on Half-Life 2: Episode 2 .
Submission + - FTC: payment processor schemes took millions (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "The Federal Trade Commission and seven states have charged a payment processor with violating federal and state laws by debiting, or attempting to debit from consumers' bank accounts on behalf of numerous fraudulent telemarketers and Internet-based merchants.Between June 23, 2004 and March 31, 2006, the payment processing company, Your Money Access, processed more than $200 million in debits and attempted debits to consumers' bank accounts and more than $69 million of the attempted debits were returned or rejected by consumers or their banks for various reasons, indicating the lack of consumer authorization, the FTC complaint alleges.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22935"
Submission + - Free Yale College Courses Debut Online (yale.edu)
gyokuro writes: "Today, Yale University is making some of its most popular undergraduate courses freely available to anyone in the world with access to the Internet. The project, called 'Open Yale Courses,' presents unique access to the full content of a selection of courses and makes them available in various formats, including video."
