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Comment What exactly is the ribbon... (Score 1) 1124

Maybe they're not going to go for a full sized ribbon and instead will opt for a more compact version thats appropriate for a web browser. Maybe a string or yarn. Perhaps a thread.

It was my understanding that Office went to the ribbon because there were new features that didn't naturally fit into the menu bars and the menu bar interface was getting too confusing because there were so many features. With several browsers having simplified their UI, almost to a fault I think, I don't see how a web-browser would need to make use of a ribbon. I am interested to see what they come up with though since I don't think I've seen a ribbon interface used on something that doesn't have a ton of features. I've never been a fan of it in the Office environment but, who knows, maybe the ribbon shines when there aren't a million options and features to cram into it.

If it works, great. If not, there are other browsers.
Space

Experts Puzzled By Bright Spot On Venus 107

Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that astronomers are puzzled by a strange bright spot which has appeared in the clouds of Venus, first identified by US amateur astronomer Frank Melillo on 19 July and later confirmed by the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft. 'I have seen bright spots before but this one is an exceptionally bright and quite intense area,' says Melillo. The bright spot has started to expand since its first appearance, being spread by winds in Venus' thick atmosphere. Scientists are unsure as to what is causing the spot. 'An eruption would have to be quite energetic to get a cloud this high,' said Dr. Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin. Furthermore, at a latitude of 50 degrees south, the spot lies outside the region of known volcanoes on Venus. Another potential source for the bright spot are charged particles from the Sun interacting with Venus' atmosphere. It's also possible that atmospheric turbulence may have caused bright material to become concentrated in one area. 'Right now, I think it's anybody's guess,' adds Limaye."

Comment Re:nt (Score 1) 663

Civil court: Innocent as long as she and her pro bono lawyer can keep the team of lawyers with plenty of resources and "expert witnesses" from convincing a judge that she's probably guilty of copying a file or two.

I wish her the best of luck and hope the good people with experience battling the RIAA in court come to her aide so she can concentrate on her health.

Comment "Capture and Conviction" (Score 1) 134

Does the reward stipulate where they must be captured and convicted? If the guy is out of the country its pretty unlikely that he'll be captured and convicted in the United States. If he's in one of the many places where the local government can't or doesn't care enough to, arrest and put him on trial, the reward is absolutely useless.

This isn't like calling the tip line where you give a tip on a local drug dealer the cops can capture and convict in a matter of months. This is probably an international extortion case that will almost definitely not end in "capture and conviction." Its not like a trial and conviction changes the fact that the data was stolen and was probably sold off or dumped the second the company put a reward on the guys head.

Its a PR stunt. The "capture and conviction" stipulation on this type of case means its a really safe bet they won't have to pay out. Its just a clever way of notifying everyone that they lost a bunch of data and have no idea how much was taken.
The Military

NSA and Army On Quest For Quantum Physics Jackpot 110

coondoggie sends this excerpt from NetworkWorld: "The US Army Research Office and the National Security Agency (NSA) are together looking for some answers to their quantum physics questions. ... The Army said quantum algorithms that are developed should focus on constructive solutions [PDF] for specific tasks, and on general methodologies for expressing and analyzing algorithms tailored to specific problems — though they didn't say what those specific tasks were ... 'Investigators should presuppose the existence of a fully functional quantum computer and consider what algorithmic tasks are particularly well suited to such a machine. A necessary component of this research will be to compare the efficiency of the quantum algorithm to the best existing classical algorithm for the same problem.'"

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