Comment Re:Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future (Score 1) 1365
GP here. I pretty much thought the same.
Comment Re:Yeah yeah yeah (Score 1, Offtopic) 159
Wow Kdawson... should have known. Didn't check who posted it until after I saw the year of the article: 2002.
I hate this guy and I wish I could filter his "news" posts (revenue stream) out of my view for eternity.
I hate this guy and I wish I could filter his "news" posts (revenue stream) out of my view for eternity.
Submission + - Microsoft To Overtake Google Search Empire? (zdnet.com)
obsolete1349 writes: Microsoft has just bid 1.2 billion dollars for FAST (Fast Search And Transfer [Microsoft to use a self-recursive acronym?]), an enterprise search company. "Microsoft can bundle FAST with its Microsoft Office SharePoint Server" with its soon-to-be-customers Comcast, Disney, Microsoft, Pfizer, and UBS.
Bookmark Defense Lawyers Cringe at MediaDefender's Porn Patrol Plans (wired.com)
Journal Journal: My comment on the 'World's Weirdest/Stupidest Conspiracy The
1. Stephen King killed John Lennon.
Proposed by Steve Lightfoot.
I only wish this were true - the sheer randomness factor wins. I knew a guy once, who told me that as a kid he went to the Kings famous Halloween parties, apparently he lived nearby somewhere in Maine I think; he told me that the only thing scarier than a good Stephen King horror story was Stephen Kings wife. True story. Of course just previous to telling me that the guy in question was going on and on about how Americans could ma
Comment In related news... (Score 1) 103
...Google has announced its new copyright search tool, Google Copyright Search Beta (tm). The new tool is designed to allow copyright holders make a Google Video search for terms like "the 40-year-old virgin" in order to file a takedown request. Google will then review the infringing content and remove it if necessary.
[/sarcasm] come on, this "watchdog" could alert copyright holders of infringed content, so that the affected parties can request the takedown of copyrighted content. Think, people, it's not that hard.
[/sarcasm] come on, this "watchdog" could alert copyright holders of infringed content, so that the affected parties can request the takedown of copyrighted content. Think, people, it's not that hard.
Canadian Bureaucrats Don't "Think Different" 427
owlgorithm writes "Apple's new store in Montreal has three parking meters on the street in front of it. The city is in the middle of a campaign to reduce downtown parking. In Apple's ever-conscientious attempt to improve design, they offered to reimburse the city for the parking meters and their revenue if the city would remove them. Answer: Non — because 'We've never done it before, so we can't.'"
If This Was a Month Ago, OOXML Would Be Over 230
Andy Updegrove writes "Public announcements of how Participating members of ISO have voted on OOXML are now rolling in one at a time, and the trend thus far is meaningfully weighted towards 'No with comments.' By my count, there are now four announced Yes votes, with comments, two abstentions, and seven public No with comments votes for OOXML in ISO/IEC JT1. Korea has reportedly voted no as well, and I expect at least Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom to announce 'No with comments' today or tomorrow. There will be more no votes on the roster when the final results are announced in a day or two. But even if the 11 votes I know of now were the only votes, the vote would now have failed — but for the 11 countries that upgraded their status from Observer to Participating member status in the last few weeks. Without those extra 11 'P' countries, it would only require 10 votes to block OOXML from immediate approval. If most or all of those additional 'P' members vote 'yes' as expected, it will confirm suspicions that Microsoft has promoted extra votes in favor of OOXML not only within National Bodies, but within ISO itself."
'Flying Saucers' to Go On Sale Soon 327
gihan_ripper writes "Perhaps the ultimate nerd acquisition, the flying car, is to go on sale in a few months. Speaking to the BBC, the inventor Dr Paul Moller described his creation, dubbed the Flying Saucer, as a VTOL aircraft designed to hover at 10 ft. above the ground. The flying saucer has eight engines and is expected to sell for $90,000. Dr Moller expects to produce a successor within six years, a 'Skycar' capable of a climb rate of 6000 ft./min. and an airspeed of 400 mph."
Feed Science Daily: Explosive Discovery On Genetically Engineered Tobacco Plant (sciencedaily.com)
Tobacco may be bad for human health, but a new study reports that a genetically engineered tobacco plant may be very good for the environment. It shows promise for cleaning up soil contaminated with TNT, a widely used military explosive.
Feed New York Times: Sony Recalls 416,000 Digital Cameras (nytimes.com)
Sony is recalling the digital cameras because the case may warp, creating an edge that can cut or scratch the user’s hands.
Where the Wii Fits In 371
AGFlamey writes "On Angry Gamer is an interesting and lengthy article about the new direction Nintendo are taking with the Wii and in particular "non-games" like Wii Fit and Big Brain Academy. From the article: "Hardcore folks don't like to admit it, but Mario and Zelda are relics of the past. It's become quite clear that Nintendo is losing interest in remaking the same old games over and over. They want to pull us into something new, if only we can give them the chance." Is it such a bad thing that Nintendo are neglecting their roots?"
Executive Order Overturns US Fifth Amendment 853
RalphTWaP writes "Tuesday, there wasn't even a fuss. Wednesday, the world was a little different. By executive order, the Secretary of the Treasury may now seize the property of any person who undermines efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq. The Secretary may make his determination in secret and after the fact." There hasn't been much media notice of this; the UK's Guardian has an article explaining how the new authority will only be used to go after terrorists.
Rethinking the Linux Distribution? 213
eldavojohn writes "ONLamp.com is running an interesting article about rethinking how the community distributes Linux and the open source applications that often come with Linux. The author isn't arguing that Linux needs to become a full blown web OS over night but instead, asking if the community should be considering 'Software as a Service' and what he means by that is perhaps many of the open source applications that run on Linux should be available through a browser. The reasons for this are obvious, the code is open so anyone could host it, it would be platform independent so anyone could use it and it might attract more users to the Linux environment. The obvious note here is that many of the enterprise software makers are switching to Software as a Service, shouldn't the open source community investigate the possibility of a Web OS?"
