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Comment Re:Warranty? (Score 1) 423

by macdaddy (#33044402) Attached to: Jailbreaking iPhone Now Legal

Why wouldn't you expect to get warranty support? You don't void your automobile warranty by using another brand of air filter, or not having the plug and wires replaced in a dealer-approved garage, or any number of otherwise reasonable things. So why should installing a 3rd-party app void your warranty?

Comment Re:Rant (Score 1) 461

by macdaddy (#29510615) Attached to: The Perils of Ramming Products Down IT's Throat
I work for a small company right now. It's an independent telco and ISP and I'm the only IP admin. A big pro is that I get to touch everything and learn everything. A major con is that I also HAVE to do everything. Even though we're small and family-owned there is a layer of mid-level management between the SMEs and the owners. They filter everything going up and never share anything coming back down. My opinion means jack shit around here. If I tell sales not to sell something because it's a bad solution they'll do it anyway. If I tell my boss not to buy something because it won't work right in our network he'll do it anyway. This place has gone downhill fast too. A few short years ago I could sit down with an owner and vent or talk about solutions and help steer where this company goes. Today I'm just another voice in the crowd. I need to ramp up my certs and move on I guess. It's a shame too because the bulk of the people here are fantastic. I'm also from the general area. Still, I don't foresee these problems every being resolved unless the owners 1) recognize that it's a problem and 2) decide to commit the resources needed to fix it. So I don't see it happening.

Comment Cool your heals, everyone (Score 1) 950

by macdaddy (#29508471) Attached to: Heart Monitors In Middle School Gym Class?
Holy shit people. Slow the fuck down. You're all assuming that this is for some sort of evil data mining conspiracy. It almost certainly isn't. They are almost certainly asking the kids to provide their own elastic strap for the heart monitor, the thing that tell them and most gym-quality cardio equipment how fast their heart is beating. The sensor and watches (if they use the watches) are plastic and cleanable whereas the elastic strap isn't (short of a wash cycle in a washing machine). They just want the kids to bring their own strap so that they are only wiping germs and dried sweat onto their body that came from their body anyways (ie, not sharing that which carries carries germs). This isn't a big deal. Did you flip out when your kids were in elementary school and the teacher told you as a parent that your kid had to bring their own comb or brush to school instead of sharing with everyone else? It's not the big deal that everyone is making it out to be.
Space

Space Station Marathon Starting This Weekend 61

Posted by timothy from the this-calls-for-a-twitter-mashup dept.
RobGoldsmith writes with this snippet from Space Fellowship: "If you've never seen a spaceship with your own eyes, now's your chance. The International Space Station (ISS) is about to make a remarkable series of flybys over the United States. Beginning this 4th of July weekend, the station will appear once, twice, and sometimes three times a day for many days in a row. No matter where you live, you should have at least a few opportunities to see the biggest spaceship ever built."
Medicine

You, Too, Can Learn Echolocation 133

Posted by timothy from the and-you-swear-this-isn't-a-joke dept.
The Narrative Fallacy writes "Wired reports that with just a few weeks of training, you can learn to 'see' objects in the dark using echolocation the same way dolphins and bats do. Acoustic expert Juan Antonio Martinez at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain has developed a system to teach people how to use echolocation, a skill that could be particularly useful for the blind and for people who work under dark or smoky conditions, like firefighters — or cat burglars. 'Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you,' says Martinez. 'Within another couple weeks you can tell the difference between trees and pavement.' To master the art of echolocation, you can begin by making the typical 'sh' sound used to make someone be quiet. Moving a pen in front of the mouth can be noticed right away similar to the phenomenon when traveling in a car with the windows down, which makes it possible to 'hear' gaps in the verge of the road. The next level is to learn how to master 'palate clicks,' special clicks with your tongue and palate that are better than other sounds because they can be made in a uniform way, work at a lower intensity, and don't get drowned out by ambient noise. With the palate click you can learn to recognize slight changes in the way the clicks sound depending on what objects are nearby. 'For all of us in general, this would be a new way of perceiving the world,' says Martinez."
Data Storage

Rugged Linux Server For Rural, Tropical Environment? 236

Posted by timothy from the crate-of-netbooks-and-solar-panels dept.
travalas writes "Last year I moved to Rural Bangladesh. My work is pretty diverse, everything from hacking web apps to designing building materials. Increasingly a Linux VM on my MacBook Pro is insufficient due to storage speed/processing constraints and the desire to interface more easily with some sensor packages. There are a few issues that make that make a standard server less than desirable. This server will generally not be running with any sort of climate control and it may need to move to different locations so would also be helpful if it was somewhat portable. The environment here is hot, humid and dusty and brutal on technology and power is very inconsistent so it will often be on a combination of Interruptible Power Supply and solar power. So a UPS is a must and low power consumption desirable, so it strikes me that an Integrated UPS a la Google's servers would be handy. Spec wise it needs to be it needs to be able to handle several VM's and some other processor storage intensive tasks. So 4 cores, 8GB of ram and 3-4 TB of SATA storage seems like a place to start for processing specs. What sort of hardware would you recommend without breaking the bank?"
The Internet

Lobby Groups Launch Full Assault For Canadian DMCA 135

Posted by Soulskill from the sneak-it-through-while-everyone's-watching-playoff-hockey dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Bill C-61, the previous attempt at a Canadian DMCA, may have failed, but it is clear that the music, movie, and business software industries are engaged in putting massive pressure on the Canadian government to bring it back. Lobbying records show several meetings each week with Government Ministers for CRIA, CMPDA, and Microsoft over the past month. Meanwhile, the CRIA is preparing a grassroots campaign in support of new copyright laws, even claiming that the current rules are costing jobs to truck drivers delivering CDs and DVDs."
Games

Valve Provides Details On Left 4 Dead Survival Pack DLC 62

Posted by Soulskill from the a-new-take-on-not-dying dept.
A post on the Left 4 Dead blog shares details of the Survival Pack downloadable content due out next week. It will be free, and available for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game. "Our goals for Survival Mode are to deliver a mode of play distinct from Campaign or Versus, have games that regularly last under ten minutes, and emphasize competition with team play through leaderboards. Survival Mode draws on the planning and communication aspects of a successful Finale or Crescendo event, while taking it to another level. It rapidly hits a fever pitch that only a well coordinated team will be able to successfully survive. ... Given the extreme pace of Survival Mode, the number of zombies killed in a single round often outnumbers an entire campaign."
Space

Space Sails Could Bring Used Rockets Back To Earth 76

Posted by Soulskill from the how-about-a-space-hoover dept.
GordonCopestake writes "An article from New Scientist proposes that all new spacecraft have sails attached to bring them back to earth — a measure that would reduce the amount of garbage in space. From the article: 'The risk to spacecraft from a collision with space debris could be reduced by equipping launchers with a gossamer-thin "sail." The idea is to deploy the sail after the rocket has released its payload to amplify the drag of the last vestiges of the atmosphere, and so force the rocket out of orbit.'" Wired has a related story about the risks faced by the space shuttles as they share orbits with tons of drifting space debris. "... in the 54 missions from STS-50 through STS-114, space junk and meteoroids hit shuttle windows 1,634 times necessitating 92 window replacements. In addition, the shuttle's radiator was hit 317 times, actually causing holes in the radiator's facesheet 53 times."
Politics

Swedish Pirate Party Gains 3000 Members In 7 Hours 410

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the unintended-consequences dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Due to outrage over the verdict in The Pirate Bay trial, the Swedish Pirate Party has gained 3000 members in less than 7 hours. It is now bigger than 3 of the 7 parties represented in the Swedish parliament. 'Ruling means that our political work must now be stepped up. We want to ensure that the Pirate Bay activities — to link people and information — is clearly lawful. And we want to do it for all people in Sweden, Europe and the world, continues Rick Falk Vinge. We want it to be open for ordinary people to disseminate and receive information without fear of imprisonment or astronomical damages.'"

Comment Why not on land too? (Score 1) 201

by macdaddy (#27560043) Attached to: NASA To Announce Module Name On Colbert Show

Why can't we call it a Colbert on land too? "I'm heading to the Colbert to take a Colbert." "Man, my Colbert stinks! I shouldn't have had those tacos for lunch." One if by land, two if by Colbert.

For the record, I love the Colbert Report. Especially the one a week or so ago where he lambasted Glen Beck for making his career off of 9/11. Colbert and Stewart are amazing.

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