nickj6282 - Slashdot User

Comment An easier solution (Score 1) 208

by nickj6282 on Saturday June 27, 2009 @09:09PM (#28499545) Attached to: Hackable In-Car GPS Unit?

What about a netbook with a built-in mobile broadband card? These can be had for $400 or less (probably much less if you can get the mobile provider to subsidize the device). Add a decent GPS software package that includes a USB receiver and you've got a ~$500 GPS that can do it all with no hacking required.

Hell, a high-end GPS unit with half the screen size will set you back the same. But with this setup, you can take it out of the car when you get to where you are going and have a handy little netbook.

Comment Re:8.7 million? (Score 2, Informative) 202

by nickj6282 on Thursday July 03, 2008 @06:57PM (#24052231) Attached to: AOL Users Will Need to Pay $2 a Month For Phone Support

Last time I had Time Warner/Roadrunner broadband, they had free dialup as well. It was a lifesaver when I was in PA once with my laptop and the hotel I was staying at had their wifi go down.

Smartphones Patented — Just About Everyone Sued 1 Minute Later 407

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 25, 2008 @07:04PM from the definition-of-a-patent-troll dept.

This week the US Patent and Trademark Office issued a surprisingly (although I guess it shouldn't be) broad patent for a "mobile entertainment and communication device". Upon closer inspection you may notice that it pretty much outlines the ubiquitous smartphone concept. "It's a patent for a mobile phone with removable storage, an internet connection, a camera and the ability to download audio or video files. The patent holding firm who has the rights to this patent wasted no time at all. At 12:01am Tuesday morning, it filed three separate lawsuits against just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others. Amusingly, the company actually first filed the lawsuits on Monday, but realized it was jumping the gun and pulled them, only to refile just past the stroke of midnight. "

Microsoft Complains About Google's Monopoly Abuse 384

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday December 26, 2007 @01:18PM from the play-fair-or-i'll-tell-mom dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Frustrated at the FTC's blessing of the Google/Doubleclick merger, Microsoft is complaining to the EU. Its latest filings detail how the merger would give Google a stranglehold on the advertising industry. While these complaints aren't new, the diagram [PDF] Microsoft created gives you an interesting look at the sort of competition Microsoft fears from Google."

Robots To Control Oil Drilling Platforms 96

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 25, 2007 @07:40PM from the nothing-can-go-wrong-can-go-wrong-can-go-wrong dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "In 2015, and if everything goes well, oil drilling platforms located offshore Norway will be controlled by robots. Even today, these platforms don't use many people. But the idea behind the new platform concept is to install large modular process sections in unmanned areas to allow access by one or more robotic manipulators. In a few years, operators should be able to remain on land and to remotely control the oil drilling platforms. Obviously, this should reduce risks and costs. Tests have already started in a new laboratory in Trondheim. According to the plans, the researchers have 8 years in front of them to deliver the robotic tools able to control these very expensive platforms. But read more for additional references and pictures."

Microsoft Windows 7 "Wishlist" Leaked 522

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @07:20PM from the leaky-news-always-suspect dept.

Cassius Corodes is one of many readers to point out that a recent "wishlist" of new Windows development features is floating around the net. This list was supposedly leaked from Microsoft and contains some of their key development features for the next version of Windows. Given that the next new Windows release is bound to be a long way off I would recommend seasoning this news with a hefty dose of sodium chloride.

Microsoft Votes to Add ODF to ANSI Standards List 231

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 17, 2007 @01:57PM from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.

RzUpAnmsCwrds writes "In a puzzling move, Microsoft today voted to support the addition of the OpenDocument file formats to the American National Standards List. OpenDocument is used by many free-software office suites, including OpenOffice.org. Microsoft is still pushing its own Office Open XML format, which it hopes will also become an ANSI standard. Is Microsoft serious about supporting ODF, or is this a merely a PR stunt to make Office Open XML look more like a legitimate standard?"

Submission + - CompTIA certifies home network integrators

Submitted by

prostoalex

on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @04:38PM

prostoalex writes: "Consumer Electronics Association and Computer Technology Industry Association introduced a new certification for individuals and companies installing home networks and connect consumer electronics devices to a central PC: "The certification is geared to individuals who install, integrate and maintain "smart" homes, in which the PC is the hub controlling lighting, security systems, audio-visual and digital entertainment gear, including home media centers." Home networking market is predicted to grow at 20% a year globally."

Submission + - SCO Chair's Anti-Porn Act to be Signed Into Law

Submitted by

iptables -A FORWARD

on Wednesday March 14, 2007 @06:44PM

iptables -A FORWARD writes: "Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah reportedly plans to sign the ICPA (Internet Community Ports Act) into law. The ICPA proposes that online content be divided by port, rather like TVs have channels with adult and family content, so that certain internet ports will be "clean" and others will be "dirty." Thus, they hope to remove objectionable content from port 80 and require that it be moved elsewhere (port 666 was already taken by Doom, sorry), so that people could more easily block objectionable content, or have their ISPs block the ports with objectionable content for them. This law was originally suggested by the CP80 group, which is chaired by Ralph Yarro, who also chairs the SCO Group. That probably explains why they didn't choose to adopt RFC 3514, instead."

Submission + - Total Lunar Eclipse This Weekend

Submitted by SeaDour on Friday March 02, 2007 @06:44PM

SeaDour writes: This Saturday night, March 3rd, a total lunar eclipse will be visible from nearly all inhabited parts of the world. A great shadow will stretch across the surface of the moon, eventually casting it in an eerie red glow as sunlight filters through our atmosphere onto the lunar surface. Viewers in Europe and Africa will have the best vantage point, able to watch the entire eclipse in action, while observers in most of the western hemisphere can see it eclipsed as it rises just after sunset.

Feed Games That Map Depression (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Friday March 02, 2007 @06:12PM

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health use a video game to help determine the link between the hippocampus and depression. In Game|Life.

Submission + - Cell phone service in a bomb shelter

Submitted by hedgemage on Friday March 02, 2007 @05:36PM

hedgemage writes: I work at a retirement home and we have trouble with the cell phones that our nursing and maintenance staff use. The problem is that our nursing home area is built into a lower level that was originally constructed as a fallout shelter in 1960. There's a lot of solid concrete in the walls and ceiling. We have paid out tens of thousands to try and get an on-site mobile to work using NEC Dterm PSII phones, but they have proven absolutely unreliable (not just in the bomb shelter but throughout the campus) and the only solution our telecom provider has is to install several thousand dollars more in transcievers. If we could use ordinary cell phones, it would be ideal for everyone. Is there an off-the-shelf solution that could boost regular cellular signals in our bomb shelter?

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