Comment Thinktank Streetwalker HardDrive (Score 1) 282
http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/streetwalker-harddrive-backpack.aspx
These guys make really good bags. I have heard many pro-photo bloggers raving about them.
Comment Re:Study Design a Must (Score 1) 482
So they will include a solder gun and a tube of epoxy in the standard?
Comment Study Design a Must (Score 1) 482
The most important thing about this standard is that they need to use a plug resistant to damage. I have 2 laptops at home that work perfectly except the power connection has come loose. It is so frustrating!
Comment Paradox (Score 1) 685
There is also the time travel paradox that if someone did time travel (I personally don't think they did) and was seen on video, they could simply go back in time again and get themselves out of the video thus it would have never happened and YouTube would happily go on showing stupid cat tricks today.
IF (and that is a bing IF) this is some sort of communication device then I would assume it was an alien in disguise. The fellow does point out that it is a very 'butch' woman. I think a little grey could easily sneak under that heavy coat.
Personally I think it is something mundane that is common in the era. The guy who walks past her doesn't bat an eye. I still give a double take to people on Bluetooth headset when I don't see it so I am sure a lady talking into an ear box would turn some heads.
Comment Power Adapter Plug (Laptop) (Score 1) 715
This has been the curse of 3 of my laptops. Two have just sort of worn out and another I stepped on but holy crap you think someone (besides Apple) can improve on the design! At the very least they should put the plug on a separate board (as was the case in the LG laptop I stepped on) so you don't have to bust out a soldering iron to fix them!
Privacy With a 4096 Bit RSA Key — Offline, On Paper 232
HavanaF writes "Online backup is practical, but can it offer any privacy? The Dutch security company Safeberg developed an Offline Private Key Protocol, with an asymmetric key scheme. The protocol demands that the private (decryption) key be stored away from the 'source' computer, which presumably is 'too vulnerable.' The catch is that the private key needs to be fairly large to be secure: a 4,096-bit RSA key should suffice for some years. But how to store an 800-character key offline? Safeberg introduces a machine readable paper key, with the 4k-bit key crammed in a giant 2D Datamatrix barcode. This video on key strength tells the story."
Freescale's Cheap Chip Could Mean Sub-$99 E-Readers 158
eldavojohn writes "Last week, Freescale Semiconductor announced their i.MX508 chip and a few days ago released a rather bland and boring announcement that it's available. But there was at least one interesting line from that press release, 'The i.MX508 applications processor is expected to be priced at less than $10 (USD) in quantities greater than 250K units.' Yes, less than ten dollars. This sparked a wave of articles detailing how this new chip will allow the sub-$99 e-reader to emerge and according to market research, consumers are thirsty for something much more affordable than the Kindle."
Submission + - 1 Second Linux Boot! (embedded-bits.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: Less than one second Linux boot! This post/video shows an OMAP3530 capturing video data from a camera and rendering it to an LCD display — the video appears on the LCD display in less than a second from reset.
Submission + - Major Electronics Vendors Accused of Price Fixing (computerworld.com)
Lucas123 writes: After the DOJ launched an investigation last fall into price fixing by major optical disk drive manufacturers, a home electronics retail store filed a class-aciton lawsuit this week seeking triple damages for what it is claiming to be long-standing collusion between Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, LG Electronics and Hitachi to raise and fix prices on the drives. The suit claims the vendors used trade organization forums as meeting places to discuss the price fixing. "These are big Asian smoke-stack industries where they're investing in big fabrication plants. You can't have a technology destroy the business," said the attorney representing the plaintiff. "If you fire up a big fab plant with CRT tubes, and the next generation technology destroys it, then you have a big fab plant manufacturing buggy whips. So they have to make sure the price points for these [newer] technologies ... don't destroy existing markets."
Submission + - What has your phone survived? (togapit.com)
NotAnIndividual writes: On an ice fishing trip two months ago, I lost my iPhone somewhere in the snow. I searched and searched, but to no avail. But just this weekend when moving the ice hut, lo and behold there it was. I quickly threw it into a bag of rice and placed it under a lamp to defrost. Three hours later I plugged it in. I wasn't expecting much. I mean, really, it had been frozen in snow for the last two months! To my surprise, the Apple logo popped up. I put in the SIM card and voila, my iPhone was back. My apps, my contacts, my music and more importantly my life were back. And this is the same iPhone that I dropped in a cup of coffee a few months ago! This got me wondering how much damage a cell phone can actually take.
How have other slashdot users punished their phones without actually killing them completely?
How have other slashdot users punished their phones without actually killing them completely?
Submission + - LG Launches Watch Phone in India (techzon3.in)
roh2cool writes: If you are a watch freak and also happen to be a fan of ultra rare gadgets, this might just interest you. The LG GD910 watch phone looks like a normal watch – except for the fact that it can double up as your mobile phone when needed.
Comment Re:Only a little (Score 1) 278
I agree. I think you pretty much nailed the plot. I think the fellow in the wheel chair gets a new body so they can make contact and survive on the planet.
Santa Hate II
There is no escape from Santa #2.
Beating the College Bubble 616
An anonymous reader writes "The real estate bubble is long gone. Oil prices are sliding down. Are we in
an education bubble? The author of
Beating the College Bubble says so.
He's written a short, simple guide to avoiding the crushing college
debt that he thinks is about to bankrupt all of us. Just as easy loans encouraged people to dream big and buy a
McMansion, big college loans are tempting students with too much Comp Lit and Frat
Parties. When they graduate, the debt is so hefty that the students are stuck living
in their parents' basement for 10 years until they've paid it all off. I can
tell you from personal experience that there's some real truth to the hangover.
The beer headache is gone after a week, but the monthly payments just keep going." Read below for the rest of cdog40's review
Submission + - Australian Censorship bypassed before live trials (pcauthority.com.au)
newt writes: The Australian Government is planning to conduct live trails of as-yet-unspecified censorship technology. But as every geek already knows, these systems can't possibly work in the presence of VPNs and proxy servers. PC Authority clues the punters in.
