Well, hard times for these guys. They have tons of data with next to no noise, errors or uncertainty. I can name 20 people i know personally that would love datasets like that for their research. Am I the only one seeing it this way? Shame you didn't buy the hard drives 4 months ago though. Tough break.
I would say that it's more likely they want to open up the airplay protocol. Encouraging more devices to connect to their devices and enabling airplay on more 3rd party devices.
You might consider waiting for a zenbook from ASUS. It is essentially a macbook Air without the apple logo. ASUS usually have pretty decent linux support too. http://www.anandtech.com/tag/zenbook
I really don't think it matters how your keyboard is laid out. What I think does matter is that it has mechanical switches. This makes a huge difference in typing, allows you to put less strain on your fingers (you don't have to bottom out the keys) and also drowns out the sound of the guy next to you (and pretty much everything else).
Getting a keyboard with blank keycaps has really improved my typing speed. It forces you to touch-type which is another skill that will pay dividends.
I personally use a Das Keyboard Ultimate S since it was the only one easily available where I live. It is hands down the best investment I have made when it comes to comfort at work. If you prefer something different then look for Cherry blue switches which seems to be the favorite of most. If you really want to get into the keyboard porn thing then go here: http://geekhack.org/
Seems to me as thought this holds a valuable lesson for Slashdot. With the management asking about the future what better time for a story like this to surface! Platformize Slashdot!
Of all recent films, this is probably one of those that benefited most from filesharing. The thing was completely unknown and one could make a strong case for part of the hype that got generated being thanks to filesharers who saw the film and passed the word around.
I think that there will always be a status quo in the filesharing 'war' unless something dramatic happens which seems unlikely.
Posted
by
kdawson
from the plays-nicely-with-others dept.
oneone writes "Canonical is bringing its Ubuntu One cloud service (which we discussed last month) to handheld devices with a new mobile contact synchronization feature that is powered by Funambol. Canonical's Ubuntu One application for the iPhone is now available from the iTunes Music Store. Android and other mobile operating systems will be supported with Funambol's standard client application. The mobile sync feature is currently in the beta testing stage but will be generally available to Ubuntu One subscribers when Ubuntu 10.04 is released later this month. Canonical says that it is boosting its Ubuntu One server infrastructure in order to support what it anticipates will be record loads."
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the development-dollars-well-spent dept.
WrongSizeGlass writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Microsoft has announced on its Windows Server blog the end of its support for Itanium. 'Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and Visual Studio 2010 will represent the last versions to support Intel's Itanium architecture.' Does this mean the end of Itanium? Will it be missed, or was it destined to be another DEC Alpha waiting for its last sunset?"
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the it's-that-time-again dept.
adeelarshad82 writes "The Blu-ray Disc Association announced upcoming specifications for high-capacity write-once and rewritable discs. The BDA proposed two new formats, BDXL, the name given to new 100GB and 128GB discs; and IH-BD, a so-called 'Intra-Hybrid' disc that will incorporate both read-only and rewritable layers. Specifications for both disc types will be published during the upcoming months. Both formats will be incompatible with existing hardware; however, new players designed to take advantage of the new formats will be able to play back existing Blu-ray discs, which are available in both 25 and 50GB capacity points."
dp619 writes "Concepts outlined in Microsoft's internal 'Midori' OS documents are materializing in .NET, according to an SD Times report. Midori is a new operating system project that is designed for distributed concurrency. Microsoft has assigned some of its all-star programmers to the project, while recruiting others. It is also working on other projects to replace Windows that make the OS act more like a hypervisor."
Posted
by
timothy
from the calimari-for-the-5000 dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Dr. Steve O'Shea of Auckland, New Zealand is attempting to break the record for keeping deep sea squid alive in captivity, with the goal of being able to raise a giant squid one day. Right now, he's raising the broad squid, sepioteuthis australis, from egg masses found in seaweed. This is a lot harder than it sounds, because the squid he's studying grow rapidly and eat only live prey, making it hard for them to keep the squid from becoming prey themselves. If his research works out, you might one day be able to visit an aquarium and see giant squid."