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Comment Varies (Score 1) 8

by pleasance (#38052226) Attached to: Ask /.: what is a nerd?
I've always thought of "geek" to be someone that has a passion for something, usually technology based, but sometimes other subjects. I think Steve Irwin was a geek, for just animals and not technology.

I think "nerd" has a different meaning, and being more like the genius type. Love to read anything and everything, love to understand, learn, etc. Just generally a borderline genius, and sometimes socially awkward.

I'm not sure of my meanings are "correct" or "accurate" -- but I think they suit the titles very well.

It seems the general population is confused on meanings, and just thinks they are both identical, and like you mentioned above: anyone with a few electronic devices is a geek, and/or nerd.
Microsoft

Lawsuit Claims WGA Is Spyware 360

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the advantage-microsoft dept.
twitter writes "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's euphemistically named digital restrictions scheme, is the target of another spyware and false advertising lawsuit. 'Microsoft this week was sued in a Washington district court for allegedly violating privacy laws through Windows XP's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) copy protection scheme. Similar to cases filed in 2006, the new class action case accuses Microsoft of falsely representing what information WGA would send to verify the authenticity of Windows and that it would send back information [daily IP address and other details that could be used to trace information back to a home or user]. The complaint further argued that Microsoft portrayed WGA as a necessary security update rather than acknowledge its copy protection nature in the update. WGA's implementation also prevented users from purging the protection from their PCs without completely reformatting a computer's system drive.' There were at least two other lawsuits launched in 2006 over WGA. According to the Wikipedia article, none of them have been resolved. The system is built into Vista and Windows 7."

Schooling, Homeschooling, and Now, "Unschooling" 1345

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-from-quake dept.
ciaohound writes "The Baltimore Sun has a story about 'unschooling,' which is like homeschooling except, well, without the schooling. '...unschooling incorporates every facet of a child's life into the education process, allowing a child to follow his passions and learn at his own pace, year-round. And it assumes that an outing at the park — or even hours spent playing a video game — can be just as valuable a teaching resource as Hooked on Phonics.' If you have ever been forced to sit in a classroom where no learning was taking place, you may understand the appeal. A driving force behind the movement is parents' dissatisfaction with regular schools, and presumably with homeschooling as well. Yet few researchers are even aware of unschooling and little research exists on its effectiveness. Any Slashdotters who have experience with 'unschooling?'"
Unix

Submission + - Judge Overturns 2007 Unix Copyright Decision (networkworld.com) 2

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "A federal appeals court has overturned a 2007 decision that Novell owns the Unix code, clearing the way for SCO to pursue a $1 billion copyright infringement case against IBM. In a 54-page decision, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reversing the 2007 summary judgment decision by Judge Dale Kimball of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, which found that Novell was the owner of Unix and UnixWare copyrights. SCO CEO Darl McBride called the decision a "huge validation for SCO.""
OS X

Submission + - Apple to Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard on August 28

Submitted by okapi
okapi writes: Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X v10.6 Snow Leopard(TM) will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders.
Graphics

Submission + - No Linux port for id's Tech 5 graphics engine 2

Submitted by DesiVideoGamer
DesiVideoGamer writes: John Carmack, the creator of id's Tech 5 graphics engine, does not plan on making a Linux port of his new engine. From his e-mail:

It isn't out of the question, but I don't think we will be able to justify the work.

. One of the reasons for not making a Linux port was due to the fact that the new engine "pushes a lot of paths that are not usually optimized" and that the Linux port would have to use the binary blob graphics driver in order to work. However, the MacOS port has not been cancelled yet.

Google

Submission + - Google Chrome gets 64-bit version, only for Linux (internetnews.com)

Submitted by Noam.of.Doom
Noam.of.Doom writes: The Google Chrome developers announced on August 19th the immediate availability of a new version of the Google Chrome web browser for Linux, Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Google Chrome 4.0.202.2 is here to fix a lot of annoying bugs (see below for details) and it also adds a couple of features only for the Mac platform. However, the good news is that Dean McNamee, one of the Google Chrome engineers, announced yesterday on their mailing list that a working port of the Chrome browser for 64-bit platforms was now available:

"The v8 team did some amazing work this quarter building a working 64-bit port. After a handful of changes on the Chromium side, I've had Chromium Linux building on 64-bit for the last few weeks. I believe mmoss or tony is going to get a buildbot running, and working on packaging."

Until today, Google Chrome was available on both 32- and 64-bit architectures, but it appears that the latter was running based on the 32-bit libraries. Therefore, starting with Google Chrome 4.0.202.2, 64-bit users can enjoy a true x64 version!
Image

Robots Are the Chefs In This Japanese Restaurant 3

Posted by samzenpus from the precise-cooking dept.
Singularity Hub writes "A Ramen restaurant has just opened in Nagoya, Japan that uses robots instead of humans as its chefs. It may not seem that amazing at first, but once you see the video it is hard not to be blown away. The robotic chefs work their gastronomic magic in a kitchen placed front and center in the middle of the restaurant, giving customers a front row seat on the action."

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