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Comment Re:Ahem... (Score 1) 481

by sloanster (#34568728) Attached to: Netflix Touts Open Source, Ignores Linux

probably because they estimate that the cost per supported customer would shrink the revenue to 0.

On what do you base this statement? It makes no sense to me because first of all, linux users are absolutely the least likely of all to require hand holding and technical support.... obtw - the linux client is already done - it's been running on the roku box for years.
Canada

Feeling Upset? Look At Some Meat 155

Posted by samzenpus from the the-calming-power-of-beef dept.
Meshach writes "A study out of Canada claims that seeing meat actually calms a person down. From the article: 'Contrary to expectations, a McGill University researcher has discovered that seeing meat makes people significantly less aggressive. Frank Kachanoff, who studies evolution at the university’s department of psychology, had initially thought the presence of meat would provoke bloodlust, believing the response would have helped our primate ancestors hunt. But in fact, his research showed the reverse is true.'" I can see all the "Make Steak, Not War!" protest signs already.
Microsoft

Motorola Countersues Microsoft Over 16 Patents 62

Posted by CmdrTaco from the sue-sue-sudio dept.
FlorianMueller writes "As if there weren't already enough patent suits related to smartphone technologies, Motorola just announced its widely anticipated countersuit against Microsoft. Its subsidiary Motorola Mobility filed complaints with two US District Courts (Southern District of Florida and Western District of Wisconsin). Motorola already litigates with Apple in those and other courts. According to Motorola, the patents relate to technologies in the fields of operating systems, video codecs, email, instant messaging, object-oriented software architectures, WiFi, and graphical passwords. Motorola claims Windows, the Live messenger, Windows Phone, Outlook and other Microsoft products infringe. Motorola's action is no surprise given that all of the companies sued over patent infringement by Android — with the exception of Google — have already countersued."
Image

How To Find Bad Programmers 359

Posted by samzenpus from the how-little-work-can-you-do-in-a-day dept.
AmberShah writes "The job post is your potential programmer's first impression of your company, so make it count with these offputting features. There are plenty of articles about recruiting great developers, but what if you are only interested in the crappy ones?" I think much of the industry is already following these guidelines.
Space

Dwarf Planets Accumulate In Outer Solar System 93

Posted by kdawson from the potato-radius dept.
An anonymous reader tips a piece in Australian Geographic indicating that Pluto may be in for another demotion, as researchers work to define dwarf planets more exactly. "[Australian researchers] now argue that the radius which defines a dwarf planet should instead be from 200–300 km, depending on whether the object is made of ice or rock. They base their smaller radius on the limit at which objects naturally form a spherical rather than potato-like shape because of 'self-gravity.' Icy objects less than 200 km (or rocky objects less than 300 km) across are likely to be potato shapes, while objects larger than this are spherical. ... They call this limit the 'potato radius' ... [One researcher is quoted] 'I have no problem with there being hundreds of dwarf planets eventually.'"
Censorship

North Korea's Own OS, Red Star 316

Posted by timothy from the linux-is-sometimes-for-communists dept.
klaasb writes "North Korea's self-developed computer operating system, named 'Red Star,' was brought to light for the first time by a Russian satellite broadcaster yesterday. North Korea's top IT experts began developing the Red Star in 2006, but its composition and operation mechanisms were unknown until the internet version of the Russia Today TV program featured the system, citing the blog of a Russian student who goes to the Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang."
Image

Scientists Discover Booze That Won't Give You a Hangover 334

Posted by samzenpus from the go-ahead-and-have-another dept.
Kwang-il Kwon and Hye Gwang Jeong of Chungnam National University have discovered that drinking alcohol with oxygen bubbles added leads to fewer hangovers and a shorter sobering up time. People drinking the bubbly booze sobered up 20-30 minutes faster and had less severe and fewer hangovers than people who drank the non-fizzy stuff. Kwon said: "The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage reduces plasma alcohol concentrations faster than a normal dissolved-oxygen alcohol beverage does. This could provide both clinical and real-life significance. The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage would allow individuals to become sober faster, and reduce the side effects of acetaldehyde without a significant difference in alcohol's effects. Furthermore, the reduced time to a lower BAC may reduce alcohol-related accidents."

Comment Yes, with some reservations (Score 1) 1

by sloanster (#30481614) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Are you Using SPF records?

We set up SPF records some time ago, and there is some value in them. However, they are not useful as a standalone pass/fail indicator of spam because using SPF in that way ends up rejecting way too much legitimate mail, and breaks legitimate forwarding. So we moved SPF out of the front line MX where the RBLs, greylisting and sanity checks live, and put it back in the 2nd layer with the spam/virus filtering, where the SPF result is examined and considered as just one factor among many.
Games

NYT's "Games To Avoid" an Ironic, Perfect Gamer Wish List 189

Posted by Soulskill from the more-or-less dept.
MojoKid writes "From October to December, the advertising departments of a thousand companies exhort children to beg, cajole, and guilt-trip their parents for all manner of inappropriate digital entertainment. As supposedly informed gatekeepers, we sadly earthbound Santas are reduced to scouring the back pages of gaming review sites and magazines, trying to evaluate whether the tot at home is ready for Big Bird's Egg Hunt or Bayonetta. Luckily, The New York Times is here to help. In a recent article provokingly titled 'Ten Games to Cross off Your Child's Gift List,' the NYT names its list of big bads — the video games so foul, so gruesome, so perverse that we'd recommend you buy them immediately — for yourself. Alternatively, if you need gift ideas for the surly, pale teenager in your home whose body contains more plastic then your average d20, this is the newspaper clipping to stuff in your pocket. In other words, if you need a list like this to understand what games to not stuff little Johnny's stocking with this holiday season, you've got larger issues you should concern yourself with. We'd suggest picking up an auto-shotty and taking a few rounds against the horde — it's a wonderful stress relief and you're probably going to need it."

Comment Re:Well, seriously... (Score 3, Insightful) 194

by sloanster (#27188355) Attached to: Microsoft-Novell Relationship Hits the Skids

Who buys Linux in an economy like this?

Lots of people, including the fortune 100 company i work for. In fact, the linux demand has gotten much stronger, as my employer is dumping old school platforms and moving to linux in the server room.

The tough times motivate them to maximize their bang for the buck.

Oh, and trust me, big companies want the official paid support - so that basically means Novell or Redhat, though debian/ubuntu are there in some cases now too, since you can purchase support for either one from HP now.

Comment Re:Kdawson (Score 1) 312

by sloanster (#27056351) Attached to: Portugal's Vortalgate — No Microsoft, No Bidding

Of course, if it doesn't, you have the source so fix it yourself.

Sorry, what planet were you from again? Telling Aunt Mildred "you have the source, so fix it yourself" isn't going to fly.

As for trotting out apple, you're hopelessly naive if you think that microsoft won't kill the OSX version of silverlight the minute apple's market share gets a little bigger than microsoft would like.

For the government to put microsoft firmly in control of a lever by which which can hurt its competitors as much as it likes is like putting the proverbial fox in charge of the henhouse.

Comment Re:question (Score 1) 297

by sloanster (#27035639) Attached to: Analyzing Microsoft's Linux Lawsuit

This isn't something the Slashdot demographic wants to hear.

Why would you think that?
While I'm not sure exactly what "the slashdot demographic" might be, the fact of the matter is that the majority of slashdot readers are microsoft windows users.

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