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Comment Re:Ummmm ... (Score 1) 286

by corby (#34927332) Attached to: Google Releases Software To Iran

So, couldn't the Iranian government just use different IP addresses?

Maybe, but I imagine that the Iranian government might have some reservations about downloading and running this software anyway. At least until they figure out whether Stuxnet is built into their 'special' version of Chrome, or if it's an optional add-on.

Comment Re:Allow users to set user-agent/etc themselves (Score 5, Informative) 338

by corby (#34153642) Attached to: How Hulu, NBC, and Other Sites Block Google TV

Google should just make an advanced configuration settings page, and let users set whatever user-agent/etc they want there.

As the linked article states, Google does allow users to set their user-agent. The video content sites are blocking on the Flash Version ID, and Adobe does not provide a mechanism for changing that.
GUI

Take This GUI and Shove It 617

Posted by Soulskill from the i-ain't-clickin'-here-no-more dept.
snydeq writes "Deep End's Paul Venezia speaks out against the overemphasis on GUIs in today's admin tools, saying that GUIs are fine and necessary in many cases, but only after a complete CLI is in place, and that they cannot interfere with the use of the CLI, only complement it. Otherwise, the GUI simply makes easy things easy and hard things much harder. He writes, 'If you have to make significant, identical changes to a bunch of Linux servers, is it easier to log into them one-by-one and run through a GUI or text-menu tool, or write a quick shell script that hits each box and either makes the changes or simply pulls down a few new config files and restarts some services? And it's not just about conservation of effort — it's also about accuracy. If you write a script, you're certain that the changes made will be identical on each box. If you're doing them all by hand, you aren't.'"

Comment What a Bizarre Article (Score 1) 450

by corby (#33502992) Attached to: Tech Sector Slow To Hire

This article is entirely based on the experience of one 49-year-old Latina woman who is having difficulty finding work. The article concludes:

The experience of Ms. Mann and others like her suggests that the technology industry may not be the savior of the American job market

Look, Ms. Mann might be awesome at her job, or she might not be very good. Maybe her experience tells us something about her work history, or maybe it tells us something about the software industry creating unfair barriers to entry for middle-aged hispanic women.

But you have to be kind of a lazy journalist to say that Ms. Mann's story can be extrapolated to describe the state of the US software industry. The only other industry source cited in the article was a hiring manager who said he still has to fight like hell and humiliate himself to get the candidates he wants.

And here's the money quote that explains to us how all domestic software jobs have been offshored.

"The programming language “C++ is now an international language,” she said. “If that’s all you know, then you’re competing with people in India or China who will do the work for less.”

Uh, yes. I do see a lot of C++ work being offshored. A lot of COBOL and Fortran work as well. The author of this article doesn't seem to be aware that these are not exactly areas of growth in the software industry.
Firefox

Mozilla Reveals Firefox 4 Plans 570

Posted by CmdrTaco from the just-make-it-faster dept.
Barence writes "Mozilla has given a breakdown of its plans for Firefox 4. Perhaps the most striking change to Firefox 4 is the user interface, which takes a great deal of inspiration from Google Chrome. 'Something UI designers have known for a long time is that the simpler an interface looks, the faster it will seem,' said director of Firefox Mike Beltzner during the presentation. Also mooted was the ability to give applications such as Gmail and Twitter their own permanent tabs for easy access, and the introduction of a 'switch to tab' button, allowing power users running hundreds of tabs to quickly find the one they want. Beltzner said Mozilla was also looking at replicating Chrome's tactic of silently updating the browser in the background, removing the annoying wait when Firefox first loads up."
Censorship

Extremists Warn South Park Creators Over Muhammad In a Bear Suit 1131

Posted by CmdrTaco from the religion-is-wonderful dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A radical Islamic website is warning the creators of South Park that they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode broadcast on Comedy Central last week. RevolutionMuslim.com posted the warning following the 200th episode of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park."
Medicine

Doctors Baffled, Intrigued By Girl Who Doesn't Age 599

Posted by kdawson from the fountain-of-youth-or-maybe-it's-a-cataract dept.
phyrebyrd writes "Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler. She turned 16 in January. Brooke hasn't aged in the conventional sense. Dr. Richard Walker of the University of South Florida College of Medicine, in Tampa, says Brooke's body is not developing as a coordinated unit, but as independent parts that are out of sync. She has never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why. Brooke's hair and her nails are the only two things that grow, Howard said. 'She has pajamas and outfits that are 10 or 12 years old,' he said."
Power

US House May Pass "Cap & Trade" Bill 874

Posted by kdawson from the make-everybody-mad-and-you-must-be-doing-something-right dept.
jamie found this roundup on the status of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, which is about to be voted on by the US House of Representatives. (The article notes that if the majority Democrats can't see the 218 votes needed for passage, they will probably put off the vote.) The AP has put together a FAQ that says, "[The bill, if passed,] fundamentally will change how we use, produce and consume energy, ending the country's love affair with big gas-guzzling cars and its insatiable appetite for cheap electricity. This bill will put smaller, more efficient cars on the road, swap smokestacks for windmills and solar panels, and transform the appliances you can buy for your home." The odds-makers are giving the bill a marginal chance of passing in the House, with tougher going expected in the Senate.
Movies

Blu-ray Adoption Soft, More Still Own HD DVD 685

Posted by CmdrTaco from the this-is-still-going dept.
MojoKid writes "A new study by Harris Interactive notes that currently, one in ten Americans (10%) own an HD DVD player, while just 7% own a Blu-ray player. Crazy, right? More Americans own HD DVD right now than the 'winning' format, Blu-ray. If you think about it, that statistic isn't that shocking. When HD DVD was around, it was far and away the 'budget' format for high-def. The players were cheaper, the films were cheaper. In other words, it was a format more ready to thrive in a down economy. Blu-ray was always viewed as a niche format for those absorbed in A/V, not the common man's format. The survey also found that on average, consumers purchased approximately six standard format DVDs in the last six months, compared with one in HD DVD format."
Windows

How Vista Mistakes Changed Windows 7 Development 483

Posted by kdawson from the expensive-education dept.
snydeq writes "For the past several months, Microsoft has engaged in an extended public mea culpa about Vista, holding a series of press interviews to explain how the company's Vista mistakes changed the development process of Windows 7. Chief among these changes was the determination to 'define a feature set early on' and only share that feature set with partners and customers when the company is confident they will be incorporated into the final OS. And to solve PC-compatibility issues, Microsoft has said all versions of Windows 7 will run even on low-cost netbooks. Moreover, Microsoft reiterated that the beta of Windows 7 that is now available is already feature-complete, although its final release to business customers isn't expected until November." As a data point for how well this has all worked out in practice, reader The other A.N.Other recommends a ZDNet article describing rough benchmarks for three versions of Windows 7 against Vista and XP. In particular, Win-7 build 7048 (64-bit) vs. Win-7 build 7000 (32-bit and 64-bit) vs. Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3 were tested on both high-end and low-end hardware. The conclusions: Windows 7 is, overall, faster than both Vista and XP. As Windows 7 progresses, it's getting faster (or at least the 64-bit editions are). On a higher-spec system, 64-bit is best. On a lower-spec system, 32-bit is best.

Comment More Laws (Score 1) 320

by corby (#26021277) Attached to: Net Neutrality Opponent Calls Google a "Bandwidth Hog"

Hey, I just conducted a study and found out that my interconnect connection would be more affordable if Scott Cleland payed for my bandwidth costs.

There oughta be a law!

And just to be clear, is Scott Cleland proposing that well-run companies should be transferring their profits to all poorly-run companies, or just the poorly-run telecoms?
Security

$1M Reward Offered To Nab Data Breach Extortionist 134

Posted by Soulskill from the i've-seen-this-it's-gary-sinise-send-me-a-check dept.
alphadogg writes with this excerpt from NetworkWorld: "Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits management company which recently disclosed an extortionist is demanding money by threatening to expose millions of patient records the company holds, Wednesday said it has decided to offer $1 million to nab the perpetrator. 'We're going on the offense with this reward,' an Express Scripts spokesman said. The $1 million will be paid to anyone who provides information leading to the capture and conviction of the extortionist who sent a letter to Express Scripts in early October that contained personal information on 75 people, considered members, who use the company's pharmacy-benefits services. The extortionist claims to have information on millions more Express Scripts members and wants money to not reveal it."
Slashback

McCain Wants Ballmer For His Cabinet 431

Posted by kdawson from the throwing-chairs-at-the-chinese dept.
While many people jumped all over presidential hopeful John McCain's wrong-headed view on network neutrality, few noticed his infuriating love for Microsoft. "[T]he 70 year old presidential hopeful also said that he would ask Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to serve on his cabinet to deal with technology issues if elected. He did not however say what position Ballmer might be hired in, but did joke that he might consider him for a diplomatic position, such as ambassador to China."

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