Comment Re:Nice Bell Curve (Score 1) 1233
I also noticed. It's beautiful, and amazing how this natural preference is normally distributed.
Comment MySQL? (Score 3, Funny) 122
No offense to the creators (well, maybe some offense) but why the heck would you want to put MySQL in where PostgreSQL already was? That's like taking out your star quarterback and putting in, well, me!
Comment Re:In other words... (Score 1) 504
Just out of total curiosity, how's that work? I have the 15" MBP with the glossy screen that kills babies, and I'd like to reduce its homicidal tendencies in bright environments.
All sarcasm aside, I actually do own one, and I'm curious how you like the matte screen protector.
All sarcasm aside, I actually do own one, and I'm curious how you like the matte screen protector.
Comment Re: new MBPs (Score 1) 504
Amen. I hate how everyone who complains about the glossy screen neither owns one or uses one frequently (could be correlation or causation, but still lack of experience either way). The screen is fully functional and the machine works great, there's nothing to complain about. I am a semi-pro photographer and the color and performance of the screen have been more than acceptable. The reflections are a non-issue, and I can't believe people are still up in arms over this. Get over it.
Comment How far we've come. (Score 1) 88
My laptop history:
1) At the age of 11, fervently desiring a WinBook that was shown in all those awesome computer ads in PC Magazine. It had interchangeable CD-drive bays and a floppy drive built in (very, very important). I continued to be frustrated with my parents' 486-33 instead.
2) Graduating high school, received gift of IBM ThinkPad R31 - PIII 1.13GHz. Lasted 6 years, then power supply died last year. It was a workhorse.
3) Hand-me-down 17" 9-pound Dell Centrino 1.4 GHz with 2GB RAM. It was a clunky brick.
4) Last week, bought new-version MacBook Pro 15". 2.4GHz Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, etc. etc. Rumors of shiny screens killing babies are greatly exaggerated. Finally consolidating 3 computers into one, getting rid of the rest. This is the ideal computer at this time, from a guaranteed non-fanboy, having only owned this computer for a week. It's just quality.
The laptop is finally doing everything! Go miniaturization.
1) At the age of 11, fervently desiring a WinBook that was shown in all those awesome computer ads in PC Magazine. It had interchangeable CD-drive bays and a floppy drive built in (very, very important). I continued to be frustrated with my parents' 486-33 instead.
2) Graduating high school, received gift of IBM ThinkPad R31 - PIII 1.13GHz. Lasted 6 years, then power supply died last year. It was a workhorse.
3) Hand-me-down 17" 9-pound Dell Centrino 1.4 GHz with 2GB RAM. It was a clunky brick.
4) Last week, bought new-version MacBook Pro 15". 2.4GHz Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, etc. etc. Rumors of shiny screens killing babies are greatly exaggerated. Finally consolidating 3 computers into one, getting rid of the rest. This is the ideal computer at this time, from a guaranteed non-fanboy, having only owned this computer for a week. It's just quality.
The laptop is finally doing everything! Go miniaturization.
Submission + - What is the best console controller of all time?
Mateo Slovinsky writes: Is the XBox 360's controller the best controller of all time? CNet seems to think so in its line up of the top five gamepads of all time. "Did you expect the Wii? Sorry. It's a brilliant piece of innovation, that's not in question, but there simply aren't enough games to judge it against the best controllers ever. The Xbox 360 pad has proven itself over a longer time and on a wider selection of titles — and it has its own claims to originality."
Google Wins Nude Thumbnail Legal Battle 204
eldavojohn writes "Google is currently fighting many fronts in its ability to show small images returned in a search from websites. Most recently, Google won the case against them in which they were displaying nude thumbnails of a photographer's work from his site. Prior to this, Google was barred from displaying copyrighted content, even when linking it to the site (owner) from its search results. The verdict: "Saying the District Court erred, the San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that Google could legally display those images under the fair use doctrine of copyright law." This sets a rather hefty precedence in a search engine's ability to blindly serve content safely under fair use."
Submission + - Student arrested for writing essay
mcgrew writes: "The Chicago Tribune reports that an eighteen year old straight A Cary-Grove High School student was arrested for writing a "disturbing" essay. From the Trib:
So much for freedom of speech in the US."Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
Submission + - Women are fleeing IT jobs
Lucas123 writes: "An alarming number of women are currently abandoning IT jobs that require workers to be on-call at all hours, according to a story in Computerworld. One
study cited in the article states that by 2012, 40% of women now working in IT will leave for careers with more flexible hours. 'I think women in that regard are at a real disadvantage,' said Dot Brunette, network and storage manager at Meijer Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer and a 30-year IT veteran. She noted that companies can fail to attract female workers, or see them leave key IT jobs because they fail to provide day care at work, or work-at-home options for someone who leaves to have a child.'"
Submission + - The Hundred Million Mile Pipe Organ
jd writes: "Scientists have announced that the gigantic coils of plasma, known as coronal loops, actually carry soundwaves much like a pipe organ. Micro-flares on the surface of the sun create a powerful blast of charged particles, which are then guided through the coronal loops, creating the standing waves. Sheffield University is hosting movies and audio recordings of the sun's performance."
Submission + - Easy-to-make material scratches diamond
holy_calamity writes: A material tough enough to scratch diamond that can be made without resorting to massive pressure has been developed at UCLA. A regular furnace and a zap of current is enough to meld boron with the metal rhenium.
Submission + - Relocation Package Bait and Switch
An anonymous reader writes: I got a R&D job offer with a large company in Philadelphia area last week. It includes a relocation package that they told me was standard for my position.
After I accepted the offer and made plans to terminate my current job, the recruiter handed me off to their relocation department, where I was told that my relocation package is significantly less than what I was promised. The relocation manager tells me that whenever there is conflict between their relocation policy and the offer, their internal relocation policy supersedes.
What I want to know from my fellow Geeks are : 1) Is this type of switch-and-bait common practice in corporate America? 2) If you have gone through this nightmare before, any advice on how to respond to it?
After I accepted the offer and made plans to terminate my current job, the recruiter handed me off to their relocation department, where I was told that my relocation package is significantly less than what I was promised. The relocation manager tells me that whenever there is conflict between their relocation policy and the offer, their internal relocation policy supersedes.
What I want to know from my fellow Geeks are : 1) Is this type of switch-and-bait common practice in corporate America? 2) If you have gone through this nightmare before, any advice on how to respond to it?
Are DMCA Abuses a Temporary or Permanent Problem? 163
Regular Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton wrote in with a story about the DMCA. He starts "On January 16, a man named Guntram Graef who invoked the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act to ask YouTube to remove a video of giant penises attacking
his wife's avatar/character in the virtual community "Second Life", retracted
the claim and stated that he now believes the video was not a copyright
violation. (He had sent similar notices to BoingBoing and the Sydney Morning Herald just for posting screen
shots of the video.) His statements
in a C-Net interview suggest that he didn't mean to alienate the
anti-censorship community and was probably angry over what he saw as a
sexually explicit attack on his wife. But the event sparked renewed debate
over the DMCA and what constitutes abuse of it. I sympathize with Graef
and I admire him for admitting an error, but I still think the incident
shows why the DMCA is a bad law." Hit that link below to read the rest of his story.
Submission + - BBC To Host Multi-OS Debate
Bananatree3 writes: BBC is currently seeking submissions from all you Microsoft Windows, Mac and Linux devotees "in 100 words or less, why you are such a supporter of your chosen operating system and what features you love about it". They will then select one user of each platform to go head to head in a debate that will be part of the BBC's Microsoft Vista launch coverage on January 30th.
Submission + - Better than a TI?
aaronbeekay writes: "Hey guys,
I'm a sophomore in high school taking an honors chem course. I'm being forced to buy something handheld for a calculator (I've been using Qalculate! and GraphMonkey on my Thinkpad until now). I see people all around me with TIs and think "there could be something so much better." The low-res, monochrome display just isn't appealing to me for $100-150. Is there something I can use close to the same price range with better screen, more usable, and more powerful? Which calcs do you guys use? I'm hoping for this to last through college."
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