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Some people make more money than others... by __aajqwr7439 · 2006-02-08 06:58 · Score: 5, Interesting · on Making A Living In Second Life

Especially in the world's oldest profession.

DN

Re:Newton-Palm Hybrid by Feneric · 2006-02-08 04:18 · Score: 4, Insightful · on Apple to Buy out Palm?

I think there's some truth to the parent post. A single PDA that merged the best features of both the Newton and the Palm could be really slick. While I'll assume that most people reading this are pretty familiar with the Palm and what it has to offer, I recognize that the Newton may be a bit more of a mystery. I blogged a bit about what the Newton has to offer in 2006 elsewhere and won't repeat it all here.

The Newton has actually been mentioned on various news sites a lot lately, due largely in part to the recent Worldwide Newton Conference but also because of recent advances like the Einstein project and the Newton book reader for Firefox.

I'm personally hoping that maybe some of its innovative user interface ideas get carried over into other projects. Obviously Apple's current Ink tablet handwriting recognition system is a direct port from the Newton. Less obviously perhaps is that its Dock removal animation is, too.

Open Source community had to complain loudly by billybob2 · 2006-02-08 02:18 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Novell Makes Public Release of Xgl Code

Novell was initially reluctant to release this code -- after all, they didn't have to because the X11 license doesn't contain any forced sharing, copyleft provisions. The Open Source community had to complain loudly before Novell decided it didn't want to risk losing support from independent developers. One reason they might have wanted to keep the modifications closed was to make a big splash for the release of the Novell Linux Desktop. Another possible reason is that Ximian (and Nat Friedman, who was Ximian's CEO before Ximian was bought by Novell) that long tried to undermine KDE, the Free Desktop System that currently has a slight edge in terms of popularity. By keeping the source closed, they would have prevented KDE developers from incorporating XGL into their windowing system, leaving KDE slightly behind Gnome in terms of eyecandy for a period of time.

Open Source community had to complain loudly by billybob2 · 2006-02-08 02:18 · Score: 2, Interesting · on Novell Makes Public Release of Xgl Code

Novell was initially reluctant to release this code -- after all, they didn't have to because the X11 license doesn't contain any forced sharing, copyleft provisions. The Open Source community had to complain loudly before Novell decided it didn't want to risk losing support from independent developers. One reason they might have wanted to keep the modifications closed was to make a big splash for the release of the Novell Linux Desktop. Another possible reason is that Ximian (and Nat Friedman, who was Ximian's CEO before Ximian was bought by Novell) that long tried to undermine KDE, the Free Desktop System that currently has a slight edge in terms of popularity. By keeping the source closed, they would have prevented KDE developers from incorporating XGL into their windowing system, leaving KDE slightly behind Gnome in terms of eyecandy for a period of time.

On the necessity of drug patents: by cheesedog · 2006-02-07 15:22 · Score: 2, Insightful · on Possible Breakthrough for AIDS Cure

Pharmaceuticals don't need patents to recoup their costs or even to rake in the cash hand over fist: Why Drug Companies Don't Need Patents and On the Necessity of Drug Patents

The truth is, drug patents are the best case to be made in favor of patents. The only problem is that even that example provides a weak case.

On the necessity of drug patents: by cheesedog · 2006-02-07 15:22 · Score: 2, Insightful · on Possible Breakthrough for AIDS Cure

Pharmaceuticals don't need patents to recoup their costs or even to rake in the cash hand over fist: Why Drug Companies Don't Need Patents and On the Necessity of Drug Patents

The truth is, drug patents are the best case to be made in favor of patents. The only problem is that even that example provides a weak case.

Comment Gator on Day Pass by Anonymous Coward · 2006-02-07 11:56 · Score: 0 · on Verizon Threatens Google's 'Free Lunch'

Attention everybody, the 90's have returned! Well, at least on Slashdot. It seems that somewhere between his regular schedule of WoW, sleep and junk food, CmdrTaco had an epiphany:

[...]

http://commentgator.blogspot.com/2006/02/dont-star e.html

My review by heartless_ · 2006-02-07 11:02 · Score: 1 · on Smartbomb

Good write up on the book :) Here is my review of Smartbomb.

BS by Sleepy · 2006-02-07 07:15 · Score: 2, Informative · on Cutting the Cost of Household Bills?

>The only reason most LEDs use so little power is that they emit so little light.

Your facts are WAYY wrong. If you want to refute something, at least do a lazy Google search and you could have saved yourself a bad post.

1) LEDs approach 100% efficiency.
2) Florescent lights are about 50% efficient (and varies.. compact Edison style bulbs are less efficient... LED doesn't care about the form factor)
3) Incandescent lights (including halogen) are about 5-10% efficient. That is NOT a typo they are 90% heat waste.

Not sure where the heck you live, but in most US cities they have begin using TWENTY WATT LED lights to replace TWO HUNDRED WATT traffic bulbs. The LED lamp uses 90% less power but has 100% the same brightness.

The LED bulbs longer and does not burn out all at once -- lowers the accident rate and requires less maintenance.

cite:
MIT Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_13179 ,294,p2.html
http://alt-e.blogspot.com/2005/04/energy-efficienc y-led-lights-to.html
etc.

> Not only that, but white LEDs cost so damned much that even if they were more efficient it would be a REALLY LONG TIME before you ever saw return on your investment.

I'll concede that point.

It also takes a REALLY LONG TIME to recover the investment in a hybrid.

It's gonna get cheaper now that China is in the manufacturing game. Their government has "selfishly" decided they don't want to export their newfound wealth to Saudi Arabia they want to keep those energy costs at home (something a lot of Americans would shrug off unfortunately).

I'd expect something competitive with CF bulbs in 4 years tops.

>There's a reason you can't by LED lightbulbs for your home lamps.

Good thing I did not ask you before I bought one. And yes, I only bought one they ARE expensive.. like $35 when I got one and down to like $25 now. The nice thing about it is there's no heat waste. When the cost goes down, I expect air conditioning to be cheaper since you're not fighting waste heat generation.

The early adopter applications will drive this down... think of all the bulbs running in car lights and RV's and motorcycles. LED replacements for those are just as bright and not much more. Bright LED brakelights are already standard on many commercial trucks.

Re:Using GTalk to Connect to other networks? by galdur · 2006-02-07 03:37 · Score: 0 · on Google Adds Chat To Gmail

Yes, they had an announcement lately.

and for me, finally web-based Google IM my prediction came true ....

Re:Look a little deeper by zardo · 2006-02-06 15:57 · Score: 1 · on Powell Aide Says Case for War a 'Hoax'

Well if it isn't Darby, the guy with the nutty sig.

I've heard your Euro argument from a number of people, it must be all over the liberal blogs, eh? I'll tell you something your intellectual pals probably never learned in school, Economics 101, there is no proof that the value of the dollar in comparison to other currencies has any effect on the well being of America. The effects are complex, and not easy to predict, but you show me an instance when the value of the dollar sank and the economy did poorly as a direct result. It's not like stocks, the value goes down and you lose. What happened when the Dollar sank in value compared to the Euro? American businesses began buying less european goods, the rest of the world quits buying european goods and starts buying more American goods. Europe wasn't doing too well, check out France, one of europe's biggest exporters, they're tanking right now because nobody can afford their chachka's. As it turns out, the REPUBLICAN'S pursue this policy more often than the dems. The REPUBLICANS support big business, dems are afraid of big evil businesses. This idea that the value of the dollar in reference to other nations is critical, that it's "holding our economy afloat" is simply stupid. OIL IS ALREADY TRADED IN EUROS AND OUR ECONOMY DOES FINE! The only reason they traded it in dollars is because it was a stable currency, but now the euro is about as stable, so it doesn't matter which. Iran isn't even invested in Euros anymore, as it turns out. There's also the fact that the neo-con agenda has involved invading Iraq as a means to promote American economic domination. Where the hell do you get these so-called FACTS, that's just stupid. We already dominate, and it's real easy to do, you make a positive environment to do business and people will do business there. We went into Iraq after 9/11 to battle terrorists and that's exactly what we're doing, handing their asses to them, you guys will accept anything but the obvious facts. You want some good news? Read this: http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/ Those are pretty much the only reasons we are in Iraq right now. You know who you remind me of when you talk like that? Napoleon Dynamite's brother, Kip is it?

Sorry, but buses suck... by Colin+Smith · 2006-02-06 10:58 · Score: 1 · on Solar Energy Becoming More Pervasive

No conventional public transport system can serve more than about 10% of the population, the physics just don't add up.

http://mrprecision.blogspot.com/2005/05/why-public -transport-cant-work.html

Advocating conventional public transport as a car replacement is a waste of time.

Re:games and cognition by m-laboratories · 2006-02-06 10:50 · Score: 1 · on Videogames Affect Your Brain

As Steven Johnson points out in his book "Everything Bad is Good For You," the connection between video games and cognition (particularly conditions like ADHD) is a lot more complicated than the mainstream media makes it out to be. Then again, what isn't.

Michael Posner has developed a "game-like" interactive training scheme that has been shown to increase some measurements of working memory and increase nonverbal IQ scores. Other researchers (Cogmed) have followed suit, even going so far as to manufacture video games for kids with ADHD.

And it's no surprise the military is interested in video games (ever play "america's army?) given that other research has shown that habitual video game players have a shorter attentional blink (basically it's the "recovery" time you need to process multiple stimuli) and have a greater capacity for subitizing. See the excellent Mind Hacks chapter on video games, or this short article for more.

What's really amazing is that games may even be a universal phenomenon among more intelligent species - Stan Kuczaj and Lauren Highfill recently observed dolphins playing over 317 distinct versions of various games, including easier versions for the younger dolphins. Whether they have underwater consoles remains to be seen...

The real issue by physicsguide · 2006-02-06 10:30 · Score: 1 · on NASA Science Under Attack

I think the real issue is the misunderstanding of the word "theory", as opposed to supposition, hypothesis, conjecture or WAG

Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · 2006-02-06 08:55 · Score: 0 · on UNIX Security: Don't Believe the Truth?

Not only the slashdotters...

http://commentgator.blogspot.com/2006/02/hypotheti x.html

A rebuttal by Anonymous Coward · 2006-02-06 08:46 · Score: 0 · on UNIX Security: Don't Believe the Truth?

http://commentgator.blogspot.com/2006/02/hypotheti x.html

Re:Go VW! by RingDev · 2006-02-06 08:29 · Score: 3, Informative · on Solar Energy Becoming More Pervasive

"Significantly, particulate emissions have been reduced by over 90 percent in the past 15 years." - http://www.greencar.com/index.cfm?content=features 13

"The TDI is certified to the tough minimum Tier 1 requirement - this is the stringent California standard for what is permitted from a car's tailpipe. The TDI could have been certified to even stricter requirements if not for NOX and particulate emissions, which are naturally higher in diesel engines because of their exceptional combustion efficiencies.

Volkswagen is confident these NOX levels can be lowered using new technology if the sulfur level in our nation's diesel fuel was reduced. For this very reason, Volkswagen and the other members of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers have advocated lower federal sulfur content standards in both diesel and gasoline fuels." - http://tedshelton.blogspot.com/2005/11/good-custom er-service-from-vw.html

There's plenty more out on the web. the TDI with current US petrol diesel will have a higher particulate rate per gallon spent, but a lower rate per mile due to their improved efficiency.

-Rick

Re:This isn't just about the Bush cabal! by dada21 · 2006-02-06 08:20 · Score: 2 · on Powell Aide Says Case for War a 'Hoax'

That's the problem with gold and silver today -- people ask "How much is it worth in dollars?" when people over the age of 56 today understand that gold and silver weren't valued in dollars, they were dollars.

1 dollar in 1900 was worth 1/20th an ounce of silver. 1 dollar was just a receipt for 0.05 ounces of gold. Gold wasn't "worth" dollars, it was the other way around.

Government found that they can not control people unless they control the money supply. I just blogged about it a few minutes ago -- government is mandated to make money in gold and silver only, and can not hand out IOUs for future payment -- dollars are to be backed by currently available hard metal.

If you're younger than 56, you don't remember what money really is -- it is just a figment of faith. In the "old days," our government was restrained as they couldn't create money out of thin air. Now government does nothing but create money out of thin air, and I want to make sure those under the age of 56 realize that you're being duped: by your banks, by your brokers and even by your bosses.

I stopped accepting dollars as savings a few years ago. I also stopped using the banking cartels and the credit card companies as none of them are helping the situation any.

Re:I just refuted this article's mistakes yesterda by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 07:59 · Score: 1 · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

Sweetheart, sit down... CMYK has lots and lots of patents involved. The *best* support you could get in Gimp is a work-around. If you want better than that, the people to complain to don't work for Gimp.

As for Cinepaint, I'm going out on an extremely short limb and guess that you've never run it. I have. I've run more programs than you could count. Cinepaint, included in say, for instance, MediainLinux IS Gimp, with fewer plugins and 8/16/32-bit support and a sexier name (since everybody harps on the name). Same interface, same menus, same multiple windows everybody harps on. I addressed all that you bring up in this post, and considered it too bleeding obvious to repeat.

You can get one point back if you can even tell me the origins of the term "LART".

Re:Large Wallets + Small understanding = nothing n by AnotherDaveB · 2006-02-06 05:08 · Score: 1 · on Open Source vs. the Database Vendors

Many companies that generally only need a step up from MS Access but get sucked into Oracle or DB2

Google Adwords uses MySQL.

Re:Artists' OS Knowledge by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 04:22 · Score: 1 · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

It's always like this. People charge in going "Gimp can't draw straight lines! Gimp can't draw black-and-white pixels! Gimp can't count to two!" and we patiently point out the three simple menu steps they could have used to do it if only they'd thought to look there, and without missing a beat they go on: "Yeah, but it doesn't SMELL, FEEL, TASTE, LOOK, AND SOUND EXACTLY LIKE PHOTOSHOP!"

but it still doesn't approach Photoshop's ease of use or flexibility.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I suppose pointing out "Layers->Colors->Curves" isn't going to do any good, either, is it? I mean, what the hell is this? Are you people forced to use a computer with your hands cuffed behind your back or something? Right-click. That's what the right mouse button is for. Explore *every* submenu, in order. Open a test image and run *every* menu entry on it. You don't even need to open this free book or read any of my tutorials or read anybody else's tutorials. Everything's right there. If you don't like it, don't use it, but stop insisting that all the functions don't exist. It's dumb. You have just as much access to Google as anybody else, presuming you don't live in China. And then people wonder why we get frustrated.

As I've said before, I'm *dying* to see Photoshop ported. So *Adobe* can deal with you people instead of we GNU/Linux users.

Re:Gimp and Photoshop by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 02:35 · Score: 3, Interesting · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

You're too smart. What are you doing posting to Slashdot? (-:

Incidentally, I just happened to have refuted the inaccuracies in the TFA here. Perhaps you can point some of these out to others in this forum? Or add to them over time? I, too, have experience with both (as well as with MGI-photosuite, Macintosh Draw, Windows Paintbrush, xfig, and Corel Draw, and more I've probably forgotten), and am absolutely baffled at how so much flat-out Bull gets spread about one little program. I'm getting to where I have a pet theory that Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is the source of all of it!

But anyway, you being a user of both, I would highly value any input you could provide in the comments sections of my blog's tutorials (scroll down the menu on the left, they're there). I'm fine with porting Photoshop. I'm *not* fine with the mythology going around.

Re:Perfect example of OSS problems by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 02:07 · Score: 1 · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

Of course, it also doesn't help that so many Linux people seem to take the attitude that the Linux desktop is fine, but artists and other non-technical types are just too stupid to use it.

Here. What irks me, is that 90% of the complaints about Gimp are complete fallacies. And blowhards like Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols are working against those of us who simply want to educate people. By all means, I would like to see Photoshop ported. Of course, I could care less if people don't like the Gimp. It's a free world; use what you want. But I don't like the mythology that keeps people in the dark.

Re:Artists' OS Knowledge by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 01:59 · Score: 1 · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

Looks like you, too, could stand to have some misconceptions cleared away about the Gimp. Scroll down for the Gimp Info center halfway down on the left. Is this the LAB stuff you're talking about?

Re:GUI perhaps? by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 01:54 · Score: 2, Insightful · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

Those in charge of the GIMP dismiss such experienced users in the field as feeble-minded ignoramuses.

OK, I'll bite. Do you have a link to someplace where a Gimp developer dismisses experienced users in the manner in which you speak? By the way, I already refuted the TFA's ludicrous claims yesterday Mainly because as soon as I saw an anti-Gimp FUD hack job, I knew it was a sure bet it'd get posted to /.

I say again, I'd be only too happy to see Photoshop ported. Perhaps the Adobe people will see the demand and cave. But hating Gimp for reasons mentioned in TFA is like saying you don't like cars because they lack steering wheels, tires, and motors.

Re:What about.... by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 01:35 · Score: 2, Insightful · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?

I do. I'm a professional, not a hobbyist, and want to do my damn work, not fuck around with the interface.

What is it, exactly, that Photoshop does for you? Read your mind and draw the image on the screen while you sit back ten feet with your arms folded and meditate? So there's lots of little windows instead of one big one. So most of the functions are accessible with a right-click to the canvas. What's the big deal?

Does this help to at least clarify some of why it's that way?

Re:They have a point... by Hosiah · 2006-02-06 01:02 · Score: 1 · on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users?