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displays, or MFDs?

Or, any number of input devices that have so much information overloading the user that the use is offered a user-defined toggle? Hell, for that matter, just imagine all the Saitek and Thrustmaster:

http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/game-accessories/saitek-x52-flight-control/4505-10110_7-31255706.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joystick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saitek

And, Saitek keyboards:

http://www.saitek.com/

And, what about computer BIOS and software overlays? How far different is Sony that they can get a patent? Is it *just* for game controllers, and only a FINITE set of functions? Otherwise, they should not have this patent protection in countries where joysticks exist in aircraft, games, bulldozers/shovel loaders, and so on, especially in micro-surgery operating suites.

(Disclaimer: Though I like Saitek products, I don't have any of their stock/shares...)

Well, I bought one because it was(arguably still is) the best smart phone on the market.

really? i had thought blackberry was the best smart phone on the market, you know with their majority market share that they have had for the last few years. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=575

This article explains how properly done TLDs could actually be a good idea. Under his scheme, you could set your computer's DNS to by default append $YourFavoriteGTLD which agrees with you on that point and get just that. I recommend against setting that for .com in your current DNS setup unless you really like CNET. The gTLD idea sounds similar, but I do not have much faith in ICANN handling it well.

So there's no easy way to scrub the thing before selling it, or to be sure it was scrubbed.

Bull shit. I can't tell if you're defending the admin who let this go or not, but it kinda sounds like you're blaming the vendor for this. No fucking way is it acceptable for something like this to happen, even if Cisco came out and said "there is absolutely no way to scrub this device, it will retain it's configuration forever no matter what you do." Don't sell the device. Put it in a closet and write "destroy" on it with a sharpie. Or just fucking telnet into it and wipe the config! Jesus, if you need a button to make sure your networking devices are configured correctly, I truly hope you don't actually manage a network. Sorry if I come off as an ass, but your comment just does not make sense. If you really feel like you need to work with Cisco shit, at least read this first.

Studies by researchers from RAND Corporation, Stanford, Urban Institute, Harvard, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Georgetown, Rochester Institute of Technology, UC Davis, and Duke have reported that we have continually been producing far more STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) workers than we've been employing in these fields.

Examination of employment data and projections from BLS when compared with NCES (Dept. of Education) records of degrees earned by US citizens confirms these findings.

"As late as 1987, 60K graduates were competing for about 25K open positions, according to Janet Ruhl, author of _The Programmers Survival Guide_" --- Margie Wylie _CNET_ "The skills shortage that isn't: When the rising tide floats employees' boats, employers proclaim disaster"
http://news.com.com/2010-1077-281060.html
http://www.kermitrose.com/econ1998.html#19980204

In testimony to the House Science and Technology Committee, Harold Salzman reported that we've been producing as many as 3 times the numbers of STEM workers as we've been employing in these fields.

http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/
Commdocs/hearings/2007/tech/06nov/salzman_testimony.pdf

http://www.kermitrose.com/econ200711.html#Runnerup2007

This isn't just about not paying at a higher rate for additional hours of work.
It's about not paying for the additional work at all.

I have to wonder how many software engineers from Sopchoppy and Chicago will go into California's hideous cost of living not realizing that, no matter how much they work, they won't be paid for anything past the first 40 hours.

L3
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080903/intel-dunnington-2.jpg

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/newnano2_550x367.jpg

Whowa! Maybe his "imminent death" was a bit off the mark before but this does not bode well for his saying that

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/appleeventstart_550x367.jpg

next year.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/newnano2_550x367.jpg

Whowa! Maybe his "imminent death" was a bit off the mark before but this does not bode well for his saying that

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/appleeventstart_550x367.jpg

next year.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/newnano2_550x367.jpg

Whow! Maybe his "imminent death" was a bit off the mark before but this does not bode well for his saying that

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/appleeventstart_550x367.jpg

next year.

This is not good for Apple. Not for anyone, really.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/newnano2_550x367.jpg

Whow! Maybe his "imminent death" was a bit off the mark before but this does not bode well for his saying that

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/appleeventstart_550x367.jpg

next year.

This is not good for Apple. Not for anyone, really.

While we're already off-topic, I've got to agree with the GP, my Windows box BSODs a few times a year (almost always hardware driver failures, particularly the video card). Running Linux on the same machine, I've yet to actually crash it, I've crashed X a few times, but never the OS.

Of course, if I count the times I've forced Windows to crash using the CrashOnCtrlScroll trick for fun...

They are still ticked off over that OS/2 thing. So much that they have Commander Spock shilling for OS/2 on CNet Forums and sometimes he breaks into that logical fallacy that only OS/2 with Lotus 123 2.0 for OS/2 supports those ERR/IRR economic formulas that 85% of the world banks use to calculate the economic rate of return and international rate of return and no modern spreadsheet since can calculate it correctly or use the ERR function for error trapping instead of economic rate of return so those billions of WK1 spreadsheet files are worthless unless one runs OS/2 2.0/3.0/4.0 and Lotus 123 2.0 for OS/2 to calculate them properly.

What are the odds that Commander Spock still uses an IBM PS/2 model 55SX system with OS/2 2.11 with the TCP/IP plug-in and Microchannel Ethernet card to get on the Internet to make these posts in Netscape 2.0 for OS/2?

ridiculous, over-the-top violence

Check.

and the cold, realistic graphics.

WHAT are you guys smoking? Just who are these "hardcore fans"? Just like you, I think that DII was the best game of all time, but "cold" is not the word to describe its look and feel, and neither is "realistic". Definitely not realistic. (BTW, I always played with contrast at 0.)

ridiculous, over-the-top violence

Check.

and the cold, realistic graphics.

WHAT are you guys smoking? Just who are these "hardcore fans"? Just like you, I think that DII was the best game of all time, but "cold" is not the word to describe its look and feel, and neither is "realistic". Definitely not realistic. (BTW, I always played with contrast at 0.)

on my forearm. a tux about 4 inches tall. it's my 7th tattoo. i actually did a photo gallery on techrepublic. here's the link

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=06/12/02/0415209
http://news.com.com/FBI%2Btaps%2Bcell%2Bphone%2Bmic%2Bas%2Beavesdropping%2Btool/2100-1029_3-6140191.html

dunno about lying, but they're sure SPYING.

Rule #1.

NEVER plug a laser printer into a UPS. The power that the fuser draws is WAY too much.

Look at some of the cheap office units, they show little pictures on them, notice the printer icon is on the surge side, NOT battery/surge side.

If the power goes out, you should NOT be trying to print.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6085460.html See #6

http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/ups.ars/3

http://www.jetcafe.org/npc/doc/ups-faq.html#0405 see 04.05

Would you put a space heater on a UPS? Shredder? Vacuum? Table Saw? If you put a laser printer on it, you may as well.

FF loads pages faster than opera or IE. And it doesnt have a memory leak. Some addons might i dont know. Take this, I leave my computer on for several months at a time including FF open. I often use multiple windows (currently have 2FF windows up) and always a decent number of tabs (8 and 4). This computer has 256MB of ram and has never brought the system to its knees. Also I use 6 addons. If there were a memory leak i'd have noticed. That and a nice variety of tests, in speed and ram usage have shown FF to beat Opera and IE (last i checked, opera has likely improved lately to keep up). Please don't slander without showing your information.
  http://avencius.nl/content/firefox-3-vs-opera-950-memory-usage
  http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/software/internet/soa/Browser-faceoff-IE-vs-Firefox-vs-Opera-vs-Safari/0,139023437,339289417-1,00.htm
  http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-13626-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=266786&messageID=2542057

I must be missing something. Google already has

a "fully paid, perpetual license" to Overture patents, according to SEC documents that Mountain View, Calif.-based Google filed on Monday.

from http://netscape.com.com/Google,+Yahoo!+bury+the+legal+hatchet/2100-1024_3-5302421.html
which was linked to from the Wikipedia page about Overture Services.

In 2004, Palm planned to convert PalmOS into nothing but a GUI and backwards compatibility API layer, replacing the OS with Linux. Lots of Palm software assets and licenses were transferred among Palm, China MobileSoft, and the Japanese "Access" mobile SW company over the next year or two.

By now, we should be able to get smartphones with easy Web access, the thousands of little PalmOS apps, and all the Linux apps, all upgradable at a "tap" over the air or USB from the Internet. But it never happened. Instead, Palm put out a couple of different models of Treo, which were excellent phones when released, but rapidly eclipsed by more frequent updated releases of Symbian and Windows phones.

I bet what happened was that just announcing a PalmOS/Linux smartphone earned its execs and directors a lot of money, money changed hands in the endless spinoffs/acquisitions/mergers, but no one ever paid a team to convert the phone to Linux or PalmOS as a layer on top of it.

Another good question is why I can't just install Linux on any of the new phones with HW compatible with it, and keep my telephone service contract. That should be easy by now, and shouldn't require Palm to do it.

Can you cite any examples of a case where a certificate has been subverted in this way?

Do you work in a clean room or something? Most non-tech folks that I know don't realize you're supposed to open your computer and clear out the gunk once in a while, and where I work folks regularly bring in computers to be repaired that haven't been moved from underneath their desks since they bought them. You'd be amazed how much dirt will pile up in five or more years if the computers haven't been moved. Less if they're in a particularly filthy environment.

No it doesn't...

It is hard to compare directly, but let's try.

Vista Home Premium (it has media center functionality): In China (according to Microsoft), 899 yuan ( http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-news/?p=953 )

In USA: 239.95 usd ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/homepremium/default.mspx ).

Asking google for the conversion:

899 Chinese yuan = 130.628296 U.S. dollars

So, a product produced in the US costs 1/2 in a foreign country. Am I allowed to now purchase Chinese product and sell in the US? To find out if this is worth it, let's get a retail (not msrp) price on Windows Vista Home Premium. Amazon lists some prices (no, we don't want the "upgrade" edition):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013O54OE/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_1

This prices at 209.99 usd (although it claims msrp is 269.99).

All told, the Chinese version is considerably less expensive.

Have a screenshot from the actual application. Please give me a way that you could produce something like that in a web application.

It's a little scary when that "odd app" includes visiting a webpage with a malicious flash script.

http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/flash-upnp-attack-faq/
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-news/?p=1902

from 10 ways you might be breaking the law with your computer

#5: "Tools of a crime" laws

Some states have laws that make it a crime to possess a "criminal instrument" or the "tool of a crime." Depending on the wording of the law, this can be construed to mean any device that is designed or adapted for use in the commission of an offense. This means you could be arrested and prosecuted, for example, for constructing a high gain wireless antenna for the purpose of tapping into someone else's wi-fi network, even if you never did in fact access a network. Several years ago, a California sheriff's deputy made the news when he declared "Pringles can antennas" illegal under such a statute.

Spyware Doctor 5 suffers from software glitches; failed to identify or remove a test Trojan horse; returned a high number of false positive or extremely low-risk results PC Tools Spyware Doctor 2007

Microsoft is not alone in its skepticism of PC Tools' report.

Dennis Kudin, CTO of Ukraine-based Information Security Center Ltd., also dismissed PC Tools' findings in a Windows Live Spaces blog post. The malware counted in such studies often isn't a real threat, he said. The issue is serious threats, malware that runs at the system kernel level and requires administrative privileges.
"Most Windows 2000 users work as administrators by default, so they are vulnerable to any kind of threats. In Windows Vista this vital problem is solved by UAC technology. So Vista is definitely much more secure than Windows 2000 and I don't understand PC Tools' attempt to overthrow this axiom by far-fetched conclusions in their survey." Microsoft Refutes Windows Vista Vulnerability Report [May 13]

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=652 just read the proof.

The fact that hijacked linux systems are serving up malware and controlling botnets is proof that the probability of infection is unacceptably high for linux.

Do you have any statistics showing how many botnets control Linux PCs? Or is this just a guess that's there's a bunch? While I don't have statistics, like I asked you for, Tech Republic has an interesting article on how "Linux phishing botnet statistics can be deceptive".

When deciding to buy Office in order to get my business critical information I should have considered the optiona: a) Not buy office b) go out of busiess due to not being able to get the information that I need in order to operate.

I use NeoOffice, the native Mac port of OpenOffice.org, which is a couple of versions behind OO.org and I haven't had any trouble opening Office 2007 documents and I've opened up several of them. Now whether it can handle macros I don't know as I don't know if any the docs had scripts. If you're counting on being able to open docs and want to make sure anyone you send docs to can also open them them you all need to use the latest MS Office. And MS Windows version, as there are incompatibilities between Office for OS X and Office for Windows. You also ignore *nix users. It may not concern you if you're a closed shop, but for others can be.

Yeah, it's not like IBM ever made processors for a Mac... oh, wait...

What is more surprising is that they do this after Apple threw them over for Intel chips. Maybe it's one of those things where you get along better with yer Ex after the divorce than before.

To appropriate "Married with Children":
Peg: Would you rather have sex with A) Your wife...
Al: B!

where "your wife" = small values of Windows.

Some solutions, not tested and not reviewed, but simply googled. I have used other solutions for clients in the past. They have worked well on an IBM systems that was networked. The data wound up on a postgresql database that was then linked through a client application and a web server for different kinds of reporting and control.

These are just a few of the listings off of Google on a search:

• One solution reviewed
• More solutions ...
• More solutions from tech republic...
• An article on Infoworld

Remember though that POS is one of the most important aspects of any retail or store front type business. So, be wary of what you choose. Choosing a POS system is more about the relationship you are building with your system provider and maintainers than the actual system itself. Some systems require less of a relationship, but I have never run across a situation where that relationship was not present and integral to the long term use of the system. That relationship could be with the OSS developers and users or a company. I wish you luck on your choice. And, please post back to here as to what you chose, why and then your experiences. I prefer the OSS way in most cases as I can make modifications where I (my client) need them. But some applications I farm out to a company as the requirements are outside of my experience.

InnerWeb

think again:

How Microsoft conquered China, Sanity check: How Microsoft beat Linux in China and what it means for freedom, justice, and the price of software

Maybe it's just me, but when I RTFA (yes, I know... how unusual) it seemed rather ironic to me to see this is what Chris Beard looks like. :)

I've discussed such a route with a health center I consult to. We're considering replacing most of the Windows machines with a system based on the Linux terminal server project, so that all machines share a common OS image. In Linux, it's possible to disable USB mass storage support in the kernel. You could also accomplish the same thing without using LTSP by rolling out a common image to all workstations with USB storage disabled.

I also came across this rather simple, yet elegant solution for Windows users:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6247-0.html?forumID=12&threadID=116436&messageID=701146

Actually, a joint study by Harvard and University of North Carolina (CNET news story here, pdf link to original study available from the article) suggests that filesharing has almost zero effect on CD sales. Admittedly it is a few of years old now (March 2004) and is by no means exhaustive; however, the conclusions are still relevant and suggest that there are greater influences on music sales than piracy (despite what the RIAA would like us to believe).

Maybe it has something to do with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?

If you look at the section E-mail communication retention policy and storage in an article on it at TechRepublic, it seems that SOx dictates that email needs to be retained indefinitely.

You have to either be kidding or you're on Steve Jobs fairy dust. IT organizations absolutely cannot adopt a device for their company that requires applications to be installed exclusively through third-party servers (iTMS) that they have absolutely no control over. There is NO WAY to retain a quality of infrastructure integration within a company without the ability for IT organizations to test and control the release of these applications prior to rollout.

Brief article about NolaPro http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/righttool/?p=129&tag=nl.e138 Website: http://nolapro.com/ http://nolapro.com/index.php DEMO of Online hosted version: https://demo.nolapro.com/ 33 Screenshots: http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-185265.html The article focuses on it's point of sale capabilities, but it is capable of doing the entire gamut including Order Management, Accounts Receivable, Inventory Tracking, Accounts Payable, Payroll Services, General Ledger, Administration, Shopping Cart, Business-to-Business, Video Help Library and more.

Brief article about NolaPro http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/righttool/?p=129&tag=nl.e138 Website: http://nolapro.com/ http://nolapro.com/index.php DEMO of Online hosted version: https://demo.nolapro.com/ 33 Screenshots: http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-185265.html The article focuses on it's point of sale capabilities, but it is capable of doing the entire gamut including Order Management, Accounts Receivable, Inventory Tracking, Accounts Payable, Payroll Services, General Ledger, Administration, Shopping Cart, Business-to-Business, Video Help Library and more.

How secure is EV-DO?
Over the years, wireless security has garnered an extremely bad rap--and rightfully so. As the technology developed, a good amount of vulnerabilities and security flaws surfaced.

802.11b, one of the first Wi-Fi standards to become popular almost six years ago, used the wired equivalent privacy (WEP) protocol. But war drivers and other intruders have been able to hack into wireless LANs--not only because of the flaws in WEP, but also because of the poor implementation of authentication and key management that are inherent in the 802.11 standard. (It doesn't help that vendors usually ship WLAN hardware with WEP disabled to make deployment easier.)

But EV-DO doesn't use WEP. Instead, encrypted CDMA transmissions use a 42-bit pseudo-noise (PN) sequence called a long code. The long code scrambles transmissions through the standardized Cellular Authentication and Voice Encryption (CAVE) algorithm to generate a 128-bit subkey called Shared Secret Data (SSD).

This key then feeds into an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm to encrypt the transmissions. AES is a symmetric encryption algorithm used by governments to protect sensitive information. If governments use AES to encrypt their data, it should be good enough to protect your data as well.

I can't believe that this beat out CIGS. 10-13% efficient in mass production (2/3rds that of silicon cells), but only $0.50-$1.50/W (cheaper than coal power even in Alaska), with almost no solar degradation or even radiation degradation (a big deal for satellites). And very lightweight at the same time. There are about two dozen companies working on different mass production methods, so them making it to market is pretty much a certainty. Nanosolar is already selling to Germany for $0.90/W, and reportedly makes its cells for $0.30/W. How could this not be a top 10 emerging tech?

A few others, among many:

  * Long-lifespan, passively safe lithium-ion batteries hitting the market
  * Vastly more energy dense energy storage techs in the lab
  * The resurgence of the electric car (for example, the $27k highway-speed Aptera).
  * Rocket launch costs for less than half what even the Russians, Chinese, and Indians are selling via SpaceX

I think you'll find that you did give it permission.

You should probably familiarize yourself with this dialog box before spouting nonsense again.

The rise of virtualization proves the validity of the microkernel concept, whereby the hypervisor now takes the place of the original "kernel" (note the similarity in block diagrams: microkernel vs. hypervisor designs). Virtual machines are now used instead of function-specific modules in the original microkernel designs, with specialized VMs for performing I/O and to host virtual appliances with just enough user-level code needed to support a particular application.

They need to get burners to market in mass quantity as well as offer those licenses for free or very very small royalties.

Like pennies per unit. Plus they need to get the consumer on their side. The more hd-dvd players out there the more the industry has to listen. Unfortunately with the economy tanking this is hard. Right now I personally would put money making on the back burner and just look to break even. Make hd-dvd discs cheaper to buy then a normal dvd and make the players cheaper. At that point this whole thing can turn around , with consumer demand the studios have to listen. If smaller studios stick to the format then there really can be a price market , smaller studios usually make lower cost films and don't need to recoup so much back.

The reason I say they need burners in high volume asap, is that whether they like it or not piracy is often times a real boost to sales. It's been proven that it helps.( http://www.stargeek.com/item/41324.html ) ( http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=243454 )

The american and canadian dbs providers , even cable can thank piracy for large subscriber growth. They really should get those burners out in high volumes fast.

http://netscape.com.com/Police+blotter+Teens+prosecuted+for+racy+photos/2100-1030_3-6157857.html

Forgive me, but I didn't want to google child porn at work.

You mean like mysqli_stmt_prepare ?
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.mysqli-stmt-prepare.php

Looks pretty much like PERL's version
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-3513_11-6139247.html