Slashdot Mirror
Domain: dot.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to dot.com.
Stories · 7
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Behind the Scenes of The Simpsons
Tim writes "The Seattle Times is running a short article about the production process behind 'The Simpsons.' Nothing too elaborate, but there are some interesting pieces of information scattered throughout the piece, including a few jokes from a future episode." From the article: "Invitations to the table read are considered among the hottest tickets in Hollywood, and each visitor has an assigned seat. Celebrities, usually with children in tow, are a fixture. It takes about 40 minutes to run through an episode that will run 22 minutes and 30 seconds (plus commercials) when it airs next season. After the session, there is applause and stretching. Groening and most cast members linger to chat, autograph the scripts and pose for snapshots." -
HP Secretly Rendering Printer Cartridges Unusable?
Momoru writes "Looks like a woman is suing Hewlett Packard, claiming that their "smart chip" technology, besides giving information about ink usage, is also secretly programmed to not work after a certain certain date." From the article: "HP ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change. But the suit claims those chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty." We've reported recently on printer companies making questionable business decisions. -
Software Dev - Why Rebuild When We Can Retool?
basic70 asks: "There seems to be a strong preference for developing new systems all the time, instead of just refactoring and improving existing ones. Why is that? Modifications such as moving to a new operating system, modifying the business logic, adding a web interface, moving to Unicode etc, shouldn't affect more than perhaps 10-20% (to grab figures at random) of a decently built software system. I can think of two reasons myself. The first is that consulting firms make more money developing new systems, and the second that existing systems are so badly layered and modularized that any larger improvements are impossible. The second reason is scary, because that means that the modern way of building things with short lifespans is starting to make its way into the software business as well. I saw a system written in 1995 that couldn't handle the new millenium. Can't we do any better than that? The GNU suite says we can, so why is it so hard with commercial software?" -
Technical Limitations to Wearable Eyeglass Monitors?
fprintf asks: "What is the technical limitation that is holding up wearable eyeglass monitors? It would seem to me that we have had miniature color viewfinders on Camcorders for quite some time, and with LCDs getting ever cheaper, what am I missing? I know there is quite a bit of interest in head and finger mounted pointing devices, but to me getting rid of that big monitor and strapping on a headset w/ the possible 3D implications would be wonderful. How about a GUI on an OS that supports Width and Height, but also depth?" It would be interesting to know how far wearable display technology has progressed in the past couple of years. Replacing the traditional goggles with (something closer to) a pair of eyeglasses will be a pleasant milestone for those Wearable Computing community. -
ST:TMP Fixer Upper
herdingcats writes "so, bigtime director Robert Wise is exorcising his demons of disappointment in the original version (cost: $45 million; revenue: $160 million, eventually) by cutting, splicing, evolving, and devolving the original production....which he felt lacked humanity, mostly because the studio rushed it to holiday theaters on the heals of "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters" successes." Its apparently going to be a video release (well, DVD for me) that tries to remain true to the original storyboards, not Lucas Style "I meant to do that- greedo really fired first" sorta lame changes. Oh, and a CG enterprise. -
Slashback: Dyn-O-Mite!, Paper, Sploits
Here is your regular irregular dose of Slashdot story updates and obsessive compulsion -- some of it sad, some amusing, some utterly neutral and of no caloric value. For instance: You can win more than 50 of Roblimo's personal dollars if you work really hard, and wait a really long time."Kilby ... Kilby .. Kilby ..." [WHACK!] BMagneton writes: "The Nobel Prize for Physics was just awarded to several electronics pioneers, notably Alferov and Kroemer, who invented a bunch of semiconductor device construction methods, and Jack Kilby, who pretty much invented the microchip. The Nobel seems to have gone to a more practical/applied achievement than it usually does." And sconeu writes: "Wired News reports that Jack Kilby have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his part in the invention of the IC. The prize was split with Herbert Kroemer of UC Santa Barbara and Zhores Alferov of Russia who worked on semiconductor development as well."
And as "Boo," acclaimed international film star Keanu Reeves! Godzookie2k writes: "I was bored out of my mind the other night, and stumbled to boo.com's old site to see what would pop up. Mouth agape, I read: 'Boo.com returns, October 30, 2000.' yippie, you can download the official "boo" screensaver and enter some contest. See for yourself."
Some things are worth bringing back (Old Coke, bermuda shorts), and others may not be. Frankly, I'd never heard of Boo except maybe vaguely in the background until they went bust, time number one. On the other hand, our friend Pee-Wee was pretty funny in Mystery Men, so maybe anything is possible.
A browser for your naked (P)PC; combine with image filtering, stir. Mozilla keeps getting better -- I'm not afraid to show it to anyone right now, for instance -- but it's not exactly lightweight. Anyone who's been following the progress of Galeon may be interested when Markos writes: "Tired of waiting for a lightweight browser, that supports https, frames and all the other good stuff? BrowseX may be what your looking for. 'BrowseX is an Open Source, cross-platform Web Browser written primarily in Tcl.' You can check out the screenshots, features, and download." Or, for those of the Motorola persuasion, you'll be happy to hear that, as sephus writes "Opera for Linux PPC is now available at http://opera.online.no/linux/tgz/ - by popular request from Slashdot readers :) Opera"
Remember, retailers, you better not install these on computer that you know full well are going to be loaded with a god-fearin' American OS-thingie, like Innernet 'Splorer!
"OK, Mr. Gates, Meet Mr. Ponzi. Howdya do?" robl writes "There was a suprisingly under-ranked comment in the Microsoft story yesterday [about Microsoft and Taxes], pointing to the Fool's take on Microsoft's tax situation. It does a great job of clarifying the sfgate article yesterday. You see, Microsoft exercises it's stock options by printing more stock certificates. So they really only lose the cost of the paper and toner to print the stock, and they gain the money from the employees who exercise the options."
In fairness, this is approximately the same system used to fill the hypothetical coffers of the Social Security administration, but MS probably doesn't pay $534.55 for each toner cartridge ;)
My god! And they claim to be secure!? sporri writes: "The OpenBSD homepage has been updated (or downgraded) and now announces "Three years without a remote hole in the default install!" after a root hole was discovered and exploted in a library used by chpass. The sad thing it was fixed in the "current" source tree in June.UpsideToday has an interview with Aaron Campbell." If that's the worst you can say about an OS's security, it's a pretty strong endorsement for it being exemplary in that regard. OpenBSD and Debian get my vote for Most Serious Projects. Comments on the strongest security for (any particular) default Linux distro? Makes me think about Bastille Linux ...
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Honda unveils Fuel Cell powered car
fprintf writes "According to an article at cars.com Honda has unveiled a fuel cell powered car to the world press. The article is not very in depth about the technology, but exudes the possibilities. There are comments about the engineers working on the safety of hydrogen storage. Most interestingly, they say that 2003 or 2004 are the target dates for commercial availability. Cool!"
