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User: nategoose

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  1. chicken on Universal Power Adapter Struggling For Support · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The few companies that produce and sell devices that have standard USB ports, customers will jump all over that, and the other companies will have to change their products to use USB to become competitive. Either that or the consumer electronics industry is being noncompetitive and the US Department of Justice needs to lay the smack down on them.

  2. Ma Ma Ma Max on CMU Video Conference System Gets 3D From Cheap Webcams · · Score: 1

    The floating square of background with a floating talking bust reminds me of Max Headroom.

  3. Re:They did the same thing on Lexx on Red Dwarf To Return, Find Earth · · Score: 2, Informative

    I enjoyed the on Earth Lexx episodes, but unless the Red Dwarf crew went back in time (or they adopt the circular time line from the Lexx universes) your argument is not relevant. The Red Dwarf is supposed to have left our solar system in our future and by the time they get back elaborate sets and props should be needed.

  4. Re:What Benefit Does C Have Over Assembly? on CoreBoot (LinuxBIOS) Can Boot Windows 7 Beta · · Score: 1

    As an embedded programmer who does mixed C and assembly programming the most difficult part of assembly is keeping track of more than a very few variables, so register allocation alone is enough to warrant using a compiler.
    That being said, compilers sometimes do terribly stupid things.

  5. Re:Say what? on Seagate Hard Drive Fiasco Grows · · Score: 1

    The data is secured.

  6. Re:Litigation is expensive on Firm Seeks To Ban Mobile Companies' Imports To US · · Score: 1

    If you required patent owners to make actual products it would actually hurt the little fellow since he's got to either spend lots of money to build the darn thing and try to sell it or lose the patent. Making the darn thing and trying to sell it is expensive. Selling or licensing the patent is much more do-able. Also, a lot of patents make use of other patents, so if XYZ Inc. holds the patent for a certain type of levitation device and you figure out how to make it operate 100x more efficiently and patent that, go to XYZ Inc. and say "hey! Look what I got! You wanna license it?" they say "Oh, but you're not making a product with it so we'll file a complaint with the USPTO, wait a week, and use the idea to make our levitron better anyway! hahahaha!"

  7. Re:But... on Wireless Internet Access Uses Visible Light, Not Radio Waves · · Score: 1

    Not anymore. The US Supreme Court overturned that last year.

  8. Re:Not Surprising on IBM Wins Most Patents In a Single Year For 2008 · · Score: 1

    I hold a patent on the process of increasing performance review ratings via filing for patents.

  9. Re:amazing on Ubuntu Download Speeds Beat Windows XP's · · Score: 1

    I've experienced enough differences between the same release of Firefox between Windows and Linux to more than account for this.

  10. refund or cancellation of order on Tricked Into Buying OpenOffice.org? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Most likely there's some way to cancel the order on the basis of faulty or incompatible produce -- "Y'all's version of Open Office don't work on my computer! I want my money back!" type deal.
    Look into that, remove their version of it, and get the official one or even different software.

  11. Re:Another "Me Too". Thank you for this feeling... on Treating ADHD With Games · · Score: 1

    I was diagnosed when I was 6 and took Ritalin on and off throughout school. It was so funny when I went from never ever finishing anything on time to being done with my work faster than my classmates thought was possible. I was able to work circles around them.
    Slashdot and the rest of the Internet are terribly distracting for someone with A(H)DD.

  12. Re:Interesting! on IBM Creates MRI With 100M Times the Resolution · · Score: 1

    Since IBM is already working on simulating a cat brain it's very likely.

  13. Re:Just get them a WoW account on Treating ADHD With Games · · Score: 1

    Ditti, except I'm not usually medicated anymore.
    If I've been working on or thinking about a particularly interesting problem I can't even sleep until I am totally exhausted. This once forced me to give up chess (which I suck at anyway) so that I could eventually think about other stuff.
    In programming I often lose interest in what I'm working on once I've solved the problem though there's still bugs in my implementation. Bugs are less interesting than a new algorithm.

  14. explain.pl program.pl on Call For Grant Proposals In Perl Development · · Score: 1

    What's needed is a perl script that reads other perl scripts and explains them to other programmers.

  15. Re:No physics background here on Scientists Solve Century-Old Optics Mystery · · Score: 4, Informative

    No. Those work because the black side of the squares absorbs light which produces heat which makes air touching it heat up which causes that air to expand which creates a pressure difference between that side and the other side of the card which causes the thing to spin.
    The actual force produced is minuscule.

  16. Re:Well. on Google Researchers Warn of Automated Social Info Sharing · · Score: 1

    Lori Drew was convicted of computer fraud for using a false persona on MySpace, which she used to torment Megan Meier leading to Megan's suicide.
    While I doubt your motives are as sinister, how far is that from what she was actually convicted of?

  17. Re:Not a great 2.0 on Google Releases Chrome 2.0 Pre-Beta · · Score: 1

    They are calling it 2.0 because they are trying to catch up to the version numbers of the other browsers.

  18. Player computer keyboard on Player Piano Roll Production Ceases · · Score: 1

    This is too bad. I was hoping to construct a player computer keyboard to cut down on the repetitive and often difficult typing that I'm required to do for work :-(

  19. Re:I'd rather seen they moved to Subversion on Perl Migrates To the Git Version Control System · · Score: 1

    Centralization can be considered the heart of release management, but not source code management.
    Project lead gets to say what is a release. That release is from his own repository, and he decides what other changes from other repositories are in it.
    It's a really easy way for someone play around with the project without bothering the project leadership with the changes unless they decide to share it.
    When it is shared it's easy enough to ignore those changes or accept them.

  20. Re:They got a refund on Overzealous AirTran Boots 9 Passengers Off · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The family was Middle Eastern, not black. Gah, does anyone actually read the articles?

  21. Re:wishful thinking on Volvo Introduces a Collision-Proof Car · · Score: 1

    I once realized that some people riding in my back seat weren't wearing their seat belts when I went over a steep hill faster than most people would (still within the speed limit, though). I heard people say "Ouch!", looked in the mirror, and saw them rubbing the tops of their heads.
    Where your seat belts or I'll sling you 'round my car!

  22. Re:And they both stole from Apple and Nintendo? on How Sony's Development of the Cell Processor Benefited Microsoft · · Score: 1

    I thought that Apple would end up using Cell processors.

  23. Re:I don't get it on Crackpot Scandal In Mathematics · · Score: 1

    The low quality of his papers was obvious to me, and I only have a minor in Math. Even though I never read any until just now so I was looking for crack pottedness, I actually wondered if El Nachie may have incurred a brain injury or something. The presentation is pretty poor by academic standards.

  24. Re:Best books? on Your Favorite Tech / Eng. / CS Books? · · Score: 1

    Libraries can get the biggest bang for their $ by trying to get books that won't be obsolete in a year. Books on hot new technology are likely to be nearly worthless in a year or two. Books on fundamentals and theory last a lot longer. If you do want obsolete books (for archival purposes) ask for them to be donated or work out a deal with your local Salvation Army and pick through their donations.

  25. Maybe this time ... on Repair Crews Reach Vicinity of Damaged Cables In Mediterranean · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ... they will find Gilligan's Island and rescue the castaways.