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User: Painted

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  1. Re:Does it matter? on Apple Implements the CalDAV Standard For MobileMe · · Score: 1

    One of the worst? Sure. I'd say "PowerTalk" was probably the worst name Apple ever trotted out- they used to have Power* and *Talk lines of products, so someone decided that they should be combined!

  2. Re:The 20th Century? on The Secrets of the Chaocipher Finally Revealed · · Score: 1

    My pet peeve is that since some Monk decided on the calendar centuries ago didn't know about 0 decided the system we use today, and get people constantly correcting us when we say that the 1990's ended in 1999, not 2000. Or the Millennium, which really brought calendar nerds out of the woodwork saying how it's not the 21st century due to 2000 being in the 20th.

    It was a mistake made in ignorance, and I wish we could all agree on correcting it.

  3. Re:When I grow up on Special Master Appointed In Jammie Thomas Case · · Score: 1

    Personally, I've always wanted to be convicted of "Contempt of Congress"- there's a conviction I'd put on my resume.

  4. Re:Death, not just for infidels anymore... on FTC Bombs Massive Robocall Operation · · Score: 1

    They should simply offer bounties; any employee of a company like the one you describe gets, I dunno, 50% of any settlement against the company. So if they've been doing 10,000 robocalls, at $16k/per call, that's $160 million. I'd turn in my boss for $80 mil...

    Of course, this leads to the "RIAA vs. Limewire" problem, in that no telemarketer is ever going to cough up the full amount, so I'd make it 50% of the recovered fine, or $5/per call (payable by the govt' coffers), whichever is greater...

  5. Re:Odd choice on Amazon Kindle Fails First College Test · · Score: 1

    You picked a quote that is probably the most telling out in the article; Textbooks and reference materials are not read in a linear way. Where I work we publish reference books as well as more traditional books, and testing the reference books on a Kindle or any other eInk based unit is an agonizing exercise in "Next PageNext PageNext Page...." for minutes on end.

    The eInk units are decent for reading stories or anything that doesn't require a bunch of navigation, but for stuff that does...

  6. Re:Proves nothing on Scientist Infects Self With Computer Virus · · Score: 1

    Funny, on reading this my first thought was that it was equivalent to placing a virus on a USB key drive and sticking it up your butt. We can all play this game! If you got one with a USB extension cable, and ran it out your fly, you could **GASP** even become infected while it was in you! The horror! Something must be done!

    Stupid "science" is still stupid.

  7. Re:Speed=Good, but How About Distance? on 7Gbps Wi-Fi Networking Kit Could Launch In 2010 · · Score: 1

    I helped deploy a system like that and we had a similar issue once winter rolled around- turned out we mounted one of the units on the far side of the cooling tower. Once the temps got low enough that the condensation started billowing up... yeah.

    For us, it turned out to be an easy fix, we simply moved the laser to the near side of the tower. But your point is valid, they are tricky beasts. Can't have the kids throwing rocks at the thing in a consumer environment...

  8. Re:Still out of date on Treasury Goes High-Tech With Redesigned $100 Bills · · Score: 1

    How odd, I was just thinking how boring and drab the new American currency looks- still a 19th century design, with a blue "oops, the rubber stamp missed" mark on the front and a giant bling-bling 100 in GOLD on the back. I'll take any* Canadian design in the last 30 years over the American stuff. I think in general, it's mostly been quite pretty, and definitely a whole lot easier to quickly zip through your bills and have a good idea at how much you have in your wallet- no peering in to inspect each bill's corner to read the denomination- a flash of red and you know* you have a $50.

    Not to mention that Canada has been far, far more aggressive in updating our currency than the US- we redesigned our currency in 1954, 1969, 1986-92, 2001-04, and will be doing so again starting in 2011 (not to mention the Loonie and Toonie). Many of the security "innovations" being incorporated in the US in this redesign were incorporated in the 1986 series in Canada...

  9. Re:I wonder what the DOJ will have to say... on Apple To Buy ARM? · · Score: 1

    It's illegal, so saying it will happen is fear mongering. As in, it would be illegal for Apple to do what the summary says, so therefore, the summary is creating FUD.

  10. Re:Either this is wrong, or it's wrong. on History Repeats Itself — Mac & the iPad · · Score: 1

    Do you know who Tog is?

  11. Re:Gushing, ignoring the important issues on Review of Adobe Creative Suite 5 · · Score: 1

    Yeah I agree- the article is basically a "Adobe bundles their apps like this; which bundle is for you?" Hardly a review.

  12. Re:Why? on GM Unveils Networked Electric Mini Cars · · Score: 1

    Absolutely true, but the same impact in a left-to-right reversal would probably have killed you as well (driver's door halfway through the driver's seat). If your number's up, it's up, car or no.

    That said, the threshold for deadly is admittedly much lower on a motorcycle. My unavoidable bike accident was a night ride when a deer literally leapt in front of me from the bushes at highway speeds, in a manner that was seemingly intended to collide with me with the least possible warning... Walked away from the collision too.

  13. Re:I dont know what is an 'oops' situation if this on Google Slams Viacom For Secret YouTube Uploads · · Score: 1

    Except the US site is far, far, far better. The Official site has every episode, ever, if I understand correctly. In Canada, they host back 1 year only... I found out that in 1998 the Daily Show had a guest on that I'd love to see, but due to geography and esoteric MPAA restrictions, I can't see it.

  14. Re:Well, Yes on The Movie Studios' Big 3D Scam · · Score: 1

    You are the first person I've heard anywhere say that Hurt Locker wasn't all that great- I completely agree. I found the characters unbelievable, the situations reasonably contrived, and the ending inexplicable. Best Film of the Year? Wow, it must have been a very bad year for movies...

    Either that or the Academy gives out awards on criteria other than those stated- it was Gail Anne Hurd's "turn to win"...

  15. Re:Well, Yes on The Movie Studios' Big 3D Scam · · Score: 1

    Fair enough; I don't think I can remember the last time I went to a theatre and bought any of the food or drinks. I can arrive 10 minutes late and get to choose from 5 available seats. I can then watch a dirty, hair encrusted print of a film while those around me check their cell phones, kick the back of my chair, and prove they're literate (they're so proud) by reading any on-screen text out loud. For $14 per person.

    On the other hand, I can wait a few months, pay $18 for the DVD, watch it on my home theatre, have a beer and my cat on my lap, pause the damn thing to answer the phone or go to the bathroom, and generally not deal with parking, crowds, or lineups. For $4 more. And I get to keep the DVD.

    For me, that's a no-brainer.

  16. Re:Another Reason to wait on Color E-Book Displays Coming From E Ink Next Year · · Score: 1

    I know from your post you've considered this, but how is the iPad not what you're describing?

    Are you referring to general purpose computing, mouse and all?

  17. Re:Still not convinced about e-ink on Color E-Book Displays Coming From E Ink Next Year · · Score: 1

    I have, I've used both quite a bit, and I'll take LCD and all it can do hands down over eInk. It's basically a general purpose screen that can* be used, quite successfully, as a text reader in virtually any environment except direct sunlight versus a single purpose screen that works ok in most light but does excel in direct sunlight.

    Hence, for me, an iPad with LCD is 30x the machine a Kindle is, since the iPad can do many, many things in almost any environment and the Kindle can really, do just one- and it works poorly in low light. I will admit that I am far more likely to want to read in an environment where there's not enough light than one with too much...

  18. Re:Oh My God, THE Roland Emmerich?! on Emmerich Plans Foundation As a 3D Epic · · Score: 1

    What? Dr. Who (Original Series) lasted 28 seasons, the new series is entering it's 5th. Stargate had a 10 season run, and it's spinoffs/sequels had 5, 1, and 1 season. So being exceedingly lenient towards calling 4 series a single entity, you're talking about 17 seasons. By that same logic, you could add Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adfentures to Dr. Who, which would bring it's total to 39 seasons.

  19. Re:Sad, inconvenient truth on Appeals Court Rules On Internet Obscenity Standards · · Score: 1

    Hell, the US insisted on the extradition of Marc Emery from Canada for the heinous crime of selling pot seeds to US customers. In Canada, no-one has ever spent even 1 day in jail for selling seeds, but in the US he's looking at life imprisonment for the crime. He's the only person to ever be extradited from Canada for anything approaching this crime.

    So this kind of BS is not limited to the US, but is also an example of how the US thinks it's laws should apply to the entire world...

  20. Re:What is the point? on Apple's "iPad" Out In the Open · · Score: 1

    I disagree completely; after reading for ages about how eInk is the second coming of display technologies and is the answer to all things for all people, I expected it to be a very impressive technology.

    Then we got a Sony PRS-505 here at work- it's ok, kinda blurry and washed out. It does* look fantastic under direct, from behind you sunlight, but in an office environment with flouros, it was distinctly 'meh.' After installing Stanza on my iPhone, and I have to say I found reading on it, apart from the small screen, to be as good if not superior to the Sony Reader.

    I dunno- your milage may vary, but I'm pretty tired of hearing "LCD is garbage compared to eInk for reading!" It's not, it's really not bad, and eInk isn't actually all that.

  21. Re:More than one Buran out there... on Lacking Buyers, NASA Cuts Prices On Shuttles and Old Engines · · Score: 1

    Mass was one of the major reasons Enterprise was never upgraded- both it and Columbia were first, then they used the lessens learned by building those two to update the design of subsequent shuttles. If you look at the vehicle masses of the shuttles you'll see that Columbia is about a ton heavier than the other shuttles, and you cart that mass to orbit every time. (I looked for a citation on that "ton" but can't find one quickly, sorry. Hope my memory is accurate.) Enterprise would also have been similarly overweight, so it was better to build a new shuttle (Endeavour) than to upgrade Enterprise...

  22. Re:Buran flight test article at Technikmuseum Spey on Lacking Buyers, NASA Cuts Prices On Shuttles and Old Engines · · Score: 1

    OMG mene is Anonymous Coward! Look- the exact same post, one AC, one mene- methinks someone slipped up and now we KNOW who AC is!

    I know I'm going to sleep easier tonight knowing this.

  23. Re:Varley's "Titan" series on What SciFi Should Get the Reboot Treatment Next? · · Score: 1

    That's a very good point- I hadn't thought of it. A series set in Gaia, start with a movie for the climb to the top, and then a series with the Wizard & Sidekick Gabby, exploring the world- You wouldn't even really need to get to the events in Wizard or Demon for a long, long time...

  24. Re:PDF? on Kurzweil Takes On Kindle With "Blio" E-Reader · · Score: 1

    All I can say is that ePub is awful for anything you don't* want to reflow, such as tables, charts, anything with more than a simple inline image, etc.

    I work for a publisher, and we have about 400 titles that we're looking at converting to some sort of electronic book. Only 50% of our catalog is really reproducible in anything readable when converted to ePub (ie, things that are mostly text, novels, short stories and the like). The rest becomes an garbled mess when we try to convert to ePub.

    I find it odd that so many people on /. seem to think ePub is the be-all end-all of electronic publishing; I know I would much, much rather have a screen the size of a book, displaying text and images as if they were in a book, instead of a microscopic cell-phone screen sized paragraph or two at a time. There's a reason most books are not 1.5" x 3" (which is a generous cell phone screen).

  25. Re:Boom. on "Home Batteries" Power Houses For a Week · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Ah, another day, another /. user yelling at jcr for signing his posts, as he has always done.