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User: Pontiac

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  1. Made in the USA. Another tool in the patent wars?? on Google On-shores Manufacturing of the Nexus Q · · Score: 1

    I have to wonder if there is another motive to bringing manufacturing back on shore.. It's easy for a judge to decide to block a few shipments of phones from china because of a patent dispute. It's going to be a tougher decision to lay down a patent ruling that may shut down a factory putting US workers on unemployment.

  2. Start with books made for kids on Ask Slashdot: Best Science-Fiction/Fantasy For Kids? · · Score: 2

    Rather than trying to get the kids reading the adult shorts and novels try the books they wrote for kids
    Asimov has the Luckey Starr series. This was probably the first Sci-fi book I remember my dad reading to me.

            David Starr, Space Ranger (1952)
            Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids (1953)
            Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus (1954)
            Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury (1956)
            Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter (1957)
            Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn (1958)

    From Heinlein

            Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
            Space Cadet, 1948
            Red Planet, 1949
            Between Planets, 1951
            The Rolling Stones aka Space Family Stone, 1952
            Farmer in the Sky, 1953
            Starman Jones, 1953
            The Star Beast, 1954
            Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
            Time for the Stars, 1956
            Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
            Have Space Suit—Will Travel, 1958

  3. Cord cutting is a myth?? on Hollywood Agent Ari Emanuel Wants a Magic 'Stop Piracy' Button · · Score: 1

    Yeah whatever.. I was a Dish subscriber for 13 years.. Last year we turned it all off, bumped up our netflix subscription to get everyone in the house streaming at once and got a unlimited blockbuster store pass. It works for us.. If I want local news I get it OTA and thanks to digital broadcasting it looks better than on cable or dish.

    You know what else I have now? Free time.. I'm no longer sucked into watching endless crap reality shows..

  4. Desktopr support will still be alive and kicking on IT Desktop Support To Be Wiped Out Thanks To Cloud Computing · · Score: 1

    Take it from someone who is currently working on a cloud environment..

    At the end of the line you still have a user causing you issues.
    Keyboards, mice and thin clients will still have issues.
    VDI's still have printers to deal with and all the related driver problems.

    Executives will still want a fancy laptop to show off to their buddies that needs TLC.
    Power users will still declare they need a desktop to do their job.

    "The cloud" isn't some magical happy place where IT support isn't needed..
    Its just a virtual server infrastructure that may be located somewhere else.
    Someone still has to install,monitor, patch, upgrade and support those virtual servers and related apps.
    Under all there is a physical server and network infrastructure that needs upgrades and maintenance.

    All the same support tasks need to be done.. You just moved them to another office and paid them to do it for you.

    What scares me is I hear managers talk of a bring your own device to work system where the user brings the hardware and runs web apps or a VDI session from it. Talk about a desktop support nightmare..

  5. Re:Photographic prints! on Ask Slashdot: Best Option For Printing Digital Photos? · · Score: 1

    I agree.. Costco..
    http://www.costcophotocenter.com
    Upload from home
    4x6 for 13 cents
    8x10 for $1.50
    20x30 for $9

  6. Re:Hmm , batteries provide 600hp ? Really? on Electric Airplane Ready For Production · · Score: 2

    I think the 600hp was a mistake..
    http://www.voltavolare.com/specifications
    The Volta web site shows the motor as 300hp..
    The backup gas generator is 180hp

  7. Buy a 42U surplus rack on Ask Slashdot: Building A Server Rack Into a New Home? · · Score: 1

    Find a surplus sale and buy a used 42U rack.

    Home run all the Cat 6 into the rack (you are having all the phones wired with Cat 6 right?) and add a patch pannel
    Also have all the house cable home run into the rack plus a couple runs of fiber from the telco service entrance just to be future proof.
    Feed the rack a dedicated 220v circuit with an in rack PDU.

    If possible have a 2-3" conduit run from the entertainment center to the rack for media PC use so you can run HDMI or whatever comes next without opening up walls.

  8. This is New? on AC and DC Battle For Data Center Efficiency Crown · · Score: 2

    In 2005 we started looking at blade chassis and tested a rack of HP BL series blades.

    That system came with a 48v DC power enclosure with 6 hot swap power supplies. It sat in the bottom of the rack and had a buss bar system to feed every chassis in the rack.

    As others have stated.. 48v is a long standing standard for telecom power.

  9. Re:Online Dating didn't work out for me on Study: Online Dating Makes People "Picky" and "Unrealistic" · · Score: 1

    Poor dude had his hands full chasing down all her boyfriends.
    I heard from her a year later.. She'd gotten a divorce,got married again and had a baby on the way.

    She married her BOSS! lol..

  10. Online Dating didn't work out for me on Study: Online Dating Makes People "Picky" and "Unrealistic" · · Score: 1

    I tried online dating.

    I met and dated a beautiful intelligent girl.
    A few months into the relationship I met her very angry husband.

  11. Re:Good, Because Certs Are Worthless on The IT Certs That No Longer Pay Extra · · Score: 2

    That could be because of the adaptive tests they started using at the time..
    If you missed a question on a specific topic it would come back with more questions on that subject.

    I knew a few people who would intentionally blow a question on a well known subject to get the test to focus on that topic.

    Another point is everyone got a slightly different question set. I remember friends advising me to study certain topics they got lots of questions one but I saw none of them on my tests.

    The only MS test I was ever proud to pass and got some respect for was the 70-240 Windows 2000 upgrade. The one you could only take once.
    The lady at the test center said she'd never seen anyone pass it before.. I guess lots of people never bothered to study because it was free to they just tried to wing it.

  12. Re:I'm not really understanding... on Mechanic's Mistake Trashes $244 Million Aircraft · · Score: 1

    And so is much of the current KC-135 fleet, they were commercial 707's bought during the 80's and converted.

    No The C-135/ KC-135/ NC-135 (plus a few other variants) is not a converted 707.. It's it's own model.
      Boeing stopped building the 135 series after 1965 the military just keeps refitting them.

    Like its sibling, the commercial Boeing 707 jet airliner, the KC-135 was derived from the Boeing 367-80 jet transport "proof of concept" demonstrator, which was commonly called the "Dash-80". As such the KC-135 is similar in appearance to the 707, but has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. The KC-135 predates the 707, and is structurally quite different from the civilian airliner. Boeing gave the future KC-135 tanker the initial designation Model 717.

    Some KC-135's were refitted with used 707 engines in the 80's (known as the KC-135E)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-135_Stratotanker

  13. Re:I'm not really understanding... on Mechanic's Mistake Trashes $244 Million Aircraft · · Score: 1

    It's not a KC-135.. The Air force wouldn't give any up to convert so they bought used 707-300s to build the EC-8 fleet..

    This one (number 93-0597) was built in December 1966 and delivered to Quantas in March of 1967 http://www.707.adastron.com/qantas/VH-EBU.htm

  14. Re:Shit Happens on Mechanic's Mistake Trashes $244 Million Aircraft · · Score: 1

    It was built in 1966
    Details on it's service life here
    http://www.707.adastron.com/qantas/VH-EBU.htm

  15. Re:Shit Happens on Mechanic's Mistake Trashes $244 Million Aircraft · · Score: 1

    What I don't get is, if you say there's 25M of damage, isn't that supposed to mean it would cost 25M to repair? If you have an estimate for the repair, that means you can repair it; so why is it written off, instead?

    Well for several reasons..

    1.. The EC-8 fleet was built using USED commercial Boeing 707's This one was built in 1966. See the Service History
    2. The airframe may be close to the end of it's service life. The fleet was only designed to operate until 2025..
    The cost to repair my well exceed the return on investment over the next 10 years vs it's value as a source of spare parts.
    They have 17 more to continue operations with so that may also be a factor in their decision.

    http://defensetech.org/2012/01/27/a-basic-mistake-that-trashed-a-jstars/

  16. Re:The song is 30 years old on Eye of Tiger Composer Sues Gingrich To Stop Campaign From Using Song · · Score: 1

    By any sane measure, it's been long in public domain.

    With the current state of copyright law it going to be awhile.

    The song was released in 1982. If both authors were to die today it wouldn't enter public domain until 2082. Otherwise you will have to wait until 2102.

  17. Re:Tolkien's prose / What about Frank Herbert? on JRR Tolkien Denied Nobel Due To Low Quality Prose · · Score: 2

    Dune.. If you survive the first 150 pages you just might find an entertaining book..

  18. Re:The secret to reading LOTR... on JRR Tolkien Denied Nobel Due To Low Quality Prose · · Score: 2

    I've read the series 5 or 6 times.. One time through I chose to only read the chapters with Hobbits in them.. It's a bit more entertaining that way but it leaves vast holes in the story line.. Much like the movies. I only bothered to read the songs one time.. That was enough for me..

    Try reading The Similarion.. It makes the rings series seem like light reading..

  19. Re:Low cost Option LePan TC970 on Ask Slashdot: Best Android Tablet For Travel? · · Score: 1

    Good to know then.. I assumed so because I can't see my 5ghz network with the iPad.. Might be a signal strength issue I need to look into.

  20. Low cost Option LePan TC970 on Ask Slashdot: Best Android Tablet For Travel? · · Score: 1

    We got sick of the kids fighting over the iPad so we looked for a cheap alternative we could let the kids abuse.

    We picked up the TC970 for $199 from New Egg.. So far it's been a good little tablet..
    It runs Andoid 2.2, 32 gig micro SD card slot, Wifi works well but does not support 5ghz N. (the ipad doesn't either ) 8 hour battery life, decent 9.7" touch screen but the iPad is better.. Downside, it's not upgradable to 2.3 or 2.4. Had some initial lockup issues but it was corrected with a firmware upgrade.

    For what the kids do (netflix, angry birds, kids apps, kindle reader) it's great..

  21. Windows Phone 7 need to be more open.. on Charlie Kindel On Why Windows Phone Still Hasn't Taken Off · · Score: 4, Informative

    I tested a windows phone 7 device for my company..

    We don't allow storage of corporate data on 3rd party servers so right off the bat it's web based storage system was useless..
    The OS offers no USB storage options and no removable SD cards.
    It had no way to upload videos from the phone other then tethering it to PC and using the MS Zune app to download the off the phone.

    Overall we found the OS to be to restrictive for our needs and standardized on Android based phones.

  22. The best solution on Ask Slashdot: Protecting Tech Gear From Smash-and-Grab Theft? · · Score: 1

    Get a Trunk Monkey..
    http://youtu.be/geynA-JYDHE

  23. Not Doomed.. Just evolving on Video Game Consoles Are 'Fundamentally Doomed,' Says Lord British · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't see the game console going away.. It's just going to evolve into more of multimedia device. Really it already has..
    My game consoles spend more time streaming Netflix then playing games these days.
     

  24. Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi on Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot · · Score: 1

    Yeah 6.. Never did anything for me.

  25. Re:Nexfix pass word on Tennessee Makes it Illegal To Share Your Netflix Password · · Score: 1

    Huh. I thought it was Calvin.

    I guess I've been running Dell servers for way to long..