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  1. Re:Good luck... on DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely · · Score: 1

    Why carry the binary file with you, if it is commonly downloaded?

  2. Your estimated bill on Real-World 3G Monthly Cost With Taxes and Fees? · · Score: 1

    You're in luck. I used to work there, analyzed customers bills, have a basic plan, purchased the iPhone 3G, and can view my bill.

    My first iPhone bill wasn't as bad as worst case. It turned out to almost $120, and the average month will probably be $85 at best.

    Monthly Service
    NAT450R5KNW: Nation 450 min Roaming 5000 Nights and Weekends $39.99
    Data Plan iPhone $30
    Credits, Adjustments, & Other $2.85
    Government Fees & Taxes $8.69
    Text Message Feature $5.00

    Your lowest monthly bill: $86.53
    (NAT450R5KNW) + (iPhone Data) + (Credits, Adjustments, & Other) + (Government Fees & Taxes) + ($5 txt message feature)
    $39.99 + $30.00 + $2.85 + $8.69 + $5.00 = $86.53

    If Credits, Adjustments, Other returns to the amount prior to the iPhone upgrade, it would be $0.63
    If Government Fees & Taxes returns to the amount prior to the iPhone upgrade, it would be $5.45
    That would bring the lowest monthly bill down to $81.07

    Your first month bill best case: $104.53
    Assuming you cut over at the end of your billing period:
    (Credits, Adjustments, & Other (Upgrade)) + $18 Upgrade fee
    $39.99 + $30.00 + $20.85 + $8.69 + $5.00 = $104.53

    Your first month bill worst case: $170.33
    Prorated 150% for cutting over in middle of billing cycle
    (NAT450R5KNW) * 1.5 = $60
    (iPhone Data) * 1.5 = $45
    Activation instead of Upgrade $36 vs $18
    Also assume you have text overage of $16 because no text feature
    (1 call to Directory Assistance) = $1.79
    (80 Text Messages @ $0.20 ea (no text feature)) = $16
    (Prorated NAT450R5KNW) + (Prorated iPhone Data) + (Credits, Adjustments, Other (Activation)) (Government Fees & Taxes) + (Usages Charges)
    $60 + $45 + $38.85 + $8.69 + $17.79 = $170.33

  3. Wikipedia is popular because it's not a magazine on Does Wikipedia Suck on Science Stories? · · Score: 1

    I was so disappointed after Discover magazine was dumbed down in 1985 and Scientific American in 2001. Wired has always been dumbed down. When you read those magazines today, all of the articles have literary and visual fluff.

    I'm sorry if paid journalists are finding it too difficult to copy and paste from wikipedia, but a science is about accurate information, not creative writing contests.

  4. It's ironic on Students Tracked By RFID · · Score: 1

    Someday the government may be able know the whereabouts of all its citizens, but not know who exactly they voted for.

  5. They should change their name on Tech Giants Bankrolling IP Hoarding Start-Up · · Score: 1

    From Intellectual Ventures to Intellectual Vampires

  6. Fractal antenna inventor on Ham and Software - Communities of Creativity? · · Score: 1

    This was already documented, but it's a good story.

    When Nathan Cohen first submitted a paper documenting his fractal antenna research to a scholarly journal, the editors thought it was a practical joke.

    Essentially, he had discovered that bending conventional antennas into repeating geometric or "deterministic fractal" shapes helped save space and did not adversely affect reception. It's a very simple idea -- and that simplicity, coupled with the fact that Cohen is a radio astronomer by training, not a fractal mathematician, made the antenna an easy target for expressions of skepticism.

    "It seems particularly ironic if you think about what I was really asking people to do: bend a 30-cent piece of wire," he says. "It's not like this is a hard experiment to reproduce."

    Indeed, Cohen first conducted it on his own ham radio, which he was trying to operate in an apartment complex with a no-antenna rule. He, too, was something of a skeptic at the time, but that didn't prevent him from giving the fractal a chance.

    In addition to making him an entrepreneur, Cohen says, the fractal antenna has made him a student once again. Understanding the subtleties of his discovery has required him to get better acquainted with electromagnetics, a discipline that is not his specialty.

    Full Article:
    http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/1998/12-11/featur es3.html

    More photos of fractal antennas:
    http://classes.yale.edu/Fractals/Panorama/ManuFrac tals/FractalAntennas/FractalAntennas.html

  7. Better phone on Motorola Readies Music-oriented Linux Mobile Phone · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm going to wait until the Motorola MPx comes out.

    -horizontal or vertical alignment
    -Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Tri-band GSM/GPRS
    -64MB of built in RAM
    -SD slot up to 1GB
    -320x240 2.8 inch screen
    -1.3 MP integrated camera
    -QWERTY layout keyboard

    It's not Linux but it looks way cool:
    Phone 1
    Phone 2
    Phone 3

    Thanks PennyArcade
    Bargain PDA

  8. This is why I quit on Can Software Kill? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was working for a desktop consulting company, and I was the only database developer there.

    One of my customers wanted to convert a database, and originally I thought, no problem just convert some tables and redraw some forms.

    It turns out this database was also going to store information about blood matching, transplants, and it would also calculate daily drug doses for the nurse to sign off on for kids getting marrow transplants. Success is measured in how many months the kid gets to live.

    If I was working on a team using a more robust platform I might have had more confidence to push forward. However, this is Microsoft Access and i'm the only guy who would know how this thing would work. This means it would be very easy for some kid's death to point towards me.

    So I quit.

    By the way, if anyone has work for a database developer, feel free to contact me at will_spangler@juno.com. I'm quite good with MS Access.

  9. Media on GTA Violence, the Media, and the Gamers · · Score: 1

    The media has been molding public opinion by spinning the truth into their view for quite some time now.

    It's only when a video game is misrepresented that everyone gets up in arms?

  10. Manufacturing Editorials on BusinessWeek on Outsourcing · · Score: 1

    Machining Magazine

    The China Conundrum: How the pursuit of free trade with China has compromised American Manufacturing
    http://www.machiningmagazine.com/China.pdf

    What are you doing about China: An open letter to Congress
    http://www.machiningmagazine.com/ToughQuestions.pd f

    Can Phil English fix free trade: Closing the loopholes in free trade
    http://www.machiningmagazine.com/PhilEnglish.pdf

    The New Military-Industrial Complex: Are we sacrificing our security on the Alter of Free Trade?
    http://www.machiningmagazine.com/MIC.pdf

  11. Look at Microsoft on Web Pages Are Weak Links in the Chain of Knowledge · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    One month a thoughtful Microsoft programmer will post the bug on a page with a workaround, source code, and a patch using Visual Studio.

    The next month the bug officially doesn't exist, the workaround page is gone, the source code is who knows where, and it's .Net

    If you go to Linux.org though, the FAQ and bug postings are preserved for all to see.

    You're right though, in that Microsoft should be identified as one of those bad sources anyway.

  12. Trademarked already on Software Installation/Update via Internet Patented · · Score: 1

    EARTH, WIND & FIRE
    IC 041. US 107. G & S: ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES RENDERED BY A VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL GROUP. FIRST USE: 19701110. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19701110
    Serial Number 73120117

    WIND WATER FIRE EARTH
    IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: Clothing, namely T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, pants, shorts, hats, caps and visors. FIRST USE: 19950915. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19950915
    IC 028. US 022 023 038 050. G & S: Sporting goods, namely, skateboards and skateboard accessories, namely, wheels, rails and trucks. FIRST USE: 19950915. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19950915
    Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
    Serial Number 76055552

    WATER, WIND, EARTH & FIRE
    IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Retail Store Services, featuring fireplace accessories, gas logs, fountains, outdoor furniture, garden accessories, planters, statuary, and house furnishings. FIRST USE: 19920000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19920000
    Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
    Serial Number 76144623

    FIRE WATER EARTH
    (CANCELLED) IC 018. US 003. G & S: luggage, namely tote bags. FIRST USE: 19940815. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19940815
    Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
    Design Search Code 260103 260112 260512 260912
    Serial Number 74579027

  13. Remember what Intel said on PC World: Apple G5 Gets Trounced By Athlon 64 · · Score: 1

    "Intel counters that its 32-bit processors are plenty powerful to meet user needs"

    http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,642927,00.a sp

    Give Apple credit for true innovation.

  14. CAGW is PRO-Microsoft on CCAGW Misreads Mass. Policy, Open Standards Generally · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/29/tech/mai n531230.shtml
    Dec. 3, 2002: West Virginia will join Massachusetts as the only states to continue the courtroom antitrust battle against Microsoft Corp., pressing a U.S. appeals court to reconsider tougher sanctions against the world's largest software company.

    A pro-Microsoft group, the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste, quickly attacked West Virginia's decision as improper given that state's economic conditions. The group said the state faces a $200 million deficit and teachers have been warned they may not receive raises next year.

    "The taxpayers of West Virginia have every right to question the attorney general's priorities," said the group's president, Tom Schatz. "What is Darrell McGraw thinking by using scarce tax dollars to pursue costly litigation? This appeal is unrealistic, imprudent and irrational."

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/29/tech/mai n531230.shtml
    June 28, 2001: an appellate court's decision to overturn the order to split Microsoft in two

    Citizens Against Government Waste, though, took a position much closer to Microsoft. "This decision marks a return to rational antitrust jurisprudence and is a victory for taxpayers, investors, and the entire information economy," CAGW President Tom Schatz said in a statement.

    http://news.com.com/2100-1001_3-269198.html

    Conservative organizations will always choose industry self regulation over government regulation, even if it's a monopoly.

  15. When might we go back to the moon? on H.R. 3057: To the Asteroids, Moon and Mars · · Score: 1

    "The main reason why Apollo ended as quickly as it did was simply that it was very expensive. The Space Age began during a period of intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and, during the four years that led up to the Apollo decision, America was subject to one humiliation after the another. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev had bid the political value of dramatic space "firsts" so high that, in response to the Gagarin flight, President Kennedy had to find a way of achieving a clear, unambiguous, final victory in what had become the "Space Race". What was required was an undertaking "so expensive and so difficult to accomplish" that the Russians would have little chance of keeping pace. So Kennedy committed the United States to a giant step forward. However, Apollo was so expensive and so difficult that it could not continue for very long. America's political will to win the Space Race could not be translated into political and financial support for sustained lunar operations, not to mention voyages to Mars. At its peak in 1965, the annual cost of Apollo was about 0.8 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product and, as more recent history suggests, there is political support for a program only a quarter that size."

    http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/apo llo.epilog.html

    The current GDP is 11 Trillion?
    Current political support (.0025) would be $27 Billion.
    The rate JFK set for the moon missions (.008) would be about $87 Billion

    Which sales pitch sounds better?
    - "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

    - "Our strategy in Iraq will require new resources. We have conducted a thorough assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq, and also in Afghanistan. I will soon submit to Congress a request for 87 billion dollars. "

  16. Re:Are Diamonds the Answer? on Semiconductor Employees Suing IBM · · Score: 1

    The diamonds would just be the wafers that everything is placed on. On top of the wafer they usually add photoetch or photoresist, then shine a circuit pattern onto the wafer, and then wash it off with solvents. Hopefully they will be able to replace more of those chemicals with supercritical CO2.

  17. A shield wouldn't work on Semiconductor Employees Suing IBM · · Score: 1

    The work is done in clean room environments, where the same air is recirculated all day. You would need respirators and full body bio-suits to not breathe in the chemicals.

    There's also the fact that many places just dumped the toxic waste into the ground, which is why many cities in Silicon Valley have questionable water and why a measurable percentage of all California lettuce had some toxins.

  18. Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years on Teach Yourself AppleScript in 24 Hours · · Score: 2, Informative

    "either people are in a big rush to learn about computers, or that computers are somehow fabulously easier to learn than anything else. There are no books on how to learn Beethoven, or Quantum Physics, or even Dog Grooming in a few days."

    "Let's analyze what a title like Learn (this_language) in Three Days could mean:"

    "* Learn: In 3 days you won't have time to write several significant programs, and learn from your successes and failures with them. You won't have time to work with an experienced programmer and understand what it is like to live in that environment. In short, you won't have time to learn much. So they can only be talking about a superficial familiarity, not a deep understanding. As Alexander Pope said, a little learning is a dangerous thing."

    "* (this_language): In 3 days you might be able to learn the syntax of (this_language) (if you already knew a similar language), but you couldn't learn much about how to use the syntax. In short, if you were, say, a Basic programmer, you could learn to write programs in the style of Basic using (this_language) syntax, but you couldn't learn what (this_language) is actually good (and bad) for. So what's the point? Alan Perlis once said: "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing". One possible point is that you have to learn a tiny bit of (this_language) (or more likely, something like Visual Basic or JavaScript) because you need to interface with an existing tool to accomplish a specific task. But then you're not learning how to program; you're learning to accomplish that task."

    "* in Three Days: Unfortunately, this is not enough, as the next section shows."

    http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html

  19. First address registered: on Los Angeles Gets Own TLD · · Score: 1

    la.la.la

  20. Humans are hackers on Is the Seeking of Lost Skills/Arts a Hacking Analog? · · Score: 1

    Civilization as we know it wouldn't have been possible if we didn't possess the desire and ability to discover. I think there's more than just one kind of hacking: Some like to hack by tinkering and others like to hack by communication with others. The latter tend to see it a little differently: they are establishing important networks of relationships within their community and would rather have those kooks get out of the garage and finish some chores.

    A good source of machine books would be:
    http://lindsaybks.com/

  21. A Palantir is a dangerous tool on 3D "Crystal Ball" Monitors · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    GANDALF: They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones. You do not know who else may be watching!

  22. Fat Chuck's Corrupt CD List on Copy-Protected CDs Going Mainstream · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's one:
    http://fatchucks.com/index.html

    I'll post more lists if I find any.

  23. Earlier laws on Broad Bills to Protect 'Communications Services' · · Score: 2, Informative

    There was also the cellular law enacted in the 80's. Instead of encrypting the cellphone signals, they made it unlawful to listen to the 800 Mhz radio spectrum and illegal to manufacture or import any radio capable of doing so.

  24. Fits with history on Male Sweat Makes Women Happy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Roman gladiators would scrape the sweat off themselves and women would buy bottles of it.

  25. At least on Brain Prosthesis Ready For Testing · · Score: 1

    We'll always be able to find cheese in a maze.