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  1. Huh? on Apache Binaries Available for PS2 Linux · · Score: 3, Informative

    Uh, Apache (older version) was already ported to the PS2 with the PS2 Linux 1.0 distribution. IMHO, I don't see what the big deal is, especially being that the source doesn't require any modification to compile on the PS2.

    As far as i'm concerned, i'd rather hear about developers porting over applications/libraries/new linux kernels which need modification to run on the PS2 architecture.

  2. Re:DRM: Permission denied on MP3 for Gameboy · · Score: 1

    To play this MP3, you must complete Bonza Land level 3 or get 350 gold coins.

    Or, Punch the Monkey... *shutters*

  3. A terabyte? on A Terabyte of Data on a Laptop Hard Drive · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow! Think of how much Warez I could get off the Apple demo systems at Circuit City!

  4. OBD scanning on Proposed Law To Open Code ... In Cars · · Score: 2
    From OBDII.com regarding the purchase of an OBD scanner:
    Not all scantools are equal. In fact, some aren't even close. As part of the OBDII standard, the US Environmental Protection Agency mandated that a basic set of emissions related readings be supported on all OBDII vehicles. The SAE specification J1979 defines these legislated parameters. Many low-end tools only support these emissions related readings, giving you access to only a dozen or so truly useful parameters. While these give you some basic vehicle information, they are just a small set of the vehicle information available through the OBDII port. When shopping for a scantool, be sure to find out if it supports just the legislated parameters or if it also includes the enhanced (sometimes called proprietary) diagnostics.
    It goes to show that auto manufacturers will only cooperate because of laws and regulations. They have no intentions of developing standards with their competitors (or in some cases, even within the divisions of their own company!). Just as some automotive companies made their own "enhanced" OBD-based diagnostics only for their own interest, they do the same with car parts. It's all finding a way for them (or their business partners) to make money. Sadly, these car companies fail to see that when they work together to develop a standard, they all benefit.
  5. Re:Easy excuse... on Canadian Government to Jam Radio Signals · · Score: 2
    What if the jamming effectively ruins some terrorists plans, and prevents a disaster and saves hundreds of lives? But I guess that we'll never know for sure.

    Granted, it could, however i'm not convinced this would stop a determined modern-day "terrorist". 9/11, and the string of attacks by palestinian bombers shows that people aren't afraid to die for a cause -- especially one that involves religion or faith.

  6. Imagine a beowulf cluster of ... on Geeks and Chefs, Unite · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Bah forget it..

  7. Re:IP Laws on DOJ Wants ISPs to Log User Traffic UPDATED · · Score: 2

    If state DMV's can get away with selling driver's license carrier's information, I wouldn't be surprised if the government sells the information, and/or uses it for their own research/census-type mischevious plans..

  8. Upgrade? on PalmOS 5 Turns Gold · · Score: 1

    Anyone know the details of whether current Palm models (m5xx) will be supported for a possible upgrade to version 5?

  9. Re:We've seen the cable pricing model before! on Preventing Broadband Price-Gouging? · · Score: 2

    I think it would be safe to say we won't see any changes under the current administration... It's sad when the government needs to be the regulation referee because greedy companies can't play nicely.

  10. Re:Oh memories.. on E3: SimCity 4 Preview Goodness · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better yet, Rockstar Games should get together with Maxis and combine Grand Theft Auto with Sim City. That would be interesting!

  11. Re:Read the DMCA on Felt Tip Marker Defeats Copy-Protected CDs · · Score: 1

    But, if you marketed a felt tip pen with the name CD Rip (TM) brand felt tip pens and included instructions for how to circumvent CD protection than you should expect a C&D letter.

    This kind of reminds me of how brass knuckles are sold legally(?) in catalogs by marketing them as
    paperweights.

  12. Re:Are news sites all in violation of DMCA now? on Felt Tip Marker Defeats Copy-Protected CDs · · Score: 1

    Maybe 2600 should publish all their issues concerning DeCSS with a felt-tip marker.

  13. Re:Deaths -- Hoax? on The Lone Gunmen Aren't Dead? · · Score: 2

    Funny you mention that, Chris Carter was quoted saying "Nobody ever really dies on the X-Files" in a FOX special a few years ago.

  14. Faces and Gelatin on Fun with Fingerprint Readers · · Score: 2

    Another tasty solution to beating facial recognition?

  15. Arguably illegal in Michigan on Salon on Video Games and Free Speech · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have been involved in local youth-rights related issues in the past, some pertaining to local businesses barring individuals under a certain age from entering their stores without an adult, or after certain hours (well before curfew). Section Section 37.2302 of the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976, states:

    Sec. 302. Except where permitted by law, a person shall not: (a) Deny an individual the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation or public service because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, or marital status.

    Being that rating systems like the ESRB and MPAA are not government-mandated, and that many movie theaters and department stores have barred individuals under 17 from viewing/purchasing "M" rated games or viewing "R" rated movies, it is arguable that the practice is illegal in Michigan. The only exception I could see to this rule is if it was a private club. I do know other states have similar laws concerning age, but Michigan does have a model policy that has proven effective in challenging local businesses. I have pondered the possibility of challenging movie theaters and retail stores, many of which voluntarially enacted policies barring minors based on the content ratings, but it obviously would cause some strong opposition and fighting teams of corporate lawyers.

  16. Re:Random thoughts... on Science a Mystery to U.S. Citizens · · Score: 1

    I was moreless referring to individuals who (claim to) have some form of extrasensory perception (beyond "normal" human perception). Society may believe in ET's, psychics, and whatnot, but the majority of these people haven't "experienced" it themselves (example: realizing you have a psychic power as opposed to going to a tarot reader). This subject is very complicated and difficult to explain.

  17. Re:Bullshit. on Science a Mystery to U.S. Citizens · · Score: 2

    Show us the evidence, otherwise go troll somewhere else.

    I'm not trolling. Everything is faltered through preset language, orientation and other's views of reality and I have no way of knowing if that orientation is valid or not, because as of yet I have no way of stepping outside of it. That is why the most important part of finding the solution is also finding a new sensory mode (breaking into a new paradigm) a new way or perceiving reality.

  18. Random thoughts... on Science a Mystery to U.S. Citizens · · Score: 3, Interesting
    "Sixty percent of those surveyed believe in ESP, psychic power, and alien abduction."

    Evidence suggests that there must be many undiscovered modes and ranges and domains of perception. The human brain is fundamentally unable to conceive of certain profound dimensions of mathematical relationships, as the human eye is fundamentally unable to perceive light beyond a specific range of wavelength. Although, even the slightest glance of what is possible is enough to make someone be called a "visionary" (pun)

    The obvious criterion to consider first is energy. All of human perception (and exceptions thereof) depend on the transference of some form of energy: light, heat, vibration, chemical energy. The next logical question is to ask is: is it possible to create a sensory mode that does not depend upon the emission, transmission, or reflection of energy? The obvious center point to this Is that one would need some medium by which to transmit information, but this is not true if one finds a way to detect information that is already present.

    Consider: mass distorts space. If one can find a way to detect the logical distortion of a distant object, thereby making it possible to sense an object indirectly. Therefore, the true question is, is there an efficient by which one can detect gravity waves?

    Enough rambling for now, i'm tired.
  19. I don't know... on Instant Messenger or Instant Advertiser? · · Score: 1

    Wasn't Dr. Sbaitso enough torture?!
    Sheesh.

  20. Re:I still don't get this.... on Instant Message, Instant Transcript · · Score: 2

    Granted, but the company is in a country they don't own either. Companies at one time had alot more freedoms, but because they exploited those freedoms to their greedy advantage, (especially on employees) restrictions and regulations were brought in.

    I think people expect privacy just because of the handful of laws that protect workers otherwise (minimum wage, discrimination, etc). While the privacy rights may not exist, there's always a chance they someday might.

  21. Strike and reverse on Time Warner to Charge Extra for Over-Quota Bandwidth · · Score: 2

    While I don't know too much about typical pricing plans for leased lines (i'm assuming cable internet providers get an unlimited bandwidth stream through their parent isp). I'm wondering why cable companies haven't looked to colocation/hosting services to help generate revenue by taking advantage of the upstream (being most cable users are capped at 128kbps upload). Could something like this ever work?

  22. I wonder on Blizzard/Vivendi Files Suit Against Bnetd Project · · Score: 2

    Did anyone consider that maybe Blizzard has a their own "bnetd" in the works that they plan to release?

  23. Re:You missed the point on "Disposable" Cell Phone Actually Repackaged Nokia · · Score: 2

    That's interesting. I wonder if the phones will simply have a main number and assign extensions to each phone (POTS NAT - hehe). Really, i'm surprised why cell phone providers haven't done this yet. It could definitely cut down on the monthly costs of phones for people who really don't care about having their own number.

    Or, maybe these disposable phones simply won't handle incoming calls, only outgoing ones.
    It would be kind of silly for people to memorize a number to contact you when you plan on throwing it away...

  24. Flash Memory on board? on The Incredible Shrinking Motherboard · · Score: 2

    Storage (Flash): DOC Flash memory (8MB ~ 32MB) on board

    Anyone know the purpose of this flash memory is? I would hope it can be used to boot lilo or other similar loaders. I was pleased to see this mobo has no floppy controller. A little off topic, but why not integrate motherboards with a Type I PCMCIA slot? IMO, CompactFlash would make an excellent (and logical) replacement for the floppy drive, especially with the vast amount of cameras and mp3 players that use it.

    I once had hopes for an magnetic media-based open standard to replace floppies (Iomega Zip) but not anymore. Even Award and AMI was forced into supporting zip drives as a bootable device option. IIRC, the zip drive is probably the only proprietary piece of hardware supported by these BIOSes (for AT/ATX standards).

  25. Another method on Google Juice · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I discovered this yesterday in my searching. It appears that if you have a class C of IP addresses, lots of domains or subdomains, you can flood search results like this. Notice as you browse the results, the domains in many of the listings:


    www.office-supplies-st0res.com/ (66.33.85.157)
    office-storage.1nf0-office-equip.c om/ (66.33.85.74)
    pens-pencil.search-office-supplies. com/ (66.33.85.74)
    buy-furniture.furniture-sh0p-search .com/ (66.33.85.93)
    printer-toner.supplies-1nfo-office. com/ (66.33.85.99)
    office-product.office-supplies-sh0p .com/ (66.33.34.105)
    office-computers.supplies-1nfo-off ice.com/ (66.33.85.117)
    calculators.supplies-1nfo-office.c om/ (66.33.85.155)
    discount-office.supplies-1nfo-offi ce.com/ (66.33.85.95)


    If you look at the HTML source code (after clicking on one of these results from google.com), you can see it is obviously a deliberate measure to track it's referring URL and search keyword, and logs the results to bizrate.com. Stuff like this makes me furious, especially if you take into account the potential long-term costs. Google's spider has to waste traffic by going through these sites, searchers like me have to skip through a bunch of garbage results, resulting in more traffic. Sure, maybe a few kilobytes of data, but IMO, it contributes to the expenditures of search engines, eventually resulting in more ads, etc... Maybe i'm exaggerating a tad, but it's wasteful to say the least.