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User: Dzimas

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  1. blast from the past on Geeks.com Online Shop Has Closed · · Score: 1

    Wow. It has been well over a decade since I last visited the computer geeks site, and I assumed they had been gobbled up by a retailing giant. Their cheesy graphics and great deals on 802.11B PCI cards will be forever etched in my memory, along with my boxed copy of Netscape for my PowerPC Mac. It just goes to show that the internet was not the open retail playing field many assumed it would be.

  2. Re:What? on MMO Fan Site Removes Character Stats Over Trademark Claim · · Score: 5, Informative

    The trademark is valid until May 29, 2019. It covers various trade classes including Nice 41m which incorporates Betrieb von Online-Spiele, Foren-Rollenspiele (operation of online games and "play by post/email" games). So the complainant has a valid EU trademark that covers roll playing games. That said, it appears that the company registration has expired, which puts the ownership of the trademark into question. As far as the US site's position goes, the complainant would have to demonstrate that the American site is using the trademarked name for commerce within the EU. That would be hard to prove, especially since the product in question is a computer game owned and operated by Sony; the defendant is merely operating an online catalog of Sony's game characters. This case would therefore be akin to Disney seeking redress from a website that lists cartoon characters including trademarked properties such as Mickey Mouse, in a jurisdiction where Mickey Mouse is not a registered trademark of the Walt Disney Co.

  3. Re:Wow. on Sound-Based Device Authentication Has Many Possibilities (Video) · · Score: 1

    But short-range peer-to-peer radio between two devices would be at least as secure as an audio squawk between those same two units - either technique can be bugged or spooked.

  4. So instead of initiating a digital handshake between two devices, I encode the digital handshake information onto an audio carrier, play it through a speaker, capture it with a microphone, and finally re-encode it back into its original form. Why on earth would I opt for this bizarre technology instead of WiFi, Bluetooth or other low power NFC techniques?

  5. Re:A somewhat better idea... on Describe Any Location On Earth In 3 Words · · Score: 1

    We have precious few, actually. Especially ones that are georeferenced to a specific coordinate. Shortcuts like Trafalgar, Eiffel, Empire, Chrysler would be useful but aren't unique in common language (Empire Theater? Empire State Building?). Hell, add a couple of numbers behind them as an offset in meters - Eiffel (23,15). It just seems that there's a much smarter way to use meaningful abbreviations than fishmonger.cephalopoda.drain.

  6. A somewhat better idea... on Describe Any Location On Earth In 3 Words · · Score: 1

    While every square on the grid can be identified by three words, wouldn't it make sense to use a single word to describe coordinates of a few thousand key high traffic locations? After all, being able to geolocate to part of a field in Wyoming has considerably less value than a identifying the entrance of an art gallery, restaurant or popular landmark in a major city. Heck, make them meaningful, too. "Trafalgar" could geolocate the centre of the fountain in Trafalgar square (an admittedly stupid place) while "Trafalgar.north" could place you X meters north of the coordinates.

  7. Re:Apple TV on Ask Slashdot: Video Streaming For the Elderly? · · Score: 2

    I agree that Netflix should make the CC setting global. That said, I strongly disagree with your ageist assertion that "no senior citizen could cope." I loaned our Apple TV 2 to a retired neighbor for a week recently, just so he could put Netflix through its paces. He liked it so much that he went out and bought his own. He's not terribly computer savvy, so the most challenging aspect of the process was configuring the WiFi, iTunes and Netflix logins. He called me and left a message asking for help, but figured it out before I got home that day. As far as enabling closed captioning goes, he was delighted to discover how simple it was to activate.

  8. Re:Apple TV on Ask Slashdot: Video Streaming For the Elderly? · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Apple TV 2 supports closed captioning in Netflix. Simply hold down the select button on the remote for several seconds and a captioning menu pops up. I second Apple TV. I introduced it to a retired neighbor who was growing increasingly irate at the endless bombardment of repeating commercials on cable. They absolutely love it.

  9. Re:If true, a profound disservice on Confessions of a Cyber Warrior · · Score: 1

    Grimes' friend isn't tasked to protect anything. He is a civilian defence contractor whose job is to exploit flaws in software for the benefit of his employer's client.

  10. Re:Won't work. on English Schools To Introduce Children To 3D Printers, Laser Cutters, Robotics · · Score: 0

    Teaching mouth breathers to program cnc machines and robots is about about as useful as placing a typical geek in mandatory ballet lessons.

  11. Re:Mount Everest is a fucking joke on Mount Everest Gets 4G Connectivity · · Score: 1

    The guy was flaming, claiming that the act of climbing the mountain was a joke. It's not. It's damn hard and extremely dangerous.

  12. Re:Mount Everest is a fucking joke on Mount Everest Gets 4G Connectivity · · Score: 1

    54 fatalities since 2000, around 2%. A 1 in 50 chance is still extreme.

  13. Re:Similar to Heathrow crash in 2008? on Boeing 777 Crashes At San Francisco Airport · · Score: 1

    Just checked the 6 hr forecast for SFO, and it's reporting -58 degrees F at 39,000 ft. The aircraft had been at altitude for 10 hours, so you can't automatically rule out a temperature-related anomaly simply because it's a nice day on the ground.

  14. Similar to Heathrow crash in 2008? on Boeing 777 Crashes At San Francisco Airport · · Score: 1

    Another 777 landed short of the runway at Heathrow in 2008 after losing engine power because of ice in the fuel lines. I wonder if something similar happened here? The preliminary report that the aircraft "seemed unstable" could have been because the pilot was flying just above stall speed in a desperate attempt to maintain altitude in a power loss situation. That could also explain the tail damage; the aircraft would have been in an extremely nose-high attitude as the pilot attempted to maximize lift to avoid hitting the water.

  15. Re:Mount Everest is a fucking joke on Mount Everest Gets 4G Connectivity · · Score: 4, Informative

    3,142 people have summited Everest a total of 5,104 times. Two hundred and nineteen people have lost their lives, with a quarter dying after reaching the summit. That's a 6.97% fatality rate. It's hardly something to joke about.

  16. Re: Adecco will not win. IP law protects Barr on How I Got Fired From the Job I Invented · · Score: 1

    Adecco registered the phrase "Around the world in 80 jobs" with the uspto, and a trademark was granted on April 13th. It will be expensive and time consuming for Barr to fight them -- if he ends up tens or hundreds of thousands in debt, he loses. That said, this story is in the process of going viral, and it will make Adecco look like thieving toads. That still won't help Turner much.

  17. Re:We're Canadian eh! on Canadians, Too, Should Demand Surveillance Answers · · Score: 1

    It is utterly stupid that the way a person is treated is based upon the location in which their mother pushed them through the birth canal and into the world. We give lip service to freedom, democracy and the right to achieve lofty goals... as long as an individual is "American," "Canadian," "Swiss" and so on. If not, we push ethics aside and condone surveillance, drone attacks, assassinations, invasions and all manner of nastiness -- like a very large pack of wolves.

  18. Re:I remember a joke from the time on Israeli Army Retweeting 1967 War As It Happened · · Score: 1

    Har. Wouldn't Monkey model be designated T-72-O? Monkey in Russian is . ;)

  19. Re:2 year contract on CRTC Unveils New Wireless Code To Protect Canadian Customers · · Score: 1

    ... and the tab plans offered by Koodo and Virgin Canada are the worst in the business. They're advertised as simple and contract free, but the reality is that if you're on a $39/month plan, it will take 38 months for you to pay off your subsidy on Koodo. It'll take twice as long if you sign up for a similarly priced plan with a $300 Virgin Gold Plan tab. Both of these strategies will be illegal after December 2nd in Canada, because they're a horrible deal for consumers. Whoever came up with the 10% paydowns and 10% discount was absolutely brilliant. Instead of offering $10 to $15 per month in subsidies, the telcos were putting a positive spin on giving you $3.90.

  20. Re:So why can't Iran have Nukes? on India's ICBM Will Carry Multiple Nuclear Warheads · · Score: 1

    If you re-examine the Cuban Missile Crisis and then Vietnam, I would humbly suggest that -- rightly or wrongly -- the USA was considered by many to be "the unstable whackjob with their finger on the button" in the 1960s.

  21. Re:So why can't Iran have Nukes? on India's ICBM Will Carry Multiple Nuclear Warheads · · Score: 1

    He died on March 5, which is a tad over 13 weeks ago. It seems that your news feed is also running a few months behind. ;)

  22. Re:use water on Mars Explorers Face Huge Radiation Problem · · Score: 2

    The halving-thickness of lead is approximately 1 cm. That is, it will block 50% of gamma radiation. A nice 10 cm lead plate will reduce your exposure to 1/1024th the original. Now let's try that with water, which has a halving-thickness of 18 cm. You'd need 180 cm of water to afford the same protection. I'll leave it to you to calculate the volume required to shield your craft. Once you've figured out how many thousands of liters are required, calculate the cost of lofting it into geosynchronous transfer orbit -- say $18,000 per kg. Once you've spent the equivalent of Denmark's GDP to launch your swimming pool, you'll have a few technical difficulties to resolve because space is really, really cold and water has a nasty habit of expanding when frozen. By about 9%, in fact. So either you have to keep your liquid shield from freezing and bursting the ship's hull, or you have to come up with extremely clever expansion tanks that ensure an even layer of ice around your vessel.

  23. Re:Hand wring much? on The Canadian Government's War On Science · · Score: 2

    They closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station which provided coverage on Vancouver harbour and English Bay, handling a few hundred distress calls a year. The nearest active station is Sea Island, which has slowed response by about half an hour. Lives will eventually be lost because of the closure of this "downtown" coast guard station.

  24. Re:Hahahaha! on BlackBerry CEO: Tablet Market Is Dying · · Score: 2

    You seem a bit confused. Netflix decides what platforms they wish to support and are responsible for writing their own apps. They chose not to support the Playbook because the installed user base was extremely small compared to the Android and iOS ecosystems, not because RIM was "clueless." I suppose RIM could have paid a number of key developers (Instagram, Netflix, Skype) to release apps for the platform, but that sets a dangerous precedent and probably wouldn't have helped the product's sales. It's interesting to note that both Skype and Instagram are already supported by the new Blackberry BB10 phones.

  25. Re: bets? on $200 Intel Android Laptops Are Coming · · Score: 1

    Microsoft was recently charging OEMs $30 for Windows 8 and office on sub-10.8" touchscreen machines, and there were rumors of $20 licenses for touchscreen notebooks with 11.6" and smaller screens. However, $20 is a significant cost when you're trying to retail an inexpensive machine. It could force manufacturers to offer $279 windows machines with the same hardware specs as $199 android units.