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User: roc97007

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  1. Re:My Soundblaster 16 works great on Do You Really Need a Discrete Sound Card? · · Score: 1

    I believe you're thinking of Media Vision. They sold a soundcard with a built-in SCSI port bundled with a 1X CD-ROM drive back in the early nineties.

    I tried various cards from Creative and Turtle Beach and always went back to the Media Vision card as being the most trouble-free. It stayed in my computer until ISA slots became unavailable.

  2. Know your audience on Nokia Builds a Touchscreen Display Made of Ice · · Score: 1

    "from batman" was unnecessary. All the geeks here know who Mr. Freeze is.

  3. Re:High Sales? on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 1

    I think what I'd really like is an accelerometer in the phone so the microphone and speaker swap places depending on which way it's held.

    And just three buttons -- Answer, Hangup, and Help, which connects to her own private operator so she can tell them whom she want to call.

    And atomic power to insure the damned thing is actually charged up and ready to use.

    And a chain to permanently attach it to her purse so she actually has it on her when it's needed.

    And automatic pairing with the radio in her car and the TV at home. And at her sister's house. And the hotel room.

    Is that too much to ask?

  4. Re:Three WEEK standby time!! on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 1

    Yeah, those were the days, when netbooks had battery life substantially better than laptops. :-)

  5. Re:And Windows is? on Is Linux At the End of Its Life Cycle? · · Score: 1

    I think you could make that case. One could then argue that both Linux and Windows are derivatives of one of two 1970's technologies.

    But, I'd also say, (and the courts seem to uphold) that Linux really was a complete re-write -- a Unix "mostly-works-alike" rather than just another Unix derivative.

  6. Re:Mandatory chastity belts? on US May Disable All Car Phones, Says Trans. Secretary · · Score: 1

    My mom used to put a small TV on the passenger seat so she could keep up with her soaps. She says "Oh, I don't watch it while I'm driving, I just listen." "Then, why is it turned towards you, mom?" "Well, I might watch it at stop lights."

    I think the only reason she doesn't still do this is that the signal is no longer broadcast and she hasn't yet found a compatible TV.

    Point is, people will find ways to distract themselves. It's not the instrument, it's the behavior. And you won't fix behavior by forbidding just one of its outlets.

  7. Let me get this straight... on Is Linux At the End of Its Life Cycle? · · Score: 1

    The president of MICROSOFT RUSSIA announces that their biggest competitor is at the end of its life cycle and THIS IS NEWS?

    Don't they, like, announce that in every quarterly earnings report?

  8. Re:And Windows is? on Is Linux At the End of Its Life Cycle? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kids these days.

    Windows 95 was an updated GUI running on DOS. You must be thinking of something else.

    Lessee... Windows NT 3.1 was the Windows 3.1 GUI running on a new (NT) kernel.

    ("New" is relative, as NT was created by a bunch of VMS coders, from which it gets message passing and other features. One could argue somewhat whimsically that Dos-based Windows up to ME was based on 1981 technology, and every Windows version since then was based on 1975 technology.)

    NT 3.51 would be called a service pack today. It was pretty solid for the time.

    Windows NT 4.0 was the NT 3.5 core with a GUI that looked more like Windows 95.

    Windows 2000 (still my favorite Windows desktop for business use) was basically a huge service pack on NT 4.

    Windows XP was a substantial update of 2000, but by no means a "ground up" rewrite.

    Vista started as a "ground up" rewrite (Longhorn) but was plagued by project delays and restarts. I'm not certain, but I wouldn't be surprised at all that what actually made it to GA had a substantial amount of XP code.

    Then there's discussions on thunking and code reuse and backwards compatibility...

    I'm by no means an expert, but I don't think that Windows has ever had a complete bare-metal ground-up rewrite.

    But if it did, it was not Windows 95.

  9. Re:defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    Well, yeah. There are already laws providing for massive fines for using a handset while driving. A device in the car would have to have a corresponding law against tampering, with massive fines. So people who disobey the law that prevents you from using a handset while driving would be stopped by the law that prevents you from disabling the cell jammer in your car. Because...

    Because...

    Waaaait a minute.....

  10. Re:Taxis? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    I'm wondering about that. On the one hand, taxis will probably be exempt. On the other hand, how are you going to manage that many jamming signals in rush hour? Won't it jam all cell signals for miles around?

  11. Re:Three WEEK standby time!! on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 1

    I have a Droid X. It's a great phone, but I get slightly less than 14 hours standby. Of course, "standby" includes syncing my email accounts.

    I remember when a week standby was common. Those were the days.

    You're right, in a few years we'll have standby hours in single digits, like laptops.

  12. Re:defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    Probably not much larger. The local transit planning authority says a family of four should be living in not more than 800 square feet located by the light rail line. According to my calculator that's 28' by 28', or about the size of my garage.

  13. Re:Easy there nerd boy on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone actually use speed dial on dumb phones?

    Usually it's so complicated to program (and every phone is different) that it's easier just to memorize the damned number.

    The biggest change in my life when I switched to a smartphone is that I finally started using the internal address book.

  14. Re:High Sales? on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Agreed. What I don't like about the standard flip phone is the obligatory "web" button that can't be disabled. I'd take this product over that.

    My wife is a vehement technophobe, and she has a very simple flip-phone that she only marginally knows how to operate. Usually I hear "Hello? I can't hear you. Hello?" to which I am shouting "Hand. The. Phone. To. Your. Daughter." (Daughter has no problem hearing me on the same phone.) Not being there I can't be sure, but I suspect that wife is holding it upside down. I don't suppose that will change even with this phone.

  15. Three WEEK standby time!! on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    According to TFA, the phone has a THREE WEEK standby time!

    Man, I'd almost give up my smartphone just for THAT.

  16. So this New Generation model... on Anti-Smartphone Phone Launched For Technophobes · · Score: 1

    ...is for people sick of New Generation models.

    No, wait...

  17. Re:defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    Right, but none of this will work if you're required to have a device in your car that jams cell signals.

  18. Re:defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    Good points. Add to this the ability to make emergency phone calls. In my state at least, all handheld calls are banned except 911 calls. And of course you can still make handsfree calls, which would also be eliminated by this proposal.

    But what you have presented are arguments for why the legislation should not be passed. They're not reasons it would not be passed. Except #5, perhaps, but congressmen would no more be required to follow the law than they are to participate in Obamacare or any other law that Congress passes that they don't want to follow.

  19. Re:defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 1

    I have read this also. So if we can't use cell phones or listen to the radio... I'm thinking some kind of dedicated radio that we're all required to have. Maybe even make it two way -- Onstar paved the way for this.

    Hey, maybe even make it two way visual. We could call it the telescreen and require every vehicle to have one. I'm sure I've heard that before somewhere.

  20. Hang on... on TSA Pats Down 3-Year-Old · · Score: 1

    I'm looking for a reference, but heard on the radio that this video was taken two years ago. It's not like it happened last weekend. This wasn't news when it happened, and is only news now because of our heightened awareness of TSA pat-downs.

    On the other hand, no telling what kind of pat-down the TSA agents would have done in this same circumstance had it happened now.

  21. defeated by DOT plans to jam cell signals? on Emergency Broadcast System Coming To Cell Phones · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It sounds like this would be rendered largely moot by DOT plans to disable cell phones in cars.

  22. How much you want to bet... on Muscle Mice · · Score: 1

    ...the first clinical trials will be on football linemen. Or professional wrestlers.

  23. it always looked to me like... on USB Is the Devil's Connection · · Score: 4, Funny

    A guy lying down carrying a briefcase and a pizza and... wait, never mind...

  24. Re:You know why? on The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater · · Score: 1

    And *this* is what's classified as flamebait on slashdot now? Have we been taken over by ufologists?

  25. Re:You know why? on The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater · · Score: 1

    I think "underlying delusions of mystery" is my new favorite phrase.