"We're Sorry. The current version of the Brain Speed Test is only available for Windows based computers. We are working a version that is compatible with Mac's."
DAMNIT! Why can't I get some friggin' SUPPORT here, people?!? It's the same lame excuse every time -- brain tests, operating systems, popular gaming titles, girlfriends: "Sorry...not compatible."
You know what, FINE! Keep your silly brain test... I'm going to go spend some quality time with my Mac, playing Breakout...
-c
Mmm, tasty green gray-water...
on
Green Geek Beer
·
· Score: 1
The makers of Fat Tire, for example, use a cogeneration process that involves anaerobic bacteria turning wastewater into methane gas for power.
Ewww! Since when, I ask you, does anyone want to drink a beer that involves a gray-water treatment regimen? Sounds like they partnered with the Department of Waste Management for this sparkling solution...
The article offers the quote and then continues: 'Actually he didn't - we just made that quote up.
Honestly, this is why The Register is a dangerous source for news. NO half-decent news source would ever -- and I mean *ever* -- make up a quote from someone and then go on to say they made it up...
... a *real* news source makes up sources and then doesn't admit to it.
"The article does not deal with several important topics. Will a ring system form around Earth? Will this bacteria destroy satellites and quarantine humanity to Earth? Can this bacteria survive entry into Earth's atmosphere, dooming our planet as well?!
Sheesh dude, where do I even start on this commentary? This sounds like a freakin' scary article (like "destruction-of-all-human-life-on-earth" kind of scary) and the poster apparently thinks it's a cool teaser for a new Sci-Fi Network drama series.
"Will a ring system form around Earth?"
Dude, who cares? We'd all be dead anyway. Without the moon's gravitational pull on the earth, our ocean's stop having tide cycles and stagnate, destroying our weather system and we wind up either frozen like anthro-Otterpops in a perpetual ice age, or crisped in the searing oven of our own planet. WHOOP-DEE-DOO! The scorched and lifeless rock that once was Earth now has a stupid ring, just like that Saturn.
"Will this bacteria destroy satellites and quarantine humanity to Earth?"
Look, the satellites came from where? Our planet. Yes, Earth. And if such a bacteria actually exists, where did it come from? Yes, Earth. So look on the bright side -- unless you see satellites here on earth spontaneously dissolving when engineers sneeze on them, we'll have clear, 100%-pure digital XM radio beaming onto our planet while we roast alive from not having a moon.
"Can this bacteria survive entry into Earth's atmosphere, dooming our planet as well?!"
Look, from a pragmatic perspective this is like arguing over an invasion of Canada... after Nader wins the elections... and the French officially declare that they were wrong about Iraq, and that they suck.
"...George Lucas would serve his fans best by achieving his truest and finest artistic expression in the final Star Wars film. NOT trying to pander to specific fan wishes... What's he supposed to do, hold focus groups?"
Explain to me how either "The Phantom Menace" or "Attack of the Clones" achieved Lucas' "truest and finest artistic expression", because from my perspective they were swamped in fruitless eye candy, bogged-down in terrible screenplays, and put-to-rest by taking superior actors and crushing their ability to perform.
They were B-films. Attack of the Clones was at least entertaining, but neither Ep. I or II actually achieved anything groundbreaking or even worth remembering. They were cheap summer action movies, NOT works of art by any stretch of the imagination...
That being said, maybe Lucas *should* hold some focus groups with fans, because from my perspective he's totally out of touch with reality, busy strip-mining his past works to earn barrel loads of cash.
AP: "Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?" Lucas: "Not really."
Boy, I just feel all warm-and-fuzzy when I think of Lucas now... and I sure am looking forward to seeing "lava surfing" in "Revenge of the Sithians from Outer Space".
The interesting thing is that the San Jose Mercury News ran an article today (free reg. required) on the unemployment rate in Silicon Valley dropping by a full point or even more since June.
They do note that overall, Silicon Valley is down 1500 jobs in the long run though... however that figures...
"The harvester has been tested in the laboratory and in commercial greenhouses in Ohio. Ling said success rates of fruit sensing and picking were more than 95 percent and 85 percent, respectively..."
What the article doesn't mention is that the other 5% - 15% of time, the tomato harvester displayed a strange tendency towards aggressively "harvesting" some of the scientists on the project.
"I'm not concerned," said one scientist, "that's why we have the Three Laws! Robots are perfectly safe and friendly."
For all those who are wondering what "astroturfing" is -- like myself -- here is the Wikipedia definition quoted towards the bottom of the rather verbos Groklaw post:
"Microsoft has objected to people helping them distribute SP2."
I hate to play Devil's Advocate, but DUH... look at this from Microsoft's perspective. Having non-Microsoft sources distributing SP2 has two huge negative aspects for them:
1) Unthrottled Rollout
Having P2P'ers flooding the patch to "everyone-and-their-monkey's-uncle" destroys any potential throttle control that Microsoft might have had. Microsoft's initial plan was to trickle the rollout of SP2 out at only 25,000 downloads a day, exclusively via Windows Update. This is extremely practical due to the scope of the patch -- it makes a lot of sense for them to control the release in case a catastrophic show-stopper pops up, and also to allow developers some extra update time.
2) P2P Security Liability
Let's face it, Microsoft has a right to have their skivvies in a knot over people downloading any Windows patches from 3rd party sources. The infamous "Average Joe" (they guy who opens email viruses twice a week) isn't going to do an MD5 checksum comparison on a patch from a P2P net before running it -- who's to prevent someone from hacking up their own little "SP2" cocktail exe and distributing it? Ultimately the shit would hit the fan and Microsoft would take it in the face.
Even those who do check MD5 digits on a P2P-downloaded patch need a trusted source for the correct checksum... again, Microsoft doesn't want to be liable. Sure, it could be argued that Microsoft could provide the MD5 checksum themselves, but then "Average Joe XP User" would never check it anyway because "Microsoft says it's ok, so it must be safe!"
"The prototype responds to changes such as bright lights and sudden movements and might one day even respond to other stimuli such as heart rate or skin temperature -- to track medical problems as easily as to record a Hawaiian vacation."
...Uhh...by "medical problems" are you referring to my love life? All that talk about bright lights and heart rate got me confused.
I mean... it sucks... but it's not a "medical problem". Per se.
"...and a gallery of hypothetical interface redesigns by a group of artists and graphic designers."
Has anyone actually looked at this designs?
As a designer myself, I wonder if any of those people thought about their design actually being in use. This is art...and not functional art; modern, useless art.
I'm just thankful none of those designs stand a chance of taking over the simple serenity of the current Google design. Half of why I use Google of Yahoo! is because Yahoo! is crowded, teeming with irrelevent junk... and the current Yahoo! design has a tiny fraction of the artsy design funk of those options.
I think this is another case of artists abandoning reason for publicity:-)
". It sells for almost 100,000 yen ($941) and it still sold out."
SWEET MOTHER OF...$941 for that thing?! What was Sony thinking? Or rather, what were the Japanese thinking? (Obviously, Sony did alright for themslves.) You'd think with all the tech-gadgets on the market in Japan that never even make it to the U.S., the consumers would be a little more discerning...
They just spent $100 mil on a Tivo-Playstation 2-Stereo combo with a few other tacky, nick-nack features...and the thing doesn't even have MP3 support.
Seems kind of pathetic to me.
Redmond: Defender of the Free World!
on
AOL's $299 PC
·
· Score: 3, Funny
"With this action AOL controls everything from the OS to the Word Processor to the web sites their customers browse."
Thank GOD for Microsoft...defender of our freedom to choose! Uhhm...wait...
From the article: "There's plenty of irony in seeing one monopoly accuse another monopoly of restricting users' choices. But monopolies they both are."
This is a hideously bad understanding of what a monopoly is. A lot of people around/. are saying that any company that's A) Big, and B) Retains exclusive rights to its products, is a monopoly, and that's dead wrong.
Monopoly \Mo*nop"o*ly\, n.; pl. Monopolies.1. The exclusive power, or privilege of selling a commodity; the exclusive power, right, or privilege of dealing in some article, or of trading in some market; sole command of the traffic in anything, however obtained;"
Note that it says "commodity", not "product." The iPod is a product, MP3 players are a commodity, for example. For Microsoft, Windows is a product but operating systems are the commodity, etc.
And even if Apple controlled 95% of the MP3 player market instead of ~35% they have now, they would STILL have to resort to anti-competitive practices to be legally considered a monopoly.
Microsoft all but has a monopoly on the operating system market (Windows), the office software market (Office), the web browser market (Internet Explorer), and lord knows what else...
But again, just because you control a large portion of the market does NOT mean you're automatically a monopoly. And retaining the exclusivity of your products (i.e., the iPod, iTunes, or the G5) also does not mean you're a monopoly, unless it's anti-competitive to do so, and you exert undue control over that market.
Would someone PLEASE give a decent definition of the differences between serial and parallel drive technologies?
People are bitching about how it's not worth testing Serial-ATA against fiber channel SCSI because of the differences in technology -- serial vs. parallel -- and this makes no sense to me at all, so help me out here!
I agree that this test is sort of pathetic. I'd MUCH rather see how S-ATA stacks up against Fiber Channel. Any thoughts?
I'm still enjoying the sheer irony of a term like "Gaming Workstation." Funny thing is, it's now a completely serious idea, where even 5 or 10 years ago it would have drawn snorting giggles from even the realm of Geekdom.
All women practically swoon at the thought of a pale, rotund geek making advances wearing only a pair of Tiger Man Fur Knickers from Buck Rogers...a steal at only $800.
No true science fiction fan's memorabilia collection is complete without them. *ahem*
As much as I regret saying this, I suspect that may be correct.
Apple has always been known for being friendly to the little fish, mom-and-pop Apple stores around the country, and individual users alike. Lately, however, they've gone a bit kamikazee on their closest allies when it comes to store fronts.
Granted, many Apple resellers out there are sub-par in presentation and product knowledge -- this is why Apple's own stores are doing so well. Apple Store reps can tell you anything about anything (or find out), and their store design and placement are the best in the industry.
Unfortunately, this means the little guys can't compete. I love the Apple Stores, but it means the end of independent, store-front resellers very quickly, and that is detrimental to the entire platform.
Within about 3-5 years (assuming that much "beleaugered" Apple doesn't bite the big one first), I expect that Apple will only have independent resellers in education and online.
Is Apple becoming another incarnation of Microsoft that just happens to give the users what they want, but will wind up holding all the keys?
I guess 80,000 volts really isn't that much considering that the poor guy in the video is shown grabbing the jacketed girl - who looks like she's definitely enjoying herself - multiple times in a row and hardly even pulling a face.
Granted, he's forced to let go, but it's not like it does anything but give him hot hands (no pun, etc) for more than a fraction of a second.
Is the goal here to incapacitate an attacker, or just make the would-be rapist even more out of control, and probably more violent?
"I'm sure you and your readers have already heard about this evil monster"
*clicks link*
.... page loads...
"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."
"I think a lot of graphic designers have grown up on Photoshop and maybe have forgotten how hard it was to learn how to use Photoshop properly and get use to it. I think this is why many existing graphic designers may not want to switch (developers stuffer from the same issue when new languages come out - there is a productivity trade off to be made by sticking with what you areadly know vs. learning a new technology)."
That's exactly the point though. They don't care about how clunky Photoshop is anymore, because they've already learned it, and they don't want to relearn something else that feels (but may not be) just as akward.
This is a terrible cycle. As long as the earlier generation of designers use Photoshop, the next generation will have to. The only way older graphics pros will switch to GIMP, as I mentioned, is if they don't have to learn a new interface.
Therefore, the only solution to GIMP getting graphics pros on its side is to almost completely mirror Photoshop, at least for the time being. Unfortunate, but I think it's true.
Slashdot Mirror
If anyone was wondering why the average test score seemed a little on the LOW side...
DAMNIT! Why can't I get some friggin' SUPPORT here, people?!? It's the same lame excuse every time -- brain tests, operating systems, popular gaming titles, girlfriends: "Sorry...not compatible."
You know what, FINE! Keep your silly brain test... I'm going to go spend some quality time with my Mac, playing Breakout...
-c
Ewww! Since when, I ask you, does anyone want to drink a beer that involves a gray-water treatment regimen? Sounds like they partnered with the Department of Waste Management for this sparkling solution...
-c
Honestly, this is why The Register is a dangerous source for news. NO half-decent news source would ever -- and I mean *ever* -- make up a quote from someone and then go on to say they made it up...
Sheesh dude, where do I even start on this commentary? This sounds like a freakin' scary article (like "destruction-of-all-human-life-on-earth" kind of scary) and the poster apparently thinks it's a cool teaser for a new Sci-Fi Network drama series.
"Will a ring system form around Earth?"
Dude, who cares? We'd all be dead anyway. Without the moon's gravitational pull on the earth, our ocean's stop having tide cycles and stagnate, destroying our weather system and we wind up either frozen like anthro-Otterpops in a perpetual ice age, or crisped in the searing oven of our own planet. WHOOP-DEE-DOO! The scorched and lifeless rock that once was Earth now has a stupid ring, just like that Saturn.
"Will this bacteria destroy satellites and quarantine humanity to Earth?"
Look, the satellites came from where? Our planet. Yes, Earth. And if such a bacteria actually exists, where did it come from? Yes, Earth. So look on the bright side -- unless you see satellites here on earth spontaneously dissolving when engineers sneeze on them, we'll have clear, 100%-pure digital XM radio beaming onto our planet while we roast alive from not having a moon.
"Can this bacteria survive entry into Earth's atmosphere, dooming our planet as well?!"
*whimper* It's... from... Earth...
"Sure, sure... BUT WHAT IF?!"
Explain to me how either "The Phantom Menace" or "Attack of the Clones" achieved Lucas' "truest and finest artistic expression", because from my perspective they were swamped in fruitless eye candy, bogged-down in terrible screenplays, and put-to-rest by taking superior actors and crushing their ability to perform.
They were B-films. Attack of the Clones was at least entertaining, but neither Ep. I or II actually achieved anything groundbreaking or even worth remembering. They were cheap summer action movies, NOT works of art by any stretch of the imagination...
That being said, maybe Lucas *should* hold some focus groups with fans, because from my perspective he's totally out of touch with reality, busy strip-mining his past works to earn barrel loads of cash.
Lucas: "Not really."
Boy, I just feel all warm-and-fuzzy when I think of Lucas now... and I sure am looking forward to seeing "lava surfing" in "Revenge of the Sithians from Outer Space".
They do note that overall, Silicon Valley is down 1500 jobs in the long run though... however that figures...
What the article doesn't mention is that the other 5% - 15% of time, the tomato harvester displayed a strange tendency towards aggressively "harvesting" some of the scientists on the project.
"I'm not concerned," said one scientist, "that's why we have the Three Laws! Robots are perfectly safe and friendly."
For all those who are wondering what "astroturfing" is -- like myself -- here is the Wikipedia definition quoted towards the bottom of the rather verbos Groklaw post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
I hate to play Devil's Advocate, but DUH... look at this from Microsoft's perspective. Having non-Microsoft sources distributing SP2 has two huge negative aspects for them:
1) Unthrottled Rollout
Having P2P'ers flooding the patch to "everyone-and-their-monkey's-uncle" destroys any potential throttle control that Microsoft might have had. Microsoft's initial plan was to trickle the rollout of SP2 out at only 25,000 downloads a day, exclusively via Windows Update. This is extremely practical due to the scope of the patch -- it makes a lot of sense for them to control the release in case a catastrophic show-stopper pops up, and also to allow developers some extra update time.
2) P2P Security Liability
Let's face it, Microsoft has a right to have their skivvies in a knot over people downloading any Windows patches from 3rd party sources. The infamous "Average Joe" (they guy who opens email viruses twice a week) isn't going to do an MD5 checksum comparison on a patch from a P2P net before running it -- who's to prevent someone from hacking up their own little "SP2" cocktail exe and distributing it? Ultimately the shit would hit the fan and Microsoft would take it in the face.
Even those who do check MD5 digits on a P2P-downloaded patch need a trusted source for the correct checksum... again, Microsoft doesn't want to be liable. Sure, it could be argued that Microsoft could provide the MD5 checksum themselves, but then "Average Joe XP User" would never check it anyway because "Microsoft says it's ok, so it must be safe!"
I mean... it sucks... but it's not a "medical problem". Per se.
(*aww crap*)
Has anyone actually looked at this designs?
As a designer myself, I wonder if any of those people thought about their design actually being in use. This is art...and not functional art; modern, useless art.
I'm just thankful none of those designs stand a chance of taking over the simple serenity of the current Google design. Half of why I use Google of Yahoo! is because Yahoo! is crowded, teeming with irrelevent junk... and the current Yahoo! design has a tiny fraction of the artsy design funk of those options.
I think this is another case of artists abandoning reason for publicity :-)
SWEET MOTHER OF...$941 for that thing?! What was Sony thinking? Or rather, what were the Japanese thinking? (Obviously, Sony did alright for themslves.) You'd think with all the tech-gadgets on the market in Japan that never even make it to the U.S., the consumers would be a little more discerning...
They just spent $100 mil on a Tivo-Playstation 2-Stereo combo with a few other tacky, nick-nack features...and the thing doesn't even have MP3 support.
Seems kind of pathetic to me.
Thank GOD for Microsoft...defender of our freedom to choose! Uhhm...wait...
"There's plenty of irony in seeing one monopoly accuse another monopoly of restricting users' choices. But monopolies they both are."
This is a hideously bad understanding of what a monopoly is. A lot of people around /. are saying that any company that's A) Big, and B) Retains exclusive rights to its products, is a monopoly, and that's dead wrong.
Here's a nice short definition, courtesy of Dictionary.com:
Monopoly \Mo*nop"o*ly\, n.; pl. Monopolies. 1. The exclusive power, or privilege of selling a commodity; the exclusive power, right, or privilege of dealing in some article, or of trading in some market; sole command of the traffic in anything, however obtained;"
Note that it says "commodity", not "product." The iPod is a product, MP3 players are a commodity, for example. For Microsoft, Windows is a product but operating systems are the commodity, etc.
And even if Apple controlled 95% of the MP3 player market instead of ~35% they have now, they would STILL have to resort to anti-competitive practices to be legally considered a monopoly.
Microsoft all but has a monopoly on the operating system market (Windows), the office software market (Office), the web browser market (Internet Explorer), and lord knows what else...
But again, just because you control a large portion of the market does NOT mean you're automatically a monopoly. And retaining the exclusivity of your products (i.e., the iPod, iTunes, or the G5) also does not mean you're a monopoly, unless it's anti-competitive to do so, and you exert undue control over that market.
Just for the record...
People are bitching about how it's not worth testing Serial-ATA against fiber channel SCSI because of the differences in technology -- serial vs. parallel -- and this makes no sense to me at all, so help me out here!
I agree that this test is sort of pathetic. I'd MUCH rather see how S-ATA stacks up against Fiber Channel. Any thoughts?
Back to work...gaming...
No true science fiction fan's memorabilia collection is complete without them. *ahem*
As much as I regret saying this, I suspect that may be correct.
Apple has always been known for being friendly to the little fish, mom-and-pop Apple stores around the country, and individual users alike. Lately, however, they've gone a bit kamikazee on their closest allies when it comes to store fronts.
Granted, many Apple resellers out there are sub-par in presentation and product knowledge -- this is why Apple's own stores are doing so well. Apple Store reps can tell you anything about anything (or find out), and their store design and placement are the best in the industry.
Unfortunately, this means the little guys can't compete. I love the Apple Stores, but it means the end of independent, store-front resellers very quickly, and that is detrimental to the entire platform.
Within about 3-5 years (assuming that much "beleaugered" Apple doesn't bite the big one first), I expect that Apple will only have independent resellers in education and online.
Is Apple becoming another incarnation of Microsoft that just happens to give the users what they want, but will wind up holding all the keys?
Here's hoping not... (Roll the empirial march...)
I guess 80,000 volts really isn't that much considering that the poor guy in the video is shown grabbing the jacketed girl - who looks like she's definitely enjoying herself - multiple times in a row and hardly even pulling a face.
Granted, he's forced to let go, but it's not like it does anything but give him hot hands (no pun, etc) for more than a fraction of a second.
Is the goal here to incapacitate an attacker, or just make the would-be rapist even more out of control, and probably more violent?
Seems like they need to up the voltage.
*clicks link*
.... page loads...
"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."
*sigh* Oh yeah, all too familiar...
You mean Hilary bin Ladin, right?
That's exactly the point though. They don't care about how clunky Photoshop is anymore, because they've already learned it, and they don't want to relearn something else that feels (but may not be) just as akward.
This is a terrible cycle. As long as the earlier generation of designers use Photoshop, the next generation will have to. The only way older graphics pros will switch to GIMP, as I mentioned, is if they don't have to learn a new interface.
Therefore, the only solution to GIMP getting graphics pros on its side is to almost completely mirror Photoshop, at least for the time being. Unfortunate, but I think it's true.