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User: travbrad

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  1. Re:Glad some found on Two Lost Doctor Who Episodes Found · · Score: 1

    Are you saying a publicly funded TV program should be in the public domain? ;)

  2. Re:I skimmed a few... on AMD 'Bulldozer' FX CPU Reviews Arrive · · Score: 1

    smaller should = larger, sry

  3. Re:I skimmed a few... on AMD 'Bulldozer' FX CPU Reviews Arrive · · Score: 1

    Yep. I picked up a 2500K on sale for $150 a couple weeks ago, which is faster overall than AMD's new $280 CPU.

    The power consumption when overclocking these new BD chips is horrendous as well. They are nearing 500WATTS without even loading a video card, while Sandy Bridge is around 250. I guess it's not surprising considering bulldozer has twice as many transistors.

    Phenom II offers better bang-for-buck than Bulldozer, and that's an old architecture on a smaller (32 vs 45nm) process. That is some serious WTF if I've ever seen it.

  4. Re:measuring browsers by speed alone is retarded on Tom's Hardware Pits Newest Firefox, Opera and Chrome Against Each Other · · Score: 1

    [quote]671 milliseconds vs 800 milliseconds page load times in the benchmarks will not be noticeable by a human.[/quote]

    It won't be noticeable loading the 2 back to back, but it can create a perceived difference using it over time. 100ms differences CAN be noticed by humans. Just ask an online gamer if they'd rather have 100ms ping or 200ms. Racing drivers can tell when they are just 1-2 tenths (100-200ms) of a second faster in a sector (about a 30second time period) too, and I've experienced this myself in racing simulators like LFS/iRacing.

    I'm NOT saying it's a big difference, or one that is easily noticeable, or one that we should make a huge fuss over. Your assertion that we can't perceive a 129ms difference is still false though. If that were the case we wouldn't need 30/60FPS videos (a 30FPS frame lasts 33ms) for it to seem smooth.

  5. Re:This is one of the worse bench compil ever on Tom's Hardware Pits Newest Firefox, Opera and Chrome Against Each Other · · Score: 0

    It's Tom's Hardware. That's all that needs to be said really.

  6. Re:Is performance really an issue? on Tom's Hardware Pits Newest Firefox, Opera and Chrome Against Each Other · · Score: 1

    On an old/slow PC yes, it is an issue. I have an old P4-based laptop that I use for email/browsing/reading/etc, and Firefox was extremely slow on that system, while Chrome is almost as smooth as it is on my desktop (Core2-based).

    I certainly agree on a modern system they are all fast enough though. It really comes down to personal preference more than anything. They all have their little quirks.

  7. Re:top one percent of X control large amount of Y on Top 1% of iOS Game Developers Make a Third of All Revenue · · Score: 1

    To even start the discussion of what the rate should be, first we need to be able to actually compare them. In other words, we need to get rid of ALL loopholes. With so many loopholes the rates are almost meaningless.

  8. Re:Makes sense actually on The Cable Industry's a La Carte Bait and Switch · · Score: 1

    Those triple play things are largely a big scam anyway. They lure you in with a great 6month rate, but after that you save NOTHING. After the 6 months you pay exactly what you would for each service individually (I know from experience). They know enough people will just keep the services to easily cover that discounted introductory price.

    P.S. I called Comcast and pointed this out to them, and mentioned switching to DSL. Suddenly they decided they should charge me lower rates. ;)

  9. Re:Trust us on US Military Seeks Non-Cooperative Biometric Tracking Technology · · Score: 1

    Yep, and the whole concept of a "free speech zone" is just insane. We won't restrict your free speech...unless it's here, here, or here. Hiding protesters in places where almost no one sees them isn't how the TPM restrictions are supposed to work, but it's often the case.

  10. Re:What other products on Healthcare Law Appealed To Supreme Court · · Score: 1

    When you have so many parties involved, all of which want (and are obligated) to make huge profits, healthcare is bound to be expensive. Profits are essentially money that was paid for health services which weren't provided. It's not a coincidence that the country of wall-street is the country with the highest health costs by far.

  11. Re:Worse, maybe it's FBI entrapment on Man Charged in Model Airplane Plot To Bomb Pentagon · · Score: 2

    Well C4 doesn't explode on impact, so there shouldn't be a huge risk of blowing himself up if it crashed. You can literally shoot a bullet at C4 and it won't explode, so crashing an RC plane isn't gonna do it. It was fake C4 given to him by the FBI though, so I'd say he was at 0 risk of blowing himself up even if he knows how to rig a detonator (which I seriously doubt if he bought FAKE C4)

  12. Re:If I May on NASA's Big Telescope Avoids Death-by-Budget-Cut · · Score: 1

    That's about average for a government project actually. ;)

    Just like our war (oh wait "conflict") in Libya was going to be a matter of "days not weeks".

  13. Re:Linux client on Netflix To Lose 1 Million Subscribers · · Score: 1

    HTML5 is the future, and virtually all devices will natively support it, so that is probably why they are going the HTML5 route. If it makes you feel better you can keep believing they are dedicated to that 1% market of linux desktops though.

  14. Re:I felt a great disturbance in the Force... on Microsoft Reveals More Windows 8 Details · · Score: 1

    So are youe saying this will be the year of the Linux desktop? ;)

  15. Re:So... on Russia Wanted To Shut YouTube Down For Piracy · · Score: 1

    The Democrats push heavily for "anti-piracy" too, probably more than the Republicans actually.

  16. Re:Okay, I Get That The Guy Didn't Download It, Bu on Anti-Piracy Lawyers Accuse Blind Man of Downloading Films · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the biggest reason people pirate movies is simply convenience. It's the same reason people use Redbox and Netflix. The problem with Redbox is the selection is extremely limited. It really only works if you are interested in the newest and most popular movies. Redbox also requires a physical trip, and while a few mile drive may not seem like much, a few miles is still a lot more than none (particularly if you live through Minnesota winters like me).

    Netflix has a lot better selection, but it still doesn't come anywhere close to what is available to pirate (there are even out-of-print movies). A lot of Netflix's movies aren't available for streaming either, so a 15min torrent download is about 2 days faster than waiting 2 days for mail. I'm not sure what kind of internet you have that it takes days to download a movie, but a typical ripped/encoded movie torrent is only about 2GB.

    Now I'm not saying these reasons excuse/justify movie piracy, I'm just giving some thoughts on why people still do it. I bet a lot of people don't even know about these anti-piracy lawsuits either (it seems like common knowledge to a slashdot user), and probably assume they aren't going to be sued for millions of dollars because that would be insane. ;)

  17. Re:Hyperbole on China Praises UK Internet Censorship Plan · · Score: 1

    Any time an elected official makes a comment about restricting free speech, I'm glad people are upset by such comments. If you wait till it's being voted on to express your opinions, then it may be too late.

    What he mentioned IS pretty much the definition of censorship, so I don't see how calling it censorship is "unwarranted". I agree Fascism is overused though. Almost all nations have small elements of fascism. It's not this black-and-white thing like many seem to think.

  18. Re:Bread and Circuses on @Whitehouse Hosting Twitter Town Hall On Wednesday · · Score: 1

    You are spot on with that. Also a big part of the reason he won in 2008 was from the "youth vote", so I think this whole Twitter thing is trying to appeal to them (and hopefully make them forget that he is basically just George W. Obama)

  19. Re:Dead on Arrival! on Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud · · Score: 1

    Because CDs often AREN'T cheaper? I can't speak for iTunes specifically, but I know amazon mp3 albums are quite often cheaper than the CD version (even before you include the shipping/tax costs on a CD). Creating a backup of mp3s is even easier/faster than ripping a CD (all you have to do it copy to a 2nd hard drive).

    It's very difficult to tell the difference between a high bit-rate mp3 and a CD (and virtually impossible on the listening gear most people have). There are some online music stores that do offer FLAC (or other lossless formats) as well, although not the big ones.

    Yes there are plenty of artists who can put together a whole album of great songs, but there are also artists who don't and it's nice to be able to pick and choose in those cases. Another situation where it's nice to pick and choose would be on "Various artists" CDs where you may like some of the artists but not others. Even in the case of classical composers I often only enjoy some of their work and I think most people would consider Beethoven or Chopin "accomplished musicians".

    I actually think being able to pick and choose is a good thing for music, because it puts more pressure on the record labels to release albums by artists who CAN make an entire album of good songs. "One hit wonders" will often be making $1 instead of $10-15 now.

  20. Re:Won't be included on Macs on Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud · · Score: 1
  21. Re:"Not hostile" on Military Drone Attacks Are Not 'Hostile' · · Score: 1

    We only impeach presidents for lying about blowjobs, because obviously that's a much more serious offense than starting a war without the approval of congress.

  22. Re:Prior art: F1 on GM Patents Data Mining Method For Refining the Chevy Volt · · Score: 1

    http://www.f1technical.net/articles/19 In case you want to really nerd out on F1, like me. :)

  23. Re:Emi on EMI Cannot Unbundle Pink Floyd Songs · · Score: 1

    I've discovered tons of new music through last.fm. Not by using their "recommendations", but by finding people with similar tastes and see what they are listening to.

    If you have a specific type of music you know you like google can find a ton of stuff too. I was looking for some 60s/70s psychedelic rock, so I typed "best psychedelic rock" and found hundreds of albums to check out. There are a lot of forums out there too, although they tend to be restricted to a single genre each. I've found a lot of music that way as well.

    I'm finding more music I like now than I ever did when I was just relying on friends and opener bands at shows. Then again, I like a huge range of music (psych rock, classic rock, some punk, some rap, reggae, psytrance, metal, blues, jazz, folk, classical indian, psychill, ambient, classical), which does make things easier. Even liking all that music, there isn't much I like on the ClearChannel radio though.

    It can admittedly be time consuming though, but that's only natural. Not all music you find you are going to like. It just depends on how passionate you are in regards to music.

  24. And... on Tilera To Release 100-Core Processor · · Score: -1, Redundant

    it still can't run Crysis at 60FPS :p

  25. Re:Shame about the kindle on Amazon Expands Kindle To the PC · · Score: 1

    Your "obsolete" CPU will still be many times faster than anything in an ebook reader. Many netbooks are capable of running Windows 7, which I doubt Microsoft will drop security support for anytime soon (it's been out less than a week..). You could also go with a nice compact linux distro as well.

    I think the hardware (in both the netbooks and the ebook readers) is likely to fail long before security on an aging OS becomes an issue.