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User: el+americano

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Comments · 478

  1. Completely ineffective on Sony Tries To Remove News Articles About PlayStation 4 Slim Leak From The Internet (techdirt.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Naturally, their tactics have been completely ineffective at stopping the reporting. I have to wonder if they were hoping for the Streisand Effect, where angry gamers would share the PS4 Slim photos to get 'revenge' on Sony. People don't seem to care very much about this iteration of the Playstation, and why should we?

  2. Re:Superhuman speed? on A Guitar Robot That Can Really Shred · · Score: 0

    I am likewise disappointed. The music sounds like crap. The only point of reproducing music mechanically, rather then electronically, is for the novelty, but I don't see this guitar player impressing anyone.

    School project level.

  3. Re:For the record... on Review: Eufloria · · Score: 1

    They must not have paid very well to only get a 6/10 score. ;-)

    I have to agree with ripping the Civ gaff, however. How on earth do you compare it to a game you're unfamiliar with?

  4. Re:In Soviet Russia on Free Software For All Russian Schools In Jeopardy · · Score: 1

    > "Linux is free if your time is worthless"

    Why try to make that Linux specific? It's more like, all desktop computers require maintenance. In my experience, Windows computers need more of it. Presumably, the IT guy would not be calling you when he hit a Windows bug he couldn't handle? Well, then the situation is clear, and requires no Linux bashing to justify. He only wanted Windows, and was willing to pay for the licenses. Done.

  5. Re:Analysis of Miguel's article on De Icaza Responds To Stallman · · Score: 1

    Looks like you got hung up on a word and completely missed a valid point.

    Thanks for bringing us back to serious tech talk with your "go back the 90s" take.

  6. Re:you lost me at hello on The Mathletes and the Miley Photoshop · · Score: 1

    The problem is that, unlike mathematics, the law is not applied independent of anything else- especially not in cases where it is patently absurd to do so.

    I don't think the law has a problem with the patently absurd, if it appeal to the person(s) judging the law. Take the 10th amendment. It's absurd to say that it means nothing, but it that is how it is interpreted. How about "breaking and entering" for opening an unlocked door? Why go to the trouble of fixing the law to include what you want, when the judge can just make new law from the bench?

  7. Re:Its not rocket surgery... on Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule? · · Score: 1

    If that works for you, then great, but...

    Calories are king. It has been shown that how many calories you eat is much more important than what kind of calories you eat, for losing weight. This matches what is obvious for most people before they encounter a fad diet book that explains it has the best, trademarked way of losing weight.

    The additional diet techniques can be used once you have the basics down, but too many people think that eating grapefruits, high protein, low carbs, etc. is going to work when calories aren't being reduced first.

    Eat less and exercise more?? Who knew?

  8. Re:"M$" on Richard Stallman Says No To Mono · · Score: 1

    It's basically just an extra set of mod points with no accountability now.

    Not so. If you metamod up or down, the comment's score does not change. The meta-moderation score is still used to detect bad moderators, whether they are doing it intentionally or not.

  9. Re:Sold out on Pirate Bay Announces Sale to Swedish Company For $7.8 Million · · Score: 1

    Of course they do, because many open source alternatives are not up to par to commercial software. Gimp vs Adobe? OpenOffice vs. MS Office? Ardour vs. Cubase/FL Studio/Protools?

    An illegal copy of MS Word, instead of Abiword or OpenOffice? You're kidding, right? It's a normal word processor, it doesn't julienne fries. They're all the same. As for the rest, they get more and more obscure. Gimp does not offer everything that Photoshop does, but how many people require what Gimp doesn't have? Maybe they think they do, but the idea that hordes of people require Windows to do their professional photography and autocad'ing is overstating things, to say the least.

  10. Re:Oh the irony on Out of Business, Clear May Sell Customer Data · · Score: 1

    This is the guy who said he found a way to hack a MacBook's wireless card in under a minute. He canceled his demo at Toorcon and never did disclose enough information at the 2007 Black Hat to verify the sensational claim. He left his job after the incident and started what I assume is a two-man operation. (1 CEO and 1 CTO)

    Here's David's Pwnie Award: http://pwnie-awards.org/2007/winners.html#overhypedbug

    I'm sure there's a lot more to the story, but let's not assume we're dealing with someone who would normally know better. As a security consultant, his best skill is being an alarmist. So this story was right up his ally, and another chance to be in the news.

  11. Re:Worst Mistake That Still Needs Fixing on Fifteen Classic PC Design Mistakes · · Score: 1

    I've opened a couple of Minis, but I always use this method: http://headwedge.com/wordpress/2006/11/01/mac-hack001-opening-mac-mini-wire-method/

    It's slower, but leaves no trace, and it's always been easier to find a discarded ethernet cable than a putty knife.

  12. Re:Anti-monopoly? on Russia Launches Anti-trust Probe of Microsoft · · Score: 1

    It's called lock-in, bitch. The parent explained it poorly as no good alternative. He should've said no allowed alternative or no alternative period, in most cases.

  13. Re:Redirects on Has Bing Already Overtaken Yahoo? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't find that fair. I have always loathed the "search from toolbar" hijack they built into IE. Then I found I had to turn off Domain Guessing AND Internet Keywords in Firefox, and the options weren't even visible in the UI. This bullshit has gone on too long. If the computer illiterate need this feature, at least give it a checkbox:
    http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/domain-guessing.html
    http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html

    Now if you really are in favor of a free-for-all in this area, Verisign should go back to returning their own pages as a DNS result. I think they would have the inside track on sending a user where they did not intend to go.

  14. Re:What about Gazprom? on Russia Launches Anti-trust Probe of Microsoft · · Score: 1

    All your computers need are electricity. If nothing changes, they'll keep working. XP security support will continue until 2014, so that's not an issue yet either. The Russians knew how long XP was going to be supported when they bought it. That EOL date has been pushed out since then, so they already got more than they bargained for. What excuse do they have for not maintaining their computing infrastructure? If they don't want to buy Vista, they don't have to, but they shouldn't expect the alternatives to be free.

  15. Re:url? on Buying a Domain From a Cybersquatter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not again! It seems like this is a popular answer lately to tell people to not ask Slashdot, as if Ask Slashdot feedback isn't useful. Why read this section then? Personally I would value intelligent advice over a lawyer's advice if it wasn't intelligent. Neither source is flawless - no, a law degree does not mean you always know what to do. In fact, in this case, it's not primarily a legal question, but a question of business strategy. Will you now tell him to get off Slashdot and hire a business consultant??

    It almost goes without saying that you can always pay a professional to get answers to your questions. Hearing the experiences of others for free is still a great value - and clever and unorthodox tactics from from a group like Slashdot is priceless.

  16. Re:Choice on Harsh Words From Google On Linux Development · · Score: 1

    Dell's Linux offering includes DVD playback. You seem to be unaware of the customization and additional quality control that OEMs already do for their Windows PCs. You simply do the same thing for a Linux PC, and everything works out-of-the-box. Yes, the professional Photoshop or AutoCAD user wouldn't be served, but presumably those users are aware that they need Windows.

  17. Re:Holy Crap! Calm down on Making a Child Locating System · · Score: 1

    I'd agree, except that does not apply in this case. Since it already happened to his child, it would be logical to assume that the odds of losing his child is greater than 1/7,000,000,000. Keep in mind that it's not only to avoid a headline-grabbing abduction, but any prolonged loss of contact. They may say his child was never in danger, but that is small comfort when you have to spend hours searching for your child after the school calls and asks why your he/she is absent.

    I can also sympathize with the submitter not seeking a solution that depends on the school. Although that might seem a reasonable thing to do, after talking with them, he probably got the impression that they don't think they did anything wrong and would need to see multiple repetitions of this error before taking any corrective action. Parents are a school administrator's #1 enemy - expect to be treated as such, unless they're trying to get money or volunteer work out of you.

  18. Re:I love slashdot, but... on SourceForge To Acquire Development Portal Ohloh.net · · Score: 1

    I tried to allow ads on slashdot. They are in my whitelist for AdblockPlus, but the ads still don't come up, because NoScript is blocking scripts from doubleclick.net.

    I was open to ads on this site, but I will not be unblocking doubleclick.

  19. Re:Meh? on Where To Buy A Machine With Linux Pre-Installed · · Score: 1

    Currently, it's actually much cheaper to get a Windows XPS laptop, since they have an "up to 25% discount" offer, which is only available for the Windows versions. Does it make any sense that it costs more to discount one or the other?

    Some other observations:
    1) The Windows versions have better CPUs. The Ubuntu version's CPU cannot be upgraded. WTF?
    2) No 11n option on Linux. That's understandable.
    3) 1 yr warranty for Linux. 2 yrs for Windows.

    I'd buy the Ubuntu version with no savings, but I can't even get an equivalent deal. I'll just have to wait to get an M1330.

  20. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... on Dell Indicates Windows 7 Pricing Will Be Higher · · Score: 1

    Dell can demand driver fixes directly from the manufacturers as part of the cost of selling to them. Can you do that too?

    On the other hand, I don't know how good their QA is. Maybe their customers find the bugs before they do. Then you might have to wait for driver updates to make things right.

  21. Re:Is it just me, or is Scribd Super Annoying on Scribd Becomes a DRM-Optional E-Bookstore · · Score: 1

    Thanks for that, but I'd rather show my disapproval by not giving them traffic. What I'd really like is an easy way to remove those results from my searches - experts-exchange, about.com, and a few others.

  22. Re:Good for you on Scribd Becomes a DRM-Optional E-Bookstore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ah, the infamous, "These terms only appear in links pointing to this page"

    I blame Google for this more than Scribd. You might think if I took the time to customize my search by including words that won't appear on irrelevant sites then Google would actually check if the terms I've entered are there! When I search on a result page for a term and get nothing, only then do I realize I've been duped. I don't even see a way to work around this limitation. Using something other than Google seems to be the only solution.

  23. Re:Now If We Could Just Get ... on Dell Indicates Windows 7 Pricing Will Be Higher · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nonsense. One of the advantages of buying pre-installed OSes is that the OEM has done customizations and additional system testing with all the hardware configurations they are selling. Dell also sets up DVD playback and covers the license, which is one more thing that will "just work" when you buy from them. They do the same for Windows, but as a percentage of sales, it will cost more to offer a second OS, regardless of what it is.

    That said, I do look forward to more people getting their distributions this way. So many of the Linux-not-ready-for-the-Desktop arguments fall flat on their face when it's installed properly.

  24. Re:Craigslist brought all this crap on themselves. on Craigslist Fires Back Over Adult Services Accusations · · Score: 1

    When you start treating politicians like there's nothing they can do to you, they quickly remind you that you're wrong.

    They found their middle ground, and now they're pushing back against the smaller group who didn't sign off on the compromise. It's called picking your battles. This was a wise moev for craigslist both legally and for PR - or hadn't you notice that they were getting a bad name from this one section of their site?

  25. Re:So trivial there's only one on Apple Hires Former OLPC Security Director · · Score: 1

    He said it's not worth the investment - without supporting the statement in any way. Even if we assume that's true, and everyone agrees with him, there is still plenty of people who would do it for recognition or just to prove it could be done.

    Don't worry, there are still reasons to buy Windows. It's just that security isn't one of them.