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User: Guanine

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  1. Good article about this on Multiple Experts Try Defining "Cloud Computing" · · Score: 1

    Joyent, the best web host I've ever used, recently wrote an extended piece attempting to define cloud computing. They introduced what they call a "CloudScore", and rated themselves as 7/9 on it. Interesting read.

  2. Re:Grisoft dropped the ball with AVG v8.0 on AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet · · Score: 1

    Try ESET's NOD32 Antivirus -- worth every penny of the $35 I paid for it. Small resource footprint, world class heuristics. I think it's now $40 for home users.

  3. Bias lighting? on Best Color Scheme For Coding, Easiest On the Eyes? · · Score: 4, Informative

    The few scientific studies I've found on readability indicate that there is no color scheme that significantly enhances readability -- I would think readability would only be part of the issue regarding the eye strain problem.

    So, what about making your own bias light for your monitor? That will _definitely_ reduce eye strain.

  4. Re:Universities~=Corporate america on IT Students Contract Out Coursework To India · · Score: 1

    EXACTLY, GUYS! I agree completely. In fact, I recently read an absolutely excellent article about these college "degree factories". The title: The Disadvantages of an Elite Education -- good good stuff in that article; meshes perfectly with the sentiments expressed here. Let me know what you think!

  5. Noise... on Hands On With Nvidia's New GTX 280 Card · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, but will you be able to hear your games over the roar of the fans on this thing?

  6. Re:The answer is right there in front of you on The Most Annoying Software Out There · · Score: 4, Informative

    I can help you with that. Grab the latest version of Firefox at Portable Apps -- I would have gone crazy at work long ago without Firefox Portable. The way it works is it installs software to a USB drive, i.e. only to one directory. You miss out on browsing history and page caching (to avoid wearing out your USB memory), but I've used it for 9 months without problems or headaches. Anyhow, I put my FF Portable on a USB stick and start it off that each morning. If you can't mount USB drives, you can run the software off your desktop. If you can't access that website, you could attach the exe file to an email to yourself, renamed to something like firefox.ppt -- enjoy Firefox at work!

  7. The opposite is true in Japan on SMS 4x More Expensive Than Data From Hubble · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From what I've heard, the opposite is true in Japan: their voice plans are expensive compared to ours, whereas unlimited text messages are the norm. This makes more sense because voice is clearly the more bandwidth hungry form of communication.

    I'm told that the driving factor behind this unlimited texting is that it is considered very rude to talk on your phone in public/the subway/etc. Hence texting as the dominant type of communication. Can anyone confirm/correct me on this?

  8. Re:Fog Creek on Tech's Top 10 Workspaces · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Yes, Fog Creek got their office design really really right. I like Joel's focus on the fundamental concept that, while open spaces are cool and can be quite useful, you can't have your entire office be an open space... programmers need PRIVATE PEACE AND QUIET. As he writes in his post about designing the offices:

    Private offices with doors that close were absolutely required and not open to negotiation.
    I hope that places like 37Signals, etc. do have private areas where people can get some uninterrupted time to work -- perhaps they do not show them in the pictures because closed offices don't have the "oh wow" factor.
  9. This is getting old. on Comcast Proposes Self Regulation and P2P Bill of Rights · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd been following this Comcast P2P news in the past, but I hadn't really noticed any issues with torrents over my Comcast connection. So, naturally, I didn't think much of it since things were working fine. But in the past week when I try to download any torrent, web browsing is slowed to the point of being useless -- and that's _with_ upload speeds throttled to 3kbps. I know something changed on their end, because everything has remained identical on mine -- I don't even own the stupid Comcast-issued modem.

    Normally I'm really patient about all this sort of stuff, but I'm paying $59.95 per month on a student budget for shit internet. Fuck this and fuck Comcast. If only I could set up something with a place like Speakeasy and resell to my neighbors... but I can't afford the sysadmin time cost, nor do I feel as comfortable now that Best Buy owns Speakeasy.

  10. Well that about does it on ICANN Moves Against GoDaddy Domain Lockdowns · · Score: 1, Funny

    I've had my domains with Go Daddy for about 5 years, and I knew the company was crappy, but I didn't know they were this bad. Plus, every time I visit their website I feel like I need to take a shower. Off to a better registrar for me, then. Good riddance.

  11. Re:What about FiOS? on Comcast Offers 50 Mbps Residential Speeds · · Score: 1

    Good lord that's a great deal -- I pay $59.95 per month for 6/GoodLuck service from Comcast in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Will I be upgrading? Abso-freakin'-lutely not. I only pay them because there is, I promise you, quite literally, no other option. The phone lines in my building are so old, I doubt dial-up would even working correctly.

    This sucks.

  12. Re:Title of story wrong? on The Grammy In Mathematics · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, the title of the article is correct, this recording did indeed win a Grammy (it won in the category of "Historical"). See more at the Grammy website.

  13. Re:Comcast access stinks (to be blunt) on Comcast's New Terms of Service Disclose Traffic Management · · Score: 1

    I agree with you completely about Comcast. Except, I can't get Fios _OR_ fast DSL. Neither even looks to be on the horizon... and I'm in the capital city of my state (Minnesota). I'd complain about it somewhere else, but no one else cares. Perhaps I'll go back to a rotary phone.

  14. Knee Jerk Reaction on Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion For Yahoo · · Score: 2, Interesting
    1. Can anyone imagine how this purchase could possibly work? I can only see the finances of the two companies united... not the brands themselves.
    2. There are probably a bunch of boardroom guys drooling over "synergistic cross-brand opportunities" right now. Bleugh.
    3. At least this story wasn't submitted by "I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property". If he's so great, bring him on as an editor already.
  15. Re:Sure on Should Wikipedia Allow Mathematical Proofs? · · Score: 1

    Then why do gigantic linked sets of articles on Star Trek and the Dune series remain on Wikipedia? Seriously... why?

  16. Well... on Copy That Floppy, Lose Your Computer · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least they didn't say it would "brick" the computer. Baby steps, folks.

  17. Worthless Numbers on Inside the Third Gen iPod Nano · · Score: 5, Informative

    Many of the numbers iSuppli comes up with are pretty much made up. Regardless, most news organizations assume that the entire difference between retail of the device and the iSuppli number is "pure profit," etc. - this is utter nonsense. Previous iSuppli numbers have been shot down by reason, I hope to see the same thing in this instance.

  18. Re:not evil? how about global warming? on A Coveted Landing Strip for Google's Founders · · Score: 1

    a single economy ticket on a transatlantic flight uses about a ton of CO2
    This is Slashdot - why hasn't anyone called BS on this yet? One ton? Per passenger? The source of this carbon has to be the fuel... which means the commenter is implying a plane carries over 200 TONS OF FUEL converted directly into CO2. This is wrong. Judging from this document, a large jetliner could carry 40 short tons of fuel at the most, all of which does not produce CO2 on anything like a pound for pound basis. CO2 is most definitely emitted in non-negligible quantities - but please provide some facts.
  19. Re:Ad Muncher on Name Your Favorite Bloat-Free Software · · Score: 1

    I agree completely. The reason it can accomplish so much with so little is that it's written in assembly. Quite a program. Needs to be disabled if you're a web developer, though, as it adds a hefty amount of ad-blocking JS to the headers of webpages. That's easy enough, though.

  20. Imagine the possibilities... on LCD Screen With Embedded Optical Sensors · · Score: 1

    ... if this were combined with an 2nd generation iPhone and Delicious Library. It'd be like a handheld barcode scanner to catalog all your stuff. Oh wait, still no SDK.

  21. Not looking forward to this on YouTube to Host Presidential Debate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Has anyone read the comments on YouTube? I've never seen a more putrid cesspool of thoughtless idiocy. Why does anyone expect the questions for the candidates from the community to be any better in quality than the comments?

  22. Good audio example on Why Music Really Is Getting Louder · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a great audio and visual (narrated) example of the "loudness wars" and the way that reduction in dynamic range reduces the quality of the recorded sound. Keep in mind, this isn't audiophile mumbo-jumbo... this is a very real and very unfortunate trend in what the engineers who master albums (specifically pop albums) are required to do to keep their albums "competitive" with all the other loud albums.

  23. No no no on Sun CEO Says ZFS Will Be 'the File System' for OSX · · Score: 5, Informative
    Then he retracted his statement, saying he didn't know if it was the _default_ or not. Here's his quote, from a link on Daring Fireball:

    I don't know Apple's product plans for Leopard so it certainly wouldn't be appropriate for me to confirm anything. [...] There certainly have been plenty of published reports from various sources that ZFS is in Leopard, I guess we will all have to wait until it is released to see if ZFS made it as the default, or if they simply announce that it will become the default in a future release.


  24. Why on the front page? on Second-gen iPhone Confirmed? · · Score: 1

    I love the iPhone news; in fact, I've watched the keynote more than I care to admit... but speculation about the _next_ generation of the phone before the first has been released is ridiculous. It has no place on the front page--of course the next generation will have more memory, a different feature set, blah blah... but holy crap let's wait until the first generation IS RELEASED before posting articles like this.

  25. Re:Used to be high on digg on How to Stop Digg-cheating, Forever · · Score: 1

    Intelligent users fled digg over a year ago.

    THIS IS SO TRUE. Here's the thing: both Digg and YouTube comments make your eyes bleed and force you to reconsider all that is wrong with humanity ... but the Digg comments are aggressively bad. What I mean is, YouTube comments are short bursts of utter stupidity, whereas Digg comments can stretch into these long diatribes of the most ignorant/misinformed/poorly written garbage I've ever seen.