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User: highlander76

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  1. handwriting recognition on Carnegie Mellon Offers Wee QWERTY Texting Tech For Impossibly Tiny Devices · · Score: 2

    For the size of the displays in the paper would a simple box for tracing letters and better handwriting recognition software be better?

  2. Re:Excel error? on Excel Error Contributes To Problems With Austerity Study · · Score: 1

    I'm not quite sure how one could make it even more obvious without punching the user in the face.

    Looks kind of like someone filtered / hid some data and then just highlighted the cells. This captures the range of all cells from the top selection to the bottom selection. Not just the visible cells. The subtotal function will operate on just the visible cells. And there is some menu option for selecting only visible cells too.

    I have been bitten by this but you are correct - after unfiltering the data excel very clearly shows me my mistake with a colored border around many cells I didn't want selected.

  3. Re:actually benefit the artists? on Ask Slashdot: Which International Online Music Stores Are Legit? · · Score: 1

    Definitely agree with buying directly at a concert Plus I usually get them to sign the liner. The really cool bands will join me for a beer or three!

  4. End deal for bulk mailers on USPS Reports $15.9 Billion Loss, Asks Congress For Help · · Score: 1

    Make bulk mailers pay full price. This will have many effects: less volume => fewer workers needed, less gas used. Higher revenue per item means the now-smaller workforce is more sustainable. I don't get those stupid spam mails that just go straight into the recycle bin unopened.

  5. Re:Sneaky ads... on Google Develops Context-Aware Voice Search For TV · · Score: 1

    Ads can be relevant. The problem is too often they are not and then they are considered intrusive. I would really like some help in wading through the tons of options. A system that learns that I like Myth Busters and Top Gear would hopefully keep the ads about the latest hospital drama away. Ideally it should be a tool to alert me of things I would be interested in and save me from things I am not.

  6. Re:What Year is it, Again? on Ask Slashdot: Skype Setup For Toddler's Room? · · Score: 1

    I watched tons of TV growing up and I turned out OK. These studies that point out things like declining attention spans are ... HEY LOOK - A SQUIRREL!!...

  7. Re:Try to think sometimes on Ask Slashdot: What If Intellectual Property Expired After Five Years? · · Score: 1

    Include a restriction of requiring approval from the person in the image in order to use the image to advertise for a product/service/political campaign/etc. Doesn't that already exist?

  8. Re:it would work as intended. more resources for f on Ask Slashdot: What If Intellectual Property Expired After Five Years? · · Score: 1

    By the time book 4 is ready copyright has expired on book 1. It's not really worth anyone else printing book 1 as its available on e-readers for free. No-one else will make a deal with Ms Moss under better terms for book 5 because they can't do the group deal for books 2-4. I can negotiate Ms Moss down to almost nothing. I can keep printing book 1 and pay her nothing.

    First, I am not sure that Ms Moss could not find a decent deal for her next book. She has shown a track record of bringing in money. Surely some publishers could find a way to make money off a successful author's next book.

    Second, the publishing industry is changing, and this sounds like it may hasten that change. More self-publishing opportunities will emerge. Advertising will be much more social - people will get book ideas from trusted review and recommendation sites rather than expensive glossy advertising in magazine and on TV (note: I don't actually know if that advertising exists still since I don't read magazines or watch TV :-) )

    Third, the short copyright period makes Ms. Moss need to create more fantastic works to keep her royalty checks coming in, thus enriching the culture with her memorizing stories, inspiring new authors to pursue writing stories of their own. Granted - this will result in a glut of crap flooding into the market but that will result in more opportunities for people to create curated lists of recommended books (see point #2 above).

    Looks like a nice future to me.

  9. Re:They've run out of space...and this is news? on Apple Planning To Build Private Restaurant · · Score: 1

    ... so employees don't have to head out to the local BJ's

    So you're saying Apple is going to start supplying in-house BJ's next?

  10. Re:They don't understand what a TEST is. on Florida Thinks Their Students Are Too Stupid To Know the Right Answers · · Score: 1
    From TFA:

    The response to my comments on Sample Item 7 for SC.4.E.6.2 (page 42), I was told: "Here again I don't disagree with your science; however, elementary educators consistently told us that glass plates are not used in elementary classrooms for safety reasons. They did not feel that 5th graders would be familiar with using glass plates to test hardness."

    Hmmm... This is interesting logic. We don't send 5th graders to war either so should we not teach about WWI, WWII, etc? That would certainly make history class a lot shorter.

  11. Who should write the responses? on White House Responds To Software Patents Petition · · Score: 1

    There is a fairly high bar to get a reply. It would be nice if the President responded to them himself. Take some direct accountability for a response about an issue obviously a lot of people care about.

  12. Re:"connected" by facebook, really? on Yahoo, Facebook Test "Six Degrees of Separation" · · Score: 2

    The article mentions that messages will be sent to the friends. I suppose the theory is that a stranger will just ignore the request while someone with a true connection will participate. It is not just parsing the map of connections among facebookers.

  13. Library on Why Netflix Had To Raise Its Prices · · Score: 1

    My public library has a great selection of DVDs and they will even ship them to the library branch just a few blocks away from my house. Yes, they are not free (taxes, but I pay for it whether I use it or not so I may as well use it.

  14. Interesting reasoning on US Supreme Court: Video Games Qualify For First Amendment · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying I disagree with the decision but I spotted an interesting justification in the pdf. "This country has no tradition of specially restricting chil-dren’s access to depictions of violence."

    What about Rated R movies?

    Another interesting bit: "...Cali-fornia’s Act does not adjust the boundaries of an existing category of unprotected speech to ensure that a definition designed for adults isnot uncritically applied to children."

    So restriction to porn is only OK because it was done before? What about the first ban on porn? Shouldn't that be thrown out and thus the whole history of the ban on porn be thrown out?

  15. Tax tires on Draft Proposal Would Create Agency To Tax Cars By the Mile · · Score: 1

    Taxing miles is a can of worms. City miles probably cost more in infrastructure repairs so a straight tax per miles would unfairly hit rural communities and highway drivers unless some way of tracking where the miles were accumulated is included. Tearing around corners and hitting potholes at 50 mph is probably more wear than a cautious driver so some way of monitoring how the miles were driven would be needed. This idea easily leads to impinging on individual freedoms.

    But tires will wear out more quickly the rougher the vehicle is driven. Seems fair to me. Seems cheap to implement. And seems to keep Uncle Sam's nose out from where it shouldn't be in the first place.

  16. Should be easy for itunes on Apple To Beat Google On Cloud Music · · Score: 2

    All those songs in itunes are already stored somewhere. And Apple already has a list of songs that a user has purchased. So wouldn't Apple's "music storage cloud" basically be adding a streaming service? No real extra cloud storage required?

    I'm sure the RIAA has some cockamamey restriction against a simple implementation though.

  17. Re:# of viewiers? on Microsoft's Glasses-Free 3D Display · · Score: 1

    Distract that annoying guy in meetings who always asks inane questions with a video of bunnies and kittens playing, while the rest of the group gets the real presentation. Another plus: he'll get reprimanded for smiling and giggling while you are showing revenue is down 20%.

  18. Other implications on In Brazil, Google Fined For Content of Anonymous Posting · · Score: 1

    So does this imply that in Brazil anyone who owns a wall is now liable for anything an anonymous kid spray paints on it? Are paper manufacturers liable for anything some kid jots down in class about how big his teacher's ears are?

  19. Re:Worth it? on Fuel Cell Marvel "Bloom Box" Gaining Momentum · · Score: 1

    You are right - companies like those are a bit more aggressive in their investments. Perhaps they saved money having to build out a new power substation or power plant? And don't forget one other thing companies pay huge money for - publicity!

  20. Copy another school? on Univ. of Wisconsin's 30-Year-Old Payroll System Needs a $40 Million Fix · · Score: 1

    Can't they just copy another school? This seems like a wheel that doesn't need ot be reinvented. They could just go ask the University of Minnesota ... oh, wait, what was I thinking? Badgers can't go asking Gophers for help.

  21. Re:American cars.... on Tesla Releases First Official Photos of Model S Sedan · · Score: 1

    How lazy are we? I never understood how turning or pushing a button is too much work. Maybe we are all just too exhausted after stashing our 96 oz. sodas and super size fries into the cup holders?

  22. Re:Humor? Entertainment? on Woman Claims Ubuntu Kept Her From Online Classes · · Score: 1

    This woman chose to address her problem not by calling Verizon for help, not by contacting her school for help, did not contact Dell for help. (She called Dell before she got her laptop trying to change it to Windows but was persuaded against that - that is wrong but for other reasons).

    In short, she chose not to solve her problems, but to blame someone else.

    I wish some other journalist will investigate this story to find out the real story. This story is not very deep on details why she didn't ask for help. But it does make for a good venting thread :-)

  23. Good direction - lead by example on Pickens Plans On Wind Power · · Score: 1

    Our current leaders thinking of building more nuclear power plants while telling Iran that they can't also control their own energy destiny with their own nuclear power plants is a little two-faced. We should gain expertise in large-scale wind and solar and then sell that technology to them. Everybody wins - US is off foreign oil, US sells more technology broad, Iran gets clean energy production, the environment is better off, US-Iran relations are better, and there are no nukes hiding out there.

  24. Speculative? on YouTube Must Give All User Histories To Viacom · · Score: 1

    Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as "speculative" and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives."

    Well, wouldn't tracing through 4TB of logs also be considered speculative?

  25. Re:Death Coil on Helping Some Students May Harm High Achievers · · Score: 1

    If the standard is "average" then if we let the brightest kids stagnate that will bring down the average and we won't be leaving so many kids behind. Problem solved.