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User: muindaur

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  1. Ideapad U1 on Google Preparing iPad Rival? · · Score: 1

    The Lenovo Ideapad U1 Tablet slated for this summer is the first real rival I think.

    It kicks the iPad's rear for the shear fact you get a Windows 7 notebook with a detachable tablet screen that performs the same function as the iPad with WiFi and 3G.

    The tablet part will have an 8 hour battery life running Linux on the snapdragon processor I think.

    I don't care if it looks like a copycat either because it's taking a good idea and expanding on it.

    Full Disclosure:

    I have a strong personal distaste for Apple products due to high price tag with less features.

  2. Re:Why fear terrorists... on Obama Appointee Sunstein Favors Infiltrating Online Groups · · Score: 1

    They are trying to counter bad information not shut sites down unlike Woodrow Wilson; he ordered the Post Master General to prevent any magazines that had a negative opionion of WWI from being allowed to mail. There was aslo the Seditious Acts Law( or something like that I think) that almost had some New York Times journalists imprisoned. They had good lawyers that got them off on freedom of the press and speech.

    It is in no way a violation of freedom of speech to put information out there to clarify a certain point of view but it's the essence of freedom of speech.

  3. Re:Not that bad... on Left 4 Dead 2 Banned In Australia · · Score: 1

    *looks for the nearest sharp, pointy object and proceeds to gouge eyes out attempting to rid the brain of that image*

  4. Re:Why dont I need word? on 20 Years of MS Word and Why It Should Die a Swift Death · · Score: 1

    They would be wise to add some small but important features. In word you can highlight a specific word or group of words for a comment and Word will show a light background behind them. In OpenOffice the note feature puts an arrow under the first letter and doesn't make it clear if its that one word or the entire line. It also doesn't make clear the note that belongs to each one in a sentence with OpenOffice even if it's highlight like Word: unless you have good eyes to see the dashes in OpenOffice. A professor may be tech-savy enough to use Word comments that are a bit clearer during paper grading but they might prefer one standard format that most students use for convenience: most schools have MS Office installed on all systems. The University I attend only has OpenOffice installed on the Sun desktops in the engineering department. The rest is all MS Office and Windows XP.

    I like the free and open concept but for me OpenOffice is just not mature enough for regular use; OpenOffice doesn't even have a method for tracking changes or one that isn't clear. In a collaboration environment that's important. I won't use OpenOffice until it adds some useful features like that or improves upon them since it's poorly done. I need to play with Formula some to see if it does any calculations or is just for making printable formulas that's under the insert tab of Office 2007.

    Oracle has some work to do with it in order to make it a better competitor with Office.

  5. Re:thinking about it on Mythic GM Talks Warhammer Launch, Banning Gold Sellers · · Score: 1

    Or a free one if they continue with a free expamsion and then paid expansion path like they did with DAOC.

  6. Re:Oh really? on Open Source Killing Commercial Developer Tools · · Score: 1

    I blame, in part, Academic Alliance. I got the full version of VS 2005 Pro for free because I was an Info Systems Major under the CS department. There are a few people that still like VS because they've only used C# or VB .net seriously with it. There are some differences between full and express that people will pay for: mobile device support is not available in the express versions. They give away express editions to get people to use their products and get used to it so they go into college or careers with its awesomeness in mind. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2005/aa700921.aspx

    I went away from VS only because I preferred C++ and Java resulting in my gravitation to Netbeans; I'm also a cheapo.

  7. Re:Fair use on Lecture Notes Considered Infringement · · Score: 1

    Actually students do have that right. Fair use allows students to use quotes from copyrighted books in papers, a clip from a movie, or use a clip from a song in a presentation if it pertains to the research that's presented to a class.

  8. Re:Tin Foil Hats!!! on Using Tire Pressure Sensors To Spy On Cars · · Score: 1

    But tin foil hats work for everything.

  9. Tin Foil Hats!!! on Using Tire Pressure Sensors To Spy On Cars · · Score: 1

    Time to break out the tin foil hats so they can't read my tire pressures.

  10. Re:ID Theft? on House IP Leader Endorses P2P Blocking · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't forget to call them out on their FUD in public to prevent others voting for them.

  11. Re:Good luck with that... on Chuck Norris Sues Publisher, Tears Don't Cure Cancer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Right about the satire but he does have a valid case if you read the article. They are still using his name and likeness without his permission: even though the book is satirical and they can get out of a defamation suit there is still the matter of his image.

  12. Re:I know the perfect defence on Houston Police Test Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft · · Score: 1

    After "no trespassing signs on the borders" I intened to put the following:

    end situation sample against: based on some reasons people are arrested such as unauthorized access of a computer system because a cop is too stupid to understand that if the cafe owner says it was alright then it was authorized access and completely legal.Not that common but the fact it happens is asinine.

    but made the mistake of putting it between braces so it got parsed as bad html.

  13. Re:I know the perfect defence on Houston Police Test Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft · · Score: 1

    The innocent have everything to hide and it's all legal. Remember that not everyone has the same morals and some at home activities can go completely against the philosophy of a corporation. I don't want the potential for a cop to know something about my personal life that if brought into the public could cost me my job or cause harassment at work. I keep my personal views to most things to myself and my personal moral values at home and never bring them up at my job to avoid those situations. People lie or pay lip service to a corporate philosophy to keep a decent job: I certainly do.

    So everyone has something to hide that is completely legal but could cost them their job or be embarrassing in the least.

    I would be fine with this drone so long as it did not pry onto my property and have me charged with indecent exposure because some female was watching this thing while I sun bathing nude in the back of a large private property and then the images kept as evidence: a completely legal activity if the property is large enough with enough privacy barriers such as a forest owned by you complete with no trespassing signs on the borders.

    The Simpsons episode with Marge and Homer naked in the pool and the police chopper stops and hovers over the pool.

  14. Re:The right to screw on Video Professor Sues 100 Anonymous Critics · · Score: 0

    Minor correction: at the end of the second to last sentence the wording should be "not completely disclosed." I forgot to remove "spelled" after I changed the wording and missed it in the preview.

  15. Re:The right to screw on Video Professor Sues 100 Anonymous Critics · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've read all the fine print on the CD order page and the User Agreement page and if some of the complaints linked to are true then it isn't just a case of not reading the fine print.

    Some of the complaints are the inability to cancel the subscription. Being billed a few days after the trial and not getting a refund once they sent the discs back in. If you read the fine print on the CD oder page you have 10 days and only have to send in one disc to get the money back. The problem is they don't specify 10 days from order or receipt. This is important if it's sent via the postal service. I have had packages take 12 days to come in via that method. It also doesn't mention on that page that you will be subscribed to subsequent versions.

    When I was younger I used the Columbia music club. They clearly stated the terms and conditions and I had no problem meeting them. I always had the option to write "refused, return to sender" if I forgot to tell them not to send me the current months CD picks. If I remember all I had to do was buy 6 CDs at regular price.

    So no, this is not like the CD and book clubs because the terms they are holding people to are: not spelled completely disclosed. they aren't completely honoring the ones they do, and they aren't giving people the same time frame to return subscription shipments(Columbia was 30 days unopened.)

  16. Re:IBM on EU Think Tank Urges Full Windows Unbundling · · Score: 0

    Though with IE7 and Vista I think MIcrosoft is at least responding to the threat posed by Linux Kernel based Operation Systems by making changes to the core functionality and adding things like tabbed browsing. With Novell Netware about 6 years back and Smart Launch in some game centers today you had the functionality in Windows that let general users use the OS but required them to enter a password to enter admin mode temporarily: I think vista would have been better off with that approach instead of entering the admin password half a dozen times for each action that requires elevation. Note: I'm not sure about the Netware lifespan timelime but I know my High School used it when I graduated a few years ago and we couldn't install anything or run certain programs unless we hit some keys to bring up the admin login box.

  17. Linux Kernel Based OS over Windows OS on EU Think Tank Urges Full Windows Unbundling · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This could push more people towards Linux especially if they have low income and are looking for a cheaper system for school work. Especially if stores were to add a service where you pay a small fee for someone to burn a Linux disk. Ubuntu is an example of an easy to install distribution that they could hand out an FAQ with for the install process or charge $20(or the Euro equivalent since this is in the EU) to go through a basic install.I'm not really sure about the practices in retailers that deal with computers in the EU since I'm from the US so there might be some that already do something similar.

  18. Re:How about 2 sabers? on The Wiimote As Yoda Intended - A Lightsaber · · Score: 0

    The WiiSaber and WiiDoubleSaber anyone?

    I think it can be a new way for George to suck money out of our wallets. They can use the nunchuck code for motion sensing and you could also make the double bladed saber. I know I might spend $200 for both and they would be better especially if an artifical weight is added to give them some balance. Lightsabers were made out of metal and not plastic.

  19. Re:lets do the math! on Comcast Slightly Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I don't think there are games downloading anwhere close to 30,000 3MB if the top post is correct. Most games have a small soundtrack and the various sound files are much smaller than 3MB in size. I took a look in my DAOC sound directory as an example and the files in there were about 400 Megs of sound Spread out over 3000 files. Now if your playing 30 games, the number and size of sound files between games varies greatly, you might go over that limit. Honestly, if you do, then you need to get a life because that is too many games.

    If you are downloading games that might be a few more than 9 games over a month. Considering both you won't realistically download that much if quality games realeased per month and the average amount of files updated per month in patches. I think it's very rare for a developer to patch or update the entire sound set at one time(such as expansions for older, active MMO'S like DAOC and maybe Everquest.

    The only time I came close to the COX 60GB cap in a month was when I decided I wanted to DL a bunch of fansubs and in about a week had more than 30GB of Anime on my hard drive: 13-70 Episodes per series.

  20. Re:In other news.... on G.I. Joe No Longer the Real American Hero? · · Score: 0

    When he figures out how to put the friken lasers on their heads and builds the robot water tanks so they can roam the desert.

  21. Re:Depends on what you mean by "right". on Copyright Alliance Says Fair Use Not a Consumer Right · · Score: 1

    Nothing! I bought an import Naruto Best Hits Collection CD from Sony that had DRM that prevented it from being ripped by the average user: It used a dual session disc with a special player that was in Japanese. However if one had Nero they could rip it easily using Neros built in ripper. Windows Media Player and other Windows players could not see the first session for some reason. Recently I switched to Ubuntu and Rhythom Box (!fanboyism for Ubuntu only a statement of where I discovered this) read the first session perfectly fine. There have been a few other DRM laden discs that were esily defeated by holding down the shift key(it may have been the ctrl or ctrl-shift key.) Hence they may TRY to prevent someone from using it anyway they please through DRM but there are still ways of accessing copyrighted material they way you want to, ripping it, that don't require many steps to go out of your way other than forcing you to not buy it. Bypassing DRM might not be legal but I would rather bypass it if I get the surprise instead of tossing the disc. They can bite my shiny, metal ass.

  22. Re:Can you say "class action" ? on Comcast Forging Packets To Filter Torrents · · Score: 0

    It would but I also paid Cox for the bandwith(40GB per month) for my file and for the amount I'm paying they better have the network infrastructure to handle all the traffic. http://www.cox.com/policy/limitations.asp

  23. Re:tagged: spacedrama on Gouge Found on Shuttle Endeavour's Underside · · Score: -1

    Reality TV for nerds.

  24. Re:So more grind... on World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King Officially Announced · · Score: -1

    You forgot to mention. You can be away from the game for 3 weeks and still get experience since skill training continues when you're logged out. You just need to grind for the cash to buy the skill books, ships, and equipment: unless you find a corp with loaner gear.

  25. Re:specifics? on Broadcasters Want Cash For Media Shared At Home · · Score: -1

    But with these it will mostly be the sheeple that buys into it out of fear: reminds me of the circular prison concept with one guard that can see all the prisoners in the cells but the prisoners can't see him. Personally it won't stop me from doing those things as I am sure it won't stop most people on /. since they don't care one way or the other or like me feel it's my right since I purchased the music and will find ways around DRM like QTFairUse.