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User: MrCrassic

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  1. Re:The secret to smart kids?? easy... on The Secret to Raising Smart Kids · · Score: 1

    I can't agree more with this.

    My dad always wanted me to play baseball, but I discovered after seven years of sucking at it that I was just no good at it. However, that didn't kill my interest in sports as I landed up trying (and eventually getting really good at) bowling and now cycling.

    But the only reason why I can say I was able to do that was because my did didn't throw in the towel when he realized that I was not going to be the pro baseball player son that he wanted; he just let me experiment with what I liked and never quit encouraging me (unless I was doing something bad, of course).

    It's just sad that most of the "smart" kids in school couldn't survive even with everything handed to them because they were told and shown that "smartness" was reflected by your grade average and were failures otherwise...

  2. Re:Mental Disabilities on The Secret to Raising Smart Kids · · Score: 1

    I don't think that I can believe that Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to summit Mount Everest, could do it simply because he had the skills. There are many Americans who are stricken with the same disability and refuse to do anything but live off of their social security payments and small odd jobs, and most of them do so (statistically) because they have been repeatedly reminded that their blindness is a disability.

  3. Re:Shorter Lifespan on IT's Love-Hate Relationship With Laptops · · Score: 1

    In my opinion and experience, I don't think this is quite accurate. I have an uncle who travels around the world for business, and he is still reliably using his IBM Thinkpad 600E from 1999! Even the battery still has an hour and some time left on it!.

    I think it's the laptops made more recently that are planned to go the wayside in about 2 or 3 years. Even then, business class laptops are designed to last a lot longer than that.

  4. Re:You miss the point entirely on 'Gamercize' Cardio at Our Desk · · Score: 1

    Even as an intern, I can attest to this. I am a cyclist and training to race, and it didn't take long before my weekly mileage went from somewhere in the 100's to struggling to fit in 40 or so.

    When the boss wants you in at 8:30A, wants you out at 6:30P, and then there are meetings and the commute to worry about, it can get really tough to find time to do much of anything. Plus, it's just not safe to ride in the night, which is difficult to avoid now.

  5. Re:Right, "wrestling power" on How Not to Build a Cellphone · · Score: 1

    Okay. Here's the honest question then: the iPhone rate plans are priced below what comparable plans were before the launch (and in many cases, what other smartphone plans are even now). $59 a month with unlimited data and the REAL Internet. How are you getting "raped" (and why must everyone use such absurd and vulgar imagery to describe *voluntary* business transactions)?

    I think this statement is flat-out incorrect. Even on this article (as well as my personal confirmation), it has been stated that T-Mobile offers a perfectly useable $20/month internet plan with EDGE/GPRS and potentially 3G when it gets rolled out sometime this or next year. It even allows tethering, which AT&T charges an extra $10/month on their currently LOWEST internet plan ($44.99/mo). T-Mobile's plan also includes the use of HotSpots at any location, which can be infintely helpful at Starbucks or airports or whatever. FWIW, I appended an UNLIMITED text message bundle and STILL pay less than I did when I was with Cingular (hint: you don't really feel their 3G speeds anyway).

    As far as the iPhone is concerned, it's a purely amazing device, but a little too basic for my tastes. With a Treo 750, I can FEEL efficient, whereas with an iPhone, I don't (even though most of its functions have really cute transititons and useability). Not even having Terminal/SSH/whatever can save that.

  6. The Most Important Question on Open-Source 3D Printer Lets Users Make Anything · · Score: 1

    How much will this "ink" cost???

    Or can you print some new ink and turn it into the infinite cycle???

    Sorry if this was in the article. The read was /.-ed.

  7. Re:Jock? on YouTube For High-School Jocks · · Score: 1

    OR they evolve into multi-million dollar sports superstars who committ some of the dumbest and most irrational events, such as (publicly) releasing dog-fighting information, or badly covered-up rape scenarios, or (with the help of their coach) getting a cruise ship full of whores and prostitutes and having everyone know about it (Vikings)...

    Of course, there are sports for the more intellectually inclined, like cycling, running, etc. Then again, being successful in those sports requires a good working knowledge of physics, sports medicine, etc. instead of "throw the ball into strike zone..." (even though that uses pretty high-level concepts).

  8. I Can See It Already. on Focus Fusion On Google Tech Talks · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I am not a physicist, but does anyone other than myself see the next "Perpetual Motion Machine" coming to rise? If $2M isn't enough to buy even the cheapest of power supply plants, then I highly doubt that you can build yourself a plasma-generating machine on that money alone.

    Hell, if that were possible, it would have definintely been done already. Some executives in this world can shake that much pocket change out of their pants. Daily.

  9. This Is Great, But... on Samsung Unveils 64-Gbit Flash Memory Chip · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Has Samsung improved on the inherently bad Flash write speeds? If not, then I don't really see too much of a point for anything other than desktops (where much more revenue could be made for server or workstation-based uses).

  10. Re:The next Big thing, again on Microsoft to Pay $240 Million for Stake in Facebook · · Score: 1

    Rest assured that if that name change happens, there will be a cold and sudden halt to the beautiful growing userbase that they are enjoying now.

    While I don't live the idea of Microsoft having a stake in Facebook, I think that Zuckerburg did it mostly for the additional potential cash flow. I don't think that they will allow Microsoft to step outside of their advertising agreement (which they already have in the form of the Microsoft Student Group and several small ads for Vista and Office).

  11. Re:Unlimited on NY Wrests $1 Million From Verizon Wireless · · Score: 1

    While T-Mobile's service is pretty good and many Verizon users would switch if they had the choice, their phone selection continues to be behind the curve and they are STILL the only American company without any functional 3G towers operating yet. I don't understand why this is when T-Mobile Germany is one of the top providers (akin to Verizon here) and has one of the fastest 3G networks and the best phones for the buck.

    Who would want to pay the insane rates that Verizon charges for a cellular technology that's dying anyway?

  12. Re:Critical thinking on Gen Y Tech Savvy, But Not Interested in a Career · · Score: 1

    I would have to agree with this, since it was the academic style of the 1950's and before that prompted Thomas Kuhn's revolution in scientific education...

  13. Re:Lazy Kids ! on Gen Y Tech Savvy, But Not Interested in a Career · · Score: 2, Informative

    While that might be true, not all "15-year-old kids" can get up and get the CompTIA A+ certification that would allow them to work at bigger places and actually make profit for their knowledge...

    Hell, not even some older, more experienced techs can establish their skills into something profitable. People always need a technican; I believe it's just a matter of how well the game is played.

  14. Re:Aside on Vista Vs. Gutsy Gibbon · · Score: 1

    Actually, on a home computer there is no reason whatsoever to use Norton AntiVirus, but the tool is indispensible for corporate environments. They could switch to an open-source or free (as in beer) software, but deployment, installation, maintenance and UPDATING (this is critical) of the Norton client is significantly easier and it is not the resource hog of its home compliment.

  15. Ha. on Note To Criminals — Don't Call Tech Support · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder how far he would have gotten printing those IDs, even with the driver...

    At least that's one petty thief removed for the good of everyone.

  16. Confused. on VMware, Cisco Plan Data Center OS · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is this implementation going to set up virtual servers aligned as a data center, for which virtual computers can access? Or is this an idea for a completely custom virtualization-based operating system that offloads one huge datacenter onto single computers?

    If either is the case, how is that any different than either setting up a test server (or servers) with VMware computers all connected to each other using physical connections, or just having multiple VMware sessions on one computer all interconnected using a single connection?

  17. This is just OK on Hitachi Releases World's Most Energy-Efficient HDD · · Score: 1

    I think that while a power-cutting hard drive for desktops, workstations, and servers is a great idea, I think that would be much more critical for a laptop, since power is its biggest limiting factor (i.e. the obvious). Why don't companies focus on maximizing flash storage for higher performance in these settings? That way, servers can not only get completely awesome read speeds, but hopefully boosted write speeds at rates comparable to platter-based hard drives. Or, at least until that idea substantiates, much faster hard drives than what we are limited at now (15K RPM)?

  18. Re:Cheaper than parking on the street on Very High Tech - Elevator Garages in an NYC Hi-Rise · · Score: 1

    I have to second this, as a person who just moved back to New York from New Jersey.

    I had to do some heavy lifting for my mom's business, so I borrowed one of our cars for the week and brought it to NYC. I am a cyclist, so I try to bike to work as much as I can to get more training time. With my bike, "parking" is as easy as lifting my ride to my apartment (no elevators here!) and putting it right next to my computer area. When I had this car, however, I had to make sure that it was parked on the alternate side of the street, every business day, without fail. Failure to move it costs $45.

    Another large concern was the area that I live in. My part of Brooklyn (Sunset Park), while much safer than its past history, is still a bit questionable. I, for one, would definitely not park my Bentley anywhere on that block. The car that I used is a 1993 Acura Legend, and I still was very wary of leaving it parked there. It's also diabolically hard to find parking anywhere there; one can wait on the order of an hour or so for one to open up nearby my apartment. There's also the option of taking the chance and parking it under the Gowanus Expressway, which is a big concern for me for the issue mentioned above.

    Furthermore, driving the car anywhere around New York City was a huge pain. I did most of my work on weekends, and the hardest part out of all of my trips was getting in or out of Manhattan. The ironic part of that was that taxi cabs, the solution to this problem, also manifests it several times over. Getting to Midtown by bike has always been as fast, if not faster, than driving or using mass transit (and I average 19 - 22 mph on these trips).

    Compounded with insurance, additional services and the ever-increasing cost of gas (heading towards a cool $100 per gallon, as per today's Wall Street Journal update), buying a nice $2000 road bike makes a hell of a lot more sense in New York than funneling cash flow into an auto. Unless you go to New Jersey a lot.

    Did I mention that auto parking lots let bikes park there for free when cars usually cost $20 - $50 an hour?

  19. Re:This is Great! on Microsoft Finally Bows to EU Antitrust Measures · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the reply.

    I'm just curious; why was the old Exchange implementation very hard to reproduce in other software? Isn't RPC still used to this today (included as used actively in Outlook 2007)? I know that their Entourage software uses WebDAV, but I thought that RPC was still being developed actively, which, if reverse-engineered, would solve Exchange incompatibility issues??

  20. Since the Palm III on Palm Before the PalmPilot · · Score: 1

    I have been a loyal customer of Palm since they released their Palm III under U.S. Robotics. The one favorite feature that I think is still overlooked by many of today's PDA competitors (including Palm themselves) is the utter simplicity of it. All of the programs were dead simple to use. You entered your agenda in the Calendar. You synced and checked your e-mail. It had a (relatively) powerful calculator. It came with the bare essentials, and that's it.

    I think it was these concepts that made the Treo 650 such a great and revolutionary mobile PDA device. The form factor was ingenious like their classic Palms, but the interface was simple, yet extremely robust. Anyone could learn how to use it, and anyone could make it as complex as they wanted (without pushing the software's limits, of course). Now thinking back on it, it's rather sad that their management went down the tubes like it did.

    Now that Palm's out of the game, we have PDA operating systems that focus on bringing the PC to the mobile device, which I think was never the point of the PDA. That's why Windows Mobile has been able to get away with bringing out its mobile platform, which is, for all intents and purposes, a mobile version of their Windows operating system, but with more fluff for a mobile. Then there's Apple with their mini OS X, which is a whole different ballgame.

    When Palm updates their OS, I hope that they keep their original model of simplicity intact. This concept is quickly becoming an afterthought.

  21. This is Great! on Microsoft Finally Bows to EU Antitrust Measures · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe we can finally see some competitive open-source software platforms, like a better Evolution client (full Exchange capability, maybe?) or a better OpenOffice.org?

  22. Yes. on Do OpenOffice Users Save In Microsoft Format? · · Score: 1

    Most of my work is shared with many people, so whenever possible, I try to save any documents done with OOo to DOC. ODT is not bad at all; it's just that most people would not be able to see it, and would not want to go through the hassle of Google Docs.

    I can easily see more corporate/professional types saving their docs in this format too, either by force or by obligation. I'm sure that when Microsoft supports ODT (which is a 95% bet on never), then more people will recognize and embrace it.

  23. Re:February is kind of a long time, isn't it? on Steve Jobs Announces iPhone SDK · · Score: 1

    I would be careful about the comparison between Palm and Amiga, even though their low points are definitely related.

    Palm's advertising is still pretty strong, and they are still picking up sales with their Windows Mobile-based Treos. Not only that, their devices are still getting strong positive reviews from almost all significant critical points. Of course, their devices are not getting the spotlight anymore like the Treo 650 did because there have been many other innovations that have come and gone during their more recent past, one of which was the iPhone.

    If I were an investor in the company (which I soon will be; I think they still have great potential and are getting closer to making big waves in the industry again), I wouldn't even care so much about Garnet anymore. That portion of Palm is quickly dissolving in management woes and is, in the grand scheme of things, extremely insignificant. I doubt ALP will come out anytime soon, and when it does, I'm sure that it will be amassed with several of its own issues (either that, or the company would have perfected the Palm-Windows Mobile collaboration to push Windows Mobile device market share up).

    ALl I know is that I sure wouldn't want to develop for Palm; if I remember correctly, for every 1 stable app there were dozens and dozens of bug-ridden ones (most of them causing serious operability flaws, like resets and stuff).

  24. Re:February is kind of a long time, isn't it? on Steve Jobs Announces iPhone SDK · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't turn the game off on Palm yet, as they just release the Centro this week to Spring and their stock actually went up 12% a day or two ago. Supposedly, the Centro is designed to provide a smartphone for the masses (still comes with Garnet, but I think they have a Windows Mobile version too), and is priced very competitively to almost everything else ($199 MSRP).

    I still follow Palm, as they release very solid devices and even better phones (the Treo 750 holds testament to this). Their software is severely lacking, but they optimized Windows Mobile for their use, which I believe was the better choice until they can get their act together.

  25. Re:It was reported as a done deal on Oracle's $6.7 Billion Bid for BEA Turned Down · · Score: 1

    I noticed this too, but it did seem as if the deal would be solid.

    I really don't know much about BEA outside of its Wikipedia entry, but I'm sure that since their solutions are database oriented (correct me if I'm wrong, please), having (what I would suppose would be) full access to Oracle's codebase is extremely advantageous.

    With the way Oracle has been performing lately on the stock market, I'm sure BEA will regret not having taken this offer. If anything, their rejection may actually harm them in the long run as investors may seem them as missing the mark...

    Just pure speculation here...