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User: anethema

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  1. Re:This is sad on Samsung Accused of Paying For Negative HTC Reviews · · Score: 1

    Yeah. HTC one would be my #1 phone to go to right now if their battery was removable. Not because I want to swap batteries (I'm used to my iPhone and not having that ability) but because I'm sick of charging all the time and like the SIII, there will be kits for the S4 so vastly increase your battery at the cost of some thickness. If I had this option with the One, I'd be all over it like a fat kid on a cheeseburger.

    Still might go that way since I like the design so much more than the S4. Have to weigh my options when I buy I guess.

  2. Re:3D printers will not be popular at any price on Gartner Says 3D Printers Will Cost Less Than $2,000 By 2016 · · Score: 1

    Lost wax, like PLA, is generally just burned away out of the mold. You just blow the ashes out. Recycling in this case isn't the main concern.

  3. Re:Holy Mixed Unit Systems Batman! on Crazy Eric Schmidt, His Yacht Prices Are Insaaane! · · Score: 1

    Assuming the distances are given in normal miles not nautical miles, and the capacity, this would run though the 1.3 million liter tank in 93 days, giving a fuel consumption of 152.8 gallons per hour. OUCH.

    Given the average US diesel price at $4 or so, this is $611 per hour or $14668 per day of travel. Total tank value around 5.2 million bucks.

    Or to put it how most car drivers would want to see it, about 0.0903 miles per gallon. Also ouch! That would make me want a big sailboat instead! Then again if you're Google's CEO I guess this gets affordable, but even then $14k per day seems steep.

  4. Re:3D printers will not be popular at any price on Gartner Says 3D Printers Will Cost Less Than $2,000 By 2016 · · Score: 1

    Lost PLA works just as well, but yes printers can extrude wax. There have been DIY versions, and there are commercial ones as well. Shapeways uses commercial wax printers to do lost wax casts of prints commercially. Just upload your file to em and they will give you a silver version of your file !

  5. Re:3D printers will not be popular at any price on Gartner Says 3D Printers Will Cost Less Than $2,000 By 2016 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So your point is..because paper documents have gone out of fashion...all physical objects are also useless? Or do you think paper printers aren't cheap and ubiquitous ? I built a 3D printer, and I don't print toys/models.

    I broke a wheel on my dishwasher? I just drew one up and printed it, good as new. I broke a handle on my fileting knife..I printed one nicer than the original which has a fish gut scooper on the handle. I've printed brackets for my truck, pieces for the printer itself, and if I got really enterprising, I could use the printed plastic to make a lost-plastic casting and cast myself metal versions of anything I wanted. (See here: http://3dtopo.com/lostPLA/ )

    My printer was under a thousand start to finish but that was self built so a lot more work than something you just unbox. (Mendelmax 2.0 from makerstoolworks.com if anyone cares(no affil))

    Anyways, does it make pure financial sense? Maybe, maybe not. Does the ability to make any physical object that fits within my printers dimensions within a few minutes or hours make it worth it for me? Definitely. Some things take weeks when you need them now, sometimes you need to try 10 versions of something before it would make sense to pay for a final high quality one to be made. Sometimes its an object not important enough to spend the time and money on if you need to send away for it, but it would be neat to have. There are a million reasons I think 3D printers can work for the average Joe and see regular use.

  6. Re:Once again Canada leads the way. on Supreme Court of Canada Rules That Text Messages Are Private · · Score: 1

    Actually "canadian bacon" does not come from the belly. It comes from the loin on the back of the pig. Plain ole bacon is pork belly bacon, which is the same here in Canada or in the USA (Though if you go elsewhere in the world, just asking for bacon often gets you back bacon).

  7. Re:Eh, that's it? on Samsung Unveils the Galaxy S4 · · Score: 1

    Actually while the 3GS didn't seem to bring much to the table, it was one of the more worthwhile upgrades in the iPhone line.

    The 3G had the exact same specs other than 3G as the original iPhone. So it was really behind, especially on memory capacity. The 3GS was night and day, The keyboard was responsive, transitions very smooth, apps opened near instantly, etc. Far more difference than say the 4 and 4S.

  8. Options for every need: on Ask Slashdot: Best 3-D Design Software? · · Score: 2

    I do 3D printing and talk a lot to the designers of the big printers. As mentioned above, you definitely don't want Blender, or any of those other surface modelling apps. They WILL work, but tend to suck for dimensional accuracy, and you can create weird crap that cant actually exist.

    I think if money is no object, Solidworks is by far the easiest and most powerful thing you can jump into, with tons of resources on the net. If you can afford the price tag or are going to pirate it anyways, Solidworks is great.

    The mendelmax series of printers is designed by maxbots. He personally uses Alibre. He says it does a lot of what solidworks does, and with some caveats, thinks that for the 99$ it is a great tool and all you'll ever need for basic 3D modelling. Depending on your patent stance, 3D systems owns a shit ton of patents on 3d printing in general and they don't hesitate to use them to close down infringing competitors. This may sour you.

    If you want a fairly nice option that is getting nicer every day, FreeCAD is obviously free, open source, and is a fairly nice tool. Obviously no Solidworks, but the price is right!

    And the last but certainly not least is OpenSCAD. You write your 3D models like programs, and it will render them. This allows some very cool time saving things, but it is obviously a bit less visual, so it depends on how you think, design, etc, and what your background is. Many of the things you will make in OpenSCAD will end up being parametric as well, making resizing and changing things somewhat easier. That being said any of the above tools can create parametric designs.

    Anyways good luck, I love 3d printing, and would love to get a mill some day! Or maybe just start casting my prints using the lost PLA method: http://3dtopo.com/lostPLA/

    Have fun!

  9. Re:Remove keys from ignition? on Driver Trapped In Speeding Car At 125 Mph · · Score: 1

    Yeah up north here working in the oil fields, your diesel needs to have a positive air shutoff, which will kill a diesel even if the fuel keeps getting supplied (because H2S in the air will make it keep going I guess). If I ever got my own diesel I'd probably have one installed.

  10. Re:Australia on Pepsi To Release New Breakfast Mountain Dew · · Score: 2

    Actually in Canada, "Glucose/Fructose" is just BS to hide the fact that it is also HFCS. No difference from USA sweetener.

  11. Re:HDPE, LDPE, ABS, NYLON... on The 3D Un-Printer · · Score: 1

    Maybe. Almost any recyclable plastic explains what kind of plastic it is with a number referencing the type.

    http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/recycling-symbols-plastics-460321#slide-1

    Here is a page with pictures explaining some of them.

  12. Re:Nylon? on The 3D Un-Printer · · Score: 1

    If you would have opened it you would have seen they tried both. Weed whacker line was the stuff they used as non-3d-printing nylon.

  13. The Perry Bible Fellowship on Ask Slashdot: What Was Your Favorite Web Comic of 2012? · · Score: 3, Informative

    It has to be my favorite. It is too bad it doesn't get updated much anymore.

    http://pbfcomics.com/

  14. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago on But Can It Run Crysis 3? · · Score: 1

    Crap I'm a dummy. Committed to writing no less.

    I'm thinking of Farcry 3, not Crysis 3. They shared an engine (Though modified) and I mixed them in my brain.

    I stand by the fact that I haven't played any of them though.

  15. Crysis 3 leaked some time ago on But Can It Run Crysis 3? · · Score: 4, Funny

    On private torrent sites at least. Can't find it on TPB.

    Just download it yourself and see if you can run it.

    IF I had pirated it and played about half the campaign already (which I haven't I'm too moral!), I would say it runs perfectly on my system. Quad core i5 2500k and Geforce 670, but that is fairly high end, no idea how it would run on a lower one. Or mine..since I haven't played it.

  16. Re:Why I'm not having kids on US Birthrate Plummets To Record Low · · Score: 1

    You get 100% of that from having a dog.

    When I come home he SPRINTS for the door and I've never seen anyone happier to see me. When he was so sick he could barely lift his head and had to be put on an IV, he depended on us utterly and it was so sad to see.

    The only thing missing from what you said is the 'brought someone into the world' stuff, which is just your biological animal side driving you to have children. But you're not an animal.

    With the dog, he will never grow up and get hooked on heroin, or commit suicide, or keep me up all night wondering if he is out getting knocked up, etc etc.

    I think if raising your child is the most important thing you will ever accomplish, you are just passing the buck on doing things of true importance yourself.

    Imagine Tesla had married and had a child rather than fathered the electrical system we use today. Which would have been more important?

    Or if Alan Turing had had children rather than fathering computer science as we know it ?

    Heck Einstein had a son, but many reports show him getting ignored quite a bit along with the wife (They later divorced), and IMO Hans Einstein is hardly the most important thing Albert Einstein produced.

    We can't all be Turings or Teslas, but it doesn't mean that raising a child is the most important thing anyone with children can do, there is a lot one can contribute on their own. IMO it mostly seem that those with children wanting to contribute important things often must ignore their children to do it, which in essence makes it so if you DO have children, you are stuck in making them the most important thing, rather than contributing greatly yourself.

    Fine if it is your choice but it is certainly not mine, nor the choice of many if the story is accurate.

    Maybe with less having children we will start having those few geniuses among us better able to exploit their brains towards science and mathematics and we could maybe see a few more large leaps in the state of the art which is so rare these days.

  17. Re:Suck it! on Android Hits 73% of Global Smartphone Market · · Score: 1

    I owned the S3 from when it came out until last month, and I much prefer a 4S or 5 iPhone to it. Mostly a matter of preferring iOS though. I like having cloud sync for my stuff, Apple TV playing movies and music on my stereo system/TV with the touch of a button, etc. I'm probably just used to iOS, but I keep trying Android and it keeps annoying me and I end up back with iOS.

    The S3 hardware is nice, but I don't see how it is six years ahead of an iPhone 5.

  18. Re:It's the price, stupid on Why Ultrabooks Are Falling Well Short of Intel's Targets · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm in the same boat somewhat. I keep trying to switch, and KEEP getting burned.

    Decided I want a big slunker gaming computer. Bought the Asus G73 when it came out. Was working fairly well but within about 8 months it was having some issues, trackpad, screen etc. No problem, I'm used to the Apple support, Asus has a good rep, lets call.

    What a disappointment. My only option was to send the laptop in so they could diagnose and repair it at their leisure. Reports online say it often takes a month. This is my primary and sole computer. I tried explaining that but nothing they could do. I offered to buy a nicer warranty, or buy the parts myself and replace them and agree my warranty would henceforth be void. Nope! Send it in.

    I sold it for a steep discount to a buddy and bought a mac.

    Know what Apple does in this situation? "No problem sir, your new computer is in the mail. Simply take a time machine backup, wipe it, place old computer in the box the new one came in, rip the shipping label off, drop it off for free shipping back to us, and restore the backup. Have a nice day."

    It seems you cannot even BUY that kind of warranty from most PC makers. Some even seem to try to find excuses not to fix your device. Apple has even replaced my phone after I broke the screen. They said they normally don't but just this once they would.

    They may have a terrible corporate attitude but they are hard to get away from since most other aspects of owning their products is so positive.

  19. Re:Again on Will Apple Vs Samsung Verdict Be Overturned? · · Score: 1

    I'm a sample size of 1, but for what it's worth, I've been using an S3 for the last few months, and will be going back to iOS in a few days.

    I still find Android more frustrating to use and less streamlined in many ways than iOS. Though iOS is sure showing its age looks wise these days.

  20. Re:Again on Will Apple Vs Samsung Verdict Be Overturned? · · Score: 1

    I'm on an S3 and enjoy it but even having done some minor reading you are totally incorrect on some major points.

    CPU: Clock speed means shit all in desktop OR mobile CPU's and has not for a while not. The i5 is an in-house designed ARM chip which is basically A15 class, not A9. The S3 international uses Tegra 3 which is a 4 core A9 CPU, and the American version uses another in-house developed chip by Qualcomm, which is also closer to A15 class. BOTH VERSIONS are slower in every benchmark than the Apple CPU.

    You mention not being able to kill processes on iOS which is totally incorrect as well. Double tapping the home button brings up a task manager to kill whatever you want. You can also kill -9 an app by holding the off button until the slider comes up, and then holding home until the process dies. Both of these have been in iOS for a long time now, the latter method in one form or another for years.

    Your other points are closer to the mark, but you should do a bit more research before arguing a point. Many of the things I mentioned are easily available in Wikipedia or other google-able sources.

  21. Worth it for a while now.. on Are SSDs Finally Worth the Money? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Putting a SSD as my OS/game drive has made by far the largest difference I've ever seen in a single upgrade.

    In the past it was: "More ram..ooh yeah bit smoother...Faster CPU, bit peppier..." Etc, helped but not blow your socks off.

    You put an SSD for your main apps, OS, and games, and it will astonish you how quickly things go. Firefox and other apps load instantly. When I had a macbook pro I swapped to SSD and normally the icons for my startup stuff would bounce for a bit as they loaded etc. After SSD like 5 icons would do a half bounce and bam all 5 loaded done.

    So for a desktop, do what I do. Throw a big spinner in there as a drive for games you don't need a fast HDD on, media, etc. Then you will have the best of both worlds. It is by far the least buyers remorse I've ever felt on a PC upgrade.

  22. Re:WGAF? on iPhone 5 GeekBench Results · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Odd considering the dual core snapdragon S4 is faster than the quad core one in almost every single benchmark. Only the really parallel ones (Which face it, never happens on a smartphone) pull ahead, and even then, just.

  23. Re:Good for Whom? on Amazon Now Discounting HarperCollins EBooks · · Score: 2

    Far and away now a days I read more self published books on amazon. Their editing standards are not usually up to published quality, esp for an author's first book, but I'm more and more convinced that publishers have been more harm than help in the book work anyways.

    For example here is a category of books I enjoy, and the top books in it:

    http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Science-Fiction-eBooks/b/ref=amb_link_7192512_3?ie=UTF8&node=158595011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-1&pf_rd_r=18Z89FBPQX256PRKTBVW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1300192942&pf_rd_i=668010011

    On the first page alone I think there might be 1-2 non self published books.

    SO maybe because they are so cheap, they are popular and sell a lot. Let's try by customer rating:

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?qid=1347374427&rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A!133141011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cn%3A158591011%2Cn%3A158595011&sort=reviewrank_authority

    STILL almost entirely self published books.

    So yeah while the editing standards might not be quite up to snuff, the storytelling has been great and once the author hits with one book he gets almost all the sales money so makes much more than an author under a publisher. Then he has the cash to hire editors etc etc and the result is there have been some amazing series published on there.

    Thanks to my kindle and all these 99c self published books, I read MUCH more than I would have otherwise and found some real gems. These days the publisher is just a money sucking middleman that I'm not convinced is really needed anymore.

  24. Re:Nook touch FTW on No Opt-Out For Ads On New Kindle Fires · · Score: 1

    Why don't you look at the pictures? Due to the increased contrast and much higher res, even with the 'layer' (which looks to be invisible btw) the screen is about 10x nicer than the kindle before it. Very white, nice even lighting, and the light IS coming from above the e-ink, bouncing off it, and hitting your eyes, just as if you'd used a book light or sat in the sun.

    I'm sure you may be able to tell the difference but even the close up pics of it off, it looks better.

    Here is a side by side comparison with all lighting off in not great lighting.

    http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/5336415/kindle-paperwhite-vs-79-kindle-XSC_1991-rm-verge-1020_gallery_post.jpg

    Much sharper, blacker blacks, whiter whites (a bit) and no blurryness from the layer above it.

    I would certainly not hesitate to call it 'e-ink'.

  25. Re:Very helpful, actually on Mt. Fuji May Be Close To Erupting · · Score: 1

    Inches no question.