Comment That's so easy... (Score 1) 79
You don't need an algorithm for Sydney's traffic, just this
echo car >
Can I have my $10,000 now please?
Comment Re:first, nuclear waste, now, exhaust gases (Score 1) 152
It's sniffing for methane, after all
Nine Chip Makers Fined $400M In EU For Price Fixing 215
eldavojohn writes "In a disturbing case for average consumers, nine DRAM chip manufacturers have been fined more than $400 million for price fixing. The named companies are Samsung, Hynix, Infineon, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Elpida, and Nanya. A tenth company, Micron, avoided fines by reporting the other nine to the authorities. Since all companies cooperated with the probe, they received a 10% reduction in fines, so it could have been worse. The US DoJ has had its own history with chip makers and LCD makers in price fixing scandals."
Comment Re:Apple Displays. (Score 1) 952
PPI: Price Per Inch?
Comment Re:Bloody luxury. (Score 1) 952
Hardwired to black! You had it easy.
In my day, we only had half a broken pixel between ten of us. We would all share one pair of broken coke-bottle glasses to magnify it, so we could see, then our parents would beat us about the head with an IBM keyboard because they thought we were looking at porn.
Comment Re:OS X Server will do exactly what you want (Score 1) 618
I've got to agree, especially now that you can get OSX Server in a Mac Mini relatively cheaply. I tried Windows and Linux, but (as a parent) OSX was the easiest to set up and just get on with life. The caveat is that it's only easy if everything in your house is a Mac - you may or may not want to go down that route.
Comment How is this news for nerds? (Score 4, Insightful) 264
This isn't nerdy at all... Have Slashdotters turned into bankers?
Google Brings Chrome Renderer, Speedy Javascript To IE 239
A month after we discussed Google's bringing SVG to IE, several readers let us know that Google is expanding the beachhead by offering Chrome's renderer and speedy Javascript execution in an IE plugin. This effort is in service of allowing IE to participate in Google Wave when that technology's preview is extended in a week's time. The plugin, currently in an early stage of development, is called Google Chrome Frame.
FDA OKs First Human Trial of Neural Stem Cell Therapy 149
An anonymous reader sends word that the FDA has approved a phase 1 trial for Neuralstem, a company with a patented stem cell procedure targeting ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and other spinal conditions. The company's CEO said in a press release, "While this trial aims to primarily establish safety and feasibility data in treating ALS patients, we also hope to be able to measure a slowing down of the ALS degenerative process." Results are expected in 2 years. The trial will involve 12 ALS patients who will receive stem cell injections in the lumbar area of the spinal cord. An information site for the disabled community adds hopefully: "If it makes it through all stages of testing, we will see if doctors are willing to [use] it on subjects that have injuries coming from physical injuries like diving accidents."
Comment The balot screenshot is in a browser window (Score 1) 423
Noticed that the screenshot shows the ballot taking place inside a browser window...
Which browser are they using for the ballot?
Comment Re:Upgrading (Score 1) 858
Better is not a pointless term if you are counting on reliability. Apple qualifies certain RAM modules because it know that they meet the timing requirements of its chipset. You buy the qualified RAMs, you have a better chance of getting something that works flawlessly.
The question we should ask is: "If Apple wants to keep the public perception that its computers are better quality than PCs, why does it make it more attractive for users to buy 3rd party RAM that may make it crash more often?"
Comment Re:But... (Score 1) 221
Technologies like this need to be slapped to the ground until their efficiency dramatically improves.
What little benefit we get from the convenience of wireless power is outweighed by the inconvenience of having to move to higher ground as the waste power of a hundred million gadget chargers becomes heat.
Comment Secure Keyboards (Score 1) 277
The keyboards in the demo use the PS/2 protocol - a very simple serial protocol which should be a doddle to decode. Notice the large(ish) pause between each keystroke in the demo? That's to give the oscilloscope time to trigger and dump the waveform to the PC. USB keyboards would be harder to crack because you've got to decode the USB protocol and filter out the chatter - triggering on just the keystrokes would be tricky.
In 1994, I worked for a company called 'Keycorp' who made keyboards for banks and other POS equipment.
Among their products were the full-size K32S and the smaller K34S. These were secure keyboards which continually pulsed the keyswitch matrix in a random way and continually communicated with the host PC in an encrypted way. It wasn't possible to trigger on a keystoke because you couldn't tell them apart from the random noise.
The point is that even in 1994, people knew that keyboards could be tapped or wirelessly snooped. It's a shame that you can't buy those keyboards - they had real keyswitches, too!
Homeland Security's Space-Based Spying Goes Live 289
BountyX writes "While America's attention has shifted to the economic meltdown and the presidential race between corporate favorites John McCain and Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) 'will proceed with the first phase of a controversial satellite-surveillance program, even though an independent review found the department hasn't yet ensured the program will comply with privacy laws.' NAO will coordinate how domestic law enforcement and 'disaster relief' agencies such as FEMA use satellite imagery intelligence (IMINT) generated by US spy satellites. Based on available evidence, hard to come by since these programs are classified 'above top secret,' the technological power of these military assets are truly terrifying."
Submission + - Rambus Wins Patent Case 1
Blowfishie writes: In another sad day for patents, memory chip maker Rambus has won the case that has been running since the late 90's. You know, the one where Rambus worked its technology into the standards for SDRAM and DDR data transfer, then waited for the major players (Hynix, Micron and Nanya) to be heavily committed before revealing that it had patents on the technology.
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Can't open /usr/games/lib/fortunes.dat.
