Comment What about closed captioning? (Score 1) 192
But will the standard allow transmission of traditional closed captioning embedded in the video signal? Useful when the source doesn't provide open captioning or uses a crappy font.
Comment What about Col. Jack Ripper? (Score 1) 190
Will they be replacing those CRM-114 discriminators in order to prevent nuclear disaster?
Comment Re:No kidding (Score 1) 121
Don't you mean the other 56%?
Comment Count me among the 44% (Score 1) 121
I signed up for Twitter as soon as it went public to preserve my name. However, I have yet to issue a single Tweet and only follow less than a handful of people I selected years ago. If I ever see the value of Twitter, I might tweet one day.
Comment Return of the 1970s pyramid games (Score 2) 70
BitCoins remind me of those 1970s pyramid parties. At some point, the price will fall out and over half the people will lose nearly their entire investment. Why dally in a virtual currency unless you want to take advantage of others?
Comment accidents (Score 1) 282
What happens when one of these vehicles is involved in a collision? Could be caused by the truck running over a bicycle or another vehicle striking the autonomous vehicle.
Comment Is Google complicit in spam? (Score 1) 176
I find it very strange that my Gmail account received so much spam long before I ever started actively using it. It's not like me e-mail address is made up of one or two words. I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone would possibly guess my e-mail address (two letters plus an uncommon word). I'm guessing someone got a hold of their user list. Anyhow, their spam filter is fairly accurate.
Comment I wish I paid (Score 1) 479
When I purchased my Lenovo ThinkPad 51 weeks ago, I sadly opted for Vista Home Premium because it looked like my work was ready to deploy Vista. Looking back, I wish I had paid the extra $18 to get XP Professional. With the sole exception of improved networking features, Vista has been a horrible experience. My decision had nothing to do with money.
Comment Re:Why can't Microsoft ever get this right? (Score 1) 202
They need to isolate those functions away from the MTA agent. MTA should do MTA and punt the rest to a wholly separate program that has to re-establish trust and re-validate the input data.
Comment Why can't Microsoft ever get this right? (Score 2, Insightful) 202
Why in the world would an e-mail delivery system ever consider executing external code? Exchange should simply look at the delivery address. If it is a local address, place the message in the user's mailbox. If an external address, forward to the next hop. What's so difficult with that task?
CommuniGate Pro has never had this problem. IronPort appliances don't have this problem. Exchange should stick to its sole job as a delivery agent and stop trying to be so smart.
Can't we live without OLE?
Comment Re:Student Loans (Score 1) 873
US News and World Report carried an interesting story a couple of years ago about the declining value of MBAs. They said too many people were getting them and many graduates lacked practical knowledge to make them useful.
Submission + - UK Schools will "Fight Cyberbullying"
Plutonite writes: The BBC is running a story on UK schools reportedly being told to fight what they call "cyberbullying", or bullying with the aid of (network-based)technology. They have been told to confiscate mobile phones, and — slightly more controversial — to investigate and get material removed from personal social-networking sites. Are schools supposed to be doing this as an extension of their duty to prevent physical bullying in school, or is this is yet another example of governmental intervention where it is not due? Should British youth be brought up knowing that their life on the web is being documented and controlled by people other than their parents?
Submission + - Do You Need a Permit to Land on the Moon? (slate.com) 4
Billosaur writes: "With the recent announcement of Google's X-prize for a successful private landing of a robot on the Moon, someone has asked the Explainer at Slate.com if permission is required to land something on the Moon? Turns out that while there is no authority that regulates landing objects on another world, getting there does require the permission of the national government from where the launch takes place. This is in accordance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by 91 nations, which regulates the uses of outer space by the nations of Earth. Specifically, Article VI enjoins: "The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty." Start your paperwork!"
Submission + - Do Not Call listings to expire in 2008. (yahoo.com)
Ant writes: "Yahoo! News report that the cherished dinner hour void of telemarketers could vanish next year for millions of people when phone numbers begin dropping off the national/United States (U.S.)'s Do Not Call list.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which oversees the list, says there is a simple fix. But some lawmakers think it is a hassle to expect people to re-register their phone numbers every five years.
Numbers placed on the registry, begun in June 2003, are valid for five years. For the millions of people who signed onto the list in its early days, their numbers will automatically drop off beginning next June if they do not enroll again...
Seen on Blue's News."
Submission + - Netflix drops e-mail support (nytimes.com)
msblack writes: In a counter culture move against outsourcing and non-interactive customer support,
Netflix has forsaken e-mail as a means of customer support. According to the New York Times article, Netflix set up the call center in Portland OR, shunning other popular US call center cities or off-shoring. "It's very interesting and counter to everything anybody else is doing," said Tom Adams, the president of Adams Media Research, a market research firm in Carmel, Calif. "Everyone else is making it almost impossible to find a human."
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