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Comment Re:Vote by Mail (Score 1) 709

by nickheart (#25652679) Attached to: In the U.S. election just ended, I voted ...
In 10th grade this was on the ballot (all vote by mail). Well, we had an assignment that we picked a measure, and a side, and gave a 3 minute speech trying to persuade the class one way or another.

The kid who chose this measure, and the con side, tried to convince us that the Russians would steal the mail, and change all our votes...

classic
IT

Information Overload Predicted Problem of the Year for 2008 146

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the nagging-inboxes dept.
Wired is reporting that information overload is being predicted by some analysts as the problem of the year for 2008. "'It's too much information. It's too many interruptions. It's too much lost time,' Basex chief analyst Jonathan Spira declared. 'It's always too much of a good thing.' Information overload isn't exactly new, but Spira said the problem has grown as technology increases societal expectations for instantaneous response. And more information available, he said, also means more time wasted looking for the right information, whether in an old e-mail or through a search engine."

Feed Engadget: Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway to get outfitted with WiFi (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Wireless

It looks like Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is the latest to hop on the high-speed wireless (in more ways than one) bandwagon. with it now set to offer WiFi in both its trains and train stations. Apparently, the trains will be outfitted with receivers to pull down 3.5G signals from transmitters in the tunnels, which then gets turned around into plain old WiFi for the passengers on board. While that convenience won't come free, it will be fairly reasonable, costing passengers HK$20 (or $2.50) a day for unlimited use.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Robotics

Submission + - Robot unravels mystery of walking (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by manchineel
manchineel writes: Roboticists are using the lessons of a 1930s human physiologist to build the world's fastest walking robot.

Runbot is a self-learning, dynamic robot, which has been built around the theories of Nikolai Bernstein.

"Getting a robot to walk like a human requires a dynamic machine," said Professor Florentin Woergoetter.

Runbot is a small, biped robot which can move at speeds of more than three leg lengths per second, slightly slower than the fastest walking human.

Bernstein said that animal movement was not under the total control of the brain but rather, "local circuits" did most of the command and control work.

Dell To Offer Win XP On Consumer PCs Again 447

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-ringing-endorsement-right-there dept.
phalse phace writes "With so many consumers still asking for Windows XP to be loaded on Dell's consumer level PCs, the PC maker has finally decided to offer that as an option. 'Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft's mainstream launch of the operating system in January. However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. Starting immediately, Dell said, it is adding XP Home and Professional as options on four Inspiron laptop models and two Dimension desktops.' The Dell models with the Windows XP option are: Dell Inspiron 1405, 1705, 1505, and 1501; and Dell Dimension E520 and E521."

Dyson Preparing a Roomba Killer? 243

Posted by CowboyNeal from the products-that-suck dept.
An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist's technology blog reports that Dyson, the UK company that reinvented the vacuum cleaner, is recruiting robotics engineers. They're looking for people with experience of machine vision and mobile robots that create their own maps. Is Dyson hoping to take on the Roomba with a much more sophisticated machine?"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Allergies: What's Left Won't Kill Me (Not A Guarentee) 3

Journal by robi2106

If I remember way back, I had a bad bout of allergy problems that started all of a sudden. Well I haven't talked about them, but the allergies still are there. In October, after blood testing results, I eliminated all wheat products from my diet. This hurts. I LIKE bread. I LIKE pasta. I LOVE rolls with lots of butter. I LOVE gravy smothering a good stew or mashed potatoes.
Encryption

TrueCrypt 4.3 Released 285

Posted by kdawson from the windows-only-alas dept.
RedBear writes "A new update to the best open source transparent encryption software has been released. TrueCrypt is (the only?) open source encryption software capable of creating and mounting encrypted virtual disk images that can then be worked with transparently like any other storage drive, with data encrypted and decrypted in real-time. These virtual disks can be created as files, or entire partitions or physical drives can be encrypted and mounted transparently. Sadly there is still no Linux GUI or Mac OS X port in sight. If you are one of the thronging hordes who have been patiently awaiting ubiquitous multi-platform encryption, please consider donating time or money to the cause, and add your voice to the forum." From the site:"Among the new features [are] full compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista, support for devices and file systems that use a sector size other than 512 bytes (such as new hard drives, USB flash drives, DVD-RAM, MP3 players, etc.), auto-dismount when a host device (e.g., a USB flash drive) is inadvertently removed, and many more." Read on for more features of TrueCrypt and cached versions of all the links above.
Movies

MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents 579

Posted by CowboyNeal from the old-bait-and-switch dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The MPAA and other anti-piracy watchdogs have been caught trapping people into downloading fake torrents, so they can collect IP addresses, and send copyright infringement letters to ISPs. The battle between P2P networks and copyright holders seems to be a never ending battle. It will be interesting to see how much the anti-piracy groups practices change once they begin begin selling movies and TV shows legally on bittorrent.com."
Businesses

Paypal Won't Release Funds To Slain Soldier's Family 337

Posted by samzenpus from the why-think-when-you-have-policy dept.
robustyoungsoul writes "Popular sports blog Deadspin established the Adam Knox Fund for the purpose of raising money in honor of the fallen soldier who was killed in Iraq. They took the donations through a PayPal account. Turns out now, however, PayPal will not release the money due to the way the account was set up on their end."

HP Regains Throne as Top PC Maker 134

Posted by Zonk from the get-your-red-hot-desktop dept.
Nick writes "HP is once again the leading PC manufacturer." From the article: "HP has snatched the PC crown from Dell's barely coherent clutches. It has taken HP close to three years to once again lead the market in worldwide PC sales. Under CEO Carly Fiorina and post Compaq, the company largely gave up on the tit-for-tat struggle with Dell for the PC top spot that had been so important to it over the years. Now it has reclaimed the #1 slot during the third quarter on the back of Dell's self-destruction. Overall, worldwide PC shipments hit 59.1m units in the third quarter - a 7 per cent rise from the same period last year, according to new data from Gartner. The US PC market, however, dipped 2 per cent, marking its first fall since mid-2002. Dell is particularly exposed to the US PC market, and it showed." Update: 10/20 16:37 GMT by Z : Switched link to a more current story.

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