BitCoins
Lot of them are now mining tiny amounts of BitCoin on the spare CPU cycles, more profitable per machine than spam.
59 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Sep 2007
You can use PCs at any local library for browsing the internet, email, printing documents, writing CVs, jobsearch websites etc.
So why are we sending out loads of free laptops? If the target families had a disabled family member so they cant' get to a local library I could understand, otherwise it's a waste of my tax contributions.
I only use my DS for emulators - Atari 2600, C64, Speccy, Colecovision, NES, Master System, Megadrive, SNES, Gameboy, NEOGEO... All with complete game sets (Except for the NeoGeo due to storage reasons.
Going to look into sorting out the Amstrad CPC 464 next!
The DS homebrew scene is pretty strong, just like my original XBox which has an even larger suite of emulation goodies (A few N64 games on there running through Surreal64 multiemu)...
With all that coolness, you realise how crap the vast majority of "native" games are :)
I'd be interested to know how much power is required to maintain this illuminated 50"image... as battery life is already the ongoing problem for all compact mobile devices...
So we watch ten minutes of a video on the cafe wall, then my phone is dead til I can get home to recharge? Can't see people going for that... and if you can only run it at home plugged in, might as well just go for wired TV out through the data cable.
Hmmmm.....not convinced all the tech is in place yet.
This is, as the first poster says, bonkers.
So the judges has ruled that one cannot create a webpage that contains two words that may concievably be placed near eachother if the page is concatenated by an algorithm, with the source words that driver the algorithm, yet to be provided by an unknown human user, if the resulting computer generated "sentence" may offend another unknown human.
I love it when "judges" have no understanding of how technoology works :)
I've got one of these and they are brilliant. Until you've seen a good (the PRS-505 features a much improved screen over the previous years PRS-500 screen) eInk screen, it's hard to imagine. It just looks like actual ink on paper... not backlit LCD/TFT or CRT! Perfectly visible in sunlight, unlike laptop/mobile screens. And the Sony Readers actually look slender and cool too :)
I thought the Kindle looked rather crap to be honest.
One of the problems (Device build fragmentation) will remain regardless of the language/VM implementation. This is because different handsets all have different capabilities wrt. draw speed, 3D capabilities, real VRAM, available static/dynamic RAM, CPU speed, FPU/not, storage space, persistent record space, to name but a few. The handset manufacturers aren't all going to switch their entire phones to contain a homogeneous hardware specification, just to make app porting easier on whatever VM implementation exists.
From a legal self-protection perspective, this makes leeching much more appealing... unfortuneately if everyone leeches then the p2p system falls down completely!
AFAIK people have only been charged with 'sharing files', or 'uploading'. Or the occasionaly use of the word 'downloading where the hack/PR person/whoever doesn't understand the difference between the two processes. It's only distributing the pirate materials yourself that is the crime, not acquiring them from another distributor...
The guy getting his coat, because he looks more like he's rifling through the inside pockets (for some Elton John CDs), rather than putting it on to leave after a particularly bad joke.
I think it's because PR departments are permanently trying to appeal to the masses - so talking to people in the context of children gets people into mushy, maternal/paternal illogical mode of thinking - hence easier to deliver spin to. They get used to this, and it makes the messengers appear more maternal/paternal and less pragmatic and political too.
We need more CCTV..... why? It will keep our children safe! Oh shit, yeah your right we definitely do need more TV, as priority #1 in the world is keeping my genetic offspring intact etc...
By trackSuit:
You may think that Mattie, I couldn't possibly....
"Replace the idle hands and insert NeuREAL Careful Hans dDutch AIgent-assigned work tasks and things will Get BETA. [Test IT and C++]."
Have we got amanfrommars copycat on our hands? Or has amfm changed his name?
The Sky sponsership isn't such a bad idea :) isn't it only £80m their short of? Sky could perhaps spare that from their coffers for the image rights of having the Sky_ HD painted on it... then they could use it as the cutscene betweeen shows, and have a web addresss where people could find out more.
Then the other TV companies might even start funding their own scientific projects to compete!
</optimism>
I was so scared last night when it happened, I was literally quaking in my boots. I couldn't get back to sleep so I player a few games of Quake III. Insomnia prevailed, so I had a warm bowl of Quakers Oats cereal. Even so, I was still wide awake, and felt a religious realisation - starting today, I would become a Quaker!
Mine's the one under the falling rubble...
OMG just watched the BBC News segment on it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7260000/newsid_7266200/7266244.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1
The first 'man on the street' who was at the epicentre is hilarious. He says something along the lines of: "We felt the earthquake the floor was shaking... first thing we though was that it may have been terrorists".
Ha!
"[Apacs] believes fraudsters will not be bothered with collecting lots of small sums when they could garner more from other scams. Halifax says all banks will honour money-back guarantees if cards are compromised by fraudsters."
I like the way the concerns of people walking around say the tube, with a battery powered, modified (amplified) for larger distance scanning have been addressed! 'Scammers simply won't be bothered to rip these off.'
It's a terrible idea. I could easily set up a shill business as a sandwich shop or whatever, then make my real, tax free, proper incoming scanning cards on the underground/other busy public place all day, and charging say £9 per hit... even just a hit a minute yields me a healthy £540/hour... or £2160 for a 40 hour week.
I hope amanfrommars is reading all the comments about him (from mars via some kind of tunnelling wifi).
Do ya know what amanfrommars's wife is called...?
awomanfrommars.
Mine's the tight-fitting futuristic lycra tunic, with the mobile phone in the shape of a Star Trek communicator badge, if you please. Space-taxi!
Yeah he may have cracked it himself, *or*, he may have just typed "acecad" into the eMule search box. Oh, what's this:
ACECAD STRUCAD V11.0-MAGNiTUDE.iso
ACECAD STRUCAD V11.0-MAGNiTUDE.bin
ACECAD STRUCAD V11 dongle emulator.bin
ACECAD STRUCAD V11.0-MAGNiTUDE.nfo
Ah I see, cracked by the hacking team 'MAGNiTUDE' already. So you just have to d/l the iso, and bin, fire up Nero and burn them to a CD-R. Then d/l and install the dongle emulator, and you're running a fully licenced copy.
So am I a top hacker too now I've figured out those most basic steps?
"I, for one, would gladly go to the public hanging of a malware scammer (as long as he was PROVEN guilty) and throw rotten eggs with the greatest pleasure."
If you were about to be hung (or even already hung), would you be bothered by the eggs, rotten or otherwise..? If I was about to be executed by hanging, I don't even think I'd notice the eggs.
</dark_thought>
Of course they won't, however, it's been possible to play backup Wii DVD games for ages using WiiKey and other such modchips.
All this means is that homebrew code can now be run. It hasn't contributed to any kind of piracy problem, as the Wii is already completely hack wrt. playing Wii and GC backups, using a modchip.
So it is cool after all :)
Ho ho ho :)
I also used to rack up unnerving high scores with my friends on 'Pinball Fantasies' on the Amiga, thru one of those clouds of devilweed smoke ;)
When we weren't stoned, it actually seemed quite a bit harder to maintain such an unshakable, constant focus on the game at hand. Used to work for driving games too...
you don't need a TV licence provided you don't use the TV/monitors that you own to watch broadcast material.
I checked, as I download all the stuff I want to watch and stream it to the xbox media centre sat under the old gogglebox. No licence here, and the beeb said it was ok in an email, after I checked with them.
**************************************************************
Dear Mr John
Thank you for your recent enquiry.
The use of television sets, videocassette recorders, set-top boxes or DVD recorders to receive or record television programme services must be covered by an appropriate TV Licence. A licence is also required if a TV-enabled personal computer is used to record or receive television programmes.
If a videocassette recorder, a DVD recorder or a colour television is used, whether separately or together, a Colour TV Licence is required. The use of televisions as monitors solely for computer/video games does not need licensing.
If your television equipment is used to receive or record television programmes, you should buy a TV Licence at once. However, if your equipment is not used to receive or record television programmes, please let me know your address. I will then make sure our records are changed to show you do not need a licence. However, I should advise you to make sure that the television and video are not tuned to receive television broadcasts, it is also advisable to ensure the equipment is not connected to any aerials. One of our Visiting Officers may visit your home to check that the equipment being used does not receive broadcast signals.
I hope this information is helpful.
Yours sincerely
Brian James
TV Licensing
**************************************************************
Can't we have a new setting for Wifi routers that is "Free for all" - so if we want to create a little free hotspot we can? Then would-be users will know whether they are taking advantage of an inadvertantly unsecured hotspot, or an intentional bandwidth giveaway party! (PH also likes to party, hence the icon)
I'm with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys on this one - if only we cuold have this happen in the UK too.
eBay are such arseholes when it comes to holding up their end of Paypal Buyer Protection, they make insurance companies who don't wanna pay out look good.
Ho hum.