firehose

An anonymous reader writes "Google is building a Chrome remote desktop app, which lets you access other computers or another user access your computer over the Internet, for Android. The new addition, called Chromoting, will likely be pushed as a mobile version of the existing Chrome Remote Desktop offering. For those who don't know, the original Chrome Remote Desktop is an extension for Google's browser. It was first released as a beta in October 2011 and could be used to control another one of your own computers as well as a friend's or family member's (usually to help with IT issues)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

 

I can completely understand why this pack of cialis is at Market Basket. You just have to be ready to go at any time. Pop a cialis, go to the deli and just wait for the magic to happen.

“Does it help writers to drink? Do they drink any more heavily than any other social group – doctors, lawyers, shop assistants or (see Mad Men) advertising executives? A famous drinker himself, Amis considers this question in his Memoirs, and – comparing writers to actors – suggests “displaced stage fright as a cause of literary alcoholism. A writer’s audience is and remains invisible to him, but if he is any good he is acutely and continuously aware of it, and never more so while it waits for him to come on, to begin p.1. Alcohol not only makes you less self-critical, it reduces fear." According to Amis, a large glass can supply “that final burst of energy at the end of the day" but should be avoided any earlier: “The writer who writes his books on, rather than between, whisky is a lousy writer. He is probably American anyway."”

- Why do writers drink? | Books | The Guardian

ancientpeoples:

Ring Key

Roman London

A complete, copper alloy lever lock rotary ring key. S-shaped bit with four teeth; piped cylindrical shaft; ring with incised lateral raised moulding and rectangular raised face. 

Source: Museum of London

The reasoning behind the name was, to quote Sebastien, “‘Free’ because it’s free, and just ‘running’." 

Link

At Comic-Con today, Battlestar Galactica creator Ron Moore told fans that he loves how television's budget constraints spawn creativity. For example: the skinjobs, whom he'd originally wanted to be done up in shiny suits like the 1970s series' cylons.

Read more...

Y.M.C.A.

giantcypress:

Shoji screens for power outlets, made by Tori Sugimura. Awesome.

New submitter robp writes "After a link to VLC showed up in one of HBO's DMCA takedown requests, I recalled how often I've linked to VLC in my own copy, and how often I've seen that app noted across traditional-media outlets — even though you could make the same arguments against linking to it that Judge Kaplan bought in 2000. Now, though, even the House's own IT department not only links to this CSS-circumventing app but endorses it. Question is, what led to this enlightenment?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fuck I Hate Summertime.

crematorie:

Ryoichi Kurokawa.

It is the opportunity that is new. Nobody touts an all-male AP because that is the standard. Do you realize AP # 73 by Amber Scott is the first one written by a woman? 72 have gone by with no female writers! I mean, we exist, right? Why has it taken so long? As a writer, I look for authors' names. As one of the FEW women in the industry, I look to see what my female colleagues are up to. I am happy that Louis is consciously choosing women writers for this AP, as the industry has unconsciously forgotten us or neglected to include us often. He consciously chose to set up many women-run nations in his setting, too. So why not let women write about them? As we stated above, an all-female-written AP hasn't been done before. It is worth talking about, certainly; whether or not you find it a selling point, the AP is of historical significance in the industry. That's the importance of the subject line. As to writing, we all have our different styles. I'm known for quirky-but-deadly adventures myself. I've been in the industry for 13 or more years, and I've worked on well over 50 products, though you likely have never heard of me. If I was terrible at this, I don't think I would have won the right to lead 3 Kobold Press Open Design projects, nor would Super Genius Games have taken me on as a developer of my own line. So, keep an open mind. We are creating history, but your adventure won't suffer because of it. If you doubt me, ask Wolfgang Baur or Owen Stephens if I have the writing and developer chops to pull this off with the stable of writers We are offering up. This is going to be fun, deadly, and interesting, I assure you. :)

The Norwegian interior designer convicted in Dubai of having illegal sex after she reported being raped is appealing her jail sentence and alerting Western women to the Islam-based legal system of the United Arab Emirates. "I just want to get fair treatment," Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, told the AFP news agency Friday. She called her 16-month sentence Tuesday — for extramarital sex, perjury and illegal alcohol consumption — "very harsh," saying she had appealed immediately. A hearing is set for Sept. 5. Since the Norwegian government secured Dalelv's conditional release after she was charged in March, she has been living under the protection of the Norwegian Seamens' Center, a church in Dubai. But now that she has been sentenced, she told Norway's NRK News that she is officially wanted by the authorities, the BBC reported. "I should have been imprisoned since Tuesday," she said. "But I have been told they are not searching for me."

You might think that customers buying their lunch at McDonald’s would order meals with fewer calories if someone handed them a slip of paper reminding them that women should eat no more than 650 calories at lunchtime and men should not exceed 800 calories. But you would be wrong. Instead, researchers found that diners who received these supposedly helpful reminders actually purchased more calories than those who didn’t, according to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health.

Robert Zimmerman has earned a reputation for his outspoken interviews. After the verdict, for example, he went on CNN and suggested that Martin was looking to get a gun and grow marijuana. During the case, he was a font of unswerving on-air support. So, when Fox spoke with him by phone shortly after the president's speech today, they likely expected something other than what they got. In question after question, Colby tried to elicit some combativeness, some critique of the speech. And in answer after answer, he didn't rise to the bait. Zimmerman's take: It was good the president spoke, and what he said was important. He agreed with the president — he didn't even object to the government's on-going investigation of possible civil rights charges. But most of all, he agreed that kids needed mentors. He kept coming back to this, turning Colby's leading questions into ways of advocating for mentorship.

Grandma Drummer (by TheCoalitionDrumShop)

Source

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Bruce Schneier points out on his blog a proposal to use electronic randomizers at airport security checkpoints. Schneier writes there: "I've seen something like this at customs in, I think, India. Every passenger walks up to a kiosk and presses a button. If the green light turns on, he walks through. If the red light turns on, his bags get searched. Presumably the customs officials can set the search percentage. Automatic randomized screening is a good idea. It's free from bias or profiling. It can't be gamed. These both make it more secure. Note that this is just an RFI from the TSA. An actual program might be years away, and it might not be implemented well. But it's certainly a start." In this case, the proposal is for randomizers that direct passengers to particular conveyor-belt lines for screening.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Heads up, soldier. Halo: Spartan Assault, the omnidirectional shooter spinoff set in the Halo universe, is now available on Windows 8 devices. That means Windows 8 PCs and tablets, including Surface. You can also nab the game on Windows 8 phones - so long as Verizon is your carrier, that is.

If you prefer your spinoffs with a little more context, Microsoft and Dark Horse have also produced a prequel comic series, Halo: Initiation. You can find a preview of the first issue on the Dark Horse website.

Continue reading Halo: Spartan Assault out now for Windows 8 devices

Halo: Spartan Assault out now for Windows 8 devices originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from ABC News: "A former student was sentenced to a year in prison for rigging his school elections at California State University-San Marcos so he could become student president, court documents show. Matthew Weaver, 22, was charged in January with wire fraud, access device fraud and unauthorized access to a computer. He pleaded guilty in March, admitting that he had stolen the email passwords of more than 740 students and used them to vote for himself 630 times during the student elections in March 2012... Right before the voting ended, on March 15, 2012, officials noticed 259 votes coming from another IP address. Officials tracked the IP address to a classroom, and found Weaver sitting there. There was only one other student in the lab, according to court documents. A university police officer arrested Weaver and seized his bag, subsequently discovering that he had stashed the keyloggers there."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Onomastica sends you on a literal-minded journey.

Historical Map: General Form of Rapid Transit System, Winnipeg, 1959

Or to give it its full title: 1956 Populations and Estimated 1981 Populations of the Four Natural Sectors of Greater Winnipeg also General Form of Rapid Transit System Designed to Meet Basic Transit Needs of 1981 Notwithstanding Street Congestion

A lovely old planning map from the “Future Development of Public Transit in Greater Winnipeg” report by Norman D. Wilson. It shows the very general concept of a proposed rapid transit system along with the expected population growth in the greater Winnipeg area in the far-off distant future of 1981. The system — as outlined in the report, presumably — is expected to handle the transit needs of that future, “notwithstanding street congestion”.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Maps/Flickr)

I have been very critical of Microsoft’s decision to organize functionally:

• Why Microsoft’s Reorganization is a Bad Idea argued that Microsoft was much better suited to a divisional structure
• The Uncanny Valley of Functional Organizations argued that Microsoft was setting itself up for failure pursuing a functional structure

The larger question remains, though: why did Microsoft reorganize, and what should they have done instead?

“Nothing is more important at Microsoft than Windows.” — Steve Ballmer, CES 2012 Keynote

While last week I praised Microsoft’s diversification, from a profit-standpoint Microsoft is a three-product company: Windows, Office, and Server, and the latter two are direct beneficiaries of Windows dominance. More Windows machines mean more opportunities to sell Office. More Windows machines with Office mean more opportunities to sell Windows Server and its associated products like Exchange and SQL Server. Steve Ballmer is no dummy: he built Microsoft’s sales side, and knows exactly how critical a solid Windows base is to every other profit-generating product Microsoft sells.

Unfortunately, Windows is foundering. Division profits fell by 54% last quarter (8% if you exclude the $900 million Surface charge), and PC shipments are falling off a cliff. If you believe, as Ballmer likely does, that this imperils all of Microsoft, then there is a certain logic to putting all of the company’s resources to work to prop up Windows. From the One Microsoft memo:

We are rallying behind a single strategy as one company — not a collection of divisional strategies. Although we will deliver multiple devices and services to execute and monetize the strategy, the single core strategy will drive us to set shared goals for everything we do. We will see our product line holistically, not as a set of islands. We will allocate resources and build devices and services that provide compelling, integrated experiences across the many screens in our lives, with maximum return to shareholders…

We will reshape how we interact with our customers, developers and key innovation partners, delivering a more coherent message and family of product offerings. The evangelism and business development team will drive partners across our integrated strategy and its execution. Our marketing, advertising and all our customer interaction will be designed to reflect one company with integrated approaches to our consumer and business marketplaces.

The crux of the problem is in that second paragraph: no one is asking Microsoft to design its “customer interaction” to “reflect one company.” Customers are asking Microsoft to help them solve their problems and get their jobs done, not to make them Microsoft-only customers.

The solipsism is remarkable.

The truth is that Microsoft is wrapping itself around an axle of it’s own creation. The solution to the secular collapse of the PC market is not to seek to prop up Windows and force an integrated solution that no one is asking for; rather, the goal should be the exact opposite. Maximum effort should be focused on making Office, Server, and all the other products less subservient to Windows and more in line with consumer needs and the reality of computing in 2013.

The trouble for Microsoft in the devices layer is that they only know horizontal domination. When there was nothing but PC’s, the insistence on one experience no matter the hardware worked perfectly. However, a Dell and an HP are much more similar than a tablet and a web page, for example, each of which has its own input method, user expectations, and constraints. A multi-device world demands bespoke experiences, not one size fits all. Microsoft simply doesn’t seem to understand that, and the longer they seek to “horizontalize” devices the greater the write-offs will become.

However, look again at that picture: there remains a horizontal layer – services – and it’s there that Microsoft should focus its energy. For Office and Server specifically:

• Documents remain essential and ubiquitous to all of the world outside of Silicon Valley; an independent Office division should be delivering bespoke experiences on every meaningful platform. Office 365 is a great start that would be even better with a version for iPad
• A great many apps are simply front-ends for web-based services; an independent Server division should be delivering best-in-class interfaces and tools for app developers on every meaningful platform

As for Windows, let it focus on solidifying Microsoft’s hold on the enterprise (it’s here the need to fight the iPad is most acute), with a nice spillover into Home PCs and gaming, and accept the fact Windows was only ever relevant in the consumer market because nobody got fired for buying IBM.

“Devices and services” is only half right; unfortunately Ballmer picked the wrong half.

The post Services, not Devices appeared first on stratēchery by Ben Thompson.

lol “hooter shooters"

Motor City: Detroit não consegue pagar dívidas e pede falência é um post do blog Notícias Automotivas - Carros

Não adiantou ser a capital do automóvel. Agora, Detroit enfrenta uma crise semelhante à da GM e Chrysler, duas das empresas com presença no município, enfrentaram a partir de 2008. Atualmente apenas a GM tem sede lá. O pedido de falência causou surpresa, não por ter sido mais uma cidade americana, mas por ter sido Detroit. Ela passou a ser o maior município do país que não tem como pagar suas dívidas. Ao todo, credores e sindicatos cobram US$ 18,5 bilhões!

Desde o começo do ano, o governo de Michigan iniciou uma intervenção na cidade, nomeando um novo administrador para tentar resolver a questão, mas parece que não teve êxito. Detroit já foi a quinta maior cidade dos EUA – nos anos 50 – e teve 1,85 milhão de habitantes. Com base no censo de 2010, a cidade agora tem pouco mais de 710.000 habitantes.

O declínio da cidade vem acontecendo nos últimos 60 anos, acentuado por instabilidade na política da indústria automobilística e conflitos étnicos. Hoje, a cidade ainda é palco do mais importante evento automotivo dos EUA, que acontece no Cobo Hall, que em parte é controlado pela administração local. Agora a justiça americana vai analisar o pedido de falência para ver se Detroit pode ser enquadrada no Capítulo 9 da Lei de Falências.