Just to be fair to the article writer, the factory that produces the Prius's battery is a heavy polluter (and I say "polluter" with the worst meaning, the water pollluting type). Just because it just doesn't show up in Toyota's footprint, it doesn't mean it's not true. In our world, it's not about being green, it's…

A car is something that really makes your life better. If you were forced to take the bus during your first year at university, you probably know. A phone is a luxury toy. Simple.

To be fair, the "Transformer" in Asus's hybrid tablets was certainly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the transformers, but tongue-in-cheek references are not enough to warrant trademark infringement.

As I was saying to a friend the week before, if the MPAA and the RIAA were any smarter, they would do nothing about "piracy" on the internet, and act as if it's not a big deal after all. That way, small indie music and film companies (which are increasing in number thanks to iTunes and the like) that don't have access…

But not premium channels (Cable TV, satelite). Most set top boxes for these will embed a macrovision pulse if you are watching a premium channel. If you can't get a CableCARD, an anti-Macrovision filter for your standalone DVD recorder (or a TV tuner for your PC) are the best ways to record premium channels.

For anyone interested, the real Amiga OS 4.1 still exists [amigaos.net]

Nah... they should have gone all the way in and make the recorded side have a blue, green or purple color, instead of the usual silver or gold.

[geek warning] Macrovision is a special pulse that is put in a video signal (like the one coming from the back of your DVD player) that a)confuses videocassete recorders and prevents them from recording properly and b)tells most DVD recorders and PVRs to halt recording. It's used to prevent recording of DVDs and…

"I think it's pretty shitty that we're all combining brainpower to expertly get an illegal substance past law enforcement."

Why would anyone want to try this at home? There are a thousand good places to hide stuff in a home. On the road though...

You are not getting a free Mini Cooper. You are getting a free of whatever the owner hid in the secret compartment.

Xkcd had done a chart about Money ( [xkcd.com] ), and among other things, he calculated that a Volt is a good buy over a 5 year period (compared to a Honda Fit) only if gas cost $10/gallon. The really strange thing? The Opel Ampera (Volt's european version) is even more expensive than the Volt.

You are not fooling anyone, Google. We know where you get your storage and bandwidth from.

I think the "zombie region" should be removed, and the cars of "zombie region" be moved into the other three categories. Just because the nameplates of these cars don't exist anymore, it doesn't reduce the value of the cars. Just sayin'

Why not just format shift to MP4 or MKV? Of yeah, the Hollywood studios say it's "illegal" (never mind it's not outside the US, and "gray area" inside the US).

Many MKV-capable smart TVs don't have digital out and so they can't play DTS. And why get a DTS receiver if you don't have a surround setup? IMO it would be better to use AAC, which is an ISO standard, for all kinds of streams (even stereo). That way, MKV-capable players would have one format to support (not AC3, DTS,…

People, this is what you get if you demand more humane conditions in the Foxconn factories. Apple can't whip the Foxconn employees as hard as they used to, so that they 'll work 24hours a day to have the new iThings ready on time.

Way to fight about unimportant things (Xvid aka "avi" vs x264 aka "mkv") when the real problem is that those pirates have yet to define a proper standard for x264/MKV. Their "x264 standard" ( [scenerules.irc.gs] ) is full of ambiguities, as they don't define max bitrates. Plus, they allow the use of lame audio streams…

What I know is that my next PC will be a Vizio, even if I have to import the thing from the US using fed-ex. With Microsoft Security Essentials (free and ultra-light on resources) there is no excuse for OEMs to bundle Norton and McAfee. Third party anti-virus firms need to get the message that they are not useful…

Lesson of the day: You don't have to become like Greece, where real estate records are still kept in paper-only form by the government (=really large books, no computers), but things like voting are better done in paper.