When it benefits them, chimpanzees willingly work together. Otherwise, they can’t be bothered. For humans, collaboration is rewarding for its own sake, a behavioral split that may underlie key differences between human and chimpanzee societies.
Posts Tagged Sake
IEEE brings white space internet one step closer, we almost felt a twinge
Kudos to the IEEE for rushing this new ‘super WiFi’ standard through so very speedily for the sake of rural communities with poor web access. Designated “IEEE 802.22,” it promises to bring speeds of up 22Mbps to devices as far as 60 miles away from the nearest transmitter. How’s that possible? Well, the standard carefully exploits swathes of unused white space within transmission bands that were originally reserved (and jealously guarded) for analogue TV. These frequencies currently contain nothing but hiss and occasional communications from dead people, but one day they could and should be filled with the hopes, aspirations and Facebook updates of country folk who are very much alive. Read the signs in the PR after the break.
Continue reading IEEE brings white space internet one step closer, we almost felt a twinge
IEEE brings white space internet one step closer, we almost felt a twinge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How would you change Fujifilm’s FinePix X100?
Photokina 2010 was the launching pad for a relatively new class of point-and-shoot, and Fujifilm’s FinePix X100 was just one of the many high-end, zoomless compacts designed to put DSLR-level image quality into your right (or left, for southpaws) rear pocket. Of course, the compromise is the inability to swap lenses and the omission of an optical zoom, but evidently the market research has shown that there’s a market for this thing, yet. The X100 oozes beauty, but it most definitely comes at a cost — over ,000 at last check. For those with plenty of disposable income and a hankering for anything new, we’re as curious as can be to hear how your experience with this guy has been. Have you been overly impressed with the design? Would you have tweaked the lens at all? Thrown together a less rigid chassis for the sake of weight / cost? Added an option for an interchangeable lens mount? Go on and get creative in comments below — you’ve earned it.
How would you change Fujifilm’s FinePix X100? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Burning Question: Why Do DVDs Still Have Region Codes?
Regional codes may seem outdated, but movie studios like the idea of them for the sake of protecting publishers and distributors.
Traffic Speed Ticket – the Law-Related Penalties of Going Too Speedily
I have never gotten a traffic speed ticket, though I cannot say I shouldn’t have. My husband tells me that I have got to go slower, and I do for the most part, but when I get on the highway I have a problem staying inside the speed limit. I’m not one of those that goes 90 and zooms in and out of traffic simply because my car can, but I do tend to go 70 or 75. I do go slower when my little girl is in the car, but for some or another reason I just cannot seem to go slower when I’m by myself in the car.
I know that I will most likely end up receiving a traffic speed ticket one of these days, and I do know I have been fortunate this far. I’m not nearly as bad as many that I know, and I cannot imagine that I’m in the minority. There are lots of individuals who refuse to go slower, and they are the types that rarely seem to receive the traffic tickets. It appears like the people that generally follow the speed limit are the ones that get caught the one time they decide to go a little quicker.
My husband has never gotten a traffic speed ticket either, but I think that is just good luck as well. He is not quite as bad as I am, but he does go too fast occasionally. Those occasions don’t usually occur when our little girl is in the vehicle, so maybe she has helped the both of us to stay away from getting a traffic speed ticket. Though we should be concerned about ourselves for her sake, having her in the vehicle is an acutely obvious reminder to go slower.
When you get a traffic speed ticket, you should know that it’ll add points to your driver’s license, and your insurance might go up. You can contest the ticket, but you had better have a decent reason for your speeding.
There are occasions when an officer will not issue you a ticket, but they will give you a warning. It depends on the situation and how quickly you were driving as opposed to everybody else on the road. If you are going incredibly fast, you may find yourself with a whole new set of difficulties. You might get a ticket for reckless driving, and that is much worse for your driver’s license and your wallet.
China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected
If you’ve been struggling to get your dose of Facebook or Twitter in China recently, then you’re probably one of the many Internet users who’ve had their VPN access — either free or paid for — blocked over the last two weeks or so. That’s right, the notorious Great Firewall of China is still alive and well, and leaving proxy servers aside, VPN is pretty much the only way for keen netizens to access websites that are deemed too sensitive for their eyes; or to “leap over the wall,” as they say. Alas, the recent pro-democracy protests didn’t exactly do these guys any favor — for one, their organizers used Twitter along with an overseas human rights website to gather protesters, and with the National People’s Congress meetings that were about to take place (and wrapped up last night), it was no surprise that the government went tough on this little bypassing trick. To make matters worse, PC World is reporting that Gmail users are also affected by slow or limited access, despite the service previously being free from China’s blacklist.
We reached out to a handful of major VPN service providers, and they all confirmed a significant increase in the amount of blockage — possibly by having their servers’ PPTP IP addresses blocked — over the last two weeks. One company even spotted the Chinese government subscribing to its paid service, only to work its way into the network to locate the company’s PPTP server list, and then put them behind the firewall. Fortunately for some, the better-off companies had backup servers to rapidly resolve the problem, whereas the cheaper and free services were unable to dodge the bullet. This just goes to show that sometimes you get what you pay for. That said, with practically unlimited human hacking power at its disposal, it doesn’t take much for the firewall to shut down everything heading its way. For the sake of our friends and expats there, let’s just hope that the government will take things down a notch as soon as the storm calms.
China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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