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This is the first downward degree of a very slippery slope

I disagree, this isn't the "first downward degree". It started around 2013 with dongle-gate and the Sarah Sharp incident. On page 125 of their book, The Coddling of the American Mind , Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt also identify 2013 as the beginning of this most recent wave of political correctness (that is, the first appearances of the Social Justice Warriors).

So, we've been sliding down the slippery slope for more than 5 years, and now it's accelerated to the point where it's impossible to ignore (or escape).

I'd think it would depend on the intent of the device. If it's something like a "switched" extension cord (this kinda thing) you could get away with just listing the cord. If it's designed to be permanently installed you'd likely have a harder time. Not 100% sure though, my exposure to UL was very minimal, and a long damn time ago.

MobyDisk confided"

This isn't talkong about an Angular app with routing that uses back properly. It is talking about automatic redirects like HTTP 301 or meta refresh tags. For those the sokution is easy, Firefox has done this for years. If you hit back, and the page then auto-redirects you immediately, ignore the redirect. The user then just has to hit back a few times, but at least they aren't stuck. Even better would be if hitting back went back to the most recent page that did not have an automatic redirect in it.

I ran into this back-button-hijacking dick move on dilbert.com, just a few minutes ago (Thanks, Scott! You really are an asshole!), using Firefox 56.1 - and it completely blocked me from leaving the page via the back button, despite clicking it a half-dozen times or more inside of a few seconds.

So, no, you're incorrect about Firefox having "done this" for years. It's just as vulnerable to this exploit as is any other browser.

And your typing is atrocious. Try proofreading your posts before you submit them ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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Wall mount package drop boxes are a thing. According to reviews, couriers can be convinced to use them if you put a sticker of their logo on the door. Obviously they only accept packages of limited dimensions, but some of the smallest packages tend to be the most valuable, so it should be quite useful. They're expensive, so there probably won't be a lot of retrofits, but I would expect new development housing to start including such things. There's little reason to believe this delivery-everything trend won't continue, so I would expect them to become bullet points on real estate listings before the end of the next decade.

That specific model has some design issues, and doesn't seem to have much in the way of direct competition. There are lots of stand alone porch drop boxes, but much fewer in-wall permanent installations. I expect that to improve too, though slowly.

Unless and until Amazon succeeds with drone delivery. Then all bets are off, and instead of this sort of thing, everybody will want a roof level delivery pad with integrated automated dumbwaiter.

Kielistic opined:

If all of your users are complaining about bugs/speed etc and only 1% use a certain feature you may find that that feature isn't worth supporting in the long run. If they were the only browser that had that and their market share was shrinking then it clearly wasn't an important feature. Sorry, it's a reality of software development.

So Chrome's current dominance of the browser market isn't due to Google cutting deals with the likes of Adobe - and a host of other software vendors - to stick an "upgrade to Chrome and make it my default browser" checkbox in the corner of their EULA screen?

I'm asking for a friend ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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To get free shipping for items in Prime Pantry, you have to order more than $35 worth of stuff. Or pay $5.99 in shipping if you order less than $35 (even with Prime membership).

The story here seems to be that Amazon's employees who are supposed to categorize which items go into Prime Pantry are doing such a poor job, that they're letting some items slip into their regular delivery system.

I have a new iphone XS and a new macbook pro and can't plug one into the other, I actually have to buy a dongle to do that. That is fucking retarded unless you just want to extract some more profit from your userbase by doing asshole things like upselling dongles.

Or, you could just buy a CABLE, like SANE people do.

Here's one that is MFi-certified, Lightning to USB-A. a WHOLE $6:

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonB...

And here is a (non MFi) Lightning to USB-C cable for $8. Note that Apple's cable (not DONGLE!) is $20; but Apple just changed the MFi-program rules to allow 3rd Party USB-C -> Lightning cables; so cheap MFi-Certified ones are right around the corner.

https://www.amazon.com/METRANS...

That took about 2 minutes on Amazon's site.

So, it seems it is YOU that is the retarded one.

I have a new iphone XS and a new macbook pro and can't plug one into the other, I actually have to buy a dongle to do that. That is fucking retarded unless you just want to extract some more profit from your userbase by doing asshole things like upselling dongles.

Or, you could just buy a CABLE, like SANE people do.

Here's one that is MFi-certified, Lightning to USB-A. a WHOLE $6:

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonB...

And here is a (non MFi) Lightning to USB-C cable for $8. Note that Apple's cable (not DONGLE!) is $20; but Apple just changed the MFi-program rules to allow 3rd Party USB-C -> Lightning cables; so cheap MFi-Certified ones are right around the corner.

https://www.amazon.com/METRANS...

That took about 2 minutes on Amazon's site.

So, it seems it is YOU that is the retarded one.

Always running out of battery, headphones jacks are good backup.

I use bluetooth headphones as a backup to my bluetooth headphones. Two pairs; one charging (often charging from my phone) while the other is in use. I have these; they're pretty cheap ($8), work fine in the shower, last eight hours on a charge and have a pretty decent microphone which I sometimes use for phone calls. I have two pairs that I bought about three years ago -- though they cost twice as much then as they do now -- and they're still going strong. In three years I'd have ruined at least a dozen pairs of wired headphones by catching the wires on things, so they've saved me money.

Well, I sure miss the audio jack. I would not buy an Apple phone for myself, but my work phone is an Apple and has been recently "upgraded" so that I no longer have an audio jack. I work remotely now so I use the phone a lot. Not having an audio jack means that when I'm on a conference call, I can't charge the phone and use the earbuds/mic at the same time. Bluetooth is not an option for the work phone (security reasons) and I wouldn't want a Bluetooth headset anyway. I don't need more things to charge. Also, the lightning connector headsets are stupidly expensive. Funny how Apple is now forcing users to use the much more expensive headset.

https://www.amazon.com/Bland-1...

Wow, that was hard. Took a whole 30 seconds on Amazon.

Oh, and $8 for this Y-cable is hardly "stupidly expensive". Just use them with the Lightning Headset that came with the phone.

Slashtards.

Apple went through a whole marketing song and dance about how great and necessary magsafe was and now admitted actually you don't need it

Are you kidding? Magsafe WAS the greatest, and a laptop owner DOES need it. USB-C is sadly more all-around functional, but there's not getting around it absolutely is inferior to MagSafe for charging... the only reason why it's tolerable is that modern laptop batteries last longer so you can go for. quite a while without attaching the trippin' cord.

I've not talked to one newer MacBook owner that does not miss it.

It's so great in fact that people are making MagSafe USB-C cables.

What you are talking about was clearly described in The Mythical Man Month , written clear back in 1995.

But I have noticed the effect itself. Too much interaction on, say, Slack can easily become as bad as a constantly-ongoing meeting... which is very bad indeed.

There have been times when I could wish my boss and others would just leave me alone so I could get my work done.

That's what these are for.

The next step is to embrace the green revolution and have desks with treadmills

Desks with treadmills

and stationary bikes

Desk with stationary bike

The next step is to embrace the green revolution and have desks with treadmills

Desks with treadmills

and stationary bikes

Desk with stationary bike

You ever heard of a guy going on a crazy alcohol binge - 1 glass a night, forever?

Yes but did you see the 68oz glass pitcher he was drinking it out of?

68oz Pitcher

Will a flashlight and a ladder be common tools of computer security someday?

Oh boy. I have a book you really need to read.

They are...

And I would even suggest an older book: Neuromancer. It's Cyberpunk staple that hacking runs require a well timed physical access either to plant a bridge head, to bypass a physical security switch or to create a diversion.

It's the other way round in heist movies: A raid party has their computer nerd to hack the alarm system (which is not only for dramatic reasons possible only after bypassing a first layer of physical security)

That is an easy question to answer, do people value privacy enough to wear a https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=n.... So do you value you privacy enough to wear one and promote the wearing of them, perhaps not just because of privacy but also to protect the people's health a reduce the amount of toxic particulate matter and infectious organisms entering their lungs.

There is very little than can be done to stop facial recognition, governments will demand it is government buildings and of course private property, well the rules of the owner of the property apply, even if the camera faces the street. So the only choice is the dustmask, kind of really alter the nature of public streets but such is life. Privacy and the mask or no mask and computers watch and track you where ever you go.

Will a flashlight and a ladder be common tools of computer security someday?

Oh boy. I have a book you really need to read.

I keep my keys in my tin foil hat, Now who's laughing?

Seriously, get one of those wire baskets sold as desk organizers, hang it next to your key rack. Drop your key fob in that basket, and you are safe.

They also sell wallets for this purpose. I don't know how this became an article. I thought everyone on Slashdot stored their keys in their tinfoil hats!

Yes, a "better opportunity" may exist, but "good enough" also has its advantages.

Or maybe people are just happy with the location choices they have already made, and for more than simply work-related reasons; see The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Explains a lot about the polarized state of the nation.

... and have to present a copy of the "Abmeldebescheinigung" ...

That made me think of the "safe word" scene in the movie Eurotrip:

Sexy girl: Bring out the testical clamps!
Guy: Oh Crap! Flugan..basja..sbiner holzeen?
Sexy girl: do u mean Fluggaenkoecchicebolsen?

Which you can apparently get on a t-shirt

In related news, AT&T will also be using testicle clamps on people canceling their service.

There are these things called bulk carrier ships, you know. One of the reasons WWII went so awry for Hitler, cut off from British coal his Western empire was energy starved. Didn't have enough food to feed miners enough to dig enough coal in the Lowlands, not enough coal to smelt much aluminum from the plentiful bauxite France had, not enough aluminum for the French to in theory to build many planes for the Luftwaffe.... One economic factor behind Operation Barbarossa was to starve the captured cities and send the food surplus west. If you find this sort of thing interesting, the go to book is The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze, although be warned he's a Marxist (relevant to economic analysis)).

I am trying to use their wish list to send gift ideas to my family. I found a book I want for $13.55. I added it to my wish list, it seems to work. But later I went back to see my list, and the book was there, but the cost was $20.99. Another book that I chose was higher too. Try it for yourself. Add this book to your wish list, then look at your wish list. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/pr... My family will buy the more expensive book for me.

Cough, cough, there are better ways. Cities are highly polluted locations and wearing one of these https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=d..., it will factually substantially reduce your risk of cancer, in fact those who patrol the streets could probably sue their agencies for failing to provide them. Hugely reduce the risk of infection by inhaled contagions, block toxic smoke particles and of course the constant effluvia of animal poop from farms and parks, that get blown into the atmosphere as dust, yeah, you routinely inhale particles of animal faeces, hmm, tasty.

So everyone should wear them when they are outside to protect their lives, to factually reduce their risk of lung cancer, seriously can be proven. Wearing a facemask, which is legal, will help to save your life, especially if you dislike facial recognition systems, want to play, lets fucking play and they can not ban it, without taking full legal liability for lung cancer. Sure a police office can ask you to temporarily remove it so they can recognise your face but they can not stop you from immediately putting it back on, after all factually they should be wearing one because few people are more exposed to atmospheric pollutants then they are, by law of course they would be required to remove them when dealing directly with the public, just as you should in turn (heh, heh, heh).

$eriously, like $80 and the girls get some make up, dolls, and bath bombs. o.O
https://www.amazon.com/L-L-Sur...

***

Last year my daughter wanted one, I was like HELL NO, not at that price. So daddy went to Dollar Tree and bought a large Tupperware bowl. Stuffed it full of little things, bath bombs, etc, etc. Wrapped it in aluminum foil. Then wrote

"Daddy L.O.L.Z." on it....

Kids loved it.

... a GPU.

There is no way you are going to make money mining Bitcoin on a GPU.

You need to get an ASIC mining rig. You can buy one on Amazon for $515.

There's one with "business packaging" that comes without the mouse (still has the numpad though). There's one on the UK amazon too.

Unless that keypad is on the left.

I implemented a similar design myself, although I made several other changes to minimize the distance to the mouse, including moving the cursor block to the left as well.

For the last ten years, I've held RSI at bay by using split keyboards (and judicious use of break reminder software). I've used the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic in the past. I'm now using the Kinesis Freestyle2 and quite like it. I've set it up such that there's a trackpad in between the left and right part.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C...

The entire text:

Subject: Important Information about your Amazon.com Account

Hello,

We’re contacting you to let you know that our website inadvertently disclosed your email address due to a technical error. The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action.

Sincerely,
Customer Service
http://amazon.com/

This notification seems highly un-polished, like it was written by some low-level programmer. It clearly didn't go through marketing, or through much review of any kind. It leaves lots of unanswered questions, even the kind that would normally be included in such an email.

My first reaction was that it was some kind of spam, because it was so poorly done!

I've not heard of anyone who likes it

Then you've been living under a rock and not paying attention.

You can buy air fresheners which smell like 'new car', and has been something that has been referenced in pop culture for decades.

My best guess is it is a prestige thing, but I can't say I've ever been a fan.

https://www.amazon.com/Freshen...

freak0fnature related:

Take an app like MegaN64 (N64 Emulator), perfectly good app for years. You use it, you trust it. Then one day it auto updates, only the update is infected with malware. Despite the recent poor reviews and warnings, despite reporting it to Google, the app is still available.

It's not especially difficult to turn off auto-updating on Android:

1. 1 Open Google Play.
2. 2 Tap the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) on the top-left.
3. 3 Tap Settings.
4. 4 Tap Auto-update apps.
5. 5 To disable automatic app updates, select Do not auto-update apps.

Of course, most users don't realize that - and most of 'em probably wouldn't take advantage of it, if they did, because convenience.

Nonetheless ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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Because S3 is not a website; It is a storage service --- and some organizations have some repositories or datasets which they wish to use S3 to make public - possibly using a Requestor Pays bucket, OR selling access to a S3-based product through DevPay. Either way, you need to be able to provide other people from the public access to the storage bucket.

Because S3 is not a website; It is a storage service --- and some organizations have some repositories or datasets which they wish to use S3 to make public - possibly using a Requestor Pays bucket, OR selling access to a S3-based product through DevPay. Either way, you need to be able to provide other people from the public access to the storage bucket.

If your coffee grinder costs less than a few thousand, you are just a coffee-snob-wannabe.

I guess if you only ever spend $15 on ear buds that may be fine.

Meh. I use these. $20. They sound fine. Great battery life, too. And wireless >> wired. Wires are a PITA.

"This miniaturization of rockets and spacecraft places outer space within reach of a broader swath of the economy. "

Now the drug cartels can use their own satellites to spy on the border in real-time.

There is a book about it. Ignore the cover art.

https://www.amazon.com/Kings-H...

Nobody cares about your SJW crap. He has more important things to do than give c rap what you idiots think about him.
You might want to look into the true nature of your hero, Mueller - yet another swamp critter.

sad_ reminisced:

many, many years ago there was an article on /. about the fact that each time you read a tech article that is negatieve about a technology or tech company, there is a marketing firm behind it hired by a competitor.

That may or may not be true today. Tech journalism has become an open sewer of graft and shameless flackery, especially since the dead-pages advertising revenue drought began, but there were in the past, and there are still today, tech journalists who call them as they see them, and let the chips fall wherever they fall.

(Not the Gizmodo people, of ccourse. They eagerly spread their jounalistic cheeks for any company that's willing to cross their palms - with no condom required.)

Which is not to say it wasn't problematic back when I was writing for tech journals (between 1995 and 2002, fwiw). In fact I lost my first job in the industry when LAN Times' corporate parent kicked Susan Breidenback upstairs, fired her whole editorial staff, and brought in alumni of PC Week to replace them. The new Features editor called me to say that the magazine's "new direction" for columnists would be predicated on "more closely aligning the content in the back of the book with what we'll be covering in the front."

When I responded by asking, "In other words, you want me to write glowingly about your major advertisers' latest product releases?" he replied, "Essentially, yes."

So I quit. Without hesitation. Because, fuck that.

The following year, Jack Rickard, Editor Rotundus at Boardwatch Magazine recruited me to write for him. At the time, Boardwatch was supporting itself on a mix of paid subscription and advertising revenue, but Jack's attitude toward criticizing its advertisers was, "As long as you're right, go ahead. And fuck 'em, if they don't like it."

Of course, a year or so after Penton Media bought the mag from him, their poobahs decided to switch to the same "qualified subscriber" freebie revenue model that all the bigs employ (which pissed our existing subscriber base off mightily, of course). Then came the same kind of editorial decapitation I'd experienced at LAN Times, and the new management kissed off every one of its writing staff - except John C. Dvorak, whom I always assumed they kept because he was an actual celebrity.

(Not that I'm criticizing John here. He's a friend of mine, and a writer whose work I thoroughly enjoy. The imbecility of Penton's executives was neither his fault, nor his concern.)

Within a year after that, the first Internet bubble kerploded. (One of the things that had gotten me fired was a column I wrote warning my readers that a reckoning was coming, and cautioning them that "If your business plan's path to profitabilty ends at 'And then we'll get acquired,' or, 'And then we'll go public,' your business doesn't actually have a path to profitability. You might, but it most certainly doesn't." He read me the riot act over that one - and it sealed my fate.) Penton fired the entire, replacement editorial staff, and sold the name Boardwatch to a couple of aspiring web journalists a few months afterward.

But, unlike me, there were plenty of tech writers who were happy to whore themselves out, without the slightest qualm. And, obviously, there were plenty of magazine publishers who felt the same way ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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AmiMoJo stated:

If there was a way for people to easily contribute small amounts it might work. At the moment making a 10 cent donation is impossible online, the transaction fees kill it.

Yep.

Historically, the problem of transaction fees has been the stumbling block for every previous micropayment proposal, and it's likely to be the rock upon which the latest crop founders, as well ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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Amazon has the last one still on stock.

Yeah, enterprise java books that are over 10 years old are not selling good. The environment is changing to fast. If you ever want to write again in that area perhaps try to make it language/environment agnostic.

I liked this one e.g. https://www.amazon.com/exec/ob... still have it at my fathers place. Gosh, I should make an inventory of all my books ...

Guess that includes the Cambridge Dictionary, as well as all those fools at Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, HPE, IBM, Pixar, and most of the machine-learning industry, not to mention those well-known charlatan World Go champions at DeepMind.

I'm not sure what about the phrase terrifies you so much.

"Warning: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR.

You will dismiss this as ridiculous fear-mongering. Dismissing things as ridiculous fear-mongering is, in fact, the first symptom of parasitic spider infection -- the creature stimulates skepticism, in order to prevent you from seeking a cure. That's just as well, since the "cure" involves learning what a chainsaw tastes like. You can't feel the spider, because it controls your nerve endings. You won't even feel it when it breeds. And it will breed..."

  This Book Is Full of Spiders

It seems like at least someone has a faraday bag for phones now

I've thought about getting one myself for a while now, in the case of a Carrington event or EMP, just to keep spare phones in I would have around anyway.

I have no idea if that one is any good, just the first one I found that looked promising.

I recently looked up the sizes of most of the airline carriers economy seats, and then did some quick measurements of a few products at the store near me for comparison.
the following product:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...
is a childs folding chair. its seat is approximately 15 inches by 15 inches.
That seat is only 1 inch narrower than the economy seats on American airlines. (at 16 inches)
southwest is giving us 17 inches, American and Delta between 16.5 and 19, the data is a little vague.

and they want to make them smaller.
So what's next, 15 inch seats? actually match that child size play chair? Cram adults into the things for hours at a time? Road trips are starting to look a lot more pleasant.

when the electricity goes out, a candle and a good book is always appreciated. ;-)

Sure, as long as it is a rechargable LED candle. It is better for your eyes and the environment than an inefficient CO2-spewing wax candle.

Another option would be to sit in the dark and listen to an audiobook.

An Anonymous Coward noted:

The link is just shitty. It's actually http://sos.ga.gov/admin/files/...

Normally, I refuse to expend mod points on ACs. This post, however, definitely qualifies as "informative," and it deserved to be upmodded as such so it will be more visible to others.

I spent the last of my most recent mod points awarding it a +1 Informative upmod, because that was the right thing to do.

You're welcome, Slashdot ...

(Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

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There are dual socket motherboards with quad-SLI and up to 128GB ECC memory intended for desktop supercomputing. Dual socket AMD or Intel CPU's. Some will need an extra larger case (EATX).

A Threadripper based PC would handle this without needing dual socket. link