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User: franciscohs

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Comments · 98

  1. What are they researching specifically? is this any more than a mere curiosity that anyone could do? How come university professors are spending time and being paid to do this? No wonder higher level education is so expensive in some developed nations.

  2. Re:lawsuit incoming... on American Express Will Give All Parents 20 Weeks Of Paid Leave (cnn.com) · · Score: 2

    How is this discrimination? there is a benefit that you decide not to use, period. It's available to everyone who wants to use it and they will even cover all the expenses to be able to use it y you have trouble doing it naturally (adoption, insemination, surrogacy, etc.)

    By your same logic any benefit is discrimination, I don't want to save in a 401k, so I should get the matching money anyway. I don't like the food that is given for free and I decide not to eat it and should get money instead. I don't go to the gym, so that paid gym benefit is discriminatory.

    I can't believe the weird logic people get to use to complain about everything.

  3. Re:PayPal vs Bitcoin on Porn-themed Android Ransomware Takes Your Picture Before Asking For Money · · Score: 1

    Or because it's much more likely that the user that is willing to pay won't have a clue on how to send money using bitcoin so they risk using paypal and getting some money before they are discovered?

  4. Re:Extraordinary demands? on Porn-themed Android Ransomware Takes Your Picture Before Asking For Money · · Score: 1

    Permissions in Android are seriously broken. Much better the way iPhone does it, it doesn't ask for any permission at install time, when the app needs to use whatever, it will ask the moment it needs it. This way as a user it's much easier to identify the reason why the app is asking for this permission. For example if a text message app uses the microphone for phone calls, even if you didn't know this was a feature of the app, the first time you discover the feature it will ask permission as opposed to Android which will ask for access to the mic and you may not be aware of this feature, in which case you'll just think it's a dubious request, even if it's 100% legitimate.
    Another nice thing about this is that you don't need to give any permissions to an app that you don't want, so you may use all apps with location disabled for example, and use the rest normally,

  5. One word: Rocrail on Ask Slashdot: Tips For Getting Into Model Railroading? · · Score: 1

    This is the true "for nerds" approach. I've got into model railroading recently and one of the most interesting problems I've got into was "how do I make all this work automatically", this led me to rocrail. To fully create and automate a layout, I got into circuit design, programming, modelling, etc. Very interesting hobby that can go as far as you want it to go in terms of abilities.

    That said, getting into the hobby and specially DCC was a real pain. There are so many competing technologies to do the same thing and so much terminology that everyone references as if it was obvious that it was complicated to get a clear idea of what are all the components needed when approaching a design.

  6. Re:Internet? on This App Lets You Piggyback Facebook's Free Internet To Access Any Site · · Score: 1

    Yes, that's how it works. They already have cellular service but not necessarily data services, so they provide data services for free to certain sites. Or in the case that they may already have data services, these sites don't count towards total usage.
    On top of giving access to these sites, it's a way to enable data services for users that don't have it and that may never get to it due to the upfront cost and can now use data to access other sites (for a fee) if they desire it.

  7. Re:Internet? on This App Lets You Piggyback Facebook's Free Internet To Access Any Site · · Score: 1

    Providing Access to Free Basic Services
    The Internet.org app provides free basic services in markets where internet access may be less affordable. It allows people to browse selected health, employment and local information websites without data charges. The app is currently available to Airtel customers in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, Tigo customers in Colombia and Tanzania, and Reliance customers in India. It will continue to expand to other parts of the world.

    http://internet.org/projects

  8. Re:Death of Thunderbolt? on Apple's "Spring Forward" Event Debuts Apple Watch and More · · Score: 1

    You mean 30% heavier

  9. new documents? on New Zealand Spied On Nearly Two Dozen Pacific Countries · · Score: 1

    Can someone in the know explain how does this work? are new documents being leaked constantly or what? how is it that we see new stories like these so frequently?

    If new documents are being leaked, by whom?

  10. Re:Wait till the time is right? on Another Star Passed Through Our Oort Cloud 70,000 Years Ago · · Score: 1

    Not quite... the summary is implying that interstellar travel may take significantly more time than the actual wait, so waiting for something to get closer may make sense. Assuming you just want to get to A star, not to a specific one.

  11. Re:high quality hardware on Why Run Linux On Macs? · · Score: 1

    >whilst i find the practices of apple absolutely deplorable - forcing people to sign up for an ID in order to use hardware products that they have paid for
    They don't in laptops. I've been using macs for 5 years and never logged in into app store, icloud or any of that.

    Only caveat is if you want to upgrade OS you have to ask someone else to download it for you or find it "somewhere else"

    But I agree with you in that I don't like it and I'm not sure how long will it last without being a requirement, by how it's evolving I guess not long :(

  12. Why upgrade to the latest shinny new version? on Tumblr Co-Founder: Apple's Software Is In a Nosedive · · Score: 1

    I'm a mac user but far from a fan boy, I just think the combination of software and hardware is the best you can get right now (used Desktop linux for 10 years before switching to mac and at some point in life I decided my time one of the most valuable things in life, still use linux for many things thou)

    Now, what baffles me is that people in slashdot complain about new shinny software having bugs. I'm not saying it's not a problem, but why are you (supposedly knowledgeable slashdot people) upgrading to a .0 version in the first place? I personally don't see any reason to do it, and every time I've upgraded I've done it in the last stages of a certain version, right now I'm using 10.9.5 in three different machines, it's rock solid for me and I don't plan to upgrade to Yosemite any time soon. Main problem is when you buy new hardware and you're stuck with the latest version.

  13. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. on What Was the Greatest Age For Indie Games? · · Score: 1

    Braid
    Limbo
    Lone survivor
    Hotline Miami

  14. Re:Whatsapp is ubiquitous in many places of the wo on WhatsApp Is Well On Its Way To A Billion Users · · Score: 3, Informative

    I may add to this, when you're traveling it usually costs ~$1/day for some megs of data roaming (5-50mb i've seen), which is more than enough to send lots of messages, while ONE roaming SMS may cost the same. Again, probably not very common in the US to travel abroad, but think about Europe how much people travel and live in any other European country other than their own and where they have most of friends/family. You'd use Whatsapp (or something similar) lots more if you had to pay roaming charges to send SMS across states in the US.

  15. Re:That's it on Dropbox's New Policy of Scanning Files For DMCA Issues · · Score: 1

    So let me get this straight, dropbox has the ability to identify individual users on the amount of files that they have which are identified as "pirate" files?, no matter if they match your files against hashes or whatever (and they aren't actually scanning each individual file), but I'm concerned I'm boing flagged as a pirate for uploading to my private folder any kind of file I have.

  16. Update to Mavericks requires login to iTunes on Many Mac OS Users Not Getting Security Updates · · Score: 1

    So no, I'm not doing it. Maybe I'm paranoid but I can accept my phone requiring an iTunes account, but I will not put an apple account or anything on my personal computer.
    I also suspect that this means that to get these security updates I will need to be logged in to get updates, even if I got mavericks from another "source", so not gonna happen for me, that's my limit...

  17. Re:Roll your own - but choose the right SW on Ask Slashdot: Which Encrypted Cloud Storage Provider? · · Score: 2

    Depending on your needs this might not be the right choice, as stated on their home:

    Great:

    Frequently changing project files, like text, office documents, and images
    Tracking and syncing files edited by multiple people
    Reverting a file to any point in its history
    Preventing spying on your files on the server using encryption

    Not so great:

    Full computer backups
    Storing your photo or music collection
    Large binary files that change often, like video editing projects

    For general purpose Dropbox replacement I recommend ownCloud

  18. Re:100% Employer paid = 100% commitment. on Ask Slashdot: On the Job Certification Training? · · Score: 1

    I don't agree, it really depends on the kind of training and the time and money that the company is investing in it. I think that the company should always invest on some kind of ongoing training (whether it's sending people to training, organizing internal training, paying for materials and certifications for self study, etc), and this shouldn't necessarily mean that I'd have to sign a contractual agreement. The company HAS to invest to keep an ongoing operation. If they don't do so and the employees don't agree to study on their own time or sign an agreement then it will lower the work quality, does the company really want that?, well, many seem to think so, but they have to realize that an ongoing operation requires additional investment besides salary.

  19. Re:becasue Apple never on Among Servers, Apple's Mac Mini Quietly Gains Ground · · Score: 1

    The only reason they have to care about physical dimensions is because it's not a machine that is intended to be on a DC!!, for any other machine, there is a standard: 1u, 2u, 3u, etc... (yes, some servers can go deeper than others in the rack, but that's usually not a problem)

  20. Re:Shotgun and big scary dog. on Ask Slashdot: Starting From Scratch After a Burglary? · · Score: 0

    Many robberies are committed at gunpoint or another kind of weapon as a deterrent for the victim to try anything stupid. I know the situation is a delicate one, but very often everything will end up without personal harm if you just stay quiet and let them do whatever they want and very simple things could turn things up into something much more serious, someone entering the scene with a gun, unless 100% effective, would be disastrous.
    Obviously, you have to know what place you live on and how are the crimes on that area/country, if you live in an extremely violent place where they'll shoot you anyway, I'd say please come and interfere, but if that's not the case I'd prefer you stay out of it instead of endangering us with your heroic gesture.

  21. Re:Shotgun and big scary dog. on Ask Slashdot: Starting From Scratch After a Burglary? · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Oh yes, because interfering on a situation where a person and his 5 year old daughter are pointed up at gunpoint is going to end up well, sure... the BEST you can do in a situation like this is to just let them take whatever they want. Unless someone is at risk or the situation is going beyond the robbery, it's not worth the risk to do anything about it.

  22. Why do I care about Hi10p? on XBMC 12.0 'Frodo' Released: PVR-Support, HD Audio and More · · Score: 1

    Can someone explain why should we care about this profile?

    From what I see there is no hardware decoding for it yet, so it doesn't seem like something I'd use for the moment. Is there anything that hi10p provides that the previous profile couldn't achieve with a slightly larger file size?

  23. Re:But will it allow negative information? on Wikimedia Foundation Launches Wikivoyage · · Score: 1

    You mean negative subjective information?, I wouldn't like something like that. While what you're saying may be mostly true for a majority of people, "better mexican food" is really a matter of opinion. Maybe I'd accept an article stating that the food is more or less authentic in some place, comparing it to the original, which while still rather subjective, it can be measured or compared on specific ingredients, way of cooking, etc.

  24. Re:Great on Wikimedia Foundation Launches Wikivoyage · · Score: 1

    From the FAQ:

    Is it true that Wikivoyage's content came from Wikitravel?
    It's true, more or less: when the English language Wikivoyage was founded in 2012, we brought over the travel guides from Wikitravel. (This is both legal and moral thanks to the free licence both sites share!) In fact, Wikivoyage was founded by a very large contingent of editors and administrators from Wikitravel—the very people who originally wrote much of the content we imported.

    If you're interested in the gory details of why we forked the project, we have a page that provides a recap. But we are our own project now, and we're moving forward with great new content. As time goes on, our content will resemble Wikitravel's less and less—hopefully, by being more up-to-date, better organized, and more integrated with the other wikis of the Wikimedia Foundation.

    There are very good reasons for the fork (IMHO), more here:
    https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikivoyage/Migration/FAQ

  25. Re:latency on The Tiny Console Killers Taking On the PS4 and Xbox 720 · · Score: 1

    Maybe you should try hrping or some other high resolution ping utility, you'd be surprised. (Hint: latency to your first hop is much less than 1ms)