Of course it's a gadget. So's a hammer. "Gadget" means 'tool', or 'machine', or 'contraption', or 'pile of sticks that constitutes a deadly trap at the bottom of this hole'. Etc etc.
Poverty is fixed at least in the sense that enough resources exist to give all the people of the earth a fairly comfortable life. Perhaps not broadband internet to every household everywhere, but at least sufficient food, clothes and shelter for everyone.
Trouble is, most people want rather more than whatever level of comfort that would be.
I agree, because FTL travel is impossible. No arguments there. But 'finding a way to manipulate DNA' is probably tougher than, say, getting to Mars. Just my opinion, since I am neither a biologist nor a physicist.
Not necessarily, reference-counted memory management, plus weak pointers if you insist on creating circular references, free you from freeing, and don't have a memory penalty.
Exactly. Getting 'sucked into' a sun is just as bad for your health as falling into a black hole, but we don't get all freaked out about those. Well, unless we were in a ship that was getting uncomfortably close to a star, in which case we'd probably be becoming worried.
Black holes do sound pretty cool though, so you can imagine why people might make up stories about them.
While this is technically true, security techniques such as those used by Apple can raise the cost of cracking so high that the lifetime and energy content of the universe are insufficient to undertake the crack. Of course, you have to use a modern phone, and a very long password, but that doesn't change the facts. With the fingerprint sensor, it's quite practical to use a password with entropy high enough that attacks become unfeasible.
For all practical purposes, the number of possible keys might as well be infinite.
The boy was thirteen. That's not very old, and in my opinion not old enough to own a device with bullet-proof industrial-grade security that admits the parents literally no possibility of access. Children deserve privacy, and thirteen is still very much a child, but they still live in the house, and their parents are still legally responsible for many of their actions.
I have all my kids passwords, and unlock codes, and security questions, and iCloud keychain passcodes, and so on, securely stored elsewhere. This is mostly because children can't be relied upon to remember passwords, but also because they are my responsibility, and so their data is my responsibility too.
You and the rest of the world. There's not much more irritating than copying a spelling, for instance - because I can't spell good - from a web search, only to have the pointless formatting come with it. I think, to be honest, that almost 90% of the time, pasting the text only is the right thing to do.
OSX is designed for use with a mouse, iOS is designed for use with a touch screen. These are extremely different things, and I don't personally see how you can bring them together.
Because they keep working, which is because they're very well engineered, which explains their price. If you want a cheap flimsy tablet that won't last the year because the micro USB falls out, then Android has your back. If you want a device that lasts - and can actually pull enough current through its power socket to run without draining the battery, for example - then I'm afraid you'll have to shell out for something that isn't crap.
Again, trying to be fair to Apple, their new hardware usually is better. The secure enclave, which is a buzzword I've tried to avoid using, does sound extremely secure. Per-device IDs, key doesn't leave the chip, on-chip AES-256-CTR encryption that operates on the DMA channel, PIN and/or passcode never stored anywhere. I mean, it's pretty damn secure. It's hard to imagine how to reliably attack it even with physical access. Especially if the data is important, and screwing up means you don't get a second chance, ever.
You have your facts a bit wrong. Apple have stated it is possible to create software to break into its phones, but that doing so would a significant undertaking, and would compromise the security of their products. This is a perfectly fair position for them to take, and is backed up by all the facts that are available. At no point has anyone said that the iPhone 5C is "unbreakable". Never.
What people have said, however, and this is correct as far as anyone knows - there's no reason to doubt it - is that a newer iPhone with a strong passphrase is unbreakable for all practical purposes. A new iPhone with a 4-digit pin is breakable only with a special software release that can only be signed by Apple, just like the 5C. But, an iPhone 5C does not have the security baked right into the silicon, and so if you can dump all of the flash, you can brute force the PIN.
Also, the FBI has not yet broken into the phone without Apple's help. They still have to determine whether or not the method words, and rather importantly, whether or not doing so would compromise the admissibility of any evidence gathered.
Networking was wired. Wires are annoying. Now you can get networking to work really well without using wires.
Charging is wired. Wires are annoying. It's exactly the same thing. That networking is data and charging is power is irrelevant from the point of view of someone who wants to get rid of wires.
Which is everyone. No-one wants wires. My desk is covered with them. I can't stand the damn things. But at this point wireless charging isn't good enough for someone like Apple to burden their products with. They've done their research, and it's not ready yet.
What is wireless charging about, if in your opinion the article misses the point?
Slashdot Mirror
Of course it's a gadget. So's a hammer. "Gadget" means 'tool', or 'machine', or 'contraption', or 'pile of sticks that constitutes a deadly trap at the bottom of this hole'. Etc etc.
Poverty is fixed at least in the sense that enough resources exist to give all the people of the earth a fairly comfortable life. Perhaps not broadband internet to every household everywhere, but at least sufficient food, clothes and shelter for everyone.
Trouble is, most people want rather more than whatever level of comfort that would be.
Awesome. You should make a website about that.
"Germs" are everywhere. Relax, my friend.
I agree, because FTL travel is impossible. No arguments there. But 'finding a way to manipulate DNA' is probably tougher than, say, getting to Mars. Just my opinion, since I am neither a biologist nor a physicist.
Cancer is a lot harder. This is just physics, but Cancer is biology. Biology is far far more complicated.
It's weird, but radiation still arrives at the speed of light.
I'm their demographic.... I just have no interest in ANY watch
Then I'd suggest that you're not in their demographic.
Not necessarily, reference-counted memory management, plus weak pointers if you insist on creating circular references, free you from freeing, and don't have a memory penalty.
Dave's first rule of software engineering; All build systems are terrible, get used to it.
Exactly. Getting 'sucked into' a sun is just as bad for your health as falling into a black hole, but we don't get all freaked out about those. Well, unless we were in a ship that was getting uncomfortably close to a star, in which case we'd probably be becoming worried.
Black holes do sound pretty cool though, so you can imagine why people might make up stories about them.
That's a very insightful point. Because, for real life purposes, it basically is.
While this is technically true, security techniques such as those used by Apple can raise the cost of cracking so high that the lifetime and energy content of the universe are insufficient to undertake the crack. Of course, you have to use a modern phone, and a very long password, but that doesn't change the facts. With the fingerprint sensor, it's quite practical to use a password with entropy high enough that attacks become unfeasible.
For all practical purposes, the number of possible keys might as well be infinite.
The boy was thirteen. That's not very old, and in my opinion not old enough to own a device with bullet-proof industrial-grade security that admits the parents literally no possibility of access. Children deserve privacy, and thirteen is still very much a child, but they still live in the house, and their parents are still legally responsible for many of their actions.
I have all my kids passwords, and unlock codes, and security questions, and iCloud keychain passcodes, and so on, securely stored elsewhere. This is mostly because children can't be relied upon to remember passwords, but also because they are my responsibility, and so their data is my responsibility too.
You and the rest of the world. There's not much more irritating than copying a spelling, for instance - because I can't spell good - from a web search, only to have the pointless formatting come with it. I think, to be honest, that almost 90% of the time, pasting the text only is the right thing to do.
I see people with iPhones and feel pity....That said, the products are really awesome.
I think your pity might be misplaced.
not having a single app running full-screen
Like iOS 9 split screen, you mean?
stylus... bigger sizes..
stylus...bigger sizes...
and make them capable of running Linux (OK, maybe that's asking too much).
Yes, it is. Nobody in their right mind would want this.
current iPads are pretty close to perfect.
microSD card slot.... just saying....
OSX is designed for use with a mouse, iOS is designed for use with a touch screen. These are extremely different things, and I don't personally see how you can bring them together.
they're more likely to stick with what they have.
Because they keep working, which is because they're very well engineered, which explains their price. If you want a cheap flimsy tablet that won't last the year because the micro USB falls out, then Android has your back. If you want a device that lasts - and can actually pull enough current through its power socket to run without draining the battery, for example - then I'm afraid you'll have to shell out for something that isn't crap.
Again, trying to be fair to Apple, their new hardware usually is better. The secure enclave, which is a buzzword I've tried to avoid using, does sound extremely secure. Per-device IDs, key doesn't leave the chip, on-chip AES-256-CTR encryption that operates on the DMA channel, PIN and/or passcode never stored anywhere. I mean, it's pretty damn secure. It's hard to imagine how to reliably attack it even with physical access. Especially if the data is important, and screwing up means you don't get a second chance, ever.
You have your facts a bit wrong. Apple have stated it is possible to create software to break into its phones, but that doing so would a significant undertaking, and would compromise the security of their products. This is a perfectly fair position for them to take, and is backed up by all the facts that are available. At no point has anyone said that the iPhone 5C is "unbreakable". Never.
What people have said, however, and this is correct as far as anyone knows - there's no reason to doubt it - is that a newer iPhone with a strong passphrase is unbreakable for all practical purposes. A new iPhone with a 4-digit pin is breakable only with a special software release that can only be signed by Apple, just like the 5C. But, an iPhone 5C does not have the security baked right into the silicon, and so if you can dump all of the flash, you can brute force the PIN.
Also, the FBI has not yet broken into the phone without Apple's help. They still have to determine whether or not the method words, and rather importantly, whether or not doing so would compromise the admissibility of any evidence gathered.
Taxes are what civilization costs. Civilization is not evil.
Networking was wired. Wires are annoying. Now you can get networking to work really well without using wires.
Charging is wired. Wires are annoying. It's exactly the same thing. That networking is data and charging is power is irrelevant from the point of view of someone who wants to get rid of wires.
Which is everyone. No-one wants wires. My desk is covered with them. I can't stand the damn things. But at this point wireless charging isn't good enough for someone like Apple to burden their products with. They've done their research, and it's not ready yet.
What is wireless charging about, if in your opinion the article misses the point?
philanthropic
You give the money to charity instead?
Wireless charging is pointless
Waterproof would be cool.