Slashdot Mirror


User: Xtense

Xtense's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
138
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 138

  1. Portable players on Why We Should Buy Music In FLAC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm a proud owner of a Rockboxed Sansa e250. However, if I kept the music I listen to regularly in FLAC, both the internal storage (2GB) and external microSD fall short. No, hotswapping isn't a good idea, especially if you're treating yourself to music going long distance. That's why I decided to settle for Ogg Vorbis - quality good enough that I don't hear a difference between the source and the compressed file (as proven by several long blind hearing tests), and file sizes that make my collection that much more managable.

  2. Re:That's all well and good on Valve Beats Google, Apple For Profits Per Employee · · Score: 1

    And they are. If you try a proxy to the USA some time and check the price in dollars, you'd notice that most of the time it's approximately the same, adjusted for currency differences. Sometimes, however, the prices in Europe are inflated somewhat. Here, let me make some screenshots for you (one from a proxied webbrowser, the other from steam's built-in browser):

    http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2829/dollarsr.jpg
    http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7897/euroqi.jpg

    I did a quick count on all the ones that have EUR==USD prices: 4. Four games from four wholly different publishers, that just couldn't be arsed.

  3. Re:That's all well and good on Valve Beats Google, Apple For Profits Per Employee · · Score: 1

    Prices are dictated by publishers, with some games they differ, yadda yadda yadda.

  4. Think of the children! on Malaysia Releases Genetically Modified Mosquitoes · · Score: 2

    IANAGeneticist/Biologist, but... wouldn't evolution favor mosquitoes with longer lifespans? After a couple of generations, the weakened gene will get excised and the bugs will go back to the way they were.

  5. Re:Yay, more Input Lag on Wireless GeForce Graphics Card Announced · · Score: 1

    Pinging is all fine and good, but try to transfer a, lets say, 1920x1080, 24bit color frame over WiFi, first with then without compression, then measure how long did that take. Now do 60 frames consecutively. If you can fit it in 1ms, without encryption and even with some form of compression, I'll be very, very impressed, then ask how long since you came from the future.

  6. Re:Is Chrome not affected? on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 2

    Oh, right. Forgot about that one, sorry.

    *holds up geek card* So where do I turn in this thing?

  7. Re:Pass the salt please on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 2

    This is, of course, if the vulnerabilities found can be accurately reproduced at an acceptable success rate. The original message on the mailing list mentions multiple times that software vendors found the bugs to be very hard to reproduce. It may be that the conditions needed for the bug to present itself are scarce enough that no malware programmer will opt to take that path, but, of course, now I've entered a realm of maybes and whatifs, so anything goes.

  8. Re:Is Chrome not affected? on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 1

    Chrome wasn't tested by the researcher, so no mention is made as to whether it is affected or not. Safari figures under "All WebKit browsers" in the message and some bugs were found.

  9. Re:Sandbox time? on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 3, Funny

    And what if we put the VM... into ANOTHER VM? :O

  10. Re:Terrific Research, But... on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It comes preinstalled with the OS, it doesn't need any configuring (or, if needed, it syncs automatically with settings on a domain controller) and, for tasks actually needed in an office setting, it works.

    No, it isn't "good" by any stretch of the word, but switching to a different browser is definitely not high up on the list of needed IT changes.

  11. Re:Pass the salt please on Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs · · Score: 0

    If I understand correctly, these are worse, since they affect browsers automatically while loading a badly corrupt (fuzzed) page - no user activity is needed other than being pointed to the site. So, post a malicious address to an URL shortening service, spread to twitter/facebook/whathaveyou and you could do some - maybe not very serious, nothing a program restart wouldn't fix, but still - damage.

  12. Re:Mozilla's public disclosure on Mozilla Posts File Containing Registered User Data · · Score: 1

    It's just me then probably ;) . I'd rather trust my memory jello than a scrap of paper or an electronic device to keep my most important information both accessible to me and private. Sometimes there are situations where you must leave your phone or wallet somewhere and I'd rather part with them and their contents than my most secure passwords. Of course, given a drug-and-five-dollar-wrench situation, i'm screwed either way, but up until now, I could always remember every one of my passes - and some of them are very long and very random. If i change a high-security password, i perform a series of test logins from a secure and trusted terminal until I can log in correctly ten times in succession without any delays on my part. I've been doing this for up to six years now, so I suppose it comes with practice, but it makes some pretty big assumptions on the security of the password. This method, for instance, surely wouldn't work in an office high-security environment, where passwords are changed pretty often.

  13. Re:Mozilla's public disclosure on Mozilla Posts File Containing Registered User Data · · Score: 1

    > Obviously, it goes without saying that you shouldn't ever write these down anywhere - and I mean everywhere.

    And this, dear Slashdotters, is why you should drink coffee before posting. Or just think before posting. ;]

  14. Re:Mozilla's public disclosure on Mozilla Posts File Containing Registered User Data · · Score: 1

    If you don't trust automated password keeper software and don't want to clutter your brain too much, just tier your passwords. Seriously. Have a set of five, maybe six levels of passwords with different levels of length and complexity. Lev1 on throwaway accounts you won't miss, Lev2 for accounts you don't use often but return once in a while, Lev3 for untrusted websites you need to use regularly, Lev4 for trusted sites containing no specific data, Lev5 for trusted domains with your private information, Lev6 for the holy-fucking-shit-if-this-were-ever-hacked-i'd-lose-everything-and-kill-myself places. Obviously, it goes without saying that you shouldn't ever write these down anywhere - and I mean everywhere.

    This is a pretty good compromise between different passwords on every site and using just one everywhere. It's not a security measure good enough for the 3l33t and/or paranoid, but it should be enough for the average internet-enabled Joe.

    Bonus points if you change your passwords once in a while.

  15. Re:id should give Tom Hall Keen's rights. on 20 Years of Commander Keen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Correction: not Activision, but Infogrames, which is now Atari. It went something like this:

    With CKeen, episode 6 (Aliens Ate My Babysitter), the game was published by FormGen, and Apogee was only a retailer. In 1996, FormGen was sold to GT Interactive, along with the rights to Commander Keen. In 1999, Infogrames Entertainment SA took a controlling stake in GT and renamed the whole company Infogrames, Inc. Then, in 2003, Infogrames Inc. changed their name to Atari Inc. and it sits like that up until now. Formally, Atari is the owner of all the IP surrounding Commander Keen.

    I mistook Atari for Activision since it was Activision who published the GameBoy Color version in 2001 (leading to much Fanon Discontinuity).

  16. Re:id should give Tom Hall Keen's rights. on 20 Years of Commander Keen · · Score: 2

    They don't have them anymore. They were sold to FormGen by Apogee, who in turn sold them to Activision, so we can safely assume they're down the bit bucket.

  17. Re:This is their third try. on USAF Unveils Supercomputer Made of 1,760 PS3s · · Score: 1

    You missed PC and handheld gamers, but good effort nonetheless! 7/10

  18. Re:English homework on Cheap Software Tools Give New Life To Stop-Motion Animation · · Score: 1

    Then he'll read the fine print above, find out who you are and also punish you.

    SCIENCE!

  19. Re:Nuclear pulse propulsion on Can We Travel To That Exciting New Exoplanet? · · Score: 3, Informative

    The theoretical speed for a momentum-limited, 100m orion craft would be 3,3% of the speed of light, so... no. No it wouldn't.

  20. Re:cool, but.. on Zephyr Solar Plane Tops 7 Days Aloft · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Remember these are just baby steps of solar powered flight. This in itself is quite an achievement, but there's still room for improvement. As solar panel technology gets better, so will the capabilities and usefulness of such projects in real life. However, i think just waiting for a better panel won't cut it - the rest can still be optimized, like internal circuitry, materials, the design and so on. That's why IMO it's important to keep making such prototypes. If (when?) we finally get better panels, we'll be all set with a proper aircraft architecture and, if we're lucky, it'll be able to sustain itself in every climate.

    That said, the military will probably never release the specs to the public, so meh ;) .

  21. Re:Available as a Torrent in 3... 2... 1... on Microsoft Opens Source Code To KGB's Successor Agency · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Pffffffaaahahahaahaha.

    Oh wait, you're serious.

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

  22. Available as a Torrent in 3... 2... 1... on Microsoft Opens Source Code To KGB's Successor Agency · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Available as a Torrent in 3... 2... 1...

  23. Re:Already in place in EU on Australian Gov't Seeks To Record Citizens' Web Histories · · Score: 4, Funny

    > - Obliged to introduce CP filter. Filter can be expanded for other 'illegal' websites.

    So THAT's why I can't find anything about Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the internet!

  24. Re:This just in! on Ancient Cave Art May Depict Giant Bird Extinct For 40,000 Years · · Score: 1

    To you and whoever modded op insightful: unicode needs some sort of character that marks jokes, like ENDOFJOKE or something. Also, I wonder if that algorithm from a newsstory couple of days ago that was supposed to detect sarcasm could be adapted here?

  25. This just in! on Ancient Cave Art May Depict Giant Bird Extinct For 40,000 Years · · Score: 0

    Ancient art represents ancient reality, news at 11!