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User: J.+T.+MacLeod

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  1. Re:You've got a lot of influence on Lawrence Lessig Criticizes Proposed 140-Year Copyright Protections (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How many Democrat front-runners are running on copyright reform?

    Were Democrats standing up against SOPA and PIPA? Or the TPP?

    I'm not suggesting Republicans are doing any better unless by accident, but this is not divided like you say it is. Heck, there was this: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121116/16481921080/house-republicans-copyright-law-destroys-markets-its-time-real-reform.shtml

  2. It didn't work last time. on Atari Launches Linux Gaming Box Starting at $199 (linux.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The company wearing Atari's skin thinks it can make the Ouya work.

    To be fair, Ouya didn't even try to make the Ouya work. And with advances in ARM processors and their matching GPUs, now is a better time in terms of hardware. But other than their excellent physical design, there's nothing that gives me any confidence that this will go any better.

    (Also: We can't call Valve's dabbling in Linux a failure considering that they didn't fully charge ahead with it. They succeeded at creating a pressure release valve that kept Windows Store from picking up steam with publishers, and they continue to work toward that end.)

  3. Seek the Minimum Viable Product on Ask Slashdot: How Can I Make My Own Vaporware Real? · · Score: 2

    You don't need a fully formed product to introduce your project to the world. You just need something that is complete enough to be useful.

    Maybe that's a feature-incomplete version. Maybe it's a moderately complete spec that can be used to build your goal. Maybe you start by building on some existing toolchain that you later plan to migrate away from. Whatever gets the project rolling fastest without sacrificing its core.

    Once you have that, then you can start getting people's attention. Post about it where people talk about programming and new language projects.

    Build it, and they will come. They will not come before you build it. So build *something*, even if it isn't finished.

  4. Re: Exactly. Stupid idea for many reasons. on Ask Slashdot: Should CPU, GPU Name-Numbering Indicate Real World Performance? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The PSU is very important, for all the reasons you say.

    But there is a culture that advocates much bigger and more expensive PSUs than required, and that is bleeding into the realm of casual PC builders.

  5. Re: time to bring back USENET? :) on Reddit Bans Subreddits Related To Selling Guns, Drugs, Sex, and More (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Usenet is still accessible, but you will have to pay for the service from an Usenet aggregator since it is no longer provided (or at least provided in complete fashion) by ISPs these days.

  6. Re:Was tried in the Toronto District School Board on Learning To Program Is Getting Harder (slashdot.org) · · Score: 1

    The Raspberry Pi, great as it is, still involves some up-front complexity in a lot of ways that people don't expect. Sure, it's easy to open a terminal and run Python, but knowing what you need to do in order to type and run a program is a barrier without a manual and icons set up on the desktop.

    But if someone bought Raspberry Pis and just handed them to teachers without setting it up for a specific purpose, that's just an idiot move by the administration. This isn't the 90s when people bought PCs for every classroom with no aim because no one had any idea what they might be able to do.

  7. Those two extra doors make SO much difference. /s

  8. Re: Browser speed is not the issue on Is Firefox 57 Faster Than Chrome? (mashable.com) · · Score: 1

    Where are you going for extensions? Everything used web extensions now, excepting the long term service release of Firefox.

  9. Simply doing what others refused to do. on Razer Unveils Gaming Smartphone With 120Hz UltraMotion Display, 8GB RAM and No Headphone Jack (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Every phone using chipsets capable of high/variable refresh rate should have been released with it.

    Every phone with room ought to have dual, front-facing speakers. (Although I'd definitely take waterproofing over the ginormous speakers Razer uses.)

    Although I doubt Razer will have an enormous hit with this, I really hope it sells like hotcakes. It is absolutely ridiculous that flagship phones in 2017 weren't already leading the way with these features, and it's even more ridiculous that the only reason that's the case is because somemone declined to implement them. That sort of foolishness deserves losing sales to a competitor.

  10. What about astroturfing? on Senators Announce New Bill That Would Regulate Online Political Ads (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    Facebook ads are a miniscule threat compared to astroturfing.

    If they don't regulate astroturfing, then they aren't serious.

  11. It isn't that articles need to be dumbed down.

    It is that articles need to be structured to be usable by a wide range of users. The hard technical details need to come after a high level summary and a layman's explanation.

  12. Pain for no gain. on Google Allo For Chrome Finally Arrives, But Only For Android Users (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    So it's like Hangouts, but with the extra inconvenience of being tied to your mobile number instead of something easily memorized.

    And with the added pain of REQUIRING YOUR PHONE TO USE THE WEB VERSION.

    It's a pain and does nothing more of value than existing applications. Why does it even exist?

  13. Re:Well deserved. on Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo On Gender Differences (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    The entire essay poses as a misappropriation of supposedly scientific reasoning, statistics and whatnot to support an anti-diversity position, and if you summarize the whole thing, there's content there that would be the equivalent of modern day Mengele and bogus science to justify the superiority of the Aryan race, only as a crusade against diversity efforts. It is entirely presumptuous, it assumes that just because some things are the way they are we should not try to change it, and that he feels violated in his rights because people are striving for more equal rights inside the company.

    He basically sounds like a well mannered slaver trying to explain why he thinks slavery is right. It is by no coincidence that he uses some of the exact same lines of defense. We are biologically different. Such and such class of people seek different things. We're not getting any payoff for forward thinking actions. Lets not focus on this particular issue, but rather try to solve more generalistic things.

    You are egregiously misrepresenting his statements.

    He is not stating "men and women are different so women aren't as good at this". That would be ridiculous and sexist.

    He is stating "because many women make different career choices as a demographic for reasons that may be due to inherent differences shared as a demographic, the choice to measure success as demographic equality and to limit certain forms of assistance to only one sex is counterproductive".

  14. Re: Translation on Lenovo Switches To Stock Android For All Future Smartphones (ndtv.com) · · Score: 1

    It is very hard to differentiate a phone based on hardware, but Samsung does it. They certainly aren't selling phones based on the strengths of their software.

    But their interface is indeed different. As far as software is concerned, the difference between Lenovo and Samsung is that Samsung hasn't been forced to admit that their software is crap. Maybe it's deeper pockets, maybe it's managerial tenacity, or maybe they are serious about maintaining a a unique interface they can use to maintain continuity in case they decide to lose Android and jump to Tizen. (All of the above, really.)

    And in the meantime, most people that have an opinion about the software on their phone actively dislike what Samsung does.

  15. I think that people should be free to unionize if they like, but I can't help but feel like UAW has grown hungry and needs fresh prey.

    UAW has been a millstone around the neck of Detroit auto workers, while auto workers outside of Detroit are in need of protection.

    Many of the people objecting aren't against unionizing, they're just against UAW. Why doesn't anyone attempt to unionize WITHOUT UAW?

  16. Re: Summary full of shit on Microsoft's 'Windows Subsystem For Linux' Finally Leaves Beta (microsoft.com) · · Score: 1

    As the Linux metadata isn't written without going to the WSL subsystem, there is really no safe way to edit a file in the Linux directories using Windows tools.

    I agree that it seems crazy that a POSIX type system wouldn't support this, but I imagine it had a lot to do with supporting Linux binaries directly. Cygwin, for example, doesn't have this limitation.

  17. Re: Summary full of shit on Microsoft's 'Windows Subsystem For Linux' Finally Leaves Beta (microsoft.com) · · Score: 2

    They are accessible... At the risk of corrupting your data if anything is saved to that location without using the WSL.

    It would be foolish of them to stand behind the statement that it is accessible when it would be so easy to lose data by accident.

  18. Re: I tried Python on IEEE Spectrum Declares Python The #1 Programming Language (ieee.org) · · Score: 1

    Significant whitespace != Positional syntax

  19. It's certainly a calculated move.

    People are going to be mad... but at least they're moving.

    And if the public is talking about it, then the people blocking it are going to have to justify it.

  20. Jobs-ian genius on Elon Musk Says He Has a Green Light To Build a NY-Philly-Baltimore-DC Hyperloop (theverge.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Of course Elon Musk didn't get verbal approval for the entire track. Perhaps he had the merest hint of a suggestion from someone (DOT? Two people on city councils at either end?).

    Getting actual approval from all the different cities, states, counties, and regulatory bodies involved will be an enormous undertaking. The fastest way to get this sort of discussion happening at all of these levels is probably to... force people involved to deny it.

    A single tweet and suddenly you have multiple nationwide news articles and, most critically, everyone responsible for approval at every level talking about it. They're talking about it to nail down who said, but they're talking about it. As are all their constituents and peers.

    The largest hurdle when dealing with so many people in authority is simply tendency toward inaction. With a tweet, he has solved that. Forcing people to say "he won't be approved without following the process" removes the option of sitting on it silently whether out of apathy or to gain leverage.

  21. Re:This already exists. What has changed? on Google To Replace SMS Codes With Mobile Prompts in 2-Step-Verification Procedure (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1

    To clarify, I wasn't referring to the Google Authenticator app, but to an experience as you describe.

  22. This already exists. What has changed? on Google To Replace SMS Codes With Mobile Prompts in 2-Step-Verification Procedure (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 2

    Google has been doing phone app prompts for 2FA for a while.

    Is anything actually different with this system? Or is this just a campaign to encourage SMS code users to switch?

  23. We need it everywhere. on Google Takes Another Shot At Making Android Great On Low-Budget Smartphones (phonedog.com) · · Score: 2

    Judging by the horrific performance Android has on even high-end phones, I'd appreciate it if this showed up on all phones.

  24. Because this is not about choice. This is about conditioning the market to the removal of choice.

    If it was about choice, they would offer you the ability to select between S and Home. But instead S is the default, and the only path away is buying the upgrade to Pro. That means a lot of people who are locked in to the phone-like app store experience.

    If Microsoft is concerned about programs slowing the computer down by getting their own updates, they could have standardized an update system into the OS.

  25. Re:Repurposing Macs significantly harder than win/ on Apple Forces Recyclers To Shred All iPhones and MacBooks (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    I know that the *stated* minimum specs aren't always the *actual* minimum specs, but the ones on the box are the only ones you are going to get official support for.