There's plenty of physiological evidence that humans, all of us, are predisposed towards religion. We see cause and effect in all things. It's useful in many contexts, but does lead towards superstition and eventually religion. Oh, it's not just that -- religion is an adaptive trait. Not a fringe mutation. We are all wired for it, not just some of us. Those of us who are not religious are proof that free will has at least some role in the matter . . .
Obvious troll post. Fringe better than Caprica? Hell, better than V? V isn't very good, but fringe is awful -- literally one of the worst written shows on TV. Its embarrassing. The dialogue is out of some alternate universe where people don't have normal conversations, but instead shout expeditionary detail at each other while desperately trying to cling to whatever cliche they are supposed to represent. None of the characters are even remotely realistic. The science, in this fiction, is non-existant -- and worst of all, the show acts like its serious.
At least Chuck and Eureka have the decency to embrace their ridiculous plots and bad hollywood cliches and try to pretend they're just good-time campy fun.
Yes, Caprica had some pacing problems, but the last 5 episodes were amazing. Action, plot, intrigue and gun-toting robots. Everything came together. It was amazing.
The SSID is in every packet in the headers. Yes there are broadcast packets that specifically announce the network (if you haven't disabled them), but if you're driving through the area and will only be in range of a given network for a second or two, you can't really rely on seeing one. So you just grab any packet, cut out the important bit, and dump it on a hard drive.
In this particular case, the part that was being saved contained some extra data -- part of the payload. There was not enough truncation happening. Apparently he just grabbed some code from some other project, and quickly modified it to this task and did a sloppy job of it. Simple as that. An easy, though careless, mistake.
Again, you'd really have to be wearing a tinfoil hat to think that Google did this on purpose. Ignoring the perfectly rational explanation, you'd have to try to imagine some weird reason why Google would capture partial payloads on purpose. If they wanted payload data, why not take all of it? Moreover, what nefarious purpose could they possibly have been planning with this data -- given that they're only getting a few packets per network as they drive past -- it's mostly acks and other worthless chatter. If they wanted, for instance, email addresses, they'd get VERY, VERY few relative to the quantity of data (and the total amount of data captured wasn't even significant, since they were such tiny pieces -- It could all fit on a single hard drive easily).
Given all that, if Google really had some evil plan, why did they fess up? They were asked by the German government what sort of data they were collecting. They did an internal audit, found the extra bytes in what they had been collecting, and immediately announced it to the world with an apology. Why not simply delete it and keep quiet? Nobody would have ever known . . .
If this is Google being evil, then Google is downright schizophrenic. I'm afraid I'm simply going to have to invoke Occam's razor here and point out that the simplest explanation is not the weird conspiracy theory where Google has unclear, but evil, motivations and incompetently pursues them before admitting it to everyone and giving up. That simply does not make sense.
5 GB is the soft cap just about every American Provider uses for "unlimited" service. Sprint has had the "throttle anyone who goes above 5 gb" policy in place for a while -- they're just finally closing this last "hole" in it (since they own the Virgin Mobile brand). Of course AT&T no longer offers "unlimited" data, but for those who still have it, it remains at a 5 gb soft cap. Rather than throttle you, they simply threaten to cut you off if you repeatedly exceed it.
We have 4 wireless carriers in most areas but they all move in such coordinated lockstep you'd think we only had one. Customer service and prices are terrible no matter which you choose because they all act as if they were monopolies and all are making far too much money to challenge that status quo by offering consumers something better . . .
It was a pretty obvious accident, if you understood the technical explanation of what happened. The problem is, if you don't, it sounds like something that couldn't possibly be an accident. The crux of the matter is this:
They were gathering data on purpose. This was NOT the data they were trying to gather. They were trying to gather WiFi SSIDs for geolocation purposes. Unfortunately, the code was simply sloppy. It needed the first X bytes of the packet (which contain the SSID and ended up getting the first X+64. In other words, they weren't even capturing *entire* Payloads of packets -- only fragments of payloads. The data they were trying to gather is perfectly fair game and not at all a privacy issue. All devices do this to some extent, its how they find out what networks are around you and whether or not they're encrypted. You can't simply rely on the broadcast packets for that purpose.
If this was an accident, it was the result of the programmer doing a half-assed job. If it wasn't, however, then the programmer did a completely incompetent half-assed job. If he was *trying* to get this data, then he did it in probably the stupidest possible manner. The only logical conclusion to draw is that it was genuinely an accident.
And as someone looking for a tablet, you simply have to decide which size screen you prefer. The smaller screen size makes typing far easier on the tab (as its the perfect size for thumb-typing in portrait mode -- whereas the iPad can't be held and typed on at the same time).
The iPad's larger screen is clearly superior, imo, for web-browsing and movie watching, but trying to do any work with it can be unpleasant and it's significantly "less portable" in that it weighs 1.5 pounds (almost twice as much) and fits in far fewer pockets.
Which form-factor is superior is ultimately a matter of opinion probably will vary from person to person.
I'm confused, what about this product leads you to believe it will be overpriced? The rest of the Galaxy line seems to be priced appropriately.
The tab is cheaper than the iPad. Granted, it's not cheaper than the *cheapest* iPad, because they don't offer wifi-only and 8gb models, but the 16gb 3g iPad is more expensive than the 16gb 3g Tab and the the 32gb 3g tab is also cheaper than than the iPad competitor.
As for the Galaxy S phone line, they seem to be priced competitively as well. Is dismissing the Galaxy product line as "expensive" just one of the standard unjustified rationalizations that Apple Fanboys use to reinforce their own biased point of view? Or am I genuinely missing a valid point here?
They want Netflix on every platform imaginable, but in order to have content to deliver they have to agree to certain terms with the Hollywood studios with regards to DRM. Those term make it hard, or impossible, to deliver Netflix on some platforms. This is why not every Android phone will have the Netflix app and it's why there's no linux compatible way to view Netflix. It's unfortunate, but it's somewhat out of their hands.
I appreciate taking this sort of thing with good nature, but that might be a bit generous. Goodwill stopped at the "released a torrent of all the users passwords and personal data". Now my email address is going to get spammed . . . .
How is that a better solution? A lot of flash sites don't have "alternate content" for non-flash users -- the only ones that reliably do are the ad-servers, and that's why you're using Ad-Block too.
I mean, at the end of the day, you've got flash installed so you can have non-static content when you want it. Flash is only a battery drain when it's running constantly and you're not actually using/watching it. The drain you experience when using it INTENTIONALLY is minimal enough to not matter.
You were right, when you said this was an obvious issue, and then totally wrong with your solution. This isn't a Flash problem, man. I don't care if Apple installs it by default or not, but this in no way reflects poorly on Adobe or Flash.
If you run a program, ANY PROGRAM, in the background while you're not actaully using it, it's going to use CPU and drain your battery. Simple solution: Just don't do that, stupid. In the case of Flash, just install ClicktoFlash -- or hell, just close Safari when you're not using it. Either way works great and solves this issue easily.
There's no issue to fix. This article is like saying "Hey, if you leave the lights in your house on, they'll use electricity. Really? I mean, honestly, did we need to be told that? If you want to avoid this problem, just download ClicktoFlash so that Flash isn't loaded when you're not using it. Problem solved.
If you want browser addons to not use CPU cycles when the page element is not being looked at, that's going to be something implemented at the browser level -- in this case by Apple. I'm not sure that's really something you can look to Adobe to implement.
Do keep in mind that the Android Flash implementation has "Tap-to-Flash" meaning ads are not loaded as flash unless you explicitly tap them to see what they are. As such, Flash content drains battery cycles when it's not being actively used/seen.
The same could easily be done with a Macbook by installing ClicktoFlash. With that done, the effect of having Flash installed on your device would be minimal to your battery life unless you're constantly and intentionally using Flash.
Let's post the same story every month, but change the headline with new and obvious information to suggest a new story. I mean seriously, did anyone doubt that somewhere in 6 gigabytes of random data snippets there wouldn't be a password or two? Of course there were. We already knew this. There's no news here except that Canada confirmed what Google already told us. Wow, thanks Canada.
No, actually, they're not. If you go out of your way to harass a cop, they can and will arrest you. There is no part of a cops job-description which states "must act as play-thing for every twit he meets", and so police are not trained to take your shit. I'm not sure where you got these weird ideas, but you've been lied to.
It's actually a significant part of their job description. It's pretty much the whole thing. They have to enforce the law, not protect their own egos from a few harsh words.
But the guy is clearly an overzealous hothead who has no business holding any position of authority. He should be fired and laughed out of court.
That said, why does the video say "Moments later" when it shows the girl getting arrested? Why on earth would you edit there. If it's truly just "Moments later", then show us those moments. What can it hurt? Now I'm left wondering what transpired in the interim to facilitate his change of heart from "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole" to "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole AND I'm going to arrest you."
"You might believe in the powers of OSS to gather experts (or at least folks who have shipped a Rails app, like myself) to Diaspora's banner and ferret out all the issues. You might also believe in magic code-fixing fairies."
Is that not exactly what has happened? In fact, is that not what the author himself is doing? He's ferreting them out like a good little fairy.
Only the Android kernel is under the GPL license and thus compels companies to release the source code for their modifications. The majority of the OS is under the Apache license and thus carries no such requirement . . .
It's not a grey area at all. If the government tries to muzzle someone, even through legal means, that's censorship. It would be fine if someone else did it, it's not fine if the government does it.
That said, THIS is their plan? Seriously? They're spending my tax dollars on THIS? What's exactly do they plan to do after the first print run is such a smashing sell-out success and the publisher decides to do a second print run of 50,000 copies? Do they buy that print run too and wait for the 3rd run to be 100,000 copies? Moreover, haven't they ever heard of the Streisand effect? They just plucked this book from obscurity and straight into the headlines. What do you want to bet the publisher is already working on significantly increasing the size of the print run? Surely they must have someone with a brain who can explain to them what a terrible idea this is?
Politics is kind of like the prisoners dilemma in game theory. Yes, the best possible outcome is for everybody to be "honest", but the worst possible outcome is for you to be honest, while everybody else is not. If by "honest" you mean unwilling to compromise, then this is a condition that makes you unqualified for the presidency. We need people who can gather support, organize people, compromise, and get stuff passed.
This means sometimes you have to support some pork to get a bill passed. This means sometimes you have to smile and nod when a large campaign donor tells you something that frankly, you think is absolutely nuts. This means you have to play nice with large interest groups. It's sad, but if you can't do these things, you can't do *anything* in Washington.
It's real nice that Ron Paul sticks to his guns no matter what (I'm taking your word for it). I never said that a politician can't be honest. I just said a politician can't be honest *and* effective at the same time. Do you want a politician that's going to tell PETA he that he loves bacon and he thinks they're a bunch of nutjobs? Or do you want a politician that's willing to shake their hand, use their influence to gain support for his agenda, and actually go out and pass some damn legislation? I'm sorry, but when it comes to *politics*, honesty is over-rated.
Not really, though I am making a few very reasonable assumptions. Not really, we have comparable hardware, comparable software, and comparable price points with a bit of variation. The usage case scenarios are basically the same. Either this is a form factor people truly want, or it's currently being buoyed by people's desire for all things Apple and its status as a fad item.
You may see other possibilities in there, but they are not reasonable ones. You would have to assume that iPad alternatives will lag behind in hardware (which is already clearly not the case), or that people will prefer iOS to Android by a ridiculously dominant margin (this also strikes me as unreasonable).
If they are flops, that means the iPad really is just coasting on the Apple name and fad-status for sales and probably doesn't represent the shape of the future. If they succeed, then I guess people really do want giant phones that are too big to stick in your pocket.
Slashdot Mirror
There's plenty of physiological evidence that humans, all of us, are predisposed towards religion. We see cause and effect in all things. It's useful in many contexts, but does lead towards superstition and eventually religion. Oh, it's not just that -- religion is an adaptive trait. Not a fringe mutation. We are all wired for it, not just some of us. Those of us who are not religious are proof that free will has at least some role in the matter . . .
Obvious troll post. Fringe better than Caprica? Hell, better than V? V isn't very good, but fringe is awful -- literally one of the worst written shows on TV. Its embarrassing. The dialogue is out of some alternate universe where people don't have normal conversations, but instead shout expeditionary detail at each other while desperately trying to cling to whatever cliche they are supposed to represent. None of the characters are even remotely realistic. The science, in this fiction, is non-existant -- and worst of all, the show acts like its serious.
At least Chuck and Eureka have the decency to embrace their ridiculous plots and bad hollywood cliches and try to pretend they're just good-time campy fun.
Yes, Caprica had some pacing problems, but the last 5 episodes were amazing. Action, plot, intrigue and gun-toting robots. Everything came together. It was amazing.
The SSID is in every packet in the headers. Yes there are broadcast packets that specifically announce the network (if you haven't disabled them), but if you're driving through the area and will only be in range of a given network for a second or two, you can't really rely on seeing one. So you just grab any packet, cut out the important bit, and dump it on a hard drive.
In this particular case, the part that was being saved contained some extra data -- part of the payload. There was not enough truncation happening. Apparently he just grabbed some code from some other project, and quickly modified it to this task and did a sloppy job of it. Simple as that. An easy, though careless, mistake.
Again, you'd really have to be wearing a tinfoil hat to think that Google did this on purpose. Ignoring the perfectly rational explanation, you'd have to try to imagine some weird reason why Google would capture partial payloads on purpose. If they wanted payload data, why not take all of it? Moreover, what nefarious purpose could they possibly have been planning with this data -- given that they're only getting a few packets per network as they drive past -- it's mostly acks and other worthless chatter. If they wanted, for instance, email addresses, they'd get VERY, VERY few relative to the quantity of data (and the total amount of data captured wasn't even significant, since they were such tiny pieces -- It could all fit on a single hard drive easily).
Given all that, if Google really had some evil plan, why did they fess up? They were asked by the German government what sort of data they were collecting. They did an internal audit, found the extra bytes in what they had been collecting, and immediately announced it to the world with an apology. Why not simply delete it and keep quiet? Nobody would have ever known . . .
If this is Google being evil, then Google is downright schizophrenic. I'm afraid I'm simply going to have to invoke Occam's razor here and point out that the simplest explanation is not the weird conspiracy theory where Google has unclear, but evil, motivations and incompetently pursues them before admitting it to everyone and giving up. That simply does not make sense.
5 GB is the soft cap just about every American Provider uses for "unlimited" service. Sprint has had the "throttle anyone who goes above 5 gb" policy in place for a while -- they're just finally closing this last "hole" in it (since they own the Virgin Mobile brand). Of course AT&T no longer offers "unlimited" data, but for those who still have it, it remains at a 5 gb soft cap. Rather than throttle you, they simply threaten to cut you off if you repeatedly exceed it.
We have 4 wireless carriers in most areas but they all move in such coordinated lockstep you'd think we only had one. Customer service and prices are terrible no matter which you choose because they all act as if they were monopolies and all are making far too much money to challenge that status quo by offering consumers something better . . .
It was a pretty obvious accident, if you understood the technical explanation of what happened. The problem is, if you don't, it sounds like something that couldn't possibly be an accident. The crux of the matter is this:
They were gathering data on purpose. This was NOT the data they were trying to gather. They were trying to gather WiFi SSIDs for geolocation purposes. Unfortunately, the code was simply sloppy. It needed the first X bytes of the packet (which contain the SSID and ended up getting the first X+64. In other words, they weren't even capturing *entire* Payloads of packets -- only fragments of payloads. The data they were trying to gather is perfectly fair game and not at all a privacy issue. All devices do this to some extent, its how they find out what networks are around you and whether or not they're encrypted. You can't simply rely on the broadcast packets for that purpose.
If this was an accident, it was the result of the programmer doing a half-assed job. If it wasn't, however, then the programmer did a completely incompetent half-assed job. If he was *trying* to get this data, then he did it in probably the stupidest possible manner. The only logical conclusion to draw is that it was genuinely an accident.
And as someone looking for a tablet, you simply have to decide which size screen you prefer. The smaller screen size makes typing far easier on the tab (as its the perfect size for thumb-typing in portrait mode -- whereas the iPad can't be held and typed on at the same time).
The iPad's larger screen is clearly superior, imo, for web-browsing and movie watching, but trying to do any work with it can be unpleasant and it's significantly "less portable" in that it weighs 1.5 pounds (almost twice as much) and fits in far fewer pockets.
Which form-factor is superior is ultimately a matter of opinion probably will vary from person to person.
I'm confused, what about this product leads you to believe it will be overpriced? The rest of the Galaxy line seems to be priced appropriately.
The tab is cheaper than the iPad. Granted, it's not cheaper than the *cheapest* iPad, because they don't offer wifi-only and 8gb models, but the 16gb 3g iPad is more expensive than the 16gb 3g Tab and the the 32gb 3g tab is also cheaper than than the iPad competitor.
As for the Galaxy S phone line, they seem to be priced competitively as well. Is dismissing the Galaxy product line as "expensive" just one of the standard unjustified rationalizations that Apple Fanboys use to reinforce their own biased point of view? Or am I genuinely missing a valid point here?
They want Netflix on every platform imaginable, but in order to have content to deliver they have to agree to certain terms with the Hollywood studios with regards to DRM. Those term make it hard, or impossible, to deliver Netflix on some platforms. This is why not every Android phone will have the Netflix app and it's why there's no linux compatible way to view Netflix. It's unfortunate, but it's somewhat out of their hands.
I've recovered my password probably 5 times now. I'd have had to remake the account 5 times.
I appreciate taking this sort of thing with good nature, but that might be a bit generous. Goodwill stopped at the "released a torrent of all the users passwords and personal data". Now my email address is going to get spammed . . . .
How is that a better solution? A lot of flash sites don't have "alternate content" for non-flash users -- the only ones that reliably do are the ad-servers, and that's why you're using Ad-Block too.
I mean, at the end of the day, you've got flash installed so you can have non-static content when you want it. Flash is only a battery drain when it's running constantly and you're not actually using/watching it. The drain you experience when using it INTENTIONALLY is minimal enough to not matter.
You were right, when you said this was an obvious issue, and then totally wrong with your solution. This isn't a Flash problem, man. I don't care if Apple installs it by default or not, but this in no way reflects poorly on Adobe or Flash.
If you run a program, ANY PROGRAM, in the background while you're not actaully using it, it's going to use CPU and drain your battery. Simple solution: Just don't do that, stupid. In the case of Flash, just install ClicktoFlash -- or hell, just close Safari when you're not using it. Either way works great and solves this issue easily.
There's no issue to fix. This article is like saying "Hey, if you leave the lights in your house on, they'll use electricity. Really? I mean, honestly, did we need to be told that? If you want to avoid this problem, just download ClicktoFlash so that Flash isn't loaded when you're not using it. Problem solved.
If you want browser addons to not use CPU cycles when the page element is not being looked at, that's going to be something implemented at the browser level -- in this case by Apple. I'm not sure that's really something you can look to Adobe to implement.
Do keep in mind that the Android Flash implementation has "Tap-to-Flash" meaning ads are not loaded as flash unless you explicitly tap them to see what they are. As such, Flash content drains battery cycles when it's not being actively used/seen.
The same could easily be done with a Macbook by installing ClicktoFlash. With that done, the effect of having Flash installed on your device would be minimal to your battery life unless you're constantly and intentionally using Flash.
Let's post the same story every month, but change the headline with new and obvious information to suggest a new story. I mean seriously, did anyone doubt that somewhere in 6 gigabytes of random data snippets there wouldn't be a password or two? Of course there were. We already knew this. There's no news here except that Canada confirmed what Google already told us. Wow, thanks Canada.
No, actually, they're not. If you go out of your way to harass a cop, they can and will arrest you. There is no part of a cops job-description which states "must act as play-thing for every twit he meets", and so police are not trained to take your shit. I'm not sure where you got these weird ideas, but you've been lied to.
It's actually a significant part of their job description. It's pretty much the whole thing. They have to enforce the law, not protect their own egos from a few harsh words.
But the guy is clearly an overzealous hothead who has no business holding any position of authority. He should be fired and laughed out of court.
That said, why does the video say "Moments later" when it shows the girl getting arrested? Why on earth would you edit there. If it's truly just "Moments later", then show us those moments. What can it hurt? Now I'm left wondering what transpired in the interim to facilitate his change of heart from "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole" to "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole AND I'm going to arrest you."
"You might believe in the powers of OSS to gather experts (or at least folks who have shipped a Rails app, like myself) to Diaspora's banner and ferret out all the issues. You might also believe in magic code-fixing fairies."
Is that not exactly what has happened? In fact, is that not what the author himself is doing? He's ferreting them out like a good little fairy.
I think you'll find that stupid people don't lean towards any specific political affiliation.
Only the Android kernel is under the GPL license and thus compels companies to release the source code for their modifications. The majority of the OS is under the Apache license and thus carries no such requirement . . .
Just an FYI . . .
So iTunes is just Apple's way of making us all a bit smarter by being *terrible*. Whew. I was confused on that one!
It's not a grey area at all. If the government tries to muzzle someone, even through legal means, that's censorship. It would be fine if someone else did it, it's not fine if the government does it.
That said, THIS is their plan? Seriously? They're spending my tax dollars on THIS? What's exactly do they plan to do after the first print run is such a smashing sell-out success and the publisher decides to do a second print run of 50,000 copies? Do they buy that print run too and wait for the 3rd run to be 100,000 copies? Moreover, haven't they ever heard of the Streisand effect? They just plucked this book from obscurity and straight into the headlines. What do you want to bet the publisher is already working on significantly increasing the size of the print run? Surely they must have someone with a brain who can explain to them what a terrible idea this is?
Politics is kind of like the prisoners dilemma in game theory. Yes, the best possible outcome is for everybody to be "honest", but the worst possible outcome is for you to be honest, while everybody else is not. If by "honest" you mean unwilling to compromise, then this is a condition that makes you unqualified for the presidency. We need people who can gather support, organize people, compromise, and get stuff passed.
This means sometimes you have to support some pork to get a bill passed. This means sometimes you have to smile and nod when a large campaign donor tells you something that frankly, you think is absolutely nuts. This means you have to play nice with large interest groups. It's sad, but if you can't do these things, you can't do *anything* in Washington.
It's real nice that Ron Paul sticks to his guns no matter what (I'm taking your word for it). I never said that a politician can't be honest. I just said a politician can't be honest *and* effective at the same time. Do you want a politician that's going to tell PETA he that he loves bacon and he thinks they're a bunch of nutjobs? Or do you want a politician that's willing to shake their hand, use their influence to gain support for his agenda, and actually go out and pass some damn legislation? I'm sorry, but when it comes to *politics*, honesty is over-rated.
Not really, though I am making a few very reasonable assumptions. Not really, we have comparable hardware, comparable software, and comparable price points with a bit of variation. The usage case scenarios are basically the same. Either this is a form factor people truly want, or it's currently being buoyed by people's desire for all things Apple and its status as a fad item.
You may see other possibilities in there, but they are not reasonable ones. You would have to assume that iPad alternatives will lag behind in hardware (which is already clearly not the case), or that people will prefer iOS to Android by a ridiculously dominant margin (this also strikes me as unreasonable).
If they are flops, that means the iPad really is just coasting on the Apple name and fad-status for sales and probably doesn't represent the shape of the future. If they succeed, then I guess people really do want giant phones that are too big to stick in your pocket.