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User: omnichad

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  1. Is it safer than ibuprofen? That's a drug and there's not a lot of recreational value there either.

  2. I'm not sure about all carriers, but be aware that Verizon charges a monthly fee for the completely automated visual voicemail "service".

    They discontinued their own-brand visual voicemail. Basic visual voicemail is free: per verizon - "You can also continue to use our free Basic Visual Voicemail service by upgrading your device to a smartphone or compatible phone. "

    Your phone will show a list of messages and there will be a playback button. It should also show up in the dialer under call history. Enable it for your own sanity's sake.

  3. There are much better alternatives now

    Like visual voicemail on both iPhone and Android. And Google Voice too. Transcribed voicemail is easy for the caller to leave, and easy for you to dismiss/ignore.

  4. Re:Stupid on When AI Botches Your Medical Diagnosis, Who's To Blame? (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    Physicians also misdiagnose patients all the time because they aren't very good at keeping up with new developments in medicine or are otherwise negligent. That's their fault.

    They also misdiagnose patients because there are some extremely rare disorders that look a lot like common ones. And instead of remembering to eliminate that rare one with further testing, they apply Occam's Razor.

    This is probably where the biggest benefit of AI comes in - a larger library of knowledge than a human can keep in their head. You still need a doctor to weigh the answers at this point, but a computer can't "forget" about things that are unlikely.

  5. There are a lot of languages in the world. Bitmaps ensure that any player can render any character. And it's also the same system that handles overlays on the menu systems, so less code overall too. Players are relatively dumb devices that don't need their own font system, nor do they need to support decoding every character in Unicode.

    Also, where the subtitle is placed on the screen is sometimes important to avoid covering important action on the screen. A cinemascope movie has extra black space at the bottom of the 16:9 image and you can set position there. These can be done with text-based coordinates, but it's a matter of convenience.

  6. Re:What is resident evil? on Resident Evil Getting Rebooted Into a Six-Film Franchise (variety.com) · · Score: 1

    I don't remember it. But if the acting was as bad as in the game, it would at least be memorable.

  7. Re:Genred Out on Resident Evil Getting Rebooted Into a Six-Film Franchise (variety.com) · · Score: 1

    reboot of the old film where a train comes toward the viewer

    This was done in a roundabout way with the movie Hugo. And in 3D, too.

    This was actually one of the few movies that used 3D as an actual cinematic element in the same way you would artfully use focus and camera angles. And was actually shot stereoscopically rather than a cheap up-conversion. It was also a tribute to some of the earliest movies lost to time - but a work of art in itself.

    It was also a kids' movie.

  8. Re:What is resident evil? on Resident Evil Getting Rebooted Into a Six-Film Franchise (variety.com) · · Score: 1

    Called "Biohazard" in Japan, it was a game series that was designed as if it were an interactive B-movie with its own terrible acting and cut scenes. Making it into a A-list movie is completely the wrong direction to go with that, but that's what has happened with multiple sequels and now a reboot.

  9. come up with a good explanation

    Starts with imagination. Imagination is just thinking thoughts that haven't been thought before.

  10. Re:So that's how we create the Andromeda Strain on Microsoft Wants To Use DNA For Cloud Data Storage (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    Right now they're on the Extend phase of adopting DNA. Extinguish isn't for another cycle or two.

  11. Re: Pfizer and Amphastar the only option? on Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Apparently he bought that share to make people shut up about his name. Though he was named after a different Arm & Hammer according to this source.

  12. Re:Better than SongSmith on Microsoft Wants To Use DNA For Cloud Data Storage (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    Hope you don't suffer the same fate again.

  13. Re:So that's how we create the Andromeda Strain on Microsoft Wants To Use DNA For Cloud Data Storage (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    But the junk DNA doesn't seem to have any ill effects against the core programming. If the entire dataset was encoded to be "junk" then it won't do anything.

  14. Re:So that's how we create the Andromeda Strain on Microsoft Wants To Use DNA For Cloud Data Storage (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    I don't know their methods, but with a little overhead in your data size, you could probably render the resulting sequence biologically inert.

  15. Better than SongSmith on Microsoft Wants To Use DNA For Cloud Data Storage (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 1

    At least Microsoft Research is doing something more useful than this.

  16. Re:The Free Market at Work on Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Thanks to regulation, I can safely buy no-name generic OTC drugs at the store without any fear and at an extremely low price.

    I'd rather not be the person who died to mediate a brand's reputation on the market.

  17. Re: Pfizer and Amphastar the only option? on Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Amusing or terrible parenting? Obviously intentional.

  18. Re:Pfizer and Amphastar the only option? on Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Looking at some of the things it's used for, the risk seems to be worth it in some cases.

  19. Re:Pfizer and Amphastar the only option? on Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wouldn't trust commercial grade, but the FDA could save a ton of lives by allowing hospitals to buy food-grade and sanitize it and create their own solutions. The FDA and malpractice insurers would rather go after hospitals for trying to save lives than to recognize what's best for everyone.

  20. Re:Exchange rate risk and fixed money supplies on Bitcoin Price Hits Fresh Record High Above $2,200 (cnbc.com) · · Score: 2

    reduces the value of gold, meaning deflation

    That's inflation.

  21. Re:$11 million dollar pizzas on Bitcoin Price Hits Fresh Record High Above $2,200 (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Too far over your head, I assume. You have to be close to the thing going over your head to feel it.

  22. Re:API? on Google Launches Google Assistant On the iPhone (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 1

    You can set an event with a reminder and maybe make it notify you with a sound - but if the phone is on do not disturb, they won't come through.

    That's not the same as setting an alarm in the built-in Alarm Clock app.

  23. Re: Solution - learn new stuff on The Working Dead: Which IT Jobs Are Bound For Extinction? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Doctors especially so - the most current knowledge changes constantly. Doctors who don't keep learning are the worst kind.

  24. Re:Not dead just clueless writer on The Working Dead: Which IT Jobs Are Bound For Extinction? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    It was originally envisaged as an interface solution to screens. How big? Well... TVs.

    And that's exactly what happened.

  25. They're not buying parts from Apple. They are buying reproduction parts on eBay from China or from torn down phones. They can't buy parts from Apple and that was the point of this whole article if you weren't paying attention.