Slashdot Mirror


User: Lumpy

Lumpy's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
20,433
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 20,433

  1. Re:The poster is showing his prejudice. on The Coming IT Nightmare of Unpatchable Systems · · Score: 1

    Internet enabled window shades? how dumb. just use a simple wireless non IP protocol. like this tone for UP and that tone for down, like 99% of all somfy and other motorized shades use and have used for the past 40 years.

  2. Re:Security on The Coming IT Nightmare of Unpatchable Systems · · Score: 1

    So I will know if someone steals my toast?
    there is ZERO advantage to an internet enabled toaster. Z E R O.

  3. Re:"Coming IT Nightmare?!?" on The Coming IT Nightmare of Unpatchable Systems · · Score: 1

    And it's not a nightmare... Put it in a secure lan if it has to be on a network.
    I know companies that still are running Windows NT 4 servers that they have not patched in years, and they have no problems because they have Competent IT and network Admins that know what they need to do to keep it secure.

  4. Because we are all doomed! on The Coming IT Nightmare of Unpatchable Systems · · Score: 1

    You know, all of this stuff MUST be connected to the internet.. or it will EXPLODE!

    Oh wait it wont.. so just not plugging it in makes it 100% hack proof.

  5. Re:Not the best Demo for rift i've seen... on My Neighbor Totoro In Virtual Reality · · Score: 1

    This is how OR works. They have not solved any of the major problems with head tracking or lag. I was lucky and sold my OR for only a little less than what I paid for it on ebay.

    It's the dirty secret of the OR.. it is not much better than the stuff from a decade ago. If you ever played Dactyl the first VR video game, that is exactly how OR works, sluggish, slow, and not accurate. Sadly they try like hell to hide the fact from everyone that it's really 10 years off before it will be ready for consumers.

  6. Re:CEO in a Bubble on Is Google CEO's "Tiny Bubble Car" Yahoo CEO's "Little Bubble Car"? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you nuts?

    The SMART is hugely popular and has been so for over a decade. In europe they are one of the most common cars seen on the roads. It's the bullshit that the USA forced on it that makes it a failure in the usa. The SMART is safer than most cars made in the USA, but they had to add a lot of useless safety crap to meet US regs designed to stifle importation. Europe and Canadian safety regs are good, but US regs are designed to stifle importation of cheap cars.

    Then they did stupid shit like not importing the Diesel model that get's well over 60mpg. it sells rapidly in Canada, but you cant buy on in the USA. Maybe if the US regulations would allow a real SMART here the ones that sell for $7800 NEW in Europe they would sell like freaking hotcakes as they would be the most affordable car sold and have a market that is huge.

    Instead we have only a handful of dealers so anyone that buys one has to have it serviced 150-400 miles away. They choose to not buy one because Mercedes is stupid and will not let the cars be serviced at a standard Mercedes dealership.

    Lastly, they took so long to get it here, they got stomped on by toyota. the iQ is all the car the smart is with a dealer network to get it fixed all over the place. Plus it has a huge advantage of being built in the USA so they can side step all the roadblocks that were in front of the SMART. But the iQ is overpriced at $17,000. It's a $9,000 car and the morons at Toyota refuse to sell it as such. Instead they pile all kinds of extra crap in it to try and justify it's sky high price tag. Same problem as the Smart. Overpriced because the executives are too stupid to know how to price a tiny commuter car so that it sells like hotcakes.

  7. Re:what's wrong with public transportation? on Is Google CEO's "Tiny Bubble Car" Yahoo CEO's "Little Bubble Car"? · · Score: 1

    It costs that much because of corruption.

  8. Re:I will NEVER understand the appeal of this syst on Report: Apple To Unveil "Smart Home" System · · Score: 1

    If it's "cloud based" then it's already a failure. home automation needs reliability, and the "cloud" does not deliver that.

    the NEST thermostat, Phillips HUE are two great examples of this, they REQUIRE the cloud for all their features and my customers will not accept that. it had better work 24/7 so they do not use the cloud at all for their automation systems.

    Yes it would be easier for me to just pull weather from yahoo.com but we install a $350 rs232 capable weather station so they have true local weather with 99.9% reliability.

  9. Re:He also forgot to mention... on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    Yup, that is pretty much what you are. Except I'd go as far as "complete moron" as you seem to not be able to READ.

  10. Re:He also forgot to mention... on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 0

    Herp derp much?

  11. Re:Invest with all the money I pay you scumbags on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 2

    You really missed the real cost. I worked for comcast and know what that cost is.

    IF he rents the cable modem from them, that is a $3.00 profit on top of the $2.50 that the 10Meg tier costs the company after factoring in costs of even maintaining the drop to his house.

    Yes $2.50 is what the TOTAL cost for each customer no matter what the bandwidth they use. Any tier above the lowest is nothing but pure profit.

    Granted these numbers are for a larger area like Detroit Metro and are from 2009. The profit margins that Comcast has on the internet are utterly obscene.

  12. Re:Shipping Pre-paid on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 2

    If you think that Comcast is not already planning on charging an extra "streaming fee" to the end customer, then you are insane.

    Comcast is already drafting up a new shuffling of the tiers to give you a platinum tier that will "make netflix and other video services faster" that is nothing more than paying to disable the throttling.

    They will triple dip, all of the executives and board members are having to change their suits 3 times a day because of the sheer amount of drool.

  13. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    "If it costs $2,000 to run the fiber from your neighborhood DSLAM-equivalent to your home NID - which in the US is a pretty common price - do you still think that would be worthwhile to you?"

    Yes. Last time they repaved my road it cost me $6800. they just rolled it into my tax bill as a line and I pay 5% of that every tax bill that shows up twice a year.

    In fact every single homeowner in the USA would be fine with that, because they already pay for that stuff. $2000 to get the water line ran from your new house to the street water main on average.

  14. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    Comcast would spend a billion dollars lobbying against that.

    They spend more on lobbying than they spend on expanding and repairing their service and equipment.

  15. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    Over 80% of the USA still just staples things to old telephone poles. Mostly because the businesses here are lazy as hell to do it right.

  16. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    Fiberoptics that were laid 40 years ago can handle the same bandwidth as the fiberoptic that goes in today.

    Yet the Pumps in your water system are upgraded constantly, and they are constantly laying new pipes to expand service areas. The Water system out there is constantly being upgraded.

    Disclaimer: I ran a water treatment facility for 7 years, I actually KNOW what happens in the water system.

    If you have copper to your house, it's the same as your water company running a garden hose across your lawn. they did it because it was cheaper and they were lazy.

  17. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    So why is Chicago or New York not the places in the USA with the Fastest and best Internet service can be had at affordable prices?

    Blows that population density argument completely out of the water.

  18. Re:Classify net access as a utility? on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    Two reasons this works in other countries and not here.

    1 - Companies are allowed to rape customers hard here in the USA. they are allowed obscene profit levels and there is no business regulation that has a cap on profits, So they simply milk it for all it's worth. Collusion also happens a lot in business, For example, average employee salary has been held down by business lobbyists, this is collusion.

    2 - Lack of regulation on how businesses are run, sorry but every single business in the USA needs to be told what to do because it seems they dont understand how to do business honestly. Want an example? MOST companies do not pay their bills in 30 days but will let it stretch to 90 or even 120, the larger the company the more of an asshole they are to their suppliers and stretch it further. Regulation causing HEAVY FINES for not paying your suppliers within 30 days will stop this and stop the damaging of the business environment. Right now weare as bad off as we were in 2005. ONE large company toppling will take out 60 to 90 other businesses because they are forced to extend credit out too far. Because they are bullied into it by the big company. regulation that forces the large company to stop being assholes and pay their bills on time are needed.

    It has been proven over and over that unregulated commerce only leads to instability, we need to go back to heavy regulation.

  19. Re:He also forgot to mention... on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    "what is delivered is of no business to them, just like the post office."

    Go ahead and try to send 3 bottles of Liquor across state lines and see how it's "no business to them" They Xray every package and look inside.

  20. Re:He also forgot to mention... on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot · · Score: 1

    It makes a lot of sense to Sociopaths and over the top greedy assholes.

    Even if Comcast was making 100 Billion a year, they would NOT spend money on infrastructure.

  21. Re:Drive Manual on Report: Apple To Unveil "Smart Home" System · · Score: 1

    Home depo switches are $1.19 to $2.29 if you want a fancy decora style.
    And if you are the type that love a row of 15 light switches, go for it. But I am certain you cant even afford the carpet in these places let alone the $3.5mill price tag for a smaller 6500 sq foot bungalow.

  22. Re:B-52 can carry 20 missiles 5,000 miles, maintai on B-52 Gets First Full IT Upgrade Since 1961 · · Score: 1

    A B52 can put a nuke on target faster than an ICBM can.

  23. Re:I wonder on B-52 Gets First Full IT Upgrade Since 1961 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    a single B52 can utterly destroy any country on this planet. Yes even china and russia. The number of heavy nukes one can carry is quite scary.

    In the Bay it can carry up to 20 AGM-69 SRAM nuclear missiles. That is 20 cities obliterated.... But wait...
    It can also carry12 AGM-86s, on underwing pylons.

    So now not only can we nuke 20 cities out of existence, but it can also blow to hell 12 military bases or small towns just for giggles.

    Now here is some fun, when they SCRAM they fly in 3-5 aircraft formations towards their targets. That is 60-100 Nukes and 52 Kaboom splatters each.

    Still think they are just for dropping small bombs on goats?

  24. Re:I will NEVER understand the appeal of this syst on Report: Apple To Unveil "Smart Home" System · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have been making a shitload of money doing it for a decade... except I use the real stuff from Crestron and AMX. Real lighting control, real automation.. To the tun of $20,000- $80,000 per home for the real stuff that does not break or fail all the time.

    Home automation has been a reality for a very long time, you just had to spend money on it. And yes my clients have been able to control it all from the internet for 10+ years It's not hard at all to make a secure encrypted tunnel from their phone to the house. So they can look at cameras, control lights, see who is home ,lock or unlock doors, see door status, open or close the garage doors, even control the AV system from a distance (that was one of the more wierd requests from a customer)

  25. Re:I dont know about cars... on Has the Ethanol Threat Manifested In the US? · · Score: 1

    Want the coolest tool in the world for carbs? look for a device called a "colortune" It's a clear glass spark plug. You can actually see the color of the gasoline burn so it lets you adjust the carbs so accurately that you will actually run cleaner than a FI setup can.... until you stomp on it and open up the second set of butterflies and start dumping it in. One of the coolest old tech tools that I am glad are still around.

    My grandfather had one for cars, I have only seen them for bikes recently... but I am sure someone still makes them for the old hot rods.