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User: giorgist

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  1. Troll bait :-) on Samsung Opens New Apple Store In Australia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Troll bait title if I have ever seen one :-) Its a company retail outlet, it looks no different to the Sony store down the road. G

  2. Hypocritical ... on German Government Wants Google To Pay For the Right To Link To News Sites · · Score: 1

    There is robots.txt

    You don't want Google to link to you, update your robots.txt. It is so simple ?! Those that do will be indexed, those that don't wont and it is business as usual or lack there off.

  3. Re:Even better on Curiosity Rover Fires First Laser Beam At Martian Rock · · Score: 1

    And then the dust devils will come and wipe it off ... you'd have better luck with the moon on that one. Please lets not have sponsorship, the last thing we want is the rover doing cursive loops hopping it will come to something interesting, or have everything named after a cheap product. I'd much rather they honor somebody worthy and let some geek draw questionable stuff.

  4. Some game theory problems on Insurer Measures Driver Safety With Smartphone App To Calculate Premiums · · Score: 1

    The reality is that everybody thinks they are above average driver. So if they get a score that is below average, they know they will pay more to offset the drivers who pay less. So they simply walk away. So ultimately exactly half of the drivers would get a worse deal in a perfect world. The insurance company will end up with better than average drivers only ... but these drivers will pay less insurance. The insurance company pays out less but earns less per driver. That is a one to one relationship, so the insurance company has no incentive to do this ... unless people naturally think they are better than average drivers or they think that can fool this application. Then people will flock and the app can be no more an app that has an image of two cog wheels that at the end of 200klms simply tells you that you have qualified for a discount. No different than what happens now that there is a myriad of insurance companies that "specialise" in different groups. You go to three companies and one specialises in people with mustaches and you get a discount at that one. Your sense of value is created by the other two and the third springs the trap. The reality is that there are only a couple of insurance companies and the rest are simply fronts.

  5. Almost pointless questions on Ask Slashdot: Worth Going For a Graduate Degree In the Middle of Your Career? · · Score: 1

    This word "worth" means different things to different people. In fact it has different value at different times in the life of each person.

    So in the end, for me a PHD in the middle of my life where I have other distractions is more than too hard, but I do enjoy learning, and in fact I am partaking in Algorithms. Then again I am not you. I expect most of the constructive replies to simply try and pin down the value of "worth"

  6. Why the moon offcourse ... on Vote On What the Very Large Telescope Observes · · Score: 1

    That way we can prove once and for all that NASA never ...

  7. Osborne effect ? on Microsoft Working On "Surface 2" Tablet · · Score: 1

    Is this a case of the Osborne effect ?

  8. Its an old adage now .. on Google To Start Punishing Pirate Sites In Search Results · · Score: 1

    "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it"

    If people want that info, they will not use Google to find it. If Google wants these people to search through them, they will change their way.

    Off course ... Google has always participated in the filter bubble, so this seems part of that

  9. Re:Goal set to high? on Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Jump Back Into Programming? · · Score: 1

    It about exploring your limits dammit, not about making Doom 12. Otherwise we are all going to drop dead, so what is the point of trying anyway ? I recon shoot for the next great POV shooter ... you may realise that the way to it is to work with a group, you may settle to editing the manual which will be more than I have ever done but you may find your niche.

  10. How about this ... on Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Jump Back Into Programming? · · Score: 1

    I am trying to get back in, I got a degree before object orientated was big so I have to unlearn. I also have trouble remembering, but repetition is getting it into my head.

    After much experimentation I recommend a combination of two sources

    The New Boston and Learning Java

  11. Best place on Where To View the Mars Curiosity Landing · · Score: 1

    Why from Mars offcourse

  12. Re:The quality and accuracy of some articles is gr on Wikipedia-Sponsored Pilot Study Lauds Wikipedia Accuracy · · Score: 2

    That is the key

    Popular topics are better than Britannica because of the many eyes business

    Less popular topics are better than Britannica because Britannica has no article.

  13. Is this a case of ... on Shatner and Wheaton Narrate Mars Rover's Landing Sequence · · Score: 1
    Shatner and Wheaton !!!

    Is this a case of NASA double jumping the shark ?

  14. Re:The analogy seems problematic somehow on Why You Should Be More Interested In Mars Than the Olympics · · Score: 1

    You don't think it's like hitting a golf ball to New Zealand ? I would say, not considering the air resistance ... the idea of launching a golf ball to New Zealand is a walking in the park.

    How to Get to Mars

  15. Please ... don't mention the rover on Why You Should Be More Interested In Mars Than the Olympics · · Score: 1

    Please ... don't mention the rover or you might jinx it.

    We might all be watching and it will go splat, and so the Olympics my win after all.

    In any even, for inspirational reasons Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror

  16. Ammm ... iOS Vs Android on John Romero's Doomy View On Android and Ouya · · Score: 1

    We are talking about Android a platform that uses free software to program on on any platform and runs on devices that are sub $50. Skip 5 years where hundreds of millions more in third world countries will have access to phones of all manner of designs (as well as TVs and stupid little multimedia spheres and "chrome" computers) All these seem to be converging.

    Just consider the following simple fact.

    Android: You have open access to the actual source code all the way to the metal and no restrictions writing any manner of apps.

    iOS: You are not allowed to write an app that will compete with an existing apple app.

  17. Group think in action ... on Microsoft's Lost Decade · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Group think has set in such that slowly politics has created an environment where the top management do not hear dissenting voices, so somehow they can do no wrong.

    It is natures great recycler.

  18. apples and oranges on Is TV Over the 'Net Really Cheaper Than Cable? · · Score: 2

    How do you price the convenience of on demand ?

    Also how do you price the convenience of torrents ?

    You cant exclude torrents, they are the major disruptor

  19. Re:Nuclear is the answer (Thorium) on The Nuclear Approach To Climate Change · · Score: 1

    You don't have to trust nuclear engineers on it's own. You have to "choose" between greenies that tell you ethanol is renewable when it take over a liter or oil to make 1 liter of ethanol, corporations that sell you coal and oil as temporary solution "until" renewables do come on line that in fact pollute the world with all manner of chemicals as well as radioactive waste and the nuclear option.

  20. Re:If only there were another solution... on Would You Trust an 80-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor? · · Score: 1

    You must be talking about coal ?

  21. Automation does not cut jobs ! on US Regaining Manufacturing Might With Robots and 3D Printing · · Score: 1

    A factory that automates does so by investing and growing. Its growth means more jobs not less. As the factory grows and income is generated and taxes are generated, the country's standard of living improves. It is an unintended consequence. A factory with workers does not fire workers as robot/automation is implemented. The factory grows as it becomes more and more efficient. Factories are built where you would not normally build one given automation allows it to exist. The invention of bearings, motors, electricity, lubrication, computers and so many more should have put people out or work but didn't. The exact opposite occurred.

    The alternative is protectionism where inefficient companies are propped up by government and the tax payer pays twice, once on the shelf and once through taxation. Efficient factories can't compete, so you breed inefficient production and the government running around putting out fires with tax payer money.

    On average disposable income has been consistently rinsing as automation has been introduced ... does it not look a tad weird that things have improved dramatically since the industrial revolution yet automation has dramatically increased and all those farmers have come to live in the city ?

  22. network science and game theory in action on Harvard Study Suggests Drone Strikes Can Disrupt Terror Groups · · Score: 1

    This more to do with network theory. There is next to no value in killing minions. They are easily replaceable and can be promoted as martyrs. Leaders on the other hand take time to train and create a network of trust. The minions in fact are what lead to the leaders. So the minions are invaluable source of information against these terrorist groups. They are not quite as bright and they are the means the leaders interface with the real world. The more they obfuscate this link, the harder it is to do their job. Anti terrorists agencies are getting better at decifering these obfuscations and terrorist groups are becoming less effective. All they have is suicide bombing. I use the term terrorism liberally but you can insert freedom fighter.

  23. Just to play Devils advocate on Lenovo CEO Gives His $3M Bonus To 10k Workers · · Score: 1

    In the good old days say 40-50 years ago in Greece, money that was handed to the poor was often indicated as if it came from the pocket of the king. So my mother has the impression that the king was giving a dowry to poor girls, or the king was the godfather of thousands of poor kids. Now imagine if that happened today, and lets say they give the president 100billion in wages and then the president went off willy-nilly and gave money to the poor as he/she chose. The advantage of such a system is that good will gets rubbed off onto the president, the way the money is distributed is up to the president with less political infighting. The disadvantages ... well it is obvious that it is a scam, it weakens the institution of democracy, the wims of the president often go to his/her head and we end up with Now colour me a cynic :-)

  24. Laser targeting ? on Laser Powers Lockheed Martin's Stalker Drone For 48 Hours · · Score: 1

    Laser painting with the hard job done by the owners :-)

  25. What post PC ? on Preparing For Life After the PC · · Score: 1

    Is there anybody that has replaced the home computer completely ?