Coeliac disease generally isn't regarded in the same sense as a peanut allergy. It's an immune response which causes the body to attack itself. Gluten intolerance won't kill you if you ingest gluten by accident although doing so can have very unpleasant long and short term effects.
My kids have it and believe me it's a huge disruption. If they eat gluten by accident it turns them as white as a sheet and there is a good chance they'll puke their guts up for a day. The only known "cure" to coeliac disease is not ingest gluten at all which easier said than done especially for kids. So many processed foods contain wheat as a hidden ingredient that you have to scrutinize the ingredients list very carefully. Wheat starch for example could trigger a reaction but many foods don't even bother to say what kind of starch they contain. Most coeliac societies publish thick books to help figure out which foods are gluten free and which are not.
Well if some hacker can crack recaptcha then so can some random spammer. I run a website with captcha protection and the ratio of spambots to real humans has reached epidemic proportions. 95% of new applicants are spambots meaning they have managed to crack the image despite it being set to the maximum setting. Fortunately all new registrants require approval so even if they pass the captcha I can still weed them out but its still a pain in the arse.
Captcha schemes are quite good but they are vulnerable to a class break. I'm currently considering creating a unique challenge for my site to stop this crap. I think if I put a simple form next to it that had to be filled in it would stop the drivebys dead.
I've written set top box software that runs on embedded Linux with busybox taking care of most of the shell side of things. And I can't for the life of me figure out why Westinghouse didn't simply release the source code when they were asked. Even if they were clueless about their obligations, surely it would be simple to meet them after being notified.
I have to wonder if they did something completely insane like link their TV application software straight into the busybox executable because I can't think of any other reason to withold it upon request. If they did straight link then more fool them.
The 3D in Clash of the Titans was added post production (i.e. producer heard how well Avatar did and rushed through a 3D postprocess), and it was widely castigated as one of the worst 3D experiences yet with cardboard cutout like effects. Alice in Wonderland also got a 3D post-production but was more favourably regarded.
What I simultaneously dread but remain curious about is what the process used on Clash / Alice means for existing 2D movies and shows. The amount of 3D content is pathetic, not enough to drive either 3D blu ray or 3D satellite / cable. I imagine that even now studios are tinkering with the idea of 3D-ifying existing content. It's the son of colorization all over again.
I imagine that it could be done well in some cases and abysmally for others. I expect in a few years we can look forward to Casablanca 3D and History Channel specials such as WWII in 3D.
Linux the kernel doesn't suck but few UIs running over it have produced an acceptable end user experience. Android is one, WebOS another. MeeGo / Maemo barely. Linux would have faired better before now if someone had tamed the UI.
One could also say that Android is only half Linux as most people would know it since user land is BSD based, only the kernel is Linux. If Google so wished they could probably dump Linux the kernel for something else with minimal disruption to user apps.
Of course ebook prices are fixed (amoungst other digital "goods") - how the hell do you price something that can be copied infinitely at next to zero cost? And therein lies the problem...
With DRM which ebook providers virtually all already use. The only reason price fixing happens (as it more less is now) is because content providers and stores are allowed to get away with it. It's a cartel in all but name through a series of interdependent contracts that mean that Amazon, Apple can never be undercut which more or less rules out any smaller player competing with them.
It's too bad someone like the EU doesn't step in mandating that all devices must support a common DRM & file format for envelope & payload, that it must be offered on fair terms to any store that wishes to use it, that it must provide reasonable protections for end users, that providers can suggest a retail price but cannot enforce it and devices must support content regardless of where it was purchased. Then we might to see a level playing field where competition drives down prices.
That's a pretty imperialistic point of view. Different places, different cultures. He's not trying to freak you out- he thinks it'll help him make a sale. You probably came off just as insulting to that guy by not providing a lame excuse for having to get to work so you can feed your eight hungry children and your brother's blind widow.
Nah, it's just obnoxiousness. It happens in a lot of European package holiday resorts but is especially bad in Turkey. Pass a restaurant (even on the other side of the road) and someone speaking perfect English wants to befriend you, know your life story, connect with you, and start blabbing about the menu. It might take several minutes to get rid of them and there could be 50 or 60 restaurants on the same strip all with touts trying to do the same thing. It is a wretched experience.
The situation has apparently gotten so bad that Turkish police now have powers to run undercover teams to videotape and shut down premises that hassle tourists. Good thing I say. Let restaurants survive on the quality of their food, prices, ambience etc not how many touts are waiting outside.
Maybe it's because I'm Irish, but it annoys the piss out of me when staff bother me without my beckon. It's especially annoying when I'm reading a menu outside a restaurant and they use a greeter. That always moves me right on.
That pisses too. Walk into any store and within seconds someone wants to "help" you whether you show any visible signs you need help or not. If I want help I'd ask for it. The problem is a lot of salesdrones (especially in the US) are on commission so they're being proactively "helpful", i.e. annoying.
As for restaurant greeters, the problem is far, far, far worse in holiday destinations. As a rule of thumb I ignore restaurants that employ people to get you to go in. This gets really annoying when you're already looking at their menu and they decide to butt in to babble on about the special of the day etc. Worst destination by far for this is Turkey. You can't stand still outside a shop or restaurant for 30 seconds without someone trying to drag you in, often by the arm. Horrible experience.
The tech is immature. The specs were only finalized in the last year or so. Consumer equipment is likely to be half baked, non-optimal and very likely to improve in subsequent generations. Why buy a TV now which is likely to be superseded soon enough?
Expensive. 3D TVs command a large and largely unjustifiable premium over a standard 2D TV. 3D is mostly image processing and should have little cost impact on the price of sets. But it does. Give it a few years and 3D will be a standard feature of mid range TVs.
Glasses. Active shutter glasses are expensive and there seems to be zero effort by manufacturers to adopt a single standard for glasses. Even if individual TVs have different refresh rates & other parameters I don't see why these can't be formalised into a specification.
Glasses again. Glasses are dorky and an impediment to the format. Maybe they are a necessary evil for the time being but that doesn't change the situation. People don't want to wear glasses to watch TV.
Gratuitousness. 3D could make a movie better, but most of the time its tossed in as a gimmick. That includes Avatar where 3D was literally the reason the movie even existed. The best use of 3D will be the movies that use it in subtle ways that enhance the viewing experience rather than launching objects at the user and so forth.
Content. What content? A handful of mostly CG films are not much of an incentive for the format. Worse, I expect that the dearth of content will spawn the son-of-colorization with classic movies turned into 3D for purely gratuitous reasons. How long before Casablanca 3D?
Content again. Cable / Satellite operators like Sky are boasting of impending 3D channels and charging a huge premium for them. Sky (and others?) claim the 3D works on existing STBs. This implies that both right & left eye images are squeezed into a single frame and the TV recomposes them. That anyone there is no such thing as HD 3D and probably won't be for as long as the platform exists.
Games. Consoles are not powerful enough to properly support 3D. I'm sure the PS3 will give it its best shot but the reality is either the resolution or framerate will have to suffer.
Greed. It's still early adopter territory and the prices reflect that.
Eventually I think 3D will be a standard part of the viewing experience but I see little to buy into it now. Let some sucker early adopter pay 2x for their v0.9 3D implementation. Give it a few more years and the experience, the technology and the price will be far more appealing.
The story I read said that any four of these seven must get together at one of these bases. That seems to indicate that each one has half of the key. Two of them, if they were the right two, could do it. But having four out of seven guarantees that you have at least one copy of both halves.
The attacker would have to make sure to kill 3 of them (or the cards they carry) to defeat this scheme.
So if I show you 1) The health complications caused by vaccination outweigh their benefit, 2) Evolutionary theory is both internally contradictory and fails to account for the actual physical record, which can only be explained by intentional design, and 3) The US govt. played a major role in 9/11; -- will you accept it that "Global Warming" is a conspiracy by leftist scientists to set up the UN as a world government?
Fat chance. Assuming you bothered to supply links they would likely to point to the same rubbish that each of these groups peddles which has long been debunked. Specifically.
Anti vaccination groups usually spout a handful of cherry picked studies, often misstating the studies' actual findings or choosing flawed studies or drawing conclusions the studies do not support. Andrew Wakefield (the anti-vac messiah) has been completely discredited yet rather than accept he might be wrong, the anti-vac groups still quote his studies and are screaming conspiracy because he was struck off. Does that mean all vaccinations are effective or side effect free? Of course not, but the principle and the general implementation is extremely effective and observable. Vaccination works. Rubella, pertussis, polio etc. are virtually eliminated where vaccination has immunized the population. Parents who consciously choose not to vaccinate are IMO guilty of neglect and criminally liable if their kids contract one of these diseases.
The theory of evolution isn't contradictory and doesn't fail to account for the physical record. Evolution is a fact since it can be observed (e.g. by watching the sickest / slowest animals getting eaten by a predator), bug resistance to antibiotics etc. Evolution is a theory since it can be used to predict and model populations and accounts for the existing fossil record. Naturally as in any scientific field there are conflicting points of view on certain matters and different competing hypotheses as well as mysteries. IDers love to quote mine or nit pick from these pretending that ID somehow wins by default. It doesn't. IDers are particularly pathetic when they quotemine from people like Dawkins or Gould pretending that they somehow "doubt" their own claims.
Of course the government played a major role, just not the one conspiracists hope for. No one has supplied a single shred of evidence suggesting the government planned, executed or otherwise allowed the attacks to happen. Because they didn't. As with IDers they just resort to nitpicking, pretending that if they misdirect enough that somehow the conspiracy wins by default. Tactics like kindergarten science (fires not hot enough to melt steel, buildings fell faster than gravity etc.), quote mining, focusing on minor inconsistencies in the timeline or people's recollection etc. are favourite tactics.
As for global warming, the scientific consensus is overwhelming. Like with evolution there is plenty of room for debate and hypotheses (e.g. how much is manmade, how much is cyclical, the predicted effects on the climate etc.). As with evolution, the lunatic fringe latches onto these debates to pretend that disagreement or error somehow means their claims win by default. As with evolution, it doesn't. There is also no evidence whatsoever for a "conspiracy". Even the so called climategate sideshow that the loonies latched onto showed no such thing.
So I don't expect you do prove anything. Link away if you like but I doubt I will be surprised by the kind of things you point to.
Not really. If MS make their own platform, they can be the ones skimming 30% off the top of every software sale. If they become Apple's bitch then they only make money from their own products, nobody else's.
And a major company capitulating to Apple would hardly be good news for consumers either.
As an open-source developer I can tell you first hand, squashing bugs is boring and new features are exciting so with my limited free (and unpaid!) time I will be focusing on new features!
Tongue in cheek I hope, but sadly true for KDE. Too much time is spent making it kewl and not enough on making the desktop usable by mere mortals. KDE needs its own HIG and it needs leadership not afraid to keep the spotlight firmly on usability even if that means removing features, buttons and options from normal view to make things simpler.
UAC didn't fail at all. It was the incredibly annoying dialogs popping up all the time that forced vendors to make their apps compliant with the security model and to stop abusing it. Windows 7 got an easier ride precisely because Vista took the pain and whipped the apps into shape. Where UAC had failings was that there was no way to train, tweak or otherwise affect its behaviour except to turn it off completely.
It's not enough for an app to say what things it needs to do. By default any action by a 3rd party app involving personal data or phone calls should explicitly request user permission each and time it is accessed. If the user really trusts an app they could disable these screens from the app's management settings.
Everything is deniable. Look at all the anti-vacination, intelligent design, 9/11 conspiracists. In each case they have had copious incontrovertible evidence shoved in their faces and they still parrot the same idiotic nonsense as they always did. So it is with the anti-global warming crowd. Some people will not budge from a viewpoint no matter how obviously wrong or idiotic it is demonstrated to be.
Nobody bothers to delete their flash shared objects. Almost nobody even knows they exist. Even if you deleted your cookies it would be trivial for a small flash app to restore them.
L4D2 was on sale on Steam for 10.20 only recently and in the bargain bin on most websites. It's nice to get for nothing but I doubt it cost Valve much at all on their side and represents good PR.
Besides, core KDE applications (those that come straight from kde.org and aren't in -extragear) seem (to me) pretty consistent
They are consistent, unfortunately that consistency doesn't = usable to mere mortals. GNOME wisely adopted the HIG after recognizing that sometimes less is more. Regular users don't want to wade through a sea of buttons and menus to do stuff, they just want to do stuff.
Look at the number of buttons, menus, settings a typical KDE app exposes vs a GNOME app. KDE apps have so many settings they actually have an explicit Settings dropdown with 2, 3, 4, 5 or even more menu items underneath. Each of those menu items may lead to a dialog with a tree of option pages, many of which have multiple tabs and further popups. Often the common options will be mixed in amongst the advanced or esoteric ones. It's a mess and it's something that a HIG should address.
KDE also has the odd tendency to rip off the latest Windows or Mac feature and then throw the kitchen sink into it. That's great except often times MS / Apple created the feature precisely to simplify their UI and make it more usable. So by tossing the kitchen sink KDE has undermined the reason the feature exists in the first place. The start menu in the plasma desktop would be one example of that.
That's not to say GNOME always gets it right. I think the desktop has stepped over the line between usable and retarded a few times and powershell has the potential to be a monumental disaster. Desktops need to provide the tools to get things done and otherwise stay the hell out of the way. Powershell looked too intrusive to me. If they need 6 more months to get it right I hope they use it wisely.
I'd prefer KDE took the HIG and implemented it on their own desktop. KDE is a usability travesty which might explain in no small part why GNOME has gained the upper hand.
Kin's hardware looked pretty cute but the software was horrible. With MS it's usually the other way around. Articles on Kin suggest the team was hobbled by Windows CE, morale was low and corporate infighting meant they were denied the support they needed to make it succeed. I expect if Windows Mobile 7 had actually been ready for Kin that it would have been a great deal better as a device.
Except NIO is usually not as straight forward as java io.
Depends what you are trying to do. Regular IO is just fine for sequential file parsing, serialization etc. However if you need random access, memory mapped files or something a little more low level then you have to use NIO.
What exactly is the benefit of this over a conventional mouse?
Probably none whatsoever. I have yet to see a touchscreen let alone a touchpad come anywhere close to being as usable as a mouse where space isn't a concern.
Sorry, it's a simple choice for Sony - lose hundreds of millions in piracy and reputation, or potentially lose a couple of million on some class action. It's clear which option Sony should choose. It sucks to be the tiny minority of Linux users (which included myself until recently) but its also obvious why they did it. Get a clue by looking what happened to the PSP once custom firmware turned up.
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My kids have it and believe me it's a huge disruption. If they eat gluten by accident it turns them as white as a sheet and there is a good chance they'll puke their guts up for a day. The only known "cure" to coeliac disease is not ingest gluten at all which easier said than done especially for kids. So many processed foods contain wheat as a hidden ingredient that you have to scrutinize the ingredients list very carefully. Wheat starch for example could trigger a reaction but many foods don't even bother to say what kind of starch they contain. Most coeliac societies publish thick books to help figure out which foods are gluten free and which are not.
Captcha schemes are quite good but they are vulnerable to a class break. I'm currently considering creating a unique challenge for my site to stop this crap. I think if I put a simple form next to it that had to be filled in it would stop the drivebys dead.
I have to wonder if they did something completely insane like link their TV application software straight into the busybox executable because I can't think of any other reason to withold it upon request. If they did straight link then more fool them.
What I simultaneously dread but remain curious about is what the process used on Clash / Alice means for existing 2D movies and shows. The amount of 3D content is pathetic, not enough to drive either 3D blu ray or 3D satellite / cable. I imagine that even now studios are tinkering with the idea of 3D-ifying existing content. It's the son of colorization all over again. I imagine that it could be done well in some cases and abysmally for others. I expect in a few years we can look forward to Casablanca 3D and History Channel specials such as WWII in 3D.
One could also say that Android is only half Linux as most people would know it since user land is BSD based, only the kernel is Linux. If Google so wished they could probably dump Linux the kernel for something else with minimal disruption to user apps.
With DRM which ebook providers virtually all already use. The only reason price fixing happens (as it more less is now) is because content providers and stores are allowed to get away with it. It's a cartel in all but name through a series of interdependent contracts that mean that Amazon, Apple can never be undercut which more or less rules out any smaller player competing with them.
It's too bad someone like the EU doesn't step in mandating that all devices must support a common DRM & file format for envelope & payload, that it must be offered on fair terms to any store that wishes to use it, that it must provide reasonable protections for end users, that providers can suggest a retail price but cannot enforce it and devices must support content regardless of where it was purchased. Then we might to see a level playing field where competition drives down prices.
Nah, it's just obnoxiousness. It happens in a lot of European package holiday resorts but is especially bad in Turkey. Pass a restaurant (even on the other side of the road) and someone speaking perfect English wants to befriend you, know your life story, connect with you, and start blabbing about the menu. It might take several minutes to get rid of them and there could be 50 or 60 restaurants on the same strip all with touts trying to do the same thing. It is a wretched experience.
The situation has apparently gotten so bad that Turkish police now have powers to run undercover teams to videotape and shut down premises that hassle tourists. Good thing I say. Let restaurants survive on the quality of their food, prices, ambience etc not how many touts are waiting outside.
That pisses too. Walk into any store and within seconds someone wants to "help" you whether you show any visible signs you need help or not. If I want help I'd ask for it. The problem is a lot of salesdrones (especially in the US) are on commission so they're being proactively "helpful", i.e. annoying.
As for restaurant greeters, the problem is far, far, far worse in holiday destinations. As a rule of thumb I ignore restaurants that employ people to get you to go in. This gets really annoying when you're already looking at their menu and they decide to butt in to babble on about the special of the day etc. Worst destination by far for this is Turkey. You can't stand still outside a shop or restaurant for 30 seconds without someone trying to drag you in, often by the arm. Horrible experience.
Eventually I think 3D will be a standard part of the viewing experience but I see little to buy into it now. Let some sucker early adopter pay 2x for their v0.9 3D implementation. Give it a few more years and the experience, the technology and the price will be far more appealing.
The attacker would have to make sure to kill 3 of them (or the cards they carry) to defeat this scheme.
Fat chance. Assuming you bothered to supply links they would likely to point to the same rubbish that each of these groups peddles which has long been debunked. Specifically.
As for global warming, the scientific consensus is overwhelming. Like with evolution there is plenty of room for debate and hypotheses (e.g. how much is manmade, how much is cyclical, the predicted effects on the climate etc.). As with evolution, the lunatic fringe latches onto these debates to pretend that disagreement or error somehow means their claims win by default. As with evolution, it doesn't. There is also no evidence whatsoever for a "conspiracy". Even the so called climategate sideshow that the loonies latched onto showed no such thing.
So I don't expect you do prove anything. Link away if you like but I doubt I will be surprised by the kind of things you point to.
Not really. If MS make their own platform, they can be the ones skimming 30% off the top of every software sale. If they become Apple's bitch then they only make money from their own products, nobody else's.
And a major company capitulating to Apple would hardly be good news for consumers either.
Tongue in cheek I hope, but sadly true for KDE. Too much time is spent making it kewl and not enough on making the desktop usable by mere mortals. KDE needs its own HIG and it needs leadership not afraid to keep the spotlight firmly on usability even if that means removing features, buttons and options from normal view to make things simpler.
UAC didn't fail at all. It was the incredibly annoying dialogs popping up all the time that forced vendors to make their apps compliant with the security model and to stop abusing it. Windows 7 got an easier ride precisely because Vista took the pain and whipped the apps into shape. Where UAC had failings was that there was no way to train, tweak or otherwise affect its behaviour except to turn it off completely.
It's not enough for an app to say what things it needs to do. By default any action by a 3rd party app involving personal data or phone calls should explicitly request user permission each and time it is accessed. If the user really trusts an app they could disable these screens from the app's management settings.
Everything is deniable. Look at all the anti-vacination, intelligent design, 9/11 conspiracists. In each case they have had copious incontrovertible evidence shoved in their faces and they still parrot the same idiotic nonsense as they always did. So it is with the anti-global warming crowd. Some people will not budge from a viewpoint no matter how obviously wrong or idiotic it is demonstrated to be.
Nobody bothers to delete their flash shared objects. Almost nobody even knows they exist. Even if you deleted your cookies it would be trivial for a small flash app to restore them.
L4D2 was on sale on Steam for 10.20 only recently and in the bargain bin on most websites. It's nice to get for nothing but I doubt it cost Valve much at all on their side and represents good PR.
Powershell = GNOME shell. Must proof read.
They are consistent, unfortunately that consistency doesn't = usable to mere mortals. GNOME wisely adopted the HIG after recognizing that sometimes less is more. Regular users don't want to wade through a sea of buttons and menus to do stuff, they just want to do stuff.
Look at the number of buttons, menus, settings a typical KDE app exposes vs a GNOME app. KDE apps have so many settings they actually have an explicit Settings dropdown with 2, 3, 4, 5 or even more menu items underneath. Each of those menu items may lead to a dialog with a tree of option pages, many of which have multiple tabs and further popups. Often the common options will be mixed in amongst the advanced or esoteric ones. It's a mess and it's something that a HIG should address.
KDE also has the odd tendency to rip off the latest Windows or Mac feature and then throw the kitchen sink into it. That's great except often times MS / Apple created the feature precisely to simplify their UI and make it more usable. So by tossing the kitchen sink KDE has undermined the reason the feature exists in the first place. The start menu in the plasma desktop would be one example of that.
That's not to say GNOME always gets it right. I think the desktop has stepped over the line between usable and retarded a few times and powershell has the potential to be a monumental disaster. Desktops need to provide the tools to get things done and otherwise stay the hell out of the way. Powershell looked too intrusive to me. If they need 6 more months to get it right I hope they use it wisely.
I'd prefer KDE took the HIG and implemented it on their own desktop. KDE is a usability travesty which might explain in no small part why GNOME has gained the upper hand.
Kin's hardware looked pretty cute but the software was horrible. With MS it's usually the other way around. Articles on Kin suggest the team was hobbled by Windows CE, morale was low and corporate infighting meant they were denied the support they needed to make it succeed. I expect if Windows Mobile 7 had actually been ready for Kin that it would have been a great deal better as a device.
Depends what you are trying to do. Regular IO is just fine for sequential file parsing, serialization etc. However if you need random access, memory mapped files or something a little more low level then you have to use NIO.
Probably none whatsoever. I have yet to see a touchscreen let alone a touchpad come anywhere close to being as usable as a mouse where space isn't a concern.
Sorry, it's a simple choice for Sony - lose hundreds of millions in piracy and reputation, or potentially lose a couple of million on some class action. It's clear which option Sony should choose. It sucks to be the tiny minority of Linux users (which included myself until recently) but its also obvious why they did it. Get a clue by looking what happened to the PSP once custom firmware turned up.