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User: ulash

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  1. Spelling mistakes as a "human" feature on New Contestants On the Turing Test · · Score: 1

    And I find it kinda cute that they try to look more "human" by introducing one off typos from the keyboard (like switching the letter "o" with the letter "p") randomly. While I think this could be an interesting little feature (albeit still gimmicky may be) in a much better system at the current level of performance it only comes across as a very silly and transparent attempt.

  2. Re:Not the fireworks thing again... on China Announces Launch-Success Details — Before Launch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The story about the fireworks can be found here for those interested BTW.

  3. It's useful to pre-tape no? on China Announces Launch-Success Details — Before Launch · · Score: 1
  4. Re:At last, something GOOD, from Google! on Google To Digitize Millions of Old Newspaper Pages · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually history revisionists will not be affected by this at all. Remember many, if not most, of the "news" in the newspapers are (and have been) editorialized by various degrees. To make it worse, if you go back long enough you hit times where communication was so difficult between different countries that the news was basically "We heard that he heard that she heard that this is true".

    Gather enough newspapers from all around the country and pretty much anything you find will be almost as reliable as finding something written by a random blogger on the web.

  5. Re:Look into Fluorinert on Coating a Motherboard In Thermal Resin? · · Score: 1

    Mineral Oil, i believe, is more likely to corrode components and does not have one important thing Fluorinert has going for it: Flourinert will evaporate. Of course as mentioned before it is VERY expensive.

    For those who missed the discussion on this, check out the earlier thread from August 27th.

  6. Does not make sense on NZ Judge Bans Online Publishing of Accuseds' Names · · Score: 1

    It is a very hackish solution to the "problem" defined by the judge. Obviously there will be people blogging about it and newspapers outside the country carrying their names online because of the attention this case will receive now (ironically because of the judge's actions). If anything the accused will be even more "famous"...

  7. "found" or "constructed" on A Quasi-Quasicrystal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Which one is it? The summary needs to make up its mind. Either it is something that occurs naturally (and TFA seems to suggest otherwise) in which case it would be "found" or it is something cooked up in a lab which would make it "constructed".

  8. Based on a.. diary post? on Estimating the Time-To-Own of an Unpatched Windows PC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The source for this post seems to be lacking on quite a few fronts when explaining how they arrived at this data.

    - (As pointed out already by numerous posters) Which version of Windows are they using?
    - What activity are they using the computer for?
    - Who are the "all" in "placing an unpatched Windows computer directly onto the Internet in the hope that it downloads the patches faster than it gets exploited are odds that you wouldn't bet on in Vegas" ?
    - How unpatched is unpatched? Is this a version of the OS that one needs to deliberately search for or if I go and buy a boxed version of the OS there is a pretty good chance it will be just as "unpatched" ?

    The "piece" raises more questions than the answers it provides.

  9. How does the case compare with the French one? on eBay Beats Tiffany In Net Trademark Case · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apart from the oblig. French jokes, does anyone know if the respective laws in France and the US regarding this matter are different enough to warrant the difference in verdicts, the interpretations of the judges are different, or the two cases are simply not that similar?

  10. Re:You forgot to add on Open WiFi Owners Off the Hook In Germany · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually I can't seem to find anything in the original article that supports the "fact" you have pointed out. It clearly says:

    The defendant argued that he wasn't guilty of copyright infringement, but that he had operated an open wireless network and that someone else may have connected to it in order to use P2P. The prosecution responded by saying that open WiFi networks are easily abused, and that it's the owner's responsibility to ensure that the network is locked down and encrypted.

    The defendant never claims that he didn't know his wifi could be used by someone else. In fact he was found innocent because there was nothing showing that he himself broke the law:

    The court said that the "abstract risk of abuse" of the defendant's connection is not enough to require him by law to lock it down. There was also no concrete evidence of copyright infringement on the defendant's part, therefore he should not be held liable for damages, the judge said.

    Now of course by offering people LAN access for free you would probably breaching your contract with your ISP but this is a seperate issue. I think you are mixing up the two.

  11. The kids... on Hans Reiser Leads Police To Nina's Body · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No matter how much we argue or try to make "programming jokes" about this incident the truth is these kids' mother is dead, their father is going away for a long time and they are going to be the ones bearing one of the heaviest burdens in this particular case.

  12. Re:high security? on First Commodore 64 LAN Party · · Score: 1

    Oops. You guys are right. I think I forgot to turn off Tor on my first try during the day. Now I am getting a "HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected." as well. FWIW I am on Hikari through Gol. My apologies for the confusion...

  13. Re:high security? on First Commodore 64 LAN Party · · Score: 1

    Works fine in Tokyo, Japan. Not sure what's happening (happened) for you guys.

  14. Slightly misleading on TV Viewers' Average Age Hits 50 · · Score: 1

    The demographics quoted in the article and the targeted demographics of TV programs do not need to overlap. As noted the "old people" demographic quoted by the article excludes the people using DVR as well as people who watch TV programs on the web. Those are the same programs that are shown on TV (and hence it would make sense that the target audience is not just the "old people").

  15. I am confused... on iPhone App Enables GSM To WiFi/VoIP Switching · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... couldn't you do this anywhere in the world with a phone running Skype for Mobile or practically any VoIP provider of your choice using a PocketPC? Either that summary is way too summarized or there really isn't anything exciting here other than saying this is now possible on an iPhone too...

  16. CMU did this a whole while back... on Scandinavian Scientists Designing Robotic Snakes · · Score: 2, Informative

    Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute built "robots based on snakes" quite a while back. In fact the project description page was last updated in November 2006. You can find more info about the project at, funnily enough, SnakeRobot.com with videos.

  17. Does not need to swivel but sound is useful on AI Could Power Next-gen CCTV Cameras · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am not exactly sure this would be useful for the swiveling aspect of things as mentioned by other posters. However using sound could be an interesting augmentation to vision if done using the right filters. Swiveling would not be a big issue if using a wide angle lens like a fish-eye lens.

  18. Re:Obama on Dodd, Feingold To Try and Filibuster Immunity Bill · · Score: 1

    Actually that's not true at all. If you look at the recent "overthrows" in Eastern Europe, all of them happened because of the people staging huge protests and bringing things to a halt. Army flavored coups seem very 80s now save for some unstable countries in Africa.

  19. Re:Transparent Aluminum... on Bizarre Properties of Glass Allow Creation of "Metallic Glass" · · Score: 1

    Actually what you are wearing is the much more expensive alternative. Since 2002, Raytheon seems to be working on a cheaper "version" called Aluminum Oxynitride. You can also read about it on Wikipedia.

  20. Re:My prediction: Internet segmentation on ICANN Asked To Shut Down "Worst" Chinese Registrar · · Score: 0

    Come on - give the guy a break. He is merely sticking to his name ;)

    On a more serious note, I think one of the biggest reasons for the existence of spam is the attitude of "It's not us, it's them". As MrNaz pointed out Spam is a huge problem originating from a lot of countries including the US and despite the existence of laws promising to penalize the big spammers. I think this is reaching such ridiculous heights that there may need to be formation of a specialized organization like the Interpol that will go after spammers.

  21. Re:Blame Windows on Confessions of a Wi-Fi Thief · · Score: 1

    <quote>Windows is, by default, configured to <i>automatically</i> connect to new networks.</quote>

    As stated before, any version of Windows that's up to date will NOT connect automatically to new networks if they are not protected (barring the user having specified a preference explicitly in the past for connecting automatically to unsecured routers of a given name in the order you specify).

  22. Apparently... on Robotic Aircraft To Supply Troops · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    ... the US is winning the war in Iraq (from TFA):

    Logistics is what's winning the war in many ways in Afghanistan and Iraq If this is the whole justification for the project I am afraid someone missed a memo somewhere.
  23. EU needs to show what it stands for on Wiretapping Bill Passes Swedish Parliament, 143 to 138 · · Score: 1

    The European Union needs to get its act together. I know these days the governing body has more than it can deal with (with the failed referandum in Ireland and all) but it needs to at least open discussion about gross violations of privacy like this. Using "Ode to Joy" as your "march" does not mean anything if you don't act in the face of violations of a basic freedom like right to privacy.

  24. Re:Been there to an extent on Man Fired When Laptop Malware Downloaded Porn · · Score: 1

    "Depending on where you work their IT people are really not that knowledgeable or hardworking and I can't blame them, they have to work with microsoft crap, I would be slacking too." You're kidding right? Since when not being knowledgable or hardworking can be explained by the software running on the computers? You get paid to do your work. Either you do it properly and earn your wage or you are not fulfilling your end of the contract and/or are incompetent.

  25. Extremely weak article on All Your Coffee Are Belong To Us · · Score: 1

    Not only the article does not clarify where the vulnarability is (i.e. in the computer you connect the coffee maker to if it is running a certain version of XP using certain settings), it comes across as extremely superficial without any real information. There was barely any more information in the article as in the quoted short paragraph.