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User: KibibyteBrain

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  1. Re:Cheap or low power? on Nintendo 3DS GPU Revealed · · Score: 2
    From TFA:

    DMP's president Tatsuo Yamamoto said the company, "had a very ambitious goal in the realisation of naked-eye 3D stereo vision, and video game console-style high-quality graphics rendering, whilst maintaining low power consumption."

    My guess from this is that DMP probably already had a buttoned-up solution for integrating 3D stereo vision with their GPU, saving Nintendo the development costs and enabling this super-fast time to market for the 3DS, and that's probably why they went with it. I'd expect for version 2 they'd perfect something with a more conservative architecture.

  2. Re:Look for the upside on NASA Ends Plan To Put Man Back On Moon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the trillions of present day dollars that went into the space race alone were just diverted to pure R&D to better humanity do you think the accomplishments would not have been similar, if not better? Saying we would never have happened upon velcro or microwaves without NASA just because that is historically what played out is simpleton logic.
    There are definitely some things we learned from the space race we probably wouldn't have learned nearly as quickly other wise. But we are past that. There should be diminishing returns technically from near earth limited space exploration like any other technology. The automatic justification should be revoked and hard ROI criteria should be set for any future programs of significant costs.

  3. Market Is Rigged Against Consumer Choice on BP Says "Top Kill" Operation Has Failed · · Score: 1

    But consumer choice is necessarily impacted by price and availability. When oil prices get high, consumption does drop, its happened several times before, and consumers get used to the changes. Its just when energy is cheap and conveniently available everywhere, its naturally leads to greater consumption. That roadtrip for the weekend instead of just staying at home or running a home server instead of just using an external drive seem like nicer options in a cheap market.

    Energy IS cheap and available largely because lobbyists for the industry, often against popular opinion and the opinion of the consumers themselves, have rigged laws and regulations in their favor and against regulation and accountability. In a universe where this oil well didn't exist or the oil it produced was significantly more expensive because of safety measures, it is very likely consumers would have cared, at least much, as people would have just gotten used to such a world. The only parties that WOULD care are the oil companies who would see lower revenues and profits, and the government who would see less tax revenues from those profits. And so they work to rig the system to make consumers choose to consume more, not the other way around, which is why leaving the choice to consumers [alone] will never work.

  4. Re:the benefits of open source... on How Viruses Evolve Into All-Purpose Malware · · Score: 1

    Quite frankly, having the source doesn't help exploits much, or at least nearly as much as it helps in correcting exploits. The reason for this is most of the common methods for injecting code into privileged apps are extremely complex and rely on several different parts of the code to be in a certain key state to take place. So save from 1) being a literal genius or 2) having a ton of experience in knowing where security problems in coding tend to pop up(and even here, you will miss most), code review doesn't help much in finding actual exploits.(although it can be instrumental in determining if the architecture of the code is exploit prone, so again, better for the whitehats than blackhats)

    The easier way to look for exploits now is to automate the app and then find ways to make it crash or otherwise misbehave/not behave as intended. If you can find a way to make it crash, especially segfault etc, you have found a bug that is likely to be exploitable. Many security researchers and firms have clusters of automated programs crunching night and day trying to find ways to make them crash/trigger unusually high exceptions/looking for other signs of misbehavior.

    Another good way is to look for certain patterns. For example, a .net app that makes lots of disorganized unsafe calls to unmanaged code is a good shot(probably a newb or incompetent programmer(disorganized) treading on dangerous ground), and you can monitor all of this just fine if not more easily sans-source, with standard debugging tools for the OS you are on(doesn't matter which).

  5. Re:wait for SP2 on Project Natal Pricing and Release Date Revealed · · Score: 1

    For the 3rd generation of Natal, they will look at a much more precise version of control that has the minor inconvenience of requiring a physical effector and control surfaces to enhance sensitivity and prevent unintended actuations. The industry will be wowed by this amazingly accurate control system which is not confused by the dog walking in front of the TV again.

  6. Re:Powershell on For Automated Testing, Better Alternatives To DOS Batch Files? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It is worse because it suddenly makes one of the proposed strengths of the *nix platform look obsolete, and this is Slashdot.

  7. Re:Yay! finally some accountability for all those on UK Court Finds Company Liable For Software Defects · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I still think this is concerning. While this particular law is contingent on a sale, the overall point is that the Judge made a ruling based on his legal opinion of the fitness of software for a given application based on a law which could just as well not have required such a condition, as many don't require. Other laws not contingent on a sale having occurred but rather just the distribution of a product or service could therefore be applied to software in general based on this case.
    And don't go pulling the "put some pseudo-legalese magic incantation in my code saying its not fit for even the reasonably-implied purpose and all the trouble will magically go away" card because that won't work in the exact high-liability suits(i.e. someone dies, the stock market crashes) it intended to defend the developer against, in the real world.

  8. Re:Requires .EXE Download on Microsoft's Free, Online Version of Office To Premiere This Week · · Score: 2, Informative

    The exe is only necessary to allow Windows shell integration with the online Office service, i.e., so you can double click on a docx on your desktop and have it open in the web office.
    If you want to go through the same hassle to open local files you go though with other online office suites, it is not required.

  9. Re:Now I *know* iPad is killing the netbook on iPad Isn't "Killing" Netbook Sales, According To Paul Thurrott · · Score: 1

    My graphing calculator is under half the size, about 1/8th the weight, and about 100 times the battery life of the iPad. That just can't be argued with. Your logic is flawless.

  10. Re:Nail on the head on Nintendo To Take On Piracy In 3-D · · Score: 0

    1) WoW is not really purely GaaS, as the actual software itself is still both in reality and in concept purchased separately. The services is the actual service that allows the software to be useful. Think of this like your PC/OS(product) and ISP(service) combining to give you web access.
    Games on Demand would be more like GaaS, but they aren't really that common, at least, where the consumer pays. Many flash games on the internet which are ad-supported are probably the biggest mainstream pure GaaS.
    2) Pandora an Last.fm is not really MaaS, they are just analogues of radio. "Owning" CD's and digital files for music clearly had customer value in the Radio era and don''t address direct access to music libraries(I can listen to what I want when I want rather than something like X, often). A true example of MaaS would be something like ZunePass or Rhapsody, and both probably denote the failure of appeal of MaaS vs. the bigger iTunes and Amazon stores.

  11. Re:Encryption on CBSA Reveals Some Laptop Search Info, But Not Much · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Play dumb. One problem geeks seem to have in these situations is they are so high on their horse they have to act like freaking experts of everything all the time.
    Just do exactly what the agent says, complying 100%, but don't offer any advice or claim any insight into what is going on at all beyond your legal responsibilities. If you use whole disk encryption, you are probably required to type in the key for that but beyond that ignorance will get you far. When they say "Oh, you run Linux?", say "Um, at my work we use something called U-buntu I think". If they ask you if you have any encrypted files or something, just respond with something like "I don't know much about encryption.". Make them do their job while remaining honest, and they will just leave you alone. Act like a smartass and they won't...

  12. Re:Regulation requires upkeep on The FCC May Decide Not To Regulate Broadband · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think it makes much sense to allow anyone to dig all the lines they want. To the extreme, it just wouldn't work as it would become an unmanageable mess, and to the norm, it just makes no sense as one or two relatively cheap fibers to every home is all we will need for a decade or two. The current system works, except for the illusion that some company owns the lines connecting your home to the world, which doesn't work and requires oppression by either the provider or the government, neither of which is very desirable.
    It should be a common community asset leased to service providers, much like the airwaves.

  13. Re:They lasted too long. Bad engineering. Big fias on NASA Mars Rover Spots Its Ultimate Destination · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except the majority of the cost is fixed in the rockets to escape Earth and the spacecraft to reach mars, so a longer lasting robot is always better so long as it remains a minority of the cost of the exploration system.

  14. Re:It's not that big of deal on MATLAB Can't Manipulate 64-Bit Integers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Umm, you realize you can do math on greater than 32 bits values in Matlab, just not using the 64-bit platforms's ability to natively handle 64 bit datatypes. After all, I can do make on 64-bit values on an 8-bit micro-controller just fine, it will just take more than a few instructions.
    And as stated before, this matters little as it is a performance issue, and matlab still offers the best performance of its class, even vs. those who do have this feature.

  15. Re:Competing Isn't Cheap on Bing Loses More Money As Microsoft Chases Google · · Score: 1

    Not to mention, Microsoft's online services probably serve as a pretty good dogfood, if not marketing, program for their servers and tools business, which does make money. I don't think as many people out there would have Silverlight or other MS technologies installed on their machines if it was not for MS's own services pushing them.

  16. Re:How can maintaining the status quo cause job lo on The Truth About Net Neutrality Job Loss · · Score: 1

    The Big ISP argument is probably that they can't expand into rural areas unless they can throttle/control bandwidth either through rate limits or charging by use, because to do so profitably(or equally profitably) would mean to offset the greater cost of connecting rural populations they'd need to reduce costs on routers and other backend hardware to service the same number of users, with means throttling by either policy or cost incentives.
    That said, I think that case is BS. Companies in all sectors will take on unprofitable business for a minority of the market if it means stopping that share from going to the rivals or being a source of startup revenue for new entrants into their established market. After all, if the DSL and Cable companies leave rural areas alone long enough, it will only allow WiMax providers and other innovators to gain share through these customers to the point where they can become powerful enough to be a threat on the home urban turn of the bigger players. That is why this just isn't true, and the established companies will continue growing their networks no matter what, as soon as they can afford it again.

  17. Re:Easer to store on Emulation For Preservation of Digital Artifacts · · Score: 1

    Why would it not be realistic? PCs today is literally thousands of times faster than the last common PCs that can't run binary-compatible software with them. I don't see any reason to think this won't remain the case in the future, even if it always seems like there are show stopping performance limiting problems in the short-term.

  18. Re:Again? on Leonard Nimoy Retires From Star Trek · · Score: 2, Funny

    He keeps taking them off, but they keep pulling his ears back in.

  19. Re:A settlement is an agreement by the two parties on RCN P2P Settlement Is Not Even a Slap On the Wrist · · Score: 1

    Even beyond that how could it not be limited by law. It would be absurd, if not a general hazard, if anyone who wanted to run cable from point A to point B could just do it. And if you are talking about some shared leasing of the same infrastructure, well, that would require regulation of some kind to work, too.
    Until we master wireless communications on such a wide usable spectrum with channel bandwidth efficiency so that anyone who wants to set up a telco provider could do it(which seems, well, against the laws of known physics), there is no free market economics for telecommunications outside of fantasy.

  20. Re:Maybe not for the server hardware itself on Job Ad Hints At Microsoft Move To ARM Servers · · Score: 1

    ARM Core + FPGA Logic = much faster than x86/x64 + much more power efficient + just as easy to develop for once your "library" of FPGA APIs is developed.
    Microsoft Research has been looking at FPGAs in the datacenter for a long, long time.

  21. Re:what is a single task to the brain? on Research Suggests Brain Has a 2-Task Limit for Multitasking · · Score: 1

    I think the analogy would be humans need another processor. We could do for more RAM as well, but that is another issue.

  22. Re:No on Should Kids Be Bribed To Do Well In School? · · Score: 1

    Fair point, and many students do well in school because they love learning for the sake of learning. However, this program isn't aimed at helping them because they are already the "working" part of the system.
    To understand the point of this system, imagine if your job and all jobs like it were lost, and you had to do something else for a living you didn't like so much. Then would pay incentives matter to keep up your quality of work?

  23. No.

  24. Re:Always without a calculator. on Help Me Get My Math Back? · · Score: 1

    And fm6's name is forever cursed after the great iron shortage of 3216.

  25. Re:Value Added Tax on What the Top US Companies Pay In Taxes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem with this logic is it doesn't take into account the indirect benefit of government services. If someone never drove a car, but bought products from local stores which were able to provide those products at a decent price, if at all, due to the government maintained road system, he is still benefiting. Likewise, building a bridge might not benefit you if you never traveled between the linked destination, but the economic growth it might cause in your town will. There are many more complex levels of indirect services people benefit from daily.
    This is not to imply, however that most government services are not useless, if not legal ways to blatantly embezzle funds, and should not exist, just that direct accounting is far too simple to work.