Slashdot Mirror


User: grahamsz

grahamsz's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,953
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,953

  1. Matches my high school experience on Do High Schools Know What 'Computer Science' Is? · · Score: 1

    I think it was called "Computer Studies" where I went to high school, and it was largely a waste of time. My teacher told me there wasn't any point in me showing up, and i just submitted the assignments and got an A.

    The interesting stuff was part of our pure mathematics course. We were handed a simple example of how RSA encryption works and asked to encrypt/decrypt a few messages, break stuff with short keys and explain why it was infeasible at longer key lengths. That's how it should be done!

  2. Re:Yes please. on EC Calls For End To Mobile Roaming Charges · · Score: 1

    They did only seem to eliminate domestic roaming charges, and while that's appreciated it doesn't address the larger issue.

    I'm kind of at a loss for why T-Mobile can't introduce an "our-network-only" roaming option. A good amount of the time when I'm in europe i never leave TMo's network, yet i still take it in the ass if i use my US sim card.

  3. I worked on it for quite a few years on RIP, SunSolve · · Score: 1

    In fact it's probably still the biggest project I ever got my hands on.

    I think there were always some patches that weren't available without a support contract. We ended up having to hack some support into the ftp server to talk to the java authentication backend somewhere.

    Still i'm undoubtedly a little sad to see the end of it.

  4. Amazon could probably deal with it... on Every Day's a Tax Holiday At Amazon · · Score: 1

    The sales tax issue in the US is breathtaking complicated. We did an ecommerce site for a local chain that has retail locations in a few cities round here. Colorado effectively only applies sales tax if both the consumer and the business share a jurisdiction.

    So that means if both and in denver then you need to collect Denver City, Denver County, Colorado State, RTD transit and a few other miscellaneous development levies. However if the business is in denver but the consumer is up in boulder, then you only need to collect Colorado State & RTD.

    Unfortunately the boundaries for the different districts are absurdly complicated. I live in a small town in colorado with a single zip code and yet we have 4 different tax rates. The transit tax only applies if you are in a part of the town that was annexed after some year. I can't get the right taxes on something delivered from the other side of town.

    I'm sure any sales tax offering will start with just state level taxes being collected, but counties and cities will be right behind in wanting their share. At that point Amazon will have to maintain an accounting relationship with thousands of entities, and they'll have their unfair advantage back since it'll quickly become impractical for all but the largest online retailers to play.

  5. Re:wrong OS? on Desktop Linux Is Dead · · Score: 1

    I tried for 6 hours to get my hdtv connected to my macbook and failed dismally. I've been a mac user for 24 years and it utterly let me down.

    However it took about 10 seconds with a displayport to HDMI cable on my linux laptop, no configuration necessary.

  6. Re:EVEN sillier on Retargeting Ads Stalk You For Weeks After You Shop · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I bought a Mazda 3 and continually see ads for Mazda3's. I like it, but am unlikely to buy more of them.

  7. Re:Paging Dr. IPv6 on Five Billionth Device About To Plug Into Internet · · Score: 1

    I suspect the main driver will be smartphones. Hardly anyone would notice if their smartphone was on IPv6 and it'll be a cheap way for big operators in china and such to get millions of devices online in short order.

  8. Re:Battery life on Recycling an Android Phone As a Handheld GPS? · · Score: 1

    I use my G1 hiking on multidays hikes with maverick. In airplane mode I can get a day of hiking with occasional GPS use, though using the screen to plot out courses and things does definitely sap battery power. G1 batteries are about $7 each and super light, i don't really see the problem carrying a stack of them

    The quality of maps is way better than my etrex ever did and while i'm sure the new Garmins also come with better maps, I don't see myself going back. Though I do carry my Forerunner 405cx GPS with me too

  9. Re:The Atoms on How Much Smaller Can Chips Go? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it's really hurt them. They've been wildly unprofitable since then

  10. Plan the dark areas around the defects on How Much Smaller Can Chips Go? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Larger dies generally cost more because it's more likely that they'll have a defect. I haven't done any chip design since college (and even then it was really entry level stuff) but if you could break the chip down into 10 different subcomponents that need to be spaced out, you could put 100 of those components on the chip and then after manufacture you could select the blocks that perform best and are defect free, spacing your choices accordingly.

    I'm pretty sure chip makers likely already

  11. Re:Some thoughts on Web-Based Private File Storage? · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure i'd want any kind of backup with an immediate kill switch. I know i'm online an awful lot, but i can think of situations where i'd not have access for quite a few weeks.

    Tarsnap is prepaid with paypal, so when your account balance drops to zero they'll wipe your files without any kind of additional charge.

    Though I am reminded of that japanese guy who'd been dead for 20 years in his apartment because his pension was going in automatically and his rent and bills were being similarly paid.

  12. Some thoughts on Web-Based Private File Storage? · · Score: 1

    On a more serious note.

    1) Kill switch is unnecessary. If it's a paid service then it'll purge when you stop paying the bill

    2) I've been playing with tarsnap lately and i'm pretty impressed. You use it just like tar but it uses a private key to store the results on their server. They can't see what you store and it intelligently tracks diffs so if a file appears in multiple archives you don't need to transfer or pay for it after the first time.

    3) Something like mozy or jungledrive would surely be easier to use and should be able to offer a similar level of protection. Obviously you'll have to be a little cautious about who has access to your private key, but it should protect you from casual snoopers

    4) Stop storing personal stuff at work

  13. Translation on Web-Based Private File Storage? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think you mean "emails to the wife, photos of the wife, that kind of thing"

  14. Re:The bigger problem is the highschools on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    The majority of my programming assignments in the later undergrad years started with "choose a suitable language & platform to solve this problem".

    I turned over stuff in Java, C, Assembly and I think i even found a reason to put some perl in there. I liked Linux, but you could use Windows, Solaris, IRIX and there were a few macs there towards the end.

    If you are trying to select a program today, choose one that's language agnostic. Learning how to fix a y2k bug in cobol is indeed a one trick pony (maybe you'll get some work on 2038), building something that can handle errors in a data feed or rasterize 3d bezier curves will surely get you a lot further.

  15. Re:And yet- on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    Doesn't it sound a bit like the US healthcare system?

  16. Re:And yet- on What's Wrong With the American University System · · Score: 1

    Some of those students come from countries with poorer educational systems, although I doubt you'll find thousands coming from Germany to pay through the nose for an undergraduate education.

    My school (University of Edinburgh) had well over a thousand US students alone, and enough students from asia and the middleeast that scots were among the minority in plenty classes.

    Would i have preferred a CS degree from MIT - almost certainly - but when i could go to a school that's consistently in the top 20 worldwide, without paying fees, why would I?

  17. Re:no-harm no-foul on Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats · · Score: 1

    I've seen them run at 50 and 60 mph just fine, of course it just takes one dumbass doing something stupid to screw up the whole traffic flow (though isn't that true of nearly all traffic flows).

    For high traffic levels i'm not sure they are any better than traffic lights, but they are great when traffic is low because they don't slow down your journey by making you wait at reds when no-one is coming the other way.

  18. Re:no-harm no-foul on Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it's especially tough since there's no straight ahead signal. It's very hard to tell if someone knows what they are doing and is leaving via the opposite exit, or if they don't know what they are doing and are turning left.

    Colorado has a lot of californian drivers too. As best I can tell, california removes the bulbs from all their cars' signals - must be some fuel efficiency standard.

  19. Re:no-harm no-foul on Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats · · Score: 1

    I've never seen one with more than 2 lanes going round it in the US. That seems to freak out enough drivers that i'm not sure the 4 and 5 spiraling lane ones would work well.

  20. Re:no-harm no-foul on Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats · · Score: 1

    I always thought the point of a roundabout was that you didn't have to slow down significantly if there wasn't other traffic. Though in the US they are generally designed quite tight and it makes it hard to do that safely.

    Although i've never seen a roundabout with a limit above 35mph. I used to know of a 60mph, 5 lane wide one in the UK, but it had been dropped to 50 last time i was there.

  21. Re:no-harm no-foul on Tennessee Town Releases Red Light Camera Stats · · Score: 1

    My town in the US does have a few roundabouts and they are actually working quite well. I started a personal campaign to signal properly when using them and maybe 15% of drivers now do that too.

  22. Re:well... on Your Online Education Experience? · · Score: 1

    Still it happens in real schools too. I went to a school that's ranked in the Top 20 in the world for a CS&E degree and first year was a joke. Stuff like univariate differential algebra that i'd covered previously in high school. Even second year math had stuff like fourier and z-transforms which was also covered in advance high school classes.

    Can't remember any of that shit now, but it turns out a degree is more of a tool to open doors than learn stuff.

  23. A square hectare? on Industrial Marijuana Farming Approved In Oakland · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think you've smoked that already. I can't wrap my head around that many dimensions.

  24. Re:Report it to the Univeristy's judicial board... on Retrieving a Stolen Laptop By IP Address Alone? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Call your local news network. It'll be a nice feel good story about the internet if they can get your laptop back

  25. Re:Hong Kong has one on Should Cities Install Moving Sidewalks? · · Score: 1

    Well it's a moving sidewalk that goes up a hill, although i don't recall it really having steps as such - more like an airport people mover.