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User: OneHundredAndTen

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  1. Hardly surprising on Startups Ditching Silicon Valley For New Cities (economist.com) · · Score: 1

    When $500K buys you nothing but a teeny-weeny apartment in dodgy areas; when a $100K/yr salary is barely enough to feed a family of three; when you spend hours a day stuck in traffic jams, you know that your quality of life sucks to high heaven.

  2. Is this a joke? on Scientists Make a Touch Tablet That Rolls and Scrolls (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    The thing is bulky, awkward, clumsy, inconvenient to use, does not fit in an ordinary pocket, and does practically nothing that cannot already been done far more easily and conveniently with a flat screen.

  3. True for many years now on Linus Torvalds No Longer Knows the Whole Linux Kernel and That's OK (eweek.com) · · Score: 1

    The Linux kernel has consisted of millions of lines of code for many years. It is doubtful that anyone can understand, really understand, all the ins and outs of more than a few tens of thousands of lines of code.

  4. Do people have a choice here? Forgive me if I am asking something silly; I haven't used Windows for a long, long time.

  5. And at almost everything else on AI Still Useless at Catching Hate Speech, Research Finds (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 2

    The current AI offerings (Google Assistant (or whatever it's called today), Alexa, Siri) remain extremely limited in what they can usefully do. Try something with even a minimum of ambiguity, and they start spinning their wheels real fast. Even when dealing with very simple queries, it is obvious that their claims to intelligence are laughable. One of my favorite examples: "Ok, Google (or Alexa, or whatever) do not, under any circumstances, give me the weather forecast". Sure enough, they all promptly will give you the weather forecast. The truth is that, as of today, most of the time it is easier, faster and more efficient to do the job yourself, rather than trying to coerce them into doing it for you.

  6. What's the problem? on The 'Scunthorpe Problem' Has Never Really Been Solved (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Some immature, childish people might enjoy registering to some sites with obscene names. So what? What's the big deal? Is it that some will be force to gouge their eyes after reading such obscenities?

  7. What does this language accomplish that none of the other thousands of languages in existence do not?

  8. Gnome is good for consuming resources and for making it difficult to get anything done. Just ditch it.

  9. Like the 5th generation AI project? on Japan Wants To Bring Flying Cars To Its Skies (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Japan came with the 5th generation AI project in the 80s. The promises were out this world. Which is why it fizzled, and came to nothing. With this, Japan may end up with few more helicopters in the sky. Flying cars? I don't think so.

  10. They have it easy? on 'Calculators Killed the Standard Statistical Table' (sas.com) · · Score: 1

    They have it more convenient. There is nothing much difficult in consulting precomputed tables. With a calculator one achieves the same thing, only far more conveniently. You are not advocating to go back to using log and trig tables as well, are you? Or slide rules?

  11. What kind of channels on Antenna Sales Are Rising, In Another Sign of Churn In TV Watching (startribune.com) · · Score: 1

    I had a go at this, and I could get about 25 channels. But they were all garbage - mostly preachers and soaps. I'd pay not to have to watch that trash.

  12. MS has a history of deceit, chicanery, backstabbing and just plain nasty behavior which won't be erased or forgotten for decades.

  13. Alexa-Cortana integration on Microsoft and Amazon Begin Public Rollout of First Alexa-Cortana Integrations (geekwire.com) · · Score: 1

    Integrate stupid with stupider, and what do you get? Stupidest?

  14. Re:Yet another passing fad... on Bitcoin Sinks Below $6,000 as Almost Everything Crypto Tumbles (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    After all these years, Linux still can't get past 2% market share.

    In the desktop alone. Everywhere else, Linux is king.

  15. Re:Everyone knew the pump and dump was coming... on Fewer Than Half of Young Americans Are Positive About Capitalism (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Take a slice - any slice - of history, for which documentation is available. Almost invariable, the older generation use a language very similar to yours when describing the younger generations. This "generation of idiots" that you complain about will do the same about their younger generations - just as your grandparents' generation very likely did about yours.

  16. That's hardly surprising on Fewer Than Half of Young Americans Are Positive About Capitalism (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    Younger people tend to be more idealistic -- nothing new there. A more interesting undertaking would consist of obtaining statistical data about the evolution of people's views as they age. I believe that they become more conservative, but I don't know to what an extent. What percentage of these kids will evolve into becoming the Trumpers of 2045?

  17. The traditional modus operandi of the AI community remains the same as it was from its inception: some problems are solved initially with spectacular results, and optimistic extrapolations are made on the basis of such successes to other problems - which, invariably, turn out to be far more difficult to tackle, with the ensuing disappointing results. The AI community seems to have forgotten its past, and is therefore condemned to repeat it, as we are seeing with Watson and with the digital assistants, the usefulness of which remains extremely limited.

  18. Why is Samsung insisting with Bixby? on Samsung Announces Galaxy Home Speaker With Bixby Smart Assistant · · Score: 1

    There seems to be a generalized accord that, when it comes to digital assistants, Bixby does not amount to much - and, bearing in mind the very limited usefulness of digital assistants, that's saying something. So, why is Samsung insisting? Is it really generating more sales for them? Are there really vast numbers of people who are buying Samsung because of Bixby? My anecdotal experience is that I have yet to meet anyone - anyone - that has something nice to say about Bixby. On the other hand, I have met quite a few that actively complain about having to deal with Bixby. I know I would never buy any Samsung phone - they are too big, expensive, they come with too much in the way of unremovable bloatware - and Bixby.

  19. Another explosive device from Samsung on Samsung Unveils Tizen-Powered Galaxy Watch That Lasts 'Several Days' On Single Charge (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 1

    As expected from a company on fire.

  20. Message to content owners on P2P Piracy is Alive and Growing, Research Suggests (torrentfreak.com) · · Score: 1

    It's true that many pirate videos and music because they don't want to pay. But it is also true that many, probably many more, do so because piracy (e.g ThePirateBay.org) is a very convenient way of getting the material; sometimes the only way. Content owners insist in making it difficult to access the material, in curtailing where it can be played, in creating artificial scarcity, in treating consumers, first and foremost, as potential thieves.

    Content owners, make the material, all the material, available all the time, on all platforms, at a reasonable cost, without unnecessary complications, and millions out there will pay for the privilege of consuming it. Carry on doing what you are doing, and piracy will flourish. Which implies that piracy will flourish, for there is no chance in hell that current content owners will pull their heads out of you-know-where.

    Max Planck famously said that science advances one funeral at a time. That's probably true as well of the entertainment industry.

  21. Re:Doesn't Matter, They'll Get You Later on Only a Small Percentage of Users Buy Stuff Through Alexa, Report Claims (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Fancy that. I don't remember ever having bought milk and anything else, when I just wanted milk. I do remember buying Kit-Kats and nothing else though.

  22. Re:True for any new shopping method. on Only a Small Percentage of Users Buy Stuff Through Alexa, Report Claims (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 2

    I am not sure. Credit card shopping and the Internet did solve real issues, or improved existing experiences in significant ways. As things stand today, shopping with Alexa is a painstaking experience, that requires much more time and effort from you in comparison with what it would take if you just did it yourself. This is true, to a large extent, of almost anything that Alexa can do. It's cool to be able to command Alexa to turn on the dining room table light but, most of the time, it will be simpler and faster for you to flick the switch yourself by hand. Alexa, and the other digital assistants are 98% toys and 2% useful. Maybe they will eventually evolve into something really useful, but they have a very long way to go to get there.

  23. Hardly surprising on Only a Small Percentage of Users Buy Stuff Through Alexa, Report Claims (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The truth is the Alexa, Google Assistant, etc. are remarkably unintelligent and undiscerning. They can do very constrained and stereotyped tasks fairly well, but introduce a minimum of ambiguity, and they start spinning their wheels badly. Even when dealing with simple queries, their lack of understanding is irksome - e.g. if you tell any of them "Do not, under any circumstances, give me the weather forecast" they all promptly and efficiently give you the weather forecast. It will be some time before these gadgets become useful for significantly more than grins and giggles and party games.

  24. The best thing about this extension on Mozilla Debuts Firefox Extension that Recommends Content Based on Your Browsing Activity (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best thing about this extension is that you do not have to install it.

  25. Re:While I understand the clear benefit of a stand on EU Regulators To Study Need For Action on Common Mobile Phone Charger (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    I have the feeling that traveling abroad is really not your thing.