The article states that senior software engineers price themselves out of the market. This implies that they are turning down high-income development jobs because they can make even more elsewhere - but where? Sales? IT? Freelance consulting? They can't all become managers. Anyone have a good feel on what careers developers tend to age into?
Will slashdot ever stop upmoding this copy/paste spam? It was kinda funny the first time it was posted. By now, most of slashdot has seen the joke multiple times already.
People, if you're into cryptography, infosec, parallel programming, economics, or finance, you will probably find bitcoin interesting. If you don't find it interesting, however, then don't click on bitcoin stories. And for the love of Bob don't paste tired old joke spam into such stories.
claiming that this volatile currency would not be traded long
Bitcoins are being traded. A single, independent exchange is down. But if you knew how bitcoins worked, you would realize that you don't even need an exchange to trade them.
So in conclusion: can bitcoins currently be traded? Yes. But can they be bought/sold for US dollars? Also yes. Are your predictions proving correct? Not at all.
Now that some big player(s) have cashed out
Did you make that part up? Which big player are you referring to? According to the MTGOX exchange, they were hacked and the hacker sold stolen bitcoins. This cannot be honestly described as "a big player cashing out."
The US will get rid of its nuclear reactors only after nuclear weapons become obsolete. Remember, it's not about cost or the environment; it's about plutonium production.
We are going to be running on coal/nuclear/nat.gas until 'clean' energy is cheaper than both.
Wrong. The secret value in SecurID tokens is not some private key in a PKI. It's just a random number. There is no reason RSA couldn't just write these random numbers to write-only media and delete all other copies after sending them to the customer. There is no reason to keep them accessible on the network--let the support people sneaker-net the numbers if the customer loses theirs! That's the appropriate level of security for something as sensitive as this.
Of course, I'm sure they know this. The real reason RSA kept their customers' seed records vulnerable on the wire was so that they could outsource their support to third world crop-pickers at $1/hour. I've spoken with RSA support flunkies--they've never even seen the product they support, in many cases. RSA is walmart-quality security.
You shouldn't compare rainbow tables to brute-force crackers. Password crackers like this can work against a salted password. Rainbow tables are worthless for salted passwords.
This is an entirely configurable option. Users who like it will keep it, users who don't will switch it. Anyone complaining is just doing it to hear his own voice.
Information and money are not the same thing. The developed world has universally recognized that education is a right. Information fits hand-in-hand with that.
Should wealth be a right? Well, probably, but that's not possible. Let's put that question aside until we invent replicators and infinite energy sources. Today, however, we do have the means to give everyone education and information.
Virgin Mobile has two Android phones which get you unlimited data for $25/month. It's far and away the cheapest smart phone data plan in the US. Who cares what T does when we have VM?
"Algorithm Science," which has been misnamed "Computer Science" in the US, is really a little-needed and little-appreciated discipline. What students want is "Software Engineering." This is also what industry wants. So why are all schools still teaching Algorithm Science, while only a few teach what everyone in that major actually wants?
Incompetence by school administrators. Cut computer science departments to a fraction of their size. Stick them under Mathematics. Then start teaching engineering. Algorithm Science is only a tiny fraction of what Software Engineering is. Focusing on it for four years is insanity for most people.
If your idea is that the average person alive today -- never mind the average high school student -- has any knowledge at all of relativistic mechanics, evolutionary biology, computer science/engineering, medical science, etc., I think you'll find you're sadly mistaken.
A good number of teenagers bound for college do have such knowledge.
I had three years of college math (engineering degree) but I would have a hard time doing the arithmetic on that test by hand. From middle school on I was taught with the aid of a graphing calculator.
So am I better at math than people were then? Yes. Being good at doing arithmetic with a pencil and paper is a skill as useful as knowing to shoe a horse.
If you're surprised by this, you're an idiot. Drop box saves your password to a file (obviously: you don't type it every time you boot). Files can be copied. By the rules of logic, then, your password can be copied. Quite simple, and not at all surprising.
They are probably buried under piles of concrete or whatever from the collapsed building. So your police-grade bomb-defusing robot can't roll in and tidy the place up. It would take a remote-control crane. I don't know if such a thing exists, but it sure would be cool. One would think that a team of university students could build one in a couple months' time...
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The article states that senior software engineers price themselves out of the market. This implies that they are turning down high-income development jobs because they can make even more elsewhere - but where? Sales? IT? Freelance consulting? They can't all become managers. Anyone have a good feel on what careers developers tend to age into?
Perhaps you can explain how you fit the gold into your intertubes when trying to send it to someone online...
Will slashdot ever stop upmoding this copy/paste spam? It was kinda funny the first time it was posted. By now, most of slashdot has seen the joke multiple times already.
People, if you're into cryptography, infosec, parallel programming, economics, or finance, you will probably find bitcoin interesting. If you don't find it interesting, however, then don't click on bitcoin stories. And for the love of Bob don't paste tired old joke spam into such stories.
Bitcoins are being traded. A single, independent exchange is down. But if you knew how bitcoins worked, you would realize that you don't even need an exchange to trade them.
So in conclusion: can bitcoins currently be traded? Yes. But can they be bought/sold for US dollars? Also yes. Are your predictions proving correct? Not at all.
Did you make that part up? Which big player are you referring to? According to the MTGOX exchange, they were hacked and the hacker sold stolen bitcoins. This cannot be honestly described as "a big player cashing out."
Write-only in a security context means it can't be read back digitally (by a hacker). Someone onsite needs to do something physical make it readable.
You seem to be confusing bitcoin with egold. Bitcoin is an open source project, not a corporation.
For all we know, he's been selling his bitcoins as fast as the market will bear without crumbling...
The US will get rid of its nuclear reactors only after nuclear weapons become obsolete. Remember, it's not about cost or the environment; it's about plutonium production.
We are going to be running on coal/nuclear/nat.gas until 'clean' energy is cheaper than both.
Wrong. The secret value in SecurID tokens is not some private key in a PKI. It's just a random number. There is no reason RSA couldn't just write these random numbers to write-only media and delete all other copies after sending them to the customer. There is no reason to keep them accessible on the network--let the support people sneaker-net the numbers if the customer loses theirs! That's the appropriate level of security for something as sensitive as this.
Of course, I'm sure they know this. The real reason RSA kept their customers' seed records vulnerable on the wire was so that they could outsource their support to third world crop-pickers at $1/hour. I've spoken with RSA support flunkies--they've never even seen the product they support, in many cases. RSA is walmart-quality security.
You shouldn't compare rainbow tables to brute-force crackers. Password crackers like this can work against a salted password. Rainbow tables are worthless for salted passwords.
This is an entirely configurable option. Users who like it will keep it, users who don't will switch it. Anyone complaining is just doing it to hear his own voice.
They lead empty, soulless lives in gigantic mansions, luxury cars, and private jets, while surrounded by beautiful women.
I can only imagine how many IT support types will accidentally wipe these things. How sad and hilarious this will be!
Information and money are not the same thing. The developed world has universally recognized that education is a right. Information fits hand-in-hand with that.
Should wealth be a right? Well, probably, but that's not possible. Let's put that question aside until we invent replicators and infinite energy sources. Today, however, we do have the means to give everyone education and information.
On what planet did companies routinely pay for engineering degrees? I'd like to send my kids to your world when they're ready for college.
You are implying that universities should close their colleges of engineering. You're cracked. Out of your skull. Completely nuts.
To give an intuitive education in exponential growth.
Virgin Mobile has two Android phones which get you unlimited data for $25/month. It's far and away the cheapest smart phone data plan in the US. Who cares what T does when we have VM?
Do you think engineering is "vocational?"
"Algorithm Science," which has been misnamed "Computer Science" in the US, is really a little-needed and little-appreciated discipline. What students want is "Software Engineering." This is also what industry wants. So why are all schools still teaching Algorithm Science, while only a few teach what everyone in that major actually wants?
Incompetence by school administrators. Cut computer science departments to a fraction of their size. Stick them under Mathematics. Then start teaching engineering. Algorithm Science is only a tiny fraction of what Software Engineering is. Focusing on it for four years is insanity for most people.
Really? If it's only the screensaver that has the ads, then how do people 'click to buy' what's in the ads? User input is disabled in the screensaver.
People could decide not to live in tsunami-vulnerable areas, except in tsunami-proof structures. Better warning systems could be created, too.
That's expensive, but so is safe energy.
A good number of teenagers bound for college do have such knowledge.
I had three years of college math (engineering degree) but I would have a hard time doing the arithmetic on that test by hand. From middle school on I was taught with the aid of a graphing calculator.
So am I better at math than people were then? Yes. Being good at doing arithmetic with a pencil and paper is a skill as useful as knowing to shoe a horse.
If you're surprised by this, you're an idiot. Drop box saves your password to a file (obviously: you don't type it every time you boot). Files can be copied. By the rules of logic, then, your password can be copied. Quite simple, and not at all surprising.
They are probably buried under piles of concrete or whatever from the collapsed building. So your police-grade bomb-defusing robot can't roll in and tidy the place up. It would take a remote-control crane. I don't know if such a thing exists, but it sure would be cool. One would think that a team of university students could build one in a couple months' time...