I predict that a few years from now, web browsers will have crytocurrency handling as a built-in feature. There will be wallets for various cryptocurrencies, and a mechanism for this to interact with websites, with a browser-controlled UI controlling this. The browser will also have a 'mining mode' that users can toggle (or set to activate automatically when idle) which slowly fills up their wallet of choice. Go to a news website or whatever, and they ask for a microtransaction in whatever denomination, it comes from your wallet (if you accept the UI prompt). You can configure in the browser that site X can deduct amounts of up to Y per page, with a notification each time this happens. This'll be HUGE for porn sites, particularly with cryptocurrencies where encrypted blockchains are used.
Wallet empty and you need some cryptocoins NOW? Handy link to a broker site with a referrer fee to the browser maker. The 'mining mode' will utilize your GPU or whatever, if available. You can configure it to only use up to X% of your CPU/GPU. Of course, the preferred cryptocoins will be those with fast transaction times and low fees, being mine-able might help, and encrypted blockchain will be preferable for some sites.
Also if you use Firefox, turn first-party cookie isolation on (about:config->privacy.firstparty.isolate) I've noticed no problems on any of the sites I use.
If they live long enough, it wouldn't really be a 'generation ship'. If they were effectively immortal, the "everyone I love will be old/dead when I get back" angst wouldn't exist.
I imagine the 'Alien ambassador is killed due to misunderstanding' trope will be well-worn in the fiction/parables/diplomacy literature of an intelligent alien species. I imagine they'll be understanding rather than immediately switch to "kill all humans!!" Chances are especially high that they'd communicate via drone, since a) they can engineer it to look like our drones, so it wouldn't look so disconcerting b) they can do so without putting the messenger at risk, and c) they could observe us without giving us any useful data about their biology, if we were hostile and wanted to develop say bio-weapons that targeted their race, or figure out their physical weaknesses
Any aliens capable of interstellar flight would have food production and labor automation solved long ago. They could perhaps enslave other races out of hubris rather than deriving any benefit, but they'd be too busy fighting and enslaving their own factions to ever reach us. Enslaving us would be as impressive as us enslaving a clowder of cats.
Good thing I don't eat the stomachs of fish. Now if their meat were contaminated with microplastics, then I might worry about it accumulating in my body. Some quick research suggests that microplastics bioaccumulate, as implied by the summary. What really irks me is that 'farm-raised' fish, which should theoretically be free of bioaccumulation problems present in the wild, are fed cut-up wild-caught fish, so the pollutants get fed to them anyway. Where's my grass-fed Kobe fish?!
This for some reason reminds me of the suspected connection between suicide bombers and polygyny. I wonder if here, there's a connection between mass shootings and some perceived reduced availability of women. Aside from the NIU shooter, I can't recall any that had girlfriends at the time; and it always seems to be a guy who does this.
Seems Boeing is also making a swarm of LEO broadband satellites. Given they also have launch capability, they're likely to be the only company theoretically capable of competing with SpaceX. However, between Boeing and SpaceX, only one of the two companies has 'affordability' in their vocabulary. At best, Boeing will stave off antitrust complaints about SpaceX being able to undercut anyone else. From what I could find, SpaceX's swarm of >4,000 satellites will be far greater than what the competitors are planning, leading to higher max throughput, and ability to serve consumers via economies of scale. That said, SpaceX isn't really a broadband/satellite-making company, so they could screw up somewhere.
I might give them the benefit of the doubt, that what happened is comparable to what happens with science reporting. Interviewer makes executive summary of interview, with choice quotes. One of those quotes is misinterpreted by editor/producer/whoever. Misinterpretation turned into headline and made subject of an article, article handed down to junior writer who's not going to tell his boss 3 levels up that his English comprehension sucks. Misinformation makes it to press time, retraction happens a week later in size 4 print next to the 4 pages of ads.
Not sure where the notch hate is coming from. Instead of taking up pixels at the top of the display that could be used for anything, notification icons are now using a tiny amount of space that is unable to fit a full-width image anyway. Thus, putting the icons there means you have MORE vertical display space free for the main image. I'm way more miffed about getting rid of the home button and having to use gestures for all of its functions, in the name of killing the bezel; a 3d touch soft button at the bottom might've been better.
Pistachio icecream, really? Not Praline, or Pudding, or another P word that's a dessert by itself? You could tack 'icecream' onto any letter. Also, there was already a Froyo and an Ice Cream Sandwich.
How strong is it versus its weight? I skimmed TFA but didn't find a mention of that. This page suggests oak, at 3x normal density, would have comparable density to aluminum. If this material is as strong as steel but as light as aluminum, that could have actual applications. I'd wonder about flammability and rotting, though. Skyscrapers or spaceships made out of wood would be pretty funny, though.
I'm actually impressed that they're evaluating individual systems and mechanics, rather than doing a blanket ban, which would be easier but catch relatively-moral implementations (e.g. loot boxes that can only be purchased with ingame currency.) Hopefully they'll extend the restrictions to other Gacha and 'blind box' systems in games and for physical items as well. Blind boxes sold in stores tend to have their contents opened/stolen by children more than other toys. It's marketed as a 'surprise' which is ostensibly beneficial, but in practice it becomes anxiety that you'll have wasted your money on a duplicate; having different rarities on different items in a set makes it clear which of the two is the actual intent. Gacha is psychological manipulation for profit. The Monopoly game that McDonalds does is the same thing.
It seems to me that Switch owners either use it predominantly as a handheld or as a portable, few actually 'switch' it up that much. Some people hate tiny screens, others hate cramped controls, others hate sitting in one spot or gaming at home. An unusually powerful handheld that gets all of Nintendo's AAA games means I only have to buy 1 Nintendo device each generation, instead of two, to get all the stuff I want.
Technically, you can already download the ROMs, if you know where to look (some games technically come on NAND chips though). The Wii, Wii U and 3ds all had homebrew apps that let you download from a list of other homebrew apps. AFAIK noone bothered making an app that would download pirated stuff, since wherever it links to would be shut down right away.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a silicon-based lifeform, you insensitive clod!
Translation: We know we're breaking the law, but want proof that we're being singled out for enforcement due to political reasons.
I frown on selective enforcement in general, but in this case it's a law that shouldn't be violated by anyone.
I predict that a few years from now, web browsers will have crytocurrency handling as a built-in feature. There will be wallets for various cryptocurrencies, and a mechanism for this to interact with websites, with a browser-controlled UI controlling this. The browser will also have a 'mining mode' that users can toggle (or set to activate automatically when idle) which slowly fills up their wallet of choice. Go to a news website or whatever, and they ask for a microtransaction in whatever denomination, it comes from your wallet (if you accept the UI prompt). You can configure in the browser that site X can deduct amounts of up to Y per page, with a notification each time this happens. This'll be HUGE for porn sites, particularly with cryptocurrencies where encrypted blockchains are used.
Wallet empty and you need some cryptocoins NOW? Handy link to a broker site with a referrer fee to the browser maker. The 'mining mode' will utilize your GPU or whatever, if available. You can configure it to only use up to X% of your CPU/GPU. Of course, the preferred cryptocoins will be those with fast transaction times and low fees, being mine-able might help, and encrypted blockchain will be preferable for some sites.
Also if you use Firefox, turn first-party cookie isolation on (about:config->privacy.firstparty.isolate)
I've noticed no problems on any of the sites I use.
If they live long enough, it wouldn't really be a 'generation ship'. If they were effectively immortal, the "everyone I love will be old/dead when I get back" angst wouldn't exist.
I imagine the 'Alien ambassador is killed due to misunderstanding' trope will be well-worn in the fiction/parables/diplomacy literature of an intelligent alien species. I imagine they'll be understanding rather than immediately switch to "kill all humans!!"
Chances are especially high that they'd communicate via drone, since a) they can engineer it to look like our drones, so it wouldn't look so disconcerting
b) they can do so without putting the messenger at risk, and
c) they could observe us without giving us any useful data about their biology, if we were hostile and wanted to develop say bio-weapons that targeted their race, or figure out their physical weaknesses
Any aliens capable of interstellar flight would have food production and labor automation solved long ago. They could perhaps enslave other races out of hubris rather than deriving any benefit, but they'd be too busy fighting and enslaving their own factions to ever reach us. Enslaving us would be as impressive as us enslaving a clowder of cats.
Good thing I don't eat the stomachs of fish. Now if their meat were contaminated with microplastics, then I might worry about it accumulating in my body. Some quick research suggests that microplastics bioaccumulate, as implied by the summary. What really irks me is that 'farm-raised' fish, which should theoretically be free of bioaccumulation problems present in the wild, are fed cut-up wild-caught fish, so the pollutants get fed to them anyway. Where's my grass-fed Kobe fish?!
This is the dumbest thing I've ev
--Sent from my iPhone
I was unsure of the exact size, but that's still tiny compared to the size of the entire STS.
A tiny elastomer o-ring being too cold can make a rocket booster explode. We'll never get into Space.
Apology accepted
This for some reason reminds me of the suspected connection between suicide bombers and polygyny. I wonder if here, there's a connection between mass shootings and some perceived reduced availability of women. Aside from the NIU shooter, I can't recall any that had girlfriends at the time; and it always seems to be a guy who does this.
Like nukes, they only get to do this once. Then they lose all credibility and may as well have never used them.
Seems Boeing is also making a swarm of LEO broadband satellites. Given they also have launch capability, they're likely to be the only company theoretically capable of competing with SpaceX. However, between Boeing and SpaceX, only one of the two companies has 'affordability' in their vocabulary. At best, Boeing will stave off antitrust complaints about SpaceX being able to undercut anyone else. From what I could find, SpaceX's swarm of >4,000 satellites will be far greater than what the competitors are planning, leading to higher max throughput, and ability to serve consumers via economies of scale. That said, SpaceX isn't really a broadband/satellite-making company, so they could screw up somewhere.
Furthermore, have you ever been near a paper factory? It stinks up half the town.
I might give them the benefit of the doubt, that what happened is comparable to what happens with science reporting. Interviewer makes executive summary of interview, with choice quotes. One of those quotes is misinterpreted by editor/producer/whoever. Misinterpretation turned into headline and made subject of an article, article handed down to junior writer who's not going to tell his boss 3 levels up that his English comprehension sucks. Misinformation makes it to press time, retraction happens a week later in size 4 print next to the 4 pages of ads.
Android Overhaul Will Embrace iPhone's 'Notch'
Can you point at where on the phone-shaped doll that the Android touched you?
Seriously, wording...
Not sure where the notch hate is coming from. Instead of taking up pixels at the top of the display that could be used for anything, notification icons are now using a tiny amount of space that is unable to fit a full-width image anyway. Thus, putting the icons there means you have MORE vertical display space free for the main image. I'm way more miffed about getting rid of the home button and having to use gestures for all of its functions, in the name of killing the bezel; a 3d touch soft button at the bottom might've been better.
Pistachio icecream, really? Not Praline, or Pudding, or another P word that's a dessert by itself? You could tack 'icecream' onto any letter. Also, there was already a Froyo and an Ice Cream Sandwich.
How strong is it versus its weight? I skimmed TFA but didn't find a mention of that. This page suggests oak, at 3x normal density, would have comparable density to aluminum. If this material is as strong as steel but as light as aluminum, that could have actual applications. I'd wonder about flammability and rotting, though. Skyscrapers or spaceships made out of wood would be pretty funny, though.
The hackers were trying to get early access to an Initial Coin Offering, but ended up in a different ICO instead.
I'm actually impressed that they're evaluating individual systems and mechanics, rather than doing a blanket ban, which would be easier but catch relatively-moral implementations (e.g. loot boxes that can only be purchased with ingame currency.)
Hopefully they'll extend the restrictions to other Gacha and 'blind box' systems in games and for physical items as well. Blind boxes sold in stores tend to have their contents opened/stolen by children more than other toys. It's marketed as a 'surprise' which is ostensibly beneficial, but in practice it becomes anxiety that you'll have wasted your money on a duplicate; having different rarities on different items in a set makes it clear which of the two is the actual intent. Gacha is psychological manipulation for profit. The Monopoly game that McDonalds does is the same thing.
X runs on Linux, not the other way around.
It seems to me that Switch owners either use it predominantly as a handheld or as a portable, few actually 'switch' it up that much. Some people hate tiny screens, others hate cramped controls, others hate sitting in one spot or gaming at home. An unusually powerful handheld that gets all of Nintendo's AAA games means I only have to buy 1 Nintendo device each generation, instead of two, to get all the stuff I want.
Technically, you can already download the ROMs, if you know where to look (some games technically come on NAND chips though). The Wii, Wii U and 3ds all had homebrew apps that let you download from a list of other homebrew apps. AFAIK noone bothered making an app that would download pirated stuff, since wherever it links to would be shut down right away.