First you construe my argument wrong by implying that I said that human society does not employ specialization. I said no such thing. I said that I do not always trust the specialist to be right. Secondly, you go on to call me a "recently unthawed cave man and moron" - which frankly is adding very little to the debate. You are clearly one of those people who resort to attacking the person when you can't refute the argument.
My point was that majority consensus is not necessarily the truth and by using your style of debate (shouting down and denigrating anyone who opposed your particular point of view), you are making people feel that there is something "fishy". If the science was so convincing it could stand by itself, there would be no reason to doubt it or name call opponents. Evolution is convincing to me (I can see it and understand it). Climate change is convincing to me - it has been happening for millenia and will continue to happen - humans influence it of course - but what precise impact humans have on it, that is still not settled.
You can go back a few years and take another look at the "inconvenient truth". In that film (and also in the "majority climatologist consensus" at that time), we had some dire predictions about millions of climate refugees swarming to higher lying countries by 2010. The models "clearly showed" that many island countries would be under water by today. So, the models were clearly wrong, based on simple observation. This basic fact has effectively tarnished all climatologist with an alarmist brush and people start querying all the predictions (and how can you possibly find anything wrong with that?). If you cry wolf, you pay the price.
What needs to happen in the climate change debate is that the climatologist (and their supporters) needs to calm down, stop the name calling and learn to communicate the science and data in such a way that it can be understood and verified by anyone with an interest in the field. Giving people a bunch of raw data and the source of the program used to crunch over it is not that difficult - nor is publishing how any normalization of that data was done. Taking this open source approach would massively increase the credibility of those scientists. Taking the approach that "I know better and you are a moron condemning our children to die under 30 feet of water", is about as scientific as you making the assumption that I am a recently "unthawed" cave man (it is "thawed" BTW - if I was unthawed I'd still be frozen - just saying...).
Sorry, but that is not human society as I know it. That is much more human society as "big brother" would like it.
When I need my car fixed, I go to a mechanic. I don't understand everything he does, but if most mechanics agree I need an oil change, then I'll trust them.
If you blindly trust your mechanic to do the right thing, then you are in for a very large bill. Mechanics can easily detect when someone doesn't understand what they are dealing with and will happily sell you a "headlight fluid change". It's been done. Trust me!
When I need a home to live in, I go to an architect. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that my home will stay standing, then I'll trust them.
When I had an architect design my house, I disagreed with much of what he had done. The house may well have stood, but some areas were not practical to live in and I had several rooms changed, even to the point of having the way doors opened changed.
When I need to cross a river, I go to a civil engineer. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that the bridge is safe, then I'll trust them.
I'm mostly with you on this one. However, if I step onto a bridge and it feels unsafe and creaky under my feet, then I will go back - no matter what some "dude in a hard-hat" tells me. Engineers are not infalible. Remember the Maccabiah bridge collapse?
When I feel sick, I go to a doctor. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that a certain medicine will help, then I'll trust them.
Tell that to the thalidomide children... (OK - that was a low-blow - but you get the point)..
When I am hungry, I go to a chef. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that something is edible and nutritious, then I'll trust them.
Yes, McDonalds markets themselves as a restaurant and certainly have gone out of their way to say their food is edible and nutritious. Not wanting to be sued into oblivion, I just want you to draw your own conclusions from that statement.
When I need to go online, I go to electrical engineers and programmers. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that my computer and OS and browser aren't stealing my passwords, then I'll trust them.
Hmmm - had any ID fraud lately? Listened to and paid the guy (with a credit card) who calls you from "Security Maintenance International", who has detected that your computer is infected with a virus and for a small fee will help you remove it over the phone?
When I want to know what is happening with the climate, I go to a climatologist. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that human release of CO2 is altering the climate, then I call them a bunch of damned liars and frauds and demand they make it all easy enough for me to understand!
It's a blatant double standard, and it only applies to fields that Republicans don't like, such as climatology and evolution.
And see, this is where things fall apart. People are opportunists. Most climatologist have read the same textbook, been taught by the same teachers and compete for the same grants to survive. They are not infalible or more trustworthy than doctors, mechanics, engineers or anyone else. "Peer reviewed" is not a substitute for good science, sometimes it just means they've all attended the same conference. I once had a teacher who told me that if you could not explain a complex concept in laymen's terms so that anyone with an average IQ could understand it - then you had most likely failed to fully understand it yourself.
And telling everyone that disagrees with you that they must be a Republican or a Creationist is just plain silly. It is just like me saying you must be some 20 year old with no life experience and an authority figure submission complex. Please keep the debate on
In my humble opinion, your comment is actually the key cause why so many people are sceptical about the science. When somebody trumpets and shouts to the high heaven that they are right and everyone who questions any detail is a "denier", you have most people's BS sensor move to high alert. Especially when in the same breaths we are told that it is also too complicated for non-climate-scientists to understand, so we must just accept the "consensus" on pure faith.
This week, an Australian scientist published a peer-reviewed article based on actual water level measurements, that showed that water level rises are slowing and that based on an extrapolation of the observed data (not models), the most likely water level rise in Australian waters over the next century is 15cm. That is a far cry from the doom and gloom spouted by most climate advocates (like Al Gore - who most certainly isn't a scientist).
Personally, as a scientist and engineer, I am convinced that we are encountering climate change. To what extend that is man-made and to what extend it is natural is still not in any way shape or form a "consensus" to me. As an engineer, I believe climate models is a poor substitute for emperical data and based on how well scientists in other disciplines manage to model complex systems (think economists) - I think the jury is still very much out on what our climate will look like 100 years from now.
The way I see it, is that the military doesn't need that capability themselves. They just need to know where to buy it.
From a military perspective, cyber-warfare is restricted to figuring out where an attack is coming from and then hitting the source location with a predator drone - collateral damage be damned!! Now that would be true cyber war!! Just think how many hackers would be able to concentrate on the job at hand after a few of their colleagues have become carbon polution or the proxies the have hopped through suddenly vaporized (literally).
And if the military needs to pay a civilian expert to reach that goal, they will - and they won't care if the individual in question has served time for hacking or is a known white hat.
Now, other government agencies who doesn't have the ability do drop a misile through the chimney of those annoying hackers, that is a completely different story... Spy agencies definetely needs a cyber-warfare team - and maybe a really nice bunker for them too;)
Don't count on it. The Danish courts are not in the pockets of big business the way the US courts are (mainly because judges are appointed for life and don't have to please their political masters to get re-elected). WikiLeaks have picked an interesting jurisdiction for this battle. I for one am going to get some pop-corn and enjoy the show.
Actually, Dane-geld comes from the Viking age.
A good example is that the French king paid the Danes to stop destroying Paris. So they took the money and left, only to come back later and ask for more money. So yes - paying Dane-geld does not get rid of the Dane...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danegeld
"Kino.to hosted no illicit content itself, but indexed material stored on file-hosters and other streaming services."
Copying and pasting the first paragraphn is 1) misleading 2) an extremely poor way to do a SUMMARY. This is what is missing "GVU states that Kino.to was working closely with the sites that hosted the copyrighted films, and that they profited from commercial partnerships with these companies."
So it was not a SIMPLE linking as the first paragraph make seem to believe.
Even still, why not go after those sites that hosted the films instead?
Because in Russia films host you...
No seriously - it is obvious that those sites are in "uncooperative" jurisdictions. So they go for the closer target to get some press. Kino.ru/so/ir/kp will likely be available any day now.
Given the present state of NASA and lack of vision within the US government about the space program, China may well get there first. Their space program is rapidly expanding and their thirst for energy is almost insatiable. I can easily see them pursuing this goal and reap the rewards well before the US gets its act together. If TFA is realistic, this could be a major game changer in terms of who holds economic power on a world scale.
Most cyber-crime these days is perpetrated by paid professionals and in some cases backed by very wealthy crime syndicates and even protected by corrupt government officials (I'm not going to name anyone here, but since this is mostly Russian/former east block in origin, I'm sure the average Slashdotter can figure it out). The idea of the lone hacker sitting in his bedroom doing evil is just stupid. Phishing, ID scams, ATM skimmer production etc., are all well funded and highly professional activities. So who is surprised that they trade online? When was the last time you heard about any major conviction in a Russian jurisdiction? To them it is just business, so of course they transact on the internet too...
This move is showing the significant level of desperation within the Egyptian government. The desire to completely control information by only giving citizens TV, radio and "old" media is futile. Word travels fast in comunities that are under siege and all this will do is feed the rumour mills to a point where the slightest spark can create a wild-fire.
There is clearly a generational shift happening in the Arab world. The "old style" corrupt dictators, supported in large by a religious elite that is composed predominantly of old power-hungry zealots are facing the new (formerly) silent majority of a youth that is increasingly well educated, informed of world events and sceptical of the relgious indoctrination they are being subjected to. It was only ever a matter of time before the new generations in Tunesia, Lebanon, Iran etc., reached the tipping point where comformism is turned to resistance. And since most soldiers and police in those countries also belong to the younger generation, they are likely to also join in rather than turn their weapons on their friends and family.
As a side remark: If only this means that a change in Egypt's government also gets rid of that annoying Zahi Hawass who always want to get his face into every darn documentary on Egypt, then I'll think the uprising was a HUGE success.
While our employees live in different regions of the world, and work to produce a variety of goods and services, they have several important things in common - they work hard for a pitance, sometimes kill themselves in despair and they welcome competition for their labor as that might just pay them another $1 per month.
Software and business methods should not be patentable - if for no other reason that most software patents are written by lawyers and therefore incomprehensible. Time and time again we are required in software contracts to warrant that we do not infringe on third party rights including patents. It is an impossible warranty to give as it is impossible to know if you do. There are so many software patents granted in so many esoteric minute little areas that for any remotely complex software you could spend a lifetime searching and trying to figure out if you did infringe on someone's patent. And the odds are very high that somehow you do. So you sign the contract knowing full well that you most likely are in breach, but the odds of you getting sued are sufficiently low to take the risk. How software and business method patents could possibly encourage innovation is beyond me.
So, the school introduces this and the headline is: Students may be able to circumvent it using gummy bears. Boo hoo!! As if any other measure may not be circumvented. A simple supervision or CCTV of the scanner would detect any circumvention attempt.
I'll be more impressed when they have an article that says: Kids circumvented fingerprint scanners at school using gummy bears.
Kids should be in school. Period. Our present breed are just as crafty as we used to be back in the day in trying to avoid the system. That is how you create innovative kids in the first place. Those kids who defeats this totalitarian system and gets away with it - well - they deserve the day off:)
As a very frequent traveller all over the world, I can not agree more with the BA boss. The whole US imposed security mess is inconsitent, abusive and humiliating.
I normally get around it by being docile and act like the sheep I'm supposed to be - but when something goes wrong all hell breaks lose. My story is about being "picked out" for an additional check (the infamous SSSS boarding pass). The TSA officer at Raleigh NC airport picked me out in the line before the x-ray scan and told me to step aside for a pat-down. I told him I'd accidentially left my boarding pass on the x-ray belt and just wanted to grab it before it got sucked into oblivion. That resulted in a "SIR, YOU ARE DISREGARDING MY INSTRUCTIONS - STEP THIS WAY OR I WILL ARREST YOU!!!".
What a great way to treat people - especially those from foreign countries who are the greatest US supporters in the war on terrorism (in my case Australia). TSA officers (of all people) should understand that sometimes the people in the security line are jet-lagged, tired and not completely focussed. Especially after an 18 hour transit.
Maybe I should also mention the insitence from US immigration on finger-printing my 18 month old child in 2004. Thankfully they have since given up on that stupid idea.
To all my US friends: Try travelling to New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium or any other country with a sensible democratic government and reasonable security and immigration checks. You will be surprised at the way that you are treated like a human and not a terrorist by default.
You could just use a stock Android phone and it's built in VPN capability to talk to an in-house Exchange compatible server that is only available via VPN. Would resolve your "we can't do it in the cloud for security and ethics reasons" issue and keep your people mobile at the same time. There are many other sync capabilities available as mentioned by other posters, but the VPN approach would certainly make any of those solutions more useful and practical.
Most of the children's websites have "premium features" that you can only get to if you buy that virtual fluffy penguin or gold coin. This is just the nag factor at play. I have lost count of the number of times my kids have gone to sites like "Moshi Monster" or "Ella and Max" and found they could only play so far before they need to ask mum or dad for money to go further. If you as a parent can't face the tantrum that goes with the little darlings not being able to play the next level - then your only option is to pay up. Thankfully I can say no, but there are a lot of spoilt brats out there, so there is a market... With market comes cross-promotion opportunities, so tracking enhances the ability to profit. Simple really.
Hopefully Righthaven finds more politicians to sue. Lots more. Then maybe - just maybe - will we get some consumer friendly copyright laws. In this case it would appear that Sharron Angle is indeed guilty of willful infringement, but if more politicians get hurt in their own pocket by copyright suits then the chance of them creating laws that states that damages must fit the crime may actually come into effect. That would kill the business model behind the *IAA cartel suits.
Try the Leapster system. My 2 year old figured out the Dora game on that pretty quickly. Needed some help to get started initially, but great for learning numbers and letters before the age of 3 and it can handle the rough treatment from a little one.
I don't know what is more financially untrustworthy: Developers having emergency access to production or "creative accountants" having access to production. At least developers are generally trying to do the right thing and are normally peer supervised in that situation. I don't think it was rogue developers that was the cause behind Sarbannes Oxley becoming such a big money spinner for the "very big public accounting firms". Actually, from memory, wasn't it the failure of the "very big public accounting firms" and the way they audited that caused some major financial colapses in the US? I'm mentioning this because the "holier than thou" attitude of many auditors is more often than not just an excuse to charge more money and can be very grating at times.
As a "Fire-fighter" who gets called in when very big critical systems go "BOOM", I can assure you that in some situations direct production access is inevitable. If a system down is costing $1,000,000 per hour and the fix is a one-line code change - guess who will be doing it and how fast that change goes through (often under the direct instruction and supervision of the company CEO)?
Real life is not always so simple that it can be stuck into a Sarbannes Oxley manual. Sometimes commercial reality just takes over.
I have created a connection with the company sales force. Whenever I introduce a new product feature, I invite one of the sales people to try it out - and I watch them like a hawk (but without commenting). Sales people are generally one step DOWN from real users, so if you can make it work for sales people, you are in a pretty good state. Sales people also have a real hunger for new things they can use to sell, so they are eager to get involved.
This approach removes much of the detail testing - all you need is to make sure you can actually demo what you have done successfully, then let the sales team pull it apart.
A connection with the sales force is also useful on another level. I often go along on pre-sales calls and listen to the customer's comments and watch the sales people demo our products. It gives me loads and loads of input and ideas for how to improve our UIs and workflow. Off topic I know, but something I highly recommend.
You have got to wonder why the Pentagon is involved. I "get" the obvious benefit to soldiers maimed in battle, but I'm cynical enough to think there must be a deeper desire to create "super-soldiers". Soldiers with artifical limbs that are more powerful and protective than human tissue obviously is. Soldiers who can fire a weapon just by thinking about it. Someone at the Pentagon may have watched "Robo-cop" one too many times. Lets hope they keep this medical - the alternative is just a little too frightening in my opinion.
Well - at least in Australia that part is enshrined in law. The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commision) ruled that region codes are anti-competitive and therefore it is legal to bypass them. Consequently you can almost always obtain (legally) region code unlock codes in Australia. +1 for common sense!!
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First you construe my argument wrong by implying that I said that human society does not employ specialization. I said no such thing. I said that I do not always trust the specialist to be right. Secondly, you go on to call me a "recently unthawed cave man and moron" - which frankly is adding very little to the debate. You are clearly one of those people who resort to attacking the person when you can't refute the argument.
My point was that majority consensus is not necessarily the truth and by using your style of debate (shouting down and denigrating anyone who opposed your particular point of view), you are making people feel that there is something "fishy". If the science was so convincing it could stand by itself, there would be no reason to doubt it or name call opponents. Evolution is convincing to me (I can see it and understand it). Climate change is convincing to me - it has been happening for millenia and will continue to happen - humans influence it of course - but what precise impact humans have on it, that is still not settled.
You can go back a few years and take another look at the "inconvenient truth". In that film (and also in the "majority climatologist consensus" at that time), we had some dire predictions about millions of climate refugees swarming to higher lying countries by 2010. The models "clearly showed" that many island countries would be under water by today. So, the models were clearly wrong, based on simple observation. This basic fact has effectively tarnished all climatologist with an alarmist brush and people start querying all the predictions (and how can you possibly find anything wrong with that?). If you cry wolf, you pay the price.
What needs to happen in the climate change debate is that the climatologist (and their supporters) needs to calm down, stop the name calling and learn to communicate the science and data in such a way that it can be understood and verified by anyone with an interest in the field. Giving people a bunch of raw data and the source of the program used to crunch over it is not that difficult - nor is publishing how any normalization of that data was done. Taking this open source approach would massively increase the credibility of those scientists. Taking the approach that "I know better and you are a moron condemning our children to die under 30 feet of water", is about as scientific as you making the assumption that I am a recently "unthawed" cave man (it is "thawed" BTW - if I was unthawed I'd still be frozen - just saying...).
When I need my car fixed, I go to a mechanic. I don't understand everything he does, but if most mechanics agree I need an oil change, then I'll trust them.
If you blindly trust your mechanic to do the right thing, then you are in for a very large bill. Mechanics can easily detect when someone doesn't understand what they are dealing with and will happily sell you a "headlight fluid change". It's been done. Trust me!
When I need a home to live in, I go to an architect. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that my home will stay standing, then I'll trust them.
When I had an architect design my house, I disagreed with much of what he had done. The house may well have stood, but some areas were not practical to live in and I had several rooms changed, even to the point of having the way doors opened changed.
When I need to cross a river, I go to a civil engineer. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that the bridge is safe, then I'll trust them.
I'm mostly with you on this one. However, if I step onto a bridge and it feels unsafe and creaky under my feet, then I will go back - no matter what some "dude in a hard-hat" tells me. Engineers are not infalible. Remember the Maccabiah bridge collapse?
When I feel sick, I go to a doctor. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that a certain medicine will help, then I'll trust them.
Tell that to the thalidomide children... (OK - that was a low-blow - but you get the point)..
When I am hungry, I go to a chef. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that something is edible and nutritious, then I'll trust them.
Yes, McDonalds markets themselves as a restaurant and certainly have gone out of their way to say their food is edible and nutritious. Not wanting to be sued into oblivion, I just want you to draw your own conclusions from that statement.
When I need to go online, I go to electrical engineers and programmers. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that my computer and OS and browser aren't stealing my passwords, then I'll trust them.
Hmmm - had any ID fraud lately? Listened to and paid the guy (with a credit card) who calls you from "Security Maintenance International", who has detected that your computer is infected with a virus and for a small fee will help you remove it over the phone?
When I want to know what is happening with the climate, I go to a climatologist. I don't understand everything they do, but if most agree that human release of CO2 is altering the climate, then I call them a bunch of damned liars and frauds and demand they make it all easy enough for me to understand!
It's a blatant double standard, and it only applies to fields that Republicans don't like, such as climatology and evolution.
And see, this is where things fall apart. People are opportunists. Most climatologist have read the same textbook, been taught by the same teachers and compete for the same grants to survive. They are not infalible or more trustworthy than doctors, mechanics, engineers or anyone else. "Peer reviewed" is not a substitute for good science, sometimes it just means they've all attended the same conference. I once had a teacher who told me that if you could not explain a complex concept in laymen's terms so that anyone with an average IQ could understand it - then you had most likely failed to fully understand it yourself. And telling everyone that disagrees with you that they must be a Republican or a Creationist is just plain silly. It is just like me saying you must be some 20 year old with no life experience and an authority figure submission complex. Please keep the debate on
This week, an Australian scientist published a peer-reviewed article based on actual water level measurements, that showed that water level rises are slowing and that based on an extrapolation of the observed data (not models), the most likely water level rise in Australian waters over the next century is 15cm. That is a far cry from the doom and gloom spouted by most climate advocates (like Al Gore - who most certainly isn't a scientist).
Personally, as a scientist and engineer, I am convinced that we are encountering climate change. To what extend that is man-made and to what extend it is natural is still not in any way shape or form a "consensus" to me. As an engineer, I believe climate models is a poor substitute for emperical data and based on how well scientists in other disciplines manage to model complex systems (think economists) - I think the jury is still very much out on what our climate will look like 100 years from now.
From a military perspective, cyber-warfare is restricted to figuring out where an attack is coming from and then hitting the source location with a predator drone - collateral damage be damned!! Now that would be true cyber war!! Just think how many hackers would be able to concentrate on the job at hand after a few of their colleagues have become carbon polution or the proxies the have hopped through suddenly vaporized (literally).
And if the military needs to pay a civilian expert to reach that goal, they will - and they won't care if the individual in question has served time for hacking or is a known white hat.
Now, other government agencies who doesn't have the ability do drop a misile through the chimney of those annoying hackers, that is a completely different story... Spy agencies definetely needs a cyber-warfare team - and maybe a really nice bunker for them too ;)
Don't count on it. The Danish courts are not in the pockets of big business the way the US courts are (mainly because judges are appointed for life and don't have to please their political masters to get re-elected). WikiLeaks have picked an interesting jurisdiction for this battle. I for one am going to get some pop-corn and enjoy the show.
Actually, Dane-geld comes from the Viking age. A good example is that the French king paid the Danes to stop destroying Paris. So they took the money and left, only to come back later and ask for more money. So yes - paying Dane-geld does not get rid of the Dane... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danegeld
"Kino.to hosted no illicit content itself, but indexed material stored on file-hosters and other streaming services." Copying and pasting the first paragraphn is 1) misleading 2) an extremely poor way to do a SUMMARY. This is what is missing "GVU states that Kino.to was working closely with the sites that hosted the copyrighted films, and that they profited from commercial partnerships with these companies." So it was not a SIMPLE linking as the first paragraph make seem to believe.
Even still, why not go after those sites that hosted the films instead?
Because in Russia films host you... No seriously - it is obvious that those sites are in "uncooperative" jurisdictions. So they go for the closer target to get some press. Kino.ru/so/ir/kp will likely be available any day now.
Given the present state of NASA and lack of vision within the US government about the space program, China may well get there first. Their space program is rapidly expanding and their thirst for energy is almost insatiable. I can easily see them pursuing this goal and reap the rewards well before the US gets its act together. If TFA is realistic, this could be a major game changer in terms of who holds economic power on a world scale.
Most cyber-crime these days is perpetrated by paid professionals and in some cases backed by very wealthy crime syndicates and even protected by corrupt government officials (I'm not going to name anyone here, but since this is mostly Russian/former east block in origin, I'm sure the average Slashdotter can figure it out). The idea of the lone hacker sitting in his bedroom doing evil is just stupid. Phishing, ID scams, ATM skimmer production etc., are all well funded and highly professional activities. So who is surprised that they trade online? When was the last time you heard about any major conviction in a Russian jurisdiction? To them it is just business, so of course they transact on the internet too...
There is clearly a generational shift happening in the Arab world. The "old style" corrupt dictators, supported in large by a religious elite that is composed predominantly of old power-hungry zealots are facing the new (formerly) silent majority of a youth that is increasingly well educated, informed of world events and sceptical of the relgious indoctrination they are being subjected to. It was only ever a matter of time before the new generations in Tunesia, Lebanon, Iran etc., reached the tipping point where comformism is turned to resistance. And since most soldiers and police in those countries also belong to the younger generation, they are likely to also join in rather than turn their weapons on their friends and family.
As a side remark: If only this means that a change in Egypt's government also gets rid of that annoying Zahi Hawass who always want to get his face into every darn documentary on Egypt, then I'll think the uprising was a HUGE success.
There - fixed that for you NIke...
Wikileaks would be hit with a copyright infringement notice of course - DUH!!
Software and business methods should not be patentable - if for no other reason that most software patents are written by lawyers and therefore incomprehensible. Time and time again we are required in software contracts to warrant that we do not infringe on third party rights including patents. It is an impossible warranty to give as it is impossible to know if you do. There are so many software patents granted in so many esoteric minute little areas that for any remotely complex software you could spend a lifetime searching and trying to figure out if you did infringe on someone's patent. And the odds are very high that somehow you do. So you sign the contract knowing full well that you most likely are in breach, but the odds of you getting sued are sufficiently low to take the risk. How software and business method patents could possibly encourage innovation is beyond me.
I'll be more impressed when they have an article that says: Kids circumvented fingerprint scanners at school using gummy bears.
Kids should be in school. Period. Our present breed are just as crafty as we used to be back in the day in trying to avoid the system. That is how you create innovative kids in the first place. Those kids who defeats this totalitarian system and gets away with it - well - they deserve the day off :)
As a very frequent traveller all over the world, I can not agree more with the BA boss. The whole US imposed security mess is inconsitent, abusive and humiliating. I normally get around it by being docile and act like the sheep I'm supposed to be - but when something goes wrong all hell breaks lose. My story is about being "picked out" for an additional check (the infamous SSSS boarding pass). The TSA officer at Raleigh NC airport picked me out in the line before the x-ray scan and told me to step aside for a pat-down. I told him I'd accidentially left my boarding pass on the x-ray belt and just wanted to grab it before it got sucked into oblivion. That resulted in a "SIR, YOU ARE DISREGARDING MY INSTRUCTIONS - STEP THIS WAY OR I WILL ARREST YOU!!!". What a great way to treat people - especially those from foreign countries who are the greatest US supporters in the war on terrorism (in my case Australia). TSA officers (of all people) should understand that sometimes the people in the security line are jet-lagged, tired and not completely focussed. Especially after an 18 hour transit. Maybe I should also mention the insitence from US immigration on finger-printing my 18 month old child in 2004. Thankfully they have since given up on that stupid idea. To all my US friends: Try travelling to New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium or any other country with a sensible democratic government and reasonable security and immigration checks. You will be surprised at the way that you are treated like a human and not a terrorist by default.
You could just use a stock Android phone and it's built in VPN capability to talk to an in-house Exchange compatible server that is only available via VPN. Would resolve your "we can't do it in the cloud for security and ethics reasons" issue and keep your people mobile at the same time. There are many other sync capabilities available as mentioned by other posters, but the VPN approach would certainly make any of those solutions more useful and practical.
Most of the children's websites have "premium features" that you can only get to if you buy that virtual fluffy penguin or gold coin. This is just the nag factor at play. I have lost count of the number of times my kids have gone to sites like "Moshi Monster" or "Ella and Max" and found they could only play so far before they need to ask mum or dad for money to go further. If you as a parent can't face the tantrum that goes with the little darlings not being able to play the next level - then your only option is to pay up. Thankfully I can say no, but there are a lot of spoilt brats out there, so there is a market... With market comes cross-promotion opportunities, so tracking enhances the ability to profit. Simple really.
Hopefully Righthaven finds more politicians to sue. Lots more. Then maybe - just maybe - will we get some consumer friendly copyright laws. In this case it would appear that Sharron Angle is indeed guilty of willful infringement, but if more politicians get hurt in their own pocket by copyright suits then the chance of them creating laws that states that damages must fit the crime may actually come into effect. That would kill the business model behind the *IAA cartel suits.
Try the Leapster system. My 2 year old figured out the Dora game on that pretty quickly. Needed some help to get started initially, but great for learning numbers and letters before the age of 3 and it can handle the rough treatment from a little one.
It is not nice when the government only uses the data it collects for "spin". Hopefully they are also able to use it for policy-making.... ;)
As a "Fire-fighter" who gets called in when very big critical systems go "BOOM", I can assure you that in some situations direct production access is inevitable. If a system down is costing $1,000,000 per hour and the fix is a one-line code change - guess who will be doing it and how fast that change goes through (often under the direct instruction and supervision of the company CEO)?
Real life is not always so simple that it can be stuck into a Sarbannes Oxley manual. Sometimes commercial reality just takes over.
I have created a connection with the company sales force. Whenever I introduce a new product feature, I invite one of the sales people to try it out - and I watch them like a hawk (but without commenting). Sales people are generally one step DOWN from real users, so if you can make it work for sales people, you are in a pretty good state. Sales people also have a real hunger for new things they can use to sell, so they are eager to get involved.
This approach removes much of the detail testing - all you need is to make sure you can actually demo what you have done successfully, then let the sales team pull it apart.
A connection with the sales force is also useful on another level. I often go along on pre-sales calls and listen to the customer's comments and watch the sales people demo our products. It gives me loads and loads of input and ideas for how to improve our UIs and workflow. Off topic I know, but something I highly recommend.
You have got to wonder why the Pentagon is involved. I "get" the obvious benefit to soldiers maimed in battle, but I'm cynical enough to think there must be a deeper desire to create "super-soldiers". Soldiers with artifical limbs that are more powerful and protective than human tissue obviously is. Soldiers who can fire a weapon just by thinking about it. Someone at the Pentagon may have watched "Robo-cop" one too many times. Lets hope they keep this medical - the alternative is just a little too frightening in my opinion.
I wish I had mod points. I would mod you right to the top!!!
Well - at least in Australia that part is enshrined in law. The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commision) ruled that region codes are anti-competitive and therefore it is legal to bypass them. Consequently you can almost always obtain (legally) region code unlock codes in Australia. +1 for common sense!!