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User: aaronb1138

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  1. Re:Hack fail. on How To Hack Twitter's Two-Factor Authentication · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately, most users still can't think to consider such a simple step. Most browsers now offer to cache login credentials. What the browsers should really do with the heuristics which detect a login prompt is add a warning that the credentials are being entered into a site without SSL or with a mismatched certificate. Certificate exceptions should of course be easy to store as they are now, after a one time prompt.

  2. Re:This thought crosses my mind a lot. on Rice Professor Predicts Humans Out of Work In 30 Years · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You realize that the direction AI and human interaction is moving, we're way closer to getting rid of programming as a career than weeding gardens or building houses with machines. We already have sufficient AI to hack together a reasonable program from a flow chart of requirements and operation. I bet Watson can bang out some nice C++ code, probably much better quality than most humans, just not at a rate that compensates for it's electrical cost.

    I made a nice post about it a few weeks back... the idea that the ultimate goal of computer science to to reach the so-called singularity at which point we have an AI capable of writing software and similar human tasks, thus putting the computer scientists and programmers out of work (at least all the ones who aren't at an intellectual capacity to move to some novel field of computation).

  3. Ah Programmers... on AI System Invents New Card Games (For Humans) · · Score: 4, Funny

    Programmers make me laugh hysterically sometimes. Seriously, when in the history of man has an entire portion of an industry been dedicated to the following two goals:
    1) Obsolescence of all current vocational knowledge in their field on 5-15 year scales.

    2) The ultimate goal of their work is the removal of their job position from the market (the singularity which can hack in C).

  4. Re:Computer hacking... on E-Sports League Stuffed Bitcoin Mining Code Inside Client Software · · Score: 1

    Computer trespass laws are pretty clear. It is very reasonable to say that any use of computing resources used for purposes other than the stated, defined purposes, is trespass and hacking, otherwise, hacking becomes undefinable.

    I'm not advocating for open source even, merely that software developers bear a legal responsibility that their code perform the job for which it was installed or purchased and that those jobs be clearly delineated.

    Inefficient is not the same either as long as the goals for which the end-user installed the software are being approached.

    The only grey area would be software which used generation of Bitcoin hashes or similar during an encryption handshake or some other silly method.

  5. Computer hacking... on E-Sports League Stuffed Bitcoin Mining Code Inside Client Software · · Score: 5, Informative

    I advocate the involved parties all be arrested and charged with relevant computer hacking charges. The software development community needs a clear message sent that such activities are federal crimes and will not be allowed. I don't understand why we are still tolerating a Wild Wild West attitude to computer crimes by corporations when the laws are on the books and quite clear.

    Also, trying to pass it off as merely an April fools joke is insulting as well. The closest part to a joke was the Office Space grade conversation about skimming from their own customer base.

  6. Re:We Wish on Ask Slashdot: What If We Don't Run Out of Oil? · · Score: 1

    Even the 1 joule to extract 1 joule argument is fallacious under many circumstances. There are plenty of situations where being able to compactly carry and refill a very large quantities of joules of energy is more favorable to human effort, time, and energy than the original extraction and refining costs.

    Efficiency alone is a poor argument if one ignores utility and the opportunity cost of human time.

  7. Re:i guess they are popular outside the USA on The Balkanization of Chatting · · Score: 1

    Also, most providers in the US like to tell you that you have unlimited SMS, unlimited data, and then ding you with per message charges for MMS.

    Frankly, I would love to see a provider go with 2 simple tiers: Unlimited Data (including calls, sms, and everything else they are providing via IPv6 networking). Purely Metered data at pennies or less per MB (for people who just keep a phone for emergencies).

  8. Routers.. simple. on DARPA Wants Huge Holy Grail of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks · · Score: 3, Insightful

    For the kind of bandwidth and performance they want, dedicated routers are needed. A pure ad-hoc setup won't work. The network can be self configuring in an ad-hoc like fashion, with routers acting as supernodes and preferably sending some control data for channel / geographic setup and configuration updates.

    Being that this is DARPA, they need to talk to their DOD peers who have solved logistics equations and simulations. You don't send 50+ troops into the field all at equal rank together. You have some sergeants and lieutenants to coordinate command and control. Same thing with a mesh building ad-hoc router. Heck, the math side should work out almost exactly the same for number of equipment tiers and number of equipment pieces at each tiers as for troops in the field.

  9. Re:Maybe our universe is a 'matter bubble' on Does Antimatter Fall Up? · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, there is no negative mass, and no FTL travel as a result. What you have if antimatter falls up is a change in reaction to a potential.

    The defining character of mass is not gravity, as that is merely a potential which exists when you have two or more massive objects or a massive object and a photon. The defining character of mass is momentum. As such, in order for antimatter to fall up, it must inherently have mass, but that mass reacts to the potential of gravity by being repelled.

    Sure, for many calculations, using a negative mass number will make the vector equations work out correctly for Newtonian dynamics and Galilean translations involving matter / antimatter gravitational interactions.

    Relativistic mass adjustments will need to use the E^2 - (pc)^2 = (mc^2)^2 equation or simply be redefined as the magnitude of mass (minor notational changes really).

  10. Re:Define "old" ... on Thousands of SCADA, ICS Devices Exposed Through Serial Ports · · Score: 1

    Perhaps not with "old," but "MBA" still will We'll call 50/50 odds on an exception applying to MBAs in IT/IS from major universities, though the community colleges teach that stuff better at the associates level.

  11. Libraries should take advantage as well on Aereo Ruling Could Impact Pandora · · Score: 1

    A library I used to frequent kept DVDs on the shelves for 3-day checkout. The selection was mostly landmark films, classics, and historic pieces. I wonder what the law would be if they instead loaned out via streaming (DVDs or Blu-Rays). Instead of a 2-3 day checkout window, they were digitally transported for up to 4 hours (automatically "checked in" when you exit the streaming system or finish the work).

    About 10 years back, there was a big uproar that libraries wanted to do similar with regular print books, that is, full conversion to a digital, searchable copy capable of being checked out online. With reference, rare, and similar non-loanable books this would be especially useful to them. The added bonus they saw was less wear and tear on the books along with being able to serve more of the public by reducing check-out windows or making it easier to check stuff in sooner. The IP holders killed the idea dead as quick as possible of course.

    The cheap shot the libraries should take now is the "thermonuclear green option". Move the conversation to how much greener it would be if people didn't have to drive their Excursions (much less a Prius) as frequently to the library. Add in all of the carbon footprint chatter about a/c and heating for people constantly coming and going. Then there is going back to the wear and tear. (though frankly I have never heard a good justification for why you ever need to pay for a damaged replacement of something bought under copyright if you a) own a copyright type license and b) the copyright content is the valuable portion)

    <trollface>IP holders, why you kill more trees???</trollface>

  12. Whitelist on Fake Academic Journals Are a Very Real Problem · · Score: 1

    Trying to keep up with fake or illegitimate journals sounds impossible with the potential rate they can expand. Instead create a curated whitelist of known reputable journals. Maybe to add new or obscure journals require a minimum number of votes before a review committee endorses the journal. A nice extra step would be an optional whitelisting committee and public rating of each journal as well as good summaries of focal areas.

    As for the genesis of such a committee, start with offers to join to department heads from all tier 1-4 university in the US and Europe (allow them to round-robin responsibility every n years within their department following their first "term"). Allow committee members to decide what subject areas in which they are involved (due mostly to STEM subject area and expertise overlap).

    While I would like the cryptanalyst's public key signing strategy, it's highly flawed. We don't know the credentials of the signers, and the potential signer pool is too unlikely to be filled with people we directly know and trust. Sure, with so many department heads, lots of unreliable data will be introduced, but it will only be noise at best (assuming it does not become a California textbook + Feynman type situation).

  13. Re:celebrate! on Increased Carbon Emissions Creating Giant Crabs · · Score: 1

    The thought of needing Channel-Locks or Vice-Grips to have Alaska King crab is making my mouth water just a bit.

  14. Re:seeing that it's 'quarter after five' is awesom on Ars Technica Goes Close Up With the Pebble Smartwatch · · Score: 0

    Ars has been bringing in new writers, most of whom are turning out to be low grade hacks ever since The Verge started taking chunks of marketshare. Doesn't help that post Apple / Samsung lawsuits, Apple has been getting a much more public backlash for being trendy arrogant bullshit and marketing. Ars' heavy pro-Apple slant is starting to cost them readership there too.

    Still, editorially out of touch with both technophiles and the public, they put out articles like this:
    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/i-was-an-ipad-skeptic/

    The Pebble article was put out by someone completely new, doesn't even have a writer's bio on the site yet.

    Then there is this new hack who is completely incomprehensible:
    http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/inside-science-selling-and-upsizing-the-meal/

  15. Where is the FCC in all of this? on DOJ Often Used Cell Tower Impersonating Devices Without Explicit Warrants · · Score: 1

    Presumably, I would hope regulators at the FCC would like to have a word with the prosecutors as well.

    Then again, I have this crazy belief that law enforcement officers who drive their cruisers 25+ over the speed limit with their lights off should be thrown in jail, like any other criminal.

  16. Years ago... on Ohio Judge Rules Speed Cameras Are a Scam · · Score: 1

    About 5-6 years ago I came up with a nice two step solution to the issue of traffic citations, especially getting rid of the revenue generation angle most police departments have.
    1) "Robin Hood" the citation money, similar to how Texas and other states redistribute education taxes to poorer districts. In this case, since most traffic violations are a matter of state law, collect all of the money centrally to the state and redistribute to each municipality based on a straight per capita basis. Automatically every small town trying to use that 2 mile stretch of freeway they think is their local replacement for normal taxation is done with.
    2) Require statewide referendums in order to change enforcement methods.

    Further, a camera is never a constitutionally permissible accuser, but others have already gone nicely into the constitutional and legal service requirements not met by current attempts at new revenue sources.

  17. Re:I worked at a DNA sequencing company for 5 year on The Next Revolution In Medicine: Genome Scans For Everyone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have generally considered biology so far behind the other hard sciences, especially physics, precisely because for a very long time they failed to consult with the chemists, physicists, and engineers. It has largely been self-induced, and almost entirely a process of falling behind. Heck we have some hacks out there in biology using morphological databases (today - with all the genetic tools they have!) to reverse engineer evolution, when the biologists are well aware that morphology is a good categorizing and search tool (it tells you where to start genetically looking), not an extrapolation tool for real data and conclusions.

    Physics in particular finally just started going the route of butting in wherever they figured out they could be useful to biologists and clinicians especially. CT and MRI are great examples.

    Rothberg's own 6 years of research to sequence 9000 letters of genetic code is a perfect example. After a year or so, a physicist or engineer would have said f--- this, there must be some way of automating this process. I suspect most of the scientists at Ion Torrent are chemists, EEs, and physicists. Probably not too many pure biologists (though some biophysicists are probably around).

  18. Re:android has more then 1 appstore IOS and window on Why Microsoft Office For iOS Will Likely Never See the Light of Day · · Score: 1

    When Apple realizes the market they managed to get consumers interested in is taking off in a new direction and decide to offer the full OSX experience on their tablets, then that would apply.

    For the moment though, they are keeping the platform too walled off to be as nimble as Windows 8 and Android are becoming.

  19. Re:android has more then 1 appstore IOS and window on Why Microsoft Office For iOS Will Likely Never See the Light of Day · · Score: 1

    Windows 8 already has 3 major apps stores that I can think of off the top of my head:
    1) MS App Store
    2) Steam
    3) Any website

    Also, the MS App Store lets you get Desktop Apps direct from the vendor. They don't even demand a cut of the action. The Windows 8 app ecosystem has everything going for it in spades better than iOS (easily) or even Android's openness.

    If you don't go with a Metro App from Microsoft's storefront, you can still use the style elements and as I recall you can still hook into WinRT. You just won't be able to sell on ARM based platforms or use some WinRT functionality (Live Tiles stick out off the top of my head).

  20. Re:Tech is so far behind... on Fight You Own Muscles To Create Force-Feedback On Smartphones · · Score: 1

    I'm not talking about ideas for which there is no current implementation. I'm talking speaking specifically about fusions of technology where both the idea and the parts to implement just sat on the shelf unexplored.

  21. Tech is so far behind... on Fight You Own Muscles To Create Force-Feedback On Smartphones · · Score: 2

    Seriously, why are we just now getting to implement technology ideas from movies and TV from the 80's. The technology (EMS / NMS) has been around in compact form factor for just as long too.

    Then again, I was working on touch screen based point of sale systems in the 90's and couldn't understand why nobody cared to consumerize the technology outside of specialty industrial niches. In all honesty though, part of the motivation was just to make head shots in Quake with my finger.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhk0US4i-I
    (poor quality, meh)

  22. Re:So? on Mars Rover Curiosity: Less Brainpower Than Apple's iPhone 5 · · Score: 1

    The iPod / iPhone has trouble surviving Earth gravity at distances around 1 meter (a missed pocket). I would give good odds on failure just being accelerated out of the troposphere on most launch vehicles.

  23. Re:Just goes to show. . .People are stupid on Mars Rover Curiosity: Less Brainpower Than Apple's iPhone 5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Indeed, I kept laughing at the MHz / GHz wars in the smartphone arena the last 18 months and couldn't help but nearly choke when I looked at solid integer / floating point performance and saw most of this wiz-bang 1 GHz Dual core stuff still getting stomped by stuff in the PII-450 / PIII-600 range (as I recall Atom started as more or less a process shrunk and trimmed down PIII with some of the Core series improvements and modularity grafted in).

    It's a little weird to consider how much I wish there was a popular Atom x86 based Android in the US. Seriously, running Android and doing ARM emulation, they still stomp the ARM stuff. I wish Intel marketing would have some of their late 90's spirit and push themselves into the US smartphone industry with slogans like, "faster than ARM... at running ARM." Mind you, I actually mostly hate Intel. Nothing to inspire hatred like their GPU driver mess on Windows and Linux.

    (From a year back) http://www.anandtech.com/show/5365/intels-medfield-atom-z2460-arrive-for-smartphones

  24. Re:Just goes to show. . . on Mars Rover Curiosity: Less Brainpower Than Apple's iPhone 5 · · Score: 1

    Really, if you think about it, I suspect NASA has a higher percentage of high grade to elite programmers than Apple. Consider the type of personality who is going to work full time at NASA. To even apply for a job there, you're already looking at the top 20% IQ range just because everyone knows the pay will generally suck, but the work could turn out very interesting. Second, you're going to get a lot more people with the "I just f---ing love science + space" mentality which gets you a lot more top grade applicants.

    Apple on the other hand has to wade through probably a 2000 to 1 crappy programmer to good programmer ratio due to pay + prestige. So, yeah, I would bet the Curiosity guys could have made it work just fine on a 486-DX and 500k lines of code (in assembly) but used 5M lines and something slightly newer off the shelf due to time and availability.

    Also, functionally it's a few evolutionary stages past a Roomba. Significant processing power is not needed for mass spectroscopy, snapping photos or even navigating terrain (not having GPS actually makes the math computationally easier).

  25. Re:False dichotomy: Jill Stein on finance reform on Barack Obama Retains US Presidency · · Score: 1

    Unelectable is still unelectable. It's tired and annoying to keep hearing the Libertarian, Green, and similar try to get votes when they know they generally lack well rounded candidates and certainly have none of the publicity needed to get elected.

    US citizens are children emotionally and have a strong need to vote for the "winning team." This will always mean a split 2 chance ballot for several more generations.

    There are two things the US public likes more than winning though, and they are schadenfreude and reciprocity. To that end, I offer a new ballot option, "No Confidence" which a simple majority would disqualify all candidates on the current ballot from running ever again and force a new election.

    We would need to start the actual election process in June, probably with monthly ballots, hopefully finished by November. Elections would definitely get more interesting, and the vast majority who feel like they have no say because they aren't party diehards involved in the caucus system might finally get a voice.