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User: scorp1us

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  1. Dr Mario, Bejewleled Etc on US District Court: Game Elements In Tetris Clone Infringe Tetris Co.'s Copyright · · Score: 1

    Are all similar but do not violate the copyright. So there is some hope for similar, non-infringing games.

  2. Would it be considered spying if... on NSA Claims It Would Violate Americans' Privacy To Say How Many of Us It Spied On · · Score: 1

    I routed all communications through a closet at AT&T and only stored the source and destination IPs of all internet traffic, then tracked the source IP back to the domestic ISP's accounts, so that I can see every IP you spoke to, then did DNS lookups on them and used that to establish a dossier on each person's interests?

    Because that would be highly valuable information and would not require deep packet inspection. Depending on the sites you visit, it could indicate your lifestyle and interests, such as newegg.com, petsmart.com, bankofamerica.com, okcupid.com redtube.com, etc. They could learn a significant amount of information about you.

    About the only thing that would mess that up is if you use torrents, but that can be screened out as you would likely not routinely hit the same IPs, whereas websites are rather static, and updated via DNS.

  3. Re:Walled Gardens look quite nice on Six Arrested Over Japanese Android Porn Virus · · Score: 1

    I prefer to see it as I "outsourced" my due diligence to Steve Jobs et al.

    Without a review process, you have to open your phone to it before you know what it is going to do. Run just once, you could be totally exploited. I prefer some test phone in a lab do that for me.

  4. Walled Gardens look quite nice on Six Arrested Over Japanese Android Porn Virus · · Score: 0

    When the alternative is a field of manure.

  5. Re:Auxiliary Patent Office? on The "Defensive Patent License" an Open Defensive Patent Pool · · Score: 1

    1. Proves it
    2. Provisional patents are not patents. And you can get one with no details filed. you just pay the fee and give it a title. It only offers protection if yo u get a patent, and the patent will use the provisional file date. That's all it does. It gets you a date. It does nothing for disclosure.

  6. Auxiliary Patent Office? on The "Defensive Patent License" an Open Defensive Patent Pool · · Score: 1

    The problem with patents is that they cost a lot of money to obtain. It would make sense, that for defensive purposes, we establish an auxiliary office (or organization) where ideas can be publishes and searched as "prior art" without having to have the $10ks of dollars it takes to get a patent. Such a warehouse would accept contributions of ideas from everyone, at minimal (or no cost).

    I've been following and considering the idea of patents as "defensive" for some years and my verdict is it is a rubbish. Publication and being first is all it takes, and anyone shelling out money to obtain a patent intends to make money off of it. It was a challenge for me to finally identify it as spin, but seeing the industry melt down lately, there is no such thing in practice as a "defensive patent".

  7. Re:Virtual machines on Gamer Keeps Civilization II Game Going for 10 Years · · Score: 1

    Would you like to play a game of Chess?

  8. Virtual machines on Gamer Keeps Civilization II Game Going for 10 Years · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First, I thought this was about a continuously running game... And my fist thought was dang, I bet he wish he started it in a VM, because he could have kept moving it to new hardware, rateh than keeping that old Pentium IV around. But I guess there's a save-game feature.

  9. The purpose of the public school system on Classroom Clashes Over Science Education · · Score: 2

    Is to teach skills that make people able to participate in society. If you're going to be catching alligtor for a living, you don't need much education. However the trend is for increasingly complex jobs as computers fill-in the easy, repetitive parts.

    Then lets look at creationism. It posits a "because god made it this way" which provides a limit to understanding because we cannot possibly do what god has, because then we would be gods ourselves, and that's heresy. But call it "evolution" and "biology" and "chemistry" and we can teach these and they lead to skills and discoveries in genetics, medicine, disease therapy, etc.

    And that's why creationism has no place in schools. It does not teach a skill.

  10. If you dump al that light on crops, on Solar Geoengineering Could Lead To Whiter, Brighter Skies · · Score: 1

    Don't you dump the heat on it too, a la Bender in "Godfellas" which set the crops on fire, not to mention increased global warming because how you have a mirror instead of gasses trapping light in?

  11. Rotational media is dead: USB keys... on Next Generation Xbox and Playstation Consoles Will Have Optical Drives · · Score: 1

    Why are we still using rotational media? Why not use one those USB ports for a USB thumb drive? 47 GB is reailly available now and will be extremely cheap by the time these consoles are out.

  12. Re:New Orleans Anyone? on NC Planners May Be Barred From Using Speculative Sea Level Rise Predictions · · Score: 1

    It's a 10-fold margin of error. Every margin is 100%, times 10=1000%
    Even if you do factor out the .2, you's at best be 900%, but after 2std dev, it doesn't really matter. NASA requires 5-sigmas of agreement to "prove" a theory in physics. This is -4, not even close.

  13. Case and point... on NC Planners May Be Barred From Using Speculative Sea Level Rise Predictions · · Score: 0

    NASA predicts ice-free North Pole by end of summer 2012

    Which not only did not come to pass, but we're well within 1 standard deviation of the 1979-2000 average.

  14. New Orleans Anyone? on NC Planners May Be Barred From Using Speculative Sea Level Rise Predictions · · Score: 1

    If we can let the morons in New Orleans rebuild (which is already -8ft, save for the French Quarter) then we can surely let those who are still positive to build.

    On top of that NASA estimates "Sea-Level rise within the next 87 years projects within a range of 0.2 meters to 2 meters, " That's an error margin of 1,000% which in anyone's book is a WAG (wild-assed guess). I think the historical record is much less alarmist and is based on facts not guesses .

    The governement has a duty to the people to operate on facts, not superstition, religion, or WAGs.

  15. There Is no choice, only WebKit on The Future of Browser Choice · · Score: 1

    All mobile browsers, save for WP7, are WebKit.

    Posted from my N9, using webkit.

  16. Vapor Tablet on KDE Announces Partner Network · · Score: 3, Interesting

    January 29 The Spark Tablet was announced (later renamed to Vivaldi). Two months it was supposed to be on the market. Now, it's 2 months after that and it still isn't shipping...

    I want the tablet, but hell if I know when I'll be able to buy one.

  17. Outsourced is Risky on Ask Slashdot: Is Outsourcing Development a Good Idea? · · Score: 4, Informative

    On a professional note: I've been on a few teams where parts were outsourced, as we shook our heads in sadness at what got delivered. Now I lead the outsourced efforts, and things are much, much better.

    On a personal note: I routinely use elance.com for small project help.

    It's all in how you do it.
    1. Do not go for the lowest bidder. Go with subject matter/platform experts.
    2. Do not allow them to exercise any discretion. I mean do not leave any platform decisions to them. They will make decisions on what's best for THEM not YOU.
    3. Thoroughly review their work in a regular basis to prevent surprises. Yes, this means MORE work for SOMEONE at your office. But you won't have to pay X people for multiple years, just a few months.
    4. Don't outsource work that will take years bring them in house.
    5. Don't expect it to be cheaper or faster. But you can expect that more work will be done. If you did tip #1 correctly, you'll get it don better than you an do. And that alone is worth it.

  18. Beware of too many LEDs on Researchers Conquer "LED Droop" · · Score: 1
  19. Re:I call bulls*it on Biochemist Creates CO2-Eating Light That Runs On Algae · · Score: 1

    There's no energy left if you use it for light.
    Algae us used to convert organics to bio fuel. Any any bio-fuel scale operation would have no problem growing its own algae. So you'd be back at square 1 with excess algae and no place to put it.

  20. Re:I call bulls*it on Biochemist Creates CO2-Eating Light That Runs On Algae · · Score: 1

    Eh, that's not the worst part. Consider the following:
    Photosynthesis is 2% efficient.
    Solar cells are 20% efficient.
    Ergo, just use a solar cell.

    Then there's the problems of algae:
    Algae makes more algae. So now you have to service these things regularly (weekly), which is a wet and messy process. You've also got to feed it and water it (removing algae will inherently remove some of the water. Then what do you do with the algae? Feed it to people or burn it?

    Better to just get a solar cell that doesn't require servicing and works 10x better.

  21. As a N9 owner on Nokia Faces Class-Action Suit Over Windows Phone Deal · · Score: 3, Informative

    The rough edges of the N9 were minor. It came with real multitasking and copy/paste from the first version. It's a great phone, and despite its rough edges it would have worked out well. There are a few gaps though, not the least bit applications. Nokia makes up for th at by including support for many things right out of the box.

    The biggest flaw with the N9 was that the OS was NOT a major OS. The decision to move to WP7, while lamentable was sensible. However I wonder if at the rate of innovation if the N9 would have been where it needs to be today.

    The deal that was not struck that should have, was to get Samsung on board and using MeeGo. That would have brought enough attention to get MeeGo established in the mobile marketplace.

  22. Re:Straw Man Arguement on Last Bastion For Climate Dissenters Crumbling · · Score: 1

    So you admit that the climate is dominated by our largest solar collector, the oceans? With the specific heat of water, that's a huge capacitor. And a huge carbon sink.

    I do think we'll get nuclear back on track, as wind fails. Solar is too expensive. Teh Toshiba neighborhood reactor is the way to go. Distributed, safe, meltdown-free power.

  23. Re:Straw Man Arguement on Last Bastion For Climate Dissenters Crumbling · · Score: 1

    There is no "delay" water in the air absorbs energy the moment a photon from the sun strikes it.

    For your assertion to be true, the water vapor would have to fall faster than the speed of light. Based on my observation of clouds you are wrong.

    Also, there is 10x as much water vapor than there is CO2 (by volume), and given that
    water has a more absorption, you're immediately down to CO2 at most being 1/10 the forcing of water, at best.

    Clearly you are wrong.

  24. Re:Straw Man Arguement on Last Bastion For Climate Dissenters Crumbling · · Score: 0

    Bah, you miss-understand global warming entirely. Equilibrium can change. When the enthalpy moves higher, that's global warming, which would increase water vapor, which is one of the the positive feedbacks everyone fears.

  25. Straw Man Arguement on Last Bastion For Climate Dissenters Crumbling · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am a dissenter. I am however not paid by any coproration, and I would say I am "more educated and scientific than most" when it comes to the global warming debate.

    As far as I am concerned, the NYT article is constructing a straw man to tear it apart. As a dissenter, I *know* that water vapor is a green house gas and is a positive feedback on the system. In fact one of the reasons why I am a dissenter is because water vapor is so much more absorbing of the infre red spectrum than CO2. Yet we don't call on our industry to condense steam back into water rather than directly vent it to the atmosphere.

    Also the article describes this as the last bastion. The title is wholly undeserved because there are plenty of bastions still going on. The solar debate is still on, and stronger than ever since we're in a weak cycle and we have had no warming since 1998. In fact, Antarctica is still adding ice, and the Arctic has recovered to the 1979-2000 average and is currently within 1 standard deviation, which is impressive because just 3 years ago it hit it lowest point since being recorded.

    I could go on, but that's enough to refute the article.