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User: Uninvited+Guest

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Comments · 213

  1. Since he went to the trouble of making a shirt on On the Significance of Google's New Cardboard (Video) · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't the design be in side-by-side 3D format?

  2. Re:Now how easy is it to remember? on Pentago Is a First-Player Win · · Score: 1

    Cue augmented reality app link

  3. Re:Why wasn't this already required...? on US Supreme Court: Patent Holders Must Prove Infringment · · Score: 1

    Except in patent cases, apparently. The SCOTUS is saying that the patent holder, whether defendant or plaintiff, always has the burden to prove that the other party infringes their patent(s).

  4. Re:Yawn.... on US Supreme Court: Patent Holders Must Prove Infringment · · Score: 4, Informative

    Correct. The long version: The plaintiff in a patent case is usually the patent-holder, who is seeking damages for infringement. In those cases, the patent-holder-plaintiff already had the burden of proof. In this case, the (potentially infringing) plaintiff is seeking protection from patent infringement lawsuits by suing the patent holder, requiring the (patent holder) defendant to prove that the patents are valid and/or that the plaintiff infringes the patents. Normally (and the appeals court found), the plaintiff would have the burden of proof. According to the appellate ruling, the plaintiff (potential infringer, seeking protection) would have to prove that they were not infringing, or prove that the patents were invalid. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the lower court ruling: The patent holder, whether plaintiff or defendant, must prove that the other party (plaintiff or defendant) infringed the patents, and that the patents are valid.

  5. Re:Steamboxen on Valve Announces Family Sharing On Steam, Can Include Friends · · Score: 1

    Ah, Steamboxen, like XBoxen.

  6. Re:Games are not played in the living room on Xbox One: No Always-Online Requirement, But Needs To Phone Home · · Score: 1

    Indeed, the Xbox One seems to be still based on taking turns, not sharing. If it's your turn to control the Xbox One in the living room, life is good, and world is your oyster. If it's someone else's turn to control the Xbox One, life is kind of boring and crappy.

  7. Re:a chemical explosion in a school bathroom is ok on Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the incident report, "Mr. Durham advised Kiera told him she was conducting a science fair experiment... Wilmot advised she did not know what would happen when she mixed the ingredients. Wilmot advised she thought it would just cause some smoke." There were no injuries, no damage, not even clear intent. Where is the felony crime here? It's only in the mind of Assistant State Attorney Tammy Glotfelty.

  8. Turn a deaf ear to DRM demands on Netflix Wants To Go HTML5, But Not Without DRM · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Netflix is facing some hard choices. With Microsoft abandoning Silverlight on its own sites, the writing is on the wall. I say, let Netflix demand anything it pleases, and ignore all such demands. Eventually, Netflix will have to switch from Silverlight to something, and HTML5 is the obvious choice. If Netflix can't get DRM in the standard, they'll still have to find a way to keep streaming using existing standards.

  9. Re:Silverlight greatness on Netflix Wants To Go HTML5, But Not Without DRM · · Score: 1

    The great thing about HTML5 is that it runs on all devices at no cost unlike Silverlight.

    FTFY

  10. Google Glass records, too on Not Even Investors Know What Google Glass Is For · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Google Glass doesn't just present information; it can record, too. And if you record every little thing you see, it's possible to review and discover small, but critically important events later. For example, one of my college instructors has a child with autism. Video from his child's second birthday party helped make the diagnosis, but more and earlier footage would have helped diagnose it sooner. If my instructor had been wearing and recording with Google Glass every time he saw or watched his child, he would have had a wealth of material for evaluation and diagnosis.

  11. Open != Free, but that's OK on RMS: 'Is Android Really Free Software?' · · Score: 1

    Google never said Android was free software. Google does maintain that Android is open, and they'll release the source code when they think it's ready. Android does not have to meet the FSF's strict definition of free and open source software; it doesn't even use the same license. A reality check by Brian Proffitt: http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/204973/more-partisanship-free-software-leadership

  12. Second-hand markets support new product prices on Xbox Head Proclaims Blu-ray Dead · · Score: 1

    digital downloads have the secondary effect of entirely cutting out the popular market for second-hand films and games — a plus for publishers, but a big negative for the consumer

    It's a negative for publishers, too. Just as with cars and many other products, a healthy used market supports high prices for new products. Buyers are more willing to pay full price for new when they know they can trade it in or resell it for a substantial portion of the purchase price. Eliminating the secondary market reduces the overall demand for new products, reducing prices, unit sales, or both.

  13. Re:Lost sales? on BSA Says Software Theft Exceeded $51B In 2009 · · Score: 1

    I wonder about this, too. My suspicion is that pirated commercial software currently impacts the spread of FOSS, too. If commercial software really were locked down, much of the current base may instead turn to other free software options, including FOSS. If that change is sufficiently widespread, we might see a rapid adoption of FOSS as standard software, and commercial software as a lesser used alternative.

  14. X-Ray backscatter blocking clothing on "No Scan, No Fly" At Heathrow and Manchester · · Score: 1

    Back in 2002, Slashdot reported on Demron, a lightweight fabric that blocks radiation as well as lead. It's $600 for a medical apron that would effectively cover the torso, but worthwhile for some, perhaps. Such clothing might even become popular and reasonably priced if, say, it was designed to include a message or image viewable only on an X-Ray backscatter scanner.

  15. Determinism is consistent, but not supportable on If We Have Free Will, Then So Do Electrons · · Score: 1

    This is the best summary I could tease out of the follow up paper:
    Although, as we show in [1], determinism may formally be shown to be consistent, there is no longer any evidence that supports it, in view of the fact that classical physics has been superseded by quantum mechanics, a non-deterministic theory. The import of the free will theorem is that it is not only current quantum theory, but the world itself that is non-deterministic, so that no future theory can return us to a clockwork universe.

    See it? At a certain level, future events are inherently unpredictable. These small uncertainties bubble all the way up to our level. So, while we can predict with confidence that the sun will rise tomorrow, certain other smaller events are inherently unpredictable. That's a a circular way of saying that subatomic particles and big things like people have free will, because at least some of their actions cannot be determined by past events and circumstances.

    They do this with a proof that first assumes such a model of events exists, and then go on to prove such a model is mathematically impossible. There are no hidden variables or forces, because quantum mechanics won't allow any. The world is non-deterministic, and it's no longer possible to prove that it is deterministic.

  16. MS, you forgot to round to the nearest tenth on Microsoft Says IE Faster Than Chrome and Firefox · · Score: 1

    Differences of less than a tenth of a second aren't generally noticeable to users, so it makes no sense to measure down to the nearest 0.01 seconds. If all of the numbers are rounded to the nearest tenth of a second, then 4 sites are a dead heat, and Chrome is the overall winner.

    Single winners (>0.1 seconds difference):
    Chrome: 7
    FF: 1
    IE: 6

    2 winners (=0.1 seconds difference):
    FF, IE: 2
    Chrome, IE: 2
    Chrome, FF: 2

    Dead heat: 4 (=0.1 seconds difference)

  17. You may also like... on Flying Car Flies From London To Africa · · Score: 1

    The SkyCar site's news page is still up for the moment:

    http://www.skycarexpedition.com/news.php

  18. Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 on Google Unveils First Android Phone · · Score: 1

    The phone is tied to one, and only one, Google account. That account is the only one the phone can use for GMail, GCal, Google Docs, personalized Google Maps, Picasa, etc. The only way to switch to another Google account is to reset the device to factory defaults. Even if you do get the account without providing any information, if you actually use your Google account, eventually it will have far more important personal information fed into through the phone. You'll be de facto tied to that anonymous GMail account.

  19. Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 on Google Unveils First Android Phone · · Score: 1

    You would need an ExtUSB adapter. And yes, it's inconvenient and clunky.

    http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&safe=off&q=ExtUSB+adapter&scoring=p

  20. Re:Title finally write good on Google Unveils First Android Phone · · Score: 1

    Whether to treat as singular or plural depends on how the group is used in context --as a single entity or as individual members of the group. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/group.html

  21. Ron Paul at 19% in Maine on Best Presidential Candidate, Republicans · · Score: 1

    CNN is projecting Maine's results, with Ron Paul at 19%.
    Source

  22. Ron Paul polls showing 10+% on Best Presidential Candidate, Republicans · · Score: 1

    Not a single Super Tuesday state from what I've been able to find. If I'm wrong (and I do know that I couldn't find data for a few states), please post some polling data showing the opposite.
    *sigh* Very well...

    USAElectionPolls.com: Ron Paul

    Rasmussen Reports, 1/22/08, Georgia, Ron Paul 12% Source
    Rasmussen Reports, 1/29/08, Illinois, Ron Paul 10% Source

    Non-Super Tuesday states:

    Final Nevada Results, 1/19/08, Ron Paul 14%, Source
    Final Iowa Results, 1/3/08, Ron Paul 10%, Source
    CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll, 12/11/07, South Carolina, Ron Paul 11%, Source
  23. Re:*retired* naturalist? on Batcave Home Theater · · Score: 1

    I know, right? Apparently, I'm in the wrong line of work.

  24. Re:Major setback on Olympic Committee Chooses XP Over Vista · · Score: 1

    I was just checking whether someone had already made this point. Microsoft isn't losing if the alternative to Microsoft's operating system is another Microsoft operating system.

  25. Re:Its not so difficult on Olympic Committee Chooses XP Over Vista · · Score: 1

    Don't believe it. Anyone sufficiently literate to submit a Slashdot story was taught the correct usage the first time around, even in the United States. I'm more surprised that the Slashdot editors did not catch it first.