How can it be the consumer? Being excited thinking about children in private is would be thought crime, literally. So what can the consumer be accused of? Intent of having dirty thoughts? Possible for the distributor, for example if the editor of a children catalog decide to put them in sex shops. Possible for the creator. This is the most serious case because he is the only one dealing with actual children.
Dishwashers damage glass (and crystal) by etching. It is only noticeable after many cycles : a rainbow pattern starts to appear, then it becomes cloudy, and no amount of your favorite descaling solution will fix that, because it is not scale. But if it is fine crystal, you will eventually break it by hand washing.
Well, that's irrelevant! The fact remains that data can be collected and can be sent. "Can" is just as bad as "will".
I disagree. A privacy policy doesn't mean much, except for lawyers. Saying they can do something bad don't mean they will do something bad. For example, if they provide a bug report feature, they will collect some data with it, and even though the user ultimately decide to send the report or not, and that it is really only used for debugging, it has to be mentioned in the policy, and considering the amount of data that may end up in a bug report, the terms can be scary. OTOH, just because something isn't written in the privacy policy doesn't mean it can't be done. It just means it is illegal to do it. Most importantly, nothing in the privacy policy says that the software isn't full of exploitable bugs.
Most programming jobs involve connecting stuff together. Converting a database format to another, design a GUI around it, add the entry points to turn it into some kind of module, extract or integrate features, etc... Even machine learning typically involves gathering a bunch of data turn it into a form that's acceptable for the learning module and feeding the results to some other component. I don't know how machine learning will help with all that stuff. An AI won't write a video game, it can help making mobs smarter, generating convincing maps or optimizing revenue. But in the end that's just a module connected to other modules, and programmers will be needed to put the round peg into the square hole. It will make things a bit more high level, as always. But except for a bunch of PhDs, I don't expect major changes in the way people program.
Which is interesting because the problem with inbreeding is mostly genetic, and it turns out they have good genes, at least when it comes to aging. Maybe we should inbreed more.
It is not completely a joke btw, I've actually seen some serious research suggesting that a moderate amount of inbreeding is actually beneficial.
I looks like editors learned their lesson. If you read carefully, in the summary, no mention is made of any causal relationship so the following possibilities are still open : 1- excessive screen time causes depression 2- depression causes excessive screen time 3- what causes depression also causes excessive screen time
This wikipedia article only says that superchargers are able to pump a huge amount of current into batteries, but it doesn't explain why batteries don't get damaged in the process despite charging much faster that what is recommended everywhere I looked. Usually, 0.5C is recommended, over 1C is said to cause damage, and superchargers seem to be able to charge at 1.5C. And it isn't just superchargers, some smartphones can also charge well over 1C. And then again, all talk is about how to get more current to the battery, not how the battery can handle it. Though in the case of smartphones, battery damage may very well be part of planned obsolescence.
About fast charging, I've seen that Tesla use Panasonic NCR18650B batteries, looking at the datasheet ( http://www.batteryspace.com/pr... ), I see a maximum charging current of 0.5C and it takes nearly 2 hours to get to 80%. I'm genuinely curious as how they manage to get so far out of specs and still maintain decent longevity. Please enlighten me because seriously, every single technical writing I've seen related to Li-ion batteries don't match real-life results, especially regarding fast charge.
The summary is spot-on, TFA is just as condescending, if not more. But yeah, we need stories crapping on the next generation, it helps us feel superior, just like our parents, grandparents and all our ancestors since the beginning of civilization.
There is a whole bunch of problems to fast charging. For now, current battery chemistry (LCO) typically require 3h for a full charge. Going faster require means you are not using the full battery capacity. You may even damage it. That's why fast charge is typically only available for the first 50% or so. There are other battery chemistries (ex: LFP) that charge faster but you pay the price in term of energy density. There is also the issue of heat. If you dump a megawatt of power into something relatively small like a car, the tiniest inefficiency is going to produce a lot of heat you have to deal with. And finally, there are all the usual issues dealing with high power. If you increase the voltage, you need to invest more into safety and insulation, if you increase the current, you need thicker wires
To put things into perspective, considering a typical flow rate of a gas pump and its energy density, a gas car "charges" at around 20MW. Assuming electric cars are 4 times more efficient, one would require 5MW of charging power to achieve parity, 40 times more than superchargers. It won't happen anytime soon.
The point of a smart switch is that it can be assigned any function. For example you can decide that turning on the light in the bathroom also turns on the fan, and when you turn it off, the light turns off but the fan stays on for 10 minutes to extract the humid air. You can also assign a switch that turn all lights off, close the blinds, turns on the alarm, etc... for when you leave. You can also combine motion detection and switches. The switch isn't connected directly to the light bulb. Instead, it sends a signal on a network. The light bulb is on the same network and decides to turn on or off depending on its programming.
Blu-Ray disks have quite nasty copy protections built-in. While they are better than Netflix and the like in term of being in control, they are clearly not ideal. It is a bit sad but if you want HD, pirate copies may be your only option. DVDs are fine, they are encrypted but their copy protection (CSS) is permanently broken.
For me, the lack of a real standard is the big thing that plagued home automation for decades. They should have learned their lessons by now, but no...
I considered it a I was working on my house a few years ago. I had to completely overhaul the wiring, lighting, heating, A/C etc... so I looked into it since it was almost a clean slate. And guess what, I found absolutely nothing satisfying. First problem is the price : a standard, good quality name brand light switch is around $10, its smart counterpart is maybe $50. Do this for all the small things and it adds up to thousands. Not a deal breaker but enough to seriously consider the value of such a system. Second is the lack of choice. To continue with the light switch, my local DIY store has plenty of light switches of various designs, the smart light switch is only available online an only has a single design. Third is compatibility : now that I found the overpriced smart light switch and smart light bulb that fits my need, turns out that they are not compatible. There may be shims and gateways that can make them understand each other but at that point, I have already given up. Fourth is the lack of long term guarantee : this is for my house, not for a smartphone. I expect my system to last for at least 10 years, and hope for 20 or 30. This kind of work is quite an investment and I want it to last. Systems that stop working after 3 years? No thanks.
The system that grabbed my attention the most is KNX : it's an ISO standard and it's robust but it is too expensive and it is not the kind of stuff you find everywhere.
It is not step 0 but it is definitely part of the process. 1. Oh, it would be great if.... 2. Uhm... it looks like it can be subsidized... 3. Ok, so I can expect that much from the state... 4. Uhm... considering the political climate and other attempts by other companies, chances are good... 5. Is is possible that I don't get the subsidies I want? Can I do without it? 6. Ok, I think it will work.
I believe that when there is a problem with a plane, the customer has to pay for the fix, just like with regular maintenance. Otherwise, if safety cannot be guaranteed, the plane is grounded. The idea is that by not requiring manufacturers to pay, it limits the incentives to hide defects.
Now, that's for general aviation, I suppose the situation is not that simple with airlines buying dozens of multi-million dollar planes.
They don't, and that's the key. They keep all data they collect for themselves, and they sell service based on these data, revealing as little as possible.
That's part of the reason they are so good. They can use that huge database to improve their results, and competitors can't access it, even by paying. They have a goose that lays golden eggs, and they spare no expense taking care of it, there is no way they are letting it go.
Most people don't change phone every year despite companies telling them they should.
See : https://danluu.com/android-upd... This is an article telling how many outdated Android devices there are. Normally, this is a bad thing, and it is the take of the article. However, it shows that a lot of people don't buy into that planned obsolescence thing and that phones last much longer than a year or so. If you look at the end of the curve, you'll see that 30% of devices are at least 3 year outdated. Which mean they are probably at least 4 years old and still working.
For Apple, their marketing strategy is to treat the previous generation as it doesn't exist. They remove them from stores, from their websites, they only briefly mention them by telling how the new devices are better but even that is kept to a minimum. But that's a trick, the older devices still exist, and there is a thriving second hand market they want you to turn your attention away from.
It is already the idea. Proof-of-work problems are hard to solve and easy to verify. And though they lack the mathematical foundation of NP-Complete problems, they have the same practical purposes.
Assuming P != NP, using true NP-Complete problems would be better in theory but there are issues in practice. In particular, NP-Complete problems don't have to be hard all the times, if only 0.1% of all cases cannot be solved in P, it is still considered hard, even though it would be completely broken as a proof-of-work. For example, an early public-key cryptosystem made use of the knapsack problem, which is NP-Complete, and even if we still can't solve the underlying problem, it didn't prevent the system from being broken.
Find a brick and mortar shop where they have laptops on display and try them. Thinkpads are usually a good bet. Keyboards are a personal thing, and what's good for you may not be good for someone else. For example some people like short-travel keys, others despise them. There is also the matter of layout, for example, no one seem to agree where the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del, Home, End keys should go. Do you want backlight? a numeric keypad? liquid damage resistance?
I have no problem with wide spacing. This design allow for compact (flat) keyboards to be adequate for casual typing, which is, I think, a good compromise for most people.
Apple has a lot of attention to detail but they also have the most users of a single model, and most of them pay a lot of attention to detail. It means that small issues get a lot more publicity. Also posting a story about Apple sells much more than something about LG, HTC or Motorola and their issues rarely make headlines.
Samsung is also victim of its popularity, though not as much as Apple. There was the Note7 fiasco obviously but I remember the Note5 making the news because some people had their styluses stuck because they jammed them upside down. Because it's Google, Nexus/Pixel get some attention but that's nothing compared to Apple.
The mere existence of such a business is a strong indication for the need of some society-wide social engineering and an improvement in mental health care.
But isn't such a business part of the solution? That's a logical step in specialization society : people with great social skills get paid to make up for the lack of other people social skills. Just like people with no fishing skills buying fish from skilled fishermen. It doesn't mean that we can't improve society and psychiatry at the same time but the existence of such businesses is not a bad thing. Just like prosthetics : sure, it shows that we can't regrow legs and that medicine still has work to do, but in the meantime, it mostly shows that we found a way for people without legs to walk again, even if it is not perfect.
I think that the question is : is that quantum computer able to factor integers into prime numbers faster than a classical computer using the same amount of power. If that's the case, even if it proves too impractical to break cryptography right now, it should at least prove that there is something to be gained from quantum computing.
Slashdot Mirror
How can it be the consumer? Being excited thinking about children in private is would be thought crime, literally. So what can the consumer be accused of? Intent of having dirty thoughts?
Possible for the distributor, for example if the editor of a children catalog decide to put them in sex shops.
Possible for the creator. This is the most serious case because he is the only one dealing with actual children.
Dishwashers damage glass (and crystal) by etching. It is only noticeable after many cycles : a rainbow pattern starts to appear, then it becomes cloudy, and no amount of your favorite descaling solution will fix that, because it is not scale.
But if it is fine crystal, you will eventually break it by hand washing.
The big question is which one comes first?
Well, that's irrelevant! The fact remains that data can be collected and can be sent. "Can" is just as bad as "will".
I disagree. A privacy policy doesn't mean much, except for lawyers.
Saying they can do something bad don't mean they will do something bad. For example, if they provide a bug report feature, they will collect some data with it, and even though the user ultimately decide to send the report or not, and that it is really only used for debugging, it has to be mentioned in the policy, and considering the amount of data that may end up in a bug report, the terms can be scary.
OTOH, just because something isn't written in the privacy policy doesn't mean it can't be done. It just means it is illegal to do it. Most importantly, nothing in the privacy policy says that the software isn't full of exploitable bugs.
Most programming jobs involve connecting stuff together. Converting a database format to another, design a GUI around it, add the entry points to turn it into some kind of module, extract or integrate features, etc... Even machine learning typically involves gathering a bunch of data turn it into a form that's acceptable for the learning module and feeding the results to some other component.
I don't know how machine learning will help with all that stuff. An AI won't write a video game, it can help making mobs smarter, generating convincing maps or optimizing revenue. But in the end that's just a module connected to other modules, and programmers will be needed to put the round peg into the square hole.
It will make things a bit more high level, as always. But except for a bunch of PhDs, I don't expect major changes in the way people program.
Which is interesting because the problem with inbreeding is mostly genetic, and it turns out they have good genes, at least when it comes to aging.
Maybe we should inbreed more.
It is not completely a joke btw, I've actually seen some serious research suggesting that a moderate amount of inbreeding is actually beneficial.
I looks like editors learned their lesson.
If you read carefully, in the summary, no mention is made of any causal relationship so the following possibilities are still open :
1- excessive screen time causes depression
2- depression causes excessive screen time
3- what causes depression also causes excessive screen time
This wikipedia article only says that superchargers are able to pump a huge amount of current into batteries, but it doesn't explain why batteries don't get damaged in the process despite charging much faster that what is recommended everywhere I looked.
Usually, 0.5C is recommended, over 1C is said to cause damage, and superchargers seem to be able to charge at 1.5C.
And it isn't just superchargers, some smartphones can also charge well over 1C. And then again, all talk is about how to get more current to the battery, not how the battery can handle it. Though in the case of smartphones, battery damage may very well be part of planned obsolescence.
About fast charging, I've seen that Tesla use Panasonic NCR18650B batteries, looking at the datasheet ( http://www.batteryspace.com/pr... ), I see a maximum charging current of 0.5C and it takes nearly 2 hours to get to 80%. I'm genuinely curious as how they manage to get so far out of specs and still maintain decent longevity. Please enlighten me because seriously, every single technical writing I've seen related to Li-ion batteries don't match real-life results, especially regarding fast charge.
The summary is spot-on, TFA is just as condescending, if not more.
But yeah, we need stories crapping on the next generation, it helps us feel superior, just like our parents, grandparents and all our ancestors since the beginning of civilization.
There is a whole bunch of problems to fast charging.
For now, current battery chemistry (LCO) typically require 3h for a full charge. Going faster require means you are not using the full battery capacity. You may even damage it. That's why fast charge is typically only available for the first 50% or so. There are other battery chemistries (ex: LFP) that charge faster but you pay the price in term of energy density.
There is also the issue of heat. If you dump a megawatt of power into something relatively small like a car, the tiniest inefficiency is going to produce a lot of heat you have to deal with.
And finally, there are all the usual issues dealing with high power. If you increase the voltage, you need to invest more into safety and insulation, if you increase the current, you need thicker wires
To put things into perspective, considering a typical flow rate of a gas pump and its energy density, a gas car "charges" at around 20MW. Assuming electric cars are 4 times more efficient, one would require 5MW of charging power to achieve parity, 40 times more than superchargers. It won't happen anytime soon.
The point of a smart switch is that it can be assigned any function. For example you can decide that turning on the light in the bathroom also turns on the fan, and when you turn it off, the light turns off but the fan stays on for 10 minutes to extract the humid air.
You can also assign a switch that turn all lights off, close the blinds, turns on the alarm, etc... for when you leave. You can also combine motion detection and switches.
The switch isn't connected directly to the light bulb. Instead, it sends a signal on a network. The light bulb is on the same network and decides to turn on or off depending on its programming.
Blu-Ray disks have quite nasty copy protections built-in. While they are better than Netflix and the like in term of being in control, they are clearly not ideal.
It is a bit sad but if you want HD, pirate copies may be your only option. DVDs are fine, they are encrypted but their copy protection (CSS) is permanently broken.
For me, the lack of a real standard is the big thing that plagued home automation for decades. They should have learned their lessons by now, but no...
I considered it a I was working on my house a few years ago. I had to completely overhaul the wiring, lighting, heating, A/C etc... so I looked into it since it was almost a clean slate. And guess what, I found absolutely nothing satisfying.
First problem is the price : a standard, good quality name brand light switch is around $10, its smart counterpart is maybe $50. Do this for all the small things and it adds up to thousands. Not a deal breaker but enough to seriously consider the value of such a system.
Second is the lack of choice. To continue with the light switch, my local DIY store has plenty of light switches of various designs, the smart light switch is only available online an only has a single design.
Third is compatibility : now that I found the overpriced smart light switch and smart light bulb that fits my need, turns out that they are not compatible. There may be shims and gateways that can make them understand each other but at that point, I have already given up.
Fourth is the lack of long term guarantee : this is for my house, not for a smartphone. I expect my system to last for at least 10 years, and hope for 20 or 30. This kind of work is quite an investment and I want it to last. Systems that stop working after 3 years? No thanks.
The system that grabbed my attention the most is KNX : it's an ISO standard and it's robust but it is too expensive and it is not the kind of stuff you find everywhere.
It is not step 0 but it is definitely part of the process.
1. Oh, it would be great if....
2. Uhm... it looks like it can be subsidized...
3. Ok, so I can expect that much from the state...
4. Uhm... considering the political climate and other attempts by other companies, chances are good...
5. Is is possible that I don't get the subsidies I want? Can I do without it?
6. Ok, I think it will work.
I arguably can't know what my neighbor's taste like.
Misread as : "I arguably can't know what my neighbor tastes like" and wondered if people were part of 17th century diet....
I believe that when there is a problem with a plane, the customer has to pay for the fix, just like with regular maintenance. Otherwise, if safety cannot be guaranteed, the plane is grounded.
The idea is that by not requiring manufacturers to pay, it limits the incentives to hide defects.
Now, that's for general aviation, I suppose the situation is not that simple with airlines buying dozens of multi-million dollar planes.
It would make Google Maps unusable. We wouldn't be able to see the map behind the pins.
...sell every bit they have about you...
They don't, and that's the key. They keep all data they collect for themselves, and they sell service based on these data, revealing as little as possible.
That's part of the reason they are so good. They can use that huge database to improve their results, and competitors can't access it, even by paying. They have a goose that lays golden eggs, and they spare no expense taking care of it, there is no way they are letting it go.
Most people don't change phone every year despite companies telling them they should.
See : https://danluu.com/android-upd...
This is an article telling how many outdated Android devices there are. Normally, this is a bad thing, and it is the take of the article. However, it shows that a lot of people don't buy into that planned obsolescence thing and that phones last much longer than a year or so. If you look at the end of the curve, you'll see that 30% of devices are at least 3 year outdated. Which mean they are probably at least 4 years old and still working.
For Apple, their marketing strategy is to treat the previous generation as it doesn't exist. They remove them from stores, from their websites, they only briefly mention them by telling how the new devices are better but even that is kept to a minimum. But that's a trick, the older devices still exist, and there is a thriving second hand market they want you to turn your attention away from.
It is already the idea.
Proof-of-work problems are hard to solve and easy to verify. And though they lack the mathematical foundation of NP-Complete problems, they have the same practical purposes.
Assuming P != NP, using true NP-Complete problems would be better in theory but there are issues in practice. In particular, NP-Complete problems don't have to be hard all the times, if only 0.1% of all cases cannot be solved in P, it is still considered hard, even though it would be completely broken as a proof-of-work.
For example, an early public-key cryptosystem made use of the knapsack problem, which is NP-Complete, and even if we still can't solve the underlying problem, it didn't prevent the system from being broken.
Find a brick and mortar shop where they have laptops on display and try them. Thinkpads are usually a good bet.
Keyboards are a personal thing, and what's good for you may not be good for someone else. For example some people like short-travel keys, others despise them. There is also the matter of layout, for example, no one seem to agree where the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del, Home, End keys should go. Do you want backlight? a numeric keypad? liquid damage resistance?
I have no problem with wide spacing. This design allow for compact (flat) keyboards to be adequate for casual typing, which is, I think, a good compromise for most people.
Apple has a lot of attention to detail but they also have the most users of a single model, and most of them pay a lot of attention to detail.
It means that small issues get a lot more publicity.
Also posting a story about Apple sells much more than something about LG, HTC or Motorola and their issues rarely make headlines.
Samsung is also victim of its popularity, though not as much as Apple. There was the Note7 fiasco obviously but I remember the Note5 making the news because some people had their styluses stuck because they jammed them upside down. Because it's Google, Nexus/Pixel get some attention but that's nothing compared to Apple.
Is there any way to short bitcoin? Somebody could make a fortune!
Yep, and that somebody is probably going to be the broker. While others speculate, he pockets the fees.
The mere existence of such a business is a strong indication for the need of some society-wide social engineering and an improvement in mental health care.
But isn't such a business part of the solution?
That's a logical step in specialization society : people with great social skills get paid to make up for the lack of other people social skills. Just like people with no fishing skills buying fish from skilled fishermen.
It doesn't mean that we can't improve society and psychiatry at the same time but the existence of such businesses is not a bad thing.
Just like prosthetics : sure, it shows that we can't regrow legs and that medicine still has work to do, but in the meantime, it mostly shows that we found a way for people without legs to walk again, even if it is not perfect.
I think that the question is : is that quantum computer able to factor integers into prime numbers faster than a classical computer using the same amount of power.
If that's the case, even if it proves too impractical to break cryptography right now, it should at least prove that there is something to be gained from quantum computing.