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User: MnemonicMan

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Comments · 35

  1. Re:Patches are a Problem. on Will Your Video Game Collection Appreciate Over Time? · · Score: 1

    Oh, but where would you get the "DLC"? Right now Microsoft is the exclusive distributor and they aren't sharing their database of patches.

  2. Patches are a Problem. on Will Your Video Game Collection Appreciate Over Time? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Take a 360. You put in the disc which may contain horrible game-breaking bugs and the first thing it does is connect to Xbox Live and get the newest patch for that game. Now, twenty years out.. What will perform the Xbox Live function so that you aren't left with a collection of buggy games?

  3. Austerity. on NASA IG Paints Bleak Picture For Agency Projects · · Score: 1

    Welcome to the new USA "Austerity." It wasn't officially passed, it came in the back door.

  4. Copyright Terms. on Orphaned Works and the Requirement To Preserve Metadata · · Score: 1

    Copyright terms are a farce. The emperor has no clothes. It's completely distorted for how long the terms are. What should they be? 20 years for video, audio, and written works. 10 years for software as that changes so fast.

    If I'm ever brought before a judge for the contents of my hard-drive I'll plead guilty to everything within the above given terms and no contest for everything older.

  5. Re:Snowcrash provides prior art on Microsoft Granted Patent For Augmented Reality Glasses · · Score: 1

    Snow Crash was written in 1992. For an even earlier conception, see Earth which was written in 1990.

    These novels provide protection over the general idea of "augmented reality" but however, they do not provide protection for the specific implementations as those will likely be very complex assemblages of various technologies that are much more involved than just a general idea.

  6. Re:The obvious is completely missed.. on Emscripten Compiler Gets Optimizations, Now Self-Hosting · · Score: 1

    Remember, machine language is just another language except it is one tailored to processors. So, I should have said "and/or" instead of just "or" in the parent post. For operating systems, the APIs can be high-level thunked so you could do something like translate DirectX calls on Windows 7 to an equivalent library on an ARM Linux machine. The program code is recompiled but the libraries the program code calls are native to the destination device. DirectX is also just another "hardware feature." You can thunk DirectX in exactly the same way you would thunk a VGA card. The recompiler doesn't care - all that matters is that the calls from recompiled code go to equivalents, no matter how high or low level those may be.

  7. The obvious is completely missed.. on Emscripten Compiler Gets Optimizations, Now Self-Hosting · · Score: 1

    On the fly recompiler for different operating systems or processor architectures... Mmm? ;)

  8. Uplift on Is Non-Prescription ADHD Medication Use Ever Ethical? · · Score: 2

    See: The Uplift Series.

    If drugs and/or surgical modification was both safe and effective? Sign me up. I'd love to sit down with a C++11 book, flip through the pages fast in half an hour and then be an expert programmer. Spare me the - admit it - religiously inspired dogma. I want to be better, stronger, faster, and while I'm at it please remove that bummer of a failure condition called "death" too.

  9. Re:Honest Question on Alan Cox to NVIDIA: You Can't Use DMA-BUF · · Score: 1

    I am typing this on a machine which has Intel x4500 graphics. I bought it about 2 weeks ago, and I can certainly support your point: I went looking for Intel graphics because for everything besides Poulsbo they are the graphics to have on Linux. 2D and 3D acceleration is fine, Compiz works fine. Intel graphics are great for Linux. Intel graphics are not great for gaming. That is why just to my right, currently powered down, is a Windows machine with an AMD Radeon 6870 in it.

  10. Kafka's The Trial. on Australian Government Censors Draft Snooping Laws · · Score: 2

    Oh, Kafka was way ahead of you: The Trial. Charged, convicted, and executed on secret evidence the protagonist was never allowed to see.

  11. They dream themselves your master. on Australian Government Censors Draft Snooping Laws · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."

  12. Re:Compilers.. on Wanted: Hackers For Large-Scale Attacks On American Banks · · Score: 2

    So pretend you're a client and request the decryption key for the payload from their servers?

  13. Compilers.. on Wanted: Hackers For Large-Scale Attacks On American Banks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Won't give up their "compilers" now will they.. Bastards, I'll drop in my version of GCC and show them! Er, ahem, I think the article means "source code." And even with that a determined reverse-engineering effort could negate that too..

  14. Intel Processor ID Number on Graphics Cards: the Future of Online Authentication? · · Score: 1

    As covered on Slashdot, waaay back: Intel proposed a unique identifier for every processor. However, once the proposal went public then "mark of the beast" and other interests got it canned. This article is simply attempting to replicate, badly, what Intel proposed to do in a clean manner.

  15. "Slashdotters..." on Intel CEO Tells Staff Windows 8 Is Being Released Prematurely · · Score: 1

    Any caricature is bound to be inaccurate to actual individuals contained within it. Yes, I read Slashdot, yes, I run Linux - typing this on that right now, and yes, sitting right next to me is my other machine which is running Windows 7. Linux is for everything but games, and Windows 7 is for games. I also happen to have an aesthetic streak and like my systems to look good. Custom Xfce theme that looks good on Linux and Aero looks good on Windows 7. I don't fit into the "slashdotter" mold that you have roughly sketched out in your own mind.

  16. It is ugly though in Desktop mode. on Intel CEO Tells Staff Windows 8 Is Being Released Prematurely · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Aero looks much, much nicer than a flat rectangle that is one color. It's too bad that the window chrome got bashed so bad. Of course a likely reason for it is that tablets will run primarily on battery and Aero might be a drain on that.

  17. Re:Grown. on Harvard Creates Cyborg Tissues · · Score: 1

    Not really, use your own stem cells to grow the tissue, grow a new heart/arm/etc., and transplant it. Transplant tech has advanced enormously in recent years.

    Which is the "other engineering problem." ;)

  18. Grown. on Harvard Creates Cyborg Tissues · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The issue for all of us who already exist today is that the tissue grows around the mesh. Certainly in the future new organisms can be grown and integrated at the same time to become cybernetic life forms. However, for all of us who are already grown getting a mesh inside of our tissues presents a whole other engineering problem.

  19. Fine America. on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Fine. You go America. We'll just see what the power map of the world is fifty years from now once your post-awesome country is filled with idiots and therefore of no relevance in that world.

    But. I would rather you did turn yourselves around as, even with your bad stuff, I think you're generally OK.

  20. Copyright Terms on Patent and Copyright Wars Gone Wild · · Score: 2

    I'd like to propose a little civil disobedience. Copyright terms are insane and have been continually extended by copyright maximalists for years now. I think sane copyright terms are 20 years for everything but software and 10 years for software as it changes so fast.

    I will separate my downloads out into two categories: older than the above terms and younger than those terms. If I ever have the misfortune to be dragged into court over my downloads the older ones I will plead no contest to with a submission that I am not accepting Hollywood's forever copyright, and anything newer than those terms I will have to plead guilty of copyright infringement for.

    20 years is long enough for copyright - maximalists are holding our culture hostage by pushing for anything longer.

    The Public Domain

  21. Stealth technology.. on US Navy's High-Resolution Radar Can See Individual Raindrops In a Storm · · Score: 1

    So, now that the current generation of stealth coatings on airplanes is obsolete, how long before the US starts to both A) Sell current-gen stealth to other countries, and B) develop next-gen stealth capability.

    Remember, stealth doesn't mean a plane is invisible, it just means that the cross section of the plane is just too small to image using normal radar.

  22. Early adopters. on Raspberry Pi Reviewed, With an Initial Setup Guide · · Score: 2

    I am going to pick up a Raspberry Pi, once the initial hu-bub dies down. I'm waiting for them to appear in a form that already has a case and a physical power switch however. Shouldn't be more than another 3-4 months or so I would expect. I'm already swimming in computers so there isn't a pressing rush. Still, once I get mine, it'll be a badge that "yes you can have cool stuff."

  23. Re:The Name on Gimp 2.8 Finally Released · · Score: 1

    Heh, sorry I've never used it. :) On Windows I use Paint.NET and on Linux I use the GIMP. But, hey, it's up to version 1.3!! ;)

  24. Re:The Name on Gimp 2.8 Finally Released · · Score: 1

    There is a Linux alternative for Paint.NET: Pinta. It's coming along and is already decent. It's available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

  25. Re:Intel makes for awesome Linux boxes. on Why Intel Leads the World In Semiconductor Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    Sadly that is exactly what I did with my machine that had the Xpress 1100. On the bottom of the computer was a Genuine Vista Product Key Sticker. So, I pulled out some Vista medium I had lying around and installed it. AMD's legacy drivers do support Vista, just not the latest Catalyst. So, like Catalyst 10.2 installed on it and it works fine. I gave it to my nephew. ;)