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User: neilo_1701D

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  1. Re:Not likely on Unearthed Emails Show Google, Ad Giants Know They Break Privacy Laws (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google was founded on the principle of "Don't be Evil". So I sincerely doubt they would do this even in exchange for tens of billions of dollars.

    I think you forgot the sarcasm tag!

  2. Re:This might call for some Fox News counterhackin on Government Shutdown: TLS Certificates Not Renewed, Many Websites Are Down (zdnet.com) · · Score: 2

    But Trump actually has a better hand.

    He had a better hand, right up until he said he would own the shutdown. At that point, he lost his bargaining power. Why? Because where is the incentive now for the Dems to compromise when Trump has already conceded.

  3. Re:This might call for some Fox News counterhackin on Government Shutdown: TLS Certificates Not Renewed, Many Websites Are Down (zdnet.com) · · Score: 1

    Pence is not a great guy either but he's at least reasonably intelligent and honest enough to not stare into a camera and lie his ass off (yet).

    Actually, he does exactly this every time he defends Trump on TV. Pence is no better; he's just there waiting for his #MeToo moment for when he expects to becomes President.

  4. Clearly proof that our Universities are broken.

    I found an edge case where something didn't work correctly. Clearly this invalidates the entire discipline.

    "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."
    - Albert Einstein

    Edge cases have a way of doing that. Think, for example, of Black Body Radiation.

  5. he was able to prove tickets were being written for those who legally pass through the lights. This means the city was going to lose money and the camera company was going to lose money too if changes were made. They had to do what they could to discredit and shut him up. It did not work.

    And that's why all red-light cameras (and their operating company) are banned in NJ.

  6. Unforgivable on China Hacked HPE, IBM and Then Attacked Clients, Report Finds (reuters.com) · · Score: 2

    This is unforgivable, in terms of IBM and HPE.

    They stored client details in a manner that hacked credentials could access them? IBM and HPE could be up for millions, if not billions, in damages here. Client details should be amongst the most secure credentials they have. As a senior technical consultant, my credentials at my clients are usually second only to their system administrators. If they leaked out, it would be catastrophic!

    Would not want to be at HPE or IBM right about now...

  7. Re:And so did Microsioft on Google Denies Altering YouTube Code To Break Microsoft Edge (theverge.com) · · Score: 2

    Or at least I think they did.

    Wasn't that old when all that Navigator mess.

    "YouTube ain't done 'til Edge can't run"?

  8. Re:You are kidding right? on Was Commodore's Amiga 'A Computer Ahead of Its Time'? (gizmodo.com.au) · · Score: 0

    Amiga had graphical word processor before word for windows was a thing. The Amiga word processor did neat things like wrap text around images and stuff. Basically apps on the Amiga were better than the corresponding PC versions. What killed the Amiga was the sales channel. They were targeted as high end home computers. They did not go after businesses at all except for the niche market like tv.

    MacWrite beat the Amiga to market by a year, so your argument there doesn't really hold. As far as Amiga programs being "better" than their PC counterparts, did you ever try and use Word Perfect on the Amiga? It was horrible! The native Amiga applications were so much better.

    I agree the sales channel really let the Amiga down ("marketing by stealth" was how one acerbic wag put it), but really the machine was designed for TV output. Couple the PC of the day with a HGA card from 1982 (the Amiga didn't appear until 1985) and the Amiga never stood a chance in the business world.

  9. Re:Self driving cars should fix this on Freshwater is Getting Saltier, Threatening People and Wildlife (scientificamerican.com) · · Score: 1

    I think 100% of the software for self driving cars comes from Southern California, where they don't bother programming for unlikely events like ice on the roads.

    Or, indeed, unforeseen things like drunk driving, crash barriers and 18 wheelers across the road...

  10. Given the nature of how water treatment works everyone should be using a reverse osmosis (RO) system for their *drinking* water. .

    Whilst I agree, this doesn't help the environment. Birds, ducks, fish etc. don't have the luxury of finding a nice, portable RO system to carry around.

  11. Knowledge Navigator on Google Is Being Vague With Disclosure In Early Real-World Duplex Calls (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    This reminds me so much about John Sculley's Knowledge Navigator vanity project, which you can see here.

    Interesting execution of the concept; but like so many others here I hang up on a automated call.

  12. Re:Windows shouldn't be a service! on Latest Windows 10 Update Breaks Windows Media Player, Win32 Apps In General (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 2

    Windows just shouldn't be a service!

    Leave it alone and give us big big upgrades every couple of years.... That's fine and acceptable and what we're used to.

    The article goes into this. Remember the old advice of waiting until SP1 before upgrading? The exact same development failures that caused that advice are what is happening right now.

  13. Re:lol...Blind Signatures on Richard Stallman Criticizes Bitcoin, Touts a GNU Project Alternative (coindesk.com) · · Score: 1

    We have a hard deadline of 2023 before quantum computers can break pre-quantum algorithms with vary slightly modified versions of Shor's algorithm based on a decade-old linear trend in qubit count.

    Remember what happens when you extrapolate trends linearly? You fail. It's getting steeply harder to add more qubits, which is why we're not hearing about it happening every month or two.

    Obligatory XKCD

  14. Next, ads on the BSOD.

    Can you imagine?

    "Your graphics driver crashed. This is because your graphics card is too old. Click here to purchase the latest nVidia graphics card"

  15. Re:Or, just don't be stupid. on Why is Antivirus Software Still a Thing? (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Don't download from porn sites or from untrusted sources or anything from email that you weren't expecting from the sender. .

    You'll be fine.

    And that virus that comes from a rogue ad on a news site? I know it's rare, bu tit still happens.

  16. This is just another in a long string of reasons to slowly back away from google.

    Agreed... but to where? Bing search results have become dramatically worse in recent weeks. Yahoo... well, it uses Bing, so say no more. Duck Duck Go? Last time I used it, the results were all over the place.

  17. Re:No monopoly here. on Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off the Site (vice.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    there is no problem here, plenty of other places that guy can sell his things to those who like that stuff.

    Except there's not. Show me another online platform where a seller can ship a bulk load of good to a huge warehouse and have that platform take care of shipment and delivery. Amazon has a massive logistics infrastructure that sellers can take advantage of.

  18. Re:No monopoly here. on Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off the Site (vice.com) · · Score: 2

    Not quite... this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.

    We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.

    You're right: we're specifically talking about secondhand Apple computers. But the bigger picture is that Amazon specifically made a selling platform for people to sell anything. Heck; in TFA it says the guy ships his refurbs to an Amazon distribution facility to take advantage of their logistics. And so years after people set up these business, Amazon rips the entire thing from under their feet.

  19. Re:No monopoly here. on Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off the Site (vice.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These refurbished are free to set up their own storefront and sell their product. No one is owed the traffic that Amazon provides.

    This is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers.

    Not quite. Amazon has been pushing their platform for years as a safer alternative to eBay.

    To use your example, this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.

  20. Back Orifice on Ask Slashdot: What Happened To the Prank Apps That Used To Be Popular? · · Score: 1

    For true pranking, you couldn't go past Back Orifice. Your co-worker working on a seemingly important Word document? Kill Word. Does that person over there really need to be using IE right now? Nope? Zap.

    But the funniest prank I ever had using Back Orifice was to pop up a system request. I targeted a sales guy who did have a sense of fun and made a system message pop up telling him to to call my co-worker (who did IT support). I sent the message, and within seconds my co-worker's phone rang and they tried to troubleshoot this message. I let it got on for a few minutes, then sent another popup "Problem is resolved. Hang up now". My co-worker was then saying "Oh, so the computer is telling you to hang up now? Well, we better do that then." He hung up, spun around to me and said "I have no idea what just happened, but I KNOW you're at the center of this!". Of course, I fessed up straight away. We cleaned Back Orifice off the computers I had put it on and that was the end of it.

    That was a funny day in the office.

  21. Re:This highlights a critical issue within Apple. on Apple's AirPower Wireless Charger Is Facing Overheating Issues, Says Reports (cnbc.com) · · Score: 2

    ... and smartwatches are an expensive toy with minimal actual utility.

    Tell that to Jason Perlow. That "minimal actual utility" device probably saved his life. My wife's heart problems are easy to monitor with the Apple Watch, too. It's not a full-blown ECG, but she can get a sense of the prolonged QT interval she has.

  22. Do you remember the Halloween documents?

    The Halloween documents first came out 20 years ago.

    A lot can change in 20 years.

  23. Mercury - the metal, not the planet on FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory (popularmechanics.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I believe this has all been planned in advance:

    NMSU - SSOC Transition Plan

    There's probably less to this story than the conspiracy theorists would like to believe.

    The telescope sits on a liquid mercury bearing. From the linked document (p8):

    Further, the TCS contains significant risk in its older server motors, mercury float bearings, and control software. Regular inspection and
    maintenance is key to the longevity of the TCS. Fully documenting maintenance and risk, and implementing upgrades greatly reduces the risk associated with the TCS. As such, the telescope will be less expensive to operate, and much less liable to catastrophic failure. At minimum, the SSOC will require one telescope control engineer ready to assume full control and maintenance of the TCS in Oct 2018.

    So a mercury spill could be quite hazardous, and if you were of such a mind, that large amount of mercury could be an inviting target to steal.

  24. Re:Not the customer's fault anymore ? on Apple Recalls a Number of iPhone 8 Devices For Manufacturing Defect (digitaltrends.com) · · Score: 1

    It all part of apples new greedy scheme.
    1. Put a planned timed issue into their phones.
    2. Have a "small percentage" of user return their phones for "free"* repairs
    3. Whoops ; You have small hairline crack on your screen you are totally ok to live with? Sorry we have to repair that before for $300 before we can do the "free" repair.
    4. PROFIT!!!
    apple sure didnt get their money being honest or ethical.

    I see Alex Jones has found a new platform to create conspiracy theories!

  25. Re:Yawn on The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Jesus Christ, that place is a murder mystery waiting to happen.

    It seemed a day like any other, but the locals knew something was up. There was a small change in a place where change happens rarely, and it gradually dawned on people that the low, almost inaudible hum from the old mill was gone. Sam Jones, a local fisherman with time on his hands, made his way to the mill to see what was happening. The hundreds of yards of smashed computers first caught his attention, because these were the centerpiece of the mill now: cryptocurrency miners. The flashing lights and dull hums of their cooling fans masked their purpose: turning the energy generated by the adjacent dam into money. Every single one of those computers was now smashed in it's rack The second thing that caught Jones' eye was a shape in a darkened corner. Approaching the corner, Sam could see a man slumped in a chair. As he came close, Jones could see it was Kevin Day, the guy who breathed new life into the mill. Only he was dead, taped to this chair and his skull caved in by a blow from the baseball bat casually discarded on the floor. Recoiling from the sight, Jones almost tripped over a laptop on the floor. Only this laptop had been carefully taken apart and the hard drive removed, in strange contrast to the violence around him. Jones knew he had to get to a phone to call the local sheriff, three tows and 30 miles away. Whatever happened here had already happened a while ago.