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User: dsoodak

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  1. Much better news than I expected on New US Customs Guidelines Limit Copying Files and Searching Cloud Data (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    At first, I thought "New US Customs Guidelines Limit Copying Files and Searching Cloud Data" meant they were going to try to make it illegal to load data from the cloud onto your computer that wasn't there already when you passed through customs.

  2. I think Samsung is just patent trolling on Samsung Patent Describes Holographic TV Technology (consumerist.com) · · Score: 1

    The difficult part of making a holographic display is the "transmissive light spatial modulator", as its referred to in the patent application. Since the patent tries to cover any conceivable device that would have this functionality, it is unlikely that they know how to make one themselves. Most of the main "innovations" are things which I realized after a couple of days thought on the subject (with just an undergraduate physics degree and no professional experience), so I can only imagine that they are so obvious to an actual expert in the field that they are not even worth mentioning.

  3. not the time travel you are thinking of on Physicists Confirm a Pear-Shaped Nucleus, and It Could Ruin Time Travel Forever (sciencealert.com) · · Score: 1

    A particle traveling forwards in time is (before this research, anyway) mathematically identical to an anti-particle traveling backwards in the time dimension. Historically, we've assumed that you could reverse all the velocities of the particles in a system and it would behave exactly as if time was going in the opposite direction. Showing that this is no longer strictly true does not necessarily mean that the universe doesn't consist of a 4D chunk of space-time which you could travel though using magical technology and make changes which propagate forward according to rules that are just vague enough to prevent infinite recursion. However, not too many people know how significant an exception to time-symmetry is, so I guess they have to make do with the closest widely understood concept. I wouldn't find this so annoying if it weren't for the fact that there are many fields of science which I don't know enough about to know to what extent they are getting creative with the press releases.

  4. beware of unexpected expenses on Another Crowd-funded Drone Project Collapses (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    This is just as much a cautionary tale for those thinking of RUNNING a crowd-funded project as it is for people buying into one. I wrote the libraries for an arduino-based robot where the engineering wasn't too complicated (an accelerometer, gyro, piezo, IR sensing/com, charging circuit, 2 motor PWM circuits, & half a dozen neopixel LEDs), and there were already 4 fully functional prototypes before the Kickstarter even began. However, it still ended up costing at least 50% more than expected to manufacture each unit.

  5. they just have to change their business model on Utilities Battle Homeowners Over Solar Power · · Score: 1

    I don't have much to add myself, but a friend who has worked closely with utility companies (both ones who primarily produce and which mostly distribute power) and he said there wasn't any reason they couldn't make just as much money from people's personal solar (or other) generators, but that they would have to change their business model. He said it wasn't likely unless they were paid to (via government incentives) or if the existing companies went out of business and were replaced by new ones that were prepared to deal with the changing marketplace.

  6. Have there been any useful improvements? on Apple's iPod Classic Refuses To Die · · Score: 1

    80 gig hard drive, 12 hour battery life, and you can work the controls by touch. Last time I checked, the IPod Touch didn't have any advantages except apps, so there isn't much point if you already have a data phone.

  7. good for science, not so good for privacy on Photon Pair Coupled in Glass Fiber · · Score: 1

    The most immediate effect is to make it easier to investigate some of the more esoteric predictions of QM. With this and similar components you could also potentially build an optical general purpose quantum computer (the ones on the market are not general purpose), which would finally make things like exact computational chemistry possible, but unfortunately would also make public key encryption obsolete (though AES will only have to double in key length). It could also be used to make quantum cryptography (which isn't actually necessary unless we have quantum computers, though I sometimes wonder if someone like the NSA has already has already put together spectacularly bulky and expensive versions with current technology). As pointed out in another post, we would also need to upgrade our fiber optic communication hardware so for a while we might be in a situation where only large corporate and government interests will be able to afford it.

  8. Wish the US had this sort of policy on China Plans To Build a Domestic Robotics Industry · · Score: 1

    First China comes out with a plan to boost their higher education & research, then their solar power industry, space program, and now robotics. Meanwhile, OUR government's plans seem to mainly consist of which country to invade next (which wouldn't be so bad if we actually got the cheap oil the voters were implicitly promised) while protecting and bailing out incompetent and/or obsolete industries.

  9. Tentative summary on Researchers At Brown University Shattered a Quantum Wave Function · · Score: 1

    That's pretty much the way I understand it. This is exciting enough so that I am going to read through the full published article. If true (can't wait for others to try to reproduce it), then one of the stranger things implied is that while in a superposition of different positions, other particles feel the electron's field not just in proportion to 1/r^2 but also in proportion to its probability amplitude of being in that particular position at all. It also seems to provide a way around the "decoherence means you can't test for observation anyway" excuse for ignoring the weirder parts of QM.

  10. Yay...more methane ice can be melted! on Cause of Global Warming 'Hiatus' Found Deep In the Atlantic · · Score: 1
  11. Is this a troll article? on The Computer Security Threat From Ultrasonic Networks · · Score: 1

    As one person commented when the last version of this went around, the sound card hardware or driver would have to have something like a TCP/IP stack built in to the microphone input. In other words, the only way a computer would be vulnerable is if it already has an ultrasonic communication feature installed. The only way I can see this happening is possibly at the behest of a certain agency which has a history of covertly installing security vulnerabilities, but they would probably just put it in the WiFi.

  12. argument seems circular on P vs. NP Problem Linked To the Quantum Nature of the Universe · · Score: 1

    I only read through the summary at https://medium.com/the-physics... but it seems like he is implicitly assuming that the universe is (or is equivalent to) a simulation running on a classical computer.

  13. Simple solution: 1 second increments on Adaptation From Flash Boys Offers Inside Look at High-Frequency Trading · · Score: 1

    Have the servers record all trading requests for the last 1000ms in encrypted form, then do all the trades at once. There are almost no real-world economic factors (ie sales, storms, new patents, employees hired/fired, etc.) that happen even this fast, so the only people who would complain are those who make money specifically from high speed trading games.

  14. how can they use the stolen username on Developer Loses Single-Letter Twitter Handle Through Extortion · · Score: 1

    Maybe I just don't know enough about how law works in this area, but it seems like everyone now knows that "@N" is stolen. What can the hacker do except post "hey, I'm the anonymous person who stole this account"? Is it legal to buy a stolen Twitter account? Can't he just contact the company and get it back? If regular identity theft worked this way then you'd get police saying "sorry sir, but he has your name, SS, and DOB, so he can now use your identity in any way he wants"

  15. he does have a point, but maybe goes too far on Why Standard Deviation Should Be Retired From Scientific Use · · Score: 1

    I agree that mathematicians may become imprinted on standard deviation and forget that it is only used because it is easier to work with than average absolute deviation (ex: the derivative of x^2 is continuous, unlike abs(x)), and that less technically inclined readers might not realize there is a difference. However, they ARE usually pretty close (I don't have a reference, but I once ran a simulation comparing the 2 using random data with a Gaussian distribution and the curves matched exactly), and its harder to find exact solutions with average absolute deviation. On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to use "MAD" occasionally on a data set to make sure that the standard deviation gives results that are meaningful as a measure of "deviation".

  16. Using labview compiler for FPGA on Ask Slashdot: How Many (Electronics) Gates Is That Software Algorithm? · · Score: 1

    Haven't done this myself, but you can evidently run Labview programs ("virtual instruments") on some FPGA chips. You'd have a good estimate (plus an actual digital circuit) if you translated your code to labview (I believe the actual language is called "G") and found a copy of the add-on which turns this into verilog. -- Dustin

  17. RTOS on the chip that controls wireless, etc. on CyanogenMod Integrates Text Message Encryption · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There was an article posted on either slashdot or boingboing which linked to the following: http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/attachments/2022_11-ccc-qcombbdbg.pdf Summary: the (usually) proprietary firmware on the chip that controls real-time functions such as wireless communication (which requires so many different standards to be adhered to that it ends up being a real mess and rarely rewritten) is surprisingly easy to hack. I believe there was a quote that you could get remote code execution after sending it a string of less than 100 bytes. It also mentioned that the chip with the main OS is often a slave to the one with the RTOS. Just curious if anyone knows if CyanogenMod accounts for this particular type of security vulnerability.

  18. real reason people are afraid of life extension on Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One · · Score: 1

    Exponential population growth is still happening regardless of lifespans, and genetic evolution will continue as soon as someone figures out how to use something like a retrovirus to make changes to an adult's DNA. I suspect that one of the main psychological reasons for resistance to life extension technology is the fear that you will be expected to stay alive after you are bored with life. Dustin p.s. and there is always the attachment to traditional personality traits/programs which are generally optimized to give short-term competitive advantage at the expense of safety and long term physical and mental health.

  19. Re:modern mummies on The Cryonics Institute Offers a Chance at Immortality (Video) · · Score: 1

    sorry about the anonymous comment of same name...didn't realize I wasn't logged in.

  20. modern mummies on The Cryonics Institute Offers a Chance at Immortality (Video) · · Score: 1

    If you think about it, the reasons are pretty much the same. They probably would even have used cryogenic technology (possibly with a long-half-life nuclear battery) if it was available