Torvalds claims, somewhat exaggeratedly, that he did write the core of git in two weeks, and, for any software developer, it's easy to see that git is a far more valuable tool to developers than any of its predecessors. After initial issues with bad command-line tools and crappy mswin compatibility, I think there are few reasons to complain about git nowadays.
That's thinking as a developer. And git is great... if you're a developer.
But it's confusing if you're not - and it's even worse if you don't understand the underlying data model (i.e., how stuff is stored in git) because without understanding the internal data model, a lot of things become very strange.
Stuff like staging files for commits, for example - most other VCS stage files, and if you change the file later while it's stage, the updated version is automatically included. But with git, you have to re-add it to the staging index again. And it's possible to orphan changes if you're not careful.
Git's not perfect, the only real reason everyone's comfortable with it is well, you sorta grew with it and you forget about its idiosyncrasies. And the fact the developers have really fixed up the more confusing aspects of git to be simpler and less tricky to do. I still have issues with format-patch and am because if you fail to rebase your tree when merging branches, you can end up with duplicate patches - one from the branch, one from the merge into mainline.
The only thing BitKeeper has these days is its underlying data model is based on SCCS
We used BitKeeper at one point in time with our open-source products, but when they yanked all the free licenses away, we migrated to perforce We've since moved onto Git since that's what Android uses internally
But it's good that what's effectively a dead product is being open-sourced - BitKeeper was quite nice back in the day and they could've just died and abandoned it, but instead just letting it go open-source and hopefully someone will continue development. If not, someone will learn from it.
The CARRIERS decide who gets the updates and when.
True, but the manufacturers also are the ones to make it available.
I mean, Samsung makes a crap ton of phones - in 2014, they released on average 3 Android phones a week! (and a tablet a week, for completelness - it was something like 54 new tablets and 160-ish new phones). In 2015 they scaled it back somewhat. But the vast majority of phones will never get an update from Samsung - ever.
I mean, Samsung's pretty bad by themselves in software updates. You might get a few if it's a flagship phone which then get hung up by the carrier, but for the majority of phone models Samsung made, they get zilch beyond what was shipped.
For carriers to block an update, they need to have the update to begin with. If the manufacturer doesn't make them, then the carrier can't really do anything about that.
And you can bet the carriers will be next in line for questioning.
Just because the book is priced at $42 it does not mean that there is a demand for that book.
I don't even see where that's "cheap" - if it's $15 in the US, then that's a reasonable price. I certainly may buy it at $15, but I certainly won't at $42. Hell, I generally have to sit on books that cost over $10 for a little while. Yes, I can afford it, but if it's expensive I either budget it or I see if I really want it.
So if I find a $42 book too expensive, why would a poorer Ugandan find it cheaper?
This will only work for a while. You'll notice they released the app on a relatively small platform*. If they expand it beyond this eco system they'll have not valid way to keep the service going unless a third party pays for it and harvests user data. I can't see this living part a year.
* By small platform I mean install base. Theres just a ton more Android devices in use. They could have went with something like Firefox OS. But those platforms are no where near as mature or tightly controlled.
Not a small platform. Small in variance, maybe (most running the same OS), but large in traffic. In fact, I think 2015 was the year that Android mobile traffic FINALLY became the majority - despite Android outselling iOS 4:1 worldwide, iOS traffic was the majority.
So it's really a good testing scenario - small variance in platforms, large amount of potential traffic to test your servers with.
The question becomes - how is Opera paying for this? I can't see this being "free" unless it's paid for in some way. I mean normal VPN servers cost around $70 a year or so...
Why should people who live in populated areas subsidize the quality of Netflix for people who live in one-horse towns? Should we pay for people who live in the middle of nowhere to have eight-lane freeways and decent Chinese takeout?
Because the internet is more than just Netflix?
You may not believe it, but having high-speed internet is a boon for farmers who not only can participate in the real-time commodities market (to which they're supplying), but also obtain weather forecasts and other detailed information in real time so they can adjust how they work their fields to avoid wasting product and even precious resources like water.
Then there's applications like real-time GPS tracking and all sorts of other sensors and monitors.
Then when it's all said and done and the sun goes down, they can Netflix and chill until sunup and it all starts over again.
On the Wintel side, a lot of the cheapie Atom-based systems, even pretty new ones with 64-bit CPUs, shipped with 32-bit UEFI until quite recently(some still might, if so the OEMs need a brutal beating); so they will never, ever, support 64-bit Windows. Quite a few Win8/8.1 devices are in this boat and even some that shipped with Win10.
But it's not really a big problem, either because those cheap tablets only had 1-2GB of RAM. Installing 64-bit Windows doesn't get you much on a system that's not maxed out on RAM to begin with.
And there are plenty of recent systems that still use i486/i586 architecture - typically embedded systems. I had one which emulated a 486, and it was tricky enough getting Linux running on it since most of the distributions insisted on an i586 or higher. Managed to find one supporting i486 which booted and ran fine.
x86 compatible processors are a-plenty - there's more out there than Intel/AMD/Via
Just because you get it faster from amazon does not mean it will be fresh.
Many food items are kept in storage for months before they are shipped out from amazon and typically there is no way to know before buying which amazon seller has the freshest stock or even how long its been sitting there in stock. Chocolate does go bad and twizzlers over a month old are as tough as Goodyear tires.
This actually applies to other stuff as well - there are many products that actually do have an "expiry date" and just because it's on Amazon, doesn't mean it's actually all that recent.
I know I found a neat glow-in-the-dark hardhat on Amazon which I was going to use for a halloween costume. So I bought it, and the date on the hate was 2012. Now, this was fine for me (I'm not needing it for safety purposes), but I do know that hardhats need to be typically replaced after about 5 years, and being 2015, with a hate dated to 2912, well, I'd be pissed if I was using it for its intended purpose. (Heck, the bag it was packed in was already falling apart)
More specialty stores rotate their stock enough that it won't be more than a year old.
The question should be why are the tracker-blockers so broken that they can't block the trackers and make websites work?
I mean, the reason is the site uses AJAX or redirects that link through the tracker typically (which is why most sites break) before sending you onto the next page. The blocker should basically simulate this - except instead of talking to the tracker, it just redirects you to the next page.
Preventing tracking is not just blocking the trackers, but also either rewriting or substituting the tracking javascript so the sites still work...
Comic books aren't the best material for building reading skills. They're mostly composed of short two-to-three sentence snippets of dialogue, and children should be comfortable reading that sort of thing by the third grade. The next step is learning to read sentences with several dependent clauses, the kind that can stretch on for three or four lines, and you won't find those in comic books because they are simply too long to fit into speech bubbles. I'm not saying comics don't have meaningful and powerful plots -- they often do -- but the prose is simplistic as a result of the format.
Sure, they aren't material to build up your vocabulary and whatnot, but they reinforce the idea that you can read for fun. Reading is a fun activity, and while comics may not be the best imaginative material, they still can imagine the action leaping off the page.
It's like all the english teachers complaining about Harry Potter books ruining kids because they're not getting some aspect of learning done. You know what? Reading isn't all about learning - it's all about recreation. Sit down with a good book, normal or comic, and just enjoy the story and relax, unplug, unwind.
It's also something you can give a kid that doesn't involve a screen (if you don't use the digital comics - paper ones are still plentiful).
Reading is fun. The problem is school often makes reading a chore. If they want to sit down and read a comic, I say that's perfectly acceptable to me. If that comic transitions them to traditional books and novels, even better.
And yes, today's comics cover everything pop-culture. No longer are you limited to superheroes or Archies - there's a comic about everything you want. Nearly 10 years ago I wandered into a newly opened comic book store that was nearby and got hooked. It's why Comic-Con is now billed as a pop-culture thing and not just comic books, because comic books are pop-culture. Videogames, movies, etc., they all have a comic book tie-in nowadays.
Well, I mean the sale price of it was $1 for it. Yes, a dollar. Then it dropped to merely "recognition". Yes, all those accounts are yours if you simply give the guy credit.
At this point it's basically too good to be true - the list is basically free and all the guy wants is credit? I don't know about you, but when it's too good to be true...
Someone wants to make a name for themselves and just amalgamated w huge list probably from other public lists of breached emails and addresses.
Many times the process of doing it just because you can, comes up with many side effect results. I am wondering if the lessons learned to make an airplane fly around the world with solar, can have factors brought to the next generation fuel planes that are more efficient.
Exactly - it's how progress is done. The innovation isn't that it'll replace a 747 immediately, but with R&D, it might. Or it might fit itself in a new niche.
I mean, it's like saying airplanes are stupid when you see the Wright brother's 1903 example. The thing only flew a few meters. What, airplanes are completely pointless because anyone can walk farther than they can fly?
No, progress is made by refining the process. It flies a few meters first, then as you learn from it, you fly farther and farther until you can go halfway around the world.
Likewise, solar planes will likely not replace a 747, but they may replace balloons and satellites (which are extremely expensive).
There's a lot of research going on airships too - while not as fast as a plane, they have enormous cargo carrying capacity and can be launched inland, so if you have cargo that's not required to be there within a day, but can take a week or two, it's competitive with regular shipping (which usually takes a month), plus you don't need a port and trains/trucks to bring it inland.
Just because something isn't a perfect replacement for an existing piece of technology, doesn't make the development pointless.
Yes, iOS 7 was vulnerable to a very simple hardware hack:
No, there are easier hacks in iOS7 - there have been many lock screen hacks that let you in without consuming attempts on your passcode.
Just google for iOS7 lock screen bypasses and there's an ugly list of 3-4 different bugs. I believe even iOS 8 has similar lockscreen bypasses. Heck, even iOS9 had one using Siri until Apple fixed it server-side.
"Restrict App Store to MDM installed apps and software updates only":
Do you not need an OSX Server to do that though? Fewer people have those than have Windows 10 Enterprise licenses.
I mean even Microsoft has a very simple solution involving Active Directory and Windows 10 Enterprise licensing. Its there its just not cheap.
Yes, it does need OS X server, which since Mavericks is a $20 add on to OS X - OS X server is no longer a separate OS you install. Instead it's just an addon (which doesn't really add anything other than some really nice configuration utilities).
Or other MDM solution - Apple's is but just one to manage devicevs. The same server app can also be used to configure iOS devices for the enterprise as well.
I doubt Microsoft's Enterprise versions of Windows is merely a $20 addon to the existing OS... you probably h ave to install a special Server version of the OS.
Do they not realize that iOS devices don't have as much RAM as even Android phones? (iOS is more efficient with memory usage yes, but it does suffer from RAM limits on certain operations).
I mean, the latest have 2GB of RAM, but iOS also limits how much RAM an app can use...
Seriously, who holds ISIS as their top fear? The overwhelming majority of Americans will literally never be within a couple thousand miles of ISIS at any time in their lives. Yeah, ISIS is really really awful but their ability to actually harm people here in the states is so very close to zero that they might as well not exist. American citizens are more likely to be harmed by a chicken sandwich in most cases.
Neither is Snapchat, unless of course you can show me their "107 mph in city traffic" award. There are several places people can take their phone and go 107mph legally though. Just like there are several places you can take your Focus and drive 121MPH legally. In fact I am sure there are more places you can take the phone than the car.
it's not an award, it's a high score. Ford doesn't keep track of how fast you drive car. Snapchat does, and post it on your photo so you can brag about it to your followers.
To have Ford do the same would be to equip the car with a big display that shows how fast you were going to everyone around you, and post it online as a high score table per videogames. (Of course, I'm sure the government would love this - proof of speeding). And yes, idiots have been caught who post GoPro video showing them and then taping the speedometer and the road and posting it all on YouTube.
It's really about bragging "I was doing 107 when I took this photo, beat that!".
The whole reason for public access to a real quantum computer is to get experience with it. Quantum computing will never supplant classical computing for everything - it will be used when it is appropriate.
The problem is quantum computing is quite unlike classical computing, and experience with any form of it is limited to a very narrow population - those who can afford the power, cooling and other hardware necessary to run a quantum computer today. What IBM has done is to provide access - 5 qubits isn't a lot, but it's close to state of the art and it's extremely limited, which is a good thing if you want to try to wrap your head around it.
Chances are, IBM's trying to scout for talent as well as see what's possible - perhaps the next big thing to happen comes from someone messing around with the machine who otherwise wouldn't have gotten access to it. This could come in the form of improved algorithms, improved ways to increase stability, decrease errors, etc.
You're not running classical algorithms on it with defined results, you're really playing around trying to experience what quantum computing is like, and I'm sure IBM is doing it to broaden the field a little bit.
>destroying every advancement we've ever made in encryption by doing all of this
No. Just RSA and DH. Key sizes may need to double on some other algorithms.
And really, RSA and HD aren't falling yet because this thing is only 5 qubits. Both require extremely long keys in order to keep factorization a slow process.
This computer is too small to handle current recommended keys (RSA-2048+), and roughly speaking to break RSA you need an equivalently big quantum computer in order to factor those numbers.
It is extremely hard to add qubits to a quantum computer - that's the limiting factor right now. Each additional qubit takes excessively more power and cooling and shortens decoherence time (the amount of time you have to run your algorithm before it literally all falls apart).
I have never understood why anyone has ever used anything other than "public" on social networking, because the only safe thing is to assume that it's all public anyway.
Because Facebook is good at marketing.
The only reason you have privacy controls is because the illusion of privacy results in people giving up more information for you to harvest than if they didn't.
The adage of never posting online what you don't want the world to know has always been true (at least since the 80s, probably since earlier) but privacy controls are an illusion, one that people keep falling for.
Ever notice how all the "be safe online" tips always say to use privacy controls? None of them ever really say as the first step "don't post it online"
We'd better be careful as a society about slowly eroding the value of in-depth, not-yet-trending or popular journalism that creates significant public value, but is hard to recognize while it's being done.
The kind of respected journalism that takes time and effort to research and write, where the journalist/researcher/writer don't have the promise of instant reward, and maybe are facing significant personal risk to find the story that takes down an injustice, powerful person, or entrenched interest.
If you don't watch out diligently, the funneling of our popular consciousness through these most-votes-win, popular-for-today, let's-not-offend-anyone, feel-good-only channels will result in us becoming more and more of a stupidity contest where the fastest, easiest, cheap thrills and sugary taste wins and we have no cultural backbone worth respecting at all.
We're already there. It's been gone since Clinton was impeached. You see, back during the scandal, the news outlets knew about it. They were however doing due diligence and double checking their facts before posting what they were going to post.
But the internet really changed that - the Drudge Report knew the news outlets were sitting on it, and they decided to break it. And from that point on, news is generally broken first before the research is done and if necessary, a retraction issued. It doesn't matter now that the news makes sense or whatever - if it gets peoples eyeballs, it goes out immediately because the first person to do it gets the money. Doesn't matter the poor sap you accused was innocent as you can always issue a retraction later, even though no one will read it. Doing so protects you, and with your team of lawyers, you're unsuable.
Doesn't matter if you ruined the guy's life for good - it was news. If you don't have it the millisecond it comes out, you're too late.
It's partially why there is the demise of the newspaper - for they're usually the ones who know they're the last to the party, but they can provide the additional research and insight that TV news couldn't.
Of course, no one these days wants insight or research, just a quick sound bite.
If memory serves, they can do 10 months of military service, although some--typically conscientious objectors--apply for 12 months of civil service (e.g., working in a nursing home). Kind of a nice way of encouraging the next generation to constructively give back to their country.
Mandatory military service (or civil service) is just slavery by another name...
If you're telling me I must go "here" or "there" and do what you say, or you'll put me in prison, then I'm just a slave.
Didn't we abolish that a long time ago?
Only in the US. The US, Canada and a few other countries are oddballs in that their military is strictly voluntary.
Most other countries have a mandatory "National Service" type program where the moment you graduate from high school, you're in boot camp. Or other service, depending on physical ability.
It's not complete slavery - you are paid the standard recruit rate, and it's somewhat useful as you learn how to survive and all that. (And I wish in the US they would make it a part of high-school, how to handle a weapon, because there's way too much ignorance on both sides about guns, and if we teach everyone how to safely handle guns, the US would be a lot better. Of course, gun control advocates hate it for proliferating gun usage, gun nuts hate it because it shows people sensible ways to use guns and sane ways to store them and handle them...).
Of course, in many countries, it's not equal - if you're female, you're free do anything after high school, while if you're male, you're forced to take a year or two off for this.
It's why you hear about how every Swiss citizen has a gun - they got it during their national service.
And when we have no home no job no doctor. We will just hang at your place and go head and call the cops the jail will give us room and board + a doctor.
And that's why when you hear anyone spout "responsibility" or "no more handouts", it's really code for "I'm rich, f**k you, lower my taxes".
Because welfare and other programs, yes, they are handouts, but they also try to keep people on the straight and narrow and try to help them stay on the right side of the law.
Cut them off, and they still need to eat - it's not like they're going to find a job because you cut them off (assuming they can hold a job). Instead of buying their food, they're just going to steal it. And steal everything else they need. Throw them in jail? Well, good for them.
It's just that while the rich lower their taxes by cutting them off, we end up paying for it still. The stores have to make up for the stolen goods, damaged stores, etc, so prices start rising in general. The poor get health care by ER, which is the most expensive health care around (seriously - if you could give them access to a doctor's clinic, you can save so much money - treatment by ER costs double to triple what a doctors office would charge), so we all pay in increased health care costs because they're using the most expensive form of health care we can provide. And then there's the whole justice thing - courts, police, jails, etc., taxes go up so we can house them. It costs over $100K per prisoner per year. And that doesn't even include intangible costs like the degradation of society.
Of course, the rich save because they don't live in areas that have to deal with these issues.
So it doesn't matter if you want to preach "responsibility" - you're not going to save money. Sure you save on your taxes, but you'll pay for it everywhere else. Sure it doesn't show up under a neat little line item, but that's just because it gets added up under a bunch of different other line items.
They need a new mac pro tower (the new one sucks and they are at risk of losing a big part of the creative market) and better laptops (stop going for thin)
Define "need".
Because the Mac Pro, along with the Mac Mini, are the worst selling Macs in the entire lineup. And not because they're several years old - even the towers were poor sellers, and even when it was new and hot and fairly competitive it was still h0-hum sales.
It's one of the reasons they could afford to build it all in the US - it probably only sells in the US to any significant degree, and quantities are low enough that they can just hire some local CM to make a run of 10,000 to last the year.
The only reason they keep it alive is because of the professionals who demand they have something for them. And they probably only update it when they start demanding that their company is needing to replace them as it's part of the 3 year upgrade cycle.
Specifically fundamental parts being serviceable! RAM, M.2 SSD, and the battery should be replaceable post warranty expiration; especially for the high cost of the laptop in the first place.
The battery is replaceable post-warranty. Apple has a battery replacement program for all their laptops (and really, $200 is quite reasonable when replacement batteries generally cost $100-150 for most laptops - not NOS crap, but new) or do it yourself, which only requires the skill in finding an appropriate screwdriver. (If you can't figure out where to get such a screwdriver, you don't have the skills to replace the battery. It's not a tall barrier, but it's enough of one to keep Joe Average with a butter knife from wrecking his laptop).
The only negative I can see is that you'd want to remain buckled in, even with a self-driving car. So it wouldn't be very safe, but you know......
Hard to believe, but it's already happening *now*. Yes, people are driving and having sex at the same time (massively distracted driving). And yes, it includes those who are going solo, as well as couples.
The main reason we're even contemplating self driving cars is because you can bet at least 90% of the driving public (in North America at least) doesn't give a damn about driving. It's a chore they have to endure and would rather be doing anything other than driving. And it can be quite boring. Even worse, there's no alternative - you can't say "get off the road" because they still need to get around and in many places, the only way is by car.
Banks pay IBM millions of dollars for hardware with guaranteed support and parts availability for 30-40 years following the purchase. The costs for those annual support contracts amount to millions more. And then there's the paid services for installation, migration, and integration when it does come time to replace their kit. What banks don't do, is run mission-critical applications on consumer laptops, no matter how new or old it is. If this story were about a bank running on a 20-year old s/390 or even a 30-year old s/370, no one would bat an eye. A 20-year old Compaq? I'd be scared to breathe on the thing, lest a part falls off and catches on fire.
Actually, banks lease the hardware from IBM - IBM doesn't really sell you the hardware. For that money, the hardware is guaranteed to work. IBM would come around and do periodic maintenance, and when the hardware is so obsolete that they need to change it out, they'll change it out without your processes skipping a beat or having to recompile. (the ISA's been the same for decades). Like I said, they pay IBM big bucks to keep it up, and IBM will service and support it for decades - keep paying the rather high fees and they'll keep servicing your machine.
IBM's made a name for doing that and for being able to keep the same code running without recompiling. (In fact, they could be the first to actually inventing the ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) that separates the machine code from the actual hardware running it).
I wouldn't say McLaren is lacking in the IT dept, they have extremely advanced systems including proper super computers at their facilities for deaigning cars as well as for real-time info they provide back to their F1 team. They just spend their money where it needs to be spent instead of worrying about shiny new rigs to support a handful of cars they sold decades ago. Seems reasonable to me.
Except that people who buy McLaren F1s generally aren't using them to go from point A to point B. The McLarens are rather niche cars and fairly expensive as well (seven figures new). So the owners demand some level of support to keep it running, and they expect it.
In fact, they were one of the first with a modem you plug into the car and a phone line, and it calls home and reports its status to McLaren. (You actually get a whole toolbox of tools with the car, actually).
In fact, a car of this nature doesn't have spare parts - they generally manufacture new ones when they need a replacement, and it doesn't ever really "go out of support". Compared to regular cars, there aren't that many F1s on the road, and the ones that are, are owned by people who take care of their vehicles and expect for something so expensive to be serviced by that company.
Hell, even a Ferrari isn't a Ferrari unless it's serviced by a Ferrari licensed mechanic who not only upholds the precision of the work, but also the parts- given people are fastidious about the things. Even if you total it, it can be rebuilt with a lot of time, money and effort to bring it back to factory specs and recertified.
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That's thinking as a developer. And git is great... if you're a developer.
But it's confusing if you're not - and it's even worse if you don't understand the underlying data model (i.e., how stuff is stored in git) because without understanding the internal data model, a lot of things become very strange.
Stuff like staging files for commits, for example - most other VCS stage files, and if you change the file later while it's stage, the updated version is automatically included. But with git, you have to re-add it to the staging index again. And it's possible to orphan changes if you're not careful.
Git's not perfect, the only real reason everyone's comfortable with it is well, you sorta grew with it and you forget about its idiosyncrasies. And the fact the developers have really fixed up the more confusing aspects of git to be simpler and less tricky to do. I still have issues with format-patch and am because if you fail to rebase your tree when merging branches, you can end up with duplicate patches - one from the branch, one from the merge into mainline.
The only thing BitKeeper has these days is its underlying data model is based on SCCS
We used BitKeeper at one point in time with our open-source products, but when they yanked all the free licenses away, we migrated to perforce We've since moved onto Git since that's what Android uses internally
But it's good that what's effectively a dead product is being open-sourced - BitKeeper was quite nice back in the day and they could've just died and abandoned it, but instead just letting it go open-source and hopefully someone will continue development. If not, someone will learn from it.
True, but the manufacturers also are the ones to make it available.
I mean, Samsung makes a crap ton of phones - in 2014, they released on average 3 Android phones a week! (and a tablet a week, for completelness - it was something like 54 new tablets and 160-ish new phones). In 2015 they scaled it back somewhat. But the vast majority of phones will never get an update from Samsung - ever.
I mean, Samsung's pretty bad by themselves in software updates. You might get a few if it's a flagship phone which then get hung up by the carrier, but for the majority of phone models Samsung made, they get zilch beyond what was shipped.
For carriers to block an update, they need to have the update to begin with. If the manufacturer doesn't make them, then the carrier can't really do anything about that.
And you can bet the carriers will be next in line for questioning.
I don't even see where that's "cheap" - if it's $15 in the US, then that's a reasonable price. I certainly may buy it at $15, but I certainly won't at $42. Hell, I generally have to sit on books that cost over $10 for a little while. Yes, I can afford it, but if it's expensive I either budget it or I see if I really want it.
So if I find a $42 book too expensive, why would a poorer Ugandan find it cheaper?
Not a small platform. Small in variance, maybe (most running the same OS), but large in traffic. In fact, I think 2015 was the year that Android mobile traffic FINALLY became the majority - despite Android outselling iOS 4:1 worldwide, iOS traffic was the majority.
So it's really a good testing scenario - small variance in platforms, large amount of potential traffic to test your servers with.
The question becomes - how is Opera paying for this? I can't see this being "free" unless it's paid for in some way. I mean normal VPN servers cost around $70 a year or so...
Because the internet is more than just Netflix?
You may not believe it, but having high-speed internet is a boon for farmers who not only can participate in the real-time commodities market (to which they're supplying), but also obtain weather forecasts and other detailed information in real time so they can adjust how they work their fields to avoid wasting product and even precious resources like water.
Then there's applications like real-time GPS tracking and all sorts of other sensors and monitors.
Then when it's all said and done and the sun goes down, they can Netflix and chill until sunup and it all starts over again.
But it's not really a big problem, either because those cheap tablets only had 1-2GB of RAM. Installing 64-bit Windows doesn't get you much on a system that's not maxed out on RAM to begin with.
And there are plenty of recent systems that still use i486/i586 architecture - typically embedded systems. I had one which emulated a 486, and it was tricky enough getting Linux running on it since most of the distributions insisted on an i586 or higher. Managed to find one supporting i486 which booted and ran fine.
x86 compatible processors are a-plenty - there's more out there than Intel/AMD/Via
I thought it was level 256, for obvious reasons (the level counter wrapped so there was no actual level 0).
This actually applies to other stuff as well - there are many products that actually do have an "expiry date" and just because it's on Amazon, doesn't mean it's actually all that recent.
I know I found a neat glow-in-the-dark hardhat on Amazon which I was going to use for a halloween costume. So I bought it, and the date on the hate was 2012. Now, this was fine for me (I'm not needing it for safety purposes), but I do know that hardhats need to be typically replaced after about 5 years, and being 2015, with a hate dated to 2912, well, I'd be pissed if I was using it for its intended purpose. (Heck, the bag it was packed in was already falling apart)
More specialty stores rotate their stock enough that it won't be more than a year old.
The question should be why are the tracker-blockers so broken that they can't block the trackers and make websites work?
I mean, the reason is the site uses AJAX or redirects that link through the tracker typically (which is why most sites break) before sending you onto the next page. The blocker should basically simulate this - except instead of talking to the tracker, it just redirects you to the next page.
Preventing tracking is not just blocking the trackers, but also either rewriting or substituting the tracking javascript so the sites still work...
Sure, they aren't material to build up your vocabulary and whatnot, but they reinforce the idea that you can read for fun. Reading is a fun activity, and while comics may not be the best imaginative material, they still can imagine the action leaping off the page.
It's like all the english teachers complaining about Harry Potter books ruining kids because they're not getting some aspect of learning done. You know what? Reading isn't all about learning - it's all about recreation. Sit down with a good book, normal or comic, and just enjoy the story and relax, unplug, unwind.
It's also something you can give a kid that doesn't involve a screen (if you don't use the digital comics - paper ones are still plentiful).
Reading is fun. The problem is school often makes reading a chore. If they want to sit down and read a comic, I say that's perfectly acceptable to me. If that comic transitions them to traditional books and novels, even better.
And yes, today's comics cover everything pop-culture. No longer are you limited to superheroes or Archies - there's a comic about everything you want. Nearly 10 years ago I wandered into a newly opened comic book store that was nearby and got hooked. It's why Comic-Con is now billed as a pop-culture thing and not just comic books, because comic books are pop-culture. Videogames, movies, etc., they all have a comic book tie-in nowadays.
Well, I mean the sale price of it was $1 for it. Yes, a dollar. Then it dropped to merely "recognition". Yes, all those accounts are yours if you simply give the guy credit.
At this point it's basically too good to be true - the list is basically free and all the guy wants is credit? I don't know about you, but when it's too good to be true...
Someone wants to make a name for themselves and just amalgamated w huge list probably from other public lists of breached emails and addresses.
Exactly - it's how progress is done. The innovation isn't that it'll replace a 747 immediately, but with R&D, it might. Or it might fit itself in a new niche.
I mean, it's like saying airplanes are stupid when you see the Wright brother's 1903 example. The thing only flew a few meters. What, airplanes are completely pointless because anyone can walk farther than they can fly?
No, progress is made by refining the process. It flies a few meters first, then as you learn from it, you fly farther and farther until you can go halfway around the world.
Likewise, solar planes will likely not replace a 747, but they may replace balloons and satellites (which are extremely expensive).
There's a lot of research going on airships too - while not as fast as a plane, they have enormous cargo carrying capacity and can be launched inland, so if you have cargo that's not required to be there within a day, but can take a week or two, it's competitive with regular shipping (which usually takes a month), plus you don't need a port and trains/trucks to bring it inland.
Just because something isn't a perfect replacement for an existing piece of technology, doesn't make the development pointless.
No, there are easier hacks in iOS7 - there have been many lock screen hacks that let you in without consuming attempts on your passcode.
Just google for iOS7 lock screen bypasses and there's an ugly list of 3-4 different bugs. I believe even iOS 8 has similar lockscreen bypasses. Heck, even iOS9 had one using Siri until Apple fixed it server-side.
Yes, it does need OS X server, which since Mavericks is a $20 add on to OS X - OS X server is no longer a separate OS you install. Instead it's just an addon (which doesn't really add anything other than some really nice configuration utilities).
Or other MDM solution - Apple's is but just one to manage devicevs. The same server app can also be used to configure iOS devices for the enterprise as well.
I doubt Microsoft's Enterprise versions of Windows is merely a $20 addon to the existing OS... you probably h ave to install a special Server version of the OS.
Do they not realize that iOS devices don't have as much RAM as even Android phones? (iOS is more efficient with memory usage yes, but it does suffer from RAM limits on certain operations).
I mean, the latest have 2GB of RAM, but iOS also limits how much RAM an app can use...
Well, *someone* has to be voting for Trump...
it's not an award, it's a high score. Ford doesn't keep track of how fast you drive car. Snapchat does, and post it on your photo so you can brag about it to your followers.
To have Ford do the same would be to equip the car with a big display that shows how fast you were going to everyone around you, and post it online as a high score table per videogames. (Of course, I'm sure the government would love this - proof of speeding). And yes, idiots have been caught who post GoPro video showing them and then taping the speedometer and the road and posting it all on YouTube.
It's really about bragging "I was doing 107 when I took this photo, beat that!".
The whole reason for public access to a real quantum computer is to get experience with it. Quantum computing will never supplant classical computing for everything - it will be used when it is appropriate.
The problem is quantum computing is quite unlike classical computing, and experience with any form of it is limited to a very narrow population - those who can afford the power, cooling and other hardware necessary to run a quantum computer today. What IBM has done is to provide access - 5 qubits isn't a lot, but it's close to state of the art and it's extremely limited, which is a good thing if you want to try to wrap your head around it.
Chances are, IBM's trying to scout for talent as well as see what's possible - perhaps the next big thing to happen comes from someone messing around with the machine who otherwise wouldn't have gotten access to it. This could come in the form of improved algorithms, improved ways to increase stability, decrease errors, etc.
You're not running classical algorithms on it with defined results, you're really playing around trying to experience what quantum computing is like, and I'm sure IBM is doing it to broaden the field a little bit.
And really, RSA and HD aren't falling yet because this thing is only 5 qubits. Both require extremely long keys in order to keep factorization a slow process.
This computer is too small to handle current recommended keys (RSA-2048+), and roughly speaking to break RSA you need an equivalently big quantum computer in order to factor those numbers.
It is extremely hard to add qubits to a quantum computer - that's the limiting factor right now. Each additional qubit takes excessively more power and cooling and shortens decoherence time (the amount of time you have to run your algorithm before it literally all falls apart).
Because Facebook is good at marketing.
The only reason you have privacy controls is because the illusion of privacy results in people giving up more information for you to harvest than if they didn't.
The adage of never posting online what you don't want the world to know has always been true (at least since the 80s, probably since earlier) but privacy controls are an illusion, one that people keep falling for.
Ever notice how all the "be safe online" tips always say to use privacy controls? None of them ever really say as the first step "don't post it online"
We're already there. It's been gone since Clinton was impeached. You see, back during the scandal, the news outlets knew about it. They were however doing due diligence and double checking their facts before posting what they were going to post.
But the internet really changed that - the Drudge Report knew the news outlets were sitting on it, and they decided to break it. And from that point on, news is generally broken first before the research is done and if necessary, a retraction issued. It doesn't matter now that the news makes sense or whatever - if it gets peoples eyeballs, it goes out immediately because the first person to do it gets the money. Doesn't matter the poor sap you accused was innocent as you can always issue a retraction later, even though no one will read it. Doing so protects you, and with your team of lawyers, you're unsuable.
Doesn't matter if you ruined the guy's life for good - it was news. If you don't have it the millisecond it comes out, you're too late.
It's partially why there is the demise of the newspaper - for they're usually the ones who know they're the last to the party, but they can provide the additional research and insight that TV news couldn't.
Of course, no one these days wants insight or research, just a quick sound bite.
Only in the US. The US, Canada and a few other countries are oddballs in that their military is strictly voluntary.
Most other countries have a mandatory "National Service" type program where the moment you graduate from high school, you're in boot camp. Or other service, depending on physical ability.
It's not complete slavery - you are paid the standard recruit rate, and it's somewhat useful as you learn how to survive and all that. (And I wish in the US they would make it a part of high-school, how to handle a weapon, because there's way too much ignorance on both sides about guns, and if we teach everyone how to safely handle guns, the US would be a lot better. Of course, gun control advocates hate it for proliferating gun usage, gun nuts hate it because it shows people sensible ways to use guns and sane ways to store them and handle them...).
Of course, in many countries, it's not equal - if you're female, you're free do anything after high school, while if you're male, you're forced to take a year or two off for this.
It's why you hear about how every Swiss citizen has a gun - they got it during their national service.
And that's why when you hear anyone spout "responsibility" or "no more handouts", it's really code for "I'm rich, f**k you, lower my taxes".
Because welfare and other programs, yes, they are handouts, but they also try to keep people on the straight and narrow and try to help them stay on the right side of the law.
Cut them off, and they still need to eat - it's not like they're going to find a job because you cut them off (assuming they can hold a job). Instead of buying their food, they're just going to steal it. And steal everything else they need. Throw them in jail? Well, good for them.
It's just that while the rich lower their taxes by cutting them off, we end up paying for it still. The stores have to make up for the stolen goods, damaged stores, etc, so prices start rising in general. The poor get health care by ER, which is the most expensive health care around (seriously - if you could give them access to a doctor's clinic, you can save so much money - treatment by ER costs double to triple what a doctors office would charge), so we all pay in increased health care costs because they're using the most expensive form of health care we can provide. And then there's the whole justice thing - courts, police, jails, etc., taxes go up so we can house them. It costs over $100K per prisoner per year. And that doesn't even include intangible costs like the degradation of society.
Of course, the rich save because they don't live in areas that have to deal with these issues.
So it doesn't matter if you want to preach "responsibility" - you're not going to save money. Sure you save on your taxes, but you'll pay for it everywhere else. Sure it doesn't show up under a neat little line item, but that's just because it gets added up under a bunch of different other line items.
Define "need".
Because the Mac Pro, along with the Mac Mini, are the worst selling Macs in the entire lineup. And not because they're several years old - even the towers were poor sellers, and even when it was new and hot and fairly competitive it was still h0-hum sales.
It's one of the reasons they could afford to build it all in the US - it probably only sells in the US to any significant degree, and quantities are low enough that they can just hire some local CM to make a run of 10,000 to last the year.
The only reason they keep it alive is because of the professionals who demand they have something for them. And they probably only update it when they start demanding that their company is needing to replace them as it's part of the 3 year upgrade cycle.
The battery is replaceable post-warranty. Apple has a battery replacement program for all their laptops (and really, $200 is quite reasonable when replacement batteries generally cost $100-150 for most laptops - not NOS crap, but new) or do it yourself, which only requires the skill in finding an appropriate screwdriver. (If you can't figure out where to get such a screwdriver, you don't have the skills to replace the battery. It's not a tall barrier, but it's enough of one to keep Joe Average with a butter knife from wrecking his laptop).
Hard to believe, but it's already happening *now*. Yes, people are driving and having sex at the same time (massively distracted driving). And yes, it includes those who are going solo, as well as couples.
The main reason we're even contemplating self driving cars is because you can bet at least 90% of the driving public (in North America at least) doesn't give a damn about driving. It's a chore they have to endure and would rather be doing anything other than driving. And it can be quite boring. Even worse, there's no alternative - you can't say "get off the road" because they still need to get around and in many places, the only way is by car.
Actually, banks lease the hardware from IBM - IBM doesn't really sell you the hardware. For that money, the hardware is guaranteed to work. IBM would come around and do periodic maintenance, and when the hardware is so obsolete that they need to change it out, they'll change it out without your processes skipping a beat or having to recompile. (the ISA's been the same for decades). Like I said, they pay IBM big bucks to keep it up, and IBM will service and support it for decades - keep paying the rather high fees and they'll keep servicing your machine.
IBM's made a name for doing that and for being able to keep the same code running without recompiling. (In fact, they could be the first to actually inventing the ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) that separates the machine code from the actual hardware running it).
Except that people who buy McLaren F1s generally aren't using them to go from point A to point B. The McLarens are rather niche cars and fairly expensive as well (seven figures new). So the owners demand some level of support to keep it running, and they expect it.
In fact, they were one of the first with a modem you plug into the car and a phone line, and it calls home and reports its status to McLaren. (You actually get a whole toolbox of tools with the car, actually).
In fact, a car of this nature doesn't have spare parts - they generally manufacture new ones when they need a replacement, and it doesn't ever really "go out of support". Compared to regular cars, there aren't that many F1s on the road, and the ones that are, are owned by people who take care of their vehicles and expect for something so expensive to be serviced by that company.
Hell, even a Ferrari isn't a Ferrari unless it's serviced by a Ferrari licensed mechanic who not only upholds the precision of the work, but also the parts- given people are fastidious about the things. Even if you total it, it can be rebuilt with a lot of time, money and effort to bring it back to factory specs and recertified.