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Comments · 131

  1. Re:Load the drivers on Google Demos Modular Phone That (Almost) Actually Works · · Score: 2

    maybe ok for baseline drivers.
    But what if I plug in a three year old module to my new phone.
    It wants to load old drivers incompatible with current OS revision.

    Better to load a device ID of some sort and let the phone go get the proper drivers from a signed website

  2. Re:Boobies? on CMU System Lets You Get To the Good Parts of Video, Fast · · Score: 1
  3. Re:Does it work on movies? on CMU System Lets You Get To the Good Parts of Video, Fast · · Score: 1

    More than movies, Football and Soccer games and who could leave out porn in a discussion of this nature.

  4. Can't have researched competitors much on Fuel 3-D Claims to be a High-Res, Point and Shoot 3-D Scanner (Video) · · Score: 4, Informative

    we are not aware of any of these handheld systems that collect color data in addition to 3D geometry.

    http://www.creaform3d.com/en/t...

    http://www.artec3d.com/hardwar...

    http://www.vorum.com/english/p...

    I am sure there are others.
    Having used all three of the above linked devices, the key is in the software. The hardware is but a small piece of the puzzle.

  5. Re:Bamboo Bicycle on Is Bamboo the Next Carbon Fibre? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having seen the bamboo scaffolding in both Hong Kong and China first-hand, the bigger issue (from my point of view) is not the energy absorption, but rather the assembly / erection. Unlike steel scaffolding the has a defined assembly, bamboo tends to be assembled by lashing together the various bits with inconsistent amounts of rope, twine or those plastic packing strips.

    The problem here is that you are at the mercy (moreso) of he who assembled the scaffolding. If they were cheap or in a hurry things may fall apart. I was in Hong Kong during a severe wind storm around 5 years ago. It was bad enough that on the news they were advising ALL residents of all of Hong Kong to stay inside unless urgent.

    Several sets of scaffolding fell down during that storm.

  6. Re:Or you'd read up about composite materials firs on Is Bamboo the Next Carbon Fibre? · · Score: 1

    re:
    "you need to make thicker strands of glass to make the fibers strong enough to not break"

    Not so far as I recall.

    Because Glass is an inherently brittle substance, the way you overcome this is by making many more SMALLER strands.
    That way you can remove the defective ones more easily during manufacture. That is in fact the whole principle of fiberglass.

    A single cylinder of glass will crack starting at a defect and working it's way out ... a cylinder the size of a pop-can for instance is guaranteed to have some flaws across many cross sections. If you use the same amount of material but with smaller bits with individual cross-sections more like a typical USB cable, the likelihood of finding a defect at any given cross-section goes way down. As such when a 5 or 10 out of 100 strands fail, you still maintain 90% of the theoretical strength. As the fibers get smaller (to a limit) your strength approaches the theoretical as you effectively eliminate the effects of the internal defects that cannot be removed.

  7. Re:or... on Is Bamboo the Next Carbon Fibre? · · Score: 3, Informative

    Lets not forget directional strength based on the weaves used. This has ALWAYS been and still is a distinguishing factor between (long) fiber based composites and their homogeneous counterparts.

    A good designer can take this into account to a make a part that is stronger, cheaper and lighter.

    A poor designer can add "Carbon Fiber Roof" to the list of specifications and increase the price.

  8. Re:I'm sedentary on Even In the Wild Mice Run In Wheels · · Score: 1

    Try getting out of North America.
    They are all over the place in Europe.

    I travel for work and there are lots of great ideas out there if we could see past our own cubicle walls.

    Not just standing desks, but hydraulic ones that allow you to switch from sitting to standing throughout the day with little effort to "re-configure" the workstation.

  9. Re:Ghostery on Help EFF Test a New Tool To Stop Creepy Online Tracking · · Score: 1

    Most ISPs don't promise/guarantee a static IP, but frequently that is effectively the case.
    Combined with browser and version, screen res, OS version, and regional settings ... they can guess that the user is the same one.

    If they have people there smarter than me (and I guess they do) they'll be using that info to link potentially different cookies as suspect same cookies.

  10. Re:Also time to stop on Author Says It's Time To Stop Glorifying Hackers · · Score: 1

    As a Canadian (and a pretty awesome one at that) I do not support this statement.

  11. Re:Troll on Ask Slashdot: How Do I Change Tech Careers At 30? · · Score: 1

    Perhaps not as good as it once was ... however ... when I retire regardless of the number of years I put in (I'm 39 and have been working there 13 years) I get nothing from my employer.

    The whole concept of a pension in the private sector (in particular in tech) is all but gone.

  12. Re:Troll on Ask Slashdot: How Do I Change Tech Careers At 30? · · Score: 1

    Yes and no to the 40 years.

    If they live another 40 years, the total they take out will likely be greater than what they put in. And certainly better "return on investment" than those who work to 60 and get full pay but die at 62.

    My father was a teacher ... retired a little on the early side. There is a correlation (not suggesting causality) between retiring earlier and living longer.

    Some studies suggest those capable of retiring earlier have lives outside of work and that is what gives them purpose and a meaning and purpose to go on. Those who work until forced into retirement often ONLY have their work and when it's gone ... so are they.

  13. Hold journalists/publications accountable. on Should Newsweek Have Outed Satoshi Nakamoto's Personal Details? · · Score: 2

    Too much crap in the media.
    In the race to be first with the story, half of what I read in a breaking story in the first 24 hours is half speculation / utter crap presented as fact.

    Generally I am for society working it out on their own ... for "journalism"... the way it has been going, I would love to see the following:

    1) Mandatory and obvious front and center RETRACTIONS and CORRECTIONS when they F-up details of the story.
    2) Some sort of punishment for both the journalist and the publication that present the story.
    3) Funds from punishment could be used to fix the situations they caused*

    *Restitution to innocent victims of bull$hit. - for example.

    If a journalist does not do due diligence before releasing a story and the result is that someone's life is put at risk ... that is a very serious offence.

  14. Re:Why so many trucks? Why not railroads on Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck · · Score: 1

    If they did that, you wouldn't be able to afford to buy goods anymore

    Wrong. At least if they did things fairly. The cost of goods would go up, but we would be paying less (Fuel/State/City) tax that was subsidizing (up until the hypothetical change) the truckers.

    The point is it would just move the burden around. It is a zero sum problem. If they charge truckers more, they charge all of us less and the difference to our taxation will make up the difference to the product differences.

  15. Re:Shredsort on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Sort? · · Score: 1

    Assistant-sort is by far the least work though.

  16. Re:Free usually = not very good on Ask Slashdot: Easy, Open Source Desktop-Sharing Software? · · Score: 1

    Disagree with subject line ... many great free solutions out there.

    BUT ... have used GotoMeeting and GoToAssist for these tasks at work, and GoToAssist is fantastic.
    Multiple connections in case you are supporting more than one person at a time and ability to reboot are both great.

    Automatic "giving" of control is a nice feature compared with GoToMeeting.

  17. Re:Contact TeamViewer on Ask Slashdot: Easy, Open Source Desktop-Sharing Software? · · Score: 1

    Agreed.
    Just get them to OK the project.

    The fact that it is a volunteer / free thing I can't imagine why they would object.

    Should be great exposure for them.

  18. Re:I always justed used an external editor on Facebook May Dislike the Social Fixer Extension, but Many Users Love It (Video) · · Score: 1

    Also depends what sorts of post you mostly do.

    If most of posts are multi-line, then it is more convenient to do a "normal" ENTERs throughout and a CTRL-ENTER once at the end.

    This post saves 5 SHIFT's and costs one CTRL with Matt's scheme.

  19. Re:They've got money to burn on Adults Make Riskier, More Inconsistent Decisions As They Get Older, Study Finds · · Score: 1

    Which makes total sense since they have less time to "win it back"

    Seems fairly logical.

  20. Wrong objective. on Mozilla Plan Seeks To Debug Scientific Code · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know the actual objective ... but if the concern is "'We need to get more code out there, not improve how it looks.'" ... the objective is bad.

    Wouldn't shouldn't this be about catching subtle logic / calculation flaws that lead to incorrect conclusions?

    Agree ... if this is about indenting and which method of commenting ... then yeah ... bad idea.

    But this has the possibility of being so much more. I would see it as free editing by qualified people. Seems like a deal.

  21. Missing a point on Will Tablets Kill Off e-Readers? · · Score: 1

    EBook readers are much simpler than tablets.
    I expect much of what we are seeing is that most of the people who want(ed) one ... have it now.
    Battery life is soo good and processor usage is low, that you don't need to update them every year or two.

    I have two Kindles ... the first is >5 yrs old now and still works great.

  22. Re:N O B O D Y C A R E S on Apple Stops Hiding Samsung Apology On Its UK Site · · Score: 2

    How about tell that to Apple?

  23. Re:Amazons 70%.. on Ask Slashdot: Funding Models For a Free E-book? · · Score: 1

    I can see marking it as cheaper ... but if Amazon marks down to $0.00 ... what's their cut? They are still hosting which has it's own costs (albeit small-ish)

  24. Re:Slashdot-worthy? on 7.7 Magnitude Quake Hits British Columbia · · Score: 2

    Per:
          http://www.vancouversun.com/news/earthquake+hits+Haida+Gwaii+Region/7459506/story.html

    ... the second largest to hit the country since 1949, when another earthquake was recorded in the same area with a magnitude of 8.1.

    Emphasis mine

    So no.

  25. Re:an example where algebra is useful? on Promoting Arithmetic and Algebra By Example · · Score: 1

    First Item is $100.
    Second Item is $30 (you pay $15)

    Total savings is 100*(1-(115 / 130)) = 11.5% savings

    If you had 20% off on all ... you would be well ahead.

    Break even point is if Item 2 is $66.67
    Any less and 20% is the better deal
    Any more and buy one, get half off is the better deal

    Solved that with Algemebra

    'cause I am SMRT (doh!)