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User: SgtChaireBourne

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  1. Stop doing it in Flash on Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to SlashdotTV! (Video) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Stop doing the videos in Flash. It's a proprietary wrapper usable on a decreasing number of platforms. Better formats for video already exist. If you want old, then go with MPEG. If you want new, go with WebM. Either way, you'll both reach a larger audience and future-proof your work.

  2. Wikibook on OpenSSH on Getting the Most Out of SSH · · Score: 1

    The has also been a WIkibook on OpenSSH out for a year or so. The prose may not be the best but the tips are there.

  3. USDA hardiness zones move north on Historic Heat In North America Turns Winter To Summer · · Score: 1

    "I've moved my garden activities ahead as much as possible. I really hope that we do not see another hot summer like last year."

    Then you've probably also already noticed that the USDA has updated its hardiness zones to reflect the warming. The fact is that you can plant less hardy seeds earlier and further north that you used to be able to. The warming is having real results.

  4. Re:Transcripts? on Why is the EFF at the RSA Security Conference? (Video) · · Score: 2

    Transcripts would be nice.

    Much easier would be to use WebM. Not only Flash bloated and insecure, it is tied to a binary blob which is available on a decreasing number of important systems. Firefox, Opera, and Chrome all support WebM. There's no excuse to not be using it for the video already and reach a larger public.

  5. Re:Don't play automatically on Raspberry Pi Now Has Distributors -- and Will Soon Have Boards for All (Video) · · Score: 2

    I also have to ask WTF is it doing in Flash instead of WebM or Ogg.

  6. Re:Google on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With University Firewalls? · · Score: 1

    What if it's simply reflecting the types that are passed off as IT people now?

  7. Netflix on Inventor of the Modern Pinball Machine Dies At 100 · · Score: 1

    Except that netflix is tied to Windows Media Player and is thus unavailable.

  8. More T! on RIM Trying To Woo Customers With Porn, Gambling Apps? · · Score: 1

    More T!

  9. MS is not seen as trustworthy by anyone on Microsoft Files EU Antitrust Complaint Against Motorola Mobility · · Score: 1

    That "ballot" was self-imposed and no punishment. It still left their browser installed by default, and that was the heart of the matter: illegal bundling and undermining web standards. And even though the ballot let them get away with the illegal bundling, it still wasn't done right.

  10. Octave on Ask Slashdot: Copy Protection Advice For ~$10k Software? · · Score: 2

    Instead of pirating Matlab you should take a look at Octave. It's fairly similar to Matlab and heavy duty enough for regular work, not just the home projects you mention pirating Matlab for.

  11. Forever Peace on DARPA Researches Avatar Surrogates · · Score: 5, Informative

    And halfway in between is Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace. In the novel, soldiers use mechanical body surrogates which have the bizarre side effect of linking all senses of the team members as if it were a single organism. It's a good read. We can already see, hear and launch weapons from drone platforms and this is just the early stage of remote piloting.

  12. Re:OPT OUT on Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted For TSA Body Scanners · · Score: 2

    The same happened to Amy Alkon. They gave, and continue to give, her a hard time over opting out. The scanners as well as the TSA have to go. Neither are American.

  13. Javascript or Python for macros on Ask Slashdot: Making JavaScript Tolerable For a Dyed-in-the-Wool C/C++/Java Guy? · · Score: 1

    the existing data was in Excel and the destination of the processed data was also Excel, so it had a pretty strong homefield advantage, but the Macro code was really specifically purposed and very inflexible, to the point of pushing back on the requirements a little. C++ on Qt and Python on WxWidgets were more or less neck and neck for ease of coding and flexibility of product,

    Then next time take a look at LibreOffice. The macros can be coded in Javascript or Python.

  14. Killing people with statistics on Doctors 'Cheating' On Board Certifications · · Score: 1

    If you're basing the diagnoses off of statistics you're going to end up with dead patients. Diagnostics is following a decision tree. Trying to shortcircuit that process by "going with statistics" will simply end up with wrong diagnoses.

    In that regard, MDs can easily be replaced by expert systems. Where these systems fail, and where humans are still needed, is in the identification of symptoms. The presence or absence of symptoms lead to a diagnosis.

  15. Piracy as a marketing strategy on Angry Birds Boss Credits Piracy For Popularity Boost · · Score: 1

    "Even though they would probably never admit it..."

    Oh it gets admitted all right, even at the very top. Here are just two examples:

    As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade. , said back in 1998

    "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not" said in 2007

    When you have a monopoly the most valuable thing to protect is the monopoly itself. If they are running pirated software, then they are not using the competition.

  16. Re:Nothing Good can come out of a Murdoch Venture on Gates Paying Murdoch For System To Track U.S. Kids' School Progress · · Score: 1

    Maybe that *is* what he is trying to accomplish by throwing in with him.

  17. Re:You know why they call it Xbox 720 on Xbox 720 Might Reject Used Games · · Score: 1

    The console vendors actually are seeing money from used games. The sales of new games is in turn partially financed by the sale of used games. If you know you can recover some of the cost of a game once you get tired of it, you're going to be more willing to shell out for a new game. Without the sale of the used game, there are fewer new game purchases. The money is there, it's just taking an extra step and a little delay. Killing the used game market is going to cut into the new game market. The only question is how much? Unfortunately the vendors are unlikely to do the math.

  18. Re:Set up a user help desk for the in-laws on Ask Slashdot: Techie Wedding Invitation Ideas? · · Score: 1

    That's easy. Pre-emptively eliminate all those support calls. Precede the wedding with an installfest and get them set up with the linux distro of your choice. Show them Thunderbird and Firefox, and they'll be all set.

  19. Re:Nutcase on Candidate Gingrich Pushes a Moon Base, Other Space Initiatives · · Score: 1

    It doesn't matter this time. They can still field someone who is batshit crazy and still probably win. This time like last time you still have electronic 'voting' machines, Clear Channel and Cumulus regional monopolies, and eligible voters being turned away at the polls. This time around you also have unlimited corporate spending and Microsoft-based voting fraud for absentee ballots. The hill is getting steeper.

  20. Re:Nutcase on Candidate Gingrich Pushes a Moon Base, Other Space Initiatives · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here is a pretty good video of how he has gained ground.

  21. LTSP on XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi · · Score: 1

    So what? Come back when someone has LTSP thin clients running on the Raspberry Pi.

  22. IBM on Y Combinator Wants To Kill Hollywood · · Score: 2

    Microsoft seemed like a technology supplier to IBM before...

    ...before stabbing them in the back.

    " Microsoft betrayed IBM in the development of OS/2, first by pulling out of the operating system partnership, then by canceling Office for OS/2 after shipping an initial version for it in 1992."

    IBM was left with an operating system but no applications. No one felt sorry for IBM at the time, they were just coming out of a very abusive anti-trust action. However, that's no reason for the article summary to try to whitewash M$

  23. Not even the FDA has audited the code yet on Lawyer Demands Pacemaker Vendor Supply Source Code · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you read the article or ones on the same topic from last year, you'll find that the reason she is making the request is that not even the FDA has audited the code. It's just there.

    Other embedded hardware has been found to be easily crackable and able to deliver fatal doses of medication. Someone has to audit the code, since the FDA is not doing it, Karen is making an issue of it. In these cases, there is no excuse for the code not being 100% open. People's lives hang in the balance.

  24. One of those doesn't belong on US Losing R&D Dominance To Asia? · · Score: 1

    Of those listed, Microsoft, provides a net drain on the economy. Lost data, malware, inferior productivity tools, all add up. The others on the list are quite good, in contrast and make the point. It's just that the one stands out as wrong.

  25. Questioning on Megaupload.com Shut Down, Founder Charged With Piracy · · Score: 1

    That is incorrect. He is not currently charged with anything. That is a bit of confusion or disinformation that has been floating around and darn near impossible to correct. He is wanted for questioning and that questioning, technically, could take place over the phone just as well as in person. Maybe people just assume that because they are trying to extradite him that he is actually charged with something, but no, that is not the case. He is not charged with anything.