User: Rik Sweeney

Do people actually use Siri?

On: Will Apple Lose Siri's Core Tech To Samsung?

I'm genuinely curious here, do any Slashdotters use Siri on a regular (let's say daily) basis? What do you use it for?

I've always thought this kind of tech to be more of a gimmick, something to show your mates every now and again.

Apple's response

On: Users Report Warping of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus

"You're sitting wrong."

And our response

On: AT&T Proposes Net Neutrality Compromise

No.

Re:The iphone's latest demise.

On: iPhone 6 Sales Crush Means Late-Night Waits For Some Early Adopters

I was an iPhone fan when they first came out. I remember standing in the phone shops, looking at the Android phones running the laggy Gingerbread and wondering why anyone would want to buy a POS like that.

Then I ran into antenna-gate while I was trying to get a job. Eventually I told callers that I had an iPhone so if the call ended suddenly it was because of that, and not because I'd just hung up on them. As soon as my contract was up I moved to Android.

I'm sure it's fast and simple to use, but ultimately it's a phone. And if I can't make calls on it, then it's going in the bin.

Re:generic®

On: Microsoft Paid NFL $400 Million To Use Surface, But Announcers Call Them iPads

Some of your generics are American based, and I ended up having to stop my Hoovering to Google what they are.

Is the embargo really affecting them?

On: Cuba Calculates Cost of 54yr US Embargo At $1.1 Trillion

I was in Cuba earlier this year. They seem to be doing OK for themselves.

Sure, there are towns outside of Havana and Trinidad where there isn't a lot to do, but I didn't see any real evidence of extreme poverty.

As far as I could see, the only thing the embargo is doing is preventing (most) Americans from visiting the place.

Here we go again

On: Limiting the Teaching of the Scientific Process In Ohio

Religion has no place in schools. How many times have you seen scientists starting wars over theories and results?

"1 + 1 equals 3!"
"Only for larger values of 1, you heathen!"

Re:Doesn't work

On: A Horrifying Interactive Map of Global Internet Censorship

The summary links to an article which has a link in it to the map which doesn't load.

It's probably been censored by your ISP :)

I don't get it

On: Samsung Announces Galaxy Alpha Featuring Metal Frame and Rounded Corners

What's the obsession with metal frames? Message boards are filled with hipsters ranting about how cheap a plastic frame looks.

Whenever I get a new phone, the first thing I do is wrap it in a plastic protector to protect the body.

The short version

On: Animal Behaviour Specialists Map Out the Social Networks of Cows

Cows have best friends.

iOS?

On: KDE Releases Plasma 5

http://www.kde.org/announcemen...

I see Apple's flat style is continuing to be copied^H^H^H used as inspiration for UI developers.

Bugger

On: Linux Mint 17 KDE Released

I only just installed Kubuntu 14.04 over the weekend. Can't be arsed to go through all that again.

Could the soul survive?

On: Scientists Find Method To Reliably Teleport Data

I still don't think teleporting would leave the soul intact. To the observer, the result may act and behave in the same way before the teleportation took place, but I wonder if it would be the same person?

Re:Germany can't prosecute Americans

On: German Authorities Lack Evidence To Prosecute Anyone For NSA Spying

I would advise Germany to mind its own business

I don't think it needs to, the NSA is minding Germany's business for them.

Good solution

On: Will Living On Mars Drive Us Crazy?

Each mission member will get only eight minutes of shower time

So? Just pick 6 other people from the mission and shower with them. Viola, 8 minute shower every day.

Plus, you'll always have someone to scrub your back.

"Victims"

On: Gunshot Victims To Be Part of "Suspended Animation" Trials

"10 gunshot and stabbing victims will take part in the trials"

Jesus, I can already picture a scientist charging around a shopping mall with a revolver and a switch-blade yelling "For science!"

Re:I thought this was, you know, settled science

On: Why Did New Zealand's Moas Go Extinct?

after which the species was no moa.

*Badum tish*

Re:Who names their country

On: Youtube and Facebook May Be Banned In Turkey, Again

The bird took its name from the country.

Atmospheric pressure

On: First Look At the Animals of the New Hebrides Trench

I really don't understand how anything survives down there. The amount of pressure must be immense.

Well, duh

On: Doctors Say New Pain Pill Is "Genuinely Frightening"

Of course a pain pill is going to frighten people, who the hell is going to take something that causes them discomfort?

(It's worth noting that I may have only read the title of this article)

Lots of redundant data

On: Facebook Puts 10,000 Blu-ray Discs In Low-Power Storage System

It designed the system to store data that hardly ever needs to be accessed

So that will be several million inactive profiles. I hope they've made their solution scalable, pretty soon they'll be storing 75% of their current profiles on those discs.

Imagine

On: Americans To FCC Chair: No Cell Calls On Planes, Please

A night flight. The plane is quiet.

Suddenly,

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep... No, they've fed us.... HA HA HA HA HA!!! Yeah, that's right! HA HA HA HA HA!!! I know what you mean and there's that.... HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Do you remember that?... HA HA HA HA HA!!!"

Location?

On: Doomsday Clock Remains at Five Minutes to Midnight

Where is this Doomsday clock? It certainly can't be Europe or America, because otherwise it'd be at 5 minutes to 11 due to daylight savings.

Re:Chicken Sh*ts

On: Court Rules Against Online Anonymity

Oh, the irony!

The door swings both ways

On: Court Rules Against Online Anonymity

Does this mean that people leaving positive feedback should also be unmasked?

Seriously, I completely avoid any service that has all 4/5 and 5/5 stars because in real life at least one person would find fault with it.