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User: foxalopex

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  1. No Surprise. Uber's tech sucks. on Waymo CEO Expresses Confidence Its Cars Wouldn't Have Killed Elaine Herzberg (washingtonpost.com) · · Score: 2

    Google's self-driving car technology has been around longer and probably done far more miles than Uber's tech ever has and we have yet to hear of them running over a Pedestrian. Even Tesla's Super-Cruise technology despite it missing trucks and killing the driver hasn't run over Pedestrians yet. Plus the statistics that the makers are required to provide show that the Uber self-driving tech has an alarmingly large number of required Driver interventions. Heck it was speeding to begin with! Plus we know Uber's in a rush to get this tech to work because the hope to IPO in about a year so at the end of the day, can't say I'm surprised they'd be first to kill a Pedestrian.

  2. Storage, not Generation is the Issue on Ask Slashdot: Can FOSS Help In the Fight Against Climate Change? · · Score: 1

    There's plenty of renewable energy out there and our technology to extract it is for the most part is pretty good as it is. The biggest problem is a way to store this energy efficiently and cheaply. We have no solution for this at the moment. Power grids for example need to match usage exactly with generation at every instant. Don't do that and you start seeing brownouts (causing problems with consumer devices) or worse the generator blows up. Fossil Fuels are used for the reason that they're highly compact and huge sources of energy available on Demand. It's why they've been so difficult to get away from.

  3. User Error on Sex Workers Say Porn On Google Drive Is Suddenly Disappearing (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    So she's complaining that she specifically broke their Terms of Service on a Free Service? I mean wow, how silly can you get? Here's a hint use another service or pay for another service that might cater to this. Or encrypt the data ahead of time if you think your clients are smart enough to decode it at their convenience. Also realize that cloud storage is convenient but it's never been super safe. Google might be pretty decent at protecting data but all it takes is one mistake on your part or someone else's and that data goes from private to public.

  4. Shouldn't have happened: on Human Driver Could Have Avoided Fatal Uber Crash, Experts Say (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I actually watched the set of videos and there's two major things to note:

    First of all the safety or backup driver appeared to be distracted. Although in all fairness if you're suppose to sit there hours on end without taking an active roll at driving this is probably going to happen. This is why google believes in all or nothing approach, half-baked systems are going to get people killed. While this wouldn't save the cyclist from being hurt, quick reflexes may have saved it from being fatal.

    Second, LIDAR works by projecting a super high speed panning laser that maps out the 3D spacial environment. It causes the computer to produce a 3D model of the surroundings. This should NOT be affected by the dark! Unless Uber decided not to use LiDAR which would be a dangerous move. If they're using LiDAR the only explanation is the AI image recognition system failed to recognize the cyclist which is weird considering an object that BIG moving should register as a collision threat. Google has noted that in their own self-driving program the computer can sometimes panic over a flying piece of newspaper while a normal driver wouldn't because it looks like an object heavy enough to threaten the car.

  5. Hmm so the simplest answer is usually the truth on Researchers Finally Solve Mystery of 'Alien' Skeleton (cnn.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So I guess this falls under Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is most likely the truth. Still as the study noted that's a lot of mutations, and references to a toxic mine.

  6. I think this is more a question for us on Trump Announces $60 Billion Tariff on Chinese High-Tech and Other Goods (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 2

    So here's the thing, as consumers we have to ask ourselves an important question especially for the folks who can afford it. (If you're close to poverty then it's understandable that you don't have choices.) But for those of you that can afford it, would you buy a cheap gizmo or a more expensive gizmo supporting your own home country? I prefer to buy locally made stuff myself if I can find it at a "reasonable" price.

  7. PornHub may be the solution to everything illegal or morally grey but the problem is if gets too big then some really big knives are going to be pointed in their direction and they'll get shutdown as well.

  8. Unfortunate but that's Really how this works on YouTube Bans Firearms Demo Videos, Entering the Gun Control Debate (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    As much as folks complain when YouTube censors something keep in mind that Google has only successfully grown their service with everything that they've done so obviously they know what they're doing and it's not like anyone even pays for this service but Advertisers. Folks who know tech understand the sheer millions of dollars of hardware behind running such a vast system needs more than just "views" to fund it. It is the advertisers that are essentially paying for it. If everyone suddenly could magically block the advertisement on Google, it's entire system wouldn't last a year.

    And that's really the irony of the situation, people are complaining that something they're getting for "free" isn't good enough for them. Well it isn't "free", someone paid for it and maybe just maybe that someone doesn't like guns. If pro-gun folks feel so strongly about this, put your money where your ideals are. Start your own youtube or service and learn just how difficult it is. I recently learned for example there's actual an NRA TV Channel, but it most certainly isn't free.

  9. Free unfortunately has limitations on YouTube Will 'Frustrate' Some Users With Ads So They Pay for Music (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    The way I see it is that unfortunately at some point as annoying as it may be, YouTube needs to find a way to make money or at least break even on it's services. Nobody's keen on paying for a "free" service so stuck with ADs is how it's done. I know a lot of folks say that they're just going to hop to another "free" service but let's face it, you can't run a large global server service for free.

  10. Between both major graphics card manufacturers (AMD) and (NVIDIA) it's usually not uncommon for either to work directly with Microsoft to introduce new DirectX features. The new Vulcan type rendering engines for example are major contributions by AMD. Unfortunately when it comes to raytracing, the main issue is that the amount of processing required for anything better than a simple scene is too much to run in realtime for just about any modern system. If there's glassy / refractive objects, the amount of processing shoots through the roof even more. So neat but probably not immediately usable for gaming. This might however be good for production.

  11. *sarcasm* Thanks a LOT Uber on Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Arizona Woman in First Fatal Crash Involving Pedestrian (gizmodo.com) · · Score: 2

    Despite the pedestrian jaywalking, Uber's had a LONG history of problems with their self-driving program. The worst google's self-driving program has gotten itself into is having cars crash into it because of confusion between right of way. Meanwhile Uber's managed to rollover one of their cars in a collision. At this point, I think Uber's rushing to have a successful IPO, Google is taking the time to do it right. So no thanks to Uber for giving self-driving cars a bad name...

  12. Awesome, I'm another fellow Volt owner too! =D I understand your criticism of the shortfalls of the Volt but here's the reason why:

    1 - All EV's lose about 1/2 their range in the cold. The increased heat requirements and the fact that the battery is starting to freeze causes their effective range to drop. In Sub -10C temperatures, the Volt will burn fuel to generate heat (and it actually does get warmer faster in the cabin when it does) but it also uses battery at the same time too. I know because in sub -20C weather for too long the battery will actually get too cold to operate and the Volt will go gas only to try to warm it up which makes you realize that a ~80hp engine is not much in a car with curb weight of 3700lbs.

    2 - Fuel efficiency is not bad but it most certainly isn't as good as a true hybrid. Part of the problem is batteries are heavy. When you're running long distance on pure gas, you have to lug a 500lb lithium battery now which is much larger than what you need in a hybrid.

    3 - The Volt's engine and battery combination has been designed to make it up the biggest mountains in North America assuming you throw the car into mountain mode to let it pre-charge the battery with some reserve first on gas. GM's design of the Volt was to ensure it wouldn't leave you stuck anywhere in North America, I appreciate the design because I live in Canada where it gets extremely cold and it's my primary car so it needs to work for everything. Doing the math it's also amazing to realize that to the Volt the 500lb lithium battery is roughly equivalent to 1 gallon of gas. Gas has that much insane power density. It's why Tesla S weights more than some trucks.

    A small range extender doesn't work well. i3 has such a tiny engine that it sounds horrific (imagine your car buzzing like a motorcycle) and it won't make it up hills on the highway if you run out of battery power. BMW has stated that it's really for "emergency" purposes meaning it's not really meant to do cross country trips, and the gas tank is tiny meaning you'll be making lots of stops. True hybrids use a special Atkinson cycle engine that saves fuel but has the disadvantage of being larger than a typical engine and ontop of that generates little torque which explains the need of battery for acceleration. Also you don't want the gas engine to try to charge the battery more than necessary on the highway, the Volt after all will direct drive the wheels in certain combinations because converting power back and forth is highly inefficient.

    The Volt's really a well balanced compromise between EV and Gas. I find it works perfectly for me but depending on your requirements a pure EV or pure Hybrid may work better.

  13. It isn't hopeless folks, at least try. on Extreme Winter Weather In the US Linked To a Warming Arctic (theverge.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've noticed even in my remote city that climate change is hitting us hard. In the last few years, we've seen a massive increase in sever downpours that I'm sure didn't happen in my youth. It's caused almost a million dollar deficit in the city funds because of all the upgrades they've had to make to handle these new storms so I definitely notice a change.

    And to be honest it's not that hard to battle climate change, even small efforts help a lot. I've switched all my lights to high quality LEDs for example, it's lowered my power bill, bulbs never burn out. I couldn't afford a pure electric car and they don't work too well in my cold climate so I ended up getting a Volt and it works. It runs gas free through the entire summer almost. But the key is folks need to try. Too many folks seem to think they can't change and sadly many of these efforts end up saving time and money as well.

  14. No need for reporting on this one, if it's a HUGE magnetic storm expect there to be no reporting because of a black-out from power-loss. Also expect to see some pretty impressive Auroras. If you don't see either of these things, it isn't a magnetic storm to really worry about.

  15. Wow this sounds like a no brainer, so if a thief already has the keys to your house then you might get some stuff stolen, or they might saw the lock off the door. It doesn't sound like a security problem to me at all. Someone with local machine administrator privileges pretty much already owns your machine.

  16. Flying Vehicles? on Larry Page's Flying Taxis, Now Exiting Stealth Mode (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Technology was never the issue with flying cars but safety always was. After all if a car stalls you can pull over, if a plane stalls there's a real risk of you dying and crashing onto someones house or building. The other issue is efficiency. I'm sure VTOL designs use a tremendous amount of power to lift or and to land which means even if these were viable, they're going to be super expensive taxis.

  17. I know for myself I sleep just fine with a little "warm" 4200K light. Light does seem to affect me more in the mornings thou when it comes to waking up. It's really hard to wake up in a pitch black room even with the alarm clock going off. A bit of lighting then seems to help. I'm guessing for me a bit of light isn't a problem.

  18. Theft or Mid Air Collisions might be interesting on Coming Soon to a Front Porch Near You: Package Delivery Via Drone (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    I can imagine the more criminally inclined shooting down drones with an EMP gun as that would cripple it and disable any recording / tracking device as well. Count be exciting being a drone delivery driver. I also suspect that sooner or later a mid-air collision could happen. Otherwise I suppose it's an okay idea, not sure how practical it is thou, drones are pretty limited by battery range. Maybe for the you want it NOW folks?

  19. Intel's Future is pretty solid on Intel Fights For Its Future (mondaynote.com) · · Score: 2

    Intel isn't likely to go away anytime soon. They have some of the most advanced chip fabrication facilities in the world. Even if they didn't make x86 Processors, other manufacturers would be lining up to get their chips fabricated at their plants. They've also expanded into other areas although their x86 market remains to be their cash cow.

    Now the only grudge I've got against Intel is their massive anti-competitive behaviour against AMD in the past but nowadays they're one of the few companies that provide full opensource access to their GPUs and they generally do produce excellent mobile laptop chips.

  20. While there's a possibility that they could develop a more advanced AI system, any AI is going to need a large amount of data to work properly with. We already have privacy breaches of data in North America, can you imagine privacy breaches in a Chinese company? It's not like you can sue Alibaba if something goes wrong.

    I've historically ordered cheap stuff like HDMI cables from Chinese companies online to find that they end up in an unmarked / undeclared and untracked envelope. While the price is right (so cheap that I can't believe they can pay for shipping) it doesn't exactly inspire trust. Amazon seems to have a good return service, reliable tracking for the most part and a decent rating system. I'd also sooner trust all my data with Google than some company in China.

  21. Make Sense, Android more Selection on Android Beats iOS In Smartphone Loyalty, Study Finds · · Score: 1

    Actually this makes pretty good sense, if you choose an Android phone, there's a larger selection of hardware and the APPs that you purchase or use end up staying with you. Phone or Tablet selection is great in that you can get something dirt cheap up to fairly expensive and powerful. With IOs you're suddenly stuck with much fewer hardware choices, generally very expensive.

  22. Re:Tank them all on Bitcoin Dives After SEC Says Crypto Platforms Must Be Registered (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately financial matters (even sketchy financial matters) will trump Video Games. So I want a cheap graphics card to play video games isn't going to win the hearts of the general public as being a real issue. That said, I don't see any real good in cryptocurrency either. Almost all the news sounds like a get rich fast scheme, black market trading / gambling and crimes aside from burning up a lot of good resources too all in the name of making some fictional buck.

  23. When you consider the amount of money spent with all the scandals, lawsuits and bad news. (Frankly I'd be amazed to see a positive story on Slashdot on them...) It's a pretty conclusive no... About the only thing amazing is how much longer will this trainwreck keep going before it blows up or sinks.

  24. Bad Political Statements? on Silicon Valley Is Over, Says Silicon Valley (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The whole Left echo chamber statement seems idiotic. Left or worded better liberal views fit the development of technology better than right or conservative views. The word or idea itself (conservative) is not the ideal way to run a small tech start-up for example. Being conservative implies that you don't like taking risks which is the opposite of what's needed to work on new technology. All new technology is by its very nature risky which is why technological centres tend to be left politically. The main reason why I would think Silicon Valley is not an ideal place anymore is the fact that everything is too expensive.

  25. Somehow this feels like a bad idea on Facebook Rolls Out Job Posts To Become the Blue-Collar LinkedIn (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not sure but this doesn't seem like a good idea. I imagine most folks would prefer to keep their fun social life away from their work social life. Usually getting the two mixed up might not pass as the smartest move.