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User: chiph

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Comments · 748

  1. Start with painting fresh lines on the pavement on Self-Driving Cars Aren't Going To Be So Great Until We Make Our Maps Better (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    So that the vision systems of the cars can help them stay in their lane.

  2. Re:Enjoy your delusion on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Manage Your Personal Data? · · Score: 1

    The good thing about Time Machine is that the OS installer will recognize it's backup volume and allow you to do a full restore without first having to wait for the whole OS X to be installed.

    Oh, and I agree - TM is a consumer-grade backup solution, and will sometimes fail silently.

  3. Re:no livecd on Linux From Scratch 7.1 Published · · Score: 1

    I was bummed after looking over the LFS intro, in that you aren't building Linux on a bare machine -- you're starting with a pre-installed distro of some kind.

    I would be more interested in replicating the process that Torvalds went through when creating the OS.

  4. I can see the TV headlines now on Doctor Warns of the Hidden Danger of Touchscreens · · Score: 1

    "Your iPhone could KILL YOU! Tune in for our special report, today at 5:30."

  5. Re:Try looking at the cheap end... on Ask Slashdot: Parallel Cluster In a Box? · · Score: 1

    Mac Mini Server gets you a quad-core Intel i7 (double that number of threads if you enable hyper threading) for $999. Turn them on their side and you can stack 11 of them in the width of a standard 19" rack (will be 6U high or so). That's 44 (or perhaps 88) cores for under $11,000.

    Other pluses: 900W power consumption when running at 100% utilization, idle is much much lower. Comes with dual hard drives that can be mirrored for reliability. Gigabit ethernet and 4 USB ports are available. When your work with them is done, you can repurpose them as ordinary desktop machines - just add monitor, keyboard + mouse.

  6. Replenishment will be a problem on A Floating Home For Tech Start-ups · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The navy spent years figuring out how to refuel and transfer high-value parts between two ships at sea. But they don't transfer large cargo containers, which these people would need to do in order to feed 600+ developers, staff and crew.

    And then there's the garbage issue. You can't just dump garbage over the side any more. You need to package it up and bring it back to port when you return. Oh. Wait. These people can't dock the ship anywhere, because hardly anyone on board will have a visa. So they need to move a container full of trash across to the resupply ship, too.

    This was a dumb idea in 2005, and it's still dumb today.

  7. Over 40 on Zynga To Employees: Surrender Pre-IPO Shares Or You're Fired · · Score: 1

    If any of these employees are over 40, then Zynga is in for a world of hurt.
    (40+ is a protected class under EEO law)

  8. Weaponized Malware on Expert: Duqu Is a Custom Attack Framework · · Score: 1

    This is a pretty good indication that Duqu is weaponized malware -- being able to load modules specific to each target, where the target is (as far as anyone knows) foreign governments.

  9. It comes down to trust on FBI Leaves Cleared Names On Terrorist Watch List · · Score: 1

    >> “There has been a lot of criticism about the watch list,” claiming that it is “haphazard,” he said. “But what this illustrates is that there is a very detailed process that the F.B.I. follows in terms of nominations of watch-listed people.”

    Which is fine and all. But we don't believe you.

  10. Still only care about e-Ink on Hands-On Account of Amazon's Upcoming Color Kindle · · Score: 1

    The 10-hour battery life is a non-starter for me. That means you can't go to Europe and back, without dragging the charger along.

    I'd much rather they introduced a 10-inch version of the current Kindle.

  11. Stanislaw Lem predicted this on Making Fuel With Newspapers and Bacteria · · Score: 1

    in his novel "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub", where a bacteria voraciously ate paper, causing paperalysis for the humans (no identity papers, no money, no books) and the death of the Earth's biosphere (because it ate all the trees).

  12. What about ambient temperature? on How To Steal ATM PINs With a Thermal Camera · · Score: 1

    Right now in Texas, we're hitting over 104F in the afternoons, several degrees higher than body temperature. Would the buttons be cooled by people touching them?

  13. Another reason to like USAA on Banks Find Way To Sell Consumers' Shopping Data · · Score: 1

    USAA's decision to not participate in this scam/scheme is nice to see, and reinforces my decision to get a card through them.
    If you're eligible, go for joining.

    Chip H.

  14. 50 years?? on Can the US Still Lead In Space Despite Shuttle's End? · · Score: 1

    Following my usual policy of dividing any optimistic-sounding number quoted by a government official in half, I give it 25 years before someone else (Russia? China? Uzbekistan?) takes the lead.

  15. Re:Why guns? on FTC Okays Social Media Background Check Company · · Score: 1

    I know someone who was fired for being a gun owner. All it took was someone saying "I feel threatened by him" and security walked him out.

    Wrong? Damn straight. But there's no recourse.

  16. Bring back FIDONET on US Funding Stealth Internets to Circumvent Repressive Regimes · · Score: 1

    Only with better encryption and anonymization.
    - The oppressive governments aren't likely to shut down voice PTT, as they depend on it too.
    - Laptops either come with a modem built-in (older ones) or a USB modem (pretty cheap)

    Yes, bandwidth will suck and you're back in the store & forward days. But the mesh layout means no single point of failure.

  17. Like US currency isn't already used to buy drugs? on Bitcoin Used For the Narcotics Trade · · Score: 1

    A survey found that almost 90% of US currency had cocaine residue on it. So not only is it being used to buy drugs, it's being used to use drugs.

  18. Non-state actors on Pentagon Says Cyberattacks Can Count As Act of War · · Score: 1

    Being able to tell the difference between state-sponsored cyberwar and non-state actors using DDOS attacks for the lulz could be difficult.

    What if the non-state actors were primarily located in one country? Is that country then responsible for their actions?

  19. Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they? on GameStop To Honor Ancient Duke Nukem Pre-Orders · · Score: 1

    The interesting thing is that Gamestop is honoring these pre-orders without taking the effect of inflation into account. $49.99 in 1997 is the same as $70.05 in 2011.

  20. Low-tech feature phones new "must-have" on Police Using Apple iOS Tracking Data For Forensics · · Score: 1

    If all the smart phones seem to be snooping on their owners, then perhaps it's time to go luddite.

    Note to Apple & AT&T: my contract is up in June. Please have this fixed by then, or else.

  21. What about iOS version? on Pandora App Sends Private Data To Advertisers · · Score: 1, Troll

    Wondering if I should uninstall their app from my iPhone.

  22. Needs to look at a different class of .NET develop on Expensify CEO On 'Why We Won't Hire .NET Developers' · · Score: 1

    It's not .NET's fault. It's the people he's been looking at.

    The deal is, if you're a commercial software company, the thing you really want to keep is control over as much of the stack as possible. Why? Because when you've got a hairy performance problem you don't want to find out that it's because of code generated by some "easy to use" wizard. That is now deeply intertwined in 1/10th of your classes.

    The sort of developer you want is someone who has been severely burned by wizards in the past and is now a devoted follower of the KISS principle. Someone who walks out of product demos when the salesdroid says "And look! I didn't have to write *any* code at all!"

    Chip H.

  23. 100% of current tax not going to roads on US Contemplating 'Vehicle Miles Traveled' Tax · · Score: 2

    Depending on your state & locality, not all of your motor fuels tax is going towards road construction & repair. In North Carolina, about 25-30% of that money is being diverted into the general fund.

    So when a politician calls for an increase in tax "because we need good roads", ask him where the rest of the money he collected went that was supposed to have gone to replacing bridges in imminent danger of collapse.

    Chip H.

  24. Freakin' genius on King Wants To Sell Out Ham Radio · · Score: 1

    This guy keeps getting smarter and smarter.

  25. Market over-saturation on Activision Axes Guitar Hero · · Score: 1

    Just too many "Hero" games in too short a time period. IMO, Activision did it to themselves.