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Comments · 11,418

  1. Re:Propagation delay on Centimeter-Resolution GPS For Smartphones, VR, Drones · · Score: 1

    Nope, SA is turned off even in war zones, in fact the newest birds don't even have the SA feature.

  2. Re:I'll bite on Microsoft Releases PowerShell DSC For Linux · · Score: 1

    That's assuming that you haven't put your ESX hosts in lockdown mode or disabled SSH access, which is obviously a security best practice. If you have done these things then you can't script the actions without PowerShell.

    You can, using vRealize Automation, it's just painful and so task specific that most places won't bother and therefore the time invested to learn it is of fairly minimal value versus learning Powershell which can be used across many problem domains and products.

  3. Re:Developers! Developers! Developers! on Microsoft Releases PowerShell DSC For Linux · · Score: 1

    Nano mode in Server 10 removes the GUI stack and the Win32 WoW components for a true 64bit native headless install. It's even componentized so that it will only run the services you define which is an optimization looking towards the Docker container integration.

  4. Re:still on Haswell on Intel Launches Xeon E7-8800 and E7-4800 V3 Processor Families · · Score: 1

    It's been like this since the P4/Foster Xeon:
    Desktop->workstation/1P server->DP server->MP server.

    This is the final spin of the Haswell line, Broadwell-EP Xeon's are set to launch at the end of the summer.

  5. Re:Mainframe era? on Intel Launches Xeon E7-8800 and E7-4800 V3 Processor Families · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Uh, it's nearly as much CPU power (141 cores at 5.2GHz, but even more CISC that x86) as the current mainframe, zSeries hasn't been about brute CPU in decades, it's about balanced CPU and I/O combined with high QoS and absolute stability. As an example the Z13 has nearly 1GB of L4 cache in the I/O coprocessors.

  6. Re:Why QWERTY? on The Challenge of Getting a Usable QWERTY Keyboard Onto a Dime-sized Screen · · Score: 1

    Something like Steam's daisy wheel perhaps? It wouldn't be perfect since the only inputs would be cardinal directions instead of two separate input surfaces, but probably at least as fast as graffiti and probably more accurate.

  7. Re:Industry attacks it on Recent Paper Shows Fracking Chemicals In Drinking Water, Industry Attacks It · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You're thinking of the local water company with it's water filtering plants and pipes that lead directly to your home. That is not where fracking is happening. Fracking is done out where there isn't public water and sewer.

    Hate to break it to you, but yes, fracking very much IS happening right in the middle of where there are water and sewer service. Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the 31st and 23rd largest MSA's in the country are right in the middle of the shale boom and both states have their department of natural resource (exploitation) overruling local control so there's plenty of drilling happening in the middle of communities (my town of 30k took the DNR to the state supreme court to try to block projects after we had several leaking wells contaminate drinking water and local streams)

  8. Re:Maybe it's a sign... on Cisco Names Veteran Robbins To Succeed Chambers as CEO · · Score: 1

    Cisco is all about software defined, from the Nexus 1000V (full on virtual), to the fact that every single Nexus switch sold today can be controlled through a robust REST based API Cisco has bought the software defined religion. The issue for them is that if you take away their special sauce then you can get 90% of the performance for 10% of the cost and probably 5% of the annual support costs through merchant silicon. Then again as a midsized enterprise I have zero need for a software defined featureset (the 1000V has some potential uses for us, but since it requires Enterprise Plus on the VMWare side and that would be a high 5 to 6 figure expense there's no way it's worth it) , I need a reliable and well supported platform with lots of other folks hitting on it harder than me so that they can find the bugs and have them fixed before I go to the next featuretrain upgrade. There's a reason that folks go with the big players, and it's not that they offer better phone support (dear lord do the not), it's that due to some sort of corollary to the many eyeballs theory if you have many defacto testers you find the bugs faster and get them ironed out before a large percentage of your userbase runs into them (generally).

  9. Re:Single shop most likely on Single Verizon IP Address Used For Hundreds of Windows 7 Activations · · Score: 2

    He's probably talking about a fresh install, not an upgrade. During the first stage GUI installer it won't even ask you if it detects a SLIC key, there are ways around it but it's basically doing the hokey pokey blindfolded for all the advanced user friendliness it provides (ie we know better than you mere mortal)

  10. Re:Single shop most likely on Single Verizon IP Address Used For Hundreds of Windows 7 Activations · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't know if the installer somehow determined a preset key based on a unique identifier associated with the computer itself
    It did, for large volume OEM's Microsoft has them burn the key into the BIOS which is why most don't come with the hologram sticker anymore, there's no need for it on Vista+ systems. The only problem it can sometimes cause is if you're doing a cross version and cross type install without an existing OS on the box (ie it came with 7 home and you're doing an upgrade install of 8.1 Enterprise)

  11. Re:Far too expensive for a used car on Tesla Adds Used Models To Its Inventory, For Online Purchase · · Score: 1

    Unlike internal combustion engines, electric brushless motors can last pretty much forever. Drivetrain wear is probably the #1 reason cars depreciate in value. If there's no wear, there's no depreciation.

    ahem, about that.

    Three drive train replacements in 30k in an ICE vehicle would qualify it under probably every states lemon laws.

  12. Re:Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Pope Attacked By Climate Change Skeptics · · Score: 5, Informative

    Err, the church has always been learned, in fact most of the information that survived through the dark ages survived because of monks. If you're thinking of Galileo, the church knew he was correct but they didn't think that the populace should be exposed to it without preparation, that might have been very arrogant, but it hardly shows a lack of scientific knowledge by the Pope.

  13. Re:Gemstone on Breakthough Makes Transparent Aluminum Affordable · · Score: 1

    The problem Apple had is they wanted the entire front to be sapphire, but with holes for the buttons and such, your phone has the screen protected but nothing protruding through the crystal which makes it almost infinitely easier than what Apple was trying.

  14. Re:With the best will in the world... on Audi Creates "Fuel of the Future" Using Just Carbon Dioxide and Water · · Score: 2

    Wonder what the efficiency is like though.

    I'd assume it will end up somewhat close to Fischer–Tropsch, about 50-60% max efficiency.

  15. Re:Ever cheaper computers on We'll Be the Last PC Company Standing, Acer CEO Says · · Score: 2

    Intel's new SoC's reduce what you need for a basic end-user computer to a motherboard the size of a stick of gum. And that's not an exaggeration.

    Oh yes it most certainly IS an exaggeration, it's 10cm by 4cm, much larger than a gum stick at 8.5cm by 2cm. Plus the Intel needs a fairly large power brick. Now some of the Android sticks are as small as a pack of gum and are low enough power that they can run off the USB port built into some TV's (if they're made for charging a phone it will work, if they're only for running a flash drive then it won't) so they really are tiny.

  16. Re:If you insist on keeping physical hardware on Ask Slashdot: Best Medium For Storing Data To Survive a Fire (or Other Disaster) · · Score: 1

    Shit, why not sync it to your cellphone? If it's a couple GB it'll fit on any reasonably sized phone and who leaves their phone anywhere? If you're really paranoid then encrypt it before the sync in case you somehow lose your phone.

  17. Re: Not in the fire on Ask Slashdot: Best Medium For Storing Data To Survive a Fire (or Other Disaster) · · Score: 1

    A combination of the back yard and wallet idea, have a solar powered rPi in the back yard with an SD card acting as a backup target, there are plenty of waterproof rPi cases and solar to USB panels.

  18. Re:$100 billion for 150 miles? on Maglev Train Exceeds 600km/h For World Record · · Score: 1

    Very cool, then it should be able to smoke a plane in destination to destination times, between crowded takeoff slots and the fact that trains can do city center to city center it's no contest. The cost is obviously astronomical because of the tunneling, but I'm not sure an artificial island expansion to add air capacity would be that much cheaper, Kansai was $20B and Chbu was $7B, add in inflation and more expensive raw material costs and you're looking at probably half the cost of the train route.

  19. Re:They should resurrect some shows... on Netflix Is Betting On Exclusive Programming · · Score: 1

    They can't un-cancel Fringe, Leonard Nimoy is dead, Josh Jackson got picked up for a second season of The Affair, John Noble is doing Sleepy Hollow. They could pickup the idea and reboot the series but the head writers are all on other projects, JJ Abrams is a bit busy, only J.H. Wyman is available from the original staff so even a reboot would be unlikely to be anything like the original run.

  20. Re:$100 billion for 150 miles? on Maglev Train Exceeds 600km/h For World Record · · Score: 2

    600km/h is 3/4 of the speed of a modern airliner (

    No, it's 2/3rds, Boeing 777 cruise speed is 905km/h, 747-400, 787, and A380 are slightly faster, A340 is slightly slower.

  21. Re:Found in small town, CA? on Baltimore Police Used Stingrays For Phone Tracking Over 25,000 Times · · Score: 1

    However, if you never go anywhere and have really good 4G coverage, setting your phone to 4G-only may well be a good workaround to reduce your chance of an intercept.

    The current generation of Stingray devices can do LTE interception.

  22. Re:This is an important fix, and wired isn't an an on Optical Tech Can Boost Wi-Fi Systems' Capacity With LEDs · · Score: 1

    And each of those 23 channels can use space division multiple access (aka beam forming, aka multi-user MIMO) so if you lay things out right you can get as few as 3-4 users per channel per conversation domain which ends up providing plenty of bandwidth.

  23. Re:I don't get it on Supreme Court Rules Extending Traffic Stop For Dog Sniff Unconstitutional · · Score: 2

    All it does is create a very slim frame up where you can't wait for another unit to arrive, because you announced you where done with the ticket.

    No, this creates a reasonableness test for a dog search without probable cause. If tickets are normally handled in 5 minutes and the officer suddenly takes 45 minutes to issue a ticket and it just so happens the drug dog shows up in 44 minutes, well then that's outside the ruling. This is where video evidence will be important, defense attorneys can establish that an average stop takes X minutes, and only stops where they want to request a drug dog without cause take X + n minutes. The cops can either slow down all stops (and get less revenue), or they can stop using drug dogs without probable cause because they can't jerk people around waiting for a dog to do a no warrant search.

  24. Seriously? You've got a 6 digit UID but you don't know that slashdot has been dealing with rights like this since it was chips & dips.

  25. Re:$30 per month on Netflix Is Betting On Exclusive Programming · · Score: 1

    ESPN essentially is available ala cart, ESPN, AMC, and TNT (for NASCAR) are the main draws in the sling tv offer at $20/month and AMC wasn't part of the initial offering so it was basically ESPN and TNT for $20/month.