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User: supernova87a

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  1. link to a genuine source, not this shitty article on IBM Solar Concentrator Can Produce12kW/day, Clean Water, and AC · · Score: 5, Informative

    My head is about to explode with the level of pure units stupidity by this article's author. He should be banned from the profession of writing...

  2. good news on Court: Car Dealers Can't Stop Tesla From Selling In Massachusetts · · Score: 1

    Good for Tesla. And justly bad for entrenched sleazy car dealer interests.

    The auto dealer protection laws were put in place to prevent local dealerships / franchisees from being screwed by automotive manufacturers at one time in history. Now they themselves wield that law to screw automotive manufacturers and the consumer.

    Let them be screwed by a more innovative company again, and the tables be turned to the side of the consumer for once...

  3. Re:Urban Fetch on Uber CEO: We'll Run Your Errands · · Score: 1

    Well, not that it won't have some of the same pitfalls (and I think this is dangerous territory for them to be getting into), but most delivery companies start by trying to build the infrastructure for a delivery service with no other business to support / justify such an infrastructure.

    Here, Uber already has a significant infrastructure that serves a somewhat profitable business, that it's trying to increase the utilization of. Like taxi services offering package delivery (but which you rarely hear about anyone using).

  4. a blip on the way to slow death on HP Buys Cloud Provider, Gets Marten Mickos To Head Its Cloud Division · · Score: 1

    HP is a drowning man, desperately grasping for any lead, imaginary or not, that might save them. The leadership bankrupted and hollowed out a solid line of printer products and other devices, in order to prop up stupid, non-distinctive hardware whose design was phoned in to imagine grabbing some market share with no other purpose. Their PCs, laptops, tablets are a joke. The major purchaser of their equipment are corporations who buy because they extract big discounts from a struggling company with little direction on where to make the important investments.

    Buying a position in the cloud will be a small hiccup on the way to significant slashing of their portfolio, whether they do it voluntarily or because they're forced to soon. HP is too late to the cloud game, where others have already rolled out products and services that customers actually want. They would have to bring a rockstar team to make this a piece of their business that sets them apart, and invest enough to catch up and turn helpful levels of profit. Otherwise, they just bought a huge commodity business that lets them say that they're "getting into cloud in a big way", which will turn into a quiet side pursuit within 2 years...

  5. Re:Not all contributions / sacrifice are equivalen on Publishers Gave Away 123 Million Books During World War Two · · Score: 1

    Yeah, sure. But most of the people in the military are hardly putting their lives on the line. They're working in warehouses, changing tires, sitting at a desk doing analysis.

    I find it amusing / annoying / ignorant when random people go up to someone in uniform and "thank you for your sacrifice". That's part of the brainwashing of the public to believe that military = heroes. For every 1 hero there are 100 normal unremarkable people. Just like in regular life. Why do we treat all the military like they're the 1% ?

  6. Re:Free? on Publishers Gave Away 123 Million Books During World War Two · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does patriotism today only count if you're in the military?

    The way we glorify military service over all types of contribution / sacrifice for the national interest is pretty amazing these days. It's like the movies have brainwashed us into believing that soldiers are the only national heroes around.

  7. why are you volunteering information? on Researcher Fired At NSF After Government Questions Her Role As 1980s Activist · · Score: 1

    The thing about government checks is that they will take whatever you give them and examine it to death. Just deprive them of information -- by not volunteering things that are not verifiable -- and you will generally avoid getting into these situations. Not that it's reasonable to hold certain things against you, but just save yourself the trouble. Sometimes I think people are a little too honest for their own good.

  8. let's not go crazy here on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 1

    I for one, am very uncomfortable with all this technology being suddenly rammed down our throats. I need to be eased into it, so I propose: the Apple Pocketwatch. For the 19th century styled gentleman. When you want to find out what time it is or read your messages, you pull out the Apple Pocketwatch, so you don't have to pull out the iPhone.

  9. Re:legal loopholes? on Device Boots Drones, Google Glass Off Wi-Fi · · Score: 2

    No, it doesn't interfere with other devices' radio signals. Those signals are untouched. It gives other devices a command that they choose to process and disconnect from the network. That's why it could be a loophole. The FCC statement regards jamming, noise, and analog kinds of interference. I don't think this falls into the FCC's traditional definitions of interference.

  10. legal loopholes? on Device Boots Drones, Google Glass Off Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    Perhaps this device could actually fall through some legal loopholes?

    It doesn't interfere with radio signals themselves (per FCC). It doesn't interfere with legally protected phone communications (also FCC). It takes advantage of wireless standards that have been adopted, but that themselves have little legal protection.

    All it's doing is sending instructions that devices happen to listen to and obey. Bad on the hardware protocols that they allow any equipment to issue these unverified types of commands?

  11. cost-benefit on Obama Administration Seeks $58M To Put (Partly) Toward Fighting Ebola · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When you compare against all the other assinine things that $58 M have been spent on (to the tune of being merely a drop of the bucket in larger spending bills) within pork programs, we should be jumping to take advantage of helping in this situation. The level of waste in this kind of spending is close to zero.

  12. clothes are the problem on Taking the Ice Bucket Challenge With Liquid Nitrogen · · Score: 1

    Yes, LN2 will run off your skin and generally dissipate very quickly, but I believe you have to be very careful regarding clothing. Because the liquid will soak into and saturate fibers, which then are a real problem because you have a freezing liquid in contact with your skin which can cause burns.

  13. Re:Could have fooled me on Canada Tops List of Most Science-Literate Countries · · Score: 1, Funny

    I am canadian, and if we are the most scientiically literate. I really pity the rest of you.

    If this is what passes for grammar and sentence construction in the most scientifically literate country, I really do pity all the rest of us.

  14. The average person should worry much more about their phone being stolen than being interfered with by the government on their way to a protest. Maybe it's time to stop trading off the useful in the name of the hypothetical.

  15. simple! all it takes is... on Getting IT Talent In Government Will Take Culture Change, Says Google Engineer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sure, no problem!

    All you have to do to create the environment for IT talent to want to work in government is to get rid of a culture of more importance on process than outcome, a culture of not getting fired even if you don't do any useful work, and power and advancement based more on perception and political maneuvering in front of people who don't know talent when they see it, instead of results. Oh, and constant interference by politicians who can't be bothered to appreciate what your work required, but are happy to use it as a tool for their own means.

    I'm sure all that will be easy!

  16. an easy choice on The Fiercest Rivalry In Tech: Uber vs. Lyft · · Score: 2

    One very simple reason I never use Lyft over UberX: Lyft refuses to put in a fare estimation tool.

    So even if they could be possibly cheaper than Uber or a taxi, I'm not going to get in a Lyft not knowing even roughly how much it's going to cost.

    I have no idea why they choose not to be transparent about even a rough estimate of my ride cost. Saying that the per-city rate table on their website satisfies that function is a joke.

  17. Navdy will get their pants sued off on New Car Heads-Up Display To Be Controlled By Hand Gestures, Voice Commands · · Score: 1

    HUD is a reasonable tool to augment driving information. It makes sense for maps, directions, vehicle alerts. Does not make sense for "luxury" and distraction-causing activities like texting, videos, anything in that area.

    Opening up this can of worm is so directly linkable to liability for accidents, that I would be surprised if this company survives the first lawsuit.

  18. by extrapolation on States That Raised Minimum Wage See No Slow-Down In Job Growth · · Score: 1

    Well if there are no ill effects, why don't we raise the minimum wage to $30 so that everyone gets to join in this wonderful phenomenon?

  19. Re:link to the pdf? on DHS Mistakenly Releases 840 Pages of Critical Infrastructure Documents · · Score: 1

    Thanks so much!

  20. link to the pdf? on DHS Mistakenly Releases 840 Pages of Critical Infrastructure Documents · · Score: 1

    Does anyone have a better link to the document to download and view? The browser on that Muckrock site is supremely annoying.

  21. show me why on Seattle Approves $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage · · Score: 1

    I object to the $15 minimum wage. It should be even higher, like $30. Or for that matter, why don't we make it $50 / hour, if it raises people out of poverty and makes their lives better?

    Aside from supply/demand for labor, I see very little factual support for why a wage *should* be a certain level.

  22. public infrastructure innovation is not in the US on "Going Up" At 45 Mph: Hitachi To Deliver World's Fastest Elevator · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This may be a anecdotal comment, so take it for what you will, but I have noticed that Asian buildings and infrastructure technology are so far ahead of us in the USA that it is really embarrassing if you go there and come back and compare.

    If you've ever gone to Taipei 101 for example, the elevators move so quickly, and without any vibration as they go up/down that you almost cannot tell if they're moving. Go to Singapore or Hong Kong, and watch how smoothly, quietly, and punctually their subway systems run.

    Or go to China and be surprised that in even small-sized cities, you didn't realize that *all* their motorcycles are now electric and they leap-frogged the smelly gasoline phase of motorbike technology.

    You come back to the US, and wonder how we're still (maybe) #1, with our rickety buildings and public transport systems. It's embarrassing. And people will say, well, "Who needs quieter, smoother subways? What we have is fine." Said while yelling because you have to cover your ears to not go deaf on the F train in New York City. And as you have to hold your nose as you walk through the piss-soaked, dark and dingy subway/bus station concourses.

    Sometimes I feel like we're witnessing the slow decline of American technology / investment when it comes to public infrastructure.

  23. Is it really much more than goes on already? on Eyes Over Compton: How Police Spied On a Whole City · · Score: 2

    I'm sorry, but I guess I don't understand why this is any bigger deal than cameras on a street corner. Maybe it's having grown up in Baltimore with a police helicopter constantly overhead that's desensitized me.

    Doesn't everyone just assume that when in public, everything you do could be observed by someone else? Now, if they were looking in people's windows, that would be a bit creepier.

  24. Re:Helping the poor on GoPro Project Claims Technology Is Making People Lose Empathy For Homeless · · Score: 0

    You must be kidding me. San Francisco has more resources for homeless people than any other US city. Food, shelter (Tenderloin), treatment, charity. That's why they flock here. It's like we're asking for it. And indeed, people voluntarily come, or get sent by other cities to come here. Haven't you had enough of it?

  25. Reality has an unfavorable bias? on GoPro Project Claims Technology Is Making People Lose Empathy For Homeless · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe, just maybe, showing how many resources and $ are being spent to give homeless people options, especially in San Francisco, only to have that money pissed away and people still soiling our streets and public transport systems, tends to decrease how sympathetic you feel towards the chronically homeless?