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User: goombah99

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  1. And so the walled garden begins on Google Bolsters Security To Prevent Another Google Docs Phishing Attack (zdnet.com) · · Score: 2

    First they warn you about 3rd party apps that have not kowtowed to Google. Next they will only run google approved apps. and already many apps only run on chrome.

  2. She may have written off the interest payments on her taxes. If so she would now owe something on the revised tax base. However chances are good that she's in a tax bracket where she would not be paying tax anyhow. She'll just need to redo years worth of tax forms.

  3. It's more complex on $12 Billion In Private Student Loan Debt May Be Wiped Away By Missing Paperwork (nytimes.com) · · Score: 5, Informative

    well I think that's the problem. They don't have the paper.

    It's also not simply people lying to get out of loans, it's courts fed up with high pressure tactics to get payment on loans that were never made! Then when they are contested the loan companies dont' show up in court. It's the courts that are invaldating the loans for their own purposes not just because people are trying to weasle out

    from the article:
    “I tried to be honest,” Ms. Watson said of her court appearance. “I said, ‘Some of these loans I took out, and I’ll be responsible for them, but some I didn’t take.’”

    In her defense, Ms. Watson’s lawyer seized upon what he saw as the flaws in National Collegiate’s paperwork. Judge Eddie McShan of New York City’s Civil Court in the Bronx agreed and dismissed four lawsuits against Ms. Watson. The trusts “failed to establish the chain of title” on Ms. Watson’s loans, he wrote in one ruling.

    When the judge’s rulings wiped out $31,000 in debt, “it was such a relief,” Ms. Watson said. “You just feel this whole weight lifted. My mom started to cry.”

  4. Re:Lenders Hate This One Weird Trick! on $12 Billion In Private Student Loan Debt May Be Wiped Away By Missing Paperwork (nytimes.com) · · Score: 2

    No it's a technicality, Mr. Cappy McShoutypants.

  5. Re:Whatya gonna do? on HTC Keyboard Ads Likely an Error, But Damage is Already Done (androidcentral.com) · · Score: 1

    I take it your time has no value if you think hardware is the only cost of a phone.

  6. Can John galt root a kindle fire? on Amazon Is Getting Too Big and the Government Is Talking About It (marketwatch.com) · · Score: 0

    If so I'd like to subscribe to is newsletter.

    I just paid $25 each for several kindle fires. That's less than a raspberry pi. What id like is a way to run something like pixel or even just program them like an arduino. Even just turning them into an amazon echo or a picture frame would be worth it. These things have a lot of potential at that price. Are these Loss leaders for amazon. If not why isn't everyone selling these for even cheaper as IOT appliance modules like a raspberry pi but with screens and a battery.

    Ayn rand did not take cheap Chinese electronics into account

  7. I believe in telephony on Former Oculus Exec Predicts Telepathy Within 10 Years (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    The ability to hear sounds and se images from great distances. You can even project your own voice

  8. Re:Not all toxic waste is equal on Study Claims Discarded Solar Panels Create More Toxic Waste Than Nuclear Plants (nationalreview.com) · · Score: 1

    I think I failed if that's your interpretation

  9. Re:Not all toxic waste is equal on Study Claims Discarded Solar Panels Create More Toxic Waste Than Nuclear Plants (nationalreview.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One can go further and ask what format is the waste in? for example chromium in nitric acid solution from, say, nuclear waste or something is much more mobile in the soil or aquifers than lead fixed in some glass matrix. Indeed one of the treatments for mobile wastes is to convert them to a fixed form. It's not like the process of making a solar panel created lead atoms. Thos atoms came from the environment, were concentrate for some use-- though in the case of lead the ore is usuall extremely concentrated to begin with-- and now they are back in the environment usually in some very fixed format in an alloy, not going any where and in rather small qualities in mixed waste. These waste scrap yards are an excellent short term storage format unlikely to do a lot of damage while we wait for the materials to become worth reclaiming. Cadmium and lead may be toxic but if you are not running them up an incinerator or letting them leach in to an aquifer then they are not actually toxic to anything.

    Quantifying what is worse pollution is somewhat tricky here. this article doesn't even specify units let alone format.

  10. Not all toxic waste is equal on Study Claims Discarded Solar Panels Create More Toxic Waste Than Nuclear Plants (nationalreview.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Try Recyling Nuclear waste. The stupid article simply says 300 times as much toxic waste as a nuclear power energy unit. In what units? volume, molarity, mass, rads, toxicity, ease of neutralization?

    the article is Right wing rubbish.

    No it's not like there isn't a grain for truth to be gleaned here but such glib quantifications are . give away that this article itself is utter crap

  11. the WSJ is a fugu fish, and you are wrong. on Wall Street Journal To Cut Back Print Outside the US (ft.com) · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Clearly you have not actually read the WSJ. No surprise their because it was the first major newsaper to successfully paywall.
    Here's the deal with the WSJ. As far as news, and especially analysis of news and invesitgative reporting of bussiness, there's probably no better paper. In terms of news alone it's the equal of the NY times.
    HOWEVER all that assumes you DO NOT READ THE EDITORIAL SECTION. that section is completely batshit crazy. The only thing xrazier than their editorial and opinion section are the rabid comments section. I've never encountered more virulent trolls anywhere. And that's trolls of both stripes, liberal and conservative. it's just sicko.

    But getting back to the news, their news section often completely contradicts their editorial section and they are not the least bit afraid to do it authoritatively. They not only have good reporting but even better policy analsyis so they speak with authority in the news section. They make a real effort to teach and explain what things mean.

    I found I had to give up the online version. I only read it in print. the online section is where the comments are. And they have lots of links in the online section that will suck you into the editorial and opion section. You find your anger index reaching boiling level when you try to read it online.

    But with the print version you just take out the opinion section and put it in the fish wrap drawer. Then this Fufu fish is delicious.

  12. Proof of stake fails, Proof of Useful work wins on NVIDIA To Launch Graphics Cards Specifically Designed For Digital Currency Mining (cnbc.com) · · Score: 2

    As I understand it proof of stake always fails because nothing prevents double spending by devious miners/minters.

    The real problem is that the work done by bitcoin is useless work. What one needs is to convert it to useful work. And not just useful work in the public interest, like say SETI at home, but useful work that have actual value, and hopefully value close to the energy input.

    I've listened to the Etherium tech talks and while it seems like a bunch of smoke and mirrors as described by it's enthusiasts, I do get a hint that etherium will at some point actually compute on paid computational program submissions.

    maybe I have that wrong about etherium, but that's what wil win in the end.

    right now the only way to win with bot coin is to find some use for 100KW of heat that is worth the value of 100KW of electricity. Like maybe growing weed or orchids or shrimp.

  13. Seems like the story is missing a key piece of information

  14. Exactly, what rubbish. on Physicists Have Created the Brightest Light Ever Recorded (vice.com) · · Score: 2

    One of two things happens.
    1) the flesh between the imager and the molecules a few microns deep in the tissue will distort the wavefront rendering it non-bright (i.e. focusable) or
    2) you jack up the power to compensate for the lost bightness and varporize the flesh.

    Already, non-high brightness laser imaging of breast tissues and such are at the flesh burn limit so you can't actually use a more powerful laser. And there's no practical way to prevent the distortion from occuring.

    Ergo the claim is rubbish.

    You could still use it to look at surfaces of biopsies. But you don't need higher brightness to see indiviidual cells for that.

  15. Re:Why Raspberry pi wins on Survey Says: Raspberry Pi Still Rules, But X86 SBCs Have Made Gains (linuxgizmos.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Add to that:
    Worth your time to develop on because it will be supported 5 years form now. [See Intel or Orange pi for counter examples]

  16. Why Raspberry pi wins on Survey Says: Raspberry Pi Still Rules, But X86 SBCs Have Made Gains (linuxgizmos.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It hits the sweet spot for price/performance/Low hassle.

    Faster and more expensive? I might as well buy a cheap tablet.
    Faster and cheaper? But lacks library support and a user based chock full of not just FAQ but rarely asked obsuratta that is key thing you needed to understand to get your job done

    If your time has any value then there is no computer cheaper than a pi worth the price difference. One can say that almost factually.

    THe ones that do compete are the ones offering more features like beagle bone.

  17. How do I actually "upgrade" my Linux. on 'Stack Clash' Linux Flaw Enables Root Access. Patch Now (threatpost.com) · · Score: 1

    Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people with the same question.

    I'm comfortable with apt-get but that's just upgrading all the softwares other than the operating system. How do I actually upgrade my OS?

    My usage pattern tends to be, do a clean install of linux, install all the packages I need, edit the configuration files as I need them. Then use it till I buy a new computer only upgrading the installed packages. Then I start over. I never have actually pathced my Linux or installed an "upgrade". I'm terrified it would break all my packages.

    How do I do this?

  18. I was just adjusting my headset. How are you today?

  19. Not $1. It is $601 dollars on Virgin Mobile Becomes World's First iPhone-Exclusive Carrier, Offers Year of Service For $1 (betanews.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    First a rant. If only we could vote this trashastroturf off the front by page of slashdot . You have to join the $50/mo circle plan. The linked article is just some click site.

  20. Crashplan on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Prepare For The Theft Of Your PC? · · Score: 1

    I used to roll my own remote cron backups but when Crashplan came along I stopped. The problem with all other backup services out there is that even if they let you store as much as you liked the problem is 1) restores are a hideous problem at network speeds . 2) how do you validate the backups 3) Dump level 0 initial backups take forever.

    Crash plan solves this. They let you use your own disks attached to a computer at your friends house. (presumably you return the favor). The initial backup is done locally attached to your computer, then you drive the disk over to your freinds house. Incremental backups are then done over the net. The disk is encrypted so your friend can't be tempted to take a peek or be liable if you happen to be storing illicit materials. And when the day comes for the complete restore, you drive over and get the disk.

    While you could in priniciple do this yourself there's a couple reasons it's better to use crashplan. First it overcomes the problem of how two dynamic IP computers, severla layers deep in a router stack on different networks always can find each other. Second, your friend is putting blind faith in some perl spagetti script you hacked together then gave root level privledges and network access on their computer. third the software gets updated without you having to sysadmin their computer or worry about what OS, and version, they are running on their machines.

    Finally it's cheap. You can of course pay more and use Crashplan's own server, but then you just get all the problems I outlined for no added benefit.

  21. Right to Repair on You Can't Open the Microsoft Surface Laptop Without Literally Destroying It (vice.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, that sort of puts the Right to Repair arguments to rest. No doubt people will still whine about apple but this takes it to a new level.

  22. Now I will be able to get on Amazon To Buy Whole Foods Market For $13.7 Billion (usatoday.com) · · Score: 3, Funny

    a kombucha dash button. Thank god! Someday we'll all wonder what life was like before that.

    You evidently have never shopped Whole Paycheck if you think profit margins are thin. It's ripe for home delivery since the people who shop there have more money than time what with all the Hot-room Yoga and Reki to get done. But home delivery is a serious logistic problem, at least if you plan to make money at it and not just burn your Angel investor's stash before auctioning off your sock puppet mascot. Amazon has that figured out. And it works both directions. As long as you are going the the Store, why not pick up your amazon order there a day earlier. Finally if you are going to deliver things by drone they need to be small, lightweight, and expensive as a $22/oz lavender oil douche.

  23. It's telling that this is news on Apple Mac Computers Are Being Targeted By Ransomware, Spyware (bbc.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is news. That tells you it's shockingly unusual. That is to say if the word apple were not there it would not be news.

  24. Multi-processing != threads on Ask Slashdot: Will Python Become The Dominant Programming Language? · · Score: 1

    it's closer to a fork and copying the program several times in memory.

  25. run the wind mills backward on It's Been So Windy in Europe That Electricity Prices Have Turned Negative (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Make more wind!