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User: iamacat

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  1. The world only so many games on How Free-To-Play Is Constricting Mobile Games · · Score: 1

    There is now such a glut that people are spoiled and few are willing to pay money, even after spending a lot of time playing the free part. Try making something genuinely useful and you may do better.

  2. If you think nobody has an extra camera on Take a Picture: Snapchat Settles With FTC Over "Dissapearing" Claims · · Score: 1

    You should refrain from using Internet and especially posting any compromising content. Just take a picture of your tablet with your phone or vice versa and presto!

  3. Re:Perfectly safe to stay on XP on Why Microsoft Shouldn't Patch the XP Internet Explorer Flaw · · Score: 1

    Conveniently these buggers are open source and so truly catastrophic issues will be fixed while there is even a modest interest in running XP. And after that, nobody will be interested in attacking either.

  4. Re:Is this all that surprising? on Computer Game Reveals 'Space-Time' Neurons In the Eye · · Score: 2

    I don't find the idea that there is some direct connection between eyes and spinal cord that far fetched. What better way to avoid hazardous fast flying objects?

  5. Perfectly safe to stay on XP on Why Microsoft Shouldn't Patch the XP Internet Explorer Flaw · · Score: 1

    Just keep Windows firewall on, install an alternative browser and only run software from trusted sources. It may be full of bugs, but its easy to close all realistic exploit vectors. Think of it as a chromebook with support for legacy software. Speaking of software, windows lost a lot of exclusivity after XP and most apps/games that require Vista/7/8 have good alternatives on other platforms.

    For me, Windows has meant a VirtualBox XP VM for the past decade and will stay this way forever.

  6. Re:Firearms ARE safety devices on "Smart" Gun Seller Gets the Wrong Kind of Online Attention · · Score: 1

    If breaks killed people every time they worked successfully, I would fully support an added security mechanism. You know how you need to put in a key to turn on the engine, to make sure you are an adult rightful owner?

    Once you are down to hand to hand combat, you are better off if the gun as disabled, as you and your opponent have equal access to it.

  7. And what will be our excuse? on How Concrete Contributed To the Downfall of the Roman Empire · · Score: 1

    Oil? Drones? Junk food? We are heading in pretty much the same direction, and for the same reasons. Political infighting and disrespect for constitution (like Julius Caesar becoming a dictator) do it every time.

  8. So H-1B or offshore??? on California Utility May Replace IT Workers with H-1B Workers · · Score: 2

    That would be completely different things with very different consequences. H-1B is a Visa to work in US, so jobs would not be offshored, just outsourced to a contractor (article mentions Infosys). Employees will be still paying taxes, and salaries can not be that low as they incur living expenses similar to US citizens. Added difficulty of changing jobs while on a visa does depress wages to some degree, but IT workers generally expect to live well.

    Offshoring of course means no tax revenue for US and much lower living standards and expenses, so low salaries that US residents can not accept without starving.

    It's unfortunate that the article doesn't make clear exactly what is happening.

  9. Certainly semi-public state is the worst on Heartbleed Sparks 'Responsible' Disclosure Debate · · Score: 1

    Once the discoverer of the bug patched their own servers and the software creator has an official fix, the only ethical thing is to tell everyone at once. It is not realistic to expect a secret to be kept in a dozen independent companies with thousands of employees each. Also, why should Facebook get an unfair business advantage over Yahoo? Most users having dozens of accounts where overlapping private information is stored and get no benefit from just one server being patched.

    Make sure a fix is available and then publish quickly so that bad actors have less time to develop exploits.

  10. Given the number of Windows exploits... on How Does Heartbleed Alter the 'Open Source Is Safer' Discussion? · · Score: 1

    I would take my chances with FOSS. How crazy is the statement that XP can not be safely used without Microsoft support, given that they had 13 years to fix bugs in a feature-frozen release? In an open source release used for so long and on the same scale, chances of finding a new catastrophic bug would be slim. For example, Heartbleed was found in 3 years. Likewise goto fail bug in Apple open source was discovered in a relatively short time.

    Not to mention that if new bugs were found in desupported but still somewhat popular open source software, users would create their own fix in no time rather than having to pay millions to Microsoft.

  11. Re:Oh boy, a deluge of misrepresentation on IRS Misses XP Deadline, Pays Microsoft Millions For Patches · · Score: 1

    Not being a Windows guy, I am not sure if this would be practical for, say, unsigned 3rd party software with its own update mechanism. How would the system know if a given .exe is legit?

  12. Oh boy, a deluge of misrepresentation on IRS Misses XP Deadline, Pays Microsoft Millions For Patches · · Score: 2

    From the assumption that IRS will pay standard joe off the street rate to Microsoft, to impossibility of running XP without support, not much in this article passes the muster of common sense. Chrome and Thunderbird are still well supported and secure, and that's all IRS employees should need in terms of accessing Internet. Everything else would be in-house applications which can be secured on server side, so it should be Ok even if they still have run IE6.

    As for employees that don't follow instructions, there is nothing to keep them from installing freepr0n.exe on Win7.

  13. Re:Welp on Michael Bloomberg: You Can't Teach a Coal Miner To Code · · Score: 1

    Dude, computer science was not developed by young people. Most algorithms were invented by college professors who were in math for many decades. As for modern programming, it has not been around long enough for us to answer this question. It is not as laborious as early days of coding 100 pages of assembler and writing every sort routine from scratch. I would say it would be doable for many 50 year olds. Weather it's a smart career move for someone looking to retire in another 10 years is a different question.

  14. Wow - way to stereotype! on Michael Bloomberg: You Can't Teach a Coal Miner To Code · · Score: 1

    I would rather teach a coal minor to code than try to educate one of today's self entitled kids. He (and occasionally she) will have discipline, hard work culture and some guts. Bloomberg is continuing elitism of his soft drink ban episode.

    But in general we should move to guaranteed wage model to avoid a good thing (getting off dirty coal) being also a bad thing for thousands of workers. People who are up for retraining will want to make more money, while others can at least tide to retirement after being in one occupation for 30 years.

  15. I never had sympathy for Prop 8 supporters before on Mozilla CEO Firestorm Likely Violated California Law · · Score: 1

    But all of a sudden allegations that marriage is only the first step and the final plan is mandatory gay sex education in elementary schools do not sound so far fetched. I have and will donate to political causes others may not agree with, for example school choice. I sure hope that a donation I made as a private citizen would not some day preclude me from being CEO of a company. If Hobby Lobby doesn't have corporate religious freedom to restrict health insurance, perhaps OkCupid should be penalized for boycotting based on a political viewpoint.

  16. Ignore majority of the world at your peril on Illustrating the Socioeconomic Divide With iOS and Android · · Score: 2

    Most of human beings with access to Internet are using Android. They may not be spending most of the money right at this moment, but that is going to change very fast. Or, if your platform gets superseded by competition on iOS, alternative platforms may let you live to fight another day. Remember, Facebook didn't pay 19 billion for $1/year revenues of WhatsApp.

  17. Re:Suprise! on Nest Halts Sales of Smart Fire Alarm After Discovering Dangerous Flaw · · Score: 1

    A standard fire alarm has the same reliability as birth control though abstinence for pretty much the same reasons - it only works if used consistently all of the time. They should have left the feature on while its being fixed. It's the only thing that keeps people from ripping out the batteries.

  18. Finally someone with a pair on NASA Halts Non-ISS Work With Russia Over Ukraine Crisis · · Score: 1

    Space program is one of the few unique things Russia can be proud of on the world stage. If it's prestige is endangered, Putin is apt to take notice. Unlike oil, space is above every country in the world and there is no inherent reason Kazakhstan has to keep its dominance for launches.

  19. Re:Only in America on Job Automation and the Minimum Wage Debate · · Score: 1

    Conservatives who can not wrap their minds around win-win developments in human civilization that defy their expectations of a zero sum game.

  20. Re: "Source code?" on Microsoft Posts Source Code For MS-DOS and Word For Windows · · Score: 1

    Greatly reduced occurrences of data being disassembled as code and vice versa. Or code being disassembled into meaningless rubbish due to wrong starting offset. .EXE is no ELF binary or java class file.

  21. Re:Only in America on Job Automation and the Minimum Wage Debate · · Score: 1

    To this day, most humans don't have access to clean water or safety from violence? Are you saying people have stopped working because of police departments and public water fountains? Food and shelter are already available free in US, but some people fail to locate available resources and there is huge overhead in government bureaucracy. Just making them really free without preconditions would just save everyone money.

  22. Admirable on Microsoft Posts Source Code For MS-DOS and Word For Windows · · Score: 2

    I wish more companies would do this, and sooner too. Would your ten year old code really be a serious competition to your current efforts? It can however be priceless for learning, or even support for hobbyists who like tinkering with old gadgets.

    Lets thank Microsoft for doing the right thing and hope its a sign of good things to come from their new leadership. Apple, Novell and Sun - please take notice.

  23. Only in America on Job Automation and the Minimum Wage Debate · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would an abundance of goods with no requirement for people to work their butts off making them would be considered a problem. What is wrong with just letting people enjoy fruit of the modern civilization without considering our collective wealth a downside? Plenty of people will still find a way to work in order to afford more exclusive stuff line posh houses, luxury vacations or whatever. Lots more would find something productive to do just out of boredom. For everyone else, we should just encourage responsible birth control in the sense that if you can not even find your own place in society you are not in the position to teach your children to do the same.

  24. Re:Because my solar panels are a source of CO2? on Mazda Says Its Upcoming Gas-Powered Cars Will Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars · · Score: 1

    If you have your electric car and all the factories and mines involved in its manufacturing connected to solar panels, then any attempt to compare the CO2 as generated by a fossil fueled car is bogus.

    If not, a small and efficient gasoline car made from materials that require minimum energy and other pollution to manufacture will most probably be more environmentally friendly overall than a leading electric car. Especially after figuring in pollution other than CO2 and the fact that only a minority of owners will be getting 100% of their battery charge from solar panels.

  25. Re:Fascist Coup in Kiev on Russian State TV Anchor: Russia Could Turn US To "Radioactive Ash" · · Score: 1

    Unless you support Russia taking over Germany as well, I have no idea what you are trying to say.