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  1. Or maybe it isn't.
    Just personally I'd liked the idea of the defendant stepping up, admitting running the whole thing, and saying he'd arranged a x many hundred thousand/million drug deals where nobody got hurt, nobody was coerced and to possibly point out that the major issue with narcotics is merely how they're handled, rather than their eternal existence and the last century's completely useless attempts at prohibition.
    Whoever ran SR, they'll forever have my admiration for what they did and voluntarily banning the sale of items that certain governments to this day refuse to consider as 'harmful'.
    The Charlie Hebdo incident that occurred last week. Would this be more, or less likely to have occurred if we lived under the rules of the USA or Silk Road?

  2. Looks like it's over on In Paris, Terrorists Kill 2 More, Take At Least 7 Hostages · · Score: 2
  3. And I fully agree with the sentiment on Writer: How My Mom Got Hacked · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But that's just a sentiment.
    Once you're in their jaws, I suspect that your feelings may vary - and not as if any of us are going to reward her for towing the unified line
    Actually, that's maybe the solution - you cough up your own cash to reward those that "say no to extortion" - It's not a massive leap, the majority of our governments already do this with our taxes already. Sure, it costs more in the long run (those SAS/SEAL raids where everybody ends up dead and poorer) - but it's nice to take a principled stand in the abstract (when your loved one isn't going to die as a hostage, nor as a soldier sent to rescue them).
    The French - they mainly just seem to pay up, and walk away with their hostages unharmed.
    Now I'm sure there may be some objections to this (I've got some myself) - but our governments seem to have managed to overlook their scruples and the urge to teach lessons when a few banks asked for a bit of cash (or we'd have all descended into anarchy, seemingly).
    My point, I'm not sure. It's vaguely around the point that we don't 'pay when extorted' - and yet we all pretty much do. What's interesting is the type of extortion your government buckles and pays for.

  4. Well that was informative on Ask Slashdot: What Can I Really Do With a Smart Watch? · · Score: 1

    From the "I commonly work in a clean-room (CR.)" I knew we were onto a winner here.

    What you actually want to do is not put your phone on the 'inside' of your "CR" gear.

    If that's not an option, then I suspect neither is farting around with a wrist-computer.

    Being serious. I'm a Pebble user and the main service it provides is putting your phone notifications on your wrist - it lets you break the pavlovian response of looking at your phone everytime it goes 'buzz'
    However, it pretty much assumes that when you glance at your wrist and determine it's important, you get out your phone to resolve whatever.
    Depending on your watch of choice, your interaction scope may vary - but they all assume if you need to offer a proper response to whatever, you get out your phone - a smartwatch isn't for you sir.

  5. Indeed. on Uber's Android App Caught Reporting Data Back Without Permission · · Score: 1

    It doesn't like knowing my phone is rooted - but then slap on Root Cloak, and it happily rolls over and lets me tickle it's underside.
    I think this might be my main annoyance - ridiculously intrusive, and yet pretty dumb.

  6. Re:Think that's bad on Uber's Android App Caught Reporting Data Back Without Permission · · Score: 1

    You misunderstand.
    Worx doesn't actually *give* you any functionality - e.g. I just use my regular mail program to connect to exchange, attach files etc etc. All Worx does, is tell my employer my handset's allowed to use exchange.
    I'm guessing it can probably be used in a slightly more intrusive way to 'brand' my handset (install corporate wallpaper, stick corporate apps of choice on the handset etc) - but..

  7. Think that's bad on Uber's Android App Caught Reporting Data Back Without Permission · · Score: 4, Informative

    Have a look what Citrix Worx asks for (certifier of your phone, so you can look at your work email). Device & app history
    retrieve running apps
    read sensitive log data
    Mobile data settings
    change/intercept network settings and traffic
    Location
    precise location (GPS and network-based)
    Photos / Media / Files
    modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
    test access to protected storage
    Camera / Microphone
    record audio
    Wi-Fi connection information
    view Wi-Fi connections
    Device ID & call information
    read phone status and identity
    Other
    press keys and control buttons
    read frame buffer
    close other apps
    update component usage statistics
    force-stop other apps
    modify secure system settings
    view network connections
    connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi
    full network access
    run at startup
    read battery statistics
    control vibration
    close other apps
    set wallpaper
    install shortcuts
    uninstall shortcuts
    modify system settings
    pair with Bluetooth devices
    draw over other apps

  8. Aw, bless on Disney Patents a Piracy Free Search Engine · · Score: 1

    I suspect some numpty within Disney has just walked away with a somewhat cheap-looking 'patent plaque'

    The point of a search engine, to the user, is to give them what they were looking for.
    Anything that detracts from this ideal, makes it a 'bad search engine'

    If they'd got their head screwed on, in addition to hiding copyright infringing material, they'd have also extended the patent to remove anything that was sold by a Disney competitor (surely users contributing to the coffers of a rival, is much worse than contributing to nobody).
    Oh - but then it might have been noticed that they've just patented their own app-store..

  9. Indeed on NPR: '80s Ads Are Responsible For the Lack of Women Coders · · Score: 1

    And the results in most IT offices being a f'in sausage-fest.
    Whilst I have no aptitude for HR or marketing, I'd urge any undecided young person out there to fully consider.

  10. Because it all seems to be 'flowing' the wrong way on Apple's Next Hit Could Be a Microsoft Surface Pro Clone · · Score: 0

    I have a desktop and a laptop or two running Windows. I have for decades. These are 'my machines'
    I've ploughed through the odd iOS and quite a few Android devices for phones and tablets as well. Once you've hacked the life out of them, you can actually get stuff working that previously you could only do on my 'real machines'
    Over the generations, what I could do has increased - I loved it. Then I saw the Surface2. It just sort of snuck up on me. Scales from my eyes and all that, but it can do whatever any other tablet I have could do, what I wanted my next tablet to do, and - well basically I'm not sure what advantage any tablet of today or the near future could offer me, that this couldn't.

  11. To be fair though on Ubisoft Claims CPU Specs a Limiting Factor In Assassin's Creed Unity On Consoles · · Score: 2

    Consoles just have to render at 1080, not 1440 or the 4k you can easily pick up for your PC.
    *re-reads*
    Oh..

    For the last couple of gens it's usually been possible to get a PC that 'looked better' - but you ended up paying a whole wedge more for the privilege. This is the first gen of consoles that have come out and I've immediately written off (and I'm reasonably sure could build a better PC for near enough the same money).
    PC monitors have got better, and it's never been easier to plug your PC into a TV if you care. My old 360 controller is happily working wirelessly with my PC, despite the rest of the rig going to the charity shop. I'm really a little bemused as to what the point of non-portable consoles is any more.
    Even the industry seems a little bemused and is resorting to 'dirty-tricks' - deliberately screwing up the graphics on Watch Dogs, 'consoles as a whole' getting a timed exclusive of GTA etc.
    Only console I've any interest in is the WiiU (and even then just for the game exclusives I know will never come to my PC - and for some reason can mentally give Nintendo a pass on this).

  12. Indeed on Tesla Is Starting a Certified Preowned Program · · Score: 1

    With a 'normal' car you get to see the mileage and whether "it looks OK at a glance" but that's about all you can tell about what kind of life it had previously.
    With a Tesla I don't see why you couldn't theoretically pull the entire black-box history.
    I'd like to buy a Tesla that never exceeded the speed limit and was only driven to church on a Sunday etc etc.

  13. That is rubbish on Cyanogen Inc. Turns Down Google, Seeing $1 Billion Valuation · · Score: 1

    Google are trying to protect their Android brand, from the reasonable accusations that hardware vendors leave their customers high-and-dry and stop supporting the handset when they have a new one to sell.
    I don't want an iOS phone - *but* buying an Android phone for a similar chunk of cash, it never comes with any guarantee of a future update.
    Google recognized this and released the 'google edition' versions of some of the high-end popular handsets. That ticks the box for the users of these phones - you're likely to get your updates for a good few more years, whatever your vendor does - but for most of these high-end phones the vendor provides upgrades anyway.
    Surely what google want go do is provide some kind of ongoing support to their users of phones from the lower tier suppliers. Cyanogen is pretty good at bridging the gap between the huge numbers of phones out there, and google's latest and greatest OS.
    The bit that niggles me is that I'm not quite sure what Cyanogen brings apart from providing a focus for the unpaid people actually doing the work.
    If I were in Google's position I'd just pick up the community myself, and put bounties against phone/android version combos, and pay the devs directly.

  14. If I had points, I'd give them to you on Scotland Votes No To Independence · · Score: 1

    I'm reasonably proud of my little island and a bit we refer to as the UK.
    Punched above our weight for a couple of hundred years, and made out mark on the planet. Generally I think we've done more good than harm - but definitely not perfect and plenty of room for improvement.
    Personally glad that Scotland didn't leave us - but would have happily accepted any decision they made.
    Hopefully this is just tacit acceptance it's a bit shit for all of us at the moment, and we all need to ride this out together. It'll get better, it'll get worse again, we'll bitch and we'll whine about the unfairness of it all - but at least we're not France.

  15. I would also have accepted on Navy Guilty of Illegally Broad Online Searches: Child Porn Conviction Overturned · · Score: 1

    Islamic terrorism as a fig-leave to cover the corruption of your liberties.

  16. This is iOn strengthened

  17. I don't think so - although never tried on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 1

    Quite helpfully if you want to have a look, at what it supports, they've put the UI online:
    http://event.asus.com/2012/nw/...

  18. Get a better router? on Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities? · · Score: 3, Informative

    I picked up an Asus ac66u last year (there are later models and I suspect cheaper ones in the range that are similar) - and it supports VPN (amongst all manner of other stuff).
    Just have an extra page on the GUI to allow you to generate an openVPN cert and account privs. Pretty useful as means when I'm travelling I can just seamlessly add my phone to the home network.
    I'd thought about buying something dedicated (well was more a NAS project, I thought I could add this to) - but unless you've got some complex needs or high volume - I strongly suspect I'd make more of a mess (both function and security) trying to set it up myself.

  19. The issue isn't really net neutrality. on Net Neutrality Comments Surge Past 1.7M, an All-Time Record For the FCC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's lack of competition in the US markets.
    In deregulated markets when you have competition, if your Netflix doesn't work, you shout at your ISP who either loses you as a customer, or sorts their peering out.
    Problem in the states would seem to be that if your Netflix doesn't work, you don't appear to usually have an alternate/comparable ISP you can switch to that will give you working Netflix.They've got you over a barrel, and see an opportunity to make money. Asking you for extra cash to make your netflix work is what they'd really love to do, but as they can't, they'll ask Netflix for it (who'll then ultimately have to pass this onto you).
    Looking at it another way - if you had a 'net neutral' google connection available to you, you wouldn't care what other ISPs you didn't use were doing.
    US ISPs are currently trying to have their cake and eating it - they want the regulation that prevents the competition, but don't want regulation that makes the connection 'neutral' (whatever exactly you think that means).

  20. Maybe it's the lack of choice. on 3 Recent Flights Make Unscheduled Landings, After Disputes Over Knee Room · · Score: 1

    If I buy a car, or a pair of trousers, I make a decision as to what I will and won't accept.
    If I buy a plane ticket, I can see the airports, the times, the meal I don't want, the films I can watch, religious meal-types available etc - there's never an absolute statement saying you'll have x many inches of space between your back and the seat infront.
    If there was, I could appeal to corporate travel to black-list some options. As it stands you're already on the plane, before you realize what you're in for.

  21. The *single* time I've ever argued on a plane (I'm British and we're big on silent compliance), was then I could only fit by putting by twisting (really not good for your back), my legs ended up in the aisle and was woken and chastised by stewardess unable to get her trolley past (after slamming it into my legs a few times).
    Ended up having to stand up to let the duty-free go by.
    To return to the point above. I'm not asking for luxury, I'm just wanting it not to physically hurt. I don't have a choice of airline as I have a cheap-arse employer - I can maybe choose a flight time that I think will be less popular, but that's all the say I have. Yes - maybe I should change jobs - but just seems bizarre that in my corporate world of IT, decisions have been made as to whether I should feel pain or not.

  22. I quite liked my Hertz Bug - I think they thought we were a gay couple though, when we were offered it, but I digress - loads of space.
    Next time we got a Mini (the fuggly big one) and I loathed it.
    I know you're taller than me, so don't wish to tell you what's comfortable - but for me at least: Huge cars always have space. Anything beneath that appears to be completely random whether it's comfortable or not. Some are designed for tall people, some aren't - there just doesn't seem to be any particular reasoning/pricing around it.

  23. I'm not 'very' tall - I don't have to shop in different shops. The regular shops I go to don't charge me extra for the material required to make my clothes etc. They've determined the cost of fabric isn't economically justifiable in maintaining different price points for the clothing - we all pay the same, we all get something that fits.
    What's wasteful on planes is the handing out of 'excess' legroom. If you don't need 1 inch of space, you certainly don't need 3" of space. That's a waste. An empty seat that nobody is using is an AWFUL lot of waste that could be allocated, for nothing, to other passengers.

    The seats are already on tracks, how about simply just allowing them to crawl up and down the plane according to need? Sure it's not simple - but planes are reasonably complex already. Simply pitch would be - all passengers get the most legroom we can possibly provide them with.
    Airlines are already trying to shift us off the peak-hour flights on cost - but I'd happily shift, for nothing (as my employer is paying), if I was actually comfortable.

  24. There are all manner of double standards already though - as a 37 year old I'd get kicked off a plane if I made as much noise as some children.
    I've been (OK, willingly) booted from a bulkhead (more leg-room) so a parent could have a clip on tray-thing to put their child on.

    Long-haul holiday, I cash in my air-miles for something with leg-room. I unfortunately happen to have a scummy-cheap-employer, who'll pay for nothing other than economy on my enforced trips.

    Most of the time it's fine, there's enough legroom, the flight's not full, blah blah. It's just those occasions where this isn't the case. You sit down and know for the next 8 hours you're going to be in pain. Actual pain. AND then somebody slams a seat into you. Strike that, most of the time they notice 'the resistance' - but when they don't..
    Ideally it should just be treated in the same way as a kosher meal. x inches of leg-room is a requirement for my travel. Can't supply that, you lose my business. I really don't care about the rest of it. Air-travel is not something I wish to 'enjoy' - simply be as unaware of as possible.

  25. Seat reclining should be considered like smoking.
    Yes you used to be able to do it, yes you might even have something on your seat that suggest you might still be able to do it - but as a consideration to your fellow passengers, you can't.