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User: phorm

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  1. Do what you can on Lenovo Still Shipping Laptops With Superfish · · Score: 1

    Honestly. I don't buy Apple products (unless you count a used iPod for which Apple would get $0 of the proceeds). I used to recommend Lenovo, but now they're off my list. HP, long gone.

    Sony is a bit harder to avoid just because they have so damn many subsidiaries and product lines (again, I own a PS3, bought second-hand as were all my games).

  2. Re:Who would have guessed male dominance? on Indian Gov't Wants Worldwide Ban On Rape Documentary, Including Online · · Score: 1

    Hmmm. The CIC sounds like a guy I could get along with.

  3. Re:No lyrics. on Musician Releases Album of Music To Code By · · Score: 1

    I agree about Marillion. Some of their lyrics can be a bit off (varies depending on the piece), but the instrumentals tend to be good.

    Posthumous Silence is an album by Sylvan (IMHO the best one, if you like Rock Opera). For some reason listening to it reminds me of Pulse, but it could just be how the tracks flow into each other and contribute to the overall album as opposed to anything with the melody in particular.

  4. Re:Why Force Your Children to Live in the Past? on Ask Slashdot: Should I Let My Kids Become American Citizens? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, at least if he isn't a citizen he might be able to get a job in the US by applying as an outsourced worker...

  5. Re:Japanese Music on Musician Releases Album of Music To Code By · · Score: 1

    I have the opposite problem when I'm driving. If people are speaking English I can generally just filter them out. If they're speaking an Asian language I usually have to ask them to speak quietly so I can concentrate on driving. I think it's because I can understand *some* of the language but I'm nowhere near fluent, so my brain keeps trying to parse what's being said.

  6. Re:No lyrics. on Musician Releases Album of Music To Code By · · Score: 1

    Ever tried some Marillion or Sylvan? Not bad to work by, and Posthumous Silence is a pretty awesome album by most measures.

  7. Always watching out for the little guy... in case he gets too big and needs to be squashed down again.

  8. Multiple types of scans on Anthem Blocking Federal Auditor From Doing Vulnerability Scans · · Score: 1

    There are a variety of different scans.
    There's simple stuff like "is this port open when it shouldn't be", or "can I get to this host which should be firewalled"
    Then there "when I connect to Apache on host X, is it running a version with known vulnerabilities. Are they patched"

    Finally there's
    "Is host X running exploitable Y which is currently protected by Z, but could be exploited if A, B, or C happened"

    For the last one, it's still important to identify vulnerable software even if it's not accessible by a firewall, etc. Why? Because things change. Maybe somebody opens a port by accident, and suddenly that vulnerable box isn't behind a firewall anymore. Maybe it was intentionally opened as a new service needed to be able to hit the box, but nobody know about the pre-existing security hole.

    Keep in mind that these scans generally aren't 24/7, so you fix whatever you can find when you run them. In good practice, they should also be run on any boxes that are *going* to be provisioned to production, but aren't yet. That means you need special access through the firewall etc so that you can scan stuff before it goes life.

  9. Precedent in court on Has the Supreme Court Made Patent Reform Legislation Unnecessary? · · Score: 1

    Precedent is good if you can afford to go through court and fight it... especially when trolls like to shop for a venue that's most favorable to them and least to their opponents. While reform might not stop all lawsuits (and certainly the trolls will try for some loopholes where possible) it should hopefully do better at knocking cases out before they even hit the courtroom.

  10. Re:Bad idea on Snowden Reportedly In Talks To Return To US To Face Trial · · Score: 5, Insightful

    However, you're not really going to be doing much better with the Russian government that the US government...

  11. Re:B0ll0cks... on Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email At State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules · · Score: 1

    Or stating that a BJ wasn't sex...

    Mistruth seems to run in the family.

  12. Re:Sole purpose of FOSS on Khronos Group Announces Vulkan To Compete Against DirectX 12 · · Score: 1

    There are a couple things that tend to breed innovation/change. One is a driving need. The other is competition.

  13. Re:Drive needles on New Seagate Shingled Hard Drive Teardown · · Score: 1

    Conner. There's a name I haven't heard in awhile.

    It's interesting that they also did try the sweeping-servo (similar to a CD-ROm drive) read/write head design as well, once upon a time.

  14. Drive needles on New Seagate Shingled Hard Drive Teardown · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One thing I've tended to wonder, why have a single read-write needle on conventional drives (especially in multi-platter situations). Why not have two needles, one on either side so they can't touch.
    Alternately, why not a "track" that runs across the drive with shuttles on either side to perform the reads/writes. You could have two perpendicular tracks to increase performance

  15. Reasonable on Unreal Engine 4 Is Now Free · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know, that is one of the most reasonable clauses I've seen in a very long time.

    Basically, we expect you to make decent efforts at bookkeeping. If we think you're shafting you, we'll pay for the audit, unless you really are shafting us in which case you pay for the audit and the licensing-related costs.

  16. Re:5% Gross is a terrible deal on Unreal Engine 4 Is Now Free · · Score: 1

    In Java no less.
    I don't know that the engine is all that shitty though. It's more than I've seen from most with a java-based engine.

  17. Re:this is one more reason on Under US Pressure, PayPal Stops Working With Mega · · Score: 1

    "They can even start their own PayPal competitor if they want."

    Not so useful is said competitor is blocked from accepting debit/credit payments.

  18. Re:The good news is on Samsung Officially Unpacks Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge At MWC · · Score: 1

    "The older S5 with a removable battery and a SD card will see the price down."

    And... the S5 is waterproof (or at least very water resistant)
    I don't see that mentioned as a feature in the article for the S6.

  19. My firmware on Ask Slashdot: How Does One Verify Hard Drive Firmware? · · Score: 1

    Just checked, apparently mine is version

    WD-3.02.6-NSA-1

  20. "Give people stable, productive jobs."

    Maybe because mental health, jobs, and generally dealing with people in poor life-situations is bloody terrible in N America, though likely less so that in the middle-east.

    You'll always have stupid young people making bad decisions. Recruiting for ISIS seems to be better at nabbing these.
    The rest seem to be people that are generally pissed off at life and/or smile at the idea of putting the hurt on somebody else. They're sick, and they've found a sick cause to latch on to.

  21. Cool idea on Ikea Unveils Furniture That Charges Your Smartphone Wirelessly · · Score: 1

    Question: Does it work when the lamp etc is turned off (but plugged in)

    Also, I really hope they come up with a better design, because while the feature may be desirable, the lamps are butt-ugly!

  22. Re:Please Don't on Harrison Ford To Return In Blade Runner Sequel · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I was very excited about the Ghostbusters sequel - been waiting *years* for one - until I heard what they're actually going to do with it.

    Blah.

  23. Re:Oh God No... on Harrison Ford To Return In Blade Runner Sequel · · Score: 1

    Taken on its own, yes. As part of the Alien series it was a bit weak.

  24. Re:No win situation on Facebook Puts Users On Suicide Watch · · Score: 1

    I wonder which insurance companies are polling this data?

  25. Hawking on Surgeon: First Human Head Transplant May Be Just Two Years Away · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I recently read an article that was essentially "how could Steven Hawking have kids", and somebody with a similar condition basically stated that while you lose motor functions elsewhere, that particular part of the anatomy tends to work as it's part of the Parasympathetic nervous system