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User: Manip

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  1. Re:No!! on Should Professors Be Required To Teach With Tech? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Exactly. We've had an entire generation who are obsessed with throwing technology at schools and expecting magical results based on that alone without any real logical explanation as to how that is meant to work. I think technology is just a very cheap, very neat, action that legislators can take, they can say "I've put $100,000 into improving standards at our schools."

    I think the article's author just lacks imagination, or is unwilling to suggest things that would actually improve education simply because they would be far too expensive and difficult. For example they could increase teacher pay or introduce a bonus scheme encouraging good teachers but that would be far more costly in the medium and long term than for example a one off $100,000 that looks great on the headlines.

  2. No. on Should Professors Be Required To Teach With Tech? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No. There has been tons of research in this area and none has been very positive to technology.

    On a much more personal and anecdotal note, I have taken classes at a "modern" college that did everything using IT (*in an IT course no less) and I've also taken courses where they used a black/white board, and I learned much more in the latter. Further, I believe that a teacher who has a poor grasp of the technology they're using just should skip it - nothing worse than some idiot putting 100% of their course material into PowerPoint and assuming that is enough.

  3. "deliberate choice" on Hacker Builds $1,500 Cell Phone Tapping Device · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So wait, law enforcement use a method to interception that would be compromised if that warning was displayed, and phone manufacturers fail to enable such a warning? Call my a conspiracy nut but perhaps they were asked not to include such a warning for exactly that reason. It wouldn't be the first time the government has asked private industry to make it easier to snoop.

  4. Interestingly simple concept on Microsoft Tech Can Deblur Images Automatically · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is like one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas that you wonder why your camera doesn't already have. The nice part is that it can be done very cheaply (relative to the cost of a camera) and would improve images in many cases. My only tiny little concern is that you might introduce artifacts into your photos - which makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better to store a raw image and the data from these sensors independently? I wonder if there is a scenario where you might be moving but the object you're taking a picture of is stationary relative to your movement. Like for example you're standing on a boat rocking in the waves, you take a photo of the deck, and this technology compensates for the rock which results in a ton of blur.

  5. Reading Comprehension? on UK Government Rejects Calls To Upgrade From IE6 · · Score: 4, Informative
    Their response was to the suggestion of changing browsers. Their post sets out very clearly that they're migrating their applications and workstations to IE8.

    Complex software will always have vulnerabilities and motivated adversaries will always work to discover and take advantage of them. There is no evidence that upgrading away from the latest fully patched versions of Internet Explorer to other browsers will make users more secure

    And:

    Upgrading these systems to IE8 can be a very large operation,

    Does make one wonder if the submitter or the editor even read it.

  6. Re:USA - Police State on Facing 16 Years In Prison For Videotaping Police · · Score: 1

    I live in the UK, we need a licence to peaceful protest here or else we will get arrested. Also as soon as the police define something as a riot (which they can define any protest as) they can more or less do what they want to you, including hitting you, trapping you, using gas or spray, water cannons, you name it. Go look on YouTube for video of UK riots and the police's response.

    I think the difference between a police state and the Western world is getting closer and closer to only being PR. We love to sing about how free we are, but the truth is we are less and less free daily.

  7. Why is overflow so expensive? on Rogers Shrinks Download Limits As Netflix Arrives · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I like how the overflow bandwidth costs over 500% wholesale costs. $4.5 is just insane. I almost wonder if 3G bandwidth isn't cheaper than that. Just goes to show that they aren't doing this in order to offer everyone a good service, but rather to punish and blackmail moderate users into buying a higher tier subscription service.

  8. Spec' Writing Course on FFmpeg Announces High-Performance VP8 Decoder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As someone who spends most of their work day implementing someone else's specifications I know exactly where they are coming from. I honestly cannot tell if people are bad at writing spec's because they're simply lazy or if they need to be trained to document their file formats completely.

    When I think back to my University days we never really learned how to write a specification and wonder if that wouldn't be a course worth teaching. Perhaps you get the students to write a program that outputs a set of complex information into a format, and then get them to write an end to end specification to both read and write that format.

    My favourite moments are when you realise that the current implementation not only doesn't follow the spec' but directly contracts it (e.g. A "bool" that can be TRUE, FALSE, "", "null", or "nan").

  9. Devil's Advocate... on 37 States Join Investigation of Google Street View · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First off they're scanning public information. This is unencrypted, and broadcast across the airwaves for anyone with a WiFi device to pick up. Secondly they are using this for their location service. By recording the location of the hotspot with the identity they can roughly guess someone's location without the need for GPS. If people want privacy then they should turn off their WiFi or at the very least stop broadcasting the name of the network openly.

    As far as Washington goes - just yet another example of idiots in power with no grasp of I.T. and without the wisdom to consult with someone who does.

  10. Stop putting it on the grid! on In Oregon, Wind Power Surges Disrupting Grid · · Score: 1

    I thought due to the sporadic nature of renewables that few of them are plugged directly into the power grid and instead the energy is used to, for example, pump water from a lower storage tank/lake into a higher one? That way they know exactly how much power will be generated by the release of the water and it is entirely predictable.

  11. Re:I can believe it... on Millions of Home Routers Are Hackable · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Indeed. I found a bug in a D-Link DIR-655 and was completely unable to report it to them. I couldn't even log into their support system because according to them I don't own my own router (serial already in use) and couldn't find a more technical or security contact at the company.

    The product still contains the bug - it is also using the latest firmware.

  12. Browser Issue on Millions of Home Routers Are Hackable · · Score: 2, Informative

    First things first, you can block most of these attacks by setting a new router password and or changing the router's default IP. Secondly browsers could very easily solve this by disallowing mixed local (192.*, 10.*, 0.*, 127.*) and remote IP addresses from a single site. If it is a local server it won't be load balancing with something on the Internet and the reverse is equally true.

  13. Like most tools... on Do Home Computers Help Or Hinder Education? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Like most tools computers, or the internet, can both help or harm education. The problem our generation has is that we've decided we can use technology as a substitute for things which that technology is poorly equipped to substitute. Take for example the "smart whiteboards" - outside of TED I have never once in a teaching context seen one of them used well. The fact that even lecturers within technology still use a whiteboard or blackboard should hint to other subject teachers that these aren't magic bullets for improving education.

    The funny thing is that in my experience technology is used the worst the more further removed you are from subjects that really understand that technology. For example, in Science, Engineering, and IT you might actually find less computer usage than some classes in English or History which have no place using computers at all. What we essentially have is teachers swinging the technology magic wand like it is a black box that good grades come out of on their own... Very few people that know technology would believe this "black box" magic bull. But naturally there are companies lined up to sell schools software and hardware that might give students great grades just by the school spending money.

    Basically people want to "buy" grades and technology is the latest trend in that vein. The old trend was buying teachers silly short courses on various vodo tricks.

    Parents just want someone else to raise their kid and they feel less guilty about a computer than a TV or games console. Bad parenting will result in more time spent on 4chan and worse grades.

  14. Irony on Education Official Says Bad Teachers Can Be Good For Students · · Score: 2, Funny

    She was being ironic.

  15. Time to Split Wire and ISPs? on FCC Dodges Pointed Questions On US Broadband Plan · · Score: 1

    Seems like the US has a large monopoly problem over there. While you could argue that because it is two big companies that doesn't make it a monopoly, I would argue that because both of them are completely useless it is as good as having one. I think on all services - telephone, cell, and broadband the US government needs to make it illegal to both own the underlying networks and to provide retail services to end consumes.

    Namely that ISPs have to sell off all of their fiber to someone else and buy it back on an equal footing with their competitors. This would allow both new small ISPs to compete with bigger companies, and allow bigger companies to focus on what their business is instead of having a split focus.

    Additionally it would also encourage new firms that only exist to lay down new networks of communications - like a privately owned cell tower that they then sell on the raw bandwidth. This entire plan would be a huge boom to the US communications industry and while the big two would whine endlessly, with their stake in the existing networks and consumer space they would make out very well.

    Most importantly this would turn the US from an international joke into a leader. It would show that capitalism can boost investment into a countries networks and all with a single tiny law that hurt primarily two big companies in the short term.

  16. Free Wi-Fi illegal on Major ISPs Challenge UK's Digital Economy Act · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the bigger problems with this act that few discuss is that it indirectly makes it illegal to operate a free Wi-Fi service. At the very least you would need to register with the Wi-Fi provider before you could use their service so they can pass on infringement notices to you otherwise they might be left holding the torch when the lawsuit hits.

  17. Re:Maybe something everybody can use? on No iPhone Apps, Please — We're British · · Score: 2, Informative

    Changing a tire is not part of the UK driving test as it stands. You do have to know how to check the tire for damage, check the oil, and water levels.

    Also saying "change the wheel" doesn't mean what you think it means....

  18. Re:I actually like this trend... on Blizzard To Require Real First and Last Names For Official Forums · · Score: 1

    In addition to all that, World of Warcraft players will be completely unemployable so they will have even less reason to leave their parent's basement...

  19. Market Penetration on Is PC Gaming Set For a Comeback? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PC gaming will never die completely for one simple reason - market penetration. You can talk all you want about how many PS3's and X-Box 360s are floating around but just about all of these homes will have at least one computer in them. You can argue that high end multi-million dollar PC games might disappear but I am still skeptical about that given how easy the console makers and third parties have made it to port to a PC (or off of a PC). Plus you see games like World of Warcraft that are designed to run on barebones PCs without the need for an expensive gaming rig, perhaps that is the future of PC gaming.

  20. iPod Touch on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 3, Informative

    The iPod Touch ships with a microphone on the 3GS and above. It is built into the Apple earphones. You can download Skype for free. I would use that but only if you need an iPod / MP3 player anyway. If you don't then you could pick up a Netbook for the same price that can do a lot more...

  21. We did give them a tax cut! on UK Video Game Tax Cuts Sabotaged? · · Score: 5, Informative

    The UK did give the Games industry a tax cut; small businesses and large businesses received a massive break in terms of what they have to pay. All this games tax relief would have done is given large UK games companies a third tax cut.

    Currently they don't have to pay NI on the first 10 employees, pay less tax before they are up to corp' tax levels, and even when paying corporation tax they have to pay less than any other western country.

  22. Electric isn't ready... on High Depreciation May Slow Electric Car Acceptance · · Score: -1, Troll

    I know it isn't a popular opinion but electric cars just aren't here yet. The batteries hold too little power and age far too quickly - there is no economical reason to drive electric. While hybrid cars do solve the distance issue and also mitigate the second issue by having far less batteries (which reduces its economic cost). I would love to drive electric but unless I am just burning money - I won't.

    Oh and please don't post a link to a research project and suggest electric cars are almost ready since they managed to make an insanely light car with batteries that cost $100,000 wholesale - which can go great distances and the batteries last forever... The issue is that no company is making a road car that is economically justifiable.

  23. Private Industry on Amazon Opposes Plan To End Saturday Mail Delivery · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If Amazon wants Saturday delivery for its clients then it can continue to offer it using third parties like FedEx. That is what happens in the UK - you get letters six days a week but only parcels five days a week; if you want parcels on a Saturday then you have to pay a private company to do the delivery which Amazon EU/UK offers.

  24. Re:Good idea in theory... on Senate Panel Approves Cybersecurity Bill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Much like the old guys at the Whitehouse I think you've been watching too many Hollywood movies. The destructive power of this kill switch is ironically the only thing dangerous enough to warrant even having a kill switch. Even if there was some kind of "super virus" that was taking out routing on the internet, shutting the internet seems about as effective as killing the patient to save their leg.

    I'm really yet to read any scenario that makes sense where having this would be useful. I can think of many cases where the government could happily abuse it for political reasons - particularly if they had the power to shutdown political opposition in order to "protect the public from terrorism."

  25. Corporate & Business Tax cuts on UK Video Game Tax Relief Cancelled · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Corporation tax is being dropped 1% every year from *25% (*current) down to 24% making it the lowest tax of its kind in the Western world.

    Small businesses will also see a 1% drop in the rate of tax (between 300K-1.5M). Small businesses also have to start paying NI at a higher threshold, which means the first few employees are now much cheaper.

    So, yes, this is a blow - but it might actually not hurt the small games industry at all and only hurt the big industry for a few years until we get down to that insane 24% corporation tax.