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User: grasshoppa

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  1. Re:The war that no one wanted on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 1

    Well, cost and interest. As we both touched on, the tech just isn't that interesting. That plus the cost pretty much covers this story.

    If companies really want the smart watch to take off, they'll have to drop the cost and increase it's interest factor.

  2. The war that no one wanted on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can you really have a "war" when you no one shows up?

    Don't get me wrong, some of these smart watches rate as "neat", but not for several hundred dollars. I could see dropping 100 bucks, maybe, on something that tracks health telemetry, but honestly? It'd probably have to be a gift before I got it.

    This is kind of like saying 3D TV companies were in a war with each other. While that may have been true, consumers didn't notice because the tech just wasn't that interesting to them.

  3. Can only improve Rackspace on CenturyLink Looks At Buying Rackspace · · Score: 1

    Seriously, having been stuck with rackspace email for as long as I have been, I can only expect things to get better. They could hardly get worse.

  4. Re:antibiotics on Denver Latest City Hit By Viral Respiratory Infection That Targets Kids · · Score: 1

    One of the beneficial side effects of places like Kaiser ( all in one insurance/provider ) is that they can communicate and enforce such policies as "No antibiotics for viral infections", often in spite of well meaning but ultimately clueless parents.

    Smaller practices may still prescribe antibiotics for everything from a sniffle to a stubbed toe, but the bigger places are finally getting it. It's one of the few benefits of consolidating our health care as we are.

  5. And what privacy rights would those be? on Should Cyborgs Have the Same Privacy Rights As Humans? · · Score: 2

    Seriously; in light of all the violations of our "privacy" by the government, what "rights" can we humans be said to retain?

    Viewed in that light, however, the answer is probably a depressing "Yes".

  6. Re:state still dealing with Tesla on Tesla's Next Auto-Dealer Battleground State: Georgia · · Score: 1

    So they *shouldn't* aggressively pursue profits?

    Strange.

  7. That'll teach them on Verizon Pays $7.4 Million To Settle FCC Privacy Investigation · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Side note: How fast do you suppose Verizon wireless makes 7.4 million? 3 hours? 4?

  8. Re:The obvious solution... on Appeals Court Clears Yelp of Extortion Claims · · Score: 1

    Thank you; yes, you are describing exactly what we saw, and continue to see. The business name is an amalgam of the owners, but one of the owners is never out at one of our remote locations, and never has been. Never the less, we have multiple bad reviews bad mouthing that provider, talking about treatment that we don't handle at any of our locations.

    It's a shady operation, pure and simple. The more people that I can make aware of that, the better.

  9. The obvious solution... on Appeals Court Clears Yelp of Extortion Claims · · Score: 4, Informative

    I support a business who has been targeted by yelp, and it's not pleasant. I can't prove anything, but shortly after turning the abusive sales troll down, we started getting negative reviews. Look up the users making the reviews, and it seems they have a history of making negative reviews. What's more, most reviews were factually and demonstrably inaccurate. We couldn't find any of these users in our system, so we knew they weren't customers.

    Now sure, they could have been normal trolls out to do what trolls do, but it just seemed too coincidental that they started popping up after we turned down a business relationship with yelp. Meanwhile, our customers' positive reviews would often never show up on yelp due to their algorithm.

    The obvious solution to this entire headache is to dissuade family and friends from using yelp, spread the word far and wide that they are dishonest in their policies and that companies can pay for reviews. As "family IT", we have far more authority than yelp could ever hope for.

  10. Re:Hm. on Invasion of Ukraine Continues As Russia Begins Nuclear Weapons Sabre Rattling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can't tell you how comfortable I would be feeling, right this instant, were Palin vice president.

    Obama didn't win; the GOP lost, both in 2008 and 2012. If you want to be angry at anyone, be angry at the GOP for giving us shit choices.

  11. Re:2GB of RAM? on New HP Laptop Would Mean Windows at Chromebook Prices · · Score: 1

    "Well no, but I can see MS making the same mistake "...never post before coffee.

  12. Re:2GB of RAM? on New HP Laptop Would Mean Windows at Chromebook Prices · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well no, but I can see MS making. Chromebooks are sold as a browser-based solution, that's the expectation. An MS laptop will have a different set of expectations placed on it, right or wrong. If they aim to "just" provide a browser experience, they'll fail.

  13. Re:I'm not so sure.... on Why Chinese Hackers Would Want US Hospital Patient Data · · Score: 1

    You're right about he insurance, but I can't help but wonder if the reasons the data is valuable are far more mundane: in order to target specific product and services for sale. If you know a patient has a specific condition, you can target them with ads for specific therapies.

  14. She's selling a book on Web Trolls Winning As Incivility Increases · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The scope of the problem isn't clear, the goal is ill-defined. What, exactly, are trolls winning?

    I think the only one "winning" anything here is the author trying to sell her book by engaging in much the same inflammatory business as the trolls she purported to study.

  15. More importantly, did "she" answer? on Murder Suspect Asked Siri Where To Hide a Dead Body · · Score: 1

    And more relevantly, did her answer involve lye?

  16. Re:Location, Location, Location on Ask Slashdot: Good Technology Conferences To Attend? · · Score: 1

    Decent advice, but it's been my experience that you don't get valuable information from conferences, just more sales contacts.

    Guess it depends on the tech in question.

  17. Location, Location, Location on Ask Slashdot: Good Technology Conferences To Attend? · · Score: 2

    If you're a former grunt, then you've seen the after effect of these conferences. At best, it gets your bosses out of your hair for a few days. At worse, they come back revved up to implement the newest buzz work...for a week, until they see the cost, then it's like it never happened.

    Take my advice; choose based on location and work up your justification from there. Myself, Vegas is always an attractive option, but by no means should you limit yourself. Be imaginative. /jaded and tarnished.

  18. I have an alternate suggestion on Ask Slashdot: Bulletproof Video Conferencing For Alzheimers Home? · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stop arming seniors afflicted with alzheimers.

  19. Pariahs? Not the word I'd choose on The CIA Does Las Vegas · · Score: 1

    "Criminals" is the word I'd choose, given their actions.

  20. Now I know it's bullshit on Jesse Jackson: Tech Diversity Is Next Civil Rights Step · · Score: 1

    Anytime Jesse Jackson gets involved, you know it's more about skin color than relevant metrics.

    In some cultures, we might call that "racist".

  21. Flawed reasoning on Compromise Struck On Cellphone Unlocking Bill · · Score: 1

    It is flawed to think that MORE laws will fix a problem. If a problem exists, it is likely due to the fact that there are too many laws to begin with.

    When it comes to laws, less is most definitely more.

  22. Beer on Poetry For Sysadmins: Shall I Compare Thee To a Lumbering Bear? · · Score: 2

    Seriously.

  23. Online trolls, really? on The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is this what we've come to? Pretending online trolls are a problem specifically for women?

    Here's a hint for the author of that article: Trolls are adept at identifying that which will get under your skin, and will hit that button repeatedly as long as it keeps spitting out a pellet ( much like this article ). If we're going to generalize it, men don't get this particular brand of trollling because it doesn't work on us. Ultimately, it has very little to do with sexism.

    But no; let's work on trying to make ourselves a better brand of troll. Let me know how that works out for you.

    ( and no; had the author been a man, I'd have responded in the same manner )

  24. Corporate doublespeak on Comcast Customer Service Rep Just Won't Take No For an Answer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize. The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives. We are investigating this situation and will take quick action. While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always treat our customers with the utmost respect.

    If you read this carefully, they aren't sorry for the content, merely the delivery.

  25. I've toyed with this concept.. on Ask Slashdot: Unattended Maintenance Windows? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...and while I'm reasonably sure I can execute automated maintenance windows with little to no impact to business operations, I'm not sure. So I don't do it.

    If there were more at stake, if the risk vs benefits were tipped more in my company's favor, I might test implement it. But just to catch an extra hour or two of sleep? Not worth it; I want a warm body watching the process in case it goes sideways. 9 times out of 10, that warm body is me.