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  1. Re:Amateur Web Site at Best on Facebook Says A Bug May Have Exposed The Unposted Photos Of Millions Of Users (buzzfeednews.com) · · Score: 2

    A little secret for you, the bulk of IT is run by beginners who not only overstate their technical skills, they also personally overvalue their technical skills. In short, they don't really understand how poor their skills are.

    Now consider that as a basic starting point for a developed platform, then factor it in with the software running on that platform, for the higher-level protocols that let that software communicate, and for the staff that maintain the systems, and one can see why breaches are so damn common.

  2. Re:Will they beat Musk? on A New Engine Could Bring Back Supersonic Air-Travel (economist.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Travel of any kind follows the same rules of economics as everything else, in that the least expensive thing that meets the wants and needs of the buyer generally wins out. Travel has the added component of wanting to reduce duration as much as practical, but even then, cost wins.

    Extremely fast suborbital sounds cool, but the vast majority of people can't justify the cost. Even the ultra-rich can't justify it, even if they can afford it.

    By contrast, at one time Concorde had promo-packages available, my wife as a child got to fly Concorde back from the UK as part of a vacation package her parents found. It wasn't cheap, in the eighties it was probably a thousand dollars a person for them, but it was still far cheaper than anything suborbital would cost at this point.

  3. Is it dead, or have they reduced some of the problems associated with it so now they don't provide the end-user with an easy means of disabling what remains of it?

  4. Re:Tom Cruise and "total commitment" on Motion Impossible: Tom Cruise Declares War on TV Frame Interpolation (theguardian.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Oh please. Scientology for the celebrities is a business proposition. The celebrity gets to hide their wealth or taxable income, and the church gets to use the celebrity's membership as a marketing gimmick.

  5. This situation must be reminiscent of living in communist countries.

    Enjoy!

    Just so we understand each other, you're saying that the paranoia among employees in literally one of the largest Capitalist companies in the world is like living in a Communist country?

    You do realize this sullies Capitalism even more than it does Communism, right? This implies that the power of the Corporation is so great that it rivals or even exceeds that of the nation-state...

  6. Some incorrect assertions on Thieves Are Boosting the Signal From Key Fobs Inside Homes To Steal Vehicles (www.cbc.ca) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The mechanism in a fob that lets the vehicle start is not the same mechanism that operates the locks. Additionally there's different programming needed to add the convenience controls versus programming the fob to where the vehicle will start with it.

    This "hack" was possibly demonstrated on an old Top Gear when one of the presenter's cars was moved into the street by another presenter while they were at a restaurant. Basically supposedly it was close enough that the the fob and car could communicate. Given that this was for entertainment it's difficult to say if it was real or not.

    Either way though, I guess I'm still a fan of having a physical key that must be inserted into a slot, used in combination with an immobilization system that communicates with a chip that's embedded with the key.

  7. Re:Housing is unaffordable on Americans Are Moving Less Than Ever, and It's Bad For the Economy (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    Sure, because 40% of the population living in coastal cities is something that should be readily ignored when it comes to talking about numbers.

  8. Re:Evolution. on Google Has a Plan To Eliminate Mosquitoes Around the World (bloombergquint.com) · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Do you want fewer mosquitoes, for at least a little while, or not?

    If so, shaddup!

  9. While you're testing your self-driving cars here.. on Google Has a Plan To Eliminate Mosquitoes Around the World (bloombergquint.com) · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...can you equip them to get rid of the mosquitoes too? They're getting annoying. You can at least make them less annoying by getting rid of the mosquitoes.

  10. I use an Alienware M17R2 at work. I use a Dell XPS 13 at home. I'm not using an external keyboard with either. I do wish the Dell didn't have the chicklet-type keyboard though, the bezel between keys is annoying.

    The home desktop computer, that doesn't get a lot of direct-on-box use anymore has a USB Sun keyboard on it. In the past I've used a Gateway 2000 "Anykey" 124 key macro programmable keyboard, swapped the Sun on to try it out, and then haven't directly used the computer much since then. I like the GW2K keyboard but it has a simultaneous-key limitation that I've occasionally bumped up against.

  11. This shouldn't be patentable on Apple's Siri May Soon Process Voice Locally On a Device, No Cloud Required (appleinsider.com) · · Score: 2

    This really shouldn't be patentable. We had the ability to control computers with voice a quarter-century ago. Not only would there have been patents back then, but those patents would have expired long ago.

  12. Not really. The desktop computers doing it were 16MHz Macintosh LCII models with 4MB RAM. I remember playing with Dragon in 1992 when in school.

  13. of course it is on Google's Smart City Dream Is Turning Into a Privacy Nightmare (engadget.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only real chance for privacy is if the systems are self-contained on the property and data isn't exfiltrated to offsite servers. Even then, there are security risks if the system has bugs that make it vulnerable.

    Given that Google's business is user data, there's no practical way to have privacy in a Google-driven home.

    I expect similar problems for Google self-driving cars unless laws mandate that voice tech and general listening has to be handled in-car, and even then there are issues.

  14. Re:These aborts are dangerous on Crew of 'Soyuz' Spacecraft Establish Contact After Failed Launch (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    the Soviet programme had a capsule-abort from a rocket once, one of the cosmonauts even credited the inventor of the American system that the Soviets duplicated with saving his life if I remember right.

  15. Re:These aborts are dangerous on Crew of 'Soyuz' Spacecraft Establish Contact After Failed Launch (theguardian.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm going to treat this abort-crew-is-safe similarly to how I treat the passenger in cars post-auto-accident. Asking, "are you OK?" doesn't mean I expect them to be exactly as they were prior to the collision, I'm establishing if they are in a position to respond, and how serious their injuries are. I expect they might have suffered whiplash, or been battered-around enough to have bruises and scrapes. I just want to know if they're seriously injured enough to require emergency medical attention, so when I'm talking with the 911 operator I can state if an ambulance must be called or not.

    My expectation is that the crew is battered and possibly has suffered minor to moderate abrasions from cabin contents shifting about. Concussion isn't even ruled out. I expect though, no deep lacerations, no major bones broken, no injuries that would classify one as a casualty.

  16. What does a lineup matter? on Microsoft Now Has the Best Device Lineup in the Industry (char.gd) · · Score: 2

    Don't all of these devices run Windows?

    Unless I have some sort of weird sole-source agreement from a vendor, if the various devices all run the same operating system, why does it really matter which vendor the hardware comes from? Wasn't that in large part why Windows became such a domineering player in the personal computer market in the first place?

    If Microsoft or any other commodity-OS vendor had some sort of peripheral expansion system that was unique and cross-compatible across the entire line but incompatible with other manufacturers then I could possibly see having such a wide lineup being useful, but we appear to be well past the era of ubiquitous proprietary docking stations or port/peripheral expansion modules. Even when we were in that era though, it's not like a given vendor had all of their devices use that dock, usually only a fairly small subset in a given series used a particular dock, so different laptop lines would have different docks even with one vendor.

    I've seen the headaches associated with repairing particular models of Lenovo like the Thinkpad Helix lineup, no way would I go with a single hardware vendor as a lock-in beyond the particular model for a particular contract. Especially when apparently the Surface series are now even worse than those Helixes are to repair.

  17. Re:I thought the genre dammage was done by... on Myst, One of the Most Influential Games Ever, Turns 25 (fastcompany.com) · · Score: 1

    /walks up to desk clerk at "The La Costa Lotta" Hotel /tries all of the right-click options including the zipper

    "Please sir! Do you have any other form of identification?"

  18. Re:turns out science is hard on A Nuclear Startup Will Fold After Failing To Deliver Reactors That Run on Spent Fuel (technologyreview.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd rather that money be spent/wasted on failed attempts at getting us off of fossil fuels when the math indicates that the idea might work, than to continue to burn hydrocarbon fuel for stationary power plants.

  19. Re:The problem with tablets... on The 'Post-PC Era' Never Really Happened... and Likely Won't (techpinions.com) · · Score: 1

    There is mouse support in Android. If one connects a bluetooth mouse, a cursor appears. The button controls are unfortunately like the hand-gesture controls rather than typical desktop computer mouse functions, but it's not entirely unusable.

    I've actually done a fair bit to get my android phone as far toward a laptop replacement as I can get for what I need for my job, but the restrictions on software talking directly to the hardware (I need a serial console, and can't do it in the terminal environment I have loaded on the phone because it requires root and I won't root my phone) are restricting making it a full-time thing.

  20. The problem with tablets... on The 'Post-PC Era' Never Really Happened... and Likely Won't (techpinions.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...is that devices specifically manufactured and marketed as tablets first and foremost are limited. They don't successfully replace all of the functions of a PC, in that the software written for them and the nature of how they're designed to interact with peripherals and with other systems is restricted. In some senses this can be a good thing, we don't have quite as many problems with poorly written software crashing the OS, but because of the walled-garden approach that both Android and Apple have taken, there's simply less functionality. On top of that, due to the battery-operated, portable nature of the devices, they don't do the CPU-intensive tasks as well as something designed to be plugged into the wall, or even something that carries a lot more mass in batteries.

    In an ideal world, I would have a very small device that could interface to any screen and set of input devices that I so chose. It could serve as my phone, it could serve as my book reader, it could serve to watch movies, could serve as a portable computer for business functions, could serve as my full-featured desktop computer, depending on what set of peripherals I'm using with it. Unfortunately desktop computer operating systems don't do the mobile functions too well, and the mobile operating systems don't offer the freedom I need for desktop functions.

  21. Why don't the British build computers?

    ..

    ..

    ..

    ..

    Because they haven't figured out how to make them leak oil yet!

  22. New Math? on Britain Faces an AI Brain Drain as Tech Giants Raid Top Universities (telegraph.co.uk) · · Score: 1, Insightful

    More than a tenth have moved to North American universities and nearly a tenth are currently working for other smaller US companies. Meanwhile just one in seven have joined British start-ups.

    So, 10% have sought employment with American firms. and a little over 14% are working for British firms? First, that means that more are working for British firms than have left for America, and second, the numbers for those that have left are only 24%, so about a quarter. Does that mean that three quarters or 75% of graduates are still at university?

    Last time I checked, disciplines where the vast majority of graduates ended up working in the universities were liberal-arts. Don't we want graduates to go into industry? Isn't that sort of the point of going through school, to be able to get a good job and to do well for one's self and one's family?

  23. Google has this thing called "Maps" that has basically the entire country and large swaths of the world mapped-out. It would not be a challenge to use data from this to identify where these kinds of controls are.

  24. Re:Autonomous Dreams on Waymo Self-driving Cars Are Having Problems Turning Around Corners (siliconangle.com) · · Score: 1

    I really cannot fathom the monstrosities known as incompetent drivers on the same road as myself, not knowing how to handle left turns in intersections (the left turn always yields unless there is a protected left signal!)

    You're wrong about that. Even at metered intersections with a control-light, those seeking to turn left must yield to any oncoming traffic that enters the intersection, regardless of one's own light, and regardless of that oncoming traffic's light.

    It didn't make sense to me either, until I realized that first, the prime duty is to avoid a collision, regardless of things like right-of-way, and second, that more than one party can be cited in an accident. If you turn left even when the oncoming driver runs a red light, both of you will be cited. Him for running the red light and failure to control, and you for failure to yield. His insurance will be on the hook, but you will get a ticket.

  25. The metered lights are not uncommon, they're used all over the country for freeway ramps. To avoid excessive congestion on the freeway during rush hour, one is not allowed to proceed past the metered point until one has one's own green light. The lights are normally red, momentarily turn green for one car to proceed, then revert to red.

    That surprises me is that these are a challenge for the cars. The control signal lights are not placed in exactly the same place everywhere (some older freeways place them above, while most place them to the left of the left lane or the right of the right lane) but they're time-activated and they function the same way everywhere. Worst case Waymo should be able to map-out where they're at and should also be able to establish rules that govern when they're in-effect, how the light in this zone work, and where to look to confirm no-go versus go.