I have two kids who are glued to Netflix and YouTube every waking moment. My wife watches TV shows on Amazon. I spend most of my time connected to various servers doing upgrades and maintenance. I've never come close to hitting the cap. Comcast (and all the other ISPs) say that the cap issue only affects about 1% of the customer base. It appears that the entire 1% eats up bandwidth posting complaints on message boards because that is all you really see on the Internet. I personally think that most of them are simply being dishonest. They don't hit the cap at all. They just want to complain so they can complain. I assume that if Ford announced it was putting a limiter in their new cars that limits the max speed to 200mph, they would complain that they regularly suffer due to the limitation and simply cannot go on with life until it is removed. Boo hoo. I'll care when (if) I ever get close to hitting the bandwidth cap.
I was just told about this thread - so this may be old. But, I've done a lot of research into Verizon and the Sony Z3V, which has an FM chip.
TLDR: The chip is not disabled. The OS is altered to mute FM output.
I have three Sony Z3V phones. All three have an FM chip. I can check to ensure the FM chip works by using the Sony diagnostics tool. Dial *#*#7378523#*#* and you get a diagnostics menu. Select hardware tests and test the FM chip. If it was disabled, it wouldn't work. It does work. Just type in the frequency to tune to and you get radio. The problem is that this screen will timeout. When it does, the radio goes away. Also, there's no volume adjustment. It is at max volume only.
In the original OS distribution, Verizon simply didn't include an FM app with the phone. You could download one (such as Spirit FM) and listen to the radio. With the 5.1.1 update, the radio stopped working. But, there was a catch. If you used Sony's FM app - which you have to download from a "trusted source" and install as an untrusted third party app - it still worked. You could listen to the radio. Then, there was the second update to 5.1.1. Instead of "disabling" FM, Verizon went another route. They mute the FM audio. So, you can download just about any FM app. You can run it. You can tune it in. You can see that it has a signal. You can see the over-the-air identification text, which is usually the song being played. But, there is no audio.
Now, controversy: Verizon has quoted multiple times that it would cost up to $100/phone to "enable" the FM chip in the phones. The chip is enabled. They are spending effort in muting it. Verizon has also quoted multiple times that an FM tuner interferes with normal phone operations. Before the upgrade to 5.1.1, I listened to the radio on my phone all the time and never had any trouble with any other operations. In my opinion, Verizon simply wants you to use data to listen to music. They don't want you to listen to music for free.
Remote "play" is a misnomer. You cannot "play". The same thing already exists with the PSP. You can poke around your PS3 remotely, but can't play games (and you can't even watch a DVD or BluRay movie). If Sony wants to push this, they need to turn Remote Play into Remote PLAY, not Remote Browse. Then, they have a market. You still working on Ziamat on FFXII and need to take a bathroom break? Grab your phone (or PSP) and continue playing remotely. No problem.
To be accurate, that should read "A previous study that this study is extended from used a Belgian chocolatier to create bars..." This particular study is using cocoa powder mixed in water.
The study actually uses extremely bitter cocoa powder, not sweet and tasty chocolate. The study is on the antioxidants in the cocoa powder. When sweetened, the antioxidants are destroyed. So, you have to choke down a nasty bitter powder every morning. Not something most people are willing to do.
You are making some wild and crazy assumptions there. Suppose there is a test - something as simple as a metal detector - that flagged 10% of the people. If the light on this test turns red, the person deviates from the main line of people and walks through a second detector that costs a little more to run. Also, being a second detector, it would create a second bottleneck if everyone had to walk through it. This second detector only flags 10% of the 10% that go through it. So, the "more expensive" and "more intrusive" test isn't what you are assuming it to be. It is not a complete strip search. If the second test flags a person, then the person goes to a more precise test. This continues by only expending security where it is needed.
It is also a wild and crazy assumption that walking through a detector 10 times will cause it to pop positive at least once. I have never ever caused a metal detector to go off. I fly very often. I work in a secure building. I do a lot of government contract work in other government buildings. So, I figure that I walk through metal detectors at least 20 times a week. A friend of mine had them go off on him a lot. They would baton him and let him go. He finally checked into it and found that his tie clip would set it off if it was oriented just right. So, he tossed out the tie clip and hasn't set one off since. If you trigger the terrorist test, you should ask why. Once you know why, you can decide if it is worth changing. It could be something as simple as replacing a tie clip.
Better yet, how can efficiency be explained to wannabe nerds? If a test is very fast, non-intrusive, and cheap with a 90% accuracy, it is a great test. Those 10% may be sent to a further test that is longer, more intrusive, and more expensive with a 99.999999999% accuracy. This applies throughout testing of all kinds. There is no reason screening for terrorists should be a magical area of testing separate from the rules that govern all other areas of testing.
Am I the only one who noticed this story tagged with "lynx"? Sure. We all know that no browser renders pages faster and with less resource overhead than lynx, but it wasn't one of the browsers being compared.
I just purchased a Westinghouse television and it is documented, rather well, how to set the television to use less than 1 watt of power in standby. It includes a warning that this is not set as factory default because it takes up to 10 seconds for the television to turn on when in the low-watt standby mode - far too long for most people to wait.
The bad verbage of patents is not necessarily the patent writer's fault. When I tried to submit a patent, it came back three times demanding that I rewrite it until it made no sense. Then, it was denied because I used the phrase "A person may use..." instead of "A person can use...". In patent-speak, the word "may" means "may not". So, I applied for a patent for an idea that people may not use.
Walking can include the stairs. I work on the 13th floor. Since I started using the stairs this year, I've gone from 220 to 190 pounds. I've even had two other programmers awkwardly point out that I look like I've lost weight. Perhaps it is my adjustment from squeezing into 38" pants to easily fitting into 36" pants. As a side note: I've always had trouble with HDL (mine was below 10). It is now above 30. I hope this continues and I'll be rather fit by the time my son is old enough to notice if he has a fat daddy.
So, we allow companies to donate money to our lawmakers. The companies donate more money to lawmakers that vote for laws in a way that benefits the companies. Why should it be different? Should we only have companies that donate money to lawmakers who vote for laws to run the companies out of business?
For many decades, there has been a push to have an AI that acts just like a human. In other words, it makes rash decisions, based on bad anecdotes and stereotypes, full of mistakes, and then tries to rationalize that everything was planned with intelligence.
AI should understand the failings of human intelligence and fix it. For example, I have the sad job of normalizing health data. Every day, I dread coming into work and going through another million or so prescriptions. Doctors and nurses seem to continually find new ways to screw up what should be a very simple job: What is the name of the medication? What is the dosage? How often should it be taken? When should the prescription start? When should it end? How many refills/extensions on the prescription are allowed before a new prescription must be written? Instead of something reasonable like: "Coreg 20mg. Every evening. 2008-06-10 to 2006-07-10. 5 Refills." -- I get: "Correk 20qd. 10/6/08x5." It seems to me that some form of AI could learn how stupid humans are and easily make sense of the garbage. Of course, there's no reason the AI couldn't replace the doctor and write the prescriptions itself in a very nice normalized form.
Does it work? No. It is far too difficult to draw the same image twice without seeing what you are drawing. If you can see what you are drawing, so can everyone else - then they can draw the same image.
Comcast is in many different cities - each office running independently of all others. Which offices are blocking bittorrent? I use it all the time, on Comcast, without any trouble. I have more issues at work (with traffic shaping junk) than Comcast. So, I do not see how this is a company-wide problem. It may be something only used in problematic areas.
This is what Microsoft wants. Users are told ask for XP instead of Vista - which doesn't really change the amount of money Microsoft receives in any way. Then, in a few years, Microsoft stops supporting XP and forces everyone to buy Vista. So, in the long run, Microsoft loves the "buy XP instead of Vista" hoopla. They're going to double their profits.
If a few companies patent the entire outsourcing process, they will make it difficult for others to outsource. Then, there will be more domestic jobs and they'll have to work with immigration to outsource the labor here at home (where they will at least pump a little of their pay back into the economy).
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says more than 40% of bootlegged films in the US are secretly taped in New York cinemas.
But previously they claimed:
Canadian theatres were the source for nearly 50 per cent of illegal camcords across the globe
So, in essence, they claim that New York and Canada account for 90% of the problem... These numbers sound totally made up to me.
Well, if you took sixth grade math, you would see that the first statement applies to 40% of the US. The second statement applies to 50% of the world. Contrary to what many in the US believe, it is merely a tiny country in a much larger world. So, for a made-up number, assume that the US problem is 10% of the entire world problem. They are claiming that 4% of the world problem is from New York. Therefore, 50% + 4% does not equal 90%.
There's no heady optimism about the future, and that, really, when you think about it, the collapse of the dot net boom and worse, the later ruling about expensing stock options, and then the war, this decade has been utterly depressing.
In my opinion, it all depends on perspective. During the dot-com boom, I was sitting on a stool in a tiny backroom doing electronic repairs on video equipment. To make ends meet, I spent all my free time going house-to-house doing computer repairs. Somehow, I found time to take college classes and get my B.S. in Computer Science. The entire time, I was continually told that I needed to move to California and get in on the big paychecks. Now, I have a nice office at the top of one of the tallest buildings in town, looking across the city and into the bay. I work pretty much when I want to - as long as the work is done, nobody complains. I make enough that my wife doesn't have to work and she can stay at home and raise our son. I don't work evenings or weekends. I'm still taking classes here and there to get my PhD. For me, there is optimism.
Being in a company that has a license so that every computer/server I purchase must be purchased from Dell, I now know that Dell is very anti-Linux in the workplace. I had one server start blowing white smoke out the back just before it burned up and died. I called Dell to try and get it fixed under warranty. They asked for some Windows code. I told them I had RedHat on it. They said that since I put a non-Windows OS on it, I voided the warranty. Later, I had a desktop PC lose a harddrive. I called to see if I could get a replacement drive under warranty. They told me I had to try to run some Windows diagnostic program. I explained that the drive is dead - so I can't run anything - and it was running Fedora anyway. Oops. Since it didn't have Windows, it isn't covered under warranty. Again, I had another desktop with a broken CD tray straight out of the box. I called to complain. This time, I didn't even put Linux on it because I couldn't - the CD tray wouldn't open enough to get the Linux CD in there. They looked at my history and said that they don't warranty my computers because I have a history of installing unsupported operating systems on them.
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I have two kids who are glued to Netflix and YouTube every waking moment. My wife watches TV shows on Amazon. I spend most of my time connected to various servers doing upgrades and maintenance. I've never come close to hitting the cap. Comcast (and all the other ISPs) say that the cap issue only affects about 1% of the customer base. It appears that the entire 1% eats up bandwidth posting complaints on message boards because that is all you really see on the Internet. I personally think that most of them are simply being dishonest. They don't hit the cap at all. They just want to complain so they can complain. I assume that if Ford announced it was putting a limiter in their new cars that limits the max speed to 200mph, they would complain that they regularly suffer due to the limitation and simply cannot go on with life until it is removed. Boo hoo. I'll care when (if) I ever get close to hitting the bandwidth cap.
I was just told about this thread - so this may be old. But, I've done a lot of research into Verizon and the Sony Z3V, which has an FM chip.
TLDR: The chip is not disabled. The OS is altered to mute FM output.
I have three Sony Z3V phones. All three have an FM chip. I can check to ensure the FM chip works by using the Sony diagnostics tool. Dial *#*#7378523#*#* and you get a diagnostics menu. Select hardware tests and test the FM chip. If it was disabled, it wouldn't work. It does work. Just type in the frequency to tune to and you get radio. The problem is that this screen will timeout. When it does, the radio goes away. Also, there's no volume adjustment. It is at max volume only.
In the original OS distribution, Verizon simply didn't include an FM app with the phone. You could download one (such as Spirit FM) and listen to the radio. With the 5.1.1 update, the radio stopped working. But, there was a catch. If you used Sony's FM app - which you have to download from a "trusted source" and install as an untrusted third party app - it still worked. You could listen to the radio. Then, there was the second update to 5.1.1. Instead of "disabling" FM, Verizon went another route. They mute the FM audio. So, you can download just about any FM app. You can run it. You can tune it in. You can see that it has a signal. You can see the over-the-air identification text, which is usually the song being played. But, there is no audio.
Now, controversy: Verizon has quoted multiple times that it would cost up to $100/phone to "enable" the FM chip in the phones. The chip is enabled. They are spending effort in muting it. Verizon has also quoted multiple times that an FM tuner interferes with normal phone operations. Before the upgrade to 5.1.1, I listened to the radio on my phone all the time and never had any trouble with any other operations. In my opinion, Verizon simply wants you to use data to listen to music. They don't want you to listen to music for free.
Remote "play" is a misnomer. You cannot "play". The same thing already exists with the PSP. You can poke around your PS3 remotely, but can't play games (and you can't even watch a DVD or BluRay movie). If Sony wants to push this, they need to turn Remote Play into Remote PLAY, not Remote Browse. Then, they have a market. You still working on Ziamat on FFXII and need to take a bathroom break? Grab your phone (or PSP) and continue playing remotely. No problem.
To be accurate, that should read "A previous study that this study is extended from used a Belgian chocolatier to create bars..." This particular study is using cocoa powder mixed in water.
The study actually uses extremely bitter cocoa powder, not sweet and tasty chocolate. The study is on the antioxidants in the cocoa powder. When sweetened, the antioxidants are destroyed. So, you have to choke down a nasty bitter powder every morning. Not something most people are willing to do.
You are making some wild and crazy assumptions there. Suppose there is a test - something as simple as a metal detector - that flagged 10% of the people. If the light on this test turns red, the person deviates from the main line of people and walks through a second detector that costs a little more to run. Also, being a second detector, it would create a second bottleneck if everyone had to walk through it. This second detector only flags 10% of the 10% that go through it. So, the "more expensive" and "more intrusive" test isn't what you are assuming it to be. It is not a complete strip search. If the second test flags a person, then the person goes to a more precise test. This continues by only expending security where it is needed.
It is also a wild and crazy assumption that walking through a detector 10 times will cause it to pop positive at least once. I have never ever caused a metal detector to go off. I fly very often. I work in a secure building. I do a lot of government contract work in other government buildings. So, I figure that I walk through metal detectors at least 20 times a week. A friend of mine had them go off on him a lot. They would baton him and let him go. He finally checked into it and found that his tie clip would set it off if it was oriented just right. So, he tossed out the tie clip and hasn't set one off since. If you trigger the terrorist test, you should ask why. Once you know why, you can decide if it is worth changing. It could be something as simple as replacing a tie clip.
Better yet, how can efficiency be explained to wannabe nerds? If a test is very fast, non-intrusive, and cheap with a 90% accuracy, it is a great test. Those 10% may be sent to a further test that is longer, more intrusive, and more expensive with a 99.999999999% accuracy. This applies throughout testing of all kinds. There is no reason screening for terrorists should be a magical area of testing separate from the rules that govern all other areas of testing.
Am I the only one who noticed this story tagged with "lynx"? Sure. We all know that no browser renders pages faster and with less resource overhead than lynx, but it wasn't one of the browsers being compared.
I'm sorry, but isn't this practically identical to the patent application to use javascript to treat browsers as distributed clients to perform a job like a distributed super computer? The patent application is at http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220020198932%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20020198932&RS=DN/20020198932
I just purchased a Westinghouse television and it is documented, rather well, how to set the television to use less than 1 watt of power in standby. It includes a warning that this is not set as factory default because it takes up to 10 seconds for the television to turn on when in the low-watt standby mode - far too long for most people to wait.
The bad verbage of patents is not necessarily the patent writer's fault. When I tried to submit a patent, it came back three times demanding that I rewrite it until it made no sense. Then, it was denied because I used the phrase "A person may use..." instead of "A person can use...". In patent-speak, the word "may" means "may not". So, I applied for a patent for an idea that people may not use.
Walking can include the stairs. I work on the 13th floor. Since I started using the stairs this year, I've gone from 220 to 190 pounds. I've even had two other programmers awkwardly point out that I look like I've lost weight. Perhaps it is my adjustment from squeezing into 38" pants to easily fitting into 36" pants. As a side note: I've always had trouble with HDL (mine was below 10). It is now above 30. I hope this continues and I'll be rather fit by the time my son is old enough to notice if he has a fat daddy.
So, we allow companies to donate money to our lawmakers. The companies donate more money to lawmakers that vote for laws in a way that benefits the companies. Why should it be different? Should we only have companies that donate money to lawmakers who vote for laws to run the companies out of business?
For many decades, there has been a push to have an AI that acts just like a human. In other words, it makes rash decisions, based on bad anecdotes and stereotypes, full of mistakes, and then tries to rationalize that everything was planned with intelligence.
AI should understand the failings of human intelligence and fix it. For example, I have the sad job of normalizing health data. Every day, I dread coming into work and going through another million or so prescriptions. Doctors and nurses seem to continually find new ways to screw up what should be a very simple job: What is the name of the medication? What is the dosage? How often should it be taken? When should the prescription start? When should it end? How many refills/extensions on the prescription are allowed before a new prescription must be written? Instead of something reasonable like: "Coreg 20mg. Every evening. 2008-06-10 to 2006-07-10. 5 Refills." -- I get: "Correk 20qd. 10/6/08x5." It seems to me that some form of AI could learn how stupid humans are and easily make sense of the garbage. Of course, there's no reason the AI couldn't replace the doctor and write the prescriptions itself in a very nice normalized form.
You've clearly never used COBOL.
It could have been much worse. Imagine being known as one of the developers of MUMPS. Wait... haven't they all been tortured and killed already?
If you remove the background picture and the act of displaying what you draw to everyone within eye-shot, I've already done that at http://shaunwagner.com/index.html?page=Projects%2FJavascript%2FMouse+Password
Does it work? No. It is far too difficult to draw the same image twice without seeing what you are drawing. If you can see what you are drawing, so can everyone else - then they can draw the same image.
Comcast is in many different cities - each office running independently of all others. Which offices are blocking bittorrent? I use it all the time, on Comcast, without any trouble. I have more issues at work (with traffic shaping junk) than Comcast. So, I do not see how this is a company-wide problem. It may be something only used in problematic areas.
This is what Microsoft wants. Users are told ask for XP instead of Vista - which doesn't really change the amount of money Microsoft receives in any way. Then, in a few years, Microsoft stops supporting XP and forces everyone to buy Vista. So, in the long run, Microsoft loves the "buy XP instead of Vista" hoopla. They're going to double their profits.
If a few companies patent the entire outsourcing process, they will make it difficult for others to outsource. Then, there will be more domestic jobs and they'll have to work with immigration to outsource the labor here at home (where they will at least pump a little of their pay back into the economy).
Hold on... TFA claims:
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says more than 40% of bootlegged films in the US are secretly taped in New York cinemas.
But previously they claimed:
Canadian theatres were the source for nearly 50 per cent of illegal camcords across the globe
So, in essence, they claim that New York and Canada account for 90% of the problem... These numbers sound totally made up to me.
Well, if you took sixth grade math, you would see that the first statement applies to 40% of the US. The second statement applies to 50% of the world. Contrary to what many in the US believe, it is merely a tiny country in a much larger world. So, for a made-up number, assume that the US problem is 10% of the entire world problem. They are claiming that 4% of the world problem is from New York. Therefore, 50% + 4% does not equal 90%.
There's no heady optimism about the future, and that, really, when you think about it, the collapse of the dot net boom and worse, the later ruling about expensing stock options, and then the war, this decade has been utterly depressing.
In my opinion, it all depends on perspective. During the dot-com boom, I was sitting on a stool in a tiny backroom doing electronic repairs on video equipment. To make ends meet, I spent all my free time going house-to-house doing computer repairs. Somehow, I found time to take college classes and get my B.S. in Computer Science. The entire time, I was continually told that I needed to move to California and get in on the big paychecks. Now, I have a nice office at the top of one of the tallest buildings in town, looking across the city and into the bay. I work pretty much when I want to - as long as the work is done, nobody complains. I make enough that my wife doesn't have to work and she can stay at home and raise our son. I don't work evenings or weekends. I'm still taking classes here and there to get my PhD. For me, there is optimism.
Pawn shops in high crime areas, such as St. Louis, have an overload of camcorders for sale dirt cheap!
Big deal. The VA has been trying fix VistA since 1985.
Then please, PLEASE, have your Dell people call my dell people at (800) 822-8965 and tell them to start honoring our warranties.
Being in a company that has a license so that every computer/server I purchase must be purchased from Dell, I now know that Dell is very anti-Linux in the workplace. I had one server start blowing white smoke out the back just before it burned up and died. I called Dell to try and get it fixed under warranty. They asked for some Windows code. I told them I had RedHat on it. They said that since I put a non-Windows OS on it, I voided the warranty. Later, I had a desktop PC lose a harddrive. I called to see if I could get a replacement drive under warranty. They told me I had to try to run some Windows diagnostic program. I explained that the drive is dead - so I can't run anything - and it was running Fedora anyway. Oops. Since it didn't have Windows, it isn't covered under warranty. Again, I had another desktop with a broken CD tray straight out of the box. I called to complain. This time, I didn't even put Linux on it because I couldn't - the CD tray wouldn't open enough to get the Linux CD in there. They looked at my history and said that they don't warranty my computers because I have a history of installing unsupported operating systems on them.