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User: PickyH3D

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  1. Re:I find this hard to believe on Proof-of-Concept Android Trojan Uses Motion Sensors To Steal Passwords · · Score: 1

    In the first case, that's if you do not have a very good motion sensor. In the second case, that's if you know that you need to try and avoid such an attack.

  2. Not to attack the idea, but wouldn't a randomized keyboard slow down your typing as you search for the keys, thus enabling the shoulder-surfer to watch as you struggle? I agree that would likely beat the Malware assuming that the malware reading your motion sensors can't also figure out what keyboard is being displayed.

  3. Re:Gearing up for IPO.. on Facebook Purchases 650 AOL Patents From Microsoft · · Score: 1

    I would suspect that that's one reason for the patent purchase, but I would also expect that the other is because Yahoo is already suing them for patent infringement.

  4. Re:Won't support low end Tango devices on Skype Finally Arrives On Microsoft Phones · · Score: 1

    That legitimately surprises me. I wonder if it actually needs the memory, or if it is an oversight on their listing (as it's listed as a Known Issue)?

    It mostly surprises me because the Tango-based phones are destined for China and India where a lot of people use Skype. Being able to sell it as the go-to phone for Skype would have been a smart move on their part, but Microsoft has never been known to have good marketing. Hopefully whomever is to blame wakes up and notices.

  5. Re:Still behind iOS and Android on Skype Finally Arrives On Microsoft Phones · · Score: 2

    This is one limitation of the background tasks. It's not a hurdle that they cannot overcome, and it's not like they will not overcome it considering that Skype is their subsidiary now.

    Unlike your Android phone (leap of faith there), Windows Phones do not yet need a dual core processor, nor do I expect it suddenly to this Fall even though it is expected to have them at that point. The applications run just fine on a single core, as does pretty much everything on iOS (oh no, the iPhone 4 has a single core! Only the iPhone 4S has a dual core). As for the screen resolution, I have yet to see a real problem with 800x480 other than marketing, although I fully expect higher resolutions to appear with WP8.

    The HTC HD2 would have provided instant fragmentation to the WP7 platform. It had different hardware buttons, which would have mitigated any idea of button standards instantly, and also its memory capacity actually varied by carrier. Finally, the WP8 upgrade is currently only a rumor spawned by people that are frequently wrong about the platform (most recently Paul Thurott).

    Now, as a Windows Phone owner, I do agree that it will be terrible if they were to drop support for all WP devices. I would absolutely leave the platform for the same reason that I will not go to Android anytime soon: I am not going to pay for a 2 year contract for a phone that loses support before the contract ends, which has so far happened to every non-Nexus Android. Microsoft claimed that they were not going to play that same game, and I have to give them the benefit of the doubt because they have made good on their word so far (only the carriers have blocked updates, not Microsoft, and Microsoft has them freely available so that I can download the diffs and force them without having to root my phone or otherwise void my warranty). It's on them whether or not I lose faith in the platform, and take my fanboy-crush to a different platform (most likely iOS); I doubt I am alone. Fortunately, I think it would crush Nokia to lose support for the phones that they have just released, so there is very little chance that this rumor is even true.

  6. Re:Too bad if you actually want to receive calls on Skype Finally Arrives On Microsoft Phones · · Score: 1

    This is true, but it's naive to think that Microsoft will not expand on their background tasks to allow such behavior (probably not the Viber part though, as I imagine that does not exactly excite the carriers).

  7. Re:WHAT?! on Congress' Gulf Oil Spill Response Given a 'D' By Commissioners · · Score: 2

    That's not at all what he said; I am not sure where all of this "free market" crackdown is coming from on Slashdot recently, particularly when it's not mentioned anywhere else. His point is that the actual regulators--the government people--were just as corrupt as the people doing the drilling in this case. What legislation should be passed by the government to prevent government corruption? Anti-corruption laws? Those exist.

    Besides, the entire fiasco was not even as serious of a problem for BP as it should have been, beyond PR, thanks to the way that the administration forced them to handle it financially. Practically half of BP's escrow turned into a tax write-off (read: effectively funded by US taxpayers) for them rather than an expense for doing something incredibly stupid, and bad. Me thinks there was a bit of bias in the entire "study" in missing a $10 billion practical-expense that the government incurred as a result of BP's escrow account that was supposed to be entirely their own money (and the ~$20 billion was, but the $10 billion tax write off thanks to their spending sure made that a lot more palatable for a company that actually has that much money sitting around).

    It's terribly shocking that a committee setup by the President would give him the best grade while avoiding an A to act like it was not biased.

  8. Wow on Microsoft Releases ASP.NET MVC Under the Apache License · · Score: 1

    I am pretty impressed. I honestly wonder how this will effect the web development industry moving forward.

  9. Re:Quite the opposite on U.S. Missile Defense Against Iran Makes China/Russia Mad, Might Not Even Work · · Score: 1

    Where did I stand behind Christian ideals in my post? Was it because I contrasted it with Islam? I merely pointed out that replacing "Jihad" with "Rapture" is not at all related in order to squelch the religion-bashers on here from adding their unoriginal diatribes combining all religions together. I see nothing wrong with people believing in any religion, including Islam. However, when their beliefs effect me through no fault of my own (e.g., if I join an organization called the "Muslim Faith Organization" (made up, in case it's real), then I should expect it to have an effect on me), then I have a problems; Muslims blowing themselves up in crowds, flying into buildings, and launching rockets at civilians because we/they are not Muslim (or not their sect of Muslim) seriously effects me.

    I realize that Slashdot is a haven for Atheists as well as Christian bashing--almost as much as Microsoft bashing--which is why I posted at all. But why does a war from any nation have to be related to a religion? That's exactly what I was getting at about living in the Dark Ages: the United States is capable of going into a war (say, World War 2) without some religious motive. Their may be a religious motive on the receiving end of the war (e.g., the current war in Iraq), but we literally cannot stop that until they grow out of their own Dark Ages.

    Pretty much every religion has some bit of crazy inside of it, and they have practically all had some form of a Dark Ages, but grouping them together shows an extreme lack of intelligence, particularly in a crowd that likes to claim higher intelligence. Put simply: Islam, in general, is behind the times compared to every other major religion.

    To bring it back to your questions: I do not think you even understood what I was saying. But, to answer them anyway, I consider wars from my nation from a national level, and not a religious one. The US, as my nation, is not directed as a military of Christians, Jews, Muslims, or Buddhists. It is a military [that happens to be mostly Christian]. It's that clear cut, and the desire to throw faith into the mix shows a desperate desire to equate all religions regardless of the validity of such a comparison. I can appreciate the desire to logically correlate the belief in a God (or gods), but the implementation to that interface is dramatically different for each major religion and even slightly different between sects of those religions (e.g., Catholic versus Lutheran or Sunni versus Shi'ite).

    To point it in terms that you might understand: the US has not been sending people to war because it's the Christian thing to do. The current religious war is not Christians versus Muslims, it is [a large number of] insane Muslims versus non-Muslims.

  10. Re:Quite the opposite on U.S. Missile Defense Against Iran Makes China/Russia Mad, Might Not Even Work · · Score: 1

    Just to avoid you jumping on any particular news group:

    http://letmegooglethat4u.com/?q=Khamenei+february+3

    Just to be clear: only an absolute moron believes the Iranian government. From stealing their election from the people by stuffing the ballot box, to calling for the destruction of both Israel and the United States, to denying the existence of the Holocaust, to denying the existence of gays in Iran: Iranian leaders are on the wrong side of every single issue. As a nation that literally sponsors terrorism against both the United States in Iraq (as it tries to take over Iraq as well as inflict damage onto the US), and Israel with Hezbollah, it really takes effort to support.

  11. Re:Quite the opposite on U.S. Missile Defense Against Iran Makes China/Russia Mad, Might Not Even Work · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except your stupid attempt at humor ignores a massive difference between Christian and Muslim ideals. Muslim suicide bombers are hailed as martyrs, and they get to go to Heaven. Christian ideals see murderous suicide as a sin, which cannot be forgiven because you are dead, thus sending you to Hell. The idea of the Rapture is that you ascend to Heaven before the Apocalypse, rather than as/after you cause it.

    I'm not particularly religious, but I can recognize which side is crazier than the other; it's not even close as one still lives in the Dark Ages, while the other has finally slithered into the present, or near-present.

  12. Re:Quite the opposite on U.S. Missile Defense Against Iran Makes China/Russia Mad, Might Not Even Work · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The missile shield has no hope of countering the ICBMs that Russia currently maintains. However, there is a realistic hope to stop a stray missile--say, from a corrupt regime fixated on self-destruction. MAD still exists, but CGAD (Crazy General Assured Destruction) does not with such a system.

    This is all posturing, particularly from two of the least moral nations in the world: Russia and China. And, unsurprisingly, they are both backers of a nuclear Iran, which just sounds wonderful considering the frequency of their "death to America" and "death to Israel" proclamations. Regardless of your position on the great Satan and Israel, those are not exactly inspiring statements, nor are they convincing anyone when they turn around and suggest that their nuclear lust is purely for civilian electricity.

  13. Re:content feeds = cable service? on Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa · · Score: 1

    Google seems to spread itself too thin. The last service that I can remember them doing well was Gmail. With their Google+ integration into search, it seems like I am getting a lower quality experience as more spam regularly floods the results and I have to select "Hide personal results" every time, yet I do not even have a Google+ account.

    Google Wave is a great example. It could have been great, but they reused the system for unique addressing as email, yet they provided absolutely no way to transition (could not email a Wave address). They just magically expected everyone to shift at the same time, and for non-techies to magically understand Wave addressing.

    It seems like they just want to throw things out there and hope that they stick, and it really feels like they try to use goodwill to force their way into strong-arm positions. I really was hoping to see Google Fiber enter my market, or somewhere nearby and I thought it was awesome. Now it appears that they are going to transition to piping both internet and TV through the service. I hate cable companies with a passion and I hope that they are broken out of localized monopolies (so much so that I do not even have cable in my house; I use free Hulu and Netflix), but Google entering the market under false pretenses just comes off just as sketchily if they intend to turn free into paid later.

    I used to blame their old CEO (Schmidt) for such behavior and lack of quality effort, but it seems like it may be systemic within the company. Of course, it could be that he is still the Chairman, and he is still driving his idiocy into the pavement.

  14. Re:Would *I* use it? on Should Microsoft Put Office On the iPad? · · Score: 1

    If it was actually important to you, then you could just get a Bluetooth keyboard.

    I don't think that Apple originally intended for the onscreen keyboard to be used like it has started to be used--for simple document writing; after all, they just recently released the split keyboard in iOS 5 (amusingly demoed in Windows 8 days prior), which finally makes it usable. It's hard on my fingers to hit glass quickly and repeatedly, even if other people are able to do it.

  15. Re:Wait! on 300k Organic Farmers To Sue Monsanto For Seed Patent Claims · · Score: 1

    Ugh, this is the wrong poster that I am replying too. Chrome crashed and I lost the intended one, so I picked this one.

    Link that I am referencing: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/31/monsanto-worst-company-of-2011.aspx?e_cid=20120205_WNL_art_4

  16. Re:Wait! on 300k Organic Farmers To Sue Monsanto For Seed Patent Claims · · Score: 0

    That article has a pretty strong bias against Genetically Modified foods:

    GM foods are, from what I perceive, one of the most significant threats that we have against the very sustainability of the human race. Why? In a nutshell, these toxins are being linked to a growing repertoire of assaults against human health and the environment -- and they are already migrating into fetal blood, which means future generations are now at risk.

    I suppose that they do not realize that the Native Americans also crossbred their crops, thus genetically modifying their food. It even occurs naturally, yet that will be the downfall of humanity. Along those hysteric lines, we should also avoid vaccinating our children.

    With that said, it sounds like they may still be one of the worst corporations in the world for more valid reasons: suing people who had crops appear through incidental cross pollination rather than intent. I feel like if it is not a majority of the crop, then it does not make much sense to be able to sue and win. Of course, patent law has never been one for making much sense.

  17. Re:With [not-]Friends like these... on Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade · · Score: 1

    Woooosh

  18. Re:With [not-]Friends like these... on Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade · · Score: 1

    The Sony rootkit was software that you ran from the CD, hence his joke about 1:1 copies.

  19. Re:With [not-]Friends like these... on Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade · · Score: 4, Funny

    And what is the US going to take? The stolen documents back?

    That would be a somewhat amusing cycle though. They steal from us; we destroy all of their hard drives.

  20. Re:Worst idea ever. on The Zuckerberg Tax · · Score: 1

    when the lower classes pay a greater proportion of taxes

    Not even remotely true.

    connections (AKA corruption)

    Connections do not equal corruption unless those connections bend, break or change the rules to get you ahead. You can make connections for yourself by making a good name for yourself.

    Enjoy the pity party, but life is not fair. I have been given the wrong end of the stick too many times--including crimes--to think that doing the right thing will always get you the right and fair results. However, it has just made me push harder and pivot around the people that get in my way.

    Lusting after the rich is certainly not going to help.

  21. Re:Bush did what? on Obama Budget Asks For 1% Boost In Research · · Score: 1

    As an engineer at a large defense contractor, I beg to differ.

    Unfortunately, as with all government spending, there is a lot of pork and corruption, but there are also some legitimately big technology products that advance the state of the art under the guise of military spending.

  22. Re:Bush did what? on Obama Budget Asks For 1% Boost In Research · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You're confusing Republicans with Catholics.

    Not all Catholics are Republicans, just as not all Republicans are [Socially or Fiscally] Conservative.

    Ignoring the argument about being for or against contraception, which I think can be a valid argument in both angles simply based on your belief system, I do have trouble with the government mandating that one side simply accept it. My particular trouble comes from the exemption that some religious groups have from the health care bill (many other Christian groups). If one recognized religious group gets a pass, then why doesn't another for similarly recognized notions?

    Besides that, I imagine that the Catholic fight has a lot less to do with contraception in the form of birth control (even though Catholics are strongly opposed to that alone) than it has to do with drawing a line in the sand. I believe that the fear is a lot more than Big Government forcing them to cover Birth Control. It probably stems from the fact that the logical next step is one that crosses a much larger moral quandary: abortion. And it's really not much of a leap to assume that that is the next step given the nature of the current step.

    I happen to be a fiscal conservative, and I am not a Catholic, nor do I particularly like the Republican party (even if I do tend to side with it in politics, but only because they tend to be more conservative).

  23. Re:What? East Texas Jury? on Texas Jury Strikes Down Man's Claim to Own the Interactive Web · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If they are so familiar with the topic, then why do they side with crazy so frequently?

    This appears to have been a case of luck--not experience--that ended Eolas' current tirade through the industry. It's only a matter of time before they appeal the decision, and before the next stupid patent result coming out of East Texas.

    Just to be completely fair, a lot of their decisions may simply fall on the side of stupidity because much of the system is broken, but there have been numerous patent cases running through East Texas that have had proven-prior art that was ignored for whatever reason.

  24. Re:Worst idea ever. on The Zuckerberg Tax · · Score: 1

    I guess that Facebook must be the reason that Google has not had increasing profits? (Hint: They have been)

    Marketing dollars do not immediately go up with a new ad platform (see iAds for an example of an unsuccessful launch), but Facebook provides a completely different medium for marketing. Even ignoring that, the amount put into marketing does change (both up and down with the economy), and with that wealth is created and spread.

    Additionally, Facebook has created wealth in ways other than pure ads. For instance, the various games like Farmville out there that make money on the users through their own ads as well as microtransactions (which I believe Facebook gets a cut of).

    That is indeed new wealth, and wealth that did not exist there before.

  25. Re:Worst idea ever. on The Zuckerberg Tax · · Score: 1

    I don't like Zuckerburg, but I'd say yes.

    Keep on being jealous of others. You don't have it, or you don't understand it and therefore it's somehow evil.