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User: awyeah

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Comments · 305

  1. I really wish I had points to mod this up. Well-played.

  2. Ah, yes, security through obscurity.

  3. Re:Bullshit on Google Is Really Good At Design · · Score: 1

    I find it to be *okay* - not great, but okay. What is better? (This is a serious, non-trolling question).

  4. Re:Whatever they feel like on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Working Environment For a Developer? · · Score: 1

    Tabs vs spaces is a code style issue, and code style issues ought to be agreed upon, at least on a per-project basis if not company wide. I was thinking more along the lines of "I want to use Eclipse, you want to use NetBeans, and this other guy wants to use IntelliJ" - as long as people can conform to company standards, the choice of tools used is a personal one.

  5. Re:Whatever they feel like on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Working Environment For a Developer? · · Score: 1

    Then let them quit. OP has over a thousand devels and giving everyone admin access and the ability to select their own tools will turn into a nightmare. There will be a thousand different environments. One person quits, gets sick or goes on vacation and his cow-orkers will have to reverse engineer all of his shit to keep production running. Nobody in a shop that size is that good.

    If you want free reign to select your own tools, work for yourself in your basement.

    That whole statement is just silly. If you have to rely on a particular developer's "environment" to be correct, you're setting yourself up for failure. The scenario you're describing sounds like amateur hour.

    In a well-run development shop, anyone should be able to check out the code from version control and be up and running relatively quickly, because everything is in version control and is well-documented.

  6. Re:Whatever they feel like on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Working Environment For a Developer? · · Score: 1

    > SO MANY problems I have seen when devs have admin rights on their boxes! If you want more reliable software, I think the first step is to make the devs run under the same OS permissions as the users.

    Wrong. As long as we have the ability to test in the same environment, that is what's important. Your own machine makes a really poor test environment.

    If you want more reliable software, improve your developers' skills, add QA resources, write more unit tests, do test-driven development. Don't make things more difficult for your developers.

  7. Re:Whatever they feel like on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Working Environment For a Developer? · · Score: 1

    > but that's no big deal

    Actually, that very much _is_ a big deal. Using the tools you are familiar with and make you work the fastest is a huge performance enhancer.

    For example: My coworkers use the Eclipse IDE. I use IntelliJ IDEA because I'm way more accustomed to it and it's faster for me. It interoperates completely with Eclipse (formats the code the same way, etc), so it's totally invisible to them that I'm using it.

  8. Re: since when has it been a business decision on Silicon Valley Veteran On Apple: Company Has Become Sloppy, Missed Updates, Delayed Refreshes (chuqui.com) · · Score: 1

    Is there a particular way you disable beacons, or does that all fall under the "show remote content" option?

  9. Re: Fishy on TrueCrypt Website Says To Switch To BitLocker · · Score: 1

    You can get around creating a Microsoft account on Windows 8.1 during the install.

    Interestingly, you have to click on the "Create Microsoft Account" button, and then at the very bottom of the form, there's a link to skip it.

  10. Re:Milk that cow! on Netflix Plans To Raise Prices By "$1 or $2 a Month" · · Score: 1

    (That's what I meant by "overlaid") - but yeah that's exactly right, and that's why you'll sometimes see the last 2 seconds of another commercial - it's because the clock is off on your local cable provider's hardware.

  11. Re:Milk that cow! on Netflix Plans To Raise Prices By "$1 or $2 a Month" · · Score: 1

    As for the commercials, isn't the cable company just transmitting what the channel is sending?

    Yes, but the commercials you see are a combination of the national commercials and commercials that are overlaid by your cable provider.

  12. Re:Militia, then vs now on Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment · · Score: 1

    This is entirely anecdotal, but nearly all of the gun owners I know care very deeply about issues like the NSA surveillance and the TSA, and often contribute to groups that help fight against that kind of thing (like EFF).

  13. Re:Militia, then vs now on Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment · · Score: 1

    Can you share any sources on this? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I have seen in other comments that violent home invasions have gone UP since this happened, and nobody's provided any source material to verify.

  14. Re:Bad suggestion on Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment · · Score: 1

    > To a European, used to being able to walk down the street without being threatened by guns

    Serious question - do your gun laws actually prevent criminals from having guns? In the states, I don't think they do (see Chicago, LA, New York for examples).

  15. Re:Why the big screens? on Apple Developing Curve Screen iPhones and Improved Sensors · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, on those occasions when I use my iPhone 5 (I'm still in that phase of working out which I like the most as the Sony is my first Android device), the experience is far superior and refined compared to the Sony. But I miss being able to customise certain features and set default apps, and the screen looks tiny in comparison.

    That's the best thing about Android. I often wish that iOS had widgets, instead of relegating them to the notification center and limiting to what Apple provides. I also really wish Apple would have a "what is using my battery" screen like Android does.

  16. Re:Why the big screens? on Apple Developing Curve Screen iPhones and Improved Sensors · · Score: 1

    Yeah, like smaller batteries, lower clock rates, lower resolution screens, and dual core processors...just like an iPhone. The problem with Android is its crappy software not its inability to make smaller phones with "premium" specs. Apple proves that less hardware does just fine as long as you don't suck.

    That's true. Aside from the fact that I'm astonished that people - mainly Android fanboys - still judge me based on the kind of phone I use (iPhone 4S) - seriously, why do you care? - I'm constantly asked about specs. And your comment hits the nail on the head, comparing specs is not really a useful metric.

    My 2+-year-old iPhone, with an 800MHz CPU and 512MB of RAM still performs better than a lot of current Android devices on the market. Granted, certain things - like 3D gaming performance - are probably lacking these days, but the day-to-day stuff performs noticeably smoother.

  17. Why the big screens? on Apple Developing Curve Screen iPhones and Improved Sensors · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this... but am I the only one here who actually likes having a small phone? I guess it's a trade-off. I'm willing to give up the convenience of having the extra screen real estate for having a small phone...

  18. Re:Not just NYC on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    That seems like a better analogy. Either way, the general public definitely stops taking alerts seriously when they get too many of them.

  19. Re:Already done on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    It often is a common feed. This is how the emergency alert system works, at least as I understand it - but note that I am no expert. I'll use an example of a weather alert.

    Weather warning is issued by the National Weather Service. The alert goes out (with the EAS tones, which actually contain modulated data containing information about the type of alert, the geographical area, timing, etc.) via NOAA Weather Radio.

    Your local radio station(s), TV station(s), and cable provider(s) have a device, such as a Sage EAS ENDEC, which is tuned to the weather radio station. When an alert goes out, if it's on the list of "important" alerts, this device will preempt programming - the broadcaster usually has no direct control over it - automatically to get the alert out there.

    This is probably why you heard all of them at the same time.

    There is also a situation where some broadcasters listen to other broadcasters. For example, in my area, we have a 50,000 watt AM station (it actually covers something like 37 states on good days). When a tornado warning is issued, first it's the weather radio, then it's said AM station, and then everyone else, because everyone else gets it from the AM station.

    There's much more to it than that, but that's how I understand it. Hope that helps.

  20. Re:Phone alerts on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    That's absolutely correct. However, with a NOAA weather radio, there's a good chance that you'll get even longer lead time.

    For example, the tornado warning for Joplin was issued 17 minutes before that tornado touched the ground (source).

    Obviously it's not practical to have a weather radio everywhere, and I'm certainly not going to carry one with me when I'm out and about...

    But I will say this: I have seen these things be early and late. Fortunately I have other methods of getting severe weather warnings on my phone, which tend to be more reliably on time.

  21. Re:Not just NYC on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    Yup. It becomes a cry wolf/alarm fatigue situation when they abuse it.

  22. Re:Never got the alert on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    Go into Settings -> Notifications and scroll all the way to the bottom, there are two switches there. If you don't have them, then probably your carrier doesn't support it yet.

  23. Re:Never got the alert on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    I believe it depends on both the carrier and the device. I know AT&T and Verizon have implemented this in many areas. On the iPhone, I believe iOS 6.x and above supports it, but it needs to be enabled on the device by the carrier. I just had the options appear on my phone after a carrier file update a few weeks ago.

  24. Re:Already done on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    One thing I have noticed is that the alerts I've received haven't always come on time. The best way to be alerted to a severe weather situation is with a NOAA Weather Radio.

  25. Re:Not just NYC on Pre-Dawn Wireless Emergency Alert Wakes Up NYC · · Score: 1

    I *think* that the Presidential message is probably the same thing as an Emergency Action Notification, which has never been used before.