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User: rtaylor

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Comments · 1,172

  1. Re:Nope on Hardware Is Dead — At Least Most Expensive Hardware Is · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yup. Recently spent nearly $50k for a new machine (512GB ram, 64 CPU, etc.). Seems many people are using low end hardware at the client end and expecting the cloud (which for some applications is not easily distributed) to do the real work.

  2. Re:It's only Natural on Scientists Themselves Play Large Role In Bad Reporting · · Score: 3, Insightful

    5. It's possible that scientists which include spin and get good news coverage receive additional funding the next year. Those who don't may not, and eventually end up an assistant to someone who does spin.

    No idea if the above is true but if our carrot/stick system is setup this way but if it is then spin is guaranteed.

  3. Re:I don't give a Zuck! on Zuckerberg: Betting On HTML5 Was Facebook's Biggest Mistake · · Score: 1

    It does particularly on the 2.x series.

    Heck, Google Maps (the web based version) didn't run on the browser shipped with Gingerbread. Thankfully FireFox mobile with the UserAgent faker (Googles map servers provided invalid javascript for the default mobile UserAgent) made it work.

    Jelly Bean seems to be fine but it will be a several years before Gingerbread disappears.

  4. Re:While Postgres is good for many things... on PostgreSQL 9.2 Out with Greatly Improved Scalability · · Score: 2

    I don't see why not.

    You had the IO to create those 17 trillion tuples in the first place; so vacuum will use that same IO capacity to maintain it.

    The low billions of tuples isn't much of an issue despite being on spinning disk with very little in memory.

  5. Re:Already seen these on Google Reinvents Micropayments — As Surveywall · · Score: 1

    It only needs to be as good as Adsense is at blocking fake ad clicks and views.

    Google already has everything necessary for this; or they're already in trouble.

  6. Re:This isn't micropayments and it isn't new on Google Reinvents Micropayments — As Surveywall · · Score: 1

    It's micropayment but not by the user viewing the content.

    The company performing the survey is making a small payment to the website so a random 3rd party (you) may view the content. The customer of the website is the company performing the surveys.

  7. Re:Quite stupid... on Nokia Claims a Memory Card Slot Would Have "Defiled" New Phone · · Score: 1

    If 32GB of storage is enough then you're all set. It's included.

  8. Re:Traditional British/American folk music also on Study Finds New Pop Music Does All Sound the Same · · Score: 1

    Woody Guthrie said that if you're using more than three or four chords in a song you're just showing off. And a lot of the garage bands of the 50s-70s started off only knowing four chords, and that was really enough; you could always transpose if you didn't know the chords.

    Limiting the number of chords per song makes perfect sense. Limiting your entire lifes knowledge to 3 or 4 chords is entirely different.

    Bands, particularly different bands, are allowed to have more variation between songs than within a single song and this is about variation between songs.

  9. Re:Thank god on The Decline of Google's (and Everybody's) Ad Business · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Quite the opposite.

    If each ad display has less value, maintaining revenue means being more agressive with advertisments.

  10. Re:For the last F*CKING time... on Google Releases Jelly Bean Updates For the Nexus S · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How is offering a software update with backward compatible APIs to an 18 month old phone increasing fragmentation?

    The issue is that not enough manufacturers offer the upgrades.

  11. Re:What I'll pay on Canadians To Get Unbundled Cable TV Channels · · Score: 1

    I don't buy the service at the moment. If they want me as a client those are my terms.

  12. What I'll pay on Canadians To Get Unbundled Cable TV Channels · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm willing to pay $15/month for HBO, SyFy, and the Food Network.

    If it comes with extra, that's fine, but I'm not going over that amount (adjust for inflation).

  13. Re:Autodocs -- Designed and built in China on Details of Chinese Moon Rocket Emerge · · Score: 2

    It has not become easier to move goods across the Canada/US border in the last 10 years.

  14. Re:Stupid question on SQL Vs. NoSQL: Which Is Better? · · Score: 2

    Have you ever tried suing Oracle?

    It might give you a target but you've not going to extract anything from them except perhaps 3 months credit on the licensing costs.

  15. Re:WTF on After Android Trial, Google Demands $4M From Oracle · · Score: 1

    Deal. But if you expose any material not related to the case through improper redacting you will be held liable for any losses incurred over a 10 year span.

  16. Re:Three Laws on Eben Moglen: Time To Apply Asimov's First Law of Robotics To Smartphones · · Score: 4, Interesting

    TFA says first law, I'd like to see it obey all three laws, except I'd make the second law "A robot must obey the orders given to it by its owner, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law".

    So same as today then? The phone company, which is the phones owner, gives a command and the phone obeys by turning in the carriers position.

  17. Re:Huh? on Google Touts Worker Tracking As Own CEO Goes MIA · · Score: 1

    Nearly all billionaires have a minimum of a half-dozen staff on hand to fulfill their needs (getting coffee, taking notes, arranging travel/meetings, handling visitors, security, etc.)

    Their position and behavour are already tracked by their companies (which they typically own a large portion of) in far more detail than you ever will be.

    One of the hazards of being rich is that you are never alone.

  18. Re:Where's the ethics? on Google Touts Worker Tracking As Own CEO Goes MIA · · Score: 2

    Add up the number of deaths by nuke.

    Now add up the numebr of deaths by gunshot.

    Which is larger?

  19. Re:Units on Larry Ellison Buys His Own Hawaiian Island · · Score: 1

    A little bigger than a single Canadian corporate farm (larger ones hit 100 square miles).

  20. You don't even need a big group of people. A cook and QA person within any food processing factory would be enough.

    Hit McDonalds ketchup supply chain with something that takes a day to be visible in the host. They'll shut it down quickly once detected but you could still impact a very large number of people.

  21. Re:Not true that fighting back doesn't work. on Hacked Companies Fight Back With Controversial Steps · · Score: 5, Informative

    Many botnet clients apply security patches to prevent others from taking the machine.

  22. Re:2560x1600? on Where Are All the High-Resolution Desktop Displays? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    2560x1600 30" is 100.63dpi. This is exactly what the article writer was complaining about; stagnent DPI.

    If that resolution was on a 9" screen then you would have roughly the equivalent DPI as an iPhone.

  23. Re:Who would NOT be using a bot for this? on Dot-Word Bidders In Last Minute Dash · · Score: 1

    Not really. It is a game to be won by the person with the most consistent ping time.

    Either way, if you're paying several hundred thousand for a domainname then locating staff nearer to the server shouldn't be a big deal for a one-time event.

  24. Re:Solar doesn't replace other power sources. on Germany Sets New Solar Power Record · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not certain where you are but in North America (Canada too) peak electricity consumption is during the hotest summer days and typically during the afternoon to early evening (3pm to 7pm).

    20 years ago you were correct. Air Conditioning, however, completely changed that.

  25. Re:This just isn't right... in any way on Cops' Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking Now Better Than GPS · · Score: 1

    I choose what I give over to Facebook or Google.

    A large chunk of the information Facebook and Google know about you was collected from people other than you.

    You can choose what you give Facebook/Google, but you cannot choose or limit what knowledge they have about you.