Slashdot Mirror


User: dwater

dwater's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
2,374
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 2,374

  1. Re:What was the point of waging wars again? on Military Robots Expected To Outnumber Troops By 2023 · · Score: 1

    Indeed, but you didn't read what he wrote (carefully enough)....he said 'hire' and 'just to keep them busy'. That's obviously different to 'having ready access to'.

    Of course, it might well be true that some leaders can't be kept busy in such a way, which I suppose might have been your point.

  2. Re:We don't have one robot soldier yet. on Military Robots Expected To Outnumber Troops By 2023 · · Score: 1

    Aren't those two youtube URLs exactly the same?

  3. Arrogant much? on Astronomers Discover Largest Structure In the Universe · · Score: 1

    Are they really that arrogant? Perhaps they just don't know English too well.

    I mean, iinm, they previously claimed they had discovered the largest and now they claim it again. There is only *one* largest - it makes no difference if you know about it or not. If you find something new that is larger than what you thought was the largest, then all you have proved is that you were previously wrong. To then claim that the new thing is the largest is arrogant.

    How about adding some words to fix it, like 'known' or 'probably'?

    I *suppose* there might be some way to *prove* (or otherwise justify) such confidence. For example, if they know the entire volume of the universe and the newly discovered one takes up more than half, then it would seem reasonable to assume that it is the largest.

  4. Re:What, again? on Astronomers Discover Largest Structure In the Universe · · Score: 1

    They didn't discover the largest before; they were just wrong in thinking it was the largest, just like they probably are this time. It's just arrogance to claim it is the largest when one hasn't yet examined the *entire* universe.

  5. MPH not MPG on Atlanta Man Shatters Coast-to-Coast Driving Record, Averaging 98MPH · · Score: 1

    I was impressed, but then I realised I had mis-read MPH as MPG...that *would* be impressive.

  6. Re:What will we do ? on Microsoft To Can Skype API; Third-Party Products Will Not Work · · Score: 1

    I had a quick try on ubuntu, but it failed a dependency on libupnp3...I found some discussion on it, but it involved compiling it from source....can't be arsed, sorry.

  7. It's been considered a fairly useful capability since it was on Symbian...how long ago was it on that platform?? Too long ago to remember. This is nothing new apart from it's Google and Android, and perhaps the pervasiveness of the platform.

    Ah, I see it was 2005 and Google discontinued it for Symbian :

    http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/flow/item/18412_Quickoffice_officially_discont.php

    I find this sentence in Wikipedia interesting/disappointing :

    "The programs are compatible with Microsoft Office file format, but not the OpenDocument standard."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickoffice

  8. Re:Flawed issue framing on Ask Slashdot: When Is It OK To Not Give Notice? · · Score: 1

    > > Being a good person is something that will always be good for you.
    > Demonstrably not true

    Indeed (clearly not *always*), though I consider it poorly worded than just 'not true'. IINM, there was recent reports showing that being selfish is not good for you in terms of evolution (or something like that) - yeah, a bit like Spock said, I suppose.

    Oh, I even have a reference : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23529849 ...but, yes, YMMV, to say the least.

  9. Tarm? on Astronaut Chris Hadfield Performs Space Oddity On the ISS · · Score: 1

    Very good and all, but who is Major Tarm?

  10. Re:2013 on Ubuntu Touch: The Other Linux OS For Your Phone · · Score: 1

    Motorola had Linux based phones selling in PRC back in ... well, too long ago now...about 2004?

  11. Re:Nokia Tablet on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    Osso, indeed :) I'd forgotten that (before my time there)...I did have a baseball cap, but lost it during a visit to Sachsenhausen :(

    Interesting about the 'big' tablet...never saw or heard anything of it.

  12. Re:Nokia Tablet on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    I don't see any mention of a Nokia tablet. He mentions MeeGo tablets, but, iinm, those aren't Nokia ones - the N9 (and N950) were the only MeeGo branded devices "made available" my Nokia. Everything prior to that was Maemo. The MeeGo running on the tablets was the effort of Intel (though, I suppose there was some Nokia effort included from the attempt to merge Maemo and MeeGo).

    Was it some other tablet reference you mean?

  13. Re:Nokia Tablet on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    there was no 'n770' - it was just '770', but do tell more about the one you're talking about :)

  14. Re:Nokia Tablet on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    I think that's what I was saying...but they had not one internet tablet, but a few...iirc 770, n800, n810, then the n900 which took a sim card so was a phone.

  15. Re:Video on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    I noticed he waves his hands about too much - a pet peeve of mine :)

  16. Re:Video on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 1

    I didn't think so, though it did occur to me to make the comparison, so perhaps there's something there.

  17. Re:Nokia Tablet on Ubuntu For Tablets Announced · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...real linux smartphone

    Two, in fact (three if you count the n950)...not to mention their predecessors which were Internet *tablets*.

  18. Re:Regional on China Blocks Google.com, Gmail, Maps and More During 18th Party Congress · · Score: 1

    yeah, wot he said

  19. Re:Possible outcome? on China Blocks Google.com, Gmail, Maps and More During 18th Party Congress · · Score: 1

    google maps doesn't work in china anyway...it's consistently off by about a kilometer to...iirc...the west. i'm comparing to the gps position, of course.

    nokia maps, oddly, are spot on.

  20. Re:Comments on China Blocks Google.com, Gmail, Maps and More During 18th Party Congress · · Score: 2

    it's difficult to tell what is blocked or just some problem...people always jump to conclusions, of course.

    however, slashdot wasn't accisble for extended periods in the 2006-2007 period. if it was being blocked, the I find it difficult to beleive it was deliberate...more likely the blocked a whole netblock which happened to include slashdot. i don't recall any sensitive topics, but people spout all sorts of bs here, so perhaps there was a thread I missed.

  21. Re:I'm with you. on Nokia "Suspends" Its Free Developer Program · · Score: 1

    I worked on the following app on S60 (2nd and 3rd edition) which was based off Symbian - I mostly did porting, build and small feature work, with other clever folk doing the glory work, but anyway :

    http://darlamack.blogs.com/darlamack/2007/11/cinema-3d-by-em.html
    http://www.mobyware.net/nokia-n97-n97-mini-device-900/system-utilities-tag/dames-anime-girl-download-free-17752.html

    I have yet to see anything quite so innovative on other platforms - though, presumably, that is mostly because the platform makers (Apple, Google, Microsoft) don't want lowly developers messing with what happens when the user gets a phone call (though the above works with SMS/MMS and as a screensaver too - *screen* not *battery*).

    I'd like to see if there's anything similar for current platforms - I don't get much exposure to them.

    Anyway, I like to think that the above app was quite a bit better than garbage, despite its limited scope.

  22. Re:Let's hear it for the beancounters on Apple Pays Only 2% Corporate Tax Outside US · · Score: 1

    I disagree that the examples are irrelevant.

    What if you offer retailer $3.00 for something they're charging $2.99 for? $5.00? $10.00? When does it cease being a 'charitable' tip and suddenly become you valuing the item more than they do?

    Anyway, tips are way different in the US than anywhere else (in my experience). For such positions in most(?) countries, they are *not* paid assuming they will receive tips - they get paid for the work they do. It may not be much, but the assumption is *zero* tip, not like in the US where it is something between 10% and 20%.

    It *is* irrelevant, to my argument, what the retailer wants, so much as whether I consider it to be more valuable that that or not. I might be so thrilled with the product/service/whatever that I say, "no...I want to pay more". Yes, that happens.

    Yes, corporations tend not to do that so much, especially for government or other corporations, but that wasn't my point. Your example was a bad one because it does happen and you suggested it doesn't. You might say my examples are irrelevant, but my point is that *your* example is irrelevant because it's wrong.

  23. Re:Let's hear it for the beancounters on Apple Pays Only 2% Corporate Tax Outside US · · Score: 1

    Are people claiming that only US-taxes are relevant. I mean, they should pay "fair" taxes somewhere, right? I don't think people are limiting the 1.9% to just US-taxes, but all taxes. I could be wrong, of course...

  24. Re:Let's hear it for the beancounters on Apple Pays Only 2% Corporate Tax Outside US · · Score: 2

    > "That'll be $1.99, sir," and you said, "you know what? Here's fifty bucks - keep the change!"

    You seem to be suggesting that doesn't happen. You've never considered that something is worth more than is being charged and even wanted to pay more? What about giving a tip when service is better than expected? Isn't that the same thing?

    I admit it - I *have* offered to pay more on occasion, but it's never been in 'bucks', and never as much as 1.99 -> 'fifty'. Tips seem to be the most acceptable way of over-paying...and I don't mean the crazy US-style tips where you *have* to pay else get an ear-full from the waitress (or whomever).

    Anyway, isn't it common to say 'keep the change' in the US? It rings a bell from paying for a taxi, for example, which is probably the most recent time I paid more than was being charged - in London in my case.

  25. Re:Let's hear it for the beancounters on Apple Pays Only 2% Corporate Tax Outside US · · Score: 1

    I don't think he was contradicting or arguing with you, so much as continuing the discussion, as if it were a conversation.