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User: Bill_the_Engineer

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  1. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... on Elon Musk: Tesla's Solar Roof Will Cost Less Than a Traditional Roof (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't a warm surface be enough to keep the snow from accumulating?

  2. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... on Elon Musk: Tesla's Solar Roof Will Cost Less Than a Traditional Roof (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    My roof is often exposed and bare when my yard is covered in snow, and I have light colored shingles and good insulation.

    Sounds like you may want to get that insulation checked. When you have a good cold spell, If possible rent a thermal camera and see what your roof looks like before dawn. It sounds like it is radiating enough heat from inside your home to melt the snow.

  3. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... on Elon Musk: Tesla's Solar Roof Will Cost Less Than a Traditional Roof (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    Now where I live hurricanes are something to deal with and traditional shingles tend to be the first thing that gets ripped off, then the roof.

    I've been lucky since my house damage has been manageable during the past major hurricanes I've experienced (Katrina being one of them). Storm surge is the number one damage producer for a hurricane, and if you aren't in a area prone to storm surge and you are blessed to have a tree miss your house then your damage is limited to roof, window, and some wall damage from yard debris being thrown by the wind.

    My problem with the solar roof is that it is VERY expensive and he is using the electricity generated to offset the total cost of ownership over a decade (or more) and that's assuming that electricity costs remain high.

    As for durability, he demonstrates that the shingles can take hail really well which is great, but during a hurricane the shingles WILL get damaged from a tree hitting the roof (At my old location, I had a tree not fall but instead act like a whip that kept bashing into the side of my house damaging the eaves and roof), or get peeled off by the high winds. The need to hire a specialists to repair the roof and the cost of replacement parts will be expensive and to make matters worse my insurance has a very high deductible for any damage that occurred during a Hurricane warning or landfall so I will be incurring most of the cost.

    Despite Musk's rosy forecast of generating enough electricity to offset the cost of the roof, if my roof suffers any kind of major damage then any possible savings vanish and I wound up spending a lot of money for an expensive solar array.

    Now if the authorized installers are able to make it as hurricane proof as possible and back that up with some type of secondary insurance that only covers the repair/replacement costs to the roof with a reasonable deductible then the total cost of the roof may remain competitive.

  4. Thanks to the surface pro, I can hide my lips when I give instructions to my team!

  5. Re:Because it took five months to fix? on Google's 'Project Zero' Hid A Major Vulnerability in Apple's OS and iOS Cores (thestack.com) · · Score: 1

    Yes I did. And it was about allowing them 60 days which since the fix didn't even solved the problem completely become 5 months.

    Yet the vulnerability was fixed and it allowed Apple to push out an update.

    Of course it could be fixed faster than within 5 months and Apple likely would have had to do it very quickly if the exploit was known in the public.

    Or the more likely scenario would be that the same number of engineers will still work on the vulnerability, except now an exploit was disclosed putting people at risk.

    With more vulnerabilities do you mean the implementation of the fix or by just being known?

    Whenever a change is made to the software, especially something as complicated as an OS, you need to allow time for regression testing to make sure the modification doesn't introduce a different vulnerability elsewhere.

  6. Re:Because it took five months to fix? on Google's 'Project Zero' Hid A Major Vulnerability in Apple's OS and iOS Cores (thestack.com) · · Score: 1

    .. except that they want to be able to take their time and not fix security issues as soon as they are found.

    Did you read the summary? Apple's initial fix didn't work well, so Google responsibily allowed Apple more time to fix the vulnerability.

    If Google had told about it immediately the world would had known about the issue five months earlier and could had sorted with it one way or the other and Apple would likely had been forced to fix it quicker.

    That is speculation. Apple was actively working on it and I rather the fix not cause more vulnerabilities simply because someone was impatient.

  7. Given that it does have a headphone jack [apple.com] (look under "Charging and Expansion"), will you be buying it?

    Sure. I use USB headphones. I'm able to have the system sounds continue to go out the built-in audio while my headphones only contains audio of my telecom.

    I've been happy with my logitech headset but, if I weren't, I can get a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter like for the Moto Z. (I have a USB to audio out/in adapter already, but might as well get one that doesn't require a USB to USB-C adapter)

  8. Re:MSM and social media are in the bag for the DNC on Latest WikiLeaks Reveal Suggests Facebook Is Too Close For Comfort With Clinton (hothardware.com) · · Score: 1

    I don't think so. The sites I go to are pretty fair with their criticisms of both candidates. It's not MSM's fault that Trump can't control himself and runs his campaign like it's a reality TV show. He is still operating with the idea that any media coverage is good media coverage.

    I think this story has more to do with excuses for not doing well. I mean it's hard to take Trump's complaints seriously when he has Fox and Breitbart as allies and not to mention the the talk show hosts. I live in a very red state and most of my local news (TV and paper) are pro-Trump so I strongly disagree with the notion that somehow Trump is a victim.

  9. What was old is new again on AMD Wants To Standardize the External GPU (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    AMD promoting a specialized connector for a third-party GPU reminds me of the short lived VESA local bus connector in the early 1990's. It became unnecessary as soon as a general purpose expansion bus (PCI) became available which was fast enough to support gaming GPUs.

    With the arrival of Thunderbolt 3, it looks like AMD's idea is pretty much dead on arrival.

  10. Airing your grievance about your employer to the public is asking to be fired regardless of your employer's open door policy.

  11. Truth be told. on DoJ Says Apple's Posture on iPhone Unlocking Is Just Marketing (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    The DOJ's position of the matter is marketing. Giving hyperbole speculative statements about what they MIGHT find to justify setting a precedence that the government can limit how much encryption its citizens can actually own.

  12. Re:Instance or class? on NHTSA Gives Green Light To Self-Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    I think that the only way Google could make those promises is if they operated as a livery service, where they remain the owners and maintainers of the vehicles and the people subscribe to the transportation service.

  13. Re:Instance or class? on NHTSA Gives Green Light To Self-Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    The manufacturer gets sued. The manufacturer would keep insurance and lawyers for these lawsuits.

    This is not a given. The plaintiff has to right to sue all parties that the plaintiff believes contributed to the accident. It's up to the courts to dismiss the suit against the owner of the vehicle or the person determined to be in a position to take corrective action.

    I don't believe the court will automatically dismiss the suit since the person in the vehicle still played a role in the accident by not taking corrective action such as hitting the big red stop button. The owner of the vehicle could still be held liable if the court decides that the owner allowed the use of his vehicle by someone unable to take corrective action, but this type of liability is usually dismissed unless the plaintiff can show that the owner knew that the person they allowed to use the car would be unable to take corrective action.

    It would probably be more accurate to say that the manufacturer can assume the liability and court costs for the third parties but I think, if you look in the fine print, you'll see that they only assume liability for any defects or deficiencies in the AI software. I bet the owner will still be held liable if the owner didn't maintain the vehicle and its sensor in good working order.

  14. Re:Emergency Brake? on Jeep/Chrysler's New Gearshift Appears To Be Causing Accidents (roadandtrack.com) · · Score: 1

    A cable that locks the brakes is not an emergency brake as a matter of fact if you are moving and engage it you are likely to cause an emergency. Why does everyone insist on calling the parking brake an emergency brake.

    People use the term "Emergency Brake" because it also serves as a purely mechanical backup to the hydraulic braking system.

    Slowly applying the mechanical brake will not cause the rear wheels to lock and will bring the vehicle to a controlled stop.

  15. Re:Old? on Java Named Top Programming Language of 2015 (dice.com) · · Score: 1

    Python - First appeared 1991; 25 years ago

    That's Python 1.0 which is crude when compared to Python 2.0 which was released in Oct 2000.

    If you are going to cite Python 1.0 which was limited and ran only on the Amoeba OS then you might as well compare it to Oak (Java's predecessor) which existed in 1991.

  16. Re:Screw your gun rights on 12-Year-Old Sikh Boy Arrested In Texas After Bringing a Power Bag To School (salon.com) · · Score: 1

    Wrong. The NRA has always asserted that if you take away guns then murders would choose another weapon. I simply used that same logic.

  17. Re:Screw your gun rights on 12-Year-Old Sikh Boy Arrested In Texas After Bringing a Power Bag To School (salon.com) · · Score: 0

    Using NRA's logic: If you don't have a gun to protect your family, you'd just use a knife or a baseball bat.

  18. Re:Let them lease, but not screw with sales on On iFixit and the Right To Repair (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Everyone understands the concept of sale and ownership. However, you haven't explained how this "right" compels manufacturers to make their goods consumer serviceable or even to supply parts to the consumer.

  19. Re:Let them lease, but not screw with sales on On iFixit and the Right To Repair (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    I understand the concept quite well thank you.

    You haven't explained how manufacturers are required to make their goods consumer serviceable or to supply parts for repairs.

  20. Re:Let them lease, but not screw with sales on On iFixit and the Right To Repair (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Playing the devil's advocate... Where exactly is our "right to repair" granted? Is it in the constitution? Is it a bill signed into law?

    Judging by the lobbying efforts that are taking place now, we actually don't have a right to repair. We would like one though.

  21. Re:Fail. on On iFixit and the Right To Repair (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    driving their SUVs while never driving off-road or hauling cargo or carrying lots of passengers and complaining about the price of gas

    Jealous? It's their money and they can spend it anyway they see fit.

    You don't like it? Tough. Spend your own money how you see fit.

    Do I think the world is full of assholes? Yea. Just don't become one yourself.

  22. Re:Google Found Guilty of Being an American Compan on Google Found Guilty of "Abusing Dominant Market Position" In Russia · · Score: 1

    Actually you're wrong. You always had an option to use a different OS. You could even purchase a computer that didn't run Windows.

    The courts decided that, since Microsoft had an overwhelming majority share of the desktop market, they should be considered a monopoly. They abused their monopoly by not only preinstalling internet explorer and making it an part of the OS but also by restricting the OEMs ability to preinstall a competing browser as a condition to receive heavily discounted licenses per machine sold.

    Despite the actual motives behind Russia decision, the argument used against Google is very similar to the ones made against Microsoft. Google has a large share of the wireless handset market and it is alleged that they require manufacturers to make Google the default search engine. If this is actually the case then I can see why people liken this to the US vs Microsoft case.

  23. Re:"Knock them down"? on New Tech Puts the Brakes On Bullets Fired From Police Sidearms · · Score: 1

    Increasing the contact area of the bullet means more kinetic is passed on to the target instead of simply passing through.

    Compare swinging a sword at a target versus swinging a baseball bat using the same force.

  24. Not really designed for security on TSA Luggage Lock Master Keys Are Compromised · · Score: 1

    I use TSA locks to keep the zippers on my suitcase closed. TSA know how to unlock them during inspection and they lock the zippers back in place when they are done.

  25. Re:Stop the panic! The headline is click bait. on New FCC Rules Could Ban WiFi Router Firmware Modification · · Score: 1

    That doesn't prohibit modifying the device with such parameters, this prohibits having devices that are even able to be modified, and a device that is merely able to be modified, period, is able to be modified with such parameters.

    That actual term is "properly authenticated software". That doesn't mean the firmware can't be modified. It means a method must exist that authenticate the firmware executed on the device. You are implying that it means no modification is allowed, but the FCC purposely waved their hands on the details of who or how the firmware can be authenticated with "the manufacturers may consider applying existing industry standards for strong security and authentication."