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User: rhsanborn

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  1. Re:Time for a UNION! on The Tech Industry's Legacy: Creating Disposable Employees · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately, there is also a disincentive to take a chance on a new employee because it is so onerous to get rid of them. France's under-24 unemployment is astronomical (Over 24%, compared to 14% in the US).

  2. Re:Every 30 days. on Ask Slashdot: Convincing My Company To Stop Using Passwords? · · Score: 1

    I stand corrected. Thank you.

  3. Re:Every 30 days. on Ask Slashdot: Convincing My Company To Stop Using Passwords? · · Score: 1

    That is one of the xkcd comics that really bugs me. Yes, if you treat every character as an independent element and try to calculate it's complexity, those passwords look really complex. Unfortunately, most password crackers aren't brute force crackers that try every character combination. They try combinations of well known words, phrases, and number/symbol combinations. So, you're mathematically complex password is exactly what crackers are looking for.

    To be fair, as long as you're the only one in your company doing it, it's reasonably secure, as soon as it becomes company policy, all your passwords fall within regular cracking procedures, and are likely easier to crack.

  4. Opening sentence doesn't help... on Starbucks Testing Mobile Order and Pay In Portland On iOS · · Score: 1

    For those who just can't help writing condescending opening lines... Isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? This sounds darned convenient. I suspect location services are to ensure you're within range.

  5. Re:Sounds good to me on The Cost of the "S" In HTTPS · · Score: 1

    The single biggest risk for data loss, and the single best vector for hacking a network is employees either nefarious or technically un-inclined. There's a good reason management wants exposure to traffic, it's to ensure that sensitive data isn't leaving.

  6. Re:Stupid on Sony To Take On Netflix With Playstation Vue · · Score: 2

    That's because they need to stop trying to make a Netflix clone and do something new. Apple pay isn't better or all that different from Google's NFC pay, the difference is that they've done the legwork to build a network of vendors. Similarly, whoever can build a model where their service has live streams of TV shows and channels that people want, or something similar, will be fantastically successful. It's not clear, but this may very well do that.

  7. Re:This. on Too Many Kids Quit Science Because They Don't Think They're Smart · · Score: 1

    No, it's about encouraging the correct behaviors, not the correct results. Most people fail several times while studying/practicing STEM subjects (or most subjects worth studying, for that matter). If we insist on telling little Johnny how gosh darned smart he is all the time, he may not be any good at handling that failure. Or he may assume that "he isn't a math person" because he's always been told how smart he is, and he just isn't getting it. Instead, we ought to be encouraging him to try harder, fail better, and reward him for persistence, and good study habits.

    Society rewards results. Definitely. So getting excellent results is important. But, parents and teachers aren't necessarily there to evaluate results. They're there to teach Johnny how to get them. Rewarding hard work, and continued effort is one important way to get those results, and it hasn't been focused on. Instead, we tell him that it's alright that he didn't get the right answer, and he should stop trying so hard and come have a cookie so he doesn't lower his self-esteem. This has the opposite effect, he doesn't get the results, and he fails to learn about work ethic.

  8. Re:Boys are naturally curious... on Solving the Mystery of Declining Female CS Enrollment · · Score: 1

    Ah, the classic, "I don't like the peers, so now we get to fall back to no data whatsoever and argue from gut feelings" gambit. Good one gweihir, good one. Fortunately, that's not how science works, or we'd all be screwed. "Your peer group way over-represents geologists, and is therefore skewed toward round-earthism, therefore we can now discuss my ideas of flat-earthism as equal and valid."

  9. Re:Update to Godwin's law? on Obama Administration Argues For Backdoors In Personal Electronics · · Score: 1

    It won't ever hit the news, because it will be ordered by a FISA court and it will have a clause stating Apple can't disclose that this was a government mandated opening.

  10. Re:Simple solution on CBC Warns Canadians of "US Law Enforcement Money Extortion Program" · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or you forced departments to pay back double or triple plus court costs for improper seizures.They'd suddenly be much more careful.

  11. Re:Sport. Black. on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 1

    It doesn't cost more than the phone. It's perceived to cost more than the phone because they've hidden the cost of the phone from you. The base model iPhone 6 (16GB) costs $650.

  12. Re:I have Pebble Steel on Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using? · · Score: 1

    My kicker with the Pebble is that it can only do one thing at a time. I want a time watch-face up, and I want a fitness tracker in the background, for example.

  13. Re:Any removable storage yet? on Apple Announces Smartwatch, Bigger iPhones, Mobile Payments · · Score: 1

    It's no more clunky than carrying a bag full of spare batteries to swap out.

  14. Re:What's so American on Net Neutrality Is 'Marxist,' According To a Koch-Backed Astroturf Group · · Score: 2

    They can bask in their pure capitalist sunshine as soon as they buy right of way access for every mile of line they use, instead of leveraging the government sponsored right of way access they've been given. They can also pay a requisite sum for the monopoly access they were granted. Then they can setup any internet they want. Until then, they need to deal with regulations.

  15. Re:They still do a reader for the professional mar on Sony Tosses the Sony Reader On the Scrap Heap · · Score: 1

    The device was great, but no one really buys a Kindle for the device. They buy it for convenience and content. The Sony ebook store had a terrible selection. Worse, you had to buy it on the computer and transfer it to your device. Nirvana is achieved when you can pick up your ereader, decide you want a book, and can complete the selection and sale immediately. That's why Amazon was willing to eat the cost of the cell subscriptions, because it meant people could complete a purchase when they wanted, not when it was logistically feasible. That's become easier now with more ubiquitous wifi, but Amazon won on content and ease of availability.

    I still own a PRS-505 and it's a wonderful device, especially paired with Calibre, but it's used almost exclusively to lend to people while I used my Kindle Paperwhite.

  16. Re:Sports HRMS on FDA: We Can't Scale To Regulate Mobile Health Apps · · Score: 1

    They are actively considering whether to regulate EHRs. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ne...

  17. Re:Not medical grade instruments ... on FDA: We Can't Scale To Regulate Mobile Health Apps · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately, companies like Apple are developing services to aggregate health data from things like wifi BP cuffs, scales, activity trackers, pulse oximeters, etc. And, physicians and regulators are already looking at ways to integrate that information into a broader plan of care. So, regardless of it's novelty, it's going to be used for very real medical decisions. At the very least, there needs to be better education about the lack of oversight and the potential for wildly inaccurate data, and I don't get the feeling that's happening.

  18. Re:A (hidden) communication channel is not an atta on The Computer Security Threat From Ultrasonic Networks · · Score: 1

    This is a good way to hide your snooping in sensitive environments that are running adaptive intrusion detection systems. It's also a way to get secure computers that aren't connected to the network, to talk to less secure computers that are. Think military. Jim falls prey to a USB based piece of malware and puts it on a DoD machine that is on their internal, secure network. It talks to an Internet-connected computer to move data from one to the other. The USB vector is exactly how the US/Israel got malware onto Iranian centrifuge controller systems, so it's a valid concern.

  19. Why is it sad that people didn't donate money to a for profit company?

  20. Re:Poverty and city living. on The Light Might Make You Heavy · · Score: 1

    Note also that healthy food from scratch takes more time to prepare, which is also a luxury that isn't available to the single mom taking the bus to 2 and 3 jobs.

  21. Re:Wow that much money? on Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Buys the LA Clippers For $2 Billion · · Score: 1

    We just need a political angle and maybe we can get Glenn Beck to "ask some questions"...

  22. Re:Not me on Americans Hate TV and Internet Providers More Than Other Industries · · Score: 1

    It's not necessarily a status symbol, but I do see more people realizing that there are services that fill the needs to "moving the occasional couch". Most people don't need the utility aspect of the vehicle but 1-4 times a year, and likely spend way more in gas and other expenses (tires, etc.) for the privilege than they would if they rented a truck for those purposes.

  23. Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. on GM Sees a Market For $5/Day Dedicated In-Car Internet · · Score: 1

    Thanks for clearing that up for us. I stand contrite and corrected.

  24. Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. on GM Sees a Market For $5/Day Dedicated In-Car Internet · · Score: 1

    This is what happens when a company's first priority is to find a way to make money. This product was built with money as the first principle. If, instead, GM asked what would be best for a customer, they probably would have made a deal with Google and/or Apple to build integration into the car and phone. They wouldn't get $5 a day, but they'd sell more cars.

  25. Re:Don't understand it. on Apple Reportedly Buying Beats Electronics For $3.2 Billion · · Score: 1

    It sounds like Beats has streaming music deals. I'm speculating here, but the record labels aren't happy about how iTunes worked out for them. Read the Steve Jobs bio and you'll find that they were over a barrel and Apple took advantage of that. I suspect the labels were trying to get their pound of flesh back from Apple with streaming contracts. Perhaps Apple went around the labels and is buying less expensive streaming deals via Beats, depending on how long the term is on those Beats contracts with the labels.