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User: Jon_Hanson

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  1. Re:I carry it with me on Leave Your Cellphone At Home, Says Jacob Appelbaum · · Score: 1

    Please site your source for the "mic can be remotely activated on a cell phone." I believe this to be an urban legend and have never seen proof of this.

  2. Re:Bad enough I pay for microtransactions in MMO's on Windows 8 Won't Play DVDs Unless You Pay For the Media Center Pack · · Score: 1

    I think H.264 is the preferred playback codec on iOS.

  3. Re:Barring? on Microsoft Barring Certain Staff From Buying Macs, iPads? · · Score: 1

    Microsoft makes Office for the Mac. They could even be running Windows on a Mac as well.

  4. Beacons have been received on NASA Seeks Ham Operators' Help To Test NanoSail-D · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to this: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/nanosaild.html the beacons they asked amateur radio operators to listen for have been received and the satellite appears to be operating normally.

  5. Re:Torvalds children are NOT citizens. on Torvalds Becomes an American Citizen · · Score: 1

    The Supreme Court disagrees with you.

  6. Re:The Boy Scouts' take on prayer on Conservative Textbook Curriculum Passes Final Vote In Texas · · Score: 1

    Schools in Arizona (at least the high school I went to) do have a "moment of silence" in the morning. This always seems to be a thinly-disguised prayer time. What other purpose does a compulsory "moment of silent" have?

  7. Huge impact where I work on McAfee Retracts Lowball Bug Damage Estimate · · Score: 1

    At a certain large semi-conductor manufacturer this false positive wreaked havoc. Most of our IT-supported laptops are running XP. Fortunately I figured out what was going on pretty quickly and knew how to fix it. Other people here weren't so lucky and it took the IT department at least half the day to figure out a solution. Most people were down the entire day.

  8. Re:Lawyer? on Comcast Disables VCR Scheduling In New Guide · · Score: 3, Informative

    The FCC has ruled that condo/homeowner associations cannot restrict the installation of (small) satellite dishes or antennas for receiving television or Internet services. There are certain exemptions for historical preservation and such but other than that they must make reasonable accommodations. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

  9. Re:APPLE ][ on Designing the Computer UIs In Movies · · Score: 1

    I think the Terminator's point-of-view vision in the first Terminator movie did have Apple assembly code scrolling through as an example to what you said.

  10. Exorcism for Windows viruses on Smartphones Receive Holy Blessing · · Score: 3, Funny

    They need an exorcism ritual for Windows viruses as well.

  11. Warrant required? on Sprint Revealed Customer GPS Data 8 Million Times · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's great that they have a web interface to service the law enforcement needs to track people by the GPS in their cell phone. How does the web site verify a valid warrant? Does the web site ask them to hold it up to the screen for verification?

  12. Re:And the slant comes out on Xbox 360 Update Will Lock Out Unauthorized Storage · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Apple didn't block the Pre from anything. The Pre was using the iPod/iPhone USB identifier. It was the USB Working Group that told them to stop.

  13. Re:Microsoft is into lots of enterprises on Bing Search Tainted By Pro-Microsoft Results · · Score: 1

    Microsoft spun off Expedia last year, I think.

  14. Re:First Amendment on Doctors Silencing Online Patient Reviews Via Contract · · Score: 1

    Independent arm of the government that interpret and enforce the laws. I'm not sure why this was brought up in the first place because I'm pretty sure the government is not included in a contract between the patient and his or her doctor.

  15. Re:First Amendment on Doctors Silencing Online Patient Reviews Via Contract · · Score: -1

    Courts enforce contracts, not the government.

  16. First Amendment on Doctors Silencing Online Patient Reviews Via Contract · · Score: 4, Informative

    The First Amendment doesn't cover speech between two private parties. It covers speech that the government may not oppress. Please stop claiming First Amendment rights when the government is not involved.

  17. Problems with Jabber connections to GMail users on Google Blames Gmail Troubles On Maintenance Goof · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe it's related to this but I noticed this past weekend that the Jabber server running on my Linux machine no longer can get presence information for people on GMail/GTalk. From the logs I can see my server attempting to make a connection but nothing happens after 20 seconds and my server gives up for the time being. I haven't changed anything on my side but I'm unsure who to contact about issues like these.

  18. Not just for pilots on February Deadline For Emergency Beacons Approaches · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you are out in the wilderness a lot or driving lonely stretches of road without cellular signals you can also get a hand-held beacon that can be handy.

    I have this one: http://acrelectronics.com/product2.aspx?sku=2898

    Here in Arizona (as I'm sure many other places with extensive wilderness) people get lost and in distress a lot. With no cell phone service and no one knowing of their plans (so that they can be reported as "missing" by someone) their first instinct is to set a "signal fire." In somewhere as dry as Arizona that's a very bad idea. A couple years ago someone set a signal fire that ended up destroying 250,000 acres. I realize that when someone's lost they panic but if people just used a little forethought when they go out to the wilderness (like taking a PLB) then things would turn out better for everyone.

  19. Re:Mythbusters episode covered this on FCC, FAA Still Don't Want Cell Phones on Planes · · Score: 1

    That's because cell phone towers concentrate their signal towards the ground where the users are. The article talked about putting a picocell in the aircraft that would give a connection to everyone's phone. You wouldn't want ground-based towers providing cell phone service to airplaces anyway. At 30,000 feet you're going to be in range of hundreds of towers and that's likely to confuse your phone and the network.

  20. Re:Things will be getting simpler, and are already on A Mythbuster's Biggest Tech Headaches (and Solutions) · · Score: 1

    There are many things I wish were modernized, standardized, and more open. First, vehicle information is very proprietary. Why is it that cars can't report status information via a simple USB connection? All the information is either there, or could be generated VERY cheaply. I ran out of wiper fluid two days ago (lots of snow in Chicago lately), and I sat there thinking how lame it is that the wiper fluid reservoir doesn't have a simple sensor to detect low fluid (it's a 2001 vehicle, not THAT old). Even that could be transported across a USB chain with regular updates. Heck, a $2 sensor could even sense fluid at 3 levels. Simple enough. Vehicle information is standardized. All cars made within the last 10 years or so have an OBD II port within 1 meter of the ignition. Stuff you get out of the OBD II port is tailored more toward engine performance and not fluid levels though. You can buy readers that hook up to this port from any auto parts store.
  21. Re:Legal Phishing on 3.2 Billion Dollars Lost to Phishing in 2007 · · Score: 1

    You need to take a class in accounting. When someone buys a gift card from a company, the company has to carry that amount as a liability on their books because they owe that amount for good or services to the card holder. Granted they are keeping your money interest free but it isn't treated as free money to them

  22. Re:keep it on Inside FAA's GPS-Based Air Traffic Control · · Score: 1

    The GPS system is highly redundant. You need a lock of four satellites to get a full 3D position. I know that my little handheld GPS gets six or eight on the ground with all kinds of obstructions. A plane at 30,000 feet should have no problem receiving 12 or more at a time for triple redundancy.

    When was the last time you heard of a GPS outage? I can't say that I've ever heard of the GPS system being inoperable nor has never not worked for me when I'm using it.

    Radar outages happen more frequently than you might think. There was just one a couple of weeks ago in New York.

    They don't have to "fix" GPS satellites if they go down. There are spares in orbit.

    The GPS system would be much better not only for in-flight traffic management but ground control as well. Although it's probably a different system that handles the GPS-based ground control position awareness.

  23. Re:uhh... on Historic Shuttle Spacesuits to Meet Fiery End · · Score: 1

    Unless that "giant space catapult" can launch things at several thousand miles per hour then what it's launching won't escape the earth's gravity and will remain in an unstable orbit that will eventually re-enter the atmosphere.

  24. Re:Land of the Free, Indeed on Congress Debating "No-Work" Database · · Score: 1

    It's not emergency healthcare that they're after. I'm in Arizona and we have the same problem as Texas. Emergency rooms are required to treat anyone without regard to their ability to pay or if they have insurance or not. In an emergency this is a good thing, but go into any emergency room in Arizona (and Texas as well, I presume) and you'll see all kinds of people there for non-emergency things like colds. The majority of these people are not here legally and, of course, can't pay for services so they go to the emergency room. This puts a strain on the hospital's emergency room staff and their budget since they aren't going to get paid for the services they have provided. Then there is the opportunity cost of someone without an actual emergency taking up resources when someone does come in with a real emergency. I know of at least one hospital here that had to close its emergency room (in violation of state and possibly federal law) because it was overrun with too many people that didn't have the need for real emergency treatment.

  25. No legal leg to stand on on Can You Be Sued for Quitting? · · Score: 1

    Without a employment agreement and/or a non-compete agreement, your current employer doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. What could they point to in court as just cause for suing you?

    Arizona, where I live, is a "right to work" state. This essentially means that either party, the employer or the employee, can terminate employment for any reason at any time with or without cause. Your state may be similar but even if it's not I can't think of any legal precedent where an employer may sue an employee for leaving without any kind of contract to back them up.

    This sounds like an attempt to bully you. Speaking with a lawyer is a must.