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User: origamy

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  1. Facebook allows users to set who sees the phone on Facebook Lets You Harvest Account Phone Numbers · · Score: 2

    You can change that in Facebook > Privacy Settings > Who can look me up? > Who can look me up by e-mail or phone
    Simply change from "Everyone" to either "Friends" or "Friends of Friends".

    Alternatively, do not give Facebook your phone number.

  2. iOS allows users to disable location-based iAds on Free Apps Eat Your Smartphone Battery · · Score: 1

    In iOS you can disable Location-Based iAds in the Settings > Location Services > System Services page. In fact, I disabled everything in that page in my system because these hidden Location Services were eating my battery away.

  3. Re:As in Chandler "Bing"? on Microsoft Rebrands Live Search As "Bing" · · Score: 1

    Funny that nobody knew what Chandler worked on. Now we can say we do!!

  4. Canada wants all of them! on Smart Immigrants Going Home · · Score: 1

    Canada started a policy to fast-track Immigration (not Visa) processing for H1B holders - http://www.immigration.ca/permres-pnp-h1b.asp or http://www.canadavisa.com/strategic-recruitment-stream-h1b-visa.html

    I guess the US loss is Canada's gain!

  5. What about Apple then? on EU Says MS Must Offer Other Browsers; Now What? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Shouldn't Mac OS also have come with other browsers then?
    What about the iPhone, which does not even allow other browsers to be used in its OS?
    I'm not in favor of Microsoft, but Apple is not that much different.

  6. Where's the cloned passport? on WarCloning, the New WarDriving? · · Score: 1

    He simply shows that he could read the RFID tag of the passport. Where's the new passport created (as in "Cloned") with it?

    Sure, it's bad to be able to read the RFID information, but let's not over blow what is being done here out of proportion.

  7. Re:Away with the App store please on Apple Opens Up iPhone To Third-Party Browsers · · Score: 1

    Some cell phone companies block users from installing *anything they want* in their Windows Mobile devices (AT&T for instance). In the end it's about the user experience, and their perception is that these phones do not allow installation of apps, unless you purchase them from the carrier's website.

    You may say that unlocked phones allow installation of any app, but then, their price is not as attractive to the end user as the subsidized iPhone price is.

    Cell phones and PDAs in America are simply a money making machine for the Cell Phone operators. The iPhone, Android are the first steps to open this market and move it away from the operators, with more variety and options, but we still have the censorship of Apple for their App store.

    Let's hope the Android takes off and becomes a standard, so that we can have the freedom to control our own phones.

  8. What happened to Rama? on New Asimov Movies Coming · · Score: 1

    What ever happened to Rama's movie adaptation with Morgan Freeman? Googling it shows several accounts that it won't happen.
    That would have been a good one for a movie, and even a series of movies based on the series of books.

  9. Why does he need to release the tool? on A Good Reason To Go Full-Time SSL For Gmail · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't understand why does someone need to prove a security vulnerability by releasing the tool?
    By releasing this tool he will make it available for anyone with bad intentions to implement it. Weeks later we will have issues all over the place because we did not teach our grandparents to enable the checkbox in gmail; or the vulnerability is exploited in other webmail clients. By then, the botnets will be hijacking Gmail accounts to send Spam to everybody
    So, really, who benefits of the release of this tool?

  10. The laptop has been found on "Clear" Air-Travel Pass Data Stolen From SFO · · Score: 3, Informative

    So reports the SF Chronicle in an article from the AP:

    (08-05) 11:59 PDT San Francisco, CA (AP) --

    The company that runs an airport security prescreening program says they've found a laptop containing the personal information of 33,000 people more than a week after it apparently went missing.
    ...

  11. Re:Degradation of rights for nothing on DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely · · Score: 1

    Would you be willing to pay the taxes? If I shipped a laptop to Brazil I would be paying 60-100% in taxes for it; if I take it with me on my trip it's just my working equipment.
    Sorry, but this shipping idea would only work in some countries, not all.

  12. Coffee and Oil are also more expensive on Software Price Gap Between the US and Europe · · Score: 1

    Ever heard a friend saying he paid 5 euros for a cup of coffee? That's USD 2.65 here @ Starbucks, so doing the conversion it's amost 8 USD. And what about Oil, which also goes 2x the price in the US? Do the Arabs sell to Europe at a different price?
    There's more to the price than just VAT or other taxes.

  13. Re:Remind me: on Google.org Invests $2.75M In Aptera Motors · · Score: 2, Informative

    The answer is in their Vehicle Details page, under PowerTrain & Energy:

    Diesel or Gasoline? Our first prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. Diesel is attractive for its Carnot efficiency and the increased enthalpy of Diesel fuel vs gasoline. However, diesel contains lots of unburned hydrocarbons and NOX compounds, and it's impossible to get a small Diesel engine certified for emissions in California. Therefore, the typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter. This engine is coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter/generator. It's very clean and quiet.

    There's more information in Performance too. Hope it helps,

  14. Check your Firefox locale setting on How To Clean Up Incorrect Geolocation Information? · · Score: 1
    If you are using Firefox, go to about::config and change the value in general.useragent.locale.

    In my laptop, this value was set to en-GB and this was leading me to UK websites instead of American websites. Yours is probably set to something different than en-US.

    Hope this helps!

  15. Real ID is all we need on Census Bureau To Scrap Handhelds — Cost $3 Billion · · Score: 1

    Isn't the "Real ID" a solution for Census? Everybody hates it because of the increased database meshing, but since everybody *has* to switch to RealID each state will already know everything about everybody... So, the Census seems unnecessary.

    Note that I do not agree or disagree with the Real ID and I do not want to start a Real ID comment flame here. I would like to see a unified ID system in America, where all the IDs are least looked standardized; but I can see how a unified database could help and could be a problem at the same time.

  16. Re:Give it time on National ID Cards Mandated in the US, If You're Under 50 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You already need an ID to:
    - buy liquor or cigarettes
    - fly
    - cross the border to other countries
    - prove you are a citizen and can be employed

    What's wrong with having a single ID system that matches all states? I live in CA and I've seen IDs from Hawaii, New York and Florida. To me they're all "nicely laminated pieces of plastic or paper", as good as IDs from a college, library, etc.

    - How is someone supposed to know if a state ID is true, or forgery? Especially an out-of-state one?
    - Should a business keep a book with all 50 different state licenses in order to find out if they're valid?

    And, honestly, people should be asked to present an ID to vote, because if not, how would I know someone voted saying they were me? Sure we should trust each other, but these things happen because people abuse the system, and rules are created to avoid that.

    Honestly, all they're saying is that all IDs should "look the same" and contain the same set of information. You can be paranoid and say you don't want one, but then you cannot enjoy of the "freedoms" you'd want to, mainly because there would be no way for anyone to prove that you are who you say you are.

    I personally never understood how such a developed country could not have a simple unified ID system.

  17. Re:Sears.com was hit on Web Traffic Snarls Sites on Black Friday · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was online at around 5.50am(PST) when Sears.com died. I was opening a new page to view the details of one product and that new page would not show up. Sears.com would also not work in a new page. Shortly after 6am I was able to get back into the site, only to see the prices had gone up!

  18. What about a hand crank? on Dell, Lenovo Adding Solar Option for PCs · · Score: 1

    It's fairly "green" and it's usually "grain" powered (rice, wheat, beans).

    The OLPC has it, or sorta does...

  19. It's an experiment on Houston, We Have a Drinking Problem · · Score: 1

    To see how blood alcohol affects us in microgravity. They need to know about it because of the Mars/Moon missions. Or do you think they won't take any alcohol in the Mission to Mars or in the moon base?!

  20. And in Brazil... on Inside FAA's GPS-Based Air Traffic Control · · Score: 1
    Flights are still controlled by an ancient system that barely knows where the flights are, has a buggy software, and probably uses monkeys pedaling on stationary bikes to power its towers, since backup generators don't work and the controllers have to rely on cell phones to contact other towers and planes in order to guide them to safety.

    Now, there's no money in Brazil to fund "real" air-traffic control. Is anyone expecting a new expensive GPS based system to "fly" there? I don't think so.

    BTW, Air traffic control in Brazil is currently considered unsafe(PDF).

  21. Just sell items on scratched boxes on Ban On Price Floors Abandoned, Internet Prices May Rise · · Score: 1

    There's a solution for the cheap internet sales companies - just pretend it's a refurb, or OEM, or scratch a box of a product and then they can sell it cheaper. I'd still buy a cheaper TV if the box was nothing more than scratched, etc.

  22. There's no competition to the telcos today on Net Neutrality Comment Period Ends Friday · · Score: 1

    Today there's no competition. All the telcos and providers merged and in my residence there's only one Cable TV provider and only one land line provider (not counting VOIP). This also means there's little broadband competition. You can say one can get any DSL provider over my land line, but look at the price tag? They're paying premium to be carried over because the Telco won't allow them to compete against their own DSL service. Then there are the new services, broadband over the cell phone, satellite, but those are not comparable.

    VOIP is getting a hard time competing against the telcos because they face the FCC regulations (911) and the patent enforcement (Verizon x Vonage).

    So the argument for Net Neutrality being ruled by competition will not fly, because there's no competition. What's to stop the future merges, which might leave us with a single company providing all the services at once and removing our only hope for competition?

  23. The receiver should come before the transmitter on Far-Fetched Time Travel Concept Receives Private Funds · · Score: 1

    Well, if he's planning to transmit a message from the future shouldn't he working on a receiver now? This way he would prove the transmitter works!

  24. Re:just write to the affected networks & FCC on Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV · · Score: 1

    Agreed. If every Media Center PC customer called HBO and complained, or better yet, threatened to cancel their service because of this, they'd think about it twice. Consumers united have a lot of power. We just need to voice this power. Bring this issue to other media outlets, start screaming. You'll eventually be heard and things might change.
    I've built my own DVR (not Myth or Media Center) and I personally refuse to have a digital cable box because I do not want the restrictions. I also wonder if the HBO/Cable provider agreement talks about DRM like this.

  25. Coasting makes sense on Hybrid Cars No Better than 'Intelligent' Cars · · Score: 1

    convince consumers that the three minutes of coasting up to a red light or halted traffic is worth
    You're not going to get there any faster anyway, so why waste gas and breaks if you can just coast? It's common sense.