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User: WedgeTalon

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Comments · 188

  1. Mozilla on OSI President Questions WebM Patent License Compatibility with Open Source · · Score: 3, Informative

    Pretty sure this is why Mozilla originally decided to instead back Ogg Theora video.

  2. Wut. on Snapchats Don't Disappear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Forensics software? Just open up the folder. I mean, you have to rooted, but that's not really weird. Look, here's someone talking about getting pics and vids before even viewing them in Snapchat. Back in March. If you have to output something to the user, they're going to have to be able to get at it one way or another.

  3. Re:Meh on WD Explains Its Windows-Only Software-Based SSHD Tech · · Score: 1

    I've seen few SSD's last more than two years even under relatively low workloads.

    Many of the faster drives are lucky to last six months.

    Most SSDs these days have a 3 year warranty. High end ones like the Samsung 840 Pro, OCZ Vector, and Corsair Neutron GTX have a 5 year warranty.

    These companies aren't going to put warranties like that on these drives unless most of them really will last that long.

    And to address that article you linked, if you read it, he is talking about SSDs from 2009 and 2010. IIRC SSDs back then typically had 1 year warranties.

  4. Meh on WD Explains Its Windows-Only Software-Based SSHD Tech · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With how much straight SSD prices have dropped over the past few years, I don't even really see much need for a hybrid drive. In 2011 I bought a 60gb ssd for $95 ($1.58/gb). Today, I can buy a better performing 500gb ssd for $350 ($0.7/gb).

  5. Impressive on Intel Announces Brian Krzanich As Its Sixth-Ever CEO · · Score: 2

    I don't know if I'm more impressed that they've only had 6 CEOs, or that they selected a guy who has risen from engineer through their ranks for 30 years.

  6. Re:Hashed and salted is obsolete on LivingSocial Hacked: 50 Million Users Exposed · · Score: 1

    It is fortunate because using a salt increases the complexity of cracking all passwords. A salt's purpose isn't to increase an individual user's password strength, but to increase the strength of the whole database. A salt makes it so that even if user1 and user2 have "12345" as their password, they each have an individual salt applied, so when a security breach happens, the hacker has to now crack each password individually - even though user1 and user2 had the same password, the work required to crack user1's password is worthless to crack user2's password. Combine that with a strong hash - like bcrypt - and the amount of work to break every password is extremely costly.

    The very minimum a site should use these days is SHA-256. However, the really is no excuse not to use bcrypt. If a site is using MD5, it might as well be plaintext.

  7. Re:Hashed and salted is obsolete on LivingSocial Hacked: 50 Million Users Exposed · · Score: 2

    They actually state: "LivingSocial passwords were hashed with SHA1 using a random 40 byte salt." Source: https://www.livingsocial.com/createpassword

    I'm glad they aren't using MD5, but wish they were using at least SHA-256 (SHA-1 has had flaws exposed). Or ideally bcrypt.

    Honestly, as a web developer myself, there really is no reason not to use bcrypt.

  8. O rly? on HP Not Giving Up On Autonomy · · Score: 1

    You mean just like they were doubling down on WebOS?

  9. Re:Don't Blink. on Blink! Google Is Forking WebKit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Doctor who?

  10. Re:Download Manager on Firefox 20 Arrives With Per-Window Private Browsing, New Download Manager · · Score: 1

    Version 0.9.6.3 (released 2008) through 0.9.7.2 (released 2010) was under the MPL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/download-statusbar/license/0.9.7.2

    The licence for versions prior to that aren't documented on the Addons site.

  11. Download Manager on Firefox 20 Arrives With Per-Window Private Browsing, New Download Manager · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't understand why Mozilla never just worked with the author of Download Statusbar to integrate it. That extension has been one of the most popular addons since it was released in 2004. In fact, the addons site show it is currently the 7th most-used plugin with 1,930,345 current users.

  12. Re:What do you bet... on Feds At DefCon Alarmed After RFIDs Scanned · · Score: 1

    Actually, I believe explosives are typically more effective.

  13. Re:not really a ban on FDA Considers Banning Acetaminophen-Based Pain Killers · · Score: 1

    I don't know about the pharmacy you use, but all of our labels are clearly marked. For example if a patient receives some Norco 5, their label will read: Hydrocodone/APAP 5-325. The first number (5) is the hydrocodone and the second number (325) is the tylenol.

    And if there is any question, please just ask! Your pharmacist should be glad to help you.

    Heck, if you aren't a pharmacy-hopper, you can even skip reading the sheet, just take the opportunity when picking up your medicine to tlak to your pharmacist about interactions, things to avoid, signs of overdose, or whatever you desire. Most any pharmacist should be glad to help you (that's what they went to school for afterall. They didn't pay those thousands of dollars just to learn to count by 5's!).

  14. Re:not really a ban on FDA Considers Banning Acetaminophen-Based Pain Killers · · Score: 1

    Tylenol with codeine (percocet?)

    That would be Tylenol #3

    Percocet is Tyenol + Oxycodone.

    Darvon is still around, but it is NOT aspirin+codeine. It is propoxyphene (which is of questionable use for anything besides becoming addicted).

    The only drug I can think of offhand that has aspirin and codeine is "Fiorinal with Codeine" which combines the bartituate Butalbital with caffeine, aspirin and codeine.

    Tylenol has its place in medicine. The major benefit of it in my book is that it doesn't act as a blood-thinner, so not only is it a great choice for pain relief for pre/post-surgery patients, but it is safe for those who are on blood pressure medicine as well. It's also a good choice for pain relief where open wounds are involved (aspirin would prolong bleedin, just like with surgery). It's also safe for children whereas aspirin is not.

    In fact, aspirin is not recommended for fever relief for those under 19 due to the potential for Reye's Syndrome. Aspirin is also very hard on the stomach, though that can be eased with an enteric coating.

    Moral of the story: drugs are not something to be taken lightly. Follow the directions, read the warnings, and only take prescribed meds as your doctor tells you to. Do all that, and you likely will be ok. :)

    (And while I'm on my soapbox, if your doctor changes your directions and doesn't gve you a new script, ask him for one! Trust me, it will save a lot of PITA down the road when you try to get your refill 15 days early.)

    Wedge, CPhT

  15. Re:Change I believe in... on Barack Obama Wins US Presidency · · Score: 1

    Well, on the bright side, at least we aren't stealing the money from our childrens' piggy banks (eg, borrow it from places like China) like the Republicans do, right?

    Sigh, why we can't just cut spending AND taxes, I don't know.

  16. Re:Birth pangs of our great socialism on Barack Obama Wins US Presidency · · Score: 1

    That's funny, I don't recall hearing that Brian Moore won?

  17. Re:United States Socialist Republic on Barack Obama Wins US Presidency · · Score: 1

    Many people thought we were getting the lesser of two evils when Bush was elected over Gore.

    Not trying to say McCain would be better.

    Just saying that when you choose between two evils, you still end up with evil.

  18. Re:W00t! Welfare for all! on Barack Obama Wins US Presidency · · Score: 1

    Exactly! This is what I've been trying to tell people the whole election - Republicans AREN'T Republican anymore. They have as a group become very Authoritarian/Centrist.

    I would have voted Republican this year if there had been one running. The last candidate to run on a real Republican platform was Bush. The trouble with that was it was all a lie. He ran on a platform mostly opposite of what he did. Twice. I still can't believe people believed him the second time around.

  19. Re:A few... on Which Vendors Do You Trust For PC Parts? · · Score: 1

    Over on the other side, just outside of Knoxville.

  20. A few... on Which Vendors Do You Trust For PC Parts? · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a fellow Tennessean, I'd first like to point out that Neweeg is still a great choice. I order from them regularly because:
    1) They are usually still nearly the cheapest
    2) They ship quick
    3) If it ships from their TN center, I have it the next day
    4) Their customer service ROCKS
    5) Their website is the best of any I've used.

    If I don't use them, I will use either mwave, ZipZoomFly, or (if you don't mind open-box items) Tech For Less (just remember to leave a comment when ordering that you know wtf you are doing, else they will hold your order until they get ahold of you).

    I've also used ProVantage a time or two, but really only when they had a good deal.

  21. Re:But... on UK Teen Cited For Calling Scientology a "Cult" · · Score: 1

    A rock? Hmmm.... oh! You mean that Solid Enhanced Interrogation Tool over there. The one that's used in the Enhanced Interrogation Technique titled "Bashing Over the Head With the Solid Enhanced Interrogation Tool".

    Well, calling it a rock sure makes it SOUND boring (and not very useful as an interrogation tool).

  22. Re:Who are these people? on NewYorkCountryLawyer Debates RIAA VP · · Score: 1

    That would be true, save that your parent post was referring to original post using the phrase "quote-unquote" just before actually using quotation marks. This would be akin to one speaking the following while doing the air-quote gesture: the air-quote quick brown fox. You would, hopefully, give them a funny look for doing such.

    Further, his use of apostrophes to indicate the plural of a symbol, from my understanding, is an acceptable use, though it seems that the use of apostrophes to indicate plurals on numbers, symbols, and acronyms has fallen out of favour more recently in academia. This is well evidenced by the following page at Purdue:
    Now: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html
    2000: http://web.archive.org/web/20000815222842/http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html

  23. Re:Get rid of the USPTO on All 44 Blackboard Patent Claims Invalidated · · Score: 1

    No, actually that's examiners.

    There are 8,913 total employees.

    http://www1.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/2007/desc_staffing.html

    Also, backlog doesn't matter. 700,000 per year is 700,000 per year. Just because they have a backlog doesn't change any percentage of accuracy on work completed.

  24. Re:Get rid of the USPTO on All 44 Blackboard Patent Claims Invalidated · · Score: 4, Interesting

    700,000 isn't so bad.

    700,000 / 52 = about 13.5K per week.

    Give that they have 5,477 patent examiners, that is a rate of about 2.5 patents per examiner per week.

    There seems to be, based off of /. articles, a huge error rate. If a patent examiner screws up on one patent, that's about an 8% error rate for him. For comparison, my profession - Pharmacy - has, at worst, an error rate of 0.0925%. And we handled between 3 and 4 Billion prescriptions.

  25. Re:Unfortunately... on Former Anti-Nuclear Activist Does A 180 · · Score: 1

    If you ask me our gov't meddles in too many things it doesn't know enough about. :(