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User: KookyMan

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Comments · 33

  1. Good Expense! on Messenger Probe Sends Back Mercury Photos · · Score: 1

    I had a friend try and tell me that this, and the rest of our space explorations, is a total waste of money.

    Personally I'd rather keep throwing things at other planets to learn about them (like MESSENGER, Spirt & Opportunity (Mars Rovers), or New Horizons (First mission to Pluto, launched prior to being "deplanetized"), as opposed to dumping the same funds into our war campaign in the Middle East.

    This kind of stuff is a lot more... lasting even though its less tangible.

  2. Re:Broken system on Unencrypted Lost Tape Affects 230 Retailers · · Score: 1

    Actually, some credit card companies are going one better. Now that e-Ink has been proven consumer-worthy (AmazonKindel, Sony's e-Reader) they are going to start putting a small e-paper segment on your credit card where every time you use it, you push a thumb-button on the back of the card and it will produce a new 6 digit card use authorization number. It will be similar to the way SecureID cards work. The number will be good for 1 purchase, and every time you use it, you will have to generate a new number to enter into the purchasing terminal / give over the phone. And since its 1 use, even if someone gets your card number and that generated number, its no good outside its usage window. (which is a minute or so.)

    I can't remember where I read the article, but it definitely will make your card more secure. Of course, it does nothing to help you if your card is stolen, but then that is no different than IT security. If you have secured information, and someone steals the box, the battle is half-over.

  3. Re:What about other blocked traffic? on FCC Seeks Comment In Comcast P2P Investigation · · Score: 1

    I tried setting up a STMP server on my connection and ran into a different set of problems. I had no problem connecting to smtp.comcast.net, or any other mail server on port 25. What I did have a problem with is the fact that apparently my IP is registered in a database as a Residential IP. No mail servers would accept mail from me on that basis, forcing me back to using comcast's mail server. (I was getting bounced mail messages from the receiving servers.)

  4. Home Science Project.. on Edible Antifreeze For Smoother Ice Cream · · Score: 1

    I once read an article, it may have been in Popular Science, for how to make ultra-smooth ice cream.

    The way it suggested was that once you have your ingredients mixed, as you continue to mix, instead of using ice to chill the mixture, pour liquid Nitrogen into the ice cream. Its non-toxic, and flash-freezes it so fast that large ice crystals can't form resulting in an uber-smooth texture.

    Of course, it goes without saying, Don't do this without having the know how of handling Liquid Nitrogen as it can cause serious injury.

  5. Lets use these guys again! on Mars Rover, Spirit, Turns 4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hey NASA, aparently you hired a company or companies who are very good at what they do, building things. PLEASE contract with them again.

  6. Who needs DRM Now? on AT&T Invests in Filtered Networking · · Score: 1

    Seriously, if this will catch all "illegally traded" video, I guess it will no longer be necessary to load it full of DRM software to ensure its not transmitted.

    Also, what about the legitimate transmission of copyrighted video? Say from NBC.Com to me? Is it gonna be blocked because its copyrighted?

    If Yes: You've just eliminated the need for streaming video on the net.

    If No: Then all you need to do is copy video from sites that don't use this process on it and start streaming that.

    Wow, ATT proves its intelligence yet again.

  7. But isn't in-house cheaper? on Comcast Sued Over P2P Blocking · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, those in the know feel free to point out errors and omissions in this BUT:

    Wouldn't it be in Comcast's better interest to allow p2p on their own controlled network? As opposed to the apparent blanket "slowdown" that they've effected, it seems to me that it would make much more sense to only bottleneck at the routers that are at the fringe and connecting to other networks. It seem to me that every byte they can keep "in house" is significantly cheaper than the bytes that have to be passed off. And this applies to the entire speed limiting bit.

    Think of it like this. If Comcast subscribers can share amongst themselves the latest Fedora 8 distro between each other, with no speed restrictions, isn't it cheaper than having us all pulling that same multi-gig image across multiple networks?

  8. Good Next Step... on NBC Direct Launches With Free Downloads · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...but still a ways to go. Before everyone jumps on the bandwagon about it being Pro-IE/Pro-DRM, at least give credit to the fact that its yet another step in the right direction with offering downloads.. They're trying it out, and I think will find it will be a success... Perhaps next ABC/CBS will follow this lead and knock out a little more of the restrictions, say opening to any browser, or removing the DRM. When it comes to big corporations, changes come small and slow. This is defiantly a good thing, lets just hope it continues down this path.