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User: donutello

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Comments · 1,370

  1. It's the other way around on Bill Gates Acknowledges Ctrl+Alt+Del Was a Mistake · · Score: 2

    When you press Ctrl+Alt+Del on your computer, you know that the OS is the one that receives it so you know that the login screen before you was generated by the OS and not some malware that's sitting in userland.

    When you 'simulate' it from a remote session, you lose that guarantee. Any malware could intercept the simulated Ctrl+Alt+Del and show you what looks like the OS login screen.

  2. That article is utter nonsense on Motorola Is Listening · · Score: 3, Informative

    The idfa feature has nothing to do with Apple tracking you. It has everything to do with *others* tracking you - or rather, limiting how others track you.

    Prior to iOS6, third party apps would access your devices UDID and use it to track your device. There was no way for a user to disable or limit this. In iOS6, Apple shut that down and forced advertisers to use the idfa instead. The idfa is something you as a user can reset or turn off to limit how advertisers track you. The feature is a pure win for user privacy and anyone who claims otherwise is either a complete idiot or thinks his audience is.

  3. You haven't gotten the point at all on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 1

    Bing is not watching the results. It is watching the clicks generated by the user. In this particular experiment, it wouldn't matter whether the particular link was 1st or 500th in Google's results - if that was the only one the users clicked, it would end up as #1 on Bing's results for the term and none of the other results would.

  4. By the click-stream data on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 1, Informative

    The Bing results are not based on Google's returned results. They are based on the fake data generated by the Google engineer showing that a user searching for those search terms then visited those sites. For the purpose of this test, that site would end up on top of Bing's results even if it were the 558th link in Google's results - if that was the only one the Google engineer clicked on.

  5. Re:So the answer is yes on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 1, Informative

    "The moral of this story is: if you use IE, then your information is being passed to Microsoft and being used. Even if you go to Google. "

    This used to be a technical site. Now it's populated by idiots with no knowledge of technology. It's installing the Bing toolbar that sends your data to Microsoft, not using IE.

  6. Re:Response from Another VP on Microsoft Vehemently Denies Google's "Bing Sting" · · Score: 0

    You missed a few steps:

    Step 1:Google seeds a randomized word and associates a link for that word into their search engine.

    Step 1.5: Google employee installs Bing toolbar

    Step 2: Google employee searches Google for that word and up comes the random link

    Step 2.5: Google employee with Bing toolbar installed generates fake user click data showing that a user searching for that randomized word then clicks on the "random" link

    Step 3: Google employee searches Bing for the exact same word and up comes the same link.

    The bolded steps are the only really relevant ones here. Bing is responding to falsified click-stream data (which is the only data for that randomized word) by promoting the particular link in its search results for the randomized word. The fact that Google returned that particular link in its search results is almost entirely irrelevant to anyone who's not trying to confuse you into believing Bing is "copying" Googles results.

  7. Idiotic Summary on Man Arrested For Exploiting Error In Slot Machines · · Score: 3, Informative

    The lesson here seems to be that casinos can deny you a slot machine win any time they wish by claiming software errors

    This idiotic assertion does not seem to be supported by the facts of the case.

  8. Re:Warning: libertardian prattle above on Amazon Censorship Expands · · Score: 2

    You're just making the parents argument that government power should be limited. All you've done is listed examples of governments abusing their power.

  9. It's FBS on Will Patents Make NCAA Football Playoffs Impossible? · · Score: 1

    The division formally known as Div I-A is now called FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision). The championship game (and a few other high-profile bowl games) for this subdivision are organized by the BCS (Bowl Championship Series).

    The division formally known as Div I-AA is now called FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) and it does have a real championship playoff.

  10. So it's just like Google search then? on Google Books Makes a Word Cloud of Human History · · Score: 1

    Search for Slashdotte: 415 results. Go to page 9 of the results: Now there's only 89 results.

  11. Use a getter function on 'I Just Need a Programmer' · · Score: 1

    From Scott Meyer's book:
    FileSystem &tfs()
    {
      static FileSystem fs;
      return fs;
    }

    You now get to control and log all access to your global variable and have the opportunity to change any semantics associated with it in one place instead of 5000. Please don't use global variables. Anyone who has to maintain your code will be eternally grateful for it.

  12. Re:immigration category on Torvalds Becomes an American Citizen · · Score: 1

    You can apply for citizenship 3 years after getting it as long as you've been married to a US citizen for at least that long. You can do this whether or not you got your green card due to marriage.

  13. Re:CmdrTaco, considered living in a GROUP HOME? on Astronomers Find Diamond Star 4,000 km Wide · · Score: 1

    FTL travel does strange things to the timeline.

  14. Re:4.0b5 on Snow Leopard on Mozilla Unleashes JaegerMonkey Enabled Firefox 4 · · Score: 1

    8 core Mac Pro with 10GBs of RAM and I only get 5fps on Safari and 2fps on Firefox.

  15. Re:SBC on HP CEO Resigns During Sexual Harassment Investigation · · Score: 2, Insightful

    SBC training is about limiting the companies liability when there is a lawsuit. The purpose is not to "train" or "educate" employees. The purpose is to be able to say "we made it clear that this is not how you should act so this is the employee's fault - don't sue us".

  16. Re:Of course they did. on Nokia and RIM Respond To Apple's Antenna Claims · · Score: 1

    I can squirt pictures and stuff over to computers or other phones.

    So you let your wife have an iPhone but get mad when your employees do, Steve?

  17. Are you kidding me? on iPhone 4 Reception Recall Ruckus Roundup · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Defense Lawyer: "Is the reception worse than most other phones on the market?"
    Expert Witness: "Well no, but..."

    My wife and I upgraded our phones from Razr's (also with AT&T) to iPhone4's on launch day. AT&T's network is not nearly as bad as the iPhone makes it. I can't make or receive phone calls in my office any more. We get calls dropped all the time. We've had occasions when one phone shows 4 bars and can make and receive calls and data while the other one just shows "Searching...". The only solution I found was to reset the Network settings. I can call my phone while it claims to have 3 or more bars and I'll hear ringing before being directed to voicemail on the calling end while the iPhone remains completely silent on the subject. I don't get notified of voicemail until hours later - all while the phone pretends it has connectivity.

    My friends tell me this is just what you expect with the iPhone and that my phone actually works better than their previous generation iPhones. So your statement might be correct if you define "most other phones on the market" as all the previous generations of iPhones but is completely false otherwise.

    The iPhone is a really shitty phone but it's a testament to how well it does everything else that I'm still only "considering" returning it.

  18. Re:wow on Apple's Haves and Have Nots, Around the World · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also, you don't want to allocate a new instance of Forehead. You want to use the one you already have. And slap is an action, not a state.

    [[Forehead sharedInstance] slap:[[Hand arrangedObjects] objectAtIndex:kHandLeftIndex]];

  19. What about Donatello? on Why Everyone Has High Hopes For Apple Tablet · · Score: 1

    A problem that utterly destroyed the work of amateurs like DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael, right?

    You got a problem with the purple Turtle?

    And no, I didn't just create this user.

  20. Competition is good for *customers* on Google-Microsoft Crossfire Will Hit Consumers · · Score: 1

    Consumers are not the customers here. Advertisers are. Competition in Search will also be good for content producers who can bargain for better deals for themselves than they could with only one game in town.

    Consumers are only incidental to the whole thing.

  21. Re:Powerpoint sucks in schools on Attack of the PowerPoint-Wielding Professors · · Score: 1

    My 7th Grade History teacher would come into class with a sheaf of papers. She would then start writing on the chalkboard and we were supposed to copy what she wrote down word for word. There was no interaction with the students or any discussion of any of the material.

    It's not the tools that are at fault here. It's the teachers - or more specifically, the lazy ones.

  22. They're working on a Mac OS X version on Amazon Expands Kindle To the PC · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to an Amazon spokesperson.

  23. Then it wouldn't be insurance on Heart Monitors In Middle School Gym Class? · · Score: 1

    Insurance is about amortizing risk. When you have a preexisting condition, it's no longer a risk.

    What you're looking for is someone to pay your bills for you - not insurance.

  24. Is it "green" too? on Ford's New Radar Technology Based On Open Source · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sounds a lot like buzzword bingo to me.

  25. Hooray for Patents on IBM Patents Tweeting Remote Control · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This patent will prevent most remote-control manufacturers from ever producing a device that does this.

    I'm going to go out and patent all kinds of devices being "socially"-enabled. It's the only way to be sure.