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User: iron-kurton

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  1. Re:The phone menus on FCC Revamps Customer Complaint System · · Score: 1

    My state disability office has an INSANE menu that takes about 15 minutes to get through. I mean, the voice says "it will be easier to manager your claim if you go to... H... T... T... P... S... colon... forward... slash... forward... slash... double-u, double-u, double-u, dot..., (but of course their website is useless) and each "..." is about a 1 second pause. Finally, you get to an option called "Speak to a representative" and I get this:

    "The number of active callers has exceeded the capacity of our phone system. Please try your call again later. Goodbye." and hangs up.

    *desk flip*

  2. Re:No worst than key loggers on Ask Slashdot: What's Your Take On HTTPS Snooping? · · Score: 1

    Exactly. I'm surprised how few people don't understand that you are not supposed to a) do personal stuff from work or, worse, b) trust any computer (or environment) you are not the administrator of. Hell, if you're at work they could have installed a sprinkler security camera right above everyone's desk effectively creating a keylogger without any access to the machine whatsoever (http://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Sprinkler-Security-Camera-p/hcpro-420sc.htm) -- we have these at my work. So the short of it: a work environment is not a safe environment to do personal stuff in. If you must absolutely do something personal, your best bet is to turn off WiFi on your smartphone and use that with the on-screen keyboard (bluetooth keyboards or headsets are too risky).

  3. Re:Right then on Wikileaks Booted From Amazon · · Score: 1

    I completely agree with you. The unfortunate thing is that money dictates what happens in the world, and justice is an afterthought implemented inconsistently.

  4. Re:delete key? what? on Chrome Does Have a Caps-Lock Key After All · · Score: 2

    God, this times a 1000. Have you ever had a need for resettng PRAM and NVRAM?

    - Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    - Turn on the computer.

    Uhh.... MOM!! Can you come help me turn on my computer?

  5. Re:delete key? what? on Chrome Does Have a Caps-Lock Key After All · · Score: 3, Insightful

    True, I remember the game going black for a second and the start menu popping up, and then thinking "Shit."

    But seriously, one thing Microsoft did get right is that they pretty much reserved the windows-key as a system-wide shortcut key. Start-D (desktop), Start-L (lock), Start-R (run), Start-F (find), Start-E (explorer). I *love* those key bindings.

    Contrast with Mac's F9, F10, F11 and F12 keys. If your program just happens to use one of those keys, you're shit-out-of-luck (as is the case when trying to debug something in Visual Studio in a virtual machine, for example).

  6. Re:Right then on Wikileaks Booted From Amazon · · Score: 1

    I agree that business needs and societal needs are two different things. However, if Amazon stayed on course, and (hypothetically speaking) got into a drawn-out legal battle because of which they would need to raise prices to the millions of their business consumers (and by extension, customers), the societal gain on grounds of principle would be moot if Amazon could no longer serve their customers (or be forced to raise prices, i.e. everybody else loses).

  7. Re:Right then on Wikileaks Booted From Amazon · · Score: 1

    Nobody said Amazon gains nothing; the general consensus is that the cost of continuing DDoS attacks coupled with legal liability far outweighs any fees Amazon is collecting from hosting. Even if you have just one administrator dedicated to thwarting DDoS attacks for just an hour a day, it's not worth it.

  8. They did not find new life on NASA Finds New Life (This Afternoon) · · Score: 1

    According to Alexis Madrigal, the answer is no. http://twitter.com/alexismadrigal

  9. Re:Think I will stick with Amazon on Wikileaks Booted From Amazon · · Score: 1

    Shivetya is right, just look at the huge success that was the National Opt-Out Day for body scanners. It was the same crowd ./ calling for NOOD that is now calling for Amazon's head. What happened on Nov. 24th? Nothing . Even if I were to agree with the basis for taking pitchforks to Amazon's HQ (which I don't), the pure ratio of talk vs action here is approaching pathetic levels.

    People here need to subdue their knee-jerk reactions -- "OMFG Amazon == PURE EVIL, KITTEN KILLERS!" -- and examine the situation from a few different angles before jumping to action (or at least, the thought of action). Jumping on the "get the pitchforks!" bandwagon every time during a controversy dilutes calls to action that might actually matter, weakens any valid points made by your party, and destroys any diplomatic solution to the matter at hand.

  10. Re:Right then on Wikileaks Booted From Amazon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you really suggesting that denying service to minorities is an acceptable cost saving measure?

    Is this a serious question? Businesses are interested in getting the biggest ROI and therefore cut services that aren't profitable. This happens all the time outside of your armchair rights-activist circles. Amazon isn't offering hosting services so you can feel warm and fuzzy about the world - it's offering services to make cold, hard cash. Why should they bleed money and risk a nasty litigation process without any potential return on investment? Wikileaks came and it will go, and most people outside of civil liberty circles will forget about it in 3-6 months (which may be a gross overestimate). This really is a no-brainer on Amazon's part.

    Now popularity is reason enough to discriminate?

    What should Amazon do, in your opinion? Drag this out on principle, lose a bunch of money or cut Wikileaks' legally dubious services? Sounds simple to me. Show me a company that wouldn't cut Wikileaks under these circumstances*, and I will show you a company that will be bankrupt soon. *the only alternative is what they already did: move the servers to a country that offers some kind of safe-harbor against this.

  11. Re:It doesn't exhibit natural popularity. on Objective-C Enters Top Ten In Language Popularity · · Score: 1

    And if I'd ask you to name another compiled language with dynamic message routing/dispatch it would be what?

    Why do you think a compiled language with dynamic message routing/dispatch is superior to others? Personally, I think message routing and dispatching sucks (as implemented in Objective-C/XCode) because of a) null pointers and b) calling non-existent methods is perfectly valid. I can't tell you how many times XCode didn't throw even a warning (let alone a compile-time error) because I tried to call a method that didn't exist, or whose signature I messed up by, say, one parameter. Sometimes, I've had to clean all targets just to see if there are any warnings which the compiler didn't report previously -- and if you're using OpenFeint (for example), rebuilding the entire project is very, VERY slow. By the way, passing parameters as key:value pairs just so that you can pass parameters out of order creates one hell of a readability mess for no real gain.

    How about passing messages to null pointers? Why should that even be legal? Java will complain about it at compile time, why can't XCode handle that at compile time too instead of letting my program blow up with _TERMINATED UNCAUGHT EXCEPTION_? (Yes, I'm a Java developer by day, iPhone by night)

    But more to the point, why does it matter if a language is compiled, has a dynamic message routing/dispatch blah blah blah...? If the language does the job well and is easy to use, who really cares if it's object oriented, message/dispatch, procedural, functional, etc? Personally, I don't think that Obj-C is the best tool for the job as I feel like I just can't code as quickly in Obj-C as I can in Java (or PHP). Partly it's syntax problems (all those square brackets are kind of a pain), partly the nature of the language as described above, which makes reading and testing code much more difficult, IMHO.

  12. Re:It's time. on Apple Blindsides More AppStore Developers · · Score: 1

    Golf-clap, both to you and the parent. Well played.

  13. Re:Greedy, but now without defense on Judge Orders Gizmodo Search Warrant Unsealed · · Score: 1

    "It is only considered stolen on the most tenuous circumstances. Jeez, they pulled up a ancient law that was crafted to stop people from stealing tethered horse."
    It is funny you should say this, because I still can't tether my iPhone.

  14. Re:The iPad is original Apple Redux on The Apple Two · · Score: 1

    As far as car mechanics go, one major flaw is that once you even touch the hood, your fingers accumulate so much dirt and grease that I wouldn't even imagine touching my keyboard, let alone a touchscreen.

  15. Re:Aside from Flash.... on Opera Mini For iPhone Submitted To App Store Today · · Score: 1

    For living in a Disneyfied world of illusion, there's porn . For everything else, there's real women.

    FTFY

  16. Re:Force Their Hand on Opera Mini For iPhone Submitted To App Store Today · · Score: 1

    So what's so bad about that?

  17. Re:FUD article on Is Microsoft About To Declare Patent War On Linux? · · Score: 1

    There's plenty of options, you just have to look a little harder. I'm not going to sign the death warrant of the sites I love by posting it publicly on ./ (if you're interested, send me a message)

  18. Re:Booklet? on Microsoft "Courier" Pictures · · Score: 1

    This booklet could cost five dollars...

    Question: What is the TOTAL cost of ownership??

    child-maiming landmines

    Answer: $5 + a few kids. Deal.

  19. Re:Exactly. Using open wifi is not stealing. on Passive-Aggressive Wi-Fi Hotspots · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I also had a lot of problems with Airport Extreme not broadcasting the SSID. In normal situations, I would turn that feature off, but neither Ubuntu 8.10 nor Vista would connect unless the SSID was broadcast and set to a specific channel (I forget which one) when using WPA2. Since it isn't as easy as getting a new router (long story), I just decided to leave it on broadcast. WPA2 should be enough in most home situations anyway.

  20. Re:Confused? I certainly am... on Opera For iPhone To Test Apple's Resolve · · Score: 1

    Apple will never approve this App, despite any negative publicity. If Apple were to approve Opera, they would have to significantly change their approval process to include interpreted code (javascript, for one), which would open a flood gate to other things (this isn't a bad thing, in my book, but it is in Apple's). In my opinion, Apple has only one choice (to reject), and deal with the negative publicity as it comes (which probably won't be a whole lot).

  21. Re:Touch screen apps has come of age on Apple Tablet Rumor Wrap Up · · Score: 1

    Do they even have docks for laptops yet? My 2-year-old MBP doesn't, and it bothers the hell out of me (cables! cables! more freaking cables!)

  22. Re:My toilet on Apple Tablet Rumor Wrap Up · · Score: 1

    Would it be called the T-Printer? Would it print the magazine content on the rolls?

  23. Re:Why bother? on Apple Fails To Deliver On Windows 7 Boot Camp Promise · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like my parents' daily trip to school

  24. Re:Rule 34 on Microsoft Says Goodbye GUI, Hello MUI · · Score: 1

    Most popular technologies are popular precisely because of porn! It's a wet dream for any inventor to get noticed by the porn industry

  25. Re:CDMA? on Google Nexus Rumored To Cost $530 Or $180 w/Plan · · Score: 1

    By the way, I'm not sure why you got modded off-topic. I think your question *is* relevant to this story...