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User: GWBasic

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  1. I get business-class internet on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Fight Usage Caps? · · Score: 1

    I was able to get business-class internet through my employer. It's cheaper than consumer-grade internet, and doesn't force me to buy crap like a TV subscription. If you work for a large company, it might be available through your employee discount program.

    I don't know what my cap is, but if I have one, it's much higher than I will ever hit. We use most of our bandwidth for streaming video.

  2. This is basic politics on Court: NRC In Violation For Not Ruling On Yucca Mountain · · Score: 1

    The Obama campaign had to win Reno. In order to win Reno, they had to promise to do everything in their power to keep Yucca mountain closed. This is just a politician trying to keep peace. Reno's residents don't want Yucca open because they don't want nuclear waste trucked through their city. Unfortunately, nothing will convince them that it's safe.

  3. It's only for blogs on Chrome's Insane Password Security Strategy · · Score: 1
    And this is why storing passwords should only be used for things like blogs. It shouldn't be used for things like banking.

    Start locking your computer when you walk away from it.

  4. "Computer Science" vs. "Software Engineering" on Ask Slashdot: How Important Is Advanced Math In a CS Degree? · · Score: 2

    Spend time thinking about the different between Software Engineering vs. Computer Science. It's kind of like the difference between Physics and Mechanical Engineering. Some schools now offer degrees in Software Engineering for this reason.

    One of the most useful classes I took was an entry-level Mechanical Engineering class. The reason is that the "Engineering" approach and mindset is needed in application development; yet a "Science" degree often doesn't emphasis this enough.

    When you're past the hurdle of math classes, look at fun engineering classes outside of the Computer Science discipline. You'll actually learn lessons that you can apply outside of college. For me, "Technology of Alpine Skiing" turned out to actually be useful, and I got to go skiing for a grade!

  5. Re:Interesting coincidence? or purchase tracking? on FCC Issues Forfeiture Notices to Two Business for Jamming Cellular Frequencies · · Score: 1

    I have a feeling they probably pissed off a few employees when they installed the transmitters.

  6. Time to compromise? on FCC Issues Forfeiture Notices to Two Business for Jamming Cellular Frequencies · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think its time to dedicate a very narrow-band low-frequency for a polite "bit." Any business should be able to apply to purchase a transmitter with a 25-foot radius that sets cell devices to silent or vibrate. Perfect for restaurants and theaters, yet it still allows people to use their devices.

  7. "Lossless" on Can You Really Hear the Difference Between Lossless, Lossy Audio? · · Score: 1

    My understanding is that 256 or 360kbps AAC is, for all intents and purposes, highly accurate.

    Something that the discussions don't really cover are "lossless" formats like DTS and Dolby Digital HD. These formats tend to use about 6-1000 kbps, yet don't incorporate the phase-changes that MP3 and AAC do. From what I understand, the resulting sound is more accurate than merely decimating 24bit to 16bit.

  8. Buy "disposable" stuff on Ask Slashdot: Starting From Scratch After a Burglary? · · Score: 1

    Buy "disposable" stuff. Technology breaks, gets obsolete, gets lost, gets stolen, ect.

    Example: A few years ago, I bought a $2500 42" TV. It broke after 3 years, so I replaced it with a $1000 55". I didn't miss much, because both TVs are just basic HDMI without a lot of features.

    Likewise, with your computers, make sure that they are capable of using some kind of magic cloud backup so that you can quickly get your stuff back. Dropbox runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

  9. I like these ads on Can Google Base Ads On E-mails Sent To Gmail Accounts? · · Score: 1

    In all honesty, once I was having an email exchange with a mechanic that charged me too much money for not enough work. Gmail stuck an ad up for a much better mechanic.

  10. Wire for local ISPs on Ask Slashdot: Provisioning Internet For Condo Association? · · Score: 1

    The apartment that I just moved into is wired for cable, with hookups for Comcast and AT&T. Just wire your condos for cable and phone according to the recommendations of your local cable and phone companies; and then have your tenants get cable modems or DSL. The best way to get good service is to ensure that your residents can easily choose among 2-3 competing ISPs, and let the ISPs deal with the headaches.

  11. It depends on what you're motivating people to do on Is Gamification a Good Motivator? · · Score: 1

    It really depends on what you're motivating people to do, and who your employees are. If you have employees where you need to trust their judgement on what is a good use of their time; things like leaderboards can backfire when the best employees decide that the metric is for things like TPS reports.

  12. Re:I switched back on Hybrid Car Owners Not Likely To Buy Another Hybrid · · Score: 1

    I bought the stick. When I found out that the 2012 model has a CVT, I had that, "if only I could have waited" feeling. The new Subarus are quiet and silky smooth like my old Hybrid. If it's any consolation, my girlfriend just got a new CRV, and its Bluetooth support is very flaky. Subaru's Bluetooth is very reliable.

  13. Re:I switched back on Hybrid Car Owners Not Likely To Buy Another Hybrid · · Score: 1

    Oh, the Impreza is awesome on country roads and in snow. What I liked about my Honda Civic hybrid, and why I considered the Insight, is that they're very quiet and smooth with gentle acceleration. For gentle acceleration, my Impreza goes "Vrrroooom-shift-Vrrrrooooom-shift-Vrrrroooooooooommm." The Honda hybrids are much more graceful, although you pay for it!

  14. Re:I switched back on Hybrid Car Owners Not Likely To Buy Another Hybrid · · Score: 1

    I grew up in MA and purchased my 2003 Civic Hybrid in Framingham. At the time, I assumed that it'd have enough rust after 7-8 years that it'd have very little value. If I was living in CA in 2003, I wouldn't have taken the risk.

  15. I switched back on Hybrid Car Owners Not Likely To Buy Another Hybrid · · Score: 5, Informative
    I switched back from hybrid to conventional. In 2003 I bought a Civic Hybrid, last year I considered an Insight but bought a Subaru Impreza Sport. Here's why:
    • I could only take the car to the dealer for anything more complicated then an oil change. Regular mechanics refused to look at the car. My check-engine light was on, and the dealer told me that I needed a new catalytic converter for $2-3000 dollars. (The guy who bought the car from me told me it was an inexpensive sensor that needed to be replaced.)
    • I wanted four-wheel-drive so I could go through CA chain checks when I go skiing.
    • My 7-year-old hybrid Civic was only worth about $2,000. Normally Civics hold their value.

    My 2011 Impreza cost me $20,000, and is a compact car. The only 4wd hybrids are large SUVs, which cost $30,000. Even at $4.00 a gallon, $10,000 buys a lot of gas. At 21 miles a gallon, $10,000 buys over 57,000 miles worth of gas!

    Furthermore, Subaru service charges a lot less money then Honda service, and their accessories cost less. Honda charged me $400 for rubber floor mats, and Subaru charged me $100 for rubber floor mats.

    Now, had I not wanted 4wd, I probably would have bought the Insight. I really prefer its quietness and smoothness over the Impreza. On the other hand, given that Honda service is expensive, regular mechanics won't work on Honda hybrids, and that the Insight would probably be worthless after 7 years, I'm probably going to spend less money owning the Impreza.

  16. Re:Added value of Go? on Go Version 1 Released · · Score: 1

    I get the impression that go is suited to high-performance network software where C would be too low-level. The memory isolation model minimizes the overhead of garbage collection, because it can be optimized to not "stop the world."

  17. Re:I Can't Help But Feel on Blackjack Player Breaks the Bank At Atlantic City · · Score: 2

    The article explains how he won: He negotiated got the odds very close to 50/50, and once he was on a winning streak, continued. He would only walk once he was down $500,000, but only owe $400,000. In contrast, the casinos wouldn't shut him off until he was up in the millions. Basically, instead of counting cards, he got lucky at outsmarting the casinos at their own business.

  18. Re:It's just guidelines on Master Engineer: Apple's "Mastered For iTunes" No Better Than AAC-Encoded Music · · Score: 1

    Then the question is: how loud is the artifact? Is the artifact louder or quieter then the quantization noise?

  19. Re:It's just guidelines on Master Engineer: Apple's "Mastered For iTunes" No Better Than AAC-Encoded Music · · Score: 1

    nonononono

    In this case, "mastered for iTunes" has to do with the fact that the artist / producer / studio encodes the AAC directly from the 24-bit master, using Apple's recommended algorithms for reducing sampling rate to 44.1 khz.

    When you get a CD and go to FLAC, you've already lost quite a bit going from 24-bit to 16-bit. That loss isn't there in "mastered for iTunes."

    I've been playing with this stuff for a few years when I take a 24 bit, 96khz wave file from a DVD-Audio disk, stick it into iTunes, and compress it to AAC. It still beats the pants off of stuff that I ripped from 16-bit CDs.

  20. Re:Hey, the pirates can help on Master Engineer: Apple's "Mastered For iTunes" No Better Than AAC-Encoded Music · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Mastered for iTunes is better then CD quality assuming that the producer encodes directly from the 24-bit master. AAC is totally floating-point; its compression process arguably creates a more accurate sound then decimating 24-bit to 16-bit.

    If you're going to ask for FLAC, at least make sure it's 24-bit. Otherwise, you're just wasting space to carry around the distortion created when decimating to 16-bit sound.

  21. It's just guidelines on Master Engineer: Apple's "Mastered For iTunes" No Better Than AAC-Encoded Music · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "Mastered for iTunes" is just a set of guidelines that ensure that the resulting AAC file is the highest quality possible when encoded directly from a 24-bit master. It's higher quality then most FLACs because they are usually 16-bit, whereas AAC is essentially 24-bit when the source material is 24-bit. In essence, compressing 24-bit audio to 256kbps AAC sounds better then going to 16-bit uncompressed audio.

    If you're going to go FLAC, at least make sure that you're getting 24-bit.

  22. Uhhh... on Should Next-Gen Game Consoles Be Upgradeable? · · Score: 1

    Usually buying a new console costs less then a decent computer upgrade.

    Assuming that transferring "stuff" from consoles is easy, and consoles are backwards-compatible, then "upgrading" a console could merely be buying a new one, and plugging it into the old HDMI cable.

  23. They are violating copyright on Anger With Game Content Lock Spurs Reaction From Studio Head Curt Shilling · · Score: 1

    American copyright law clearly grants the purchaser the right to resell. They are violating American copyright by withholding the right to resell a used game.

    Capitalism says "charge what the market will bear." Clearly the market will not bear non-resell-able games.

  24. Interesting experience on iTunes Match Expands To Latin America, Netherlands, Baltics · · Score: 1

    Yesterday, I had something funny happen with iTunes match. I was streaming Weezer's "Perfect Situation," off of their "Make Believe" album. I heard a chorus at the end of the song that I'd never heard before. I then hopped over to my computer with the actual rip of the CD that I made, and low and behold, the chorus at the end of "Perfect Situation" wasn't there!

    iTunes match also can't handle pausing while streaming. Often I have to restart the song if I pause it while streaming.

    I also found streaming from iTunes match on my iPhone to be somewhat sketchy, so I disabled it and switched to Android.

  25. Put your resume on job boards on Ask Slashdot: Advancing a Programming Career? · · Score: 1

    Someone with your skillset is in high demand. It's very easy to just cast an uber-wide net, listen to job after job, and then decide where you want to focus.

    Put your resume on job boards and then take your pick. In addition to things like Monster, Dice, look for smaller boards that cater to niches that you might be interested in. On your resume, state that you're looking for either a full-time job or a few short contracts until you find the right position. Keep casting as wide of a net as possible until you figure out what your interest is, and then narrow your search.

    When recruiters call you, without sounding cocky, politely state that you know that you're in demand and that you're still trying to focus your career search. Hang up on anyone who tries to negotiate salary or contract rate in the first call. Do not go to any recruitment agency's offices in-person, especially if they come across as high-pressure.