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User: MCSEBear

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Comments · 177

  1. Antitrust petition on Comcast To Buy Time Warner Cable In $44.2 Billion All-Stock Deal · · Score: 2

    Is there already a Whitehouse.gov petition asking Obama to oppose this? Since the cable companies seem to think they will get away with it, we need to act fast to shame Obama into stopping this.

  2. Adversarial Journalism on Glenn Greenwald Leaves the Guardian To Start His Own Site · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find the thought of a well funded media outlet staffed by people who don't see their most important job as being subservient to those in power and corporate interests quite appealing.

    Pro Publica has been doing good work in this arena as well.

  3. Re:Apple makes money either way... on Did Apple Make a Mistake By Releasing Two New iPhones? · · Score: 1

    64 bit is no advantage on a device with less than 4 GB of non-upgradeable RAM.

    Actually, there are several advantages. The most glaringly obvious is the fact that it has double the number of registers and that those registers double in size.

    We are also changing over to ARM's redesigned version 8 of it's instruction set which adds several new types of instructions that previously didn't exist at all.

    Also added is support for hardware based virtualization, as is seen on some Intel and AMD SKU's.

  4. iPhone 5 was difficult to manufacture on Did Apple Make a Mistake By Releasing Two New iPhones? · · Score: 4, Informative
    How quickly people seem to forget:

    "The iPhone 5 is the most difficult device that Foxconn has ever assembled. To make it light and thin, the design is very complicated," said an anonymous company official to The Wall Street Journal. "It takes time to learn how to make this new device. Practice makes perfect. Our productivity has been improving day by day."

    http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/foxconn-iphone-5-is-hard-to-make/240009249

    If you want a device you can sell for 99 bucks on contract it needs to be easier to make.

  5. Re:He is not an expert... on German Data Protection Expert Warns Against Using iPhone5S Fingerprint Function · · Score: 3, Interesting
    There is a standard feature made available by ARM called TrustZone which enables hardware based separation of a device's OS and apps from a trusted environment, including trusted peripherals such as biometric devices or storage devices.

    It's been around for a while now and has also been adopted by AMD for their upcoming X86 chips.

    Details here:

    The security of the system is achieved by partitioning all of the SoC hardware and software resources so that they exist in one of two worlds - the Secure world for the security subsystem, and the Normal world for everything else. Hardware logic present in the TrustZone-enabled AMBA3 AXI bus fabric ensures that Normal world components do not access Secure world resources, enabling construction of a strong perimeter boundary between the two. A design that places the sensitive resources in the Secure world, and implements robust software running on the secure processor cores, can protect assets against many possible attacks, including those which are normally difficult to secure, such as passwords entered using a keyboard or touch-screen. By separating security sensitive peripherals through hardware, a designer can limit the number of sub-systems that need to go through security evaluation and therefore save costs when submitting a device for security certification.

    http://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/trustzone.php?tab=Hardware+Architecture

    So yes. ARM enables Apple to physically separate the operation of the biometric device and storage of encrypted biometric information in what Apple calls "secure enclave" storage where it is not available to the OS or to apps.

  6. Re:Yes, and? on Report: Britain Has a Secret Middle East Web Surveillance Base · · Score: 1
  7. Get off my virtual lawn! on Adjusting to Google Glass May Be Hard · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You might want to listen to the guy who figured out how to pull this off without damaging the user's eyesight decades ago, Google.

    TFA:

    Google Glass and several similarly configured systems now in development suffer from another problem I learned about 30 years ago that arises from the basic asymmetry of their designs, in which the wearer views the display through only one eye. These systems all contain lenses that make the display appear to hover in space, farther away than it really is. That’s because the human eye can’t focus on something that’s only a couple of centimeters away, so an optical correction is needed. But what Google and other companies are doing—using fixed-focus lenses to make the display appear farther away—is not good.

    Using lenses in this way forces one eye to remain focused at some set distance while the focus of the other eye shifts according to whatever the wearer is looking at, near or far. Doing this leads to severe eyestrain, which again can be harmful, especially to children.

  8. Re:Apple - the phone for your parents on Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' · · Score: 1

    The phone for your parents? Samsung has certainly been trying to convince people this is true with their ads, but shockingly it turns out that advertising and reality don't match up.

    It turns out that Android skews towards older users, not iOS.

  9. Re:Updates on Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' · · Score: 1

    When you buy a particular device, the hardware inside that device (e.g. SOC, Camera, Baseband) doesn't change. As long as Google doesn't change how the drivers interface with newer versions of the OS, the drivers for your particular device will continue to work.

    For example, graphics card drivers for Windows 2000 worked fine in XP. Windows Vista introduced a new way to handle graphics drivers which required a driver update, but this new method is still used being used in Windows 7 and 8.

  10. Updates on Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Until the Android ecosystem can handle an issue as basic as providing it's users with OS and security updates, Android is not ahead at all.

    Over half of the Android devices out there are still running variants of version 2 of the OS and lower while the last three Android releases are version 4 and higher.

    Android needs to be rearchitected so that carriers provide drivers for the hardware, while Google takes full responsibility for updates to the OS. This approach has been working with Windows for decades.

  11. My Definition on Apple Now the Top PC Vendor, For Some Values of PC · · Score: 1

    If it can run general purpose word processors, spreadsheets, and databases, it's a personal computer.

    If people haven't bothered to create the traditional applications that defined PC's mentioned above, it's not a personal computer, it's a specialized device.

  12. Re:seriously on Leaked: Obama's Rules For Assassinating American Citizens · · Score: 1

    You are a fucking retard. This isn't about "political rhetoric".

    It doesn't matter if it's Bush and John Yoo releasing a memo justifying torture, or Obama releasing a memo justifying murder. Sane people oppose Presidents who seek to destroy the entire concept of the rule of law.

  13. It appears that Twitter has a problem on Apple Has a New Porn Problem · · Score: 5, Informative
    Twitter has begun to censor porn related searches on Vine.

    Twitter's video-sharing app now blocks many searches for pornographic terms. Trying to search for the #porn hashtag (and other terms such as #sex, #boobs, and #booty) brings up no results at this time.

  14. Re:What about iPod touch on iPad Mini Could Retail For $250, Delete iPad 2 · · Score: 1

    The iPod Touch starts at $199 and the iPad Mini is expected to start at $329.

    Since this website has an excellent track record for nailing Apple's upcoming announcements, their pricing is likely much more accurate.

  15. Re:Macrumors shows $329 as the base price. on iPad Mini Could Retail For $250, Delete iPad 2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    AC parent is correct.

    One of the blogs with an inside source and a proven track record for nailing what is to come in recent Apple announcements, 9 to 5 Mac, has also come out and said the starting price will be $329.

    Read for yourself.

    Sadly, a $250 price point seems to be wishful thinking. Apple isn't going to pull a Google and sell things anywhere near break even.

  16. Re:Downgrade rights on CowboyNeal Weighs In On the Windows 8 "Metro" GUI · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, the opposite is true. This was possible before RTM, but Microsoft has removed this ability in the final code.

    CNET reports that users of the recently-leaked RTM builds of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 have discovered that one of the tweaks Microsoft has made since the launch of the last public test build, Windows 8 Release Preview, centers on the boot process. Microsoft is reportedly now blocking users from bypassing the boxy Start screen, preventing them from booting straight into Desktop mode.

    Previous test builds allowed Windows 8 users to create a shortcut that switches to the Windows 8 desktop. If the user didn't want to boot their machine into the tiled desktop UI (formerly known as Metro), they could simply schedule this shortcut to be activated immediately after logging into the user's account.

    Rafael Rivera, coauthor of the forthcoming Windows 8 Secrets, has reportedly verified with RTM downloaders that Microsoft's block of the boot bypass is indeed in place. He also believes that Microsoft has blocked the ability for administrators to use Group Policy to allow users to bypass the tiled startup screen. That said, it seems that Microsoft is trying to keep the desktop of old out of sight, hoping users will simply grow accustomed to the new blocky era of Windows.

  17. Re:Apple Didn't Invent Multi-Touch? on Microsoft Buys Multi-Touch Pioneer Perceptive Pixel · · Score: 2

    The original patents on multi-touch belonged to a company founded back in 1998 called Fingerworks. Fingerworks produced multi-touch keyboards and gesture pads for the Macintosh.

    Here is an article from 2002 discussing one of their products in the NY Times.

    Apple purchased Fingerworks a year before Jeff Han's now famous TED talk.

  18. Re:Buyer beware! on Wozniak Praises 'Beautiful' Windows Phone · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Except for the fact that when you buy a flagship Nexus phone, there isn't any doubt at all that you will, at the very least, receive the next version of Android.

    For people who buy Microsoft/Nokia's current flagship phone, the word on the street is that they are going to be screwed over, and Microsoft refuses to address the issue even when the big hitter tech journalists directly ask.

    That's a big difference.

  19. Re:Buyer beware! on Wozniak Praises 'Beautiful' Windows Phone · · Score: 1
    As a reminder, this is the same thing Microsoft did when they refused to provide upgrades to Win Phone 7 from devices that ran Windows Mobile 6.5. Even for devices which had the same basic specs at the Win Phone 7 devices.

    Owners of HTC’s highly-praised HD2 touchscreen smartphone will be unable to upgrade the device to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software when the OS is released towards the end of the year. Despite the HD2 meeting many of the criteria laid down in Microsoft’s ‘Chassis 1’ spec – including a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, high-res capacitive touch display, 5 megapixel camera and 3.5mm headphone jack – the phone will be ruled out for the simple reason that it has five buttons instead of the three mandated for all Windows Phone 7 devices.

    Source.

    Here are links to some of the sources saying the same thing is going to happen to current Win Phone 7 device owners:

    The Verge

    Mary Jo Foley

    Ars Technica

  20. Buyer beware! on Wozniak Praises 'Beautiful' Windows Phone · · Score: 5, Informative
    Since multiple industry journalists have stepped forward saying that current Windows Phones will not be eligible to receive an upgrade to Win Phone 8, it's difficult to think of current models as more than a scam.

    The one Windows Phone evangelist who claimed the current devices would be upgradable, quickly walked those statements back.

    Microsoft developer evangelist Nuno Silva apparently confused applications with devices when he claimed that users of Windows Phone 7 (aka Mango) would be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 8 (aka Apollo).

    Offering a mea culpa on his blog today, Silva said he was trying to echo Microsoft's own statements that existing Windows Phone apps would run under Apollo. But for some reason he gave the impression that current devices themselves would also be able to run the next version of Windows Phone.

    "I mistakenly confused app compatibility with phone updateability, which caused the rumors we saw yesterday," Silva wrote. "I did not intend to give the impression I was offering new guidance on any products under development or their upgradeability."

    The developer aroused hopes among the Windows Phone faithful by leading them to believe that Mango devices would be eligible to receive the Apollo upgrade. But various sources have been insisting for a while that there is no upgrade path.

    Source here .

    If you buy one of these "beta test" phones, you will soon be stuck in a multi-year contract with a device that will not be upgradable to the current version of the OS. There is nothing beautiful about that. Do not buy before Win Phone 8 is released!

  21. Re:I want TB on Expect Hundreds of Thunderbolt Devices, Says Intel · · Score: 1

    Anandtech reported hitting just over 1000MB/s when they tested a Promise Pegasus R6 RAID array of SSD's.

  22. Re:So three monitors and ninety-seven hard drives? on Expect Hundreds of Thunderbolt Devices, Says Intel · · Score: 2

    True, I just can't find a reason why I really need it.

    There are SSD's shipping today that are already bottle-necked by the throughput challenged USB3 and SATA/eSATA standards. Companies like Intel have moved to building performance SSD's on PCI cards because PCI is the only available bus that is fast enough.

    If you have a laptop, PCI cards aren't an option, but Thunderbolt delivers an external PCI bus.

  23. Re:Accepted norms on Ask Slashdot: Advice For Budding Scientist? · · Score: 2

    I can't provide specific examples of theory-based conflict off the top of my head

    Here is a good example of a recent scientific conflict over a new theory. A scientist steps forward with physical proof (electron microscope images) of a new class of solids and is hounded as some sort of religious heretic and fired from his University for daring to point out something that goes against official scientific dogma.

    An Israeli scientist who suffered years of ridicule and even lost a research post for claiming to have found an entirely new class of solid material was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry on Wednesday for his discovery of quasicrystals.

    Shechtman, 70, from Israel's Technion institute in Haifa, was working in the United States in 1982 when he observed atoms in a crystal he had made form a five-sided pattern that did not repeat itself, defying received wisdom that they must create repetitious patterns, like triangles, squares or hexagons.

    "People just laughed at me," Shechtman recalled in an interview this year with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, noting how Linus Pauling, a colossus of science and double Nobel laureate, mounted a frightening "crusade" against him, saying: "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists."

    After telling Shechtman to go back and read the textbook, the head of his research group asked him to leave for "bringing disgrace" on the team. "I felt rejected," Shechtman remembered.

    Quoted article is here.

  24. Bullshit on Comcast Not Counting Their Video Service Against Bandwidth Cap · · Score: 0

    Is the data for this video delivered over TCP/IP? Then you can't claim it should be immune to the data cap any other data delivered to the customer over TCP/IP would be subject to.

    Do they really think people are stupid enough to think that just because their servers for this data are on their own network, that this shouldn't be subject to the same rules as any other IP traffic? Either make everyone's video services immune to your data cap or none at all.

  25. Re:Please read this on The Windows 8 Power Struggle: Metro Vs Desktop · · Score: 1

    http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-consumer-preview-call-common-sense-142476

    Also, try to spend a few minutes learning shortcuts etc. before dissing the experience. It's not a SP for Windows 7, it's a new OS.

    Anybody else remember how concerned and butthurt Thurrott was that some Macintosh applications used the brushed metal appearance four or so versions of MacOS ago? This window is a different color! The horror!

    Now he's going off on a butthurt rant because people don't want to be forced to use a touch interface on devices that do not support touch?

    Paid shills are hysterical.