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User: david_bandel

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  1. They got what they needed on Google To Shut Down 411 Service · · Score: -1

    GOOG-411 was an effort to collect voice information for their vocal parsing (speech recognition) algorithm. They've got enough samples now to do quite a bit better than most automated voice-controlled phone services. Why continue to operate at a huge loss when you've squeezed all the benefit you possibly can out of the service? Google is a data mining effort. All of us are simply test data for refining their ultimate neural network.

  2. Commercials in Theatres on Google Patent Proposes $2 Fee To Skip Commercials · · Score: -1

    I don't think it will be particularly long before there are "intermissions" in movie theatres. This will provide a perfect point at which to bombard the audience with yet more advertising, under the guise of intermission convenience of course. How kind of our need to visit the bathroom or refill our popcorn to be sponsored by Coca Cola. Meanwhile, pirating marches on unabashed and unlittered with ads.

  3. Re:Since when are rights deserved? on Does A Company Deserve the Same Privacy Rights As You? · · Score: -1

    Oh well it's already over then. So let's continue using the term.

  4. Another reimagining? on Star Wars Films In 3D Due In 2012 · · Score: -1

    Let me guess. In this one the rebels will shoot first.

  5. Misleading on Elo Chess Rating System Topped By Proposed Replacements · · Score: -1

    These results aren't as significant as you might think. In fact, the small gain over ELO lies inside the margin of error for the small sample set of games being used. No matter what the sample size, there will be some algorithm, specifically tailored to that sample that will achieve better results than any other algorithm, especially if the other algorithm satisfies the criteria of being the most statistically valid across all possible sample sets on average. ELO is a pure logistic norming of rating-difference vs. expected-result. Mathematically/statistically it's not possible to improve on ELO as a general predictor of success in general. Only in specific sub-samples. Given enough games in a large enough pool of players, ELO should be a perfect predictor. Just like the sum of an infinite amount of continuous uniformly distributed random variables would result in a normal distribution. It's like having the best overall car. There will be other cars that beat you in the short race, some that beat you in the long race, even some that beat you in the medium race, some that beat you for mph, mpg, etc. Or picture a chaotic curve with lots of randomness that has an overall trend from 0,0 to x,y. y=x is the best model of the whole curve you can get. But if you zoom in on some subsection of the curve and make all the randomness disappear, you can tweak your straight line to fit the data slightly better. But if you extrapolated the tweaked line over the whole spectrum, you'd get a pretty poor predictor that wouldn't even stay in the domain or range.

  6. Re:Fucktards on Hunters Shot Down Google Fiber · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Judging from your attitude you're just as dumb as the people you describe.

  7. Re:Well they aren't spam on T-Mobile Facing Lawsuit Over Text Message Censorship · · Score: 0

    Why bother? Slashdot is so informative and unbiased. There's no need to go beyond this comments page ever.

  8. Re:The more important question on Review: Halo: Reach · · Score: -1, Troll

    Why would you want different games to run on multiple consoles? What did you pay for when you bought your PS3, dumbass?

  9. Re:Stop Sleepwalking! on Wal-Mart To Launch Unlimited Wireless Family Plan · · Score: 0

    I almost forgot how popular socialism was in the UK.

  10. It's only natural.. on Texas Opens Inquiry Into Google Search Rankings · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's a very simple, easy to obfuscate (cover up) search results manipulation that could quite easily make a multi-hundred millions dollar difference for the company. Why on Earth would Google, if it could (and it can) NOT do something like this? Just look at their support of Chinese communism and ask yourself if the company is above doing anything for a buck.

  11. Re:Teach them how to communicate on What 'IT' Stuff Should We Teach Ninth-Graders? · · Score: 0

    I haven't yet found an algorithm or human process capable of decoding facebook comments written by teenagers.

    I think what you're looking for is something that would make comments on Facebook possible to decode. For it could be made many orders of magnitude easier than it currently is and still be indecipherable.

  12. Re:backups are important. on What 'IT' Stuff Should We Teach Ninth-Graders? · · Score: 0

    You are an absolute embarrassment to humanity.

  13. Re:Yes, the cat got my tongue... on Sit Longer, Die Sooner · · Score: 0

    It's the preponderance of missing words (bad grammar) that inhibit your ability to have a good discussion. Not people's willingness to mock people who can't employ simple English.

  14. Who cares? on How Star Wars Trumped Star Trek For Scientific Accuracy · · Score: -1, Troll

    Star Trek has always been the thinking man's version of Star Wars. Star Wars practically created the low-IQ yet nerdy genre. Star Trek grappled with real scientific (even sometimes modern physics) concepts. Star Wars was just a bunch of explosions with no science whatsoever. Explosions in space made just as much noise in Star Wars as they did in Star Trek, but at least Star Trek explained why people were walking upright in ships. There's really no contest. If you have a brain Star Trek is the better experience. If you don't, Star Wars is much better. So Star Wars wins. I'm sure Star Wars is far more popular among Slashdot readers since most of you fall into this loq-IQ-yet-nerdy category.

  15. Wow on Sit Longer, Die Sooner · · Score: 0

    "the researchers found that women who sit more than 6 hours a day were 37 percent more likely to die than those who sit less than 3 hours; for men, long-sitters were 17 percent more likely to die. People who exercise regularly had a lower risk, but still significant, risk of dying" So we're talking about a finite probability of immortality if I never sit? I'll never sit again!

  16. Re:It is well known where it is on UVB-76 Broadcasts New Voice Message · · Score: 0

    Ever heard of Russia?

  17. Information age on RIAA President Says Copyright Law "Isn't Working" · · Score: 0

    This is the information age. In the next age, information won't be property and our more enlightened descendants will laugh at us for considering it so. We can't truly advance as a species until we start treating the universe as an information entropy increasing machine and accept our roles within it as DNA-based information processing machines.

  18. Slashdot fails at titling its articles yet again. on National Park Service Says Tech Is Enabling Stupidity · · Score: 0

    It's not stupidity. It's ability. Technology is enabling people to do things that weren't safe before. Stupidity would be doing those things before said technology.

  19. Re:10 years?! on Ray Kurzweil Does Not Understand the Brain · · Score: 0

    Honey, what are you smoking? It wasn't even three minutes on our wedding night when you promised it would be extra special.

  20. slashdot fails again on Town Gets Patent On Being the Center of Europe · · Score: 0

    So they didn't get a patent.. and have only been lying and saying they did. They filed and failed. Someone made a speech where they lied about having a patent on it. Why have the standards for slashdot articles deteriorated so much? Is it the readers standards going down or the submitters getting more retarded? Or the people who approve articles getting more lax.

  21. idiot on Preserving Memories of a Loved One? · · Score: 0

    Spend your time with her and make sure your "pre-teen" daughters do the same. Wasting your time recording everything will lead to you looking back on these years as a big mistake on your part. Also, since she's only going to look and sound worse as time goes on, the recording is a lot less friendly than something more abstract (and meaningful) like her opinions, thoughts, and feelings. If all you're interested are the superficial aspects of her life (what she looked and sounded like) then you are already doing enough. And years from now I hope you cherish all those months holding a camcorder and digital camera instead of looking at her with your own eyes. You're desperate, so your stupid and childish mentality on all of this is understandable. But it's not too late to start dealing with this like someone who actually cares about his wife and the mother of his kids.

  22. technology? on EFF Reviews the Verizon-Google Net Neutrality Deal · · Score: 0

    How is this technology and not 'your rights online'?

  23. Re:Nearly two thirds... on Most Consumers Support Government Cyber-Spying · · Score: 0

    What is so funny about that? I'm for execution of a foreign spy on American soil.. and I'm also for the US executing espionage on other nations. I guess.. hmm.. maybe I live in America and am looking out for its best interests?

  24. Re:Stay Retired. on How Can an Old-School Coder Regain His Chops? · · Score: 0

    Sounds like you picked the wrong career. I don't think the majority of people have experienced what you describe.

  25. /. fails again on RIM's Encryption 'Too Secure' For Indian Government's Taste · · Score: 0, Troll

    Don't take any articles that /. posts with it's hilariously childishly biased language in the subject header seriously. /. has one of the most embarrassingly airheaded left-wing biases I've ever seen in a news outlet.