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User: clickclickdrone

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  1. Re:No on It's Not Just the NSA: Police Are Tracking Your Car · · Score: 1

    Buses have gps trackers, internal cameras recording all journeys to hard disk, recorders on the vehicle management systems etc. They can replay who got on/off and every press of the brake/accelerator the driver makes. The latter is used for insurance purposes to prove how the driver responded to accidents etc.

  2. Re:The car's the thing. on It's Not Just the NSA: Police Are Tracking Your Car · · Score: 1

    You decided to vote for the Tories

    To be fair, labour were just as bad - a lot of the survelience law was passed by them. The only real difference between the left/right in the UK is which way they shaft you. they both shaft you though.

  3. Re:The size of a euro coin? on Billion Star Surveyor 'Gaia' Lifts Off · · Score: 1

    Modded down for a joke? Man you guys are up tight.

  4. Re:Concerning... on Scientific Data Disappears At Alarming Rate, 80% Lost In Two Decades · · Score: 4, Informative

    As an extreme case, the BBC has reported on scrolls from Pompeii and Herculaneum that were 'destroyed' by Vesuvius are now starting to reveal their secrets using some pretty impressive techniques. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25106956

  5. Re:The size of a euro coin? on Billion Star Surveyor 'Gaia' Lifts Off · · Score: 0

    (yes, i am Greek... but don't hate me, i love 'Murica!)

    Are you sure you're European?

  6. Re:Concerning... on Scientific Data Disappears At Alarming Rate, 80% Lost In Two Decades · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's still 100 years which is a lot better than the data being talked about here.

    There was a documentry on the radio this week about the loss of letter writing as a form and how alarmed biographers were getting because it's getting very hard to trace someone's life, thoughts, actions etc without a paper trail as stuff like emails, digital photos etc generally get lost when someone dies.

    Personally, I find the increasing rate of loss quite alarming - so much of our lives are digital and so little is properly curated with a view to future access. We know so much about the past from old documents, often hundreds if not thousands of years old but these days we're hard pushed to find something published ten years ago.

  7. Re:Excellent question on Ask Slashdot: Practical Bitrot Detection For Backups? · · Score: 2

    Are there cloud storage providers that can do this for the above example of an approx. 2 TB data set, and provide complete security?

    Cloud and complete security together is an oxymoron.

  8. Re:Not the last 8-bit design on The Real Story of Hacking Together the Commodore C128 · · Score: 1

    I remember thinking WTF but to be fair, it was a huge hit and they sold a ton to small/medium businesses and non gamers at home.

  9. Clearly lots of fatties here on Diet Drugs Work: Why Won't Doctors Prescribe Them? · · Score: 1

    I'm amazed at the hostility here towards anyone who suggests self control and healthy eating and the amount of comments suggesting if you can't get time to excercise, popping a pill to offset your overeating is good. Seriously? You guys are all in denial. really. In the UK there's a TV show called 'Secret Eaters'. Each week they get some fat people who are mystified as to why they can't lose weight. They get them to record what they eat for a week and film them for a week. They then compare what they said/thought they ate compared to what they really ate. In almost every case they were scarfing more than twice the calories they claimed. One guy was going on about his healthy eating, breakfast cereals, healthy option for lunch sandwich, home cooked evening meal full of vegetables. He reckoned he got through 1800 calories a day so why wasn't he losing weight? The film of him showed he was actually getting through 4-5000 a day and on Sunday, 9000. One thing that really surprised him was a cheese sauce that he put on his vegetables (yeah, I know) that ended up as being 1500 cals on its own.

  10. Re:No, they don't work on Diet Drugs Work: Why Won't Doctors Prescribe Them? · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    This. There is absolutely no point taking medication (FFS) to control your bad habits. As soon as you stop taking them, you'll revert back. It's not difficult. Eat less, move more. The only caveat being there is some some recent evidence that some people do genuinely have more trouble with this than others but it doesn't make the advice any different. Grow a pair, stop blaming other people for your own bad eating habits, take control of your life and stop being conned by all the faddy diets aimed at quick fixes. There are no quick fixes, just good, healthy ways to eat.

  11. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1

    More info on 850 boot process here http://www.atarimania.com/faq-atari-400-800-xl-xe-what-is-the-atari-850-interface-module_38.htmlSpecifically, if no response from drive 1, the 850 responds as if it was a disk drive.

  12. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1

    Seriously, chill out, you seem way too angry and uptight about this. You're also attributing meanings to things I've said which simply aren't there. Anyway, some examples back at you: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/xlperipherals/1030.html
    "Just like the Atari 850 interface, the Atari 1030 modem had not only its device driver in ROM which would automatically upload into the computers memory, but also its software as well. The Atari 1030 came with an on-board software package called ModemLink which would automatically upload into the computers memory. "

    So both driver and software loaded during boot. Also.. http://www.geocities.ws/SiliconValley/Lakes/6757/1030.HTML

    The 850 interface did the same i.e. loaded a driver. As I'm sure you know, when booting, the 8bit attempts to boot from a floppy drive, if present. These devices respond to that request as if they were a floppy drive and the 8bit is non the wiser and loads the drivers/progs as needed. That's how the trick was achieved during the boot process.

    I still stand by my comments that the OS was very powerful *for it's day*. We're talking 1978/79 here. The only thing that was obviously missing compared to it's peers, such as they were then was the lack of monitor, hence 3rd party OS replacements that added that and better FP performance.

  13. Silly, the land of fascism is Italy

    You forgot the US & UK.

    " any movement, ideology, or attitude that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism"

    Yep, sounds about right although some definitions mention merging of state and corporate power which is possibly more pertinant.

  14. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1

    Bullshit. Atari 8-bitters didn't have enough of an OS to even have such a thing as an autoloaded driver. I should know, that was my first computer.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_computer_peripherals "Devices on the bus have their own IDs and peripherals can deliver downloadable drivers to the Atari computer during the boot process."

    The 8bits actually had a very full and powerful OS for it's day with loadable device drivers and a unified model and I/O structure that allowed different devices to be 'talked' to in much the same way.

    so why are you even talking about SIO?

    Because the designer himself said he used concepts from SIO when working on USB?

    It is dumb, and you are dumb for pushing it so hard.

    Bless, ad-hominum attacks.

  15. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1

    Atari 810 was released 24/Sep 1979. I was surprised the PET drive was 1979, I thought I'd seen them before that. Obviously not.

  16. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1
    Hmmm, you have a point. I think some tweaking is needed to make this more in tune with today.

    the Quintopus allows each device to be connected directly to the computer through only three or four feet of cable. This is particularly useful when attempting to use Ultra Speed data transfers.

    The Quintopus is an enabler, allowing your choice of personal peripherals to be connected in exciting and innovative ways. It is a green solution, less cabling, better for the planet!

    Cable resistance and capacitance are greatly reduced, thereby significantly improving the probability of accurate data transfers.

    Advanced!

    This means you can switch between multiple combinations of peripherals or computers without the hassle of rearranging I/O cables.

    Have it all, the way YOU want. Right Now! No more time consuming chores, more time to be YOU.

  17. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 4, Informative

    SIO could not be hot-plugged, did not auto-load drivers, could not be hubbed, etc.

    No one is saying SIO is USB, just it shared some DNA and a designer. On your feature list, Hot plugging, no. Auto-load drivers, yes it could. Some of the modems used that. Hubbed? Sort of. Atari didn't release anything but third parties did such as the Quintopus that turned one SIO into 5. http://nleaudio.com/css/products.htm

  18. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1

    In terms of what? The Pet was certainly pre Atari 800 and had those big external floppy boxes but they weren't first either. The interface was totally different. Also, it's not about what was first, as the link noted, the same guy that designed SIO in 1978/79 used some of the same concepts in USB.

  19. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because Wikipedia isn't complete/perfect? Feel free to add the appropriate reference to the page.

  20. Re:Even worse... on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find if I go to plug in a USB connector, it's best to change your mind at the last minute and turn it over because you're *always* wrong first time.

  21. Re:Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 1
  22. Atari would be proud on Death to the Trapezoid... Next USB Connector Will Be Reversible · · Score: 5, Interesting

    USB, developed from the Atari 800's SIO technology (1978/79!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_SIO

  23. Reading or writing? on The Desktop Is Dead, Long Live the Desktop! · · Score: 1

    Desktop for creating content. Tablet/Phone for consuming content. Cloud? Meh. Same old by another name.

  24. Re:Links on Unpublished J. D. Salinger Stories Leaked On Bittorrent Site · · Score: 1

    But officer, I downloaded it to /dev/null

  25. Bye bye what.cd on Unpublished J. D. Salinger Stories Leaked On Bittorrent Site · · Score: 1

    I expect this will start a bit of a witch hunt...