Telcos have been actively pushing residential customers off of copper wire and onto VOIP, and making ENORMOUS savings on their costs - but continuing to charge the rates that used to pay for copper landlines. The only savings to the customer is free long-distance, which costs practically nothing for the telcos to provide.
And yet, when the power goes out, so does my VOIP phone line, provided by the local telephone company. I've got a UPS to power the phone router, but apparently there isn't one at the telco switch. So when power goes out, so do the "landline" phones, AND the cell system (which is ALSO powered by the electric utility).
I really ought to buy a new HAM radio, since I used to be an ARES operator. Because in a widespread power outage. that might be the only communications link.
Reagan at least was a Democrat for quite a while. Back in the early 1970's, he said that he didn't leave the Democrat party; the Democrat party left him. And if you read the party platforms and public statements of most Dems in the 1950s through the mid-70's, they sound VERY Republican.
Today's Democrats used to be called "Communists", and today's Republicans used to be solidly Democrat. Last century's Republicans are now Libertarians, or Anarchists.
All of my computers and both cellphones are in another room. The only electrical devices in the bedroom are a stupid alarm clock and some stupid lamps. And a POTS phone. No TV. No fancy electronics of ANY sort. The only way for anybody to peek into my bedroom is to do it physically. And I have motion-sensitive lights outside to illuminate anything outside my bedroom window. (To scare away animals, mostly, although it will be great target illumination if it ever comes to that.)
I understand that the INTENT is to make the software better, or to improve the feature set. But in many cases - I'm going out on a limb here and say "in MOST cases" - those changes will result in new bugs being introduced, or even desirable features being removed to make way for the new.
"Burger King has instantly become the 'poster child' for mass, criminal abuse of these devices."
What Burger King has become the "poster child" for is the utter and complete insecurity of any of the "Internet of Things", most of which have no security at all. There's not even any way to MAKE them secure. I sincerely hope that every IoT designer and programmer was interrupted by this and will see the light.
It' is ALSO an enormous argument against anyone putting ANY faith in Wikipedia. NEVER use Wikipedia.
It's also another warning (as if we needed one, after "Oath of Fealty") that computer/brain interfaces will make it trivially easy to implant false memories in the brain of any person who gets one.
General Claire Chennault, the commander of the American Volunteer Group - the 'Flying Tigers" - in China before WWII, said that aviation is long hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by short moments of stark terror. Or perhaps he was only talking about flying fighters.
Amazon isn't going to send a Prime Air drone to just anyplace; it will only send a drone to Amazon Prime customers. That said, Amazon needs to provide a landing beacon for the drone to use. I would envision the beacon as something about the size and shape of a bathroom scale. The beacon would be linked via some wireless method.
When the customer orders something with Prime Air delivery, the customer's PC would transmit an authentication code to the beacon, as received from Amazon when the order is placed. The owner would place the beacon in a safe location; on the driveway, in the back yard, wherever. Amazon would dispatch the drone to the owner's GPS coordinates, and then communicate with the beacon to find the final location. The beacon, about the size and shape of a bathroom scale, would BE a scale, and transmit an alert to the customer and to Amazon once the weight of the package is sensed on the beacon.
The whole "Gorean" fantasy thing sort of squicks me out, but it's a FANTASY, and here on the real Earth, it's a CONSENSUAL fantasy. I've read some of the "Counter Earth" SF/F stories, and they're weird - but PRETENDING it doesn't hurt anything.
So if this guy is a good programmer, I don't think the SJWs should concern themselves about what role-playing fantasies he's into. They DO, of course, which proves that the SJWs are more into mental games than actual REALITY.
I'm as vanilla as they come. Retired US Navy officer, don't speed, do drugs, or have any other bad habits. My worst bad habit is drinking too much Diet Pepsi. I cannot imagine that I would EVER need a cell phone, or a computer, or a tablet, with a "kill code".
But you can never imagine it happening until it does, at which time it's too late. Yes, I'd like for Android and iOS and Windows and *nix to offer operating systems with an option of a duress password that invokes a "super vanilla, bare-bones" experience. A smart phone that, if you enter the duress code, reverts to be just a "POTS"; "Plain Old Telephone System". (Better yet, emulate a Nokia with only a handful of basic contacts.) A laptop that, if the duress password is entered, boot into a functional-but-contains-nothing desktop with no network access to ANYTHING. A tablet that would erase the local memory and password list.
Stop throwing in the towel just because it's easier to look down on people who use social networks. It is within possibility to fix this in law.
Possible? Yes. Profitable, to Facebook or Twitter or Google? No, because the users aren't paying for the service; they ARE the service that ADVERTISERS are paying for. As long as social media companies are advertiser-supported, the social media companies will NEVER implement reasonable security measures, because the social media companies would go bankrupt. Zuckerberg et. al. will never offer good security, because they would go broke.
If there was a demand for security, then companies would offer it.
The problem is that if you are not paying for the service, then YOU are the product being sold. Social networking companies sell access to their users, who are generally NOT paying for the service. The users are the PRODUCT being sold, and good security would decrease advertiser access (and remember, the advertisers ARE paying...) to the users.
Wearing "blue-blocking" spectacles is the wrong solution to the problem. Fix it in software. Run "f.lux" on your PC, "NightShift" on your Apple devices, "Twilight" on your Android phone, or "BlueShade" on your Kindle. There are probably equivalent tools in other operating systems.
I don't know about easing eye strain; I already use prescription "computer glasses" that focus at monitor distance. But using these applications do seem to help me sleep better after working (or playing) on my computer for most of the evening.
In the Central Valley of California, we have a long dry season and (generally) a short cold wet season. Squirrels rip the insulation off of buried power cables during the dry season. Then when the rains come, rain water shorts out the systems causing power outages. This used to be exceptionally common, but has been less so during our 5-year drought.
I'm actually surprised that we haven't had more power failures in the last month's "Pineapple Express" storms; my power hasn't even flickered in several months.
Neither my wife nor I can't wear 3D glasses; me because I have a hefty prism correction in my glasses, and her because she doesn't perceive 3D in two flat pictures. A substantial minority of people have difficulty seeing 3D movies or 3D television, meaning that they won't purchase 3D TV sets. And even for those who DO see the 3D effects clearly, there isn't that much difference in picture, but a substantial difference in price.
It's too bad that the Navy can't harness the electrical potential of ADM Elmo Zumwalt spinning in his grave about having such a TURKEY of an overpriced, under-weaponed "war"-ship named for him.
Slashdot Mirror
Telcos have been actively pushing residential customers off of copper wire and onto VOIP, and making ENORMOUS savings on their costs - but continuing to charge the rates that used to pay for copper landlines. The only savings to the customer is free long-distance, which costs practically nothing for the telcos to provide.
And yet, when the power goes out, so does my VOIP phone line, provided by the local telephone company. I've got a UPS to power the phone router, but apparently there isn't one at the telco switch. So when power goes out, so do the "landline" phones, AND the cell system (which is ALSO powered by the electric utility).
I really ought to buy a new HAM radio, since I used to be an ARES operator. Because in a widespread power outage. that might be the only communications link.
Reagan at least was a Democrat for quite a while. Back in the early 1970's, he said that he didn't leave the Democrat party; the Democrat party left him. And if you read the party platforms and public statements of most Dems in the 1950s through the mid-70's, they sound VERY Republican.
Today's Democrats used to be called "Communists", and today's Republicans used to be solidly Democrat. Last century's Republicans are now Libertarians, or Anarchists.
Of ALL the political parties....
So are the Russians.
Yes, it does, because I'm not really all THAT paranoid. But I _AM_ paranoid enough to not have any "Internet of Things" devices in the house.
All of my computers and both cellphones are in another room. The only electrical devices in the bedroom are a stupid alarm clock and some stupid lamps. And a POTS phone. No TV. No fancy electronics of ANY sort. The only way for anybody to peek into my bedroom is to do it physically. And I have motion-sensitive lights outside to illuminate anything outside my bedroom window. (To scare away animals, mostly, although it will be great target illumination if it ever comes to that.)
"Too paranoid?"
No. Perhaps not quite paranoid enough.
And remember, just because you're paranoid does NOT mean that nobody is out to get you!
Sometimes it's raining, and the surf isn't always up.
I understand that the INTENT is to make the software better, or to improve the feature set. But in many cases - I'm going out on a limb here and say "in MOST cases" - those changes will result in new bugs being introduced, or even desirable features being removed to make way for the new.
"Burger King has instantly become the 'poster child' for mass, criminal abuse of these devices."
What Burger King has become the "poster child" for is the utter and complete insecurity of any of the "Internet of Things", most of which have no security at all. There's not even any way to MAKE them secure. I sincerely hope that every IoT designer and programmer was interrupted by this and will see the light.
It' is ALSO an enormous argument against anyone putting ANY faith in Wikipedia. NEVER use Wikipedia.
It's also another warning (as if we needed one, after "Oath of Fealty") that computer/brain interfaces will make it trivially easy to implant false memories in the brain of any person who gets one.
And, the aircraft is capable of higher G-forces than the pilot can withstand.
General Claire Chennault, the commander of the American Volunteer Group - the 'Flying Tigers" - in China before WWII, said that aviation is long hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by short moments of stark terror. Or perhaps he was only talking about flying fighters.
Amazon isn't going to send a Prime Air drone to just anyplace; it will only send a drone to Amazon Prime customers. That said, Amazon needs to provide a landing beacon for the drone to use. I would envision the beacon as something about the size and shape of a bathroom scale. The beacon would be linked via some wireless method.
When the customer orders something with Prime Air delivery, the customer's PC would transmit an authentication code to the beacon, as received from Amazon when the order is placed. The owner would place the beacon in a safe location; on the driveway, in the back yard, wherever. Amazon would dispatch the drone to the owner's GPS coordinates, and then communicate with the beacon to find the final location. The beacon, about the size and shape of a bathroom scale, would BE a scale, and transmit an alert to the customer and to Amazon once the weight of the package is sensed on the beacon.
The whole "Gorean" fantasy thing sort of squicks me out, but it's a FANTASY, and here on the real Earth, it's a CONSENSUAL fantasy. I've read some of the "Counter Earth" SF/F stories, and they're weird - but PRETENDING it doesn't hurt anything.
So if this guy is a good programmer, I don't think the SJWs should concern themselves about what role-playing fantasies he's into. They DO, of course, which proves that the SJWs are more into mental games than actual REALITY.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting could be funded entirely on the royalties of Sesame Street toys and tie-ins.
I thought Universities were supposed to the bastions of intellect -- not immaturity.
You're talking about Berzerkeley, which is NOT a bastion of common sense and reasonableness.
Congrats for doing something reasonable where the government was being UN-reasonable.
I'm as vanilla as they come. Retired US Navy officer, don't speed, do drugs, or have any other bad habits. My worst bad habit is drinking too much Diet Pepsi. I cannot imagine that I would EVER need a cell phone, or a computer, or a tablet, with a "kill code".
But you can never imagine it happening until it does, at which time it's too late. Yes, I'd like for Android and iOS and Windows and *nix to offer operating systems with an option of a duress password that invokes a "super vanilla, bare-bones" experience. A smart phone that, if you enter the duress code, reverts to be just a "POTS"; "Plain Old Telephone System". (Better yet, emulate a Nokia with only a handful of basic contacts.) A laptop that, if the duress password is entered, boot into a functional-but-contains-nothing desktop with no network access to ANYTHING. A tablet that would erase the local memory and password list.
We'll never NEED this, of course.
Until we do.
Stop throwing in the towel just because it's easier to look down on people who use social networks. It is within possibility to fix this in law.
Possible? Yes. Profitable, to Facebook or Twitter or Google? No, because the users aren't paying for the service; they ARE the service that ADVERTISERS are paying for. As long as social media companies are advertiser-supported, the social media companies will NEVER implement reasonable security measures, because the social media companies would go bankrupt. Zuckerberg et. al. will never offer good security, because they would go broke.
If there was a demand for security, then companies would offer it.
The problem is that if you are not paying for the service, then YOU are the product being sold. Social networking companies sell access to their users, who are generally NOT paying for the service. The users are the PRODUCT being sold, and good security would decrease advertiser access (and remember, the advertisers ARE paying...) to the users.
ZenniOptical.com.
Wearing "blue-blocking" spectacles is the wrong solution to the problem. Fix it in software. Run "f.lux" on your PC, "NightShift" on your Apple devices, "Twilight" on your Android phone, or "BlueShade" on your Kindle. There are probably equivalent tools in other operating systems.
I don't know about easing eye strain; I already use prescription "computer glasses" that focus at monitor distance. But using these applications do seem to help me sleep better after working (or playing) on my computer for most of the evening.
In the Central Valley of California, we have a long dry season and (generally) a short cold wet season. Squirrels rip the insulation off of buried power cables during the dry season. Then when the rains come, rain water shorts out the systems causing power outages. This used to be exceptionally common, but has been less so during our 5-year drought.
I'm actually surprised that we haven't had more power failures in the last month's "Pineapple Express" storms; my power hasn't even flickered in several months.
Neither my wife nor I can't wear 3D glasses; me because I have a hefty prism correction in my glasses, and her because she doesn't perceive 3D in two flat pictures. A substantial minority of people have difficulty seeing 3D movies or 3D television, meaning that they won't purchase 3D TV sets. And even for those who DO see the 3D effects clearly, there isn't that much difference in picture, but a substantial difference in price.
It's too bad that the Navy can't harness the electrical potential of ADM Elmo Zumwalt spinning in his grave about having such a TURKEY of an overpriced, under-weaponed "war"-ship named for him.