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Comment BIPA does not ban photographs (Score 1) 6

by joeyadams (#59242690) Attached to: Vimeo Sued For Storing Faceprints of People Without Their Consent

Obligatory IANAL, but I don't think this act applies here. BIPA (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/95/095-0994.htm) defines a "Biometric identifier" as follows:

        "Biometric identifier" means a retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or scan of hand or face geometry. Biometric identifiers do not include writing samples, written signatures, photographs, ...

Faceprints are not explicitly part of this. They are approximate representations of faces for tagging, but this act seems geared toward more detailed scans needed to (say) unlock a phone.

If capturing multiple frames of a person's face constitutes a biometric, then that could render security cameras and recording video in public illegal.

Comment Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise (Score 1) 161

by joeyadams (#58104584) Attached to: Russia To Disconnect From the Internet as Part of a Planned Test

I wish the US would do this a week before elections, with a few test cuts in advance. Foreign opinion shouldn't be ignored, but there are bad actors (e.g. "troll farms") operating outside of US jurisdiction.

I'm curious how hard it would be for the US to disconnect from the outside Internet. Hawaii and Alaska have voting populations and would need to be "inside" the firewall. Ideally we would continue to relay outside traffic through our routers to avoid impacting (say) Latin America's connectivity too much.

Comment We had this problem 15 years ago with AIM, MSN, .. (Score 1) 456

by joeyadams (#54033881) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Would You Solve the Instant Messaging Problem?
Back when there was AIM, MSN, etc., a chat program called Trillian came along and let people use the major chat platforms with one client. Then there was an open source one called Gaim, which was later renamed Pidgin. Then they tried to standardize it with XMPP and such, but that died down for some reason. Pidgin is still around, and supports Facebook messenger. We're back where we were 15 years ago. Now get off my lawn.
Cellphones

Samsung Ups Ante In Smartphone Size Wars: 6.3 Inches 221

Posted by timothy from the don't-mean-to-brag-but dept.
New submitter jarold writes to note that Samsung has launched two extra-large cellphones: a 6.3 inch LTE ready version, and a 5.8 inch version. "Branded as Galaxy Mega, one would struggle to fit [either in a] pocket or use it with just one hand. The good thing, it is only 8mm thin and weighs under 200 grams. More portable than a tablet, it comes with a durable polycarbonate body. Unlike most of Samsung's latest smartphones, it does not have a super AMOLED panel. Instead, it has an HD super clear LCD display, which is bright enough to please most users. It features split screen and multitasking between video and other apps." For a phone that big, users might need to brush up on their side-talking skills.

Comment Windows 8 is usable to me (not great, but usable) (Score 1) 1110

by joeyadams (#42355853) Attached to: 30 Days Is Too Long: Animated Rant About Windows 8
I ran the Windows 8 upgrade assistant, and had a much better experience:
  • * It presented the option to download the CD, which I took.
  • * The install CD lets you do a nuke-from-orbit reinstall of the system.
  • * While the installer runs, it shows you "the new way to use Windows" (i.e. how to get to the charms bar)

Also, knowing a few shortcuts will save you a lot of pain:

  • * You can use Alt+F4 to close Metro apps, and Alt+F4 on the desktop to shut down / sleep / hibernate / etc.
  • * You can search apps, settings, etc. by hitting the Windows key, then typing your search (though you still have to click the category to see the results).

For completeness, a a few bad things about Windows 8:

  • * If you set up a Windows Live-backed account (the default), it asks for an awful lot of personal information. Worse, you need an internet connection to log in to your computer. This problem is easy to fix: reinstall the system, and set up a local account instead.
  • * The control panels (not one, mind you) break continuity big time. If you open the charms bar from the Start screen and click control panel, you get a Metro-styled interface, but only a limited set of options. If you do the same thing from the Desktop, you get a desktop interface with more options. If you click one of the "advanced" links, it takes you to one of the original settings programs that have been around since '95.

I find Windows 8 to be usable. Not great, but at least usable.

Submission + - University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department (forbes.com) 2

Submitted by DustyShadow
DustyShadow writes: The University of Florida announced this past week that it was dropping its computer science department, which will allow it to save about $1.7 million. The school is eliminating all funding for teaching assistants in computer science, cutting the graduate and research programs entirely, and moving the tattered remnants into other departments. Students at UF have already organized protests, and have created a website dedicated to saving the CS department. Several distinguished computer scientists have written to the president of UF to express their concerns, in very blunt terms. Prof. Zvi Galil, Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech, is “amazed, shocked, and angered.” Prof. S.N. Maheshwari, former Dean of Engineering at IIT Delhi, calls this move “outrageously wrong.” Computer scientist Carl de Boor, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and winner of the 2003 National Medal of Science, asked the UF president “What were you thinking?”

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