Comment Re:Is that a schwerer gustav in your pants? (Score 1) 276
That must be why Mythbusters always drive to their remote sites.
Comment So it's not Skynet vs humans (Score 1) 117
But Skynet-1 vs Skynet-2, and humans are just the collateral damage.
Comment Leagues smaller (Score 4, Funny) 36
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Comment New Jersey (Score 1) 468
"We'll be checking the voting records. It would be a real shame if you didn't vote. We would need to visit you personally."
Comment Homeless planets (Score 2) 219
It's true, just saw one on the corner. Had a cardboard sign, "Will orbit for $$$".
Comment Another idea (Score 2) 349
Forced to wear a shirt with an embroidered "E".
Comment 65,000 people in the dessert (Score 1) 342
Now that's a good time.
Comment That's great, but (Score 1) 22
Can the wheelchair control a helicopter? Potential supervillain market.
Small Restaurant Out-Maneuvers Yelp In Reviews War 249
An anonymous reader writes Yelp has, for the past year or so, garnered a reputation for extorting businesses into paying for advertising on their site. Allegations include incessant calls for advertising contracts, automatic listing of a business, and suppressing good reviews should a business decide to opt out of paying Yelp for listing them. One small Italian trattoria, however, may have succeeded in flipping Yelp's legally sanctioned business practices in its favor. The owners of Botto Bistro in Redmond, CA, initially agreed to pay for advertising on Yelp one year ago apparently because they were tired of getting calls from Yelp's sales team. But even after buying advertising, the owners claim that they kept receiving calls. So they started a campaign to get as many one-star reviews as they could, even offering 25% discounts to customers. As of this writing they have 866, and a casual perusal of them reveals enthusiastic tongue-in-cheek support for the restaurant. One-star reviews, once Yelp's best scare tactic, is now this particular business's badge of quality. And they didn't even have to pay Yelp for it.
Comment Not Redmond (Score 1) 1
It's in Richmond CA. San Francisco Bay Area.
Submission + - Small Restaurant Out-Maneuvers Yelp in Reviews War 1
An anonymous reader writes: Yelp has, for the past year or so, garnered a reputation for extorting businesses into paying for advertising on their site. Allegations include incessant calls for advertising contracts, automatic listing of a business, and suppressing good reviews should a business decide to opt out of paying Yelp for listing them. One small Italian trattoria, however, may have succeeded in flipping Yelp's legally sanctioned business practices in its favor. The owners of Botto Bistro in Redmond, CA, initially agreed to pay for advertising on Yelp one year ago apparently because they were tired of getting calls from Yelp's sales team. But even after buying advertising, the owners claim that they kept receiving calls. So they started a campaign to get as many one-star reviews as they could, even offering 25% discounts to customers. As of this writing they have 866, and a casual perusal of them reveals enthusiastic tongue-in-cheek support for the restaurant. One-star reviews, once Yelp's best scare tactic, is now this particular business's badge of quality. And they didn't even have to pay Yelp for it.
Comment So Alice kills Trolls and Zombies (Score 1) 92
I'm impressed.
Comment Thrown from the vehicle (Score 5, Insightful) 443
So, assuming he wasn't already dead, technically he didn't die in the Tesla.
Comment Re:Can they start regulating back-seat driving, to (Score 1) 216
Yes, it takes you on the Road to Perdition.
Protecting Our Brains From Datamining 100
Jason Koebler writes: 'Brainwave-tracking is becoming increasingly common in the consumer market, with the gaming industry at the forefront of the trend. "Neurogames" use brain-computer interfaces and electroencephalographic (EEG) gadgets like the Emotiv headset to read brain signals and map them to in-game actions. EEG data is "high-dimensional," meaning a single signal can reveal a lot of information about you: if you have a mental illness, are prone to addiction, your emotions, mood, and taste. If that data from gaming was collected and mined, it could theoretically be matched with other datasets culled from online data mining to create a complete profile of an individual that goes far beyond what they divulge through social media posts and emails alone. That's led some to develop privacy systems that protect your thoughts from hackers.'
