Yes, in this case the method would work. The only remaining problem to address is whether it is sensitive enough to not give false-positives with random hand-related problems due to, for instance, weather conditions, and how will it impact workflow around a potential office - in a typical setup, even if workers are limited to their own cubicle, they often help each other out by going over to someone else's computer and doing something there. This, of course, depends on company policy, but having the computer continuously lock down on account of someone helping me with something definitely will cost time.

The article specifically mentions "continuous verification", implying a workplace/business environment, where motions of the pointer are probably repetitive enough for the software to pick up on. This, of course, also implies not having to switch mouses every so often, but every time there IS a global company-wide switch of hardware, the ID software will go completely bananas, locking out every worker there. Without a method of purging already generated schemes for every user, this is just begging for a catastrophical company lockdown.

I see several potential problems with this kind of identification. One of the biggies is switching hardware and the other - potential hand injuries.

Changing mice is the biggest issue, i think. Every mouse has a different shape and ergonomy, so it is being used differently by the same user, especially during the adjustment period. This also doesn't take into account the potential precision differences of the mouse. Plus, switching to an entirely different control scheme, like a tablet or trackball, screws up any tracking attempts.

The other problem is hand injuries - from a simple finger cut to advanced problems with nerve or bone structure. In addition to slowing down the usage, tracking movement will show an entirely different schemes of usage. This one hits especially close home to me, since having recently developed numbness and coordination problems in my dominant hand due to a relapse of Multiple Sclerosis, i now struggle to use a mouse at all and have almost completely switched to a thumb-operated trackball.

This identification method might be useful in highly integrated/high-security environments, where employees seldom change, or for protecting single-user terminals, but the hand injury problem trumps these uses, too.

It doesn't work that way in Poland, unfortunately. That's par for the course in a high corruption country. The first problem is that nepotism is the standard and basic method of hiring - nothing can be done about that, since this is still old-system thinking. A whole generation needs to pass through for this to change.

The other problem is that businesses often don't know what level of expertise they really need from their workers, leading to a totally absurd situation, where you employ Masters to do work suited for BAs (or less). This, of course, means, that everyone who has his head in order is trying desperately to pass Masters, which effectively makes education worthless as a skill measure. Everywhere you turn in Poland, it is expected of you to have at least 3 years experience in your chosen field. This literally murders the field for, for example, architects, who due to how our law is formed, can't work on privately funded projects without the City Planner's approval. Best case scenario, he only accepts submissions from experienced architects. Worst case - he needs to be bribed first.

The third (but not final - there's many more, just can't get my head around them right now) problem is that you need to show your papers certifying your skills. That's a known thing, certificates are useful and so forth, but employers here rely solely on written proof that you really know what you're doing. That kills any prospect of using self-taught skills at work, since there is usually no way of demonstrating them when coming for a job interview.

Myself, I was studying English just to get the damn paper - i didn't really learn anything new in my BA, but on my last term (one fucking month before i was set to defend my thesis) i had a minor brain haemorrhage and had to be hospitalized for longer than a max-term sick leave would allow, which due to how the Uni's policies were formed, meant I was effectively thrown out. The workforce situation being what it is in Poland, i spent 2 years NEETing my head off, sending CVs everywhere i could, until finally, in November last year the company I'm working for right now called me - eight months after I sent them my CV. So yeah, i'm basically long past the point of being bitter, and I know there are skilled, talented people doing even worse than me.

Thank you! It was entirely self-taught through a combination of old school text adventure games and Cartoon Network, so it's still rough around the edges (not to mention frequent mixing up of British and American vatiants), but I try my best. It's nice to hear from fellow Poles from around the world :) . Cheers!

Együtt harcol, s issza borÃt :D

Cheers mate :) .

Sorry, I really meant "emigrants" - that double m sort of snuck through ;) . My sibling post earlier describes the sociological problem that stands behind it.

Also, "scientifical". Gah. That's what you get for not reviewing what you wrote.

It's part of a lingering sentiment in Poland in the last 10 years, ever since we joined the EU. To explain it properly I'll need to focus a bit on how a typical young adult perceives our country.

You see, in the last 30 years we've barely kicked out communism from our doors through the SolidarnoÅÄ (Solidarity) movement. But the leaders of the Party weren't permanently barred from politics in Poland, leading to some discontent. They managed to go back to leadership through democratic vote and have been blamed for "destroying Poland" ever since. While it's true things are very hard here for the average Pole, but most of it can be traced to both tough economic transformation and high rates of corruption. This, in turn, caused a very cynical outlook in people growing up in the transformatory period, with financial success looked upon with suspicion and distrust. Because of these hardships, emigration is often seen as a "rescue" from this and most of our educated have already decided to leave our country. Most of our best healthcare personnel left the country to seek better wages, causing our hospitals to be terribly understaffed and underpayed. This is where the "traitor" thing comes in - people accuse emigrants of "leaving us to our fate", further cementing our economic and political hardships, "diluting our blood" if you will.

I don't agree with this sentiment, but I can see the reasoning standing behind it. What is most often forgotten by those representing this view, however, is that many of those emigrants send money back to Poland to their families, thus allowing them to buy more, in turn strengthening our economy, but such things are unfortunately unaccountable, so there are no ways of determining how much of an impact this has.

I work for a company that is outsourced by one of the bigger news sites here in Poland and, although I only moderate comments on news items, i can fully confirm that this is one of the worst jobs you can have. Sure, we work shifts, so we have some limited control over whether we have to get up early in the morning or work nights (four this month for me), but the pay is ridiculous (about 330$ a month - lowest legally allowed pay grade in Poland) and the amount of work is sometimes staggering. But that isn't really the problem.

The problem is the kind of shit you have to sift through. I mean, sure, I'm used to dickheads on the 'net, but this is the biggest, saddest collection of misanthropes I've ever seen - not even 4chan comes close (i used to be a regular lurker, stopped some time around the Habbo raids). This being people of my nationality adds further injury and shame. But dickheads being dickheads, there isn't really a lot to tell - we all know or met them at some point. But then there are the special ones. Let's evaluate the most popular personalities:

1. The hyper-national. Everything Polish is good, everything not-Polish is bad. Uses terms like "True Pole", throws a shit-fit every time someone calls him on his no-true-scotsman nature. Accuses everyone of being either a traitor (favourite target: emmigrants) or an SB Agent.
2. The religious fanatic. Every news item is his private piece for preaching and he enjoys lambasting people for "not keeping the faith". His favourite are scientific, astronomic and health-related items.
3. The armchair politic. Knows everything there is to know about the complex social and geopolitical problems the world faces and offers simple, one-point solutions to every one of them. Rages uncontrollably when someone offers a counter-argument, not to mention when he is proven wrong.
4. The racist/antisemite. Every negative event in the world is caused by Jews and they're all secretly plotting to make us their cattle to be used and abused as they see fit. Frequently cites the faked Protocols of the Elders of Zion, uses crappy YouTube movies with no sources, or indeed any truth in them, to "prove" his point. Everyone disagreeing with him is either a Jew or their pawn.

These are just the most basic sampling of commenters, but when thrown all together, we get a critical mass, which I then have to clean up. Every news item becomes a political battlefield between the commenters, even purely scientifical ones. And they resort to such underhanded tactics in insulting one another that sometimes you just sit there, looking at a post and wonder what kind of a person could come up with this.

After working here half a year, I'm beginning to have a hard time telling sarcasm apart, and my cynicism shot way up. It's not apocalyptic to my sanity yet, but I already feel the influence. God help me if I ever will be transfered to monitor user-uploaded material (photos).

Nobody expected to find a new continent by going around the planet to India.

It's not a question of what we're looking for - it's a question of what we might find, and that, IMO, is what makes SETI worth keeping.

The Zune MHD will have a QSXGA, 60fps cam, not impressed. ...

Shit, did I just let that slip?

I'm a proud owner of a Rockboxed Sansa e250. However, if I kept the music I listen to regularly in FLAC, both the internal storage (2GB) and external microSD fall short. No, hotswapping isn't a good idea, especially if you're treating yourself to music going long distance. That's why I decided to settle for Ogg Vorbis - quality good enough that I don't hear a difference between the source and the compressed file (as proven by several long blind hearing tests), and file sizes that make my collection that much more managable.

And they are. If you try a proxy to the USA some time and check the price in dollars, you'd notice that most of the time it's approximately the same, adjusted for currency differences. Sometimes, however, the prices in Europe are inflated somewhat. Here, let me make some screenshots for you (one from a proxied webbrowser, the other from steam's built-in browser):

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2829/dollarsr.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7897/euroqi.jpg

I did a quick count on all the ones that have EUR==USD prices: 4. Four games from four wholly different publishers, that just couldn't be arsed.