Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Titan or Bust! (Score 3, Informative) 54

Why?

NASA's obsession with Mars is weird, and it consumes the lion's share of their planetary exploration budget. We know vastly more about Mars than we know of everywhere else except Earth.

This news here is bittersweet for me. I *love* Titan - it and Venus are my two favourite worlds for further exploration, and dragonfly is a superb way to explore Titan. But there's some sadness in the fact that they're launching it to an equatorial site, so we don't get to see the fascinating hydrocarbon seas and the terrain sculpted by them near the poles. I REALLY wish they were going to the north pole instead :( In theory they could eventually get there, but the craft would have to survive far beyond design limits and get a lot of mission extensions. At a max pace of travel it might cover 600 meters or so per Earth day on average. So we're talking like 12 years to get to the first small hydrocarbon lakes and ~18 years to get to Ligeia Mare or Punga Mare (a bit further to Kraken Mare), *assuming* no detours, vs. a 2 1/2 year mission design. And that ignores the fact that they'll be going slower in the start - the nominal mission is only supposed to cover 175km, just a few percent of the way, under 200 metres per day. Sigh... Maybe it'll be possible to squeeze more range out of it once they're comfortable with its performance and reliability, but... it's a LONG way to the poles.

At least if it lasts for that long it'll have done a full transition between wet and dry cycles, which should last ~15 years. So maybe surface liquids will be common at certain points, rare in others.

Comment Re:Just ban Facebook already... (Score 1) 108

it's not okay for Facebook to sustain itself in the EU by selling ads.

It's not okay for Facebook to rely exclusively on ads that are behaviorally targeted. Facebook must offer a choice between ads that are behaviorally targeted and ads that are not behaviorally targeted.

But... it's ALSO not okay for Facebook to sustain itself in the EU by selling subscriptions? That just doesn't add up

It's not okay for Facebook to rely on the Morton's fork of either payment or ads that are behaviorally targeted. Facebook must either offer a choice between ads that are behaviorally targeted and ads that are not behaviorally targeted at the same price or not offer a free service at all.

Comment Web isn't allowed to use interstitials (Score 1) 108

Other ad based businesses, e.g. network TV, have managed find without abusing personal data.

Broadcast television has 3-minute ad breaks. Attempting to apply the concept of a 3-minute interstitial (or "ads with countdown") to the web environment would violate the Better Ads Standards published by the Coalition for Better Ads. Meta Platforms is a member of the Coalition's board.

Comment 1-year theatrical window (Score 1) 120

Otherwise you can be patient and wait a few months to be able see it at home where there are all the things you like.

"a few months"? I remember a decade ago when Hop took literally a year to go from theaters to DVD sell-through, and then another month after that to get to Redbox.

Slashdot Top Deals

Scientists will study your brain to learn more about your distant cousin, Man.

Working...