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Comment Re:I call bullshit on anything from Forbes (Score 2) 134

They cant even describe what happens.

" Once there, the software inside the bogus content launches a program that manipulates how data moves in and out of a victim PC’s cache"

Uh, if the website can launch programs to manipulate your CPU cache, that's a problem.

I suspect this is the old "set up a webgl context, read back a framebuffer, maybe you will see some old shit in the framebuffer" attack that Microsoft used to attack WebGL back in the day.

Sounds like typical OMG COMPUTERS!!!!!!! from the business crowd.

God how I wish everyone with an MBA would just get the fuck out of my way when I have grownup work to do.

If you understand the CPU architecture, any program that can control what happens within its address space can manipulate data moving in and out of the CPU cache.

Comment Re:Cripple Linux? (Score 4, Insightful) 174

For the last 24 years: LINUX ISN'T STUPID BLOATWARE! IT RUNS GREAT ON ANY HARDWARE!!!

Hardware maker in 2015: OK, you're right. Here ya go.

Fanboys: OMG!! CRIPPLED HARDWARE!!

It's still a valid complaint -- why give the Ubuntu device half the ram and 1/4 the storage? Even if Ubuntu *requires* less resources than Windows, the applications that people want to run may not. Chrome, in particular, seems to grow to consume all of my RAM whether I run it on my old 2GB laptop or my 16GB desktop. And the Windows device has 19GB of usable storage -- more than 3 times the total amount of storage on the Ubuntu stick, Ubuntu users store data too, especially on a device well suited to be a media player.

Comment Re:Oh great (Score 2) 96

But if you're already have the power cord plugged in, it should be easy to provide a wired network connection right next to it.

Getting the wired network to the laptop is not a problem -- most laptops in the office get to the wired network through the same cable they use to plug in to the monitor, but that wired network doesn't come for free, my company paid $50,000 to wire up cat-6 for an office that we only plan on being in for 2 years - and it already constraints where we can place desks. This doesn't include the $40 - $50K spent on access switches in the server room.

We have Wifi, which works well for phones, tablets, and laptops in conference rooms, but it's no substitute for the wired network since when the graphics guys are saving gigabytes of photoshop files to the file server, the rest of the network suffers.

Comment Re:Oh great (Score 1) 96

with receivers on top of everyone's monitor with much better total throughput and less interference than RF.

What about laptops, tablets and phones ?

The same thing they do now -- use RF Wifi.

Everyone in my office plugs their laptop into their large monitor at their desk (which is why I said to put the receiver on top of the monitor, just as they now get their wired connection through the monitor), though a laptop may still be able to get good optical signal with a receiver built into the top of the display. Tablets and phones tend to have lower bandwidth needs than laptops and desktops (few people are editing uncompressed TIFF files on a tablet), so they could still use traditional Wifi (which will have a lot more bandwidth available when the heavy users are using Optical links). This technology wouldn't never replace RF Wifi (since it's a lot harder to ensure optical line of site than to ensure RF signal), but supplement it.

Comment Re:Oh great (Score 2) 96

IRDA is back. Hey I have an idea, why not just have an access point that, for each user, drops a little cord out of the ceiling (where all access points are, right) and you plug it in for GIGABIT SPEEEDZZZS!!!1.

No but seriously why are we doing this when channels in the 5 Ghz spectrum are easy to come by.

This is as close to IrDA as RS-232 is to ethernet.

This technology purportedly creates small one meter hot-zones of light, so instead of an AP having one (or a few) 5Ghz channels shared by everyone in range, it can have dozens of separate hotzones so each , and an AP in one room won't interfere with one in the next room.

I could see this being very useful in offices -- instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars pulling wire to each desk back to a central wiring closet, a few AP's can be hung on the ceiling with receivers on top of everyone's monitor with much better total throughput and less interference than RF.

Comment Re:Seizures? (Score 1) 96

Can they do this without it being visible light?

I'm pretty sure you could really mess up some epileptics this way.

Not to mention I can see this giving some people migraines ... I know many many people who can see the flickering of fluorescent lights.

Cool, awesome, yay progress. But I don't want to be in a place where I am aware of the flashing lights.

Even if they used visible light, no one is going to see the flickering of a multi-megahertz flickering light.

Comment Re:Rainwater collection from homes (or roads) (Score 1) 678

1 inch of water per SQFT is for those who want that golf green lawn. Until about 6 years ago I never watered my lawn and it remained reasonably beautiful with just normal precipitation. Now I only water my lawn when it's dry for extended periods. I water for only 15 minutes per section (whatever amount of water that equals to I'm not sure but I managed to do the whole lawn which is about 30x30 total which is about 1/3 inch per sqft).

Watering a 30x30 ft lawn with 1/3 inch of water is around 180 gallons, so if you're spreading 50 gallons over that lawn, you're only getting around 1/10th of an inch of water, barely enough to penetrate the soil.

So the point is, I get whatever I get out of the 50 gallons. It's water that isn't coming out of the city's water supply. Those that are more serious (such as some I know) will get a 1000 gallon tank installed at time of construction. Each 50 gallon saves me $10 (based on the lowest rate in the consumption chart) and based on my bills I figure I save between $25 and $40 a month.

Where do you live that you pay $0.20/gallon for water? In San Francisco, the water+sewer rate is closer to $0.02/gallon. The city with the highest cost for water + sewer in this chart is Atlanta, GA ataround $0.026 per gallon.

If you're refilling your 50 gallon barrel 2.5 to 4 times a month with rainwater, you probably don't need much water for irrigation anyway, sounds like you're already getting regular rain.

Comment Re:Rainwater collection from homes (or roads) (Score 1) 678

I didn't read all comments but suggesting to use the water that dropped on our roofs for drinking is silly to say the least. What I've seen new home owners do is have plastic reservoirs placed underground in their backyard. All gutters are redirected to this container which has an overflow to allow the excess to go back to the street. This allows the user to water his garden and lawn at no cost and it reduces the load on the network.

I personally only have a 50 gallon barrel that is hidden from view and it collects rain water. An electric pump (with filter) is used to water my lawn and garden. I also use it to wash the cars and bring up the water level of the pool. The cost of the setup paid for itself within less that 5 years. In my case I have about 1200 sqft of roof. The only disadvantage of the setup is that I have to stay on top of it before winter (drain and seal the barrel)

I don't see how you get so much use out of a single 50 gallon barrel -- a lawn needs around an inch of water per week, so a small 10 foot by 10 foot lawn is going to need around 62 gallons of water per week. Yet you manage to water your lawn, wash your cars, and bring up the water level of the pool with a single 50 gallon barrel.

Comment Re:Rainwater collection from homes (or roads) (Score 1) 678

To properly handle something like rainwater takes upfront design. Some kind of roof tank that can gravity-feed all house toilets, and outdoor hoses would be nice.

As to thinking the consumer should pay for water recycling costs, I'm not suggesting that.

You just suggested building rainwater collection and 6,000 gallon holding tanks into new construction, if consumers don't pay for it, who will? Putting the 24 ton tank on top of buildings sounds like it's going to drive up building costs substantially (especially in an earthquake zone). Seems like it would be better to bury the tank and pump water to where it's needed.

But water use reduction and recycling does have to be forced, one way or another -- whether that is a cost per gallon causing prudent use, or even/odd watering days, or "no lawns allowed in AZ". So you offer incentives to those who capture...much like the solar energy people are doing today. The point is we all pay, whether the cost is direct or indirect.

But what's the cost/benefit between small scale rainwater collection and large scale municipal water collection? For most people, water only costs a penny or two per gallon (including sewage costs), is it really worth $60 - $100/year to build a 6000 gallon water collection system into your home? Greywater recycling might be more affordable since it doesn't need a huge tank.

As to crops, why don't they put down thick black plastic over the entire field. Then capture that water to a swimming pool sized holding tank, and pump it back out via drip/sprinkler systems to water their plants as needed.

I don't know if such a system is workable -- each acre would collect 27,000 gallons of water from one inch of rain, that's a lot of water to store. So collecting 10 inches of winter rain to use for summer irrigation is going to take a 270,000 gallon tank for each acre (which is a 100x100x4' tank)

Plus, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground is just going to increase the amount of water that needs to be added through irrigation.

In any case, the answer for why it's not done is "It's expensive -- more expensive than the subsidized water" it would replace.

Comment Re:Rainwater collection from homes (or roads) (Score 1) 678

Average SF home is over 2,000 sq. ft. Assume a roof size, conservatively, of 1,000 sq. ft.

Most new housing in SF is not single family -- when I lived in SF, my share of roof for my 1000 sq ft apartment was around 100 sq feet.

10 inches of rain on 1,000 sq. ft. is around 6,000 gallons available per household per year.

Even if I could capture 6000 gallons of water, where would I find a place to store a 10 x 10 x 8 foot container that weighs 24 tons?

You could provide for 12% of residential water needs just by people not sending their roof water to the sewer system.

Why shift billions of dollars of costs to consumers to build home water capture and treatment systems when cutting just 3% of agricultural usage would free up the same amount of water? You know what's easier than capturing residential roof runoff? Not planting water-heavy crops in the desert and shipping them overseas.

Imagine if we reused the water that lands on roadways...172,000 miles of highway, average width of ~10 feet...68 billion gallons of water wasted each year...almost what the entire state uses in a year.

I don't think you understand just how much water california uses -- residential use along is 6 - 8 million acre feet, 68B gallons is only around 200,000 acre feet. It would cost billions to build 172,000 miles of highway water reclamation and treatment plants.

Comment Re:Sony pirating e-books? (Score 1) 59

One of my highschool teachers when inquired as to why he was allowed to drink coffee while we were not, responded with this:
"Quod licet Iovi non licet bovi."

I've always detested this way of thinking, as it is just a stupid rationalization for the real reason: "Whatever, fuck you, I can get away with it."

That's not a rationalization for "Whatever, fuck you, I can get away with it," thats exactly what it means.

But really, what other answer did you expect? Sounds like you were disappointed that he didn't make some attempt at rationalization and instead he told you the truth.

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