The youtube thing that Symantec put up really, really bothers me. Sure, they did a good job of blocking out the website they are going to, and trying to block other information from keeping script kiddies from accessing the same pages.

However, when you can watch them scroll through forums, and see usernames as unique as the ones that are present, all someone has to do is to throw the username into google, and immediately get the damn forums with the hacking toolkit. Quickly scrolling through that particular website, it seems several of the "toolkits" posted have been backdoored with some other virus or trojan, so even trying to build one means you get infected. Sure, anyone who tries to actually use that stuff is just going to wind up getting what they reserve, but even so, it bothers me.

I really, really wish companies would stop thinking they are "clever" and showing people how easy it is to access this crap in order to scare them into buying their magical products.

The author of this article acts as though this is something new. Apple has a LONG standing policy of not commenting on products before they are released, beyond what has been published on their web page. Even the information that IS posted is done so with a huge grain of salt saying "these features are subject to change without notice." The author of this article acts like Apple's refusal to answer these questions is something new. Its NOT. Its very, very rare that they will start talking about features before a product is shipping. Even once a product has shipped, its bloody impossible to get them to comment beyond the specs posted on their web pages.

The article's author acts like these are the biggest questions of all time, and he must get an answer or it just means the support isn't there and the world will end. Quite honestly guy, you're not that important. Their marketing and public relations teams aren't about to drop their long standing policy of not commenting on products before they ship. They don't want to piss of Steve Jobs and get fired from their job any more then you'd want to get fired from your job. Know why they haven't called you back? They NEVER call back when people ask these kinds of questions. If they answer one person's questions, 50 more people start calling and trying to get info as well. Get over yourself. Seriously. You're not that important.

Way 1: My computer is broken again, got another virus. Can you fix it for me or should I buy another one?

Way 2: It just works.

I realize that you're not gonna get this concept, but most people want stuff to just work, and not have to fiddle with it to keep it running right.

And while you and I are both Geeks, and like to play with stuff, and do whatever the heck we want to something, people like my wife just want the damn thing to play music or do whatever it supposed to do.

I have email, gTalk, gVoice, Facebook, Web, GPS etc etc on my Blackberry. My wife thinks that it is stupid. She has a basic, plain as vanilla cell. She uses it to make calls, and doesn't want it to do anything else.

Most people are like that. Some want more, some want less. It is called choice, and just because someone chooses something you wouldn't doesn't mean it is a wrong choice, just different.

I don't think the Shuttle is terrible It just should have been replaced. It has been flying for about 30 years now.
Building a more modern Shuttle. I would would really like to see that. The X-33 was supposed to be a shuttle replacement but it got canned for what I think where not good reasons.
Also you don't want to boost the shuttle farther. What you want is a space tug that takes payloads higher. That was supposed to be part of the shuttle program but it got canceled.

Honestly, a better punishment would be to strip Chung of his citizenship and deport him to China

What, so they can give him a medal for years of good service?

Imagine my surprise to discover that cashing a check at the bank it was drawn on was subject to a $6 fee. I don't imagine this is done in civilized countries, and it seems to disagree with the contract written on the check.

Many scientists get their code from companies or individuals that license it to them, much like most other software. They're not in the position to release the code for many experiments...!

Look at the popular characters on TV. One of the recent big ones was a cynical doctor with a lame leg and drug addiction. People just prefer seemingly average people doing great things over superheroes.

Well if you followed the story on /. that is indeed quite true. Many MS-allies became member of ISO shortly before this vote (enough in numbers to swing it), and it caused serious controversy in the ISO committees of a.o. Norway. There have been many stories on /. about this voting process and, yes, alleged corruption and loss of integrity within ISO. The whole organisation's image has taken a serious hit with this saga. And these quotes from the MS spokesman confirm many people's fears: MS doesn't see standards as standard, but merely a guideline or starting point to implement their own way.

Shit! They cancelled their "Macintosh" products?
Oh wait, I just checked their website and they all still seem to be there. It appears that Apple added some media-consumption devices to their lineup in the past decade or so, but their full-fledged-computer business also still seems to be going strong - and 90% of that product line is made of metal, not plastic. You had me worried there for a second!

In 4chan terminology, "fag" is just a suffix that means "person" or "people".

In some English-speaking jurisdictions "fag" means "cigarette", but I don't think calling people cigarettes works as an insult. It would just confuse them even more than they are already confused by their hair-brained cult.

Google, in light of these statements, I'd like to make a feature suggestion. I already have an account to log in, preferences to set on which articles I want to see and where they are displayed at for the page.

For the love of god, please, please give me the ability to filter out articles by news organization.

Nothing makes me madder then to click to nytimes.com, read half of a 2 page article, and then be required to register and sign up for an account to read the second half of my story. Half the time, the second page is nothing more then a paragraph that could have easily fit on the first page. It would please me to no end to be able to filter some of these assholes out myself. Sure, I can (and at this point, have) route nytimes.com to a bad IP in my hosts file so they won't load anyway. However, I'd be perfectly happy to simply have them removed from my results, along with several others. Anyone else requiring payment for their articles or "free registration" come to mind..

Please, make it happen! There have to be some Google employees that read Slashdot comments...

The US isn't worried about maximizing the return on the SOR. The whole point of the Strategic Oil Reserve is that there are some very critical components of our country that completely dependent on oil right now to work. The SOR is the US' contingency plan for when oil does run out. Access to the public will be cut off far, far quicker then anyone realizes. The bulk of the reserve will be used for running planes, tanks, and anything else considered to be "vital to the interests of the United States."

The general population, IE you and me, are NOT very high on that list for some strange reason.. A government "by the people, for the people" vanished long ago.

The reason Apple killed the clones is that the clones were killing Apple. Apple spent millions of dollars in R&D, and the clone makers were licensing the software from Apple for pennies on the dollar spent in R&D. Apple was going under, slowly but surly.

It wasn't until they went back to designing the software to sell only their hardware that they became viable again. This is precisely the reason they are going after Psystar. Apple doesn't make beans from selling software licenses. The *only* reason they have been developing OS X is to help sell hardware. THEIR hardware. They recoup the software development costs by selling the hardware. The margins on the hardware are far, far better then they are on software, and Apple knows this. From experience.

People wonder why they are going after Psystar tooth and nail? It's simple. They have to. Apple has no desire whatsoever of going back to the days where they spend millions of dollars developing the software to have some no-name, piece of shit company like Psystar steal their development time and slap it on a $300 PC Beige box and pay apple $5 in licensing fees, and then field the support calls from people who are mad that OS X also crashes when you run it on the same piece of shit hardware that makes windows crash all of the time.

Get it now?

I'm not saying an XML file is the same as an application.

What I am saying, and let me be very clear on this, is that Palm needs to write their own software to sync their media player, and not be too lazy or incompetent to write their own software. Let me say it again, because apparently I haven't made my point clear:

PALM IS EITHER TOO LAZY OR INCOMPETENT TO WRITE THEIR OWN (COMPLETELY ITUNES COMPATIBLE) SOFTWARE TO SYNC THEIR OWN DAMN MEDIA PLAYER LIKE EVERY OTHER COMPANY OUT THERE.

Apple was not required to write their own XML file that gets updated right along with their binary file database. They could have said screw you to their competitors, and actually locked people into iTunes using a binary file that no one else could read without reverse engineering Apple's software. Instead, they made an easy way for someone to pull all of the information out of iTunes, and sync it to their own device instead of using iTunes.

Instead of Palm doing the right thing, and not being a bunch of slimy, incompetent, lazy fucks, they instead are stealing Apple's code, and using it to pretend they are an iPod, violating the USB specs that Palm already agreed to obey.

Instead of writing their own syncing software (and gee, let me digress for a moment. Palm has a history of writing really, really, really crappy syncing software. Its no wonder they want to use iTunes), they need to piggy back on someone elses work, because they are either too incompetent or too lazy to write their own software. Every other media player out there was capable of doing it. Every other media player allows people to sync their iTunes content directly to their player.

Why isn't palm? Right. Because they can't be bothered too. Because they are idiots. Because they are incompetent. Because putting that much development and Q&A work into an application takes money they can't afford to spend right now. Because they are getting trounced by Apple who finally made an easy to use application that works for most people, and can't afford to compete with Apple on a level playing field.

So, instead of putting their own resources into Q&A and testing and support, they need to pull this kind of bullshit, and when it stops working, they blame Apple, because Apple "broke" syncing with something that was never designed to support palm's piece of junk hardware to begin with.

Kidding? You're the one that's got to be kidding.