blaming the opening system for the failure of a 3rd party application

Where the fuck did I blame the OS? I cited a well known example of an epic software failure (in which a badly written DB crashed NT).

In this case, a badly written app (or piece of data) crashed a bunch of iPads.

I blame badly tested commercial software in both cases, and hold both as examples of people doing a shitty job of writing software in "must not fail" contexts.

Having worked in regulated industries, and knowing damned well how risk averse they are, for this to end up happening to pilots already in an aircraft ... it's mind boggling. Because it means someone did a terrible job of testing and verifying.

Funny how details never seem to matter to trolls.

Yes, funny, isn't it?

Because your comprehension of what I said suggests you might be stupid.

Go wave your little penis elsewhere.

And you're going to continue to pretend that insurance companies haven't cancelled the policies of Uber drivers?

It is true that the insurance situation and legality of operations is most decidedly NOT what comes out of the reality distortion field Uber tells people.

I don't have an irrational hate for Uber ... I have a well reasoned dislike for a company who says "la la la, we're not listening, your laws don't apply because we're awesome".

I heard one of the founders/mouthpieces defending their position once ... he sounded like a self entitled ass who deemed himself special and covered under a different set of rules.

Uber can't simultaneously say "we're not a transport company, we're a tech company" and also pretend to be a transport company.

Having an app doesn't exempt you from laws. Only in their delusional, self important heads.

They're a greedy tech company, they're not some fucking saviors of the world.

You know, you should probably lay off the libel there, friend.

It's not libel if it's true:

Currently, commercial coverage that Uber buys for its UberX freelance drivers, who use their own cars and must maintain their own personal auto insurance, kicks in at the point when a ride request is accepted through the company's smart phone app.

Pending legislation advanced last week by the Assembly and supported by the insurance industry in New Jersey would require that Uber's commercial coverage take effect as soon as the drivers log into the mobile app and make themselves available to passengers seeking rides.

If an accident occurs during the gap between when the driver logs on to the app and when he or she accepts a request for a ride, the driver's personal auto insurance company sometimes denies those claims, Mohrer acknowledged. But he said the company has additional insurance to cover those situations, "All rides on the Uber platform have insurance when commercial activity is actually happening," Mohrer said.

The legal situation with Uber being a commercial vehicle, and their insurance situation is not ever as clear as Uber claims it to be.

The problem with Uber is the delusional owners who like to assert that they are not covered under laws which are designed to cover exactly what they do.

So, sorry, as long as Uber says "we're not a cab company, we're a tech company" they don't also get to pretend they're a legally licensed transportation company.

Uber is just a company who has an app, and takes a cut of people running mostly as bootleg cabs.

Yeah, right.

FedEx/UPS are bonded, insured, and reliable, and have global logistics chains.

Uber is some guy with his mom's car, no commercial license, possibly improper insurance, and quite likely operating as an illegal commercial vehicle in many places.

I just don't see that happening.

Uber's magical thinking that laws don't apply to them tell me they're not what I'd call trustworthy.

Do we really need people bitching about every damned story?

Nobody ever promised you a pony or that you'd never see a story you weren't personally interested in.

You're free to not read it. You're also free to stop kvetching about it.

Yeah, how they failed to have two distinct sets which are never updated at the same time eludes me.

That just pretty much guaranteed it would eventually go wrong on them.

I could have designed and built a system in probaby 1/10 the time it took for them to PAY OFF APPLE and buy those shiny shitslates.

they used consumer grade 'auto updatable' fashon accessories for mission critical things

Horseshit. You are completely talking out of your ass.

Because they sure as shit didn't do this without approval from the FAA:

The iPad has been used in General Aviation in conjunction with its paper backup counterpart, which is mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). There are many applications available which include everything that would be on the paper charts plus aviation tools including navigation charts, taxi procedures, weather maps, GPS, Minimum Equipment List, Company Policy Manual, Federal Aviation Regulations and flight controls. Although these tools have been used in the private sector, the use of the iPad in commercial aviation is just taking flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration finished a three-month testing project which included putting the device thru adverse conditions such as rapid decompression testing and tests to make sure the tablet did not interfere with the avionic equipment. Early in 2011 the FAA authorized charter company Executive Jet Management to use iPad records without the backup paper charts.[1] This helps make way for the iPad to become an aviation instrument for the rest of the industry. Alaskan Airlines,[2] Delta Air Lines,[2] and American Airlines[3] planned test programs.

Why must everybody on Slashdot keep acting like they could whip up a half-assed solution in a week, or that regulated industries just make shit up as they go?

The reality is, this has not a fucking thing to do with paying off Apple or a hastily thrown together solution.

This sounds entirely like an update from the vendor was poorly tested. In which case, they have some lessons to learn about working in that industry -- which is about as risk averse as you can get. Precisely because the FAA holds them to a very high standard.

But, hey, don't let reality get in the way of your claims you could do a better job in your pajamas.

Because they were expecting to save millions in fuel from not schlepping them around.

So bringing the physical copy would have been almost 40 pounds of crap, which would defeat the purpose of having the iPad.

Not saying I agree with not having a backup. But I can see why airlines wanted to get rid of it.

A little known fact about aircraft manuals ... pretty much no two are identical since the production of planes changes over the years, and they all have slightly different pieces and parts. So this 737 is unlikely to be identical to that 737.

You cant' have one manual, you need one for each damned aircraft. Which is part of the appeal for having it in electronic form.

What part of "no fucking kidding" don't you understand?

I didn't say it was the exact same thing, I said it reminded me of a time when another epic technology fail caused a similarly huge cluster fuck.

I don't give a crap what the crash was ... I care that a piece of technology barfed all over the place and left people sitting around going "what the hell do we do now?"

When an airline has to halt operations because of something like their iPad crashing, that's a sure sign that someone hasn't really been doing a sufficient job of testing.

I used to work on a project which dealt with people who do aircraft maintenance .. this is not an industry who collectively takes risks. But apparently their software vendor doesn't see it that way.

But all in all, because women own their bodies exclusively.

And this is now technically NOT her body.

She and her ex have a tissue sample in storage.

It is most certainly no more part of her body than it is his. Why the hell should she have the right to force him to become a father with her after their relationship ended?

Sorry, she essentially peed in a cup. This bit about her exclusively owning her body would be true if this was still her body.

But this isn't her body any more. Which means you can't say that her egg is any more part of her body than his sperm ... and now it's in medical storage and not part of either of their bodies.

Now there's a technology fail for you.

Reminds me of a US naval ship being towed to shore because Windows NT crashed.

I guess this is a problem when you have consumer technology being used in mission critical environments.

That's like saying you can rape your wife because, at one point, she gave consent. It's completely idiotic.

Sorry, but by the time they've split up, he has withdrawn consent, and if she wishes to have a child he has the right to say "not with my sperm you don't". What's that, you now can't have children unless they're mine? Too damned bad.

This is very different from forcing her to abort a fetus, because it's outside of her body and frozen -- which means it's a tissue sample until someone goes to fairly extraordinary lengths to put it back.

I don't think this is nearly as cut and dry as people think. You can't just say "it's her egg, and he's already knocked her up" ... because she isn't pregnant, and this isn't about what she can do with her own body.

Is her ex legally required to have a child with her now that they've split up? Because it's not like in most cases you knock up your ex long after the breakup.

Suddenly a tissue sample in cold storage comes down to "can she force him to have a child with her now"? Because since it's not in her body, it's not like that is the deciding factor.

But the question is what happens to it when it does break.

Well, since I know nothing about the material properties of transparent aluminum ....

Is it a rigid/bendy metal, or is it a rigid/brittle metal? (Those are technical terms I just made up.)

A rigid/bendy material won't necessarily break, so maybe shards of shattered transparent aluminum isn't an issue?

But by all means, in loving memory of James Doohan, let us all rejoice in transparent aluminum being a real thing. =)

An iPhone made out of transparent aluminum?

Where the hell do I sign up for one of those?