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Comment Re:Blanket Ban (Score 1) 242

On the other hand, the airlines go to great pains to tell you which devices are approved in flight. I'm reminded that there is a list in the in flight magazine every time I fly.

The thing is, even an IPad or Kindle might cause a problem if the device was dropped once to many times and is malfunctioning. Weird things do happen when electronics breaks.

The solution for this problem is pretty simple. A relatively inexpensive wide band RF sensor could be used to scan the cabin by flight attendants in order to identify any devices with problems. Instead of punishing all of us because our devices might have problems, we could just eliminate actually dangerous situations.

Comment Re:Actually, it *is* Microsoft's fault. (Score 5, Insightful) 308

I was asked about porting a major live video application to the Surface recently. The Surface doesn't support flash in web views inside apps. It doesn't support HLS (without a third party library). They stubbornly insist that Silverlight and VC1 are still relevant. My answer to the request was, well, sure, but it will require a new encode farm, and rebuilding the app from the ground up. Which is basically a no-go.

Microsoft is very late to the party. Two other operating systems are there first, have far more users, and are generally more compatible with standards. Microsoft is late to the party, and clinging to all of their old proprietary baggage. And they wonder why they are losing.

Comment Re:Education is the answer to the problem. (Score 1) 862

We are evolved to think religiously, because it makes it easier for us to accept authority and live in a society. We are also evolved to see narratives and overarching patterns in unreleated events and coincidences. The universe is a scary place, and we are infinitesimally small. Religion provides comfort and a framework we can understand to cope with chaos.

There is an amazing amount of comfort in believing we will be reunited with our loved ones when we die. For those that have suffered loosing a close loved one, it must almost be irresistible.

So yes, trying to talk people out of religion is very difficult.

Comment NeXT (Score 1, Flamebait) 204

Yes, Steve Jobs popularized floppies with the Apple II, but he wasn't always so lucky. At the time the NeXT Computer came out, the lack of a floppy drive was a serious problem. Sneakernet was alive and well in those days, and uploading files via the network required bizarre things like Kermit and ZModem. And the NeXT magneto optical drive was horrendous. NeXT did eventually introduce a floppy in 1991, pretty late in the game. Of course, NeXT was way ahead of its time, the computer that the world wide web was invented on. and a precursor to OS X and iOS.

Comment Summary and opinion (Score 3, Insightful) 223

A summary of this article is:

I want CC No Commercial (NC) and CC No Derivatives (ND) clauses removed because they don't really support free. Works don't enrich the commons unless you can do whatever you want with them. Also, the NC clause should be eliminated because it is really hard to define commercial. Does commercial mean you can't share a file on a website that has ads?

My opinion is that a little free is better than not free. I should be able to donate my work to the commons without expecting to see it on a billboard. Which has actually happened. In terms of the commercial example, I think we can all judge when things move over the line from donation based to blatantly commercial. The good news is that it is up to me as a rights holder to enforce the license. I can allow uses of my file in ad supported web sites, but object to my song being used in a local TV ad. Yes, there are ambiguities in everything. That's life.

If you object to these licenses, don't use 'em. Or anything with them.

Disclaimer: I've licensed songs I've written as CC NC.

Comment Lesson... (Score 4, Insightful) 639

There is a lesson in all this. Don't use social media. Anything you say there will last forever, and will be used against you.

And the flip side is that social media doesn't produce anything worth reading anyway. It is generally poorly written junk. If you want to contribute in a meaningful way, work on Wikipedia or write for Examiner.com. Look at me post junk on slashdot...ugh.

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