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Comment Re:Essential Features.. alpha support, lossless. (Score 1) 86

From the Daala wiki:

Basic features
YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2 , 4:2:0 subsamplings, 8-bit, 10bit.
Alpha channel — need testing material!
8-bit RGB compatible mode? (e.g. YCoCg, internally or at least flagging for it)
Efficient 3D? — need testing material!
Lossless?
The value of this is disputable. If nothing else it's arguable that stuffing lossless into a lossy format may be the only way to get lossless into many people's hands. Also, see below
Good support for decode side droppable frames?
Hopefully the referencing structure will be flexible enough to enable this even if it's not an intentional feature.

Comment Re:non-issue (Score 1) 451

You are supposed to use HTTPS only over Tor anyway and transmit no identifying data in other cases, respectively.

Until the adversary starts issuing warrants for the private server certificate keys to the entities hosting the HTTPS services you accessed over Tor.

Not only do you want to encrypt your Tor traffic, but you also want to only access services that are not under the jurisdiction of the adversary.

Comment Re:So What's The Point (Score 1) 199

The DNS specifications state the max length of a domain name is 253. Assuming you could get the smallest possible root domain name of 4 characters (x.cc for example) that means you would have 249 characters left.

To complicate things a little more the specifications state each label (subdomain) can't exceed 63 characters. That means 3 full subdomains of 63 characters + 1 subdomain of 56 characters if you include the periods. Grand total of 245 characters to play with.

The specifications state that the only valid characters are ASCII A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and hyphen meaning 63 potential values for each character.

63^245 = 6.894e440 possible combinations.

More then the number of atoms in the observable universe by a few factors.

Comment Re:So tablets at PCs now? (Score 1) 577

The personal in PC means the device was designed primarily to be used by one user at a time. Phones fit this criteria but there could be an argument that most game consoles do not, since they are designed to be used by at least two players simultaneously (usually 4 now-a-days). Handheled video games would fit though.

Comment Genius (Score 1) 137

I think this is a smart move by OnLive.

My experience with the service showed the technology worked, but the pricing model sucked. There was no way I was going to pay almost full price for a game I don't actually own. It would be like Netflix asking $19.99 for every movie you wanted to stream. A monthly fee for all you can eat would have been much better. Of course OnLive was at the mercy of the game publishers who, I'm guessing, didn't make a Netflix-like business model possible.

If OnLive can get games produced directly for their service they'll have more control over the pricing model. MMO games are a good choice because their players are already accustomed to paying a monthly charge. WoW is popular, in part, because it sacrifices high-end graphics so it can run on low-end hardware that your average casual gamer has. Imagine a MMO with Crysis level graphics that can run on a netbook. That's an advantage game developers might be interested in. Another advantage for developers is near zero effort spent on anti-cheat mechanisms. There are no local files to hack, and the network stream is just a video feed and input controls.

Comment Re:Obvious Answer (Score 1) 604

Asimov later added the 4th (or zeroth) law to address this issue.

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Basically translates to the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one. So the robot car would chose to kill it's own passenger to save the bus full of children if those were the only two options.

Comment Re:Must past this test (Score 1) 508

A good driver will notice a dangerous situation and take manual control well before a bad event happens. For example, traffic congestion, road repair, bad weather, etc. Humans are still better at anticipating unexpected situations.

If you are in auto-drive and a bad event happens that requires a split second action, as others pointed out, it's probably statistically better to let the computer figure out the best course of action.

As far as auto-drive failure. If the system went offline, it would most likely be during a non critical time where the driver can safely transition to manual mode. Unlike a plane, a car can move to the shoulder, stop, and wait for the driver to get his or her act together.

Comment Re:Must past this test (Score 3) 508

The system just needs a rapid manual override and a little common sense from the driver.

I see self driving cars as an evolution of cruise control. Just as cruise control gets out of your way as soon as you manually press the accelerator or brake the auto drive system should get out of your way as soon as you move the steering wheel.

Also, drivers should take responsibility when they feel it's safe to engage the auto drive. I wouldn't use cruise control on a narrow mountain road, neither would I use auto drive. I would love to be able kick on auto drive on a long boring highway though and focus on a phone call or whatever.

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