Know your audience, that's for sure. As far as how much detail to let them in on, send me the copy of the details and I'll get back to you.

Iris scanners have lower false positive rejection rates and are more accurate than Retina scanners, which do exist. Retinas can become damaged and change with time, unlike the human iris which does not under normal circumstances change during lifetimes.

Iris scanners considered the best biometric authentication, they are also typically the most expensive (look up the LG scanner pricing).

http://www.lgiris.com/ps/products/previousmodels/irisaccess2200.htm

http://web2.utc.edu/~Li-Yang/cpsc4600/6-Iris-DNA/IRIS-Retina.ppt has some good info on the differences.

Slashdot is quickly losing any clout it had gathered in the last 10 years thanks to these new editors in the past few years. I'm all for providing a critical analysis of companies, such as Apple or Microsoft, but this summary was just stupid. Microsoft has been making Office for Mac for YEARS prior to the investment they made in Apple in the late 90's, which was a token gesture to show good faith to the Justice Department because MS was under *criminal* review. They made a significant investment in Apple and brought IE to Mac (and they abandoned both as soon as they could).

Apple has been consistent about charging *everyone* the same percentage to host Apps on the App Store. Microsoft is _leaving_ _money_ on the table by being stubborn and not porting to IOS and playing nicely. Why is this Apples fault? Oh right, this is slashdot.

What happened with MSFT in the 90's and what is happening now are barely even remotely related and not some how ironic.

Is it any indication of how bad regulation and costs are that this sort of thing isn't a reality yet in SV, despite it being most densely populated area of nerds in the country?

Does anyone know of any other "official" reason why even Verizon FIOS isn't in santa clara valley? It just amazes me how shitty communication bandwidth is (wireless and otherwise) in the valley compared to podunk idaho or kansas city. What in the world is going on here?

Can anyone find what type of server/motherboard combo they used to get what appears to be a 9-slot PCI-e motherboard with 3x PSUs? They have 8 cards in one box and a infiniband card.. I can't seem to find what this is (or how I can buy it)

I've had more blue screens with Windows 7 then any other Windows OS. Finally started replacing hardware and ran memtest86 for a week and found 1, ONE, memory fault in millions and millions of operations. Replaced the memory (corsair brand to start with and bought another pair) and have had zero issues since. The reality of computing today is that any bluescreen/grey screen/kernel panic is largely irrespective of operating system, it's nearly always a subtle hardware issue. Which, much to the shagrin of microsoft, means alot of finger pointing. Apple people (like myself) just take our equipment into the Apple store and say "fix it" and they do (with Applecare, without a fee). Microsoft doesn't have that luxury and gets a black eye every time there is a bluescreen (which is also why they have gone to great lengths to certify vendors and hardware since the days of yesteryear). Microsoft has great products, especially in the office environment (I can't function without Office). Self-described Apple person here, I still use Windows 7 often and tried the MS Surface, looks alright, but I like my ipad mini better. I will concede the Maps on surface/windows8 are WAY better, but that is a given.

This too shall pass

People bought the iPhone because it was a ipod, phone, mobile communicator, and did all of those things very well. It is a gross oversimplification to say other devices had the features there was no need for the iPhone and the users are just dumb lemmings who buy anything Apple throws at them. Most people who don't "get" iPhones or Apple will never, for the same reason "there are only 10 times of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't". You don't get Apple because you can work around huge problems and shortcomings and only typically focus only on the amount of features instead of the quality of a few. People who buy Apple products do so because they "just work". They don't have 50 different ports on them for every competing standard, they don't have a covers, Apple focuses on making a few great ideas work really well, which is why they are successful. Engineers and nerdtypes don't get this, which is why they aren't the visionaries running the companies, they are instead slogging through the ranks doing what they are told.

http://qkme.me/3rget6

Yes, they steal ideas here and there and make a great product. Sure, they sue companies that steal their whole product. And yes, they make the best American consumer electronic products, ever.

Remember "smartphones" before the iPhone? It took years for any company to remotely match what the iPhone had when it LAUNCHED. To summarize, every slashdot thread about Apple: Haters going to hate.

"Neal Ungerleider notes that cryptography pioneer and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) creator Phil Zimmermann has launched a new startup that provides the illusion of industrial-strength encryption for Android and iOS where users will have access to encrypted phone calls, emails, VoIP videoconferencing, SMS, and MMS.

There, fixed it for you.

Does anyone really think any application that is layered on top of IOS is free from interception? Everything is an API, all hidden away, and as much as I love Apple, there is no way in hell I would trust any application running on that device to be free from covert interception(keyboard, voice, you name it). I'm not saying that app doesn't encrypt and do all the right things when transmitting over a network, but I'm going to assume everything is compromised locally on the phone.

And not to be a tin foil hatter, but really, who pays for this stuff and paid these guys salaries in the past anyways (hint, it was your famous uncle).

I live in Los Gatos and frequent many of the fine (and less-than-fine) establishments in the Area (I'm looking at you, Tommy's). What is your current favorite restaurant or place to eat in the area? What do you think of the Cinnamon rolls at Los Gatos cafe? Best Regards

Jigga what? Jigga who?

Every slashdot thread about Apple is going to be full of the same dolts who can't see the bigger picture. Can people buy something because they love it? Does it perform beautifully? Does it do what I want it to do, better, faster, longer? Yes. Then I buy it, because I have the money to spend on it, because I'm a reasonable person who doesn't want all the lame features and crappy 2nd rate applications that android devices have. Let's be fair here, it doesn't matter what the sweaty neck beards here on slashdot say, because they said the same shit about every Apple release since the first iPod, they just don't get it. They also don't get social interactions, females, really good music, and the simple, pleasurable things in life, because they are sweaty neckbeards and will always target why something isn't good enough instead of why Apple products sell like gangbusters (her knees are too boney): People buy Apple iPhones (and other gear) because they WORK GREAT.

If your employer would do its due diligence and correctly vet potential employees, having a cert wouldn't be a "red flag", and instead would be a valuable addition. I'm not saying every MCSE (is this still a thing?) aught to automatically be considered an expert genius, but rather it is unfair to penalize those who have the experience, the knowledge, and put themselves through the certification exam to help tie it all together.

I've worked in very large enterprise IT for over 10 years, saying X qualification (certs, diploma) isn't necessary might be true for some people, but to say it as a reg flag just sounds ignorant and I would question your management and hiring practices. To put it simply, knowledge != bad_thing

This is almost certainly a result of a network change plus some really bad luck. Big player BGP peering connections are under intense scrutiny right now because of a few mistakes made at company A were introducing blackhole routes into company B (c,d,e,f's) routers.

Networking is the most often overlooked, often shit on, everyday service that everyone ab(uses) and gets pissed when it doesn't work properly. Like toilets.