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Comment Re:Linux sales figures (Score 1) 132

I cut GOG some slack, because they are a much, much smaller shop than Valve, and they keep their releases for each platform as a separate cost/price in order to A) pay the publishers/copyright holders B) pay the teams that port/package those releases to the OSes they offer them for.

They just don't have that kind of bank account or manpower to be handing out free extra copies just because you run Linux AND Windows.

Comment Re:Still Waiting (Score 1) 247

It's pretty much vastly superior to anything else when it comes to writing programs involving fluid dynamics for gas/sewer/water/chemical companies, especially when you're designing pipe and valve flows for pump stations and the like, as well as taking extremely accurate measurements in already operational installations. The front-end of said programs can be written in just about anything, but the heavy lifting (meat) for many of these companies is still done with programs written in FORTRAN (due to program size, speed, stability, etc).

Comment Re:"Must accept harmful interference..." (Score 1) 158

The only caveat to this is in the cases of the following:

1) Medical devices

2) Aeronautical devices

3) Emergency Response devices

4) Milspec devices

For these, the owners CAN go after the licensee of the spectrum if their operating even slightly out of spec interferes with the operation of these devices.

Comment Re:Google+ is supremely annoying (Score 1) 339

It wasn't optional for me, as they refused to allow me to log into my Gmail account at one point without first giving them permission to change my Google account into a G+ account.

Now they have some stupid page where they are trying to get me to enter my other Google/Gmail accounts in an attempt to link it directly to my main Gmail/G+ account. No. Just no.

Comment Re:TSA-quality thinking (Score 1) 349

It does matter, because if Operative A is in Indonesia and sends a message to Financier C in Yemen requesting funds, then that email is going to leave the local Google server farms (I believe they have some in Bali and another few sets in India, NZ, and AUS that are "backup") and can be recorded/intercepted even if they end up on another set of Google server farms to be retrieved later (I believe Israel, Egypt, Turkey and a few others have the ones that serve most of the Middle East).

Comment Re:Purview of NSA? (Score 1) 68

What is disturbing, is that NFC/RFID chipped cards are basically just a band-aid, and fall to the exact same pitfalls of being able to be read and copied with relative ease using parts you can purchase and assemble at your local equivalent of Radioshack as your average NFC/RFID employee badge or door keycard.

The funny thing is, is that some of these parts are illegal to sell to the general public in the EU, but Canada, AUS, US, Mexico, etc all have them widely available.

There's already been demonstrations by university students & their professors, etc about the dangers of relying on chip & pin for anything (witness the fiasco a few years ago when they showed how easy it was to ride the tube in London for free by exploiting the inherent weaknesses in this particular combo).

Comment Re:'A' Players Make a Lot of Questionable Decision (Score 1) 397

I believe it may be because they use Apple's native player for iOS when the Netflix app detects an iOS device so it bypasses the normal Silverlight/Windows Media Player requirement for VC-1 (VC-1 is also supported under Apple's native media player on iOS due to cross-licensing from MS).

I know the player itself seems to work a bit differently between my Nook (Android) and my PC or laptop for instance (and the load/seek times are vastly different as well).

Comment Re:To all those who reply to privacy concerns... (Score 1) 168

Back in the late 1980's, the USC stood at over 300 (and grows by an average of 25 volumes per year) hardbound volumes of regulations, laws, and suggested penalties of around an average of 800 pages per volume. The indexes themselves stood at 26 volumes of a bit smaller size, and included the names of the Congress members who submitted, amended, voted for/against/abstained each as well as vote totals for each by party.

On a sidenote: The books are of such a size, that if laid end-to-end at that time, they would have gone from Washington DC to New York City, New York. The volumes are not the typical size of your average hardbound novel, for sure.

Comment Re:If we're serious, let's get serious! (Score 1) 1146

When you are looking at that total cost, for most buildings older than the late 1990's, it would end up being cheaper (and better in the long run) to tear down the entire building and rebuild from scratch with DC, solar, and the new energy efficient windows, paints, etc they have now.

Keep in mind, any house built before 1980 probably has to be checked for lead paint and asbestos before any rewiring or demo work can take place legally anyhow.

Comment Resource conflict in Asia, expect to see more. (Score 2) 519

China & Taiwan had zero interest in these islands or the areas around them until Japanese prospectors found natural gas deposits in the seabed nearby.

Now all of a sudden they both want them, while Japan has had small fishing villages and whatnot there for a long, long, time now (much earlier than WWII).

This is complicated, and I don't see Japan easily giving up a potential source of energy replacement for their nuclear facilities.

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