Google is far worse than it used to be, signal-to-noise ratio. Part of the time, it does not appear to respect quoted search terms, even with a "+" in front. I now frequently see part of a word that was quoted, bolded in the non-sponsored results.

It also refuses to allow explicit literal searches: I have an artist friend who uses a period as part of her name - google says "nope, not gonna look for name. lastname, I'll ignore it and look only at name lastname".

Finally, I've found too many times in the last year that one of my search terms isn't even mentioned on the page from the results.

                      mark

The Apple Watch has pretty severe resource constraints to fit into such a small package. At the risk of oversimplifying things, current third-party Apple Watch applications are essentially remote iPhone displays, so they aren't going to perform amazingly well.

As developers learn how to work with this new platform best, things will improve. Also, Apple have already said that they are going to open up the SDK further to allow for applications truly running on the watch itself, which will be a big improvement. My guess is they'll open that up in a couple of months at WWDC.

in order to make native Apple apps to seem better.

That makes no sense. They don't achieve anything if their apps look better than the other apps on the device, they just make the entire experience worse. It would be like cutting off their nose to spite their face.

These days you don't see the same hype around microkernals that you did back then

No, but they are still in use. HURD, FreeBSD, OS X, and iOS all use the Mach microkernel to some extent.

and most slashdotters, like most of the media, don't want to look.

However, tell me another way to get national attention to a protest if you're not Rupert Murdoch, or one of the Koch Bros. "Money equals free speech" means that if you ain''t a multimillionaire, and don' t have the right friends, your "free speech rights" are utterly meaningless.

Let me also note that the 22yr old who committed suicide on the Capitol steps was also protesting, asking Congress to tax the 1%.

Maybe these guys are doing it wrong. Maybe they needed to go to the Capitol steps, go into full lotus position, and burn themselves to death, and maybe *then* their protest would get attention. It certainly did during 'Nam, when the Buddhist monks did it....

                  mark

Yeah, I have to explicitly allow it, that's awfully nice of them. But how long will opting out last when the advertisers realize they can force a few more eyeballs?

You realise that it's the browser vendor that decides this, not the website, right? Do you think it's only a matter of time before browsers remove their popup blockers as well?

It's also opt-in, not opt-out. The system doesn't work unless the user grants permission. It doesn't work automatically until the user switches it off.

Riight. More UIs designed by managers who Know How It Should Go, and wouldn't dream of letting a designer or (heaven forfend!) a programmer from talking to end users to find out how they need to *use* the software....

Been there, dealt with that. The Scummy Mortgage* co, of Austin, TX, had software for its collection dept written that in in the late eighties, and the staff avoided using it as much as they possibly could.

              mark

* Actual name of co available upon request.

The displays cost significantly more than a more typical 1080p or 1440p display, so they'll probably only make it into high-end phones.

It's not just the monetary cost that you have to consider. How much power does it take to drive these displays? High end phones might have more room in the profit margin to account for the higher monetary cost, but they are still subject to the same power constraints as cheaper phones.

they're also the country least successful in preventing the sexual exploitation of children.

You'd have to be delusional to believe this. The UK is a developed nation with an operational police force. That alone is enough to put it miles ahead of some countries.

And if you do, too, then I have this *great* little moneymaker for sale, I just can't move right now, but there's this bridge that you can set a tollbooth up on, in a northeastern city.....

                    mark

Now *that's* strange... but yep. I see *zero* difference between religious discrimination based on gender and racial discrimination... oh, except that the former means you need to pull down your pants so they can decide whether or not to discriminate against you.

And trolls, it doesn't matter what sex you really want to get laid by, deep down inside, you *still* won't get laid by anyone.

                      mark

Absolutely and evidence of this is always only a Google search away. Search on how to do something with a database and the results you get are riddled with things like SQL injection vulnerabilities, even when the source of the official documentation.

To follow on from this: Language Community Litmus Test: Database Placeholders. An informal survey shows PHP joint bottom, with all but one of the top 5 hits for "PHP database tutorial" promoting insecure methods.

And, as you mention, the official PHP tutorial had beginner-level security holes in it for YEARS. The whole community is riddled with this crap.

"You say anything to the GAO people we don't like, we'll find out, and you'll never work again".

And I was a contractor for a company that was sold to them... and they proceeded to get rid of those of us who knew the project best, on a variety of excuses.

I read, a few years ago, that the client manager was in legal, or was it criminal, trouble.... (and he was a city government employee).

Do you *really* think NG is all wonderful, and doing everything right (and that it's all the federal gov't fault that the telescope is years late and billions overbudget? If you do, then you've obviously never actually worked for a living....

                mark "I recommend Dilbert"

Yep. Sure. And how do they find the best people?

I assume you're saying that overwhelmingly, most people other than white males are the best. And that sure was true... look how well it worked out 15 years ago... ooops, that was the dot.com buble, wasn't it?

At any rate, looser, my daughter is a better programmer than you are.

                  mark (and so am I)

That's funny, here I thought there were laws against that, if you're a public accommodation.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and the Civil Rights Movement never happened, and Blacks, Jews, or anyone else can be turned away in, say, a public restaurant, or a motel, or....

              mark "if you don't like an open society, and want to be a bigot, you can leave and start your own country;
                                            I recommend Iran for your tastes...."