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Comment Re:Hmm... (Score 2) 46

Homomorphic encryption isn't new at all.

It's just that we used to think it's uselessly slow. I believe it was in the millions times slower than a normal application without this kind of encryption.

But in more recent years people have been able to build practical systems with it by mixing different kinds and more specialized forms of encryption:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

There are companies that also build products: Cloud Encryption Gateways

But I doubt that really solves the problem, if the application gets an update the proxy will probably start to leak data.

Comment Re:I had to look up sparse array (Score 1) 128

I was quite pleased with the level. I actually expected either something very pedantic or something so easy that I would have a little weep.

If anything the main problem that I have is that I have met CS grads who might not do so well on that exam. I am not saying it is too hard but that the aforementioned CS grads sucked.

Comment Re:ipv6 incompetence is nothing new. (Score 2) 65

For some reason I have always had two problems with IPv6. One is that it offers me as an end user exactly nothing terribly tangible. Yes yes I know of the whole running out of addresses stuff but I have never contacted a server host who said, "Sorry we are out of addresses." My ISP has never said, "Sorry no more customers we are out of addresses." So why should the average user even give a crap.

The other thing that I have found is that without exception those who I have met who are pushing IPv6 remind me nearly perfectly (and in many cases were) the same Y2K people who told us that the world was going to end. They are grade A assholes. Thus it instantly makes me suspect that IPv6 has hidden surprises buried in it that will piss me off. So paternalistic shit that is "good for me" but in reality somehow allows some asshole admin to fuck up my traffic because his traffic has a higher priority or some such bullshit.

So my prediction is that when all is said and done there will never be IPv6 but someone is going to come up with IPG2 (Generation 2) that is chock a block full of things that we all want. Things where we will be happy to demand that our ISPs make the leap, things that get us out there to buy new networking gear.

IPv6 will basically become XHTML. Some will argue that this is impossible but WEP was pretty much tossed into the trash and everyone was onboard with the new things like WPA in a heartbeat. Not because it satiated the black heart of some pedantic network admin but because it was actually better.

Comment Re:I had to look up sparse array (Score 0) 128

Just finished 10 questions from a sample test: http://manatee.cc.gt.atl.ga.us/apExam/ and I would rate it as FizzBuzz*2. FizzBuzz would be in the lower half of difficulty.

If anything I was a bit slow taking it as I was looking for trick questions that weren't there. But I would say that someone who could pass that test would have at least the basic tools to go fourth and program.

Plus it is in Java which I haven't touched since 2000.

Comment I had to look up sparse array (Score 1) 128

But once I looked it up the solution was completely obvious. The wikipedia entry suggests a linked list, while I was also thinking associative array.

Now my curiosity is demanding a sample copy of the test that I can take. Beyond not having memorized many of the terms I wonder how I would do after 20+ years of programming.

With these sort of tests I often worry that it is just Bulimia Learning where you have to memorize esoterica while never learning to actually program. For instance for you C++ wizzards out there can you answer this one: "What is the compl keyword for? And why is is needed?" Surely as an accomplished C++ programmer you know all the keywords, there aren't that many. (I had to look it up).

But if I look at a sample exam and find out it is all FizzBuzz then I will have a little weep for the children.

Comment Re:What's the point? (Score 1) 328

I didn't say that she was a republican, more that she is dresses like a little miss perfect young republican. I don't really see much difference between the two parties as I judge them by their actions not their words.

I find that democrats don't actually dress much differently but that republicans are a bit more consistent.

Comment Re:Uh, boss . . . . (Score 1) 45

I wouldn't say they are failing in deploying robots, it's probably just not as easy as they thought but it is definitely having an impact. And you have to remember Chinese workers have been getting more expensive with 12% year over year for a number of years. So they aren't the cheapest workforce in the world any more. A lot of manufacturing of clothes moved to Bangladesh to name one country.

Here is an example of an article from 2007 which mentions the wage growth:

"Wages in China have nearly doubled over the past four years"
http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/...

___

An article on where Foxconn is with building lights-off factories:

On Wednesday, the company’s CEO revealed Foxconn has a fully automated factory in operation in the Chinese city of Chengdu. “We haven’t talked much about the factory, but it’s manufacturing a product from a very famous company,” Gou said, without elaborating.

The factory can run for 24-hours with the lights off, he added. In addition, Foxconn has been adding 30,000 of its own industrial robots to its factories each year. “We don’t sell them, because we don’t have enough for our own use yet,” he added.

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

___

And an article on the loss of jobs in factories in China:

Automation has already had a substantial impact on Chinese factory employment: Between 1995 and 2002 about 16 million factory jobs disappeared, roughly 15 percent of total Chinese manufacturing employment. This trend is poised to accelerate.

That might not be a problem if the Chinese economy were generating plenty of higher-skill jobs for more educated workers. The solution, then, would simply be to offer more training and education to displaced blue-collar workers.

The reality, however, is that China has struggled to create enough white-collar jobs for its soaring population of college graduates. In mid-2013, the Chinese government revealed that only about half of the country’s current crop of college graduates had been able to find jobs, while more than 20 percent of the previous year’s graduates remained unemployed.

According to one analysis, fully 43 percent of Chinese workers already consider themselves to be overeducated for their current positions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06...

Comment Re:What's the point? (Score 1) 328

I have met many Oracle salespeople and she fits the mould perfectly. Young republican hair and clothing style. Uptight. Sleazy. Looks like she either uses you or ignores you if you aren't getting her a sale. And has that I arrived at 6am for work and thus am superior to you regardless of your actual contribution.

She recently had a kid and I am willing to bet that the kid is being raised by nannies.

Thus what kind of crap would she give about customers? Customers exist to be exploited for a better year end bonus. Great products are for the weak.

Comment When people ask me to help them get java working (Score 2) 328

When people ask me to help them get java working I say no bloody way. My simple theory is that Java in the enterprise might be a good thing but java on the home machine is just asking for trouble. To me Java has a perfect storm of people not wanting it. First is that Java must be regularly updated to keep it safe. But I don't trust these updates to not screw me over in some fashion, either through malware such as this or simply popping up at an inconvenient time. For instance I am often recording video tutorials. There is nothing worse than some software update popup showing up in the middle. Especially if it is one of these focus grabbing popups. But the java update is a total bastard as it keeps turning itself back on after I keep turning it off.

So I basically danced around my office when I read that chrome and firefox were pretty much killing Java as an extension/addon.

But adding malware to their install just makes me laugh at how stupid these MBAs are. Yes in the next few quarters they will make lots of money. But how many quarters before people will have significantly reduced their downloads?

Also for Yahoo, I hate Ask.com for their trashy approach to getting users. Make a great product and then people might come. Fooling them into coming is just scummy. So now people will lump Yahoo in with the various sites that over the years have tried to use deception as their marketing tool.

For those of you out there all touchy about Java, my comments are not about the Java language, but the java product.

Comment Public domains only help the bad and hurt the good (Score 2) 86

Quite simply my Whois data has only been abused. I have received phony bills from fictitious domain registries. I have received threatening letters from companies that I was violating this or that. And then there is the endless spam. Except that this spam carefully exploits the data found in my whois data.

On the other-hand I don't know of anyone who benefited from whois data beyond curiosity.

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