It's better to ask forgiveness than to get permission.

Is Cryptonomicon popularly viewed as not being very good? I enjoyed it, not as much as Snow Crash, but what the hell can compare with that?

If there's a real incident in progress, this wouldn't work. They'd either not answer, or be compelled by the people with guns to tell the cops that everything is a-okay.

I like the looks of Apple Pay, and think it's a great move forward but even as an Apple fan, it seems bizarre for Apple to move forward on their own payment standard rather than the industry creating one. I mean, I know they did it so that they could skim profits off the top, and that they got away with it because they're worth 700 gazillion dollars and could probably make demands of the ocean, but I really wish this had come about via an industry standard.

Of course then, it'd probably suck.

I could swear I read this exact article some time ago, before the NYT published it so maybe the "toughened standards" banks talk about were already enacted quite a while back and we're just now hearing about the problem?

The story doesn't really indicate how this could be much of Apple's problem - it sounds like the cards that are getting used are already stolen?

I guess what's happening is criminals are getting stolen CC info, and are then able to use it in a physical environment via Apple Pay where it previously would have required printing a forged card?

The article mentions that it's easier to get away with fraud in person because the lack of shipping delay leaves less time to catch it, which shows why they'd be so eager to jump to a method like this.

Could they at least try to fill them all with the same bloatware?

I help students with their computers at work, and I'm shocked at the amount of bloatware I see on the Windows laptops they bring me.

Microsoft needs to crack down on its OEM contracts and help give people an experience closer to what you get with OS X. Every Windows laptop should act the same when you turn it on for the first time.

Oh, I know it was the writers and especially Roddenberry's dedication to a utopian future that put Star Trek on such scientific footing, but Spock was consistently the public face of it - and Nimoy was pivotal in charting the development of Spock throughout the series. He so quickly became the breakout star of the series, and it's hard to picture another actor portraying Spock effectively (other than Mark Lenard, who would have made a suitable sub for Nimoy if he'd left the series as he threatened.)

The writers were definitely the start of Star Trek's scientific agenda, but Nimoy's portrayal of Spock is what made it "click" for the public.

Seriously - Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock probably inspired more people to enter science, engineering, and intellectualism in general than any other figure in pop culture. He turned anti-intellectualism on its ear by making being a "nerd" not just cool, but even sexy.

Look at any major technology or research company making the world a better place, and I guarantee it was built by people who grew up aspiring to be more like Spock.

Well, there was a lot of wrong keystrokes in just the right order leading up to this, but it did end in the erroneous pressing of "enter" - without which the prior keystrokes of DELETE * FROM EVIDENCE wouldn't have mattered.

But it was definitely the single, final, erroneous keystroke that is to blame and therefore definitely an accident.

I think it's more common among liberals (which makes me ashamed to call myself a liberal at times) but libertarians have a big problem with vaccines too for different reasons - and Silicon Valley is the kind of place to which libertarians are naturally drawn.

Since it's California and it's filled with both populations, you just have a double-whammy. :\

Silicon Valley is unexpectedly bad for vaccines - it's the perfect mix of anti-science liberals and anti-government libertarians. One group thinks vaccines are poison, the other thinks they're a conspiracy.

In best Slashdot style, I did some research *after* posting this, and found out that they're sticking with Trident, so at least that bit of competition will be kept.

Isn't Microsoft announcing a new web browser intended to replace Internet Explorer today? Maybe it'll be open source. Maybe it'll even be based on Webkit.

I don't know how much licensed code is in IE that Microsoft would have to untangle the rights to before open-sourcing it, and given the fact that we've mostly figured out how to work around IE's problems at this point, I'm not sure if it'd be worth the effort to do so.

It'd probably be best to just retire IE, let developers continue struggling through the known-workarounds they've been using until its market-share vanishes, and look forward instead of back. The time spent trying to figure out IE's source could be better spent developing/using a better platform.

Regardless, I think every web browser should be open source, since they work on (theoretically) open standards, run cross platform, and are the defacto presentation layer for an increasing number of applications. Developers need to be able to understand the internals of the browser to assure the best quality of their own work. Really hoping that's what happens with whatever MS announces today with Spartan. (I just don't think IE is worth the effort to open source at this point)