Comment Thermite (Score 1) 447
Fully cooked in about 2 seconds.
Comment checksum? (Score 1) 614
If the Department of Homeland Security can analyze single spoken "red flag" words in a call, then why the hell cant the carriers do some sort of checksum of the call data coming through their pipes? I'm not saying to "listen in" like a wiretap, just sample bits here and there to build a, "audio-spam" profile that could be matched against other calls since robocalls should have essentially identical voice pattern signatures. Now sure, just like spammers always keep trying to evolve to get around the filters, I'm sure determined robocallers would try tricks like pitch shifting the voice, altering silence durations between sentences, etc... but that seems like it cause them more work to alter the calls (as opposed to dial & press play) than it would to make new match patterns to filter the evasion tactics. Plus the more contorted the messages become, the less effective they would be to any receptive audience... again, think of it like spam - a small % of people might respond to an email offer to buy Viagra, but most of those same people are going to ignore an email offering V1.4g.r.A! because the contortions make the message so much less trustworthy...
Also, as far as dealing with the robocallers who are caught, there should be massive fines AND jailtime just like email spammers. Give a large portion of the fines to the people who got called (to compensate them and promote reporting of robocalls) and also give the telecoms who gathered the data to make a prosecution a slice, so they have a real financial incentive to stop as many robocalls as possible and recoup some of the money lost on their audio-spam profiling operations.
And if the robocaller happens to be outside our jurisdiction, call in a drone strike and label them an enemy combatant ;)
Also, as far as dealing with the robocallers who are caught, there should be massive fines AND jailtime just like email spammers. Give a large portion of the fines to the people who got called (to compensate them and promote reporting of robocalls) and also give the telecoms who gathered the data to make a prosecution a slice, so they have a real financial incentive to stop as many robocalls as possible and recoup some of the money lost on their audio-spam profiling operations.
And if the robocaller happens to be outside our jurisdiction, call in a drone strike and label them an enemy combatant
Comment Re:Planted Likes? (Score 1) 98
I'm beginning to think the same thing. A couple weekends ago, my girlfriend was on fb on her phone, and she said "oh I didnt realize you stella artois?" Uh I dont actually... I think stella sucks and never would have liked it on fb, yet there I am in her feed as a sponsored story. I logged in and displayed all my likes and sure enough it was there.... I tried to locate when I liked it in my timeline but never did find it
Comment Re:Yawn (Score 0) 150
If they make the 6 soldiers a bit more powerful that might be alright. Most missions I usually dont use the whole 10+ team, since unless you take the time to rotate soldiers around, the first 6 or so do most of the work and wind up w the highest stats. And if more than 2 of my best guys die on a mission chances are I'm going to restart from save anyways. They just better keep the hovertanks!
Comment Re:At Some Point... (Score 4, Funny) 313
But if we run the immigrants off our lawns, how will they mow them?
Submission + - Physicists claim detection of dark matter (umich.edu)
grouchomarxist writes: Physicists at the University of Michigan claim that they have made the first detection of dark matter. 'Dark matter, whose composition is still a mystery, doesn't emit or absorb light, so astronomers can't see it directly with telescopes. They deduce that it exists based on how its gravity affects visible matter. Scientists estimate that dark matter makes up more than 80 percent of the universe. To "see" the dark matter component of the filament that connects the clusters Abell 222 and 223, Dietrich and his colleagues took advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. They were able to determine the extent to which the supercluster distorted galaxies, and with that information, they could plot the gravitational field and the mass of the Abell 222 and 223 clusters. "It looks like there's a bridge that shows that there is additional mass beyond what the clusters contain, the clusters alone cannot explain this additional mass," Dietrich said.' Article in nature is here.
Submission + - BBC blocks UK residents (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Ok, this takes the p*ss.
As a UK resident who has been funding the BBC for many years I was shocked to receive the following message when trying to access a page on their website:
"We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com."
The Beeb should be reminded that there would be no BBC International were if it were not for the licence fee.
Totally disgusted....
As a UK resident who has been funding the BBC for many years I was shocked to receive the following message when trying to access a page on their website:
"We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com."
The Beeb should be reminded that there would be no BBC International were if it were not for the licence fee.
Totally disgusted....
Submission + - Hackers Dump Millions of Records of CIA, Banks, Politicians (paritynews.com)
hypnosec writes: TeamGhostShell, a team linked with the infamous group Anonymous, is claiming that they have hacked some major US institutions including the likes of CIA, major banking institutions, accounts of politicians and has posted those details online. The dumps comprising of millions of accounts has been let loose on the web by the hacking collective. The motivation behind the hack, the group claims, is to protest against banks, politicians and the hackers who have been captured by law enforcement agencies.
Submission + - Man With World's Deepest Voice Hits Notes That Only Elephants Can Hear
An anonymous reader writes: The man who holds the Guinness record for the world's lowest voice can hit notes so low that only animals as big as elephants are able to hear them. American singer Tim Storms who also has the world's widest vocal range can reach notes as low as G-7 (0.189Hz),an incredible eight octaves below the lowest G on the piano.
Submission + - Siri Is The New Clippy
theodp writes: In perhaps the unkindest cut of all to Apple, TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis likens Siri to Clippy. 'Despite whatever Samuel L. Jackson says,' writes Tsotsis, 'Siri in its current incarnation simply doesn’t work. In fact, it’s actually starting to remind us of Microsoft’s Mr.Clippy, that cloying MS Office "assistant" that would pop up upon start and say stuff like, "It looks like you’re writing a letter, can I help you?" Tsotsis adds: 'What bugs people the most about these ill-thought-out products is that they’re like that annoying person at work who’s always all, "Can I do anything to help?" when they can’t actually do anything, don’t know shit, and are actually neglecting their real job while they take the time to ask you that question.' Ouch.
Comment I can't wait to see their new CEO (Score 4, Funny) 154
an scruffy balding asian dude with glasses in a black turtleneck and jeans
Comment Re:FF1 just ported to Android... (Score 1) 109
Dont need to wait for a port, just get nesoid emulator and any NES rom you can get ahold of can be played on your droid....
Comment Make the ISPs open their connection! (Score 1) 97
We could always tell the govt granted monopoly cable isps they need to install a first responder only wifi hotspot at every node... but sure lets burden the public to give up their privacy and security in the name of emergency communication failover, and burden device manufacturers with building these backdoors even if that means they cant sell them in other markets...
Comment Re:Seems straightforward enough... (Score 1) 345
this could be fun convincing them they have bugs in their system, since accelerometer should still record rapid vertical acceleration but that wouldn't translate to much change of latitude/longitude in gps... think "tower drop" carnival rides, bungee jumping, fast elevators, etc...
Comment Re:Slippery sloppy slope (Score 2) 345
Slippery Slope indeed! I don't see the govt requiring smartphone monitoring for the license (unless they just make it a part of "citizenship"), but I could easily see the 200 mile "trial period" being extended indefinitely so that you always had to be monitored to get discount, which like all the 1 sided contracts coporations push can be changed at any time, meaning any action they disapprove of could invalidate the "discount". And of course this would eventually morph into always be monitored to have a policy in the first place... and since insurance is required by law that might as well be the same as a license requirement in that without "voluntary" gps monitoring you won't be able to legally drive
Maybe if we explain real slowly to the foxtards how they are having to pay more than their fair share into the insurance pool to cover other drivers, we can get them all frothed up about this government mandated "Socialism" and get the requirement repealed lol
Maybe if we explain real slowly to the foxtards how they are having to pay more than their fair share into the insurance pool to cover other drivers, we can get them all frothed up about this government mandated "Socialism" and get the requirement repealed lol
