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Comment Re:So it's a solar cell.... (Score 2) 326

I think it can be traced back to Ronald Reagan ripping off the solar powers placed on the White House by his predecessor, as if they were an abomination in the eyes of god.

You discredited your entire posting with a bogus claim that can easily be refuted:

White House Will Not Replace Solar Water-Heating System

The panels of the system had been dismantled to fix the roof underneath. Dale A. Petroskey, a White House spokesman, said Friday, ''Putting them back up would be very unwise, based on cost.''

Comment Re:Error in summary: $20 more per month, not $45. (Score 1) 513

Error in summary: $20 more per month, not $45.

Mod the parent up. The error is in the original article, as well.

AT&T charges $25/month for the 2 gigabytes/month data plan for the iPhone. Adding tethering increases the charge to $45/month for 4 gigabytes/month. However, if you are currently on the $30/month "unlimited" plan, it's only $15/month more to change to the 4 gigabytes/month + tethering plan.

I switched from the unlimited dataplan when iOS 4.3 was released, as I could finally replace my Sprint MiFi hotspot with my iPhone. I didn't feel like I was giving up anything significant, because I never used more than 200 megabytes/month on my iPhone alone.

When I used the MiFi all day at a client, I never exceeded 100 megabytes/day, and was usually in the 50-60 megabyte/day range. I could use 100 megabytes/day all month, and still have 1 gigabyte/month left for my iPhone usage. In the unlikely event I exceed the 4 gigabyte/month cap, it's only $10/gigabyte, or 1 cent per megabyte -- and I can live with that.

Comment Re:It's about time (Score 2) 232

The one requirement to signing up was that you needed to use a genuine credit card, not a bank-backed credit/debit card but a genuine going-into-debt card. What's the difference? The real credit card won't stop you from spending beyond your limit; ergo they get their money no matter what even if you can't technically afford it.

The rental car companies have the exact same requirement: You must make the reservation with a credit card, although you can eventually pay the bill with a debit card. The reason was so they could put a hold on enough funds to cover the payment plus the damages if you totaled the car (note this is not the value of the entire car, but the limited "deductible" you agree to in the contract).

Very often, when they put a hold on this amount on a debit card, it pushed the underlying checking account into overdraft, or at least locked up enough funds that the card holder couldn't use the card for anything else. With a credit card, this doesn't cause problems unless the cardholder has nearly maxed out their credit limit.

Perhaps Blockbuster was putting a hold on the amount of money needed to replace the game if it wasn't returned? With a debit card, they would have encountered the problem I described above, albeit on a lesser magnitude.

Comment Re:FAIL (Score 2) 300

My guess is you're not an EE either. Interference doesn't quite work like that; orthogonal frequencies, for instance, do not interfere at all even when one is extremely high-powered.

And I'm guessing that you aren't an RF engineer.

It is extremely difficult (and nearly impossible, at a reasonable cost) to design and build a transmitter that only radiates RF on the fundamental frequency. It invariably radiates on harmonic frequencies (integer multiples of the fundamental). FCC regulations limit the acceptable power level for harmonics, but if the transmitter's primary power output is high enough, the harmonics can still interfere with a nearby receiver -- depending on the local strength of the intended signal.

In addition, there is the potential of "intermodulation", or mixing of two transmitted signals to produce a third signal that is a different frequency than either of the originals.

[Disclaimer: I'm not an RF engineer, either. But, this was basic knowledge required for an amateur radio license in the US, at least back when I got mine]

Comment Has anyone confirmed Personal Hotspot? (Score 1) 346

I know that the 4.3 betas allowed use of the Personal Hotspot on AT&T, but is the feature actually available on the released version?

I'd like to drop my Sprint MiFi card and replace it with an iPhone 4 hotspot. But, I don't want to switch away from the unlimited data plan (to the 4 GB limit), only to find that it doesn't work.

Comment Re:No fscking way (Score 1) 386

I understand your concern about dental X-rays. I have an implant that needs to be checked every year or so, so I'd like to limit exposure.

One thing that helps: Find a dentist that has invested in a digital X-ray system. Rather than sticking a piece of film in your mouth, they put a small sensor that is about the same surface area and a bit thicker (but not flexible). Aside from the convenience and efficiency issues, the digital sensor is much more sensitive than film. So, the X-ray source can be set to about 10% of the power required for film.

However, It's an expensive investment. My dentist has a computer in each exam room, but only a single sensor that is moved to where it is needed and plugged into the USB port. The sensor alone costs about $8,000.

Comment Re:One more reason to use Google Apps (Score 1) 399

In many (most?) countries, receiving an SMS is free for every plan.

Not in the US. The cellphone companies have decided that SMS is a profit center. They don't mind giving out free calling minutes (that consume much more bandwidth and resources), but will charge you 25 cents to receive a message that is no bigger than the control messages that your phone exchanges with the system on a regular basis..

Some of them are starting to get a clue and bundling it with other features, or charging separately for unlimited messages. But, there's still no connection between actual cost and price.

Comment Re:why no one time pad with index lookup (Score 1) 399

Why no one time pad with index lookup?

To clarify, this is typically implemented with a wallet card the size of a credit card, with something like 100 5-digit codes. The 5-digit codes are generated pseudo-randomly for each customer, or at least there is a non-trivial number of unique cards.

At login, the user is challenged with a random index from 0 to 99, and they must enter the 5-digit code from the wallet card that corresponds to the index.

I've seen this method used by a Brazilian online banking system.

Comment Re:It's a good thing(tm)! (Score 1) 273

Today, history has been made. A social networking site actually listened to its users and implemented a bit of security. *astonished*

Nope, looks like this is the reason that FB implemented https: across their site:

The Inside Story of How Facebook Responded to Tunisian Hacks

They also mention the identification of photos in your account as another measure they used to prevent password hijacking by Tunisian censors.

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