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Comment Re:Difficult position to argue (Score 1) 362

by jaak (#41003763) Attached to: Samsung: Apple Stole the iPad's Design From Univ of Missouri Professor

Well, it didn't work out too bad...

There were 4 patent lawsuits and Corvis won two and lost two. They had a $35 million dollar fine for which they were allowed to apply $33 million of the fine to purchasing goods and services from Ciena (Corvis was already a customer of Ciena's anyway). And, during the lawsuits Corvis had an IPO that raised $1+ billion (they were only expecting to raise $400 million).
Government

Submission + - US government spending $19 million to assign contractors a number (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Sparticus789
Sparticus789 writes: A GAO report shows that "The government handles more than $1 trillion a year in contracts and grants. Washington needs to assign a unique number to each one of them, to track all the businesses and other entities it deals with. For more than three decades, it has turned to one company — Dun & Bradstreet — for its numbering needs." The article goes on to say "the government is now spending roughly $19 million a year on the system that cost just $1 million annually one decade ago."

The database only contains 625,000 entries, how many better ways are there to store this same amount of data?

Comment Already solved (Score 1) 59

by jaak (#40120383) Attached to: A Wrinkle For Biometric Systems: Irises Change Over Time

The company I work for uses biometric security. The readers we use know that biometrics change over time and automatically update their databases every time you use the system (using some secret time weighted algorithm) .

You can set a threshold for the change/deviation/etc (in some people it changes more often than others). Our system only uses biometrics for authentication, not identification (that is, the biometrics confirm your ID, the biometrics are NOT your ID).
Privacy

Submission + - Feds' Use of Fake Cell Tower: Did it Constitute a (wired.com)

Submitted by
hessian
hessian writes: "Federal authorities used a fake Verizon cellphone tower to zero in on a suspect’s wireless card, and say they were perfectly within their rights to do so, even without a warrant.

But the feds don’t seem to want that legal logic challenged in court by the alleged identity thief they nabbed using the spoofing device, known generically as a stingray. So the government is telling a court for the first time that spoofing a legitimate wireless tower in order to conduct surveillance could be considered a search under the Fourth Amendment in this particular case, and that its use was legal, thanks to a court order and warrant that investigators used to get similar location data from Verizon’s own towers."
GNOME

Submission + - Linux Mint 12 to offer Gnome 3 with traditional fe (linuxmint.com)

Submitted by Enokcc
Enokcc writes: While Ubuntu has forgot its users when embracing new desktop technologies, Linux Mint seems to do it right: '... we developed “MGSE” (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions), which is a desktop layer on top of Gnome 3 that makes it possible for you to use Gnome 3 in a traditional way. You can disable all components within MGSE to get a pure Gnome 3 experience, or you can enable all of them to get a Gnome 3 desktop that is similar to what you’ve been using before.' Along with mintified Gnome 3 experience Linux Mint 12 will also include Gnome 2 fork Mate for older hardware and conservative minds.
Google

Submission + - Why Eric Schmidt left as CEO of Google? China (newyorker.com)

Submitted by Edsj
Edsj writes: It seems Eric Schmidt didn't like the decision to deliver uncensored searches in China. It is reported the decision to withdraw censored searches in China was made by co-founder Larry Page sided with his founding partner, Sergey Brin and probably an internal battle for power begun. Schmidt also wasn't happy with the “don’t be evil” policy, something the Google founders were prepared to protect anytime. Schmidt lost some energy and focus after losing the China internal battle and decided to leave the position of CEO. It is also reported that the chairman position is a temporary one until he finds another business to take care.

Submission + - Sprint Epic4G 3G upload speeds limited to 150kbps (sprint.com)

Submitted by Miamicanes
Miamicanes writes: Nearly everyone who owns a Sprint Samsung Epic 4G and has benchmarked its 3G performance has discovered that its 3G upload speeds are apparently limited to 150kbps. So far, Sprint has not officially acknowledged it as a problem, nor has it indicated whether this might be a firmware bug, a PRL issue, tower-related, or the result of a deliberate policy to cap 3G upload speeds. Regardless, the problem is causing widespread anger among Epic4G owners, many of whom have bitterly noted the irony of being charged a $10 surcharge so they can endure data transfers that are slower than they had 4 years ago (and a quarter of the speeds enjoyed by Evo owners on the same 3G network).
Censorship

Submission + - Deadly Premonition too scary for Australia? (gamepron.com)

Submitted by dotarray
dotarray writes: It's been a while, but Deadly Premonition is officially the first game of 2010 to be Refused Classification in Australia. The controversial horror-adventure game has been effectively banned Down Under, thanks largely to the lack of an adult rating for video games in that country.

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