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Comment Can NEVER please everyone (Score 1) 265

I think not too long ago, folks were discussing how the spam war was won. Their spam filtering is so good, that, for the most part for users, incoming spam is no longer a huge issue.

If they did it would make checking for the occasional false positives in my spam folder a teeny bit easier.

If it's IN your friggin' spam folder, then they've blocked the spam. They decided it was spam and hid it from your inbox. No filter's gonna be perfect, and the Spam folder is to help you go back if you become aware you are missing an e-mail.

You remind me of e-mail users the complain if they get a spam message in a quarantine digest. Then you remind me of e-mail users that complain if they get a non-spam message in a quarantine digest.

Comment Re:Biased summary (Score 1) 282

And frankly I think this is a good thing. Getting in a car with a stranger can be a dangerous act.

They background check their drivers. IIRC you see a picture of them and a profile before they can even pick you up.

You know more about these drivers than you would know about the taxi driver who is coming to get you.

Comment Re:Biased summary (Score 1) 282

What kind of person bills his grandmother for taking her to the supermarket? Jeezz...

Apparently, this is quite common in impoverished areas where the grandmother and lots of relatives may be living in shared space and the grandmother incapable of driving, but she needs to buy groceries for herself, and possibly some children whose care has been foisted on her, BUT everyone else does their own shopping.

The kids will bill the parents/GPs for everything, and depending on the circumstance, even charge their parents rent, or vice-versa.

Keep in mind, there are lots of folks in the world who are below the poverty line in the US, and when they can't afford to bear the cost on their own to live by themselves, they have a problem of working out how they will share the costs.

In all fairness, however... gasoline, wear and tear, time and energy are not free.

And by charging their grandmother for transport, it will help them be able to afford the iPhone 6+ that they need.

It's just that often the kids don't seem to be as helpful as they ought to be, in charging essentially what a taxi would cost.

Comment Re:Man up (Score 1) 279

says that cat6 can do 10Gb, just at a max of 55 meters.

Cat 6 cable's maximum length is 55 meters (180 ft) in a favorable alien crosstalk environment, but only 37 meters (121 ft) in a hostile alien crosstalk environment ... t is highly recommended that all Cat 6 cables used for 10GBASE-T be electrically tested once installed

With its improved specifications, Cat 6A does not have this limitation and can run 10GBASE-T at 100 meters (330 ft) without electronic testing.

Given that my house is ~60x30 feet, you could darn near run the entire perimeter and still be under 55 meters.

37 meters. In some single-story houses, you will be able to make it. But let's not forget, that there is rarely a straight path for each drop back to the utility entrance.

Comment The only accurate test will be software-based (Score 1) 294

Client-software based. The problem with any server-based test is twofold:

  • There will be many variables in regards to the performance of a download/upload to some servers
  • Web browsers are poorly instrumented. Most of the speedtest applications are using Flash or a Java applet. Java-based tests seem to often be more accurate. Flash-based speed tests seem to give inaccurate results, even for the performance of the server you are downloading from: it is very inconsistent

The ideal speedtest would look like a Knoppix CD... you'd boot your computer, and load up a Kernel patched to gather Web100 metrics, and then test a large number of upload and download scenarios against a large number of servers.

Then analyze the data to calculate a "Composite speed score"

Comment Re:I've worked for an ISP (Score 2) 294

You just gave me an idea....

I'm thinking about making a VPN Service that "Looks like" a speed test.

Very simple.... you request a HTTP download of file45456.zip and a simultaneous HTTP upload of file45457.zip

To maintain the connection, your VPN client will do this repeatedly.

However.... inside the HTTPS transfer there will be the encrypted IP packets you are exchanging encapsulated.

Also... of course, the same website will have a speedtest, all over HTTPS :)

Comment Re:grow your own (Score 1) 236

You just aren't being very creative. If you want a little bit of profit to be made overseas, create a subsidiary in India that charges your company for phone support.

One better.... create a subsidiary in India that charges your company to buy Cloud services hosted in the US to deliver automated Tech services and allows virtual agents to signup to deliver support.

The virtual agents could be located anywhere in the world, even the US.

Comment Re:They'll have rights (Score 1) 385

You just pulled the rights from a a metric fuck ton of mentally & physically handicapped people

I think he's talking about the species as a whole, not individuals.... but you could say

The individual chimp will have rights as soon as they can hold down jobs to feed themselves OR one of their family members/parents/ancestors, or their tribal government can.

Comment Re:Man up (Score 1) 279

That 5 cable bundle was not significantly more expensive than running a single cat5 line.

Interesting.... although for a completely new build.. I would probably suggest installing conduit in order to facilitate future cable changes or replacements in order to address wiring that fails or needs to be repaired/scrapped/upgraded later. :)

Comment Re:Man up (Score 1) 279

If it's just a shorty 3-meter wall-to-NIC patch you can run 10gigE over cat5e even.

This is not in spec. Just because two devices will see each other and negotiate 10Gig speed does not mean it will actually work correctly, and out-of-spec config very well result in media errors receiving packets. 10GBASET to 100 meters requires Cat6A or Cat7 to be proper and in spec.

To very short distances, Cat6 is in spec for 10GBaseT, but never Cat5E.

Comment Re:Man up (Score 0) 279

There's no point. If you're going to spend extra money above Cat5E, then either do optical Fiber (expensive) or Cat6A.

Cat6A will allow you to do 10-Gigabit eventually to 1000 meters. Cat6 can't go over 1000-megabits, so there's really no meaningful advantage of using Cat6 in a residential deployment

I guess the Cat6 might last longer in theory. It's tougher to terminate, and you need special connectors.

Comment Re:College admissions is not a life-value system (Score 1) 389

Just keep in mind you will be the first to get axed and vs the low experienced degree'd person.

I think that's only true in jobs where the degree is highly valued, or jobs where management has no good way of evaluating you as having special worth to your employer -- then degree or not begins to seem like an objective criteria, but I am sure you could overcome this through job selection and hard work.

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