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Comment Re:Direct user consent? (Score 1) 46

Yes, auto-backup-restore from a central server is the obvious solution.
However you have to do it properly, or else, it will become the weak point. You have to be careful of packet sniffing and man-in-the-middle attacks. Your server can be attacked too. And the more convinient you make your backups, the less secure they tend to be.

I think that the best compromise to turn on full disk encryption and that in case of anomaly (such as too many failed unlocks) the phone shuts down. Properly encrypted data are almost as good as a full (secure) wipe and better than an unsecure wipe.

Comment Missing the point (Score 1) 116

Personally I didn't find a correlation between how I struggle writing code and the number of bugs I produce. I'm not sure about why but it's probably because I'm more careful with hard problems.

Anyways, I think the worst bug-generator is code that is hard to test, or not tested enough because of time constraints or poor management. This can explain the correlation : complex code (lots of inputs, lots of steps) tends to make programmers struggle and is hard to test. Also, programmers having a hard time tends to drive the project over budget, and when this happen, testing is commonly sacrified in a misguided attempt to recoup the goals.

I think that if we see developers struggling, instead of trying to "improve" the developers (the hard problem they are solving right now is actually what makes them better), it's better prepare to ramp up the testing budget, and maybe do a bit or code refactoring.

Comment Re:Really? (Score 3, Insightful) 118

What's the difference between the NSA having 10 ways to hack into your computer vs having 100 ways ?
The NSA can do whatever it wants in both cases. Except in the second case, there'll be less exloits available to the much more dangerous blackhats.

Why are blackhats more dangerous ? Because the NSA will "just" invade your privacy. Blackhats will steal your identity, ransom you hard drive, use your computer as a spambot and turn over your private data to anyone with money (this includes the NSA).

Comment Re:there IS a connection (Score 1) 151

In fact it's not really obscure. One of the most used bus for critical data is ARINC429 and it's a well defined and very simple standard.
If you somehow manage to connect a device directly to the bus wires (you can't do this with WiFi), it is relatively easy to inject whatever data you want. However, connected equipment will double check everything they receive, so you have to craft consistent data, a much harder task. And even then some devices have additional analog sensors so you'll need to fool these too. If data end up inconsistent (the most likely result of your hacking attempt), backups will kick in, because of course, these systems are redundant. And in the last resort, don't forget that there are still pilots on board.
Also you can forget about typical vulnerabilities such as injection or buffer overflows. Avionic systems are too simple for this : data are not interpreted and all sizes are fixed and known in advance.

Sure, these systems are not 100% safe (they are "just" 99.9999999% safe). Sometimes a catastrophic bug may happen like with the Ariane 5 rocket. However, if you have some malicious intentions, attempting to hack the avionics it probably the least effective and most difficult way to cause harm.

Comment Re:Here's an idea! (Score 1) 203

Openness was never the business model of Nintendo. In fact not being open was a key to Nintendo success since the Famicom.
Nintendo is all about good quality exclusive games.

By going open they will compete with the much more versatile Android and iOS devices and the much more powerful PCs and to a lesser extant Xbone and PS4. They simply can't win in the open market.

Comment Re:Um... good for whom in the US? (Score 1) 111

Free is not as good as before. Mostly because its competitors have adapted. They now offer similar prices and services via their low-cost labels.
- Orange/SoSH is slightly more expensive but it has the best network and service
- Bouygues/B&You use aggressive pricing and discounts. Beside 4G coverage, their service and network are rather poor. They are the most direct competitors of Free.
- SFR/RED has a bit of a trouble keeping up with the competition as they don't offer same service as Orange nor the prices of Bouygues. They still have the second best network and may cover a few areas better than Orange.
- Free has few offers but they are very good and cheap. However their network is the worst. They have a deal with Orange which allows them to have good coverage, however mobile data is severely throttled compared to Orange clients.

Comment Re:House of Lords? (Score 1) 282

Xenophobes have the right to speak too, as long as they do it by the rules.
If you deny the rights of a sizable part of the population to express themselves just because the majority disagrees with *some* of their ideas, it's not democracy.

Here is an simplified example of the problem :
- 30% of the population are represented by a "far-right xenophobic party", will always vote against laws favoring immigrants
- 60% are represented by a centrist party that have more nuanced ideas
- 10% are represented by a far-left party that always favor immigrants
In all cases, unreasonable demands made by the far-right and far-left party will never pass. Whether or not you give full power to the centrist party, the extremists will never get the required majority.
Now imagine a controversial proposition favoring immigrants (maybe some kind of reverse discrimination). Let's say that 55% of the general population is against it and only 45% wants it. Normally, it should be rejected. However, if you give full power to the centrist party, it will be adopted. It is because the repartition will be as follows :
- 30% are against in and are far-right
- 25% are against it and are centrist
- 35 % are for it and are centrist
- 10 % are for it and are far-left

Giving governing responsibilities to small parties may even protect against extremes in some cases. Consider the following : same situation as before, except that the far-right party, though some clever political moves, manages to grab 25% of the centrist party, reaching 55% and winning the elections. The ideas of the people are the same, it's just that the far-right party is a bit less extreme than before. In a proportional system the remaining 45% are enough to keep it in check. Without it, the 30% original extremists would win as they are more numerous than the 25% centrists turned right-wing.

Comment Re:None of them. (Score 1) 436

No.
Last time I looked (by diffing the source code) AdBlock Edge was the same as AdBlock Plus without the "acceptable ads" checkbox. And when I look at the commits, almost all of them are backports from AdBlock Plus, no original development.
Basically, what you get with AdBlock Edge is an outdated version of AdBlock Plus with less choice. Nothing wrong with forking ABP but at least do it for something useful.

And it's not like ABP tries to trick you. The "acceptable ads" option is clearly visible when you install the addon. If you know about ABE, you know about this option, so what the point ?

Comment "I only buy clean energy" is pure hypocrisy. (Score 1) 288

Imagine I am a provider of electricity, 20% of my energy comes from clean sources, 80% from dirty sources.
I supply factories, datacenters, homes, etc... they all get the same electricity, after all, there is no such thing as clean electrons and dirty electrons. Now let say one of my client (that buys 6% of my production) says "I want 100% clean energy", what will I do ?
Simple : I don't change anything in the way I produce electricity, I just say "OK, you now have 100% clean energy" and my other client now get 85% dirty energy.

If it is too obvious, there is always the option of splitting my company into two : one that only makes clean electricity, the other does does almost only dirty electricity. "Green" clients buy from my clean branch and others buy from my dirty branch, and if there is an excess of clean electricity, it is bought by my dirty branch.

Comment Missleading trends (Score 1) 281

The article show a clear correlation between the "iPhone slow" searches with the release dates. Only, without extra data, it doesn't mean anything. For example, what about the "iPhone" searches ? It's natural that when the new iPhone comes out, people will talk about iPhones, so all related queries, including "iphone slow" should raise. We need a baseline.
Also "slow" doesn't always mean "slow performance". Notice the large peak corresponding the the 5S release, a phone that supports slow-motion video.

The article than compare it to the "Samsung Galaxy slow" queries (still without baseline). However, unlike the iPhone, the "Samsung Galaxy" brand encompass a large number of devices, from low-end to high-end, with releases all around the year. Yet again, such data are meaningless without further analysis.

Comment Re:This explains a lot (Score 0) 511

No wonder there's so much shitty software being thrown out. People are too stoned or drugged up to have any idea of what they're doing and as a result we get crap such as Windows 8 or the near-monthly Facebook "updates".

Some drugs can really help you work better, especially for creative activities. A bit like athletes taking performance enhancing drugs.
Of course, even if you do objectively better work while on drugs, it doesn't mean it's good for you, or that it'll work long term.

Comment Re:pentile-matrix OLED panel (Score 2) 54

Mobile phones and VR are not the same.
The major complaint with Pentile is the jagged text outlines (which improved a lot BTW), something that doesn't matter much in VR. VR is all about motion, and how Pentile affects this, I don't know.
Anyways, AMOLED, pentile or not, is regarded as much better for VR than LCD.

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