Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment How does iPhone spyware even work? (Score 1) 79

Say I want to spy on my kid. (I don't, but work with me here.) How would that software work? Short of jailbreaking the phone, I can't imagine what iPhone spyware would look like. Would said kid have a Spy On Me app that she'd need to run from time to time? Even keyboard replacement apps are somewhat vetted in what information they send to their vendors, and I don't think they have access to photos, email, or anything else but the keyboard.

Comment Re:What's that say about those judging? (Score 1) 461

It says that they make reasonable inferences based on prior experience. It's just an email address, sure, but one associated with a service designed for "people not smart enough to be on the real Internet". For a long time, AOL didn't have Internet access at all, just keywords that took you to an internally hosted web page-like media view. It was generally understood that no one clever enough to grok the Internet would ever settle for constricting AOL access, so its usage came to connote cluelessness. By the time it opened up to the rest of the web, there were many viable local and national competitors.

OK, you're one of the handful of AOL users who picked it for non-clueless reasons. You can't be surprised that the rest of the world sees you as a tiny minority, though, and automatically assumes that @aol.com implies @i-dont-know-what-an-isp-is.net. I don't begrudge you your right to dig in your heels and resist. Hey, I had an Amiga for years after they stopped being cool - I get it! Shine on, crazy contrarian diamond! Your address may very well eventually come around to be hipster-cool and retro, and if so, congratulations! But if it doesn't, well, understand that you made the decision.

FWIW, Gmail's "Mail Fetcher" can be configured to pull mail out of non-Google accounts and into a Gmail inbox. You could start using Gmail today and not miss a single @aol.com email, then gradually transition over a period of days/weeks/years as the legacy email slows to a trickle. I don't personally use Gmail and I'm not trying to push you onto it. I just wanted to point out that you don't have to pick a flag day to switch from one email provider to another. If you decide to transition, it can be as quick or gradual as you feel like that day.

Comment Re:Exede (Score 1) 153

Get yourself a cheap PC and install Squid on it, then configure all your browsers, etc. to use that as a proxy. Think of it as a huge, multi-user, multi-platform, multi-browser shared cache. If you find an interesting article on CNN and share it with your wife/roommate/dog, there's no need for them to re-download the entire thing. You can also switch from, say, Chrome to Firefox if a page doesn't render as expected and not have to refetch all of it. Once one person on your LAN fetches http://example.com/image.gif, you all get the benefit of having it stored on your own network.

This made a slow connection at a previous house almost tolerable. It's not a cure-all but I'd stake cash that you'd see a noticeable improvement in routine browsing.

Submission + - Gartner Predicts Open Source will Overtake Oracle and Others

RaDag writes: Read about the new Gartner study,The State of Open Source RDBMSs, 2015, that says as many as 80% of in-house application portfolios could be migrated onto open source and that by 2018, 70% of new apps will be deployed on open source and 50% of existing apps will be migrated. Gartner further urges companies to look for subscription models instead of costly up-front licenses.

Comment Re:Not just ineffective (EEO bullshit) (Score 1) 553

No fool like an old fool. But I am sure Sanjiv from Punjab is thankful for the push to outsource the job you were worried about.

That process works better for fungible young talent who might be plenty gifted but have no experience to set themselves apart from the pack. The best defense against seeing your job outsourced is becoming so good at it that you don't have much competition. The second best defense is becoming friends with the greybeards who are positioned to argue against the manager who wants to rightsize your job.

Comment Re:Also, stop supporting sites with poor encryptio (Score 1) 324

You should find another bank.

Yep. There are plenty of banks to choose from that - whatever their other flaws - at least take security seriously. If your bank can't or won't lock down their website, then you already know that they're negligent in at least one area. What else are they neglecting?

Comment Re:Wait a minute... (Score 1) 324

I don't think it's extreme at all. I think we're past the point that's it's socially reasonable or responsible not to encrypt all traffic by default.

Even if you're 100% OK with visitors to your site being snooped on, consider that adding to the amount of crypto in use worldwide makes it hard for repressive governments to tell what their citizens are doing online. Maybe your site would be the straw that broke the Great Firewall's back and lets some kid read uncensored news.

Comment Re:Waitasecondhere... (Score 1) 403

Outside of Portland, what percentage of the population has full sleeve tattoos? 1 in 10,000, maybe? I'm not asking to be funny; except for in very certain cities, those are almost unseen. Even working in San Francisco I see very, very few. Oh, there are lots of smaller tattoos, but sleeves are unusual.

I'll bet more people are sensitive to the materials used to make the watch than are unable to use it because of their ink. That's not Apple's fault or a flaw in the watch, though: no one product can be useful to everyone.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Working...