Comment Re:Speed of Dark (Score 1) 109
Elizabeth Moon. Someone's apparently been reading it.
I was drawing parallels to the Emergents' use of the mindrot virus to create "Focus," in A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge).
Elizabeth Moon. Someone's apparently been reading it.
I was drawing parallels to the Emergents' use of the mindrot virus to create "Focus," in A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge).
I'm assuming this was a trolling attempt but I'll take the bait.
OSX is *NOT* rebranded FreeBSD. It's rebranded NeXTStep/OpenStep where they updated the userland w/ the FreeBSD userland to replace the ancient 4.2BSD underpinnings.
"The BSD portion of the OS X kernel is derived primarily from FreeBSD." https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/BSD/BSD.html
There are still thousands of crazy-sounding laws on the books all across the country - many in places like CA and NY which so many people consider "progressive".
In New York, it's still, to this day, illegal to break the sabbath. http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAWS+&QUERYDATA=@SLGBS0A2+&LIST=LAW+&BROWSER=BROWSER+&TOKEN=45235476+&TARGET=VIEW
"four dildos is a felony"
Any number of dildos used to be illegal to sell in Texas, but not for years now. http://www.lonestarq.com/fact-check-dildos-really-illegal-texas/
That's the bummer about hacking, you can't brag. If you're black hat, you get caught, if you're white hat, the NDA hits you.
So, kids, hacking ain't cool. Even if you hack the worlds best secured fortress, it's like doing the once in a lifetime stunt that nobody will believe you did but you forgot to record it.
http://www.anyclip.com/movies/sneakers/martins-job/#!quotes/
Except ironically that would require repealing laws in California since windshield mounts were made illegal many years ago.
Whatchotalkin' 'bout Willis?
Cal. Veh. Code 26708(b)(12): “A portable Global Positioning System (GPS)
Here's the full text of the opinion: http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/F066927.PDF
Do not ask a computer scientist to be an electrical engineer.
Except
201. Computer Logic Design I (3)
Prerequisite: MATH 113 or equivalent all with a grade of "C" or better.
Basic topics in combinational and sequential switching circuits with applications to the design of digital devices. Introduction to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. Laboratory projects with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA).
(Lecture 2 hours, lab 3 hours) Letter grade only (A-F).
(We used Verilog and a Xilinx FPGA board.) I'm surprised a reputable CS degree wouldn't require at least a basic course in digital logic; Cal State Long Beach is a great school, but it's certainly not a standards bearer...
So spoof your browser id string.
Oh. Let me guess. Apple and Safari won't let you do that.
Safari (desktop version) has a developer menu that lets the end user specify any HTTP_USER_AGENT string:
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QZzFwb0h1YlJLQkU&export=download
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QVEdMc0tnZGlwSHc&export=download
Apple (all iOS versions) will let browsers change their HTTP_USER_AGENT; here's the Mercury browser doing just that:
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3wWtj5n3Y6QWlJKSk9uOUhOVG8&export=download
If they don't focus on making money, their shareholders can sue them. Companies are there to make money, they can't be twisted into innovation factories. If they could we'd probably have free energy and plentiful drinking water by now.
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. (Whether or not they can do so successfully, or without being sanctioned, is another story -- I just won a nice attorney fee award from a father (lawyer) son (douchebag) team that sued a client of mine in state court, and then dismissed when we filed the Anti-SLAPP Motion to Strike I'd warned them repeatedly was coming... sigh...)
That said, the "must increase shareholder value" trope is a myth: "This common and widespread perception lacks any solid basis in actual corporate law." http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/6/18%20corporate%20stout/stout_corporate%20issues.pdf (p. 4)
If a business wanted to spend three years on R&D, as long as the directors embarked on that path in good faith, with appropriate consideration and care, and reasonably believed that they were acting in the best interests of the company, they'd be able to do so under, e.g., the Business Judgment Rule.
Most device manufacturers do not have a lot of budget on their firmware development, so, what they do is to have a generic-enough firmware developed, then they add and/or delete a couple of options, depending on the price point of their device model, package it as the firmware for that particular model
Back in the olden days when we were using USRobotic dial up modems we used to buy 2400 baud modem and then re-flash them to run at 4800 or even 9600 baud
Dating back to at least 1990: http://steveblank.com/2009/04/16/supermac-war-story-7-building-the-whole-product/
My fear is that we're getting away from the "market forces" that used to work. Netflix couldn't care less if they lose me, the Windows Media Center folks with the same problem, or the thousands(?) of Apple TV users with the same error message who haven't dug as deep into troubleshooting. With 30 million subscribers, 2,500 of us is a rounding error.
Maybe I'm showing my age, but I remember when there were but a handful of Linux users (I've had a Linux shell account since '93), and we were perpetually in danger of being steamrolled by the Big Corporations who could change things on a whim (Winmodems... Microsoft's SMB protocol...) and shut us out.
This isn't quite that, but it's similar. (It's also 2:45 a.m. and I'm not sure I can express myself as coherently as I need to right now...)
After a bit of brainstorming / research, I put up this Google Doc draft, that more clearly outlines what I'm talking about...
If you were going to design simple, effective legislation to address this lack of accountability / access to developers' attention, what would it look like? (From a consumer's perspective, and/or from the other side of the corporate firewall.) Is legislation the answer? Can corporations be shamed/spotlighted into voluntarily agreeing to some sort of industry-specified "best practices" when it comes to these issues?
I'm ready to agitate, but I don't want to go off half-cocked without considering, well, those aspects I haven't yet considered! Hence, I'm Asking Slashdot...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/16/AR2007021602102.html
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred. -- Superchicken
