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Comment Re:Old news (Score 2) 144

You missed one major technical rule: all browsers on iOS that support local rendering are required to use the system rendering engine.

Actually, no, I'm pretty sure they're just not allowed to use any JavaScript engine other than the built-in JavaScriptCore. And as of iOS 7, it's theoretically possible to actually do so without using WebKit.

Comment Re:Good! (Score 1) 328

It's not willful ignorance. It's actually a legitimate question. From everything I've read, there are roughly two types of revenge porn:

  • Fake revenge porn, in which someone pretends that he or she is getting revenge on a former significant other so that people will be more turned on, but in reality, it's just commercial porn, and legal.
  • Fake revenge porn, in which someone surreptitiously cracks into the victim's computer and records that person in his or her own home, which is already illegal. And this is what the lawsuits have mainly been about.

I suspect that the real revenge porn, if it even exists, is just about lost in the noise caused by the two forms listed above.

Comment Re:Freedom of Participants trumps Picture Owner (Score 1) 328

... the homeowner does NOT automatically gain the right to record the guest WITHOUT permission.

If that were true, then "NannyCam" footage would be inadmissable. Different states have different laws that carve out specific places where recording is not allowed—most forbid recording in bathrooms, for example—but as a rule, if you're in someone else's home, you should generally assume that you have little or no right to privacy.

Comment No kidding (Score 3, Insightful) 161

I mean yes, there are expensive Android devices. You can have a nice, premium, phone or tablet if you wish. I loves me my Galaxy Note 3 but it certainly costs a lot, more than an iPhone even. However there are also cheap Android devices. You can get a smart phone for $100 or less (talking full price here, not subsidized). So Android phones are an option on most budgets.

Until recently, all you could get with Apple was the standard iPhone which is like $600-700 full price. Even the new "c" model is $550 full price. That puts them out of range of most people who want prepaid phone plans, which is often what people with lower incomes go for.

Well those people are also likely to spend less on apps. After all, if your finances are such that you wish to buy an economical phone, you probably don't want to ruin it with spending a ton of money on software.

So ya, that will push the average down on Android phones. Personally, I see that as a big positive to Android. There's something to be said for a thing that can be available to a wide segment of the population. Exclusivity to the affluent isn't something I consider to be positive.

Comment It is an extremely common view these days (Score 1) 257

I know a lot of people, my sister included, who have a big issue with taking drugs prescribed by a doctor, but no issue with taking drugs purchased from a dealer. The logic can be pretty strange. For example I was talking with her about looking in to trying an anti-anxiety medication. My family all has issues with that, but she is far worse than the rest of us. My parents and I take low doses of SSRIs for it and it seems to help a lot. Thus it would probably be worth a try for her, since we have a great deal of genetic commonalities so the chances it works on her are high. Her response? "I don't want to do that, I only want to take the drugs I choose." I pointed out to her that it was completely my choice to take an SSRI, I could stop any time I wished, they aren't addictive, there is no court or medical order that requires me to take it, I continue to take it because I find it useful. Same reason we all take allergy medicine in the spring: It is useful in dealing with that, not because there is a requirement of some kind. She didn't like that though, to her it is different, though she could not articulate how or why.

I'm not sure why it is such an issue, perhaps because of the stigma associated with mental health issues, but I've seen it in numerous occasions. People who have no issue with recreational drugs that alter your brain chemistry but think that prescription drugs that do the same are evil or bad or something. It is, as you point out, a very silly position. I can respect, though not agree with, the position of taking no drugs that alter brain chemistry for whatever reason. However it is silly to be ok with THC and LSD and the like, but not with an SSRI.

Now please don't anyone mistake me for saying "Everyone should take SSRIs." No, not at all. However if a professional suggests they, or another drug, may be useful to treating a condition you have, you shouldn't say "No I won't take drugs," but then go out and smoke a joint. That is just silly. That would be like then refusing to use marijuana if a doctor prescribed it.

Comment Re:Its called paying attention (Score 1) 364

I was referring to normal traffic lights that lack any indication of when the light is about to change, not the rare lights with countdown timers or the hypothetical lights with a dashboard assist. The split-second decision to floor it or slam on the brakes is a bigger problem when you're accelerating from a stop as the light changes to yellow, not when you're going way over the speed limit, for two reasons: A. there may not be any choice that doesn't result in either getting rear-ended or being in the middle of the light when it turns green in the other direction, and B. your foot is on the wrong pedal to stop, adding critical latency to that decision, should you choose to stop.

Comment And how is that best in the world? (Score 1) 142

Where I live, you can get cable Internet that is 150/20mbps. It has the backhaul to support it too, you really get those kind of speeds. I've a friend on the other side of the US with FIOS who has even faster, 150/65mbps again with the backhaul to support the speed.

This is in the US too. There are other countries that claim better.

Comment Also how is the backhaul? (Score 4, Interesting) 142

I mean sure, they have fast FTTH. Fair enough, but that doesn't do you much good if the backhaul to the rest of the Internet isn't sufficient to support the speeds.

This is something that always gets left out of the "OMG t3h fast internetz!!!" articles on Slashdot. A lot of the "really fast" Internet in the world is basically a big WAN where you have a fast line, and thus fast speeds to your neighbors and ISP, but then lack the backhaul to get those kind of speeds to the wider Internet, since that's the really expensive part.

Not saying that's the case here or not, but it is the kind of info that needs to be included to be useful. Along with, of course, the actual speed.

Comment Re:Its called paying attention (Score 1) 364

Actually, it's the opposite. The worst speed to be entering a traffic light is near zero. You've slowed down to a low speed because of someone slowing to turn right ahead of you. The traffic behind you collapses to be nearly bumper to bumper at 15 MPH in a 40 zone. The light is timed for 40 MPH. You don't realize that the light is about to turn yellow, so rather than just coming to a stop, you decide to enter the intersection. Then the light turns yellow and you're moving at a speed that will put you and the two cars behind you in the middle of the intersection when it turns green in the other direction. Whether you floor it to get through the light legally or slam on the brakes and get rear-ended, the car behind you is screwed.

Comment Re:Stop using JavaScript! (Score 1) 1482

There's nothing wrong with JavaScript, language-wise. I mean, sure, I'd prefer for closures to be explicit rather than implicit, in part because it tends to confuse the newbies a bit, but otherwise, it's a reasonable language. The problems mostly stem from:

  • All the built-in functions—the JavaScript DOM, XHR, etc.—which are designed in strange ways that assume everyone understands closures
  • The single-threaded design (not inherent in the language, but mandated by the DOM spec, IIRC)
  • Overuse of completion handlers even for things that really don't need them, mainly to workaround the lack of threading

None of those things would improve with a different language except possibly the first one.

Comment No kidding (Score 2) 518

I'm all for new safety standards... if they are useful. I mean we've made great strides in reducing car fatalities. They've been dropping in absolute and per captia numbers since the late 60s, and in deaths per million vehicle miles traveled since 1921, when we started keeping statistics. That's a really good thing, that while driving more than ever less people die. The major reason is better safety standards, things like mandatory seatbelts, cars that deform and crumple to absorb the energy of an impact and lessen the acceleration shock to the occupants and so on.

However, costs and benefits have to be kept in proportion. How many deaths will something likely prevent, vs what will it cost? This is not many deaths, particularly compared to the number that occur, and I have to imagine the cost will be a fair bit. Particularly in lower end cars. Not only do you need a camera, but you need a display system for it, which probably means a digital instrument cluster. That's a fair bit more up front, and more expensive to maintain.

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