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Comment Re:Makes perfect sense (Score 2) 142

If you cared to RTFA you would know that there were two failed attempts to digitize the records one in 1987 that was canceled in 1996 and the second in 1997 which had a delivery date of 2008 that was scrapped because it didn't work. The first attempt failed because of lack of technical oversight as an English lit PHD was in charge of the oversight. Both programs had issues processing the vast array of documents with slight variations to them. Large government IT projects have a history of failing miserably, Obama care is the most recent, a research group found only 5% of these large projects succeed. I imagine the scope of the project is not clearly defined due to lack of technical expertise when writing the requirements, the technical oversight is lacking, and the magnitude of the project is underestimated in most of these cases. Anybody that has experience managing these large projects is not going to take a huge pay cut, move to Pittsburgh, and work in a cave. It's not lack of desire that these projects fail it's lack of expertise to get these projects to succeed.

Submission + - First ever coding world championships - Hello World Open 2014 (helloworldopen.com)

Submitted by shonkone
shonkone writes: Top coders set to defend their country’s honor in the first World Championship.

This Spring, coding will be brought to the global spotlight in a context we might not be used to. The creative technology company Reaktor, together with the mobile game developer Supercell, will host the first ever Coding World Championships: Hello World Open 2014. About 10 000 teams of top coders are expected to compete.

The challenge of each team is to create an artificial intelligence — also known as a bot — to take part in a digital car racing game.

Comment Re:Impressed yet disappointed with Lego (Score 3, Informative) 60

by jimbolauski (#46523307) Attached to: Lego Robot Solves Rubik's Cube Puzzle In 3.253 Seconds
The first thing you need to know when bonding anything is the material you are bonding, most Lego bricks are made of ABS plastic and I would assume the ones you had are as well. The way you bond ABS is by chemically welding it, you can find the solvent glue at most hardware stores (plumbing section). The glue will be black because there will be abs filler in there to fill voids because it is used in plumbing and must be water tight. The second option is to use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) to chemically weld it, MEK is clear and has no filler. Most hardware stores don't sell MEK anymore but a MEK alternative that may not work. MEK is some nasty stuff wear gloves when you use it and work in a well ventilated area with a respirator, if you get any on your gloves change them as the MEK will be eating through them shortly.

Comment Re:for the record (Score 1) 406

by jimbolauski (#46462761) Attached to: Apple Demands $40 Per Samsung Phone For 5 Software Patents
Big companies need protection the same way all companies need protection. They invest lots of R&D money into projects, and have to make it back. Under your wild wild west system inventors will have to make back half their investment in the first year, in the following years the market will shrink because people have all ready bought their product and now there is competition in the remaining market forcing prices down. Patent protection is so important to the success of the country that it is in the constitution.

Comment Re:Shazbot! (Score 1) 352

by jimbolauski (#46430205) Attached to: Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men
He was doing the same thing to my other neighbors too, they were both young women living together. They wouldn't even use their back yard so their mental distress could be proven, the prosecutor still wouldn't do anything. When they went to get a protection order because they couldn't get him charged their lawyer advised them that dumping refuse and walking by their house was not enough and advised them to settle on a civil no contact agreement (basically a toothless agreement that will agitate the magistrate enough that they might lower the bar for a protection order).

Comment Re:Shazbot! (Score 1) 352

by jimbolauski (#46422883) Attached to: Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men
You should read the actual law not somebody on the internet's interpretation of it. Below is the relevant section of the actual law.

No person by engaging in a pattern of conduct shall knowingly cause another person to believe that the offender will cause physical harm to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person.

If you read carefully you will see that the person must knowingly cause mental distress which is defined here.

"Mental distress" means any of the following:

(a) Any mental illness or condition that involves some temporary substantial incapacity;

(b) Any mental illness or condition that would normally require psychiatric treatment, psychological treatment, or other mental health services, whether or not any person requested or received psychiatric treatment, psychological treatment, or other mental health services.

That means the prosecutor must prove that you were following a person with the intent to intimidate or cause mental harm. I am intimately familiar with this law as I live in Ohio and have a crazy neighbor (back yard) that would drive by my house and dump trash in my yard, walk by my house dump trash and put tree branches behind my car, dump soda on my car, which I caught on camera. The prosecutor said that they could only get him for littering because he didn't cause mental distress or threaten me.

Comment Re:Shazbot! (Score 1) 352

by jimbolauski (#46412625) Attached to: Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men

Sure, legally. At some point such behavior by an actual human being would creep the shit out of you and fulfill the definition of stalking, which is definitely illegal in the US (specifics vary by state). If only such laws could be applied to automated cameras and databases...

If all you do if follow someone on public property you are not stalking them in a legal sense. Trespassing, vandalism, threats, ... must be present for there to be stalking. A protection order would not be written for simply following someone unless it was uncontested.

Comment Re:Shazbot! (Score 1) 352

by jimbolauski (#46411947) Attached to: Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men
Legally there is not and trying to separate the two without stepping on 1st amendment rights would be next to impossible. Also note that the cameras are simply mounted near intersections or other busy areas and plate numbers are extracted. There is no way to differentiate recording at intersections and a gas station on the corner having security cameras, the only way is to make tracking information of a person or their property the property of that person then it can only be released by that person.

Comment Re:Shazbot! (Score 5, Insightful) 352

by jimbolauski (#46411673) Attached to: Vast Surveillance Network Powered By Repo Men

Well, in this case it's some capitalists taking advantage of a business opportunity to spy on you. What bothers me is I don't recall signing any sort of release on this, when someone wants to look where I've been driving my car.

You don't have to sign a release to be recorded in public as you have no expectation of privacy. Unless a law is passed making it illegal use public images to track an individual or vehicle there is nothing to stop this sort of thing.

Comment Re:That's one heck of a very **BROAD** Patent ! (Score 1) 258

by jimbolauski (#46386913) Attached to: Inventor Has Waited 43 Years For Patent Approval
Unfortunately if his application were so trivial to reject they would simply do so. I imagine his patent got lost then rediscovered 20 years later, at that point the PTO realized he had a valid patient that would give him rights over a huge sector of the market and decided sitting on it was the best thing to do. All we can do is speculate as to the validity of his patent because his application is simply not available to view.

Comment Re:The worst kind of human beings (Score 2) 144

by jimbolauski (#46369827) Attached to: Study: Half of In-App Purchases Come From Only 0.15% of Players
Should casino's be shut down because some people spend more then $10,000 a month gambling, should the NFL be dismantled because some people paid $10,000 for two seats to the Superbowl? People are paying for entertainment, just because some value it more then you or I, does not make it stealing.

Comment Not For Spies (Score 2) 162

by jimbolauski (#46366809) Attached to: Inside Boeing's New Self-Destructing Smartphone
The biggest issue with this phone is not weather it can be tampered with without the owners knowledge, but that anyone that has one of these phones will be instantly noticeable as a high value target. The only people that this device makes sense for are public figures, senators, congressmen, CEO's of large defense contractors, ... Everyone else will be better protected by following simple security precautions and not carrying around a large flag that says I'm worth the effort.

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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