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Comment Re:Google should talk with Tesla (Score 4, Insightful) 236

I expect it is an issue of conflicting arrogance from Google and Detroit.
Tech companies do things fast, if it doesn't work, well it was worth a shot now for the next project.
Car companies need to make sure the car lasts for years, a ton a regulations are on them to make sure the car runs and is safe. Every glitch can mean you have to go to a congressional hearing.
Recalls cost a lot of money and it isn't just a software patch. In general things in Detroit are much harder then Google probably expects.

Comment Re:I have an idea (Score 1) 198

Normally poor quality isn't from the product designer, but some guy in middle management who want his bonus ships the product out before all the issues has been worked out. Then after he ships it out, factoring that they can fix the problems later on, then decides to move all the workforce onto an other project.

Comment It's also a public health issue (Score 1) 196

No, really. So a big problem these days is people damaging their hearing from listening at excessive volumes on their portable devices. This is a real issue and is going to have some nasty effects as people age.

Part of the problem is just people wanting to listen too loud, but part of the problem is shitty earbuds. If you have shitty earbuds, that don't seal off outside noise well, don't sound good, and have poor power handling, it is more likely you drive them too loud to compensate. Also, the poor power handling means that when you do drive them, they start to clip and distort, which raises high frequency harmonics, which causes more damage.

Given what a big presence Apple has in the portable music market, their shitty earbuds are a real issue. It would go a ways to helping the situation if they'd include some earbuds that weren't worthless. They don't need to be great, just not worthless, properly designed.

Comment Youtube isn't for TV (Score 1) 157

There is lots on there. A big bit of content that'll do 60fps no problem is video games. Lots of channels that feature games in various forms. So they'll be able to show content at 60fps no issue.

Also many AVCHD cameras do 60fps these days. It is part of the AVCHD 2.0 spec, but some like Panasonic did it before the spec update. So a lot of individuals have cameras that'll shoot 60fps no issue, and if Youtube will take it, they can upload it as is.

Comment If only this was a Microsoft issue. (Score 0, Flamebait) 215

If it were a Microsoft Issue, this would be so a bug and not a feature.

Linux/Unix are an old design of an OS. There are some designs in its main way of doing things that do not work in today's much more secure environment.

Things have been upgraded Telnet replaced with SSH, hacks on FTP to make it more secure. But the underpinning is still there. Back in the day where computers needed to do things.

Comment Re:IF.. (Score 1) 561

We all love to be part of a social clique that will make you seem better then the rest of the world.
Mensa is one of those groups that requires a high IQ score.
Having a high IQ doesn't mean you are a good person or a desirable member of society. Just that you are good at tests meant to measure your IQ.

The IQ test is better at finding people who have mental retardation who may need additional assistance.

Comment Re:What's the solution? (Score 4, Informative) 205

Well companies can do much more to improve on that front though.
1. Architect the product, not just build it. All too often the focus is on meeting business objectives and security is added later. An product that was well thought-out and designed handles security as part of the core design as well as the business objectives.

2. No Back door, design the program so the programmers can't get in without having rights to do so. The password DB should be only managed by the computer and humans shouldn't be able to figure it out.

3. Infrastructure planning. The Website shouldn't also be the Database server. The Database should only allow access from select sources, and give permissions that are appropriate to the user.

4. Plan for failure. Figure if someone breaks into the system find way to minimize the impact. Make sure the Salt for your hashes are hard to find, etc...

Comment Nice to see. (Score 5, Interesting) 216

Right now at the Gas Pump we have 87, 89 and 91 gas.
Having this change to Gas, Charging, and Hydrogen would be a welcome sign.
The problem we have with our energy policies is that we are trying to find a sliver bullet. This isn't the case anymore, we will need to have a more diverse set of engines that run on different methods. This will allow for greater competition in the energy market and keep price per performance uniform.

Comment Re:Mark of times (Score 0) 178

For the most part these paid bonuses are not as much cheats but shortcuts from hours of grinding.
The cheat codes of old, had things like God Mode where you just won't dye, so you can go on and fight the bad guy boss bare handed if you want to. Or just automatically give you the ultimate weapon, or boost your stats to the max.

Now the paid stuff is usually gust giving you extra game cash to buy equipment where otherwise you will need to play the game for days to earn it.

Now also in the old days, most "free" games were shareware. Often you had a few levels then you needed to buy the game. Today you get the full game however you either are asked the pay for game upgrades, or sift threw adds. You are still paying for the game one way or another. Unless you were happy with just playing the first few levels.

Comment Or, on the PC (Score 2) 178

We get to have cheat codes whenever we want and you can go shove your DLC up your ass. Just fire up a memory editor/debugger, CheatEngine being a free purpose designed one, and you are good to go.

The whole "selling cheat codes" thing is just so scummy. Particularly since I think it can lead to the "pay2win" mentality of "Maybe we should make this harder, so people need to give us money for cheats!"

Comment Re:That's not far fetched. (Score 1) 188

The most amazing thing about the universe is the smaller something gets the more complex it is. Which is at odds to our general world view, where larger things are more complex then smaller things.

Just the fact the odds that we are hear thinking about it is such amazingly low probability Infinity/finite is practically 0% chance that we exist.

Comment Re: I can stop any time!!! (Score 2) 710

That is the reason for American Strength.
WWII Ended.
The US was one of the few major countries not ravaged by wars.
Having a monopoly on nuclear weapons, we were not in threat of retaliation for an other war.
The Men came back and with the GI bill many of them went to college.
After dealing with the Great Depression and WWII the population was starving to take advantage of the modern age, Cars, Radio, TV, a Home of their own.
As part of the great depression a lot of public works projects and infrastructure paid off. As well with the war effort manufacturing became optimized.

So we had all this stuff while the rest of the world is trying to rebuild. So the 1950's and 1960's was America's golden age. By the Mid 60's the rest of the world has been rebuilt and are in the process of getting back on track.

American dominance is less about how much better people we are, but more about being lucky enough to get a head start after WWII
 

Comment Re:oh boy (Score 1) 274

The problem is while the money is going back to the US. It isn't a 1 for 1 improvement in American jobs.
American Companies are efficient, they are getting damn too efficient for the average working Joe.
Automation, electronic quality checks in the like. Means a a factory 30 years ago needed 500 people to keep up with demand needs about 50 people to today. Most of these 50 people are paid more, however there will be some at minimum wage too.

Comment Re:That's a risk you take investing (Score 1) 120

Only if there's some kind of spec guarantee. If we have a contract where I promise to deliver a system of X spec to you for Y dollars then yes, I have to do that, or refund your money. However if I say "I'm trying to make a new system, here's the specs we are aiming for, want to invest?" You can't then get mad if it falls short, not everything ends up being the same from design to implementation (ask Intel with regards to NetBurst).

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