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Comment Re:QR codes don't all have destinations (Score 2) 234

But every implementation I've seen of a QR code reader in Android and IOS also gives you the option to inspect the content visually before acting on it. They ask if you want to proceed.

Of course one could argue the click-thru generation does not know enough to evaluate the content, but then these are the same people that no amount of malware/antivirus software can protect.

Is the confirmation something like OK/Cancel? I also tend to click OK buttons without hardly even reading them. That's why potentially security sensitive questions shouldn't have such simple buttons, but rather two (radio?) buttons that require you to read (and hopefully understand) what you're doing, such as: "Replace network settings from QR" and "Keep the existing network settings".

Comment Re:You're all wrong, and will be until about 2022 (Score 1) 79

SELinux doesn't address the problem. I agree with grandparent, although I think the focus should be more about on the UI side. The really low level implementation could perhaps be addressed with SELinux, but it's not a practical solution for any GUI app currently. For example how would you prevent Open Office from deleting everything in your home dir with SELinux, while still allowing it to read and write arbitrary documents? Yeah, you can't unless you manually go changing the labels every time you want to write somewhere.

I thought about how to implement an actually secure operating system in 2004, where you could safely just run any random program from internet, but no one cared to listen and I moved on.

Comment Whoa, you can dynamically open ports! (Score 2) 176

The apps can tell the firewall to open up a port for a period of time and then shut it back down.

I mean, it sounds almost like they could listen() a specific port, and once they're done with it, they could close() it! If all applications could always do this automatically, I think we could actually get rid of manual firewall configuration entirely!

Comment Re:Then (Score 1) 321

Obvious non native English speakers do not understand that "then" is a form of time and "than" is a form of consequence.

I'm pretty sure it's the native speakers who have the most trouble with this. Many foreign countries teach English primarily by reading and writing it. Then the than/then difference is obvious. It's only when you learn English by listening that you have trouble with this. I only started having these kind of accidents once I started thinking/speaking fluently in English (not just then/than, but things like file/fail).

Oh yes, I am a native Dutch speaker.

Maybe they teach you English differently down there than in Finland :)

Comment Re:INterface guidlines (Score 1) 168

Look at the first "Look and feel" dialog. What the hell is that "cancel" button doing in there? There are two choices. One of them is already selected, but the OK button is greyed out. I think, since I've never used Vista.. Even if that greying out means it's simply not focused, what is the purpose of the OK/Cancel there? Does the cancel mean the same as the second option? Does it mean it's going to ask you again the next time? It should be clearly said there, not left to user's guesstimation. I guess it's an improvement, but that page is definitely not something that should be pointed to as an example of good UI design.

Comment Re:I think Reply All is very useful (Score 5, Informative) 256

>>>Hitting reply-all on old emails destroys threading on pretty much all clients that support it.

(1) Don't care because it saves me typing ~50 emails.
(2) Not if you change the subject. Then it starts a new thread.

No it doesn't. If you hit reply button, it adds In-Reply-To: and/or References: headers, so your new message will still show up as belonging to an old thread. Changing the subject doesn't change this in any email clients I know of.

Comment Re:Research, really? (Score 1) 98

Q: What other artificial life/intelligence projects are you keeping tabs on? What should we be excited about?
A: Oh, I’m the wrong person to ask. I try not to look. ...and then he goes on about not wanting to be "polluted" as an artist. While claiming this is not a game, but research.

Research and science, that is uninterested in what is being done in the field... I have a hard time coming up with something that fits that bill except pseudo-science.

Well, considering how awesome all the AIs that all the REAL researchers have already managed to produce, I'm shocked that anyone even considers trying any alternative approaches, without even thinking about how such magnificent beings came into existence. I mean, how could you possibly compete with the researchers' AIs that just in a few more years will already be available for everyone to run in their own computers, performing all kinds of complex tasks only by describing them to the AI. As a programmer myself, I fear it's the end of my days as the recently developed AIs will soon out-program myself, generating perfect code and design themselves.

Comment Re:Who needs the URL bar? (Score 1) 343

I bet phishers will love this feature...

Well, google probably fares much better for most people than typing the URL directly. There's a reason why scammers register typoed URLs.

Then there are of course a lot of people who already use google to type any web addresses, not realizing there's even such a thing as URL bar.

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