Comment Re:End-to-end encryption? (Score 1) 138
Ah, I see it was probably stealing card numbers stored or entered into computers using keyloggers or other malware, so never mind the TLS.
Comment End-to-end encryption? (Score 1) 138
Why aren't the connections with card processors encrypted end-to-end with SSL/TLS? Then the wifi security, which is outside the card processors' hands, would be irrelevant, and the card numbers would not be exposed to internet routers either. This is the responsibility of the card processors IMO. Everyone knows you don't send credit card numbers over the internet without TLS.
Comment Android is not threatened (Score 1) 292
Sure, there may be some grey areas as to exactly when copyright applies and the GPL comes into effect. But the real risk Android takes by operating in this area is that the copyright holders themselves will feel violated enough by their actions that they will spend the time and money to sue you with no clear-cut probability of winning. Are any Linux copyright holders feeling that violated by the Apache-licensed Android? Do they have enough resources to take on Google over a legal grey area?
Comment HTTPS (Score 2) 221
Another reason sites should enable HTTPS by default everywhere.
Comment Kids don't weigh as much as adults (Score 1) 405
Kids don't weigh as much as adults, in general, so the quality of their furniture isn't as important. Also because they have so much fidgety energy.
Comment How useful is this to content providers? (Score 1) 225
The ISPs say they've never been approached by a content provider with a request to pay for priority transmission... Presumably the content providers have thought about it. Maybe it's just not worth spending the money on?
Submission + - Study finds that valuable patents lose in trial (blogspot.com)
perapuikkonen writes: Patents deemed most valuable by analysts seem to be quite worthless. The almost always lose in the court.
Quote from a paper linked in the TFA:
We designed this study to explore the effects of repeat play on litigation behavior, contributing to a literature on the economics of civil procedure as well as the substance of patent law. But what we found was dramatic and unexpected: The patents and patentees that occupy the most time and attention in court and in public policy debates – the very patents that economists consider the most valuable – are astonishingly weak. Non-practicing entities and software patentees almost never win their cases. That may be a good thing, if you believe that most software patents are bad or that NPEs are bad for society. But it certainly means that the patent system is wasting more of its time than expected dealing with weak patents. And it also suggests that both our measures of patent value and our theories of litigation behavior need some serious reconsideration.
Quote from a paper linked in the TFA:
We designed this study to explore the effects of repeat play on litigation behavior, contributing to a literature on the economics of civil procedure as well as the substance of patent law. But what we found was dramatic and unexpected: The patents and patentees that occupy the most time and attention in court and in public policy debates – the very patents that economists consider the most valuable – are astonishingly weak. Non-practicing entities and software patentees almost never win their cases. That may be a good thing, if you believe that most software patents are bad or that NPEs are bad for society. But it certainly means that the patent system is wasting more of its time than expected dealing with weak patents. And it also suggests that both our measures of patent value and our theories of litigation behavior need some serious reconsideration.
Comment Single Transferable Vote (Score 2, Interesting) 375
I think the system they're looking for is the single transferable vote. With cumulative voting, various interests have to figure out how many candidates they have the numbers to elect and then organize their voters ahead of the election. With STV, the system itself does this all for them and gives fair, proportional results.
Comment Playkey can't be copied? (Score 1) 236
The playkey, unlike the title folder, can't be copied
Bwahahaha!!!
Comment Re:About split (Score 1) 186
Google docs even lets you organize split files in a folder and share the whole lot together. Death to rapidshare!
Comment Not necessarily a thin client (Score 2, Insightful) 664
Google will also allow some data and applications to be accessed offline. Users will be able to listen to music and read eBooks without an internet connection, for example, as well as accessing files stored on USB flash drives. Any application that supports HTML5's offline mode will also be accessible without a net connection.
This basically opens up multitudes of possibilities for offline apps. If you can plug in a USB flash drive, why not a USB hard drive? If you can store and listen to music offline, why not video? And if everything runs in the browser, it just means that the API is javascript. You can do a lot with javascript.
Also, being open source means that forks can add whatever regular linux functionality they want.
I'm interested in what they're doing with X11. Anyone looked at the code?
Submission + - Automatically Generated Status Updates (gizmag.com)
ElectricSteve writes: If you thought the status updates you already see on social networks weren't quite inane enough, prepare for the next level — automatically generated status updates. European researchers are working on a project called Awareness Services and Systems Towards Theory and Realization (ASTRA), and exploring the concept they call "pervasive awareness".
Submission + - First programmable quantum computer is revealed (pcauthority.com.au)
SwiftyNifty writes: The world's first universal programmable quantum computer has been unveiled in Colarado by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, capable of processing two quantum bits or qubits.
Submission + - Mercedes-Benz Launches Mbrace Telematics System (motorauthority.com)
thecarchik writes: Mercedes-Benz, together with Hughes Telematics, is launching a new feature today that will allow owners of its vehicles access to a 18 different services via a nifty telematics system. Called Mbrace, the new system offers everything from a vehicle locator for crowded car parks, somebody to direct you if you get lost or even the ability to order online--all whilst sitting in the driver's seat.
Similar to Ford's Sync system and GM's OnStar, mbrace also enables pairing of smart phones like iPhones and BlackBerrys to the car's electronic interface. Drivers can then use their phones to lock or unlock their cars remotely.
Similar to Ford's Sync system and GM's OnStar, mbrace also enables pairing of smart phones like iPhones and BlackBerrys to the car's electronic interface. Drivers can then use their phones to lock or unlock their cars remotely.
Submission + - We Really Don't Know Jack About Maintenance (acm.org)
davecb writes: The ACM has been kind enough to print Paul Stachour's and my "jack" article about Software Maintenance. Paul first pointed out we and our managers were being foolish back in 1984, when we were still running Unix V7, and if anything it's been getting worse. Turns out maintenance has been a "solved problem in computer science" since at least then, and we're just beginning to rediscover it.
