Comment Re:Demand? (Score 1) 179
There's a nice overlay image here to see the size difference.
Comment Re:Maybe people should be more well-rounded (Score 1) 401
Statistically, the best heart surgeon is the one with them most computer game experience. See http://www.springerlink.com/content/a63nx82mbq2g37b4/
Surgery is just hand-eye coordination, so a specialist should be better.
But for a lot of problems, a good GP can be better than a specialist. Specialists will tend to over-diagnose and over-proscribe within their own field. If you see a psychologist, you'll get psycho-therapy. If you see a psychiatrist, you'll get happy pills. A good GP will recommend surgery, medication, lifestyle changes, or whatever else is most likely to work.
That said, a bad GP will give you a script of antibiotics, and tell you to come back if the symptoms persist.
(Disclaimer - I'm not a doctor, but I'm related to a GP).
Comment Re:Not the same, in several aspects (Score 1) 451
your right - pgp is a pain in the arse to deal with, and well beyond 99% of the population.
i've always considered overly complex encryption models a waste of time - private and public key encryption should be simple and strong. bob uses the public key to encrypt a message that only alice can decrypt with her private key, i think where pgp lost it's way is getting too worried that alice wasn't who alice says she is. technological answers to this question is always a big fail.
at the end of the day, you have to trust that alice is in control of her private key. if you have something sensitive enough that any possibility that this isn't the case is unacceptable, you need more then pgp.
Submission + - People like angry-faced cars (msn.com)
fatalfury writes: "Researchers from the University of Vienna asked 20 males and 20 females to rank vehicles based on their appearance. The list of traits included arrogant, afraid, agreeable, disgusted, extroverted, sad, and others. Cars with more "meaner" traits (such as BMW) ranked higher, whereas cars with "nicer" traits (such as Toyota's Prius) ranked lower. With billions spent on developing new products in the automobile industry, this could spur a trend in meaner looking cars and perhaps explain why sales of the Prius and other green cars are slow to take off with average consumers."
Comment Re:Double-edged sword (Score 1) 214
Agreed. If Google allows the user to choose their own password, you might as well just post your medical history openly on your own website.
I didn't read the article (duh) but if Google plans to monetize this venture further by serving ads, I can only image the future emotional trauma: I just got diagnosed with liver cancer and am reviewing my medical records, and on the sidebar I read funerals-r-us.com is having a special on blue caskets!
I didn't read the article (duh) but if Google plans to monetize this venture further by serving ads, I can only image the future emotional trauma: I just got diagnosed with liver cancer and am reviewing my medical records, and on the sidebar I read funerals-r-us.com is having a special on blue caskets!
Submission + - Who owns your address book? (cnn.com)
kulbirsaini writes: "Fortune has this very good article explaining how social networks are growing and how the address books are being shared. It also talks about a trick that Microsoft tried to secure the Hotmail address books. For more, read this."
Bookmark Second Life released for Linux (linux.com)
Amazon's Ebook The Future of Reading? 354
theodp writes "With a seven-page cover story on The Future of Reading, Newsweek confirms all those rumors of Amazon's imminent introduction an affordable ebook. Kindle, which is named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge, has the dimensions of a paperback, weighs 10.3 oz., and uses E Ink technology on a 6-inch screen powered by a battery that gets up to 30 hours from a 2-hour charge. Kindle's real breakthrough is its EVDO-like wireless connectivity, which allows it to work anywhere, not just at Wi-Fi hotspots. More than 88,000 titles will be on sale at the Kindle store at launch, with NYT best sellers priced at $9.99."
Feed Low Doses Of Ecstasy Associated With Decline In Verbal Memory (sciencedaily.com)
Even low doses of Ecstasy may be associated with a decline in language-related memory, according to a new report.
MS Wants To Identify All Web Surfers 281
Moochman writes "New Scientist reports on a technology Microsoft is developing to identify users based on their browsing habits. Quote: 'The software could get its raw information from a number of sources, including a new type of 'cookie' program that records the pages visited. Alternatively, it could use your PC's own cache of web pages, or proxy servers could maintain records of sites visited. So far it can only guess gender and age with any accuracy,' but the aim is to be able to identify name, occupation and location as well. On a related note, The Inquirer reports on Microsoft's plans to widen the use of its identity-verification technology CardSpace, which is built into Windows Vista and available as an add-on to XP. It's being envisioned as an identity solution for the entire internet: says Kim Cameron, pioneer of the technology, 'We feel it has to solve all use cases.' (Aha, so the anonymous use cases, too, eh?) One might ask, with all of this user-ID information on hand, how long will it be until the Feds come knocking on Microsoft's door asking for help? They already have."
Submission + - After 9 years, Bugzilla moves up to 3.0
BuggyUser writes: Bugzilla, the popular application to track and manage software development bug reports, has moved up to version 3.0. The 2.x series has been in service for the last nine years. From the article "According to the Bugzilla 3.0 release announcement, some of the new features in this version include custom fields, support for the Apache mod_perl module, per-product permissions, an XML-RPC interface, and the ability to create and edit bugs via email. A demo site has been set up where users can test the new version before downloading."
Submission + - Pedophiles in Second Life?
tmk writes: "German news show Report Mainz discovered child pornography in in Second Life. The report shows both virtual abuse of avatars and exchange of real child pornography in Second Life. German prosecutos started investigations, Robin Harper of Linden Lab promised to cooperate with the police."
Submission + - Overseas Hackers Steal 22,396 SSN's
ShelteredCoder writes: Got an email today to check out a story about the University of Missouri. A hacker broke into one of the systems and stole a bunch of SSN's. From the story:
A recent attack on the University of Missouri system computer database allowed overseas intruders to retrieve 22,396 names and Social Security numbers of individuals associated with the university...
A recent attack on the University of Missouri system computer database allowed overseas intruders to retrieve 22,396 names and Social Security numbers of individuals associated with the university...
DMCA Takedown Notice For a Fake ID 563
TrippTDF writes "Rachel Hyman, an artist and bartender in New York City, maintains a blog where she regularly posts images of fake IDs she confiscates from would-be underage drinkers, along with a description of the confiscation. Recently, one of her posts (Google cache) was taken down when the owner of the fake ID invoked the DMCA against Blogspot. Can one claim a forged document as a copyrighted work of art?"
Submission + - Did Comcast raise their upload cap?
froboy writes: I just ran a speed test at speedtest.net and my Boston to NYC connection was ~15000 kb/s up and ~2000 kb/s down. In the past I have never been able to exceed 360 kb/s down. I had similar upload speeds to Florida as well. All of this happened after power cycling my router when performance was painfully slow. Has anyone else had the same experience? Did Comcast finally realize that people actually want decent upload speeds or are they just giving preference to the speedtest?
