Comment Re:Another variable to consider (Score 1) 165
Parent didn't say the oil boils, s/he said there was boiling going on (the water in the food) in oil. Which is quite correct.
Submission + - Exponential Algorithm in Windows Update Slowing XP Machines (arstechnica.com)
jones_supa writes: An interesting bug regarding update dependency calculation has been found in Windows XP. By design, machines using Windows Update retrieve patch information from Microsoft's update servers (or possibly WSUS in a company setting). That patch information contains information about each patch: what software it applies to and, critically, what historic patch or patches the current patch supersedes. Unfortunately, the Windows Update client components used an algorithm with exponential scaling when processing these lists. Each additional superseded patch would double the time taken to process the list. With the operating system now very old, those lists have grown long, sometimes to 40 or more items. On a new machine, that processing appeared to be almost instantaneous. It is now very slow. After starting the system, svchost.exe is chewing up the entire processor, sometimes for an hour or more at a time. Wait long enough after booting and the machine will eventually return to normalcy. Microsoft thought that it had this problem fixed in November's Patch Tuesday update after it culled the supersedence lists. That update didn't appear to fix the problem. The company thought that its December update would also provide a solution, with even more aggressive culling. That didn't seem to help either. For one reason or another, Microsoft's test scenarios for the patches didn't reflect the experience of real Windows XP machines.
Submission + - The ultimate anti-action online game: Waiting In Line 3D
Freshly Exhumed writes: Looking a lot like the venerable Wolfenstein 3D or similar Id action games of the DOS days, the new online game Waiting in Line 3D was released Monday by developer Rajeev Basu, and was played 50,000 times in its first 24 hours of activity... er... inactivity. Is the complete lack of any action a brilliant satire of computer gaming? Is it software-based performance art? Is it silly? Judge for yourself, if you can meet the challenge!
Submission + - Boston Cops Outraged Over Plans To Watch Their Movements Using GPS 3
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The Boston Globe reports that the pending use of GPS tracking devices, slated to be installed in Boston police cruisers, has many officers worried that commanders will monitor their every move. Boston police administrators say the system gives dispatchers the ability to see where officers are, rather than wait for a radio response and supervisors insist the system will improve their response to emergencies. Using GPS, they say, accelerates their response to a call for a shooting or an armed robbery. “We’ll be moving forward as quickly as possible,” says former police commissioner Edward F. Davis. “There are an enormous amount of benefits. . . . This is clearly an important enhancement and should lead to further reductions in crime.” But some officers said they worry that under such a system they will have to explain their every move and possibly compromise their ability to court street sources. “No one likes it. Who wants to be followed all over the place?” said one officer who spoke anonymously because department rules forbid police from speaking to the media without authorization. “If I take my cruiser and I meet [reluctant witnesses] to talk, eventually they can follow me and say why were you in a back dark street for 45 minutes? It’s going to open up a can of worms that can’t be closed.” Meanwhile civil libertarians are relishing the rank and file's own backlash. "The irony of police objecting to GPS technology for privacy reasons is hard to miss in the aftermath of United States v. Jones," says Woodrow Hartzog. "But the officers’ concerns about privacy illustrate just how revealing GPS technology can be. Departments are going to have to confront the chilling effect this surveillance might have on police behavior."
Submission + - TSA Screener Bled to Death because Police wouldn't let Paramedics Into LAX (foxnews.com)
McGruber writes: An update on the tragic Gunman Opens Fire At LAX (http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/11/01/2014210/gunman-opens-fire-at-lax) story: FoxNews reports (www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/15/lax-security-officer-bled-for-33-minutes-as-help-stood-by) that shot Transportation Security Administration Officer Gerardo Hernandez laid helplessly bleeding after a gunman opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport while paramedics waited 150 yards away because police had not declared the terminal safe to enter.
33 minutes passed before wounded Transportation Security Administration Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was about 20 feet from an exit, was wheeled out by police to an ambulance. For all but five of those minutes, there was no threat from the suspected gunman — he had been shot and was in custody.
Formal conclusions may take months to reach, but what is already known raises the possibility that a lack of coordination between police and fire officials prevented speedy treatment for Hernandez and other victims. Victor Payes, President of the Union Local for TSA Workers at LAX explained: "I basically think there's a lack of coordination between entities at this airport. That lack of coordination may have led to something that shouldn't have happened. We may be talking about Officer Hernandez as a survivor."
33 minutes passed before wounded Transportation Security Administration Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was about 20 feet from an exit, was wheeled out by police to an ambulance. For all but five of those minutes, there was no threat from the suspected gunman — he had been shot and was in custody.
Formal conclusions may take months to reach, but what is already known raises the possibility that a lack of coordination between police and fire officials prevented speedy treatment for Hernandez and other victims. Victor Payes, President of the Union Local for TSA Workers at LAX explained: "I basically think there's a lack of coordination between entities at this airport. That lack of coordination may have led to something that shouldn't have happened. We may be talking about Officer Hernandez as a survivor."
Submission + - 5 ridiculous tech fees you're still paying
Esther Schindler writes: None of us like to spend money (except on shiny new toys). But even we curmudgeons can understand that companies need to charge for things that cost them money; and profit-making is at the heart of our economy.
Still, several charges appear on our bills that can drive even the most complacent techie into a screaming fit. How did this advertised price turn into that much on the final bill? Why are they charging for it in the first place? Herewith, five fees that make no sense at all — and yet we still fork over money for them.
For example: "While Internet access is free in coffee shops, some public transit, and even campsites, as of 2009 15% of hotels charged guests for the privilege of checking their e-mail and catching up on watching cat videos. Oddly, budget and midscale hotel chains are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi, while luxurious hotels — already costing the traveler more — regularly ding us."
Still, several charges appear on our bills that can drive even the most complacent techie into a screaming fit. How did this advertised price turn into that much on the final bill? Why are they charging for it in the first place? Herewith, five fees that make no sense at all — and yet we still fork over money for them.
For example: "While Internet access is free in coffee shops, some public transit, and even campsites, as of 2009 15% of hotels charged guests for the privilege of checking their e-mail and catching up on watching cat videos. Oddly, budget and midscale hotel chains are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi, while luxurious hotels — already costing the traveler more — regularly ding us."
Submission + - US Gov't Seizes 130+ More Domains In Crackdown (torrentfreak.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: The DoJ and ICE have once again taken up the banner of anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting by seizing over 130 domains allegedly involved in those activities. TorrentFreak points out that this newest digital raid happened just before 'Cyber Monday,' a time when consumers are encouraged to do a bunch of online shopping. From the article: 'Compared to previous seizure rounds, there are also some notable differences to report. This time the action appears to be limited to sites that directly charge visitors for their services. Most of the domains are linked to the selling of counterfeit clothing (e.g. 17nflshop.com), and at least one (autocd.com) sold pirated auto software. Last year several sites were taken down because they allowed their users to access free music and movie downloads, and these were followed by several streaming services a few months later. No similar sites have been reported in the current round.'
Submission + - Why everyone hates the IT department (pcpro.co.uk) 1
Barence writes: "Why are IT staff treated with near universal contempt? PC Pro has investigated why everyone hates the IT department. From cultivating a culture of "them and us", to unrealistic demands from end users and senior management, to the inevitable tension created when employees try and bring their own equipment into the office, PC Pro identifies the key reasons for the lack of respect for IT."
Submission + - Wounded Copyright Troll Still Alive and Kicking
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Steve Green writes that even as defendents who defeated Righthaven in court and won their attorney’s fees complain they haven’t been paid a total of $216,000 and try to seize Righthaven assets, the copyright troll proved that it is alive and kicking by filing a brief that District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas was wrong to find an Oregon nonprofit was protected by fair use in posting an entire R-J story on the relationship between immigrants and Las Vegas police. A key factor in Mahan’s decision was that the defendant, the Center for Intercultural Organizing in Portland, couldn’t harm the market for a copyright to the story Righthaven obtained for lawsuit purposes from Stephens Media. Mahan also “found that because the work was a news article, the totality of its content was informational and permissible for productive use by others,” Righthaven's outside attorney Shawn Mangano wrote in his brief that "in reaching this erroneous conclusion, the district court failed to accord any degree of creative effort to the work (story) whatsoever.” In a second appeals brief, Mangano appeared to face an uphill challenge in arguing that Righthaven had standing to sue or should have been allowed to sue after amending its Stephens Media lawsuit contract to fix defects — assertions rejected so far by six Nevada judges. The defendants in the appeals have not yet filed their briefs, and it’s likely to be months before the appeals court hears arguments on the cases."
Comment "Spurred by the discovery of an amateur astronomer (Score 2) 38
Hey, look everybody! It's an amateur astronomer!
Submission + - ReplayTV discontinuing TV program guide (digitalnetworksna.com)
An anonymous reader writes: ReplayTV is turning off the built-in TV guide at the end of July. There will be no program listings, so the only way to record a program will be by manually selecting a channel number and time. No more selecting a program by name. This will turn many units into bricks. I have several early units that included a lifetime subscription to the program guide. I guess my lifetime has expired.
Submission + - Mis-read IP almost lands Australian man in jail (superuser.com)
An anonymous reader writes: This writer on the Super User Blog was approached by police who suspected him of impersonating somebody online and hacking into their Facebook account to post defamatory content. In reality, it turns out that it was a different user with the same TeleCo. When police requested the IP address of the hacker, a representative at the user's iPhone carrier accidentally swapped two numbers in his IP address, leading police to the wrong suspect. Fortunately, this user escaped without any charges, and received a discount from the TeleCo for his troubles, but it's a grave warning of what can happen when information is misread in the digital era.
Submission + - RMS: Throw Down Your e-Book Chains!
theodp writes: Richard Stallman is kind of a Ralph Nader for our digital world, so his latest essay — The Danger of E-books — might be thought of as kind of an Unsafe at Any Speed for e-books. CNET reports that RMS is bemoaning the e-book's loss of freedoms that most of us take for granted with physical books and placing the blame on corporate powers. 'Technologies that could have empowered us are used to chain us instead,' RMS writes. 'We must reject e-books until they respect our freedom...E-books need not attack our freedom, but they will if companies get to decide. It's up to us to stop them. The fight has already started.' Them there's fightin' words, right Steve?
Submission + - State-changing metallic material developed (gizmag.com)
cylonlover writes: We may not yet have the liquid metal depicted in the Terminator movies, but scientists have now developed something that's vaguely along the same lines. German materials scientist Dr. Jörg Weißmüller and Chinese research scientist Hai-Jun Jin have created a metallic material that can change back and forth between being strong but brittle and soft but malleable, via the application of an electrical current.
Journal Journal: Osama bin Laden reported dead, body in US hands 24
So, anyone want to contribute some pigskin to line his coffin?
