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Comment: Re:Why not just wait? (Score 2) 133

by Dewin (#39773499) Attached to: Brain Scan Can Predict Math Mistakes

At least some of the MCSE-related exams do as well, though they're adaptive in a different manner -- if you miss a question on one subject area, it asks more (harder) questions on that subject to determine if it was just a tiny mistake or if your knowledge on that subject is actually lacking. The drawback to the format is you can't go back and revise your answers before time is up since, if you could, you could pay close attention to the questions being asked and go "Oh, I must have picked the wrong answer to this one, let's try this other answer."

The net result is a much shorter test than when I took the NT Server 4.0 exam (70-067) way back when (a few months before they changed to the adaptive format.)

(Disclaimer: I never actually did anything with my (now defunct) certification, I just had a high-school level class (as a pilot program) that actually taught it and included a trip to take the actual test.)

Comment: Re:Disincentive? (Score 1) 234

by Dewin (#38269336) Attached to: An Easy Way To Curb Smart-Phone Thieves, In Australia

...kind of the same reasoning they use to justify high ETF's that still cost over $100 one month before the contract ends.

T-Mobile pro-rates ETFs. My wife and I are changing plans with them in a couple of weeks to save $50/mo, but it'll be costing us $50 per line in ETFs on the current plan (presumably because the new plan is unsubsidized and the existing one isn't). The reason we're waiting two weeks is because we're right on the cut from when their ETF goes from $100/line to $50/line.

I believe there was a class-action lawsuit against some other carriers (Verizon I think?) about ETFs that basically forced them to pro-rate ETFs as well, so I don't think this is exclusive to our carrier.

Comment: Re:What kind of data? (Score 1) 262

by Dewin (#38014618) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Post-Quantum Asymmetric Key Exchange?

I'd really like to know what kind of information you have that still needs to be a secret in the year 2111 when we'll all be driving fusion powered flying time traveling cars and vacationing in hotels on the Moon and Mars and carrying petabyes of data on our iMicrosoftPods with end-to-end DRM that terminates in chip implanted in our brains.

The keys to the DRM, of course.

Comment: Re:Eliminate all Chinese imports (Score 2) 264

by Dewin (#37995838) Attached to: US Military Trying To Weed Out Counterfeit Parts

In China, if your $180 camcorder breaks due to a burst electrolytic capacitor, you can take it to the corner electronics repair shop and pay somebody $10 to open it up, unsolder the bad capacitor, solder in a new one, and send you home with a working camcorder. In America, $10 wouldn't even pay the postage to ship it to a repair center, let alone the $100-200 or more you'd have to pay for the actual repair labor.

I have a TV that, due to some rough handling in a move, had one of the jacks for component input break off. It still worked if you could manage to get a cord to stay in just right (I think we had a solution involving tape, cardboard and clay), but otherwise was very fickle.

Presumably, somebody skilled in electronics could get a $2 jack and with 10-20 minutes or so solder a replacement into place. Instead, a TV repair shop wanted $75 just to diagnose the problem much less start fixing it.

I kept the TV (and did not end up getting it repaired), but the fact that someone here in the US would be more likely to spend $500+ on a new TV and just throw away the old one "because it's broken" is stupid, and I'd love to go to some shop around the corner and get it fixed for $10.

Comment: Re:Ooh! I have a solution for this one! (Score 1) 164

by Dewin (#37923358) Attached to: Duqu Installer Exploits Windows Kernel Zero Day

Instead of using email attachments, make it company policy to drop the attachments on a network drive, and instead share intranet links.

Anyone who spear phishes with attachments will fail. Now they will need intranet access, which can be significantly harder to acquire.

This works well, right up until the point where you need an attachment from someone outside the company.

Say... the latest revision to a requirements doc being sent back and forth between a client and a vendor...

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