Comment Longer article on same subject (Score 2) 47
The linked article only showed two paragraphs. Here's a longer one from The Dong-A ILBO from July 1st: Researchers caught using hidden prompts to sway AI.
Comment plain text passwords? ??? (Score 1) 17
full database of email addresses and plaintext passwords
Why would anyone have plaintext passwords lying around unless they were an idio....
Oh wait, nevermind.
Comment Don't forget antique cars (Score 1) 93
A typical 25 year old "classic car" will have a CD player.
Comment Re:Endowment? (Score 1) 2
If endowment money were available for this, they would've tapped it already.
Most endowments have restrictions. In most cases, the principal can't be touched, and the interest can only be used according to the donor's wishes.
Comment Re:And I warned AMC that..... (Score 1) 183
I will be attending their theaters even less now.
I'm still trying to figure out how to attend theaters for less than 0 minutes per year.
Comment Do not look into laser with remaining ... (Score 1) 1
... intestine???
Comment SSD/HDD wear, and (Score 2) 52
battery.
That, and a something that indicates if the computer (or, more specifically, each individual replaceable component) has ever experienced liquid damage or a severe shock/hard drop.
Comment Going after the wrong info (Score 1) 1
For the most part, the info I want (but can't always easily get) includes:
* Release date of the computer and release date of each of its major parts (CPU, etc.). This indicates likely time-to-obsolescence.
* A very recent and thorough diagnostic report. This indicates overall hardware health.
* As part of the diagnostic report, for parts that are expected to wear out well before the computer is going to be scrapped anyway, some indication of the remaining useful life. HDDs, SDDs, and batteries are your primary concerns here.
* A list of what parts are user-replaceable and at what cost and difficulty.
* A visual inspection of the insides and outsides to check for things like liquid damage, rust/corrosion, bad capacitors, and plain old physical abuse/wear-and-tear. This indicates possible "submarine/time-bomb" issues.
A certified repair-history or certified "mechanics inspection" is a plus but it isn't required.
After all, we are talking about devices usually worth less than $2000, not devices usually worth over 4 times that much.
Comment Re:Is this an ad? (Score 1) 24
Seriously. This sounds like an ad. "The new version of our software is out, and ITS BETTER!"
You know Blender is free open source software, right? Slashdot even helped it to become free and open source many years ago.
Comment Re:Asymmetric upload speeds? (Score 3, Insightful) 80
Unless you're running services out of your link why would you need symmetric speeds? If you need symmetric speeds get a business plan.
What if I'm a DropBox/OneDrive subscriber storing hundreds of megabits per second to local storage that is also backed up to a cloud provider? I'm not running a service, but I sure as heck "need" ("need" vs. "want" can be subjective here) upload speeds at least as fast as my write-to-disk speeds.
I do agree with your solution though: If I really need high upload speeds, whether I'm running a server or not, I need to find a provider that offers them at a price I'm willing to pay, or learn to do without. If that means getting a business plan, then so be it.
Comment They don't call them (Score 1) 140
"printer drivers" for nothing.
Comment Did it halt first? (Score 4, Funny) 140
If not, better check the circuit or microcode to make sure the relevant opcode was implemented correctly.
Comment Clarification and fixed Nature link (Score 1) 1
Both quoted sections are from El Pais. As submitted, it suggests the first quoted block is from Nature.
Also, the Nature link got buggered up, it should be https://www.nature.com/article... "A biocompatible Lossen rearrangement in Escherichia coli".
Submission + - Bacteria turns waste plastic into painkiller drug 1
davidwr writes: A paper in Nature describes how to use E. coli bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol (acetaminophen) and other useful small molecules.
[Lead author Stephen] Wallace and his research team at the University of Edinburgh managed to trigger a natural process within a living Escherichia coli bacterium — a chemical reaction that until now had only been observed in test tubes. Specifically, they achieved the transformation of acid-derived molecules into key compounds used in drug production — such as paracetamol — through a process known as the Lossen rearrangement. The team succeeded in reproducing this reaction inside bacteria using only the microbes themselves, without relying on complex laboratory catalysts. "The interesting thing is that we didn’t have to teach the bacteria how to do the reaction: the trick was realizing they already had the tools and just had to be guided," Wallace explains.
Don't get too excited just yet: As El Pais reports,
... although the scientists believe their work shows “exciting potential,” there is still a long way to go before this microbe-made paracetamol is ready for medical use.
Comment Be wary of used inkjets (Score 1) 92
Inkjets can get clogged if they aren't used often enough. If each color is used every few weeks you should be okay, but if it's been sitting on the thrift store's shelf for 2 months it might be clogging up.
If you are going to buy a used inkjet, either buy it from a friend or some other source where you know it's not clogged, or buy it from a reputable vendor that will give you a few weeks to try it out (but be ready to forfeit the costs of any new inks you buy).
With any printer, new or used, pay attention to consumables and parts that are designed to wear out and be replaced during the printer's life. Some are not obvious.
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