Forgot your password?

typodupeerror

Comment: Voice command vs. Hyperlink (Score 2, Insightful) 290

by davide marney (#38848641) Attached to: iPhone 4S's Siri Is a Bandwidth Guzzler

If it takes 64KB to communicate link navigation request using voice input, and ~1KB to do the same with a hyperlink, then yeah, that will have a pretty big impact on data usage. Of course, if you're shelling out up to $400 just for a phone, you probably don't care about the data cost.

Comment: Why call the POLICE and not IT? (Score 2) 890

by davide marney (#38760942) Attached to: Police Investigate Offensive Wi-Fi Network Name

From TFA, the passer-by went to the community center and complained, who reacted by calling the police. That makes little sense. Why didn't they just mutter, "oooh, those kids!" and call IT to change the access point config? Speaking of which, presuming this wasn't done by an IT staffer, how in the world was someone else able to hack in and change the name? What, no password?

Comment: Re:You're not allowed to hate in America (Score 2) 890

by davide marney (#38760878) Attached to: Police Investigate Offensive Wi-Fi Network Name

The problem with hate speech laws is they are focused on the wrong end of the stick: the words, not the hatred itself. If you forbid the speech, it drives the hateful thoughts underground, and makes it harder for us to know that it exists. By allowing the speech, we let the thoughts come to the surface, where the rest of society can react to it and respond with their counter-arguments.

Free speech is the API of an open, civil society.

Comment: Dropbox future (Score 1) 165

by davide marney (#38704824) Attached to: Dropbox Founder Wants To Build the Next Google

Drew Huston wants his service to become the Internet's file system. What would that look like? A lot of the features you'd want are already in Dropbox: cloud storage, privacy (at least from other users), 30-day versioning, and de-duplication. What's missing are APIs to get to your content without the clumsy requirement to sync locally first. That'd be something.

Comment: Re:History repeats itself. (Score 1) 179

by davide marney (#38704724) Attached to: Protect IP Act May Be Amended

The WWII version was the Military-Industrial Complex, and President Eisenhower had some pretty choice words to say about it. A brief excerpt:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Comment: Re: (Score 1) 179

by davide marney (#38704678) Attached to: Protect IP Act May Be Amended

I hope you spoil your ballot by casting an undervote (i.e., not selecting any of the candidates), and not by defacing or harming the ballot in any way, which creates a lot more work for us poll workers. Undervotes are usually reported right alongside the normal votes, too, so you'll get a tally after the vote, just like a regular candidate. YMMV as each State has different rules.

Your Rights Online

SOPA makes strange bedfellows->

Submitted by
davide marney
davide marney writes "What do 1-800-Contacts, Adidas, Americans for Tax Reform, Comcast, the Country Music Association, Estee Lauder, Ford, Nike and Xerox all have in common? According to OpenCongress.org, they all have specifically endorsed H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. A total of 158 corporations have signed up in favor of the bill, and only 87 against. $21 Million has been donated to Congressmen who favor the bill, but only $5 Million to those against. Thanks to OpenCongress for these insights. This goes a long way towards explaining why this bill has so much traction, despite all its negative publicity."
Link to Original Source

Intuition, however illogical, is recognized as a command prerogative. -- Kirk, "Obsession", stardate 3620.7

Working...