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Comment: No sign yet (Score 1) 173

by jamesl (#43559997) Attached to: From 'Quantified Self' To 'Quantified Car'

It's all a sign that that the ethic of ubiquitous mobile/cloud sensing and analytics that 'quantified selfers' are applying to their personal health and fitness is spilling over to neighboring areas of consumer technology, including transportation. The Automatic Link device costs $70 and will begin shipping in May.

It will only be a sign if people actually pay $70 for it. I'm sure that Xconomy will publish a follow-up piece next year.

Comment: Sounds like ... (Score 0, Troll) 297

by jamesl (#43529637) Attached to: Overconfidence: Why You Suck At Making Development Time Estimates

... predictions of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.

1- 'Expert' predictions about some future event are so completely unreliable as to be basically meaningless.
2- Nonetheless, the experts in question are extremely confident about the accuracy of their predictions.
3- And, best of all: absolutely nothing seems to be able to diminish the confidence that experts feel.

Comment: The cost of a tool (Score 1) 953

by jamesl (#43520293) Attached to: Some Windows XP Users Can't Afford To Upgrade

A tool used in business should reduce the cost of doing business by reducing labor or increase the output of the business to more than pay for the tool. If it is not possible to justify the reported $10,000 cost then go back to paper and pencil.

If "others" (competitors) are able to buy the tool and this business is not then the problem is with the fundamental profitability of the business.

This looks like an ad for Software as a Service. The cost is clear, incremental and the obligations of the vendor are called out clearly in a contract. The cost/benefit is clear and the vendor needs to keep his product and his customer competitive in order for the revenue stream to continue.

Comment: Massive? (Score 1) 341

by jamesl (#43410439) Attached to: Sequester Grounds Blue Angels

The United States Navy, which controls the Blue Angels, has reported that the grounding comes from the massive rollbacks in spending ...

Defense spending outlays (including "overseas contingency operations" for Iraq and Afghanistan) will be reduced from $670.3 billion in 2012 to approximately $627.6 billion in 2013, a decrease of $42.7 billion or 6.4%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Sequestration

Definition of Massive (adj)
1.bulky: large, solid, and heavy
2.comparatively large: large in comparison with what is typical or usual
3.large-scale: extremely large in amount, degree, or scope
(Bing.com)

A 6.4% cut doesn't qualify as "massive."

Comment: A pimple (Score 3, Insightful) 42

by jamesl (#43399909) Attached to: Energy Use From Wireless Networks Will Dwarf Data Center Use By 2015

(an increase in carbon footprint from 6 megatons of CO_2 in 2012, up to 30 megatons of CO_2 in 2015).

World CO2 emissions for 2011 was estimated to be over 33 thousand million tons. I will not be losing any sleep over this tiny bit of manufactured melodrama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions#List_of_countries_by_2011_emissions_estimates

Comment: Obvious answer (Score 2, Insightful) 572

by jamesl (#43362239) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Protecting Home Computers From Guests?

... many of these guests have high risk computing habits and have more than once infested one of our computers with malware ...

Change a few words ... many of these guests have high risk driving habits and have more than once driven one of our cars into a phone pole ... and the answer is obvious.

Not convinced? Try this one ...
... many of these guests have high risk sexual behavior habits and have more than once infected one or more of our girl/boy friends ...

Comment: The sooner the better (Score 4, Interesting) 96

by jamesl (#43212433) Attached to: Telstra Bigpond To Use Outlook.com As Email Handler

Are the days of ISPs providing in-house email servers coming to an end?

In my experience, ISPs provide at best, a second class email service and I would be surprised if it was anything more than a necessary evil for them.

Microsoft, Google et al can provide a product that is fully integrated across all devices and easily accessed around the world. How many valuable ISP customers are using ISP provided email anyway?

All generalizations are false, including this one. -- Mark Twain

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