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Comment Almost Exclusive (Score 1) 232

by EmagGeek (#44836177) Attached to: I use spinning-drive storage media ...

When an HDD fails, you can still get the data off of it. It's expensive, but it can be done.

When an SSD fails, it seems that more often than not your data just disappears. I think this is why the industry is moving towards only using SSDs for caching to platter drives, because honestly I don't believe SSDs will ever be reliable enough for critical storage.

Comment Confusing marketing (Score 0) 201

by EmagGeek (#44801273) Attached to: Big Jump For Tablet Storage: Seagate Intros 5mm Hard Disk For Tablets

"The idea is that Android tablet manufacturers will use the Seagate drive, along with the company's mobile enablement kit and caching software, to up the storage."

They will use the "enablement kit" to "up the storage." Does that mean it's not really 500GB, but some smaller capacity that is made to be 500GB through software?

Maybe they just licensed DBLSPACE.BIN from Microsoft?

Comment Constitution does not protect third parties (Score 1) 452

by EmagGeek (#44800419) Attached to: The Reporter's Fifth Amendment Paradox

You have a right against self-incrimination. You have no right against being incriminated by others, or against incriminating others. If you possess material facts and evidence that would incriminate someone else in a trial, you can be compelled to give it up, and nothing in the constitution prevents it.

There are some legal exceptions that have been carved out over time that do offer protections in some circumstances, for example Attorney-Client Privilege, Doctor-Patient Privilege, Spousal Privilege, and so on.

The case here is pretty clear cut. There is nothing journalistic about acting as an avenue for the commission of a crime. You are not writing a story or documenting anything - you are an accessory to a felony.

Comment Funny Fallacy (Score 1) 195

by EmagGeek (#44796047) Attached to: UK Mobile ISP Blocks VPN, Citing Access To Porn

People use forks to become obese. Ban forks.

People use cars to rob banks. Ban cars.

People use bittorrent to steal music. Ban bittorrent.

Criminals will ALWAYS use lawful means to unlawful ends. Banning the lawful means does not prevent it.

What prevents it is actually holding criminals responsible for their crimes, and making prison HARD, as opposed to the modern "friendly" prisons that are more like club resorts.

If all crimes were punished with hard labor, people would stop committing crimes awfully fast. No TV. No free education. No magazines. No books. No gym. Just a sledgehammer and a pile of rocks. All day. Every day.
Earth

Arctic Ice Cap Rebounds From 2012 — But Does That Matter? 400

Posted by timothy from the ask-me-in-a-few-decades dept.
bricko writes "There has been a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year, the equivalent of almost a million square miles. In a rebound from 2012's record low an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia's northern shores, days before the annual re-freeze is even set to begin. The Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific has remained blocked by pack-ice all year, forcing some ships to change their routes. A leaked report to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) seen by the Mail on Sunday, has led some scientists to claim that the world is heading for a period of cooling that will not end until the middle of this century." "Some scientsts" in this case do not include Dana Nuccitelli, who blogs cogently in reaction at The Guardian that the 60 percent increase observed in Arctic ice is "technically true, [but] also largely irrelevant." He has no kind words for the analysis in the Daily Mail (and similar report in The Telegraph), and writes "In short, this year's higher sea ice extent is merely due to the fact that last year's minimum extent was record-shattering, and the weather was not as optimal for sea ice loss this summer. However, the long-term trend is one of rapid Arctic sea ice decline, and research has shown this is mostly due to human-caused global warming." If you want to keep track of the ice yourself, Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis offers frequent updates.
Cellphones

Microsoft Drops Price on Nokia's 41-Megapixel Phone 197

Posted by timothy from the that-is-a-lot-of-megapixel dept.
TechRadar reports today the first major public-facing move that Microsoft has made with its newly acquired Nokia devices business: "The headline-making Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone-cum-camera is now available for $100 less in the United States, potentially a sign that Microsoft is already ringing the changes at Nokia. The Microsoft Store stateside is now selling the 41-megapixel Windows Phone 8 handset for $199 (around £127, AU$216) on a two-year contract, compared with Nokia's lofty $299 (around £191, AU$325) launch price. The price is being matched by the AT&T network, but Microsoft is going one better (for a limited time) and chucking in the camera grip accessory for everyone who picks up the device. Early indications are that the heavily-hyped Lumia 1020 hasn't been flying off the shelves, so perhaps this price cut can offer Microsoft a boost in the early stages of its Nokia stewardship."
China

400 Million Chinese Cannot Speak Mandarin 562

Posted by timothy from the they-didn't-go-with-the-english-only-option? dept.
dryriver writes with this excerpt from a thought-provoking report at the BBC: "China's Education Ministry says that about 400 million people — or 30% of the population — cannot speak the country's national language. Of the 70% of the population who can speak Mandarin, many do not do it well enough, a ministry spokeswoman told Xinhua news agency on Thursday. The admission from officials came as the government launched another push for linguistic unity in China. China is home to thousands of dialects and several minority languages. These include Cantonese and Hokkien, which enjoy strong regional support. Mandarin — formally called Putonghua in China, meaning 'common tongue' — is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. The Education Ministry spokeswoman said the push would be focusing on the countryside and areas with ethnic minorities."
Censorship

Indiana Man Gets 8 Months For Teaching How To Beat Polygraph Tests 356

Posted by timothy from the preserving-layers-of-lies dept.
A week ago, we posted news that federal prosecutors were seeking jail time for Chad Dixon, an Indiana man who made money teaching others how to pass polygraph examinations. Now, reader Frosty Piss writes that Dixon "was sentenced Friday to eight months in prison. Prosecutors described Chad Dixon as a 'master of deceit.' Prosecutors, who had asked for almost two years in prison, said Dixon crossed the line between free speech protected under the First Amendment and criminal conduct when he told some clients to conceal what he taught them while undergoing government polygraphs. Although Dixon appears to be the first charged publicly, others offering similar instruction say they fear they might be next. 'I've been worried about that, and the more this comes about, the more worried I am,' said Doug Williams, a former police polygraphist in Oklahoma who claims to be able to teach people to beat what he now considers a 'scam' test."
Science

Gut Bacteria In Slim People Extract More Nutrients 212

Posted by Soulskill from the starve-them-into-doing-what-you-want dept.
Beeftopia writes "Researchers discovered that inserting gut bacteria from obese people into mice without gut bacteria led to the mice becoming obese. Gut bacteria from slim people inserted into the same mice did not lead to mouse obesity. The researchers concluded (abstract) that gut bacteria from the slim people were more efficient at extracting nutrients from food than those of the obese."

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