Comment Re:Well, duh (Score 1) 554
You can''t win. You can't break even. You can't stop playing the game.
Comment Re:Meta study? (Score 1) 795
The abstract of the paper seems to imply TCR is likely to be around 1.05-1.80... one of which is well south of 2. However, this doesn't seem to be a denier position, nor a denier getting a peer-reviewed paper published.
Submission + - Mozilla co-founder's ad-blocking Brave browser will pay you bitcoin to see ads (pcworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Brave, a new privacy and speed focused web browser for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, backed by Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, will pay its users in bitcoin to watch ads. From a PCWorld article, "Under this plan, advertisers pay for a certain number of impressions, and Brave aggregates those payments into one sum. Websites that participate in the scheme get 55 percent of the money, weighted by how many impressions are served on their sites. Brave then divvies up the remaining bitcoin between itself, its ad-matching partner, and the users, each getting a 15 percent share. For both users and publishers, Brave deposits the money into individual bitcoin wallets, and both parties must verify their identity to claim the funds. This requires an email and phone number for users, and more stringent identification steps for publishers. Users who don’t verify will automatically donate their share of the funds back to the sites they visit most."
Submission + - MPAA opposes proposed Minnesota revenge porn law, says it limits speech (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Hollywood's lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America, is opposing a proposed Minnesota revenge porn law on grounds that it could overly restrict speech. This is the same MPAA that fiercely supported the Stop Online Piracy Act of 2012. Known as SOPA, many claimed that legislation would also curtail free speech because SOPA could lead to the removal of domains that host infringing material. In a letter to Minnesota lawmakers, the MPAA said HF 27411 "could limit the distribution of a wide array of mainstream, Constitutionally protected material, including items of legitimate news, commentary, and historical interest. These items are part of news, public affairs, entertainment or sports programming, and are distributed in motion pictures, television programs, audiovisual works of all kinds, via the Internet and other media." The group added that "images of Holocaust victims, or prisoners at Abu Ghraib, or the Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph entitled 'Napalm Girl'—which shows a young girl running screaming from her village, naked, following a Napalm attack—could be prohibited under the terms of this legislation."
Submission + - How to Hack an Election (bloomberg.com)
transporter_ii writes: For eight years, Sepúlveda, now 31, says he traveled the continent rigging major political campaigns. With a budget of $600,000, the Peña Nieto job was by far his most complex. He led a team of hackers that stole campaign strategies, manipulated social media to create false waves of enthusiasm and derision, and installed spyware in opposition offices, all to help Peña Nieto, a right-of-center candidate, eke out a victory. ... Money was no problem. At one point, Sepúlveda spent $50,000 on high-end Russian software that made quick work of tapping Apple, BlackBerry, and Android phones. He also splurged on the very best fake Twitter profiles; they’d been maintained for at least a year, giving them a patina of believability.
What Spotlighting Harassment In Astronomy Means 432
StartsWithABang writes: Geoff Marcy. Tim Slater. Christian Ott. And a great many more who are just waiting to be publicly exposed for what they've done (and in many cases, are still doing). Does it mean that astronomy has a harassment problem? Of course it does, but that's not the real story. The real story is that, for the first time, an entire academic field is recognizing a widespread problem, taking steps to change its policies, and is beginning to support the victims, rather than the senior, more famous, more prestigious perpetrators. Astronomy is the just start; hopefully physics, computer science, engineering, philosophy and economics are next.
Comment Re:inefficient (Score 1) 393
correct.battery.staple is in a swamp in Newfoundland, northeast of Smallwood Reservoir.
stupid.coordinate.system doesn't seem to be in that coordinate system.
So, no, not nearby.
Comment Re:So which sensors? (Score 2) 153
Only sensors required to determine which wheels are moving are wheel speed. Any ABS equipped car needs those for at least 3, and usually 4 wheels so that ABS works properly. Does not require conspiracy to put in extra hardware.
If he'd bothered to speculate, he probably would have realized he was wrong. Day appears to be good at summarizing physics, but cars are more complicated than they appear at first glance.
Comment I suppose industrial espionage isn't interesting.. (Score 1) 243
First three paragraphs of the story tell of thieves breaking in to the office and stealing information about how this thing works. Is this not worth putting into the summary?
The Hobbit and Game of Thrones Top Most Pirated Lists of 2013 193
DavidGilbert99 writes "Fantasy fans are clearly among the most prevalent downloaders of pirated material if the 2013 lists of most pirated films and TV shows is anything to go by. The Hobbit beat Django Unchained and Fast and Furious 6 while on TV, Game of Thrones saw off competition from Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead as the most pirated TV show. While this is clearly losing money for both industries, the US box office doesn't seem to be suffering too much as it is about to record its best year ever."
Comment Re:Eagerly awaited (Score 2) 324
Android has had a "set fake location for testing" feature for a long time. Even my mostly locked down Virgin Mobile phone has that allowed.
"Settings -> developer options -> Allow Mock Locations"
If you don't have developer options, you may be able to get them turned on from "Settings -> About Phone" by clicking the Build Number, at least 7 times.
Then install one of several location setting tools from Google Play. Set location wherever you want.
Other permissions are harder to fake, but location results are pretty easy to change.
Google Doodle Remembers Computing Pioneer Grace Hopper 157
A reader writes "Monday's Google Doodle honors computing genius Grace Hopper (remembered as a great pioneer in computing, as well as in women's achievements in science and engineering), on what would have been her 107th birthday, doodling her right where she spent much of her time – at the helm of one of the world's first computers."
Comment Re:Update Fatigue (Score 1) 246
I just restart firefox once in a while, and it updates then. Never seen Firefox hollerin' anything about updates. I've got it set to auto update though. Perhaps if you chose an option other than "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them" it'd be quiet. It's in Tools->options->advanced->updates.
If you're talking about the Flash plug-in update, that's a problem you can blame on Adobe for releasing something more insecure than IE. Talk about something that goes through more versions than Firefox.... that'd probably be it.
Comment Re:Think about alternative business models (Score 1) 684
Digital Video Express was a DVD-based format that stopped working after a while, unless you paid a fee. It required your DIVX (yeah, they overloaded the namespace of Divx here) player to be connected to a phone line so it could call home and take care of the billing/drm.
Google works in the UK... First link for "Digital Video Express" will explain it quite well.
Comment Re:Hero..maybe to you. (Score 1) 272
If he does get arrested for this, he'll probably get his laptop back, because for the thief to make a police report he has to go to a police station with enough information to connect the stolen laptop to this evil guy who's stealing all the thief's privacy. A new lead!
