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Comment Re:That doesn't make any sense (Score 4, Interesting) 185

The linked article has a follow-on FAQ that you can click over to. That answers the question.

It's protection money. If Southwest Airlines buys the ad, Google won't put other advertising up. If they don't, any other advertiser is welcome to pay Google money to put up a text ad above the search result.

Comment Re:only? (Score 5, Informative) 947

he's only broken his collarbone twice and hip once

Only? That sounds like proof of concept rather than a proof of overstatement.

If you were to see the actual quote, you may feel differently:

Dr. Pruitt cites his own example. Now 62, he was a bicycle racer and has been riding for the past four decades. He covers 5,000 to 10,000 miles a year.

In all that time, he has had four serious crashes. He broke his collarbone twice while racing and had two crashes on a mountain bike, breaking a hip one time and spraining a wrist the other.

This is a worthless data point.

Comment Re:Linus Ducks Real Issue (Score -1) 314

This is a clever ruse on Linus' part. The real issue, which he completely ignores, is the genuine threat to Linux provided by Microsoft's release of a free Windows 8.1 upgrade.

Even if he doesn't want to talk about it, at least publicly, I know he's scared shitless.

Windows 8.1 was a free update to Windows 8 machines. If you don't have Windows 8 installed, you need to pay for Windows 8.1.

If Microsoft continues to offer updates at no cost, then eventually all (or close enough to be considered all) Microsoft users will be able to get free updates. But that is going to be many years from now, and Microsoft will still need to convince OEMs to ship machines with a valid copy of Windows as the OS. If they give that away for free, then it would definitely represent a challenge for desktop Linux adoption, especially outside the US and Europe.

Comment Re:Wake me up... (Score 5, Insightful) 577

You're not a real programmer if you can't adapt to the lack of unsigned variables.

Forget about being a "real programmer" and focus on being a "real developer.' There are functional requirements and then there are technical requirements. Functionally speaking, how important is it to have an unsigned data type rather than having the equivalent data type and enforcing a "no negative values" rule? I'm not sure I can think of any, aside from the case of being able to interpret unsigned data types for interoperability. But that says nothing about the need for the actual storage of that data.

I'm pretty sure that some respected Computer Scientist said something about premature optimization....... It's a good rule. Focus on meeting the functional requirements of the system you are developing, and then optimize where it makes sense. I don't think you are going to notice the lack of unsigned data types. But if you really need them, perhaps that should be a signal that a lower-level language is more appropriate for that particular component in the system.

Comment Re:I don't understand (Score 1) 111

Am I going to look at those patent numbers? No ! I don't want to get get a migraine headache since many modern IT patents are written in "legalese" such that someone with a Professional Engineering (yes a real one) background who is actually conversant with the field has a hard time understanding the words. Of course the opposite applies since most legal people can understand the words but not the context.

That's ridiculous. To be allowed to even take the patent bar exam, a person must have an engineering or hard science degree from an accredited university or can demonstrate that their combination of college courses and work experience are the equivalent. Having or not having a law degree is completely irrelevant.

I have read a large number of software, hardware and automotive patents and am convinced that any moderately smart high school student can understand perfectly as long as they pay attention to detail and can read. every. word. I am also convinced that calling a lot of this stuff an "invention" is being overly generous.

Comment Re:Counterpoint (Score 1) 458

If the price is $3 per episode, why bother paying $23 for 8 episodes... to save $1?

Convenience. When you buy a season pass in iTunes and say "yes" to all of the questions, your computer will automatically download each new episode as soon as it becomes available. You will also receive a notification that your new episode is ready to watch.

Comment Re:Apple is taking a different path (Score 1) 362

Microsoft decided the tablet and the PC were exactly identical, and made one the other at the cost of both.

Apple and Google treat tablets as large phones.
Microsoft treats tablets as small PCs.

Neither approach is incorrect, however Microsoft executed very poorly. If the market allows them enough time (and this may or may not happen), they will eventually get it right. I hope they do - it will be very interesting to see how the market reacts. iOS vs Android is a choice between two competing implementations of a computing concept. Windows RT is a competing computing concept.

Comment Re:xp still works (Score 1) 520

When I am on a Windows 7 if I am thinking of something I wrote 3 years ago I just hit th windows key and type acme sales 2010 and enter to find the documents. Beagle under Linux tried similiar functionalty.

That's exactly how Windows 8 works. The windows key takes you to the metro desktop and when you type something on the metro desktop Windows 8 assumes you are trying to find something (why else would you type something at the metro desktop) and does a search for what you've typed.

Well, except that on Windows 8 you don't have to hit enter. It starts searching as soon as you start typing, so you would have probably found your document by the type you wrote "acme"

Comment Re:Android is deprecated (Score 1) 221

Or they got exactly what they wanted: market penetration. The majority of happy Android users will have no problem upgrading to a closed Chrome Mobile as long as they get keep their apps...

I don't think that closed vs open is what Google cares about. What they are seeing is that handset makers are replacing Google services with their own and that means that Google is paying for the OS development but not getting anything in return. Google thought that forcing the handset manufacturers to keep Google services on the phone in exchange for access to the very latest versions of Android would be more than enough - every iPhone user can't wait to get the latest version of iOS. But it turns out the the handset makers are doing perfectly fine selling phones with old versions of Android and the users don't seem to care.

The future Nexus (which probably wont survive) and Motorola devices will be running Chrome OS and will have no possible way to rid themselves of Google services. They will probably also be able to keep their apps in exactly the same manner as you describe. It's all the other handset makers that Google plans to kill. They have bet the farm on Android. In a few years, the smartphone landscape is going to be Apple with iOS, Nokia with WP, Motorola with Chrome OS, and... HTC/Samsung/others with a completely outdated Android that gets zero support from Google.

Comment Android is deprecated (Score 3, Interesting) 221

Read between the lines.

Queru is gone. Rubin is gone. The Chromecast, whose original and main purpose was to get Android devices connected to external displays, ran Android in prototype builds but was released with Chrome OS. Look who runs the Android group now... The head of the Chrome OS group, who is still the head of the Chrome OS group.

I'd give it no more than 2 years before the Nexus & Motorola products are released with Chrome OS and Android is 3rd-party device only with all Google services removed.

Face it, Google just isn't getting what they wanted out of the platform.

Comment Re:"Bilateral relationship" (Score 1) 531

I can just imagine in a Russian voice "give us all your food or we drop nukes".

I see that you are equating Putin's maturity level with my 4-year old child, who is going through a phase in which he destroys the things he wants when he is not allowed to have them. My tactic has been to calmly explain that I was saving the cookie for after dinner but now that he has destroyed it he will get no cookie after dinner. I think he is starting to understand and am pretty confident that long before age 5 he won't be destroying cookies anymore.

I don't have any knowledge of Putin's age but I am pretty sure that he is an adult and if ~50 years of cold war brinksmanship has taught us anything it is that Russian leadership acts like rational adults when it comes to the use of nuclear weapons.

Comment Re:Should be called Office Lite (Score 1) 174

Indeed. Such as LibreOffice, which is (I read) in active development, and available in pre-alpha form for Android already.

Are you suggesting that people should choose a pre-alpha version of an office suite over the Microsoft offering, or are you suggesting that they wait to type up their documents until LibreOffice is available as a 1.0 release?

Comment Re:Not enough (Score 1) 341

I'm not sure I quite understand the appeal of the device.

For the same amount of money, you can get an actual business-rugged laptop with [stuff] and 10+ hours of real-world battery life.

And it'll even come with a working hinge, allowing you to use it in places where you don't have a flat surface to put it on, unlike the Surface (Pro)...

Yes, it'll be bigger and heavier in most cases, but other than that?

Care to point out those alternatives at the same price? The Surface Pro has a 1080p screen with a 10-point multitouch sensor that works pretty nicely with the included multifunction stylus (it has two buttons on it). It does have flaws, for sure, but when it first came out I did quite a bit of searching and decided that it was a bargain for that hardware. The OS... well that's a personal choice, but MS made it trivial to turn off secure boot and put your favorite Linux distro on.

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