Comment Re:Stock in Skype (Score 1) 299
Microsoft is pushing hard for this one.... Might just save their business.
We need this because only Skype can save us from having to use XMPP? Justaskin'.
Comment What properties should it have? (Score 1) 480
A strong system should have certain attributes such as:
1. A non-transferrable physical tokens (signet rings, implants, retina, voice, pulse-sensitive fingerprint) that are needed to generate the
2. one-time keys used for each transaction
3. whether by analog phone, smartphone, internet-connected PC, or other mechanism.
4. There should be an automagic session end when the token is separated from the connection mechanism.
5. The system should guarantee respect for the user's privacy choices.
6. Where laws prohibit 5, the system should ensure the user has a way to knowingly submit to the law.
7. Where laws permit 5, the system should support any desired number of pseudonymous/anonymous personae for a single human.
What else does it need?
1. A non-transferrable physical tokens (signet rings, implants, retina, voice, pulse-sensitive fingerprint) that are needed to generate the
2. one-time keys used for each transaction
3. whether by analog phone, smartphone, internet-connected PC, or other mechanism.
4. There should be an automagic session end when the token is separated from the connection mechanism.
5. The system should guarantee respect for the user's privacy choices.
6. Where laws prohibit 5, the system should ensure the user has a way to knowingly submit to the law.
7. Where laws permit 5, the system should support any desired number of pseudonymous/anonymous personae for a single human.
What else does it need?
Submission + - Artificial energy storage island in the North-Sea (standaard.be)
bmcage writes: Belgium wants to build within 5 years an artificial [dutch] energy storage island ([Google Translate]). The island will store excess energy produced at night from the offshore wind farms already present in the North-Sea.
As a small country with no hydropower possibilities, moving from nuclear to offshore wind farms, this is an innovative way to store the excess production. Is it really feasible however? Silting could be a problem.
As a small country with no hydropower possibilities, moving from nuclear to offshore wind farms, this is an innovative way to store the excess production. Is it really feasible however? Silting could be a problem.
Comment Re:Thorium on the moon? (Score 1) 205
Getting public acceptance for lighting up an NTR to escape the moon is a much simpler political process than doing so to escape the earth (though perhaps not in the wacky world of US politics). Just hope the Chinese don't do it too close to that magnetic anomaly.
Comment You waited for a release from Redmond? (Score 1) 2
Where's your sense of history? Go write fifty times on your tablet: "I am not a real geek, I just play one on Slashdot."
Comment Re:Security by stupidity? (Score 1) 141
Look, I'm just a software engineer.
Don't call yourself an engineer if you wont do your duty to the public.
Comment Re:It is obvious! (Score 1) 257
I'm confused. I've been told that means "Read The F`ing Article," but what's an article?
Yes, you certainly are confused. What's an interrogative adjective. The and an are articles.
Comment New motto (Score 1) 3
"At Disney, our product is your child!"
Comment Re:Titanic (Score 5, Insightful) 151
Stop, you're both wrong.
1. This is not, by definition, an aviation accident: even the crew had deplaned.
2. Many parked aircraft have lost wings without crashing: all it takes is wind passing over the tarmac on the wrong vector.
3. A fire, even in flight, doesn't have to be the end of the world if the systems design detects the fire and limits its ability to spread. This was the principal lesson-learned from SR111, which has since changed material approvals for aircraft. SA295 was never adequately explained, so teaches us little, but evidently the firefighting routines were not followed. VJ592 was caused by illegally carried hazmat (oxygen generators) in the cabin. AC797 had many similarities to SR111 (insulation burning spread the fire), but the lessons learned were not applied to designs in time to prevent SR111. I'd blame the FAA's inaction on NTSB recommendations.
1. This is not, by definition, an aviation accident: even the crew had deplaned.
2. Many parked aircraft have lost wings without crashing: all it takes is wind passing over the tarmac on the wrong vector.
3. A fire, even in flight, doesn't have to be the end of the world if the systems design detects the fire and limits its ability to spread. This was the principal lesson-learned from SR111, which has since changed material approvals for aircraft. SA295 was never adequately explained, so teaches us little, but evidently the firefighting routines were not followed. VJ592 was caused by illegally carried hazmat (oxygen generators) in the cabin. AC797 had many similarities to SR111 (insulation burning spread the fire), but the lessons learned were not applied to designs in time to prevent SR111. I'd blame the FAA's inaction on NTSB recommendations.
Comment Re:Could we at least make them a different color? (Score 1) 144
It'll be easy,
the two connectors will be 50mm apart to minimize transmission losses.
the two connectors will be 50mm apart to minimize transmission losses.
Comment Calm TV (Score 1) 1
Yeah, that'll be popular...
Submission + - X-rays Reveal New Black Hole in Andromeda (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: On 15 January, the XMM-Newton satellite detected a bright source of x-rays in the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light-years from Earth. As astronomers report online today in Nature, the x-rays arise from hot gas swirling around a black hole that tears the material from an orbiting star. The object is roughly 10 times as massive as our sun and gobbles matter at nearly the maximum possible rate. Four similarly ravenous black holes are known in the Milky Way, but dust in the galaxy's disk obscures observations; so studying the newfound beast in Andromeda may offer fresh insight into how black holes accrete material, a process that feeds the supermassive black holes powering quasars billions of light-years away.
Comment Yeah, that's what free means (Score 1) 2
Don't you hate it when RMS is right?
Submission + - Scientists Produce 3D Blocks of Graphene (gizmag.com)
Zothecula writes: Imagine how limiting it would be if steel, wood or plastic only existed in the form of thin sheets. Well, that’s been the case so far when it comes to graphene. While its incredible strength and high conductivity make it very useful in things like semiconductors, batteries and solar cells, there’s no doubt that it would be even more useful if it could be produced in three-dimensional blocks. Scientists at Australia’s Monash University have now managed to do just that – by copying the structure of cork.
Submission + - RMS Speaks Out Against Ubuntu (fsf.org) 2
An anonymous reader writes: In a post at the Free Software Foundation website, Richard Stallman has spoken out against Ubuntu because of Canonical's decision to integrate Amazon search results in the distribution's Dash search. He says, 'But not always. Ubuntu, a widely used and influential GNU/Linux distribution, has installed surveillance code. When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers. (Canonical is the company that develops Ubuntu.) This is just like the first surveillance practice I learned about in Windows. ... What's at stake is whether our community can effectively use the argument based on proprietary spyware. If we can only say, "free software won't spy on you, unless it's Ubuntu," that's much less powerful than saying, "free software won't spy on you." It behooves us to give Canonical whatever rebuff is needed to make it stop this. ... If you ever recommend or redistribute GNU/Linux, please remove Ubuntu from the distros you recommend or redistribute.'
