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Submission + - Making Faces for Security (bbc.co.uk)

Rambo Tribble writes: The BBC reports that Google has filed for a patent on making faces at your smartphone. Intended as a security measure to enhance the protection provided by facial recognition, one has to wonder at the scenes one might witness at the local cyber cafe, perhaps to be fodder for Google Glass uploads to YouTube?

Comment Address user tears with user tiers (Score 1) 597

Agile, like many new ideas, has a tendency to overreach. The exasperated users are the same ones who dread system updates. They see any technological change or inconvenience as the result of a vast technocratic conspiracy. These people are the ones who want it "to just work" and have little patience for the tedious process of taking matters to that point. These complaints stem from taking this group outside its narrow comfort zone.

On the other hand, there are end users, usually termed "power users", who love their engagement with technology and its processes. It is these people who should be part of the ongoing development process. The larger mass of users should be consulted and upgraded, but infrequently. Of course, this requires you not break backward compatibility with each new release. You know who you are.

Submission + - Small Black Holes: Cloudy With a Chance of Better Visibility (bbc.co.uk)

Rambo Tribble writes: As reported by the BBC, astronomers are hoping to reap a black-hole-hunting windfall when a giant gas cloud passes through an area within our galaxy thought to contain numerous small black holes. When the cloud interacts with the holes, the resultant emission of X-rays should allow scientists to finally confirm their existence.

Submission + - Snags on the Road to WWW History (bbc.co.uk)

Rambo Tribble writes: The BBC is reporting that difficulties are being encountered in Cern's effort to recreate the original World Wide Web. It appears no one kept adequate backups and passwords have been lost, (can you imagine?) The public is being asked to help and one early page from 1991 has been recovered from the Next machine of American Paul Jones. Can you help?

Comment Agile is not a panacea (Score 1) 349

To some degree, agile is sold as, "Implement this and you'll never have to really manage a software project again." Just follow the steps, we are told, and everything will just work itself out. When agile fails, we're told it is because the steps weren't properly implemented. Everything is put on the method and very little demanded of the ones in charge. That's a really prescription to fail; accountability is the first requirement for success.

Comment Frame job (Score 1) 237

In theory, since a movie is just a series of still frames, the same techniques could be used to modify individual frames as are used to "photoshop" a still image, (albeit, tediously). You might find the tools and tutorials at this site of some help in analyzing individual frames: http://fotoforensics.com/

You might also find some of the information at the associated Hacker Factor blog of use: http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/categories/17-FotoForensics

Submission + - GIF's Inventor Weighs In on Pronunciation (bbc.co.uk)

Rambo Tribble writes: As covered by the BBC, the GIF's inventor, Steve Wilhite has given his opinion that the acronym for the Graphics Interchange Format file should be pronounced "jif". This conflicts with the OED's take on the matter. Wilhite made his pronouncement whilst receiving an award for his work at the Webbys.

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