Comment Who is a foreigner? (Score 2) 67
And how can one be sure that it only scans foreigners?
Comment Do they mean innvotion or monopolization? (Score 2) 34
It's odd how the quasi-monopolies always argue that measures to increase competition will stifle innovation.
As I understand conventional capitalist theory, it's competition that stimulates innovation.
But what do I know?
Comment Whack-a-Mole (Score 1) 20
Forcing the sale of Tik Tok is just another round of Wack-a-Mole.
Comment And their apps are useless. (Score 1) 335
Our LG stove was unplugged and stored in a container for four months. Nevertheless it reminded me weekly that the oven needed cleaning.
Comment Are cryptocoins hackable? (Score 1) 54
This probably seems like a naive or uninformed question, however...
Whenever I see a headline about some cryptocurrency I am reminded of a comment a colleague made once, "They are all just bits."
Is it possible, probable, inevitable, impossible or highly improbable that some hacker, somewhere, perhaps using China's new quantum computer, could render cryptocurrency worthless?
- Erny
Comment That's rich ... (Score 1) 54
Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc have built their multi-billion dollar businesses on collecting personal images and profiles of their own users and others, based on implied consent which they then sell to whomever for whatever purpose.
Yet when another company sells services based on data mined from their sites, they want 'to cease and desist'.
It's all a bit rich.
Comment IBM 1130 assembler (Score 1) 633
In 1966 my first serious job was as a punch card operator at an insurance company that had an IBM 1401. There I learned to plug the control panels for the IBM 77 collator. I registered for a programming course at a community college where I learned to program in assembler on an IBM 1130. That was the best return on $20 that I ever had. That course led to a job programming business applications in assembler on an IBM 360/30. That led to programming CICS applications in the days when IBM licenced it free to any business that was interested and ultimately to systems programmer positions overseas.
That initial $20 paid my mortgage, put my two sons through university, paid my way around the world twice.
Submission + - Gmail's Encryption Warning Spurs 25% Increase In Encrypted Inbound Emails (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Google's efforts to keep users safe might be forcing other email providers to make better security decisions. In February, the company started flagging unencrypted emails, allowing Gmail users to know whether they're sending emails to, or receiving emails from, providers that don't support TLS encryption. Since then, the amount of inbound mail sent over an encrypted connection to Gmail users has increased by 25 percent, Google explained in a blog post released today. The majority of the uptick likely comes from providers updating their clients so they can avoid getting flagged by Google, the company said in a comment to The Verge. Without in-transit encryption, which Google provides by default, emails could potentially be read by attackers because their body and data are sent in plain text.
Submission + - Names That Break Computers (bbc.com)
Thelasko writes: The BBC has a story about people with names that break computer databases.
When Jennifer Null tries to buy a plane ticket, she gets an error message on most websites. The site will say she has left the surname field blank and ask her to try again.
These people are real life Bobby Tables.
Submission + - Scientist claims there's even more evidence of Planet Nine's existence (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: More evidence is pointing toward a mysterious Neptune-sized planet lurking at the outer edges of our Solar System. One of the scientists who claimed in January to have found strong evidence for a ninth planet — temporarily named "Planet Nine" — now says there are even more clues that support the world's existence. Mike Brown, a planetary astronomer at Caltech University, originally concluded that Planet Nine most likely exists after studying the behaviors of six objects in the Kuiper Belt — the large cloud of icy bodies that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. Now Brown is claiming that another Kuiper Belt object supports his theory. The object shares some of the same behavior as the other six Kuiper Belt bodies, suggesting it has also been pushed by a large planet that is between 200 and 1,200 times the distance from the Sun to Earth.
Submission + - Fish Walks, Climbs Waterfalls Like a Salamander (discovery.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A species of cavefish in Thailand has been documented walking and climbing waterfalls in a manner similar to four-footed creatures such as salamanders, in a find researchers call “huge” in evolutionary terms. In a press release Brooke E. Flammang, an assistant professor of biological sciences at NJIT, said that the fish has anatomical features previously known only in tetrapods — four-limbed vertebrates that include amphibians and reptiles. “What these fish do, in complete darkness, is stick to the rock and climb waterfalls, completely underwater.”
Submission + - Have a political bumper sticker? FBI might be snapping photos of you (muckrock.com)
v3rgEz writes: Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of Food Not Bombs, the peace organization that seeks to democratically divert military spending into free food for the needy. But as documents recently obtained by MuckRock show, even such tepid support as a bumper sticker for the outspoken anti-violence organization could land you in FBI files. Read on for yet another example of how the FBI puts war protesters, Juggalos, and animal rights activists in the same category as organized crime and terrorist groups.
Submission + - Brain Implant Can Automatically Adjust Dopamine Levels (ieee.org)
Wave723 writes: This brain implant is a chip that can automatically sense dopamine levels through an electrode that measures flow of the neurotransmitter through the brain and pH levels. An algorithm within the device calculates whether dopamine levels are within a predetermined range, and if not — the chip sends an electrical impulse to stimulate neurons to produce more. Someday, it might help patients with a variety of disorders from addiction to Parkinson's disease though there would have to be a lot more resarch done on neurotransmitter levels in order to reach that point. The research is from Illinois State University and Case Western. It has been tested in mice.
Comment Re:And GOD said (Score 1) 133
For me, the amazing thing is the parallel between how modern physicists are describing the very beginnings of the universe and the narrative of Genesis written thousands of years ago.
Comment How American. (Score 1) 113
If it moves, shoot it.
