Stimpak_Addict - Slashdot User

Comment Give your opinion before you judge others'. (Score 2) 293

by Stimpak_Addict on Sunday May 18, 2014 @08:37AM (#47031097) Attached to: Data Mining Shows How Down-Voting Leads To Vicious Circle of Negative Feedback

If I were to make any single major addition to the current moderation system today, it would simply be: "You must post a comment before you may upvote or downvote any posts." Otherwise, aside from moderators being able to target and harass a single (or multiple) user's posts with downvotes with no restriction other than their point pool total, I think /. has a pretty decent moderation system going for it.

Comment The Cloud is the future! (Score 1) 409

by Stimpak_Addict on Friday May 16, 2014 @12:26AM (#47015297) Attached to: Don't Be a Server Hugger! (Video)

This guy sounds like he doesn't realize that The Cloud is just another phrase for "third party server farm with limited control and no maintenance options". I don't personally run or set up any servers, but if I were to do so, I'd apply the first rule of business: don't trust someone else to do their job.

Submission + - Humans Are Taking Jobs From Robots in Japan

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com on Monday April 14, 2014 @07:22PM

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Bloomberg reports that humans are taking the place of machines in plants across Japan so workers can develop new skills and figure out ways to improve production lines and the car-building process. “We need to become more solid and get back to basics, to sharpen our manual skills and further develop them,” says Mitsuru Kawai, a half century-long company veteran tapped by President Akio Toyoda to promote craftsmanship at Toyota’s plants. “When I was a novice, experienced masters used to be called gods (Kami-sama in Japanese), and they could make anything.”

According to Kawai, learning how to make car parts from scratch gives younger workers insights they otherwise wouldn’t get from picking parts from bins and conveyor belts, or pressing buttons on machines. At about 100 manual-intensive workspaces introduced over the last three years across Toyota’s factories in Japan, these lessons can then be applied to reprogram machines to cut down on waste and improve processes. In an area Kawai directly supervises at the forging division of Toyota’s Honsha plant, workers twist, turn and hammer metal into crankshafts instead of using the typically automated process. Experiences there have led to innovations in reducing levels of scrap and shortening the production line and Kawai also credits manual labor for helping workers improve production of axle beams and cut the costs of making chassis parts. “We cannot simply depend on the machines that only repeat the same task over and over again,” says Kawai. “To be the master of the machine, you have to have the knowledge and the skills to teach the machine.”

Submission + - Microsoft Confirms It Is Dropping Windows 8.1 Support 1

Submitted by snydeq on Monday April 14, 2014 @07:01PM

snydeq writes: Microsoft TechNet blog makes clear that Windows 8.1 will not be patched, and that users must get Windows 8.1 Update if they want security patches, InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard reports. 'In what is surely the most customer-antagonistic move of the new Windows regime, Steve Thomas at Microsoft posted a TechNet article on Saturday stating categorically that Microsoft will no longer issue security patches for Windows 8.1, starting in May,' Leonhard writes. 'Never mind that Windows 8.1 customers are still having multiple problems with errors when trying to install the Update. At this point, there are 300 posts on the Microsoft Answers forum thread Windows 8.1 Update 1 Failing to Install with errors 0x80070020, 80073712 and 800F081F. The Answers forum is peppered with similar complaints and a wide range of errors, from 800F0092 to 80070003, for which there are no solutions from Microsoft. Never mind that Microsoft itself yanked Windows 8.1 Update from the corporate WSUS update server chute almost a week ago and still hasn't offered a replacement.'

Submission + - Mozilla Appoints Former Marketing Head Interim CEO (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett on Monday April 14, 2014 @03:56PM

itwbennett writes: Following the contentious and ultimately failed appointment of Brendan Eich as CEO last month, the Mozilla Corporation has appointed board member Chris Beard as interim CEO. Beard starting working as chief marketing officer for Mozilla in 2004, and oversaw the launch of its current browser, Firefox, in 2005. Beard also managed the launches of Firefox on Android and the Firefox OS for mobile phones.

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