Comment Jeremy Irons talks about the Death Penalty (Score 0) 368
I very rarely post links to YouTube videos, but this one is very much related to the topic, and I fully agree with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVMho2cP1NE.
Comment Re:All the better to watch you with, my dear (Score 1) 158
The common tourist doesn't know how to change it. The common iPhone user doesn't know how to change it. I'd even say the common Android user doesn't know how to change it. All because it _can_ be changed doesn't mean it _will_ be changed.
Comment Re:All the better to watch you with, my dear (Score 0) 158
It's called a MAC address.
Comment Re:What's the best low bandwidth way to send a msg (Score 2) 156
Even if you don't have a large following on Twitter, for things like this situation, there is almost always a hashtag for the protest in use. For Egypt, it was #jan25, so if you wanted to send a message about Egypt to as many people as possible, you send a message with #jan25 somewhere in it, and people would easily find it, and retweet it to their followers.
Abstractly, in a lot of ways a hashtag on Twitter is like an asynchronous equivalent to an IRC channel, in that you can search for it and get any messages from that tag at any time, and share them with your followers. Hope that helps.
Abstractly, in a lot of ways a hashtag on Twitter is like an asynchronous equivalent to an IRC channel, in that you can search for it and get any messages from that tag at any time, and share them with your followers. Hope that helps.
Comment Re:Try minus the condescension (Score 2) 218
Beyond the fact there's a typo in my original quote, your statement hardly changes my point, and in fact reaffirms it. It makes perfect business sense to cancel services that the market is showing people do not need or want, and that's why said products would be cancelled. Beyond the fact that we're talking about free services, I'd hardly call Knol, Wave or even Gears "basic services".
When they cancel GMail arbitrarily, let me know. Until then, my argument remains valid.
When they cancel GMail arbitrarily, let me know. Until then, my argument remains valid.
Comment Re:They cancel products left and right (Score 0) 218
"I will not use other successfully products by company X because they cancel support for products that I don't use and others don't either." Intelligent.
Submission + - Australia reviews tier-two software patents (itnews.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Australia may consider excluding software from its second-tier patent system to better align the system with those of trading partners like Japan and Korea. A Government review has raised concerns that it may be difficult to justify Australia's low requirements for software innovation patents. The public consultation period for the review closes on 14 October.
Comment Invalid syntax is valid (Score 1) 482
Try: + + "y";
This is valid syntax in JavaScript. Kill it with fire.
This is valid syntax in JavaScript. Kill it with fire.
Comment Article is false. (Score 4, Insightful) 188
Never trust News Corp. Here's some real journalism: http://delimiter.com.au/2011/06/25/telstra-proposes-to-filter-interpol-blacklist/
Not that the real answer is any better than what the Australian said, but the truth is what matters.
Not that the real answer is any better than what the Australian said, but the truth is what matters.
Comment Re:Proprietary format. (Score 1) 332
Given that the Wii U can read the disc, if hacked and given internet access or SD card access, it's not inconceivable that the discs could be dumped as files over a network or to the flash media like was already done on the previous gen consoles.
Comment Proprietary format. (Score 2) 332
I'm pretty sure it has very little to do with the patents and more to do with the same reason they used those awkward, little, inverse-reading GameCube discs: fear of homebrew and fear of sharing backups.
But as we know from both the GameCube and the Wii, it's only a matter of time before people work around those limitations.
But as we know from both the GameCube and the Wii, it's only a matter of time before people work around those limitations.
Ask Amir Taaki About Bitcoin 768
"Bitcoin," says the project's website, "is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no central authority issues new money or tracks transactions." Wikipedia offers a readable explanation of the underlying technology. In (very) short, Bitcoin uses a distributed database and public key encryption to allow users to reassign ownership of units of Bitcoin currency (BTC), and does so in a way that can keep the user's identity private. Bitcoin isn't yet accepted the way credit cards are, but it's more than theoretical. You can buy (some) things with Bitcoin, and trade the currency itself.
Now, you can ask question about Bitcoin of Amir Taaki, a developer of client interfaces and stock trading software for Bitcoin, and owner and operator of trading exchange Britcoin.co.uk. Amir requests that questions focus not "so much on the mining (too many people get focused on that
when it's a minor aspect of Bitcoin) nor simple technical questions (people can
go find that info themselves on Wikipedia/the forums/sourcecode)," but rather on the harder-to-answer questions. Reading some of the related stories listed below may give you ideas on what those are. Standard Slashdot Interview rules apply: ask as many questions as you want, but please keep them to one per comment. Amir will get back with his answers.
Friday's Big Swings, Mostly Down, Illustrate Bitcoin Value Volatility 476
An anonymous reader writes "As cool as Bitcoin is, it looks like it lost 1/3 of its value in the last 24 hours. Lots of big sells, complaints of liquidity, and pissed off nerds." The linked article goes on to explain that the value rose again, so the aggregate loss was considerably less. The author also helps defuse claims that Bitcoin is untraceable or otherwise especially well suited to nefarious activities.
Russian Lie Detector ATM 95
smitty777 writes "Apparently the Russians are starting to add lie detectors to their ATMs in an attempt to prevent identity theft and bad withdraws. 'Consumers with no previous relationship with the bank could talk to the machine to apply for a credit card, with no human intervention required on the bank’s end. The machine scans a passport, records fingerprints and takes a three-dimensional scan for facial recognition. And it uses voice-analysis software to help assess whether the person is truthfully answering questions that include “Are you employed?” and “At this moment, do you have any other outstanding loans?”'"
Comment Software Patents. (Score 5, Insightful) 261
Software patents need to be abolished internationally, it's that simple.
