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Comment Re:Missing the obvious (Score 1) 88

[quote]It's not an edge case where something really unusual didn't register - it was a road obstruction. It doesn't matter if it's a barricade, a kid on a bike, or the Ghost of Christmas Past - if there's something in the way, do not hit it. [/quote] I's not as clear cut as you present it. An autonomous ca should not hit the brakes hard for a variety of soft, light objects that the wind might blow into is path, such as leaves or garbage such as plastic bags. I think there may be enough overlap with the characteristics of the caution tape for the latter to be mistaken for a non-obstruction. Still not a good excuse for this failure.

Comment Re:This is a good thing (Score 3, Informative) 74

Indeed. It requires a car to have separate cables inside the car(adding weight) for AC and DC power. Indeed, it can even take 3 phase power.

No, it can't. The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... connector ("Type 1") used in the US doesn't even have the pins for 3 phase power, it uses 1 phase and neutral, or a second phase instead of neutral. The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ("Type 2") connector used in Europe can carry 3 phase power, but the power supply to actually deal with it is optional for those vehicles where it is available at all.

But I've looked at various power solutions, charging solutions, and all that. There's minimal gain in separating AC and DC power. For example, while I wouldn't trust it unless it's engineered and rated for it, most switchmode power supplies should work just fine off of DC power input instead of AC. This may break down with safety circuits, building the cheapest power supply possible, filtering, etc...

It looks like you have not understood how DC fast charging works. When in DC mode, the charger (power supply) in the vehicle is bypassed entirely, and, after some safety checks and handshakes, the battery is connected directly to the socket and thereby the charging station. For NACS, you probably need extra switching circuitry to disconnect the vehicle side power supply, because it would probably be unhappy when fed 400V DC.

Comment Re:Let's not forget brake wear emissions (Score 2) 67

What noise? Modern Trains are certainly less noisy than an equivalent number of cars or trucks. Regarding braking, modern passenger trains as well as the latest freight cars use disk brakes that are much quieter than the old style brake pads that use the wheels' running surface.

This is good news, but let's not pretend it solves all the problems of transport.

Nobody claimed that this solves all problems. Let's also not pretend your continued ownership and use of cars solves all problems.

Comment Re:What?! (Score 3, Informative) 642

That's incorrect. The president of Germany is elected by the Federal Convention, which is made up of all members of the German Federal Diet (Deutscher Bundestag, elected by proportional representation every four years) plus the same number of representatives elected by the states' parliaments. Therefore, half of the result is determined by indirect vote, and the other half by double indirect votes (populace votes for representatives in the state parliament, those vote for representatives in the Federal Convention, and that in turn votes for the president). There is however, no popular vote at all for the president, the elections for the president don't coincide with any federal or state elections. Few people really care, because the president usually has a much lower profile than the chancellor..
China

China Mandates Wi-Fi Hotspot Traffic Monitoring 83

hypnosec writes with an article on tightening censorship in China. From the article: "Officials in China warned businesses in the capital city to install web surveillance technology to monitor their traffic or they may have to face hefty fine or closure. ... It seems that the step to intensify web censorship in the country has left businesses with no other choice but to stop providing WiFi services.."

Comment Re:Counter-takedown notice? (Score 1) 475

[...]and they must IMMEDIATELY restore it – and they face full legal responsibility of any losses you incur if they do not!

Sadly. that's not the case.

  • (1) No liability for taking down generally. — Subject to paragraph (2), a service provider shall not be liable to any person for any claim based on the service provider's good faith disabling of access to, or removal of, material or activity claimed to be infringing or based on facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent, regardless of whether the material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.
  • (2) Exception. — Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to material residing at the direction of a subscriber of the service provider on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider that is removed, or to which access is disabled by the service provider, pursuant to a notice provided under subsection (c)(1)(C), unless the service provider —
    • (A) takes reasonable steps promptly to notify the subscriber that it has removed or disabled access to the material;
    • (B) upon receipt of a counter notification described in paragraph (3), promptly provides the person who provided the notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) with a copy of the counter notification, and informs that person that it will replace the removed material or cease disabling access to it in 10 business days; and
    • (C) replaces the removed material and ceases disabling access to it not less than 10, nor more than 14, business days following receipt of the counter notice, unless its designated agent first receives notice from the person who submitted the notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) that such person has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on the service provider's system or network.

And if that doesn't help, there's certainly something in youtube's terms and conditions that they can host or not host anything they want at any time they want for any or no reason, and that it is your own fault to rely on their services. I'd expect their liability to be limited to what you pay them for hosting your content, some very low symbolic amount or just plain nothing, whichever they can get away with in the relevant jurisdiction.

Comment Re:Moon bounce (Score 1) 386

There's about 1kW of photons centered around the visual spectrum hitting every square meter of the moon. It's very difficult to detect a measly laser among all that noise. In the radio spectrum, it's much easier to get a few kW of transmit power, and there's not all that much natural noise, so the signal is much easier to detect.

If you want to know how hard it is to bounce a laser off the moon, read up on the Apollo Retroreflectors, where "Even under good atmospheric viewing conditions, only one photon is received every few seconds".

Television

"Loud Commercial" Legislation Proposed In US Congress 636

Hackajar writes "Have you ever caught yourself running for the volume control when a TV commercial comes on? Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has, and is submitting legislation that would require TV commercials in the US to stay at volume levels similar to the programming they are associated with. From the article: 'Right now, the government doesn't have much say in the volume of TV ads. It's been getting complaints ever since televisions began proliferating in the 1950s. But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the "apparent loudness" of commercials.'"

Comment Re:What about UDF? (Score 1) 569

There was a crash bug in linux quite some time ago (around the 2.6.18 timeframe, CVE-2006-4145) involving large files on UDF filesystems. The workaround fomr 2.6.18 on was a hard limit of the filesize on UDF filesystems of only 1GB. This limit was still around when I last tried to create a UDF DVD filesystem, but that was 1-2 years ago. Is this limit still in current kernels?
The Military

Obama Helicopter Security Breached By File Sharing 408

Hugh Pickens writes "A company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks has discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Barack Obama's helicopter. 'We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One, which is the president's helicopter,' says Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa, a security company that specializes in peer-to-peer technology. Tiversa was able to track the file, discovered at an IP address in Tehran, Iran, back to its original source. 'What appears to be a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file-sharing program on one of their systems that also contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One,' says Boback, adding that someone from the company most likely downloaded a file-sharing program, typically used to exchange music, without realizing the potential problems. 'I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went.' Iran is not the only country that appears to be accessing this type of information through file-sharing programs. 'We've noticed it out of Pakistan, Yemen, Qatar and China. They are actively searching for information that is disclosed in this fashion because it is a great source of intelligence.'"

Comment Re:S3 has always been a synonym for "avoid" (Score 1) 132

My experience from 1996 is quite the oppiosite. I bought a S3 964 based card after those were on the market for more than a year, and I had to find that XF86 was running in false-color so to say. S3 sent me the printed programming for free by international airmail essentially no questions asked.

It turned out that the problem was the way the external IBM RAMDAC was wired to the S3 chip - easily fixed with a 2 or so lines patch, Back in those days manufacturers of graphics cards dodn't just implement a reference design, but had lots of choices which components to connect in which way, which didn't really make things easier for open source developers without access to every hardware variant out there.That essentially ended with the S3 Trio/Virge and the ATI and NVida 3d cards.

Businesses

Spaceport America Gets FAA License 61

DynaSoar writes "Spaceport America received an early and double holiday gift this week: first, the expected (positive) FAA environmental impact report, and second, the hoped-for but not immediately expected 'launch site operator's license.' With this license, and with the previously accomplished creation of a tax district, two of three pieces are in place as required by the New Mexico legislature to receive its funding package. The third, a lease with a space services tenant to use the facility, may come this week also, in the form of a contract with Virgin Galactic. While timing is impossible to predict, the contract is a virtual certainty. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority fully expects it, and so has projected late 2010 for completion of hangar and terminal facilities. Virgin Galactic also seems confident, as they have already screened and submitted their first 100 customers (called the Virgin Galactic Founders) to their contracted medical and training supervisor. They are busy screening their second 100 'spaceflight participants' (NASA and RKA having decided that only those who can tack 'career' on the front of it deserve to be called 'astronauts')."

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