Comment Re:Full of Nothing (Score 1) 670
I do now. Thank you sir!
Comment Full of Nothing (Score 1) 670
So he had vaccum sealed a compartment in his car? Could be dangerous...
Submission + - Facebook Autofill Wants to Store User's Credit Card Info
cagraham writes: Facebook has teamed up with payment processors PayPal, Braintree, and Stripe, in an attempt to simplify mobile payments. The system allows Facebook members (who have turned over their credit and billing info) to click a "Autofill with Facebook" button when checking-out on a mobile app. Facebook will then verify the details, and securely transfer a user's info over to the payment processing company. The move is likely aimed at gathering more data on user behavior, which can be used to increase the prices Facebook charges for mobile ads. Whether or not the feature takes off however, will depend almost entirely on how willing users are to trust Facebook with their credit card data.
Comment Warn your loved ones. (Score 2) 125
I am now officially warning everyone I know on a monthly basis at the least not to use Facebook and to use the appropriate browser addons to negate "like" buttons across other sites.
This has clearly gone too far, I can understand if masochist ignore my warnings, but for whome I deeply care for in my life I will do my best to help them push this evil corporation away from their lives.
Good luck to everyone else in your efforts to do the same. We have what it takes!
Comment Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol (Score 5, Insightful) 254
I used to have this policy as well, until I went GNU/Linux for 99% of the time. The 1% on Windows I use to play games but it is rare and seeing as Linux is getting more games nowadays I might go 100% soon enough.
Comment Re:Neil DeGrasse Tyson may be right - now, but... (Score 1) 580
Rare earth metals is the correct term, seeing as they are rare on earth. In space though, you may as well call them common space metals.
Comment Gov. Work (Score 4, Interesting) 814
I used to work for the government of Canada at an agency which I cannot name. I ran into an awkward situation when I was speaking with a woman who had recently gotten married to another woman and as I was putting the info in, the software I was using told me there was an error that needed to be corrected before proceeding. I was both embarrassed and furious. I could not believe our software was not written with same sex couples in mind and I apologized to her and kept on going with the rest of call.
I doubt this issue has been fixed yet, this happened about a year ago.
Submission + - Transgendered Folks Encounter Document/Database ID Hassles
An anonymous reader writes: Most of us hear the equivalent of 'let me bring up your record' several times a week or month when dealing with businesses and government agencies; sometimes there's a problem, but clerks are accustomed to dealing with changes in street address, phone numbers, company affiliation, and even personal names (after marriage). But what about gender? Transgendered folks are encountering embarrassing moments when they have to explain that their gender has changed from 'M' to 'F' or vice versa. While there are many issues involved in discrimination against transgendered individuals, I have to confess that the first thing that came to my mind was the impact on database design and maintenance.
Submission + - Ancient Roman Concrete Is About to Revolutionize Modern Architecture (businessweek.com) 1
schwit1 writes: After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world’s most durable man-made creations ever—Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future.
Researchers have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode.
The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, “The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated—incorporating water molecules into its structure—and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.”
Researchers have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode.
The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, “The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated—incorporating water molecules into its structure—and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.”
Submission + - Don't Panic, But We've Passed Peak Apple. And Google. And Facebook. (xconomy.com)
waderoush writes: Over the last decade, just three companies — Google, Apple, and Facebook — have generated most of the new ideas and most of the business momentum in the world of computing. (Add in Amazon, if you're feeling generous.) But it's been a long time since any of these companies introduced anything indisputably new — and there are good reasons to think they never will again. This Xconomy essay argues that the innovation engines at Google, Apple, and Facebook are out of gas (the most surprising thing about OS X Mavericks is that it's not named after a cat) and that other players will have to come up with the underpinnings for the next big cycle of advances in computing. Granted, it's not as if any of these companies will disappear. But the idea that they'll go on generating ideas as groundbreaking as the ones that landed them in the spotlight defies common sense, statistics, and the lessons of history, which show that real innovation almost always comes from small companies. Apple, Google, and Facebook aren't too big to fail — but they may be too big to keep succeeding.
Submission + - Draft NASA funding bill cancels asteroid mission for return to the moon (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: A draft version of the 2013 NASA Authorization Bill nixes any funding for President Obama’s asteroid retrieval mission and instead directs NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as possible, funding of course permitted.
The NASA bill is currently working its way through the House Science Committee. Thus far the Senate has not taken up NASA authorization. However the cancellation of the asteroid retrieval mission and an insistence on returning to the moon, which both President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden have opposed, would place Congress on a collision course with the White House should that version of the bill be passed by both houses of Congress.
The NASA bill is currently working its way through the House Science Committee. Thus far the Senate has not taken up NASA authorization. However the cancellation of the asteroid retrieval mission and an insistence on returning to the moon, which both President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden have opposed, would place Congress on a collision course with the White House should that version of the bill be passed by both houses of Congress.
Comment Hmmm... (Score 1) 221
It would seem as though it would be safer for an individual to obtain these shows through means of copyright infringement using peer to peer software, as well as easier.
Submission + - MIT President Tells Grads to 'Hack the World'
theodp writes: On Friday, MIT President L. Rafael Reif exhorted grads to 'hack the world until you make the world a little more like MIT'. A rather ironic choice of words, since 'hack the world' is precisely what others said Aaron Swartz was trying to do in his fateful run-in with MIT. President Reif presumably received an 'Incomplete' this semester for the promised time-is-of-the-essence review of MIT's involvement in the events that preceded Swartz's suicide last January. By the way, it wasn't so long ago that 2013 commencement speaker Drew Houston and Aaron Swartz were both welcome speakers at MIT.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What Features Does iOS 7 Need? (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: Apple’s iOS 7, which is heavily rumored to make its debut at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, will almost certainly feature a totally redesigned interface. According to recent rumors (including a few key postings on the Apple-centric blog 9 to 5 Mac), the OS will stand as a shining example of “flat” design, which eliminates “real world” elements such as texture and shading in favor of stripped-down, basic shapes. That means certain iOS environments such as Game Center (with its casino-like green felt) and Newsstand (with its wooden shelving) could soon look completely different. But what about iOS 7’s actual features? What could Apple change that would improve the operating system’s chances against the increasingly sophisticated Google Android, not to mention the new-and-improved BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8? What would you do to iOS with Apple's full resources at your disposal?
Submission + - Inside PRISM: Why the Government Hates Encryption (vortex.com)
Lauren Weinstein writes: Now, what's really going on with PRISM? The government admits that the program exists, but says it is being "mischaracterized" in significant ways (always a risk with secret projects sucking up information about your citizens' personal lives). The Internet firms named in the leaked documents are denying that they have provided "back doors" to the government for data access.
Who is telling the truth?
Likely both. Based on previous information and the new leaks, we can make some pretty logical guesses about the actual shape of all this.
Here's my take.
Who is telling the truth?
Likely both. Based on previous information and the new leaks, we can make some pretty logical guesses about the actual shape of all this.
Here's my take.
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