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Comment Ah, Centurylink (Score 1) 105

I've used them for years and years (only broadband in my area). In general it's been a good service, but when they screw the pooch they go above and beyond. I'll never forgive them for leaving me with huge latency for 3 months. If I ever have a choice in broadband they will be gone.

http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/03/06/175223/ask-slashdot-what-is-an-acceptable-broadband-latency

Comment Re:Tax funded lunches? (Score 1) 631

The argument is that because Google employers are not buying their lunch, then they're not contributing to the city/county/state tax revenue pool.

"Huh?" you say.

If Google's kitchens sold those lunches to the employees then the employees would pay tax on the purchase of those lunches.
Thus by not requiring people to purchase the food and thus pay tax on the purchase, they're depriving the city/county/state of sales tax.

From an IRS perspective, Google is effectively providing people a "fringe benefit." The benefit here is food. The food costs Google some amount of money to provide or prepare so it obviously isn't worth nothing. Thus the IRS is within its rights to argue that Google is providing people with a "fringe benefit."

Too bad you posted this anon. This is the first response I found that actually explains the reasoning behind what's going on. Stupid to a common sense perspective? Yes. But, it still explains what the IRS/et all are thinking.

Media

Roku Finally Gets a 2D Menu System 80

DeviceGuru writes "Many of us have griped for years about Roku's retro one-dimensional user interface. Finally, in conjunction with the release of the new Roku 3 model, the Linux-based media streaming player is getting a two-dimensional facelift, making it quicker and easier to access favorite channels and find new ones. Current Roku users, who will now begin suffering from UI-envy, will be glad to learn that Roku plans to push out a firmware update next month to many earlier models, including the Roku LT, Roku HD (model 2500R), Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD, Roku 2 XS, and Roku Streaming Stick. A short demo of the new 2D Roku menu system is available in this YouTube video."

Comment Re:How about weeding out infringing material? (Score 1) 167

You don't have to agree with me, but I (as a YouTube content producer) get frustrated when I see blatant rips of items that have ad content on them. I would very much like to report these people in a way to get them removed. It frustrates me that I produce content and work hard to put out what I do, but these people take the Rudolph song and make 3mil+ views quite against copyright. So, call it petty jealousy or whatever you want, but yes, I would very much report infringing videos given the opportunity.

Comment This would be interesting...if... (Score 1) 184

It hadn't already been fully researched and thrown out by all major data marketers 10 years ago. The fact is, it's illegal as hell (in the States, and therefore in all .us, .com, and .net domains) to use PI (personally identifiable) data at an anonymous level (eg, online). Cross site cookies have existed for years now, and that is all this is. It's a marketing cookie.

How, might you ask, could this data actually be used? It's used to build a portfolio of a visitor to target ads. Google does it. So does Microsoft. And, hundreds of others. But, that portfolio can only contain information that isn't PI. PI information will be things like: SSN, Name, Address, Email, etc. Non-PI information will be: Average Income, Area of Residence, etc.

So, you can take this cookie, use it to find the person's broad, generic interests, and better target an ad at them. You cannot (legally) use it to discover their email address and send them emails saying "Hope you liked our site, please return, ignore how we got this email".

Comment Re:The answer is simple.... (Score 1) 630

The one day I really need mod points, I don't have them.

I can't say how true your words are. I work in VLDB processing and my team has 22 members. 5 are under 20 (2 new hires), 7 in their 30s, and the rest older than that. Sure, we're a larger company where you are more likely to get formal training to keep you up to date.

This whole conversation comes up all the time about "self-taugh vs university" and every time someone brings up the logical point, but it goes largely unheard. No one gives a shit where you learned it when you have 5+ years experience in the industry. University is a key to getting an entry level position. Self taught isn't. That's just life. Go 5+ years and you could have been trained by a monkey as long as you have the industry experience and the ability to actually do what you're supposed to.

Comment Re:Some good arguments, some bad arguments. (Score 1) 580

I have commented on these types of articles before, and I will likely do so again. I add this introduction, because I'm about to lay down a long story and figured I should at least say I join these conversations regularly before asking you to read further.

To start, the Department of US Immigration and Customs (ICE) confiscated my computer equipment (towers, monitors, cables, networking gear, everything) 8 years ago as part of a CP investigation. My brother and I owned a house at the time, and all his equipment was confiscated as well. I was 19 at the time and my brother was 18. My girlfriend, whom lived with us, had just turned 18. They actually brought some of the images that supposedly existed on the computers into our home and showed them to my girlfriend and my brother.

As I'm typing this, now, you probably assume what happened. Neither of us were charged with anything. What we conjecture happened was that one of the dozens of people who came to my house to LAN (we had a decently competitive Counter-Strike clan) was likely doing some IRC trading. At least, that's what we pieced together from the questions we were asked. It took two years, and server letters to get my gear back. They threatened to seize it because it was "an instrument of crime". By the time we actually did get our gear back it was antiquated and not worth getting back. We actually destroyed the vast majority of it for peace of mind.

In the interim, it absolutely destroyed my life. I couldn't sleep for fear of waking up with a pistol in my face (that's actually what happened...). I ended up moving out of the house, because I found myself watching the streets every day. My parents, who own the house, ended up having to find renters on no notice. My family and my girlfriend were amazingly supportive. Luckily for me. I've heard of other stories where the investigated's families instantly ostresised them. I was a computer science student at university at the time and no longer had access to a computer at home. I missed a ton of school dealing with the authorities. And, because we had so many people in/out of our house, the interviews with the police and my friends left no doubt of what they suspected.

I lost all of my friends. Even the ones who were pretty sure we had no part in it didn't want to be around, because they didn't want to be suspected. I retain two friends from that period out of dozens.

I spent two years as a criminal, more or less, while they investigated. To this day I'm still absolutely scared shitless every time I see anything even remotely grey-area on the internet. I counsel my friends to avoid places like 4chan or IRC or any place with user submitted pornography. Or any P2P trading for that matter.

I was judged in the court of public opinion and was guilty before any facts were submitted, all because of how taboo of a subject we are dealing with. I will absolutely never be the same. And, I didn't even see the damned pictures/movies/whatever the hell they were looking for.

All this, not because someone abused some child somewhere, but because one of my idiots friends likely got jaded with the tons of normal porn available and instead decided to download something darker. And, because he/she wasn't a total idiot decided to do it at someone else's house.

Comment Re:two quick points... (Score 1) 139

That doesn't make the wrong though.

Yes, yes it does. Watching moderated television in no way at all hurts my children, or I wouldn't let them do it. Tonight we are going to go for a bike ride to the park and then read a book and do some math "homework" when we get home. My kids are 4 and 6. After that, we're going to watch some NickJR, because my kids enjoy the shows. If the 6 year old has her way we might watch an episode of Avatar on regular Nick.

I get so absolutely sick of this "You're a bad parent because..." bullshit on here. Television to an excess is bad parenting, but some isn't. And, no one here is advocating jamming kids in front of a TV all day while we play Diablo 3.

Comment So much hate here... (Score 2) 139

I see so many comments here about "I went full media center" or "TV, who watches TV???". My main source of viewing material is League of Legends streams, but I still pay for DirecTV. Why? I have 3 children. NickJR is an amazing channel for kids under 7. It's one of two channels I let them watch without me being over their shoulders.

And, yes, I have NetFlix. But, it works on one TV (the one with the PS3 on it which coincidentally is the same one with the HDMI to the PC). I have three televisions. My kids can easily watch NickJR in the playroom or bedrooms. That by itself makes me glad to pay the $70 a month that also lets me watch HD football and the occasional trash TV when I don't have anything else going on.

TLDR; I'm more than willing to pay the $70 because it adds value to my household. I don't understand all the hate around here - don't use the service if you don't like it.

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