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Comment 8 million terabytes (Score 1) 44

by sofla (#61540496) Attached to: Apple's Spending on Google Cloud Storage On Track to Soar 50% This Year

From the article:
"The report claims Apple now has over eight million terabytes of data stored on Google's servers. "

I get why they said 8 million terabytes instead of, equivalently, 8 exabytes, because exabyte isn't a well-known unit like terabyte. But it still bugs me.
They could have just as easily said 8 billion gigabytes or 8 trillion megabytes, if they wanted it to make it more approachable.

Comment Re:Client / Server (Score 1) 350

"Gendered pronouns (for example "he" or "his") become they or their."

"They" is plural, "he" is singular. Where did the other people come from? Isn't it more confusing not to know the number of people being referred to than to possibly mis-state the gender? What happened to the practice of alternating the use of his and her in examples/documentation? I thought that worked pretty well.
Security

Hacking a Satellite is Surprisingly Easy (theoutline.com) 199

Posted by msmash from the security-woes dept.
Caroline Haskins, writing for The Outline: Hundreds of multi-ton liabilities -- soaring faster than the speed of sound, miles above the surface of the earth -- are operating on Windows-95. They're satellites, responsible for everything from GPS positioning, to taking weather measurements, to carrying cell signals, to providing television and internet. For the countries that own these satellites, they're invaluable resources. Even though they're old, it's more expensive to take satellites down than it is to just leave them up. So they stay up. Unfortunately, these outdated systems makes old satellites prime targets for cyber attacks. [...]

A malicious actor could fake their IP address, which gives information about a user's computer and its location. This person could then get access to the satellite's computer system, and manipulate where the satellite goes or what it does. Alternatively, an actor could jam the satellite's radio transmissions with earth, essentially disabling it. The cost of such an attack could be huge. If a satellite doesn't work, life-saving GPS or online information could be withheld to people on earth when they need it most. What's worse, if part of a satellite -- or an entire satellite -- is knocked out of its orbit from an attack, the debris could create a domino effect and cause extreme damage to other satellites.

Comment States Rights take another hit (Score 1) 280

by sofla (#55603587) Attached to: FCC Will Also Order States To Scrap Plans For Their Own Net Neutrality Laws

"Pai's staff said that states and other localities do not have jurisdiction over broadband"

That's backwards. Federal agencies (FCC included) only have jurisdiction over interstate matters, not intrastate. So, the FCC has jurisdiction over the backbone but everything else including the "last mile" hop to the individual subscriber, is within state and local jurisdiction.

But alas, we have yet another case of a Federal agency exceeding its mandate, and states rights continue to evaporate.
If only we could count on the Supreme Court to do its job and strike down bullshit like this.

Comment Tyranny of the majority? (Score 1) 1430

> Is it time for the Electoral College to reflect the popular vote?

NO.

More importantly, do states rights still matter?

The Electoral College should vote the way the voters have indicated that they should. To do otherwise would betray the trust of the people that voted for them. Ideally we would do away with the Electoral College proxy voting nonsense and have a direct vote. But the Electoral vote allocation should stay the way it is.

A vote that reflects the statistically insignificant difference in the popular vote would send the message that states rights are indeed dead, and that heavily populated states like California and New York are now allowed to dictate policy for everyone else. Yes, Clinton did get a few more votes. But Trump got more states.

Does no one remember "tyranny of the majority" from civics class? Does no one remember why we have two houses in the Congress, one with equal representation per state (Senate) and one with population based representation (House of Representatives)? Do you think it is a coincidence that the Electoral votes per state is the sum of these two numbers?
The Internet

Netflix Launches Fast.com To Show How Fast Your Internet Connection Really Is (venturebeat.com) 172

Posted by msmash from the what's-your-speed dept.
Paul Sawers, writing for VentureBeat (condensed): Netflix really wants to show you how fast (or slow) your Internet connection is, and to do so it has launched a new website at Fast.com that conveys the real-time speed of your connection to the Web. It's designed to give people "greater insight and control of their Internet service." Netflix said it was for: Providing a website featuring non-downloadable software for testing and analyzing the speed of a user's Internet connection, as well as downloadable computer software for testing and analyzing the speed of a user's Internet connection.Compared to Speedtest.net, Fast.com doesn't offer any details on how fast is your upload speeds, what's the ping time, and any detail on location and ISP. However, it's seemingly faster, and automatically detects your download speeds when you visit the website. Wirefly also offers an internet speed test that provides a bunch of metrics that Netflix does not.
Privacy

The US Vs. Europe: Freedom of Expression Vs. Privacy 278

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the dang-freedom-hating-europeans dept.
First time accepted submitter GoddersUK (1262110) writes "Rory Cellan-Jones writes about the recent European Court judgement on the right to be forgotten in terms of US/EU cultural differences (and perhaps a bit of bitterness on the EU side at U.S. influence online): 'He tells me... ..."In the past if you were in Germany you were never worried that some encyclopedia website based in the United States was going to name you as a murderer after you got out of jail because that was inconceivable. Today that can happen, so the cultural gap that was always there about the regulation of speech is becoming more visible."... Europeans who have been told that the Internet is basically ungovernable — and if it does have guiding principles then they come from the land of the free — are expressing some satisfaction that court has refused to believe that.' And, certainly, it seems, here in the UK, that even MEPs keen on the principle don't really know how this ruling will work in practice or what the wider consequences will be. Video here."
Earth

US Climate Report Says Global Warming Impact Already Severe 627

Posted by Soulskill from the but-it-was-cold-yesterday dept.
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: "Darryl Fears reports in the Washington Post on the U.S. government's newest national assessment of climate change. It says Americans are already feeling the effects of global warming. The assessment carves the nation into sections and examines the impacts: More sea-level rise, flooding, storm surge, precipitation and heat waves in the Northeast; frequent water shortages and hurricanes in the Southeast and Caribbean; more drought and wildfires in the Southwest. 'Residents of some coastal cities see their streets flood more regularly during storms and high tides. Inland cities near large rivers also experience more flooding, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Insurance rates are rising in some vulnerable locations, and insurance is no longer available in others. Hotter and drier weather and earlier snow melt mean that wildfires in the West start earlier in the spring, last later into the fall, and burn more acreage. In Arctic Alaska, the summer sea ice that once protected the coasts has receded, and autumn storms now cause more erosion, threatening many communities with relocation.' The report concludes that over recent decades, climate science has advanced significantly and that increased scrutiny has led to increased certainty that we are now seeing impacts associated with human-induced climate change. 'What is new over the last decade is that we know with increasing certainty that climate change is happening now. While scientists continue to refine projections of the future, observations unequivocally show that climate is changing and that the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases.'"

Comment Re:About Lincoln (Score 2) 426

by sofla (#25310925) Attached to: Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List

Actually Obama does the same and he's not even president. (yet ?)

Not to rain on your parade, but the linked 'article' is complete and utter tripe. Not only is no proof offered of any wrongdoing, there aren't even any specific accusations. I can't believe any rational thinker would take it seriously. This isn't to say that Obama didn't do (whatever it is he's being accused of), just that there is nothing there that would allow one to make any sort of informed decision.

Hint: just because someone posts it on the Internet, doesn't mean its true.

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