Re: People still write?

How about people with big fingers for which virtual and even tiny physical keyboards are hit-or-miss?

Re: School I work at took another approach.

But what happened when a student complained that their essay or term paper got wiped out (and thus they failed the class) because of a hash collision? Was there a procedure for false positives?

They're trying.

Thing is, not all the software developers like or want to use the Microsoft Installer system. The end result is that Windows has a harder time tracking those applications. Furthermore, a huge chunk of applications are either pre-MSI or use old versions that only include installation information with no information on how to gracefully update stuff. End result is that updating is a crapshoot. Look at Java. Until very recently, the recommendation was that you manually uninstall your current version before you installed a new one since versions couldn't detect each other and as a result tended to contend.

Re: Two things are missing from auto update

Social engineering could trick the user into a rollback. Also, the rollback may involve one type of exploit but the real meat and potatoes requires something covered by the patch that needs to be rolled back.

"As has been said before access to our choice of media on the medium we want at the speed and times we want them is possible (torrents etc.), so why not legitimately with out having to pay unreasonable costs (sorry but £5 for a a single series episode to me is unreasonable comparing it against channel subscriptions)."

This is PRECISELY the problem. The music industry wants to force us to double-dip, triple-dip, or whatever. As they say in economics, there's no business like REPEAT business: rentals and leases, over sales, viewing fees, etc. This isn't just with media but with real-world products, too: the operative term is "planned obsolescence". Sure, you can sell a vacuum cleaner that lasts for 100 years, but once everyone buys your vacuum, what do you do in the meantime, hmm? Also in healthcare; you'll never see a cure come out of a purely private pharmaceutical firm, for the same reasons.

Re: "moved on from the early movie dramas"

Then you have V for Vendetta and Watchmen, both based on serious, thrilling graphic novels. But as others have said, when you have 1 million intellectuals who will plunk down $50 for serious content vs. 10 million sheep willing to pay $10 each for the latest drivel which costs less to produce than the serious stuff, guess who wins.

Re: Two things are missing from auto update

"Second - the ability to roll back to a previous version - particularly when the update is a style change and/or broken."

Trouble is a lot of updates are necessarily one-way, to plug security holes. Otherwise, a malware could force a rollback and exploit the hole.

Can you say "Single Point of Failure"?

Or in this case, "single point of HAXXX?" All a malware would have to do is hijack the list (which must be in the clear at some point to be useable) and you can booby-trap the sap's applications with trojaned versions. This has hit Android as well with "bait-and-switch" updates where the initial version is clean so as to get past Google's scrutiny but then, once it's all clear, release the update that has the actual payload.

There's just some areas there security and ease of use can't meet because Joe Q. Public doesn't like checkpoints, but they're the only way to filter out the Joes from the Mals.

Re: Chips in Spaaaaace

The phase changes are supposed to occur at temperatures of at least 600 degrees Celsius, but in very tight spaces which limits the amount of power needed. Cold environments would only slow down the process while an environment would have to get pretty damn hot to cross into PCM's operating range.

Re: Power Consumption?

Significantly less IIRC because PCM doesn't require a charge pump. Also because it is capable of altering things at the bit level (Flash requires a wipe-and-rewrite of larger areas).

Re: If you can reproduce it doesn't that mean you know it???

That's the "plausible deniability" premise behind hidden partitions. You use a normal partition that has only embarrassing information which you'd give under coercion while at the same time keeping hidden in the same place the real goods.

Thing is, if the hose-users are aware of the possibility, they'll just keep rubber-hosing you to reveal ALL the secrets or hint that they know of the existence of a panic code---which can mean something very permanent to you if they suspect you're using that one instead of the real one.

The big problem with security at this time is the problem of establishing necessary trust between Bob and Alice when neither have a history of trust (because they've never met before). It's a problem that goes both to physics and psychology and is therefore one of the "hard" problems of security.

Re: Tried eBay once, never again.

No, that's just ONE type of auction (the common English auction). There are others. For example, in a sealed-bid auction, everyone only gets one (secret) bid which no one but the seller sees. eBay and other auction websites simply use a variant on the Vickrey auction.

Re: The problem is PayPal itself.

eBay stopped taking money orders after miscreants discovered a way to FAKE them.

Re: Something doesn't compute

Just for now. The target as the article notes is phones which usually have ratios along this line at the low end. They note that versions without either the RAM or the PCM will also be available. This is just the first mass rollout, and we can expect different capacities later on.

Re: So what if they are stockpiling?

I believe some of the most notorious examples of conscript labor (ex. Angola Prison and the southern Chain Gangs), which tended to involve minority populations, caused public outcry and resulted in prison reform that prevents American prisons from taking the bottom road.

Re: It will always amaze me.

Who's going to budget the overhaul? The USPTO is notoriously under-budgeted and under-staffed.

Re: Simples

But what if the patent involved wasn't part of the original agreement: a "submarine" patent that is essentially essential to the standard but not formally recognized as a SEP?

Re: positive feedback

But the negative feedback of sunlight reflection and refraction tends to exceed the positive feedback of absorption and radiation. Thus why cloudy days are statistically cooler than sunny ones. Would increased global temperatures result in more sunlight-reflecting clouds? As of present, it's just a hypothesis but one that can be used to blunt the alarmists.

Put the "Natural" back in, and you've fixed it: Locations Of Outstanding Natural Stupidity.

Re: Agreed

"Hmmm, maybe that's why so many places are banning plastic bags at the grocer."

Actually, the main reason is pollution. These bags don't decay easily yet are very light and airy. A stray breeze can pick one up from just about anywhere, even from inside a container, and carry it hither and thither--perhaps into a wildlife area or another environmentally-sensitive spot where it interferes with plants and potentially harms animals.

If they don't ban the bags outright (most that do are in tourist areas or near said sensitive areas), they force retailers to charge for each bag by a tax: the proceeds normally used to clean up the messes produced by these bags.

Re: Having been rear-ended by people texting ...

Um...just move 100m out of range and try again. Is it really that difficult to get out of range of a spot jammer?

Re: So let me get this straight.

Perhaps that's why we're seeing an increasing amount of patent "submarining": hiding the fact they actually have patents for an essential part of a standard until after the standard is formalized: thus avoiding having to license the patent under FRAND terms and being off the hook by simply saying, "No one asked US if we had patents related to that part of the standard."

I would think a solution would be to hold all parties who agree to the standard powerless to sue if it is found they have a "submarine patent". But then companies may just not agree to the standard, leading to more fragmentation again. It's a hard problem to solve.

Re: positive feedback

"Water vapor feedback is another: warmer earth -> warmer atmosphere, which holds more water vapor, which is a greenhouse gas that causes additional warming."

Thing is, water vapor can makes BOTH positive AND negative feedback. Sure, water vapor is a greenhouse gas, but more water vapor in the atmosphere tends to increase cloud cover. Clouds REFLECT light and heat back into space and thus have a cooling effect.

Re: Pharma industry

Given that a lot of Wikipedia articles themselves have references, many of them to reputable sources, Wikipedia is far from hearsay.

Re: Submarine patents

The reason patents are by default overly broad is to cover as many possible permutations of the invention as possible. This is to prevent end-runs around the patent by knockoffs who just change a little thing here, a little thing there, then they can say, "This isn't the patented thing! Look, this isn't in the application! It's different!" Patent end-runs were rampant in the late 19th century IIRC.

Possibly.

If you never agree to the T&C at first bootup, or you never allow that to appear in the first place by putting a Linux Live/Install CD in the drive and booting off it from the get-go, I would think, legally, you never agreed to the terms of the transaction, which would render it "no sale". So you should be able to return the software to Microsoft for a refund (under the stipulation that you never agreed to the EULA nor performed an action which could be construed as an agreement) or you should be able to sell it on as a clean, intact software license (unless it's part of a license batch). But again, the actual legal ramifications are unclear since no judge has ever ruled specifically on this issue.

Re: So let me get this straight.

So how do you get innovation out the door without it being knocked off? Got any better ideas?

Re: So let me get this straight.

"Maybe the patent office should start actually reading the patents they issue rather than going the old school route of "oh its more than X pages, patent approved" not to mention theduplicate patents out there."

Got enough money to pay for the extra clerks needed to do that kind of work? The USPTO is notoriously under-budgeted and under-staffed. If trivial patents get through, it's because they can only realistically look at so many at a time. It's like expecting a task that physically requires at least six hours labor to be done in two--with half as many people as you would normally need.

Re: Quarantine in the security gatehouse.

I'm surprised they didin't foil camera phones by scattering infrared LEDs at key points around the site. IR emitters are typically invisible to us but quite visible to camera phones.

Re: I forgot to mention

Thing is, Microsoft is learning from the consumer end of the history timetable. And what history tells us is that end users don't like to jump hoops. If they can, they'll find shortcuts and end runs around security measures because they just wanna get to work, much like the stove and the TV: turn it on and get going. Security by necessity compromises ease of use, so what do you do when you need to balance the two: secure enough that people can't poke holes in everything, yet easy enough to use that people aren't going to go to pains to...well, poke holes in everything.

Re: "You can predict that the water will boil. "

There's also the rare possibility of it not boiling at all but superheating instead. A smooth-enough pot made of materials that do not dissolve in water at around 100 degrees C combined with distilled water with no contaminants provides no way for steam to nucleate. Result: no boiling...though I wouldn't recommend dropping anything into that water. Superheated water is very unstable.

Re: Why?

There can be several reasons for the difference. Localized temperatures can vary depending on the thermometer's position, orientation, etc. Most thermometers used by the weather services are located at specific locations (airports and other airfields are common sites) with specific conditions so as to reduce variations. For example, if your thermometer was on an east-facing window, chances are it'll be hotter early in the day (when the sun's pouring down on it) than in the afternoon (when it's more likely to be in shade).

Also, local highs tend to occur around late afternoon, when the sun's had the most time to "bake" your area. After that, ground and water heat radiation tends to outpace the input from the sun and the temperature starts dropping.

Re: So after x number of years, a drug will come out of patent...

That may well be, but the bribe would have to be significant for something very popular. Otherwise, the drug maker would consider the potential profits from making the generic the better option and turn it down. Not to mention there are multiple drug manufacturers, all who wish to get in on the action. If even one of them went ahead and produced a generic, the whole bribery model would be at risk.

Re: redundancy never works at DCs ?

It suppose it all goes down to cost/tradeoff. Are the sites you serve so mission-critical that any lengthy downtime would be costly enough that they insist on an uptime guarantee? If they pony up enough for the level of service, then you'd be financially (not to mention contractually) motivated to install a fully-redundant system.

In this case, it's just a classic Murphy strike. You have a backup plan, but then the backup plan fails on you. Happened to me in a smaller instance when the UPS on the central computer broke down suddenly on my watch. And in this case, it probably wasn't worth it to have a fully-redundant system. In any event, they informed everyone of the situation and instituted plans the got things back up relatively quickly (a few hours for such a problem I say is pretty decent--we've had worse).

And I wouldn't be surprised if they bypassed the UPS temporarily until a more permanent fix came in. I had to do that for my scenario. Again, there's a risk, but getting the thing back up was considered worth the risk as long as it only ran like this temporarily.

Re: technical

Right, but what if you put a high-internal-pressure environment, like a reactor, in a high-external-pressure environment, like the deep sea? Wouln't it be easier to maintain since there should be less pressure differential (which is the real challenge of pressure containment--vast DIFFERENCES rather than the pressures in and of themselves)?

Re: Trains and Trams

Given that streets are also where kids play and where pedestrians crisscross, a ground-based third rail is a non-starter. Plus roads can have multiple lanes; trains usually travel on single sets of rails.

At least the researchers are honest and point out: yeah, we can do it, but it isn't nearly practical at this time.

"And consider: how much oxygen was liberated by industrial processes that transform oxides into pure metals?"

A lot of the liberated oxygen doesn't leave the smelter. At high temperatures, pure oxygen tends to combine readily with other elements: hydrogen to produce gaseous water or steam, carbon to produce carbon dioxide, and so on. That's why high-oxygen atmospheres have to be very careful with fire hazards.

Re: I use paper maps (AAA is a *good* thing).

Only problem is paper maps have this annoying tendency to grow more inaccurate as time passes. Oh, because roads get built, demolished, resurfaced, restructured. Many a driver has gotten lost because the T-intersection they were supposed to find is now a four-way because the road got extended. Or because the map says take the first on-ramp, not realizing a new onramp was just added in front of that one--going THE OTHER WAY.

Re: He is right the law is ridiculous

No, under the US Separation of Powers, that's the Executive Branch's job. Meaning it falls to the President and his Cabinet.

The Legislature MAKES the law. The Executive ENFORCES the law, and the Judiciary INTERPRETS the law.

Re: So what if they are stockpiling?

"There's always someone willing to do the work both cheaper and with less safety concern."

You know there's a bottom to that race. It's called conscript labor. No wage and no regard for the laborer. How do you beat FREE?

Re: So what if they are stockpiling?

Trouble is, the fair market leans heavily in China's favor. Some of the highest costs of mining are labor and legal compliance. China has an advantage in both of these: it has a labor glut and its environmental controls are lax, both of which lower costs. How would you compete against such an advantage?

Re: With or without prejudice.....

Not in this case.

"Prejudice" in this case means that both litigants are considered to have been placed "in jeopardy" in the trial. This is extremely important because it goes to the 5th Amendments, which basically prohibits a litigant from being threatened by the same case twice (the "Double Jeopardy" prohibition). Now, it may be possible for a higher court to declare that the declaration of jeopardy was unwarranted, but given that he's a judge for a court of appeals, there are only two levels of appeal left: the full panel and the SCOTUS.

Re: Wow

Sounds perfectly okay with him since his interest is in patents, which are covered by another bureau altogether. As for keeping him out of patent suits, that may be tricky if at least one of the parties involved wants him to preside. They'd just have to find a way to file the suit in his district.

Re: How long for?

You mean like ACTA...which got so much bad press that the European Parliament decided to stake it through the heart, burn it, douse it in holy water, and bury it 17 feet deep head-first before the courts caught wind of it? Treaties are only good if they can be ratified. The ratification process is usually very tough (in the US, it requires a 2/3 majority of what is now a tightly-divided Senate; good luck there).

Re: It gets worse..

OnLive may be a hit with people with underpowered computers, but more serious gamers know the pitfalls and stick to dedicated machines. So do the resale-conscious (people who like to send their software both ways) who realize OnLive's terms amount to a rental, not a purchase.

And you're right about time-limited agreements, but those amount to leases, which normally have to be bound in a contract. Such a contract has to fulfill certain obligations before they become legally binding, which is why most are done on pen-and-paper, in case there is a dispute and the case goes before a court. Furthermore, in a lease, the provider usually has to reciprocate in some way in exchange for the agreement, such as a guaranteed level of service, otherwise the LESSEE can challenge the contract.

Re: It gets worse..

What about software that isn't cloud-friendly, such as games, multimedia software, and other timing-sensitive or media-intensive software that make it less suitable for moving to the cloud?

Re: Steam/Origin?

And even that could be challenged on the ground that you're downloading and executing software on your machine (OnLive can get away with that kind of wording because it's a full-on cloud service--with all the pitfalls). The original ruling of Vernor v. Autodesk in 2008 (which was later overturned for outside reasons--namely, Vernor's copies were stolen, not legitimately purchased) basically went, "If it looks like a sale and transacts like a sale, it's a sale...and subject to the Copyright Act." The only way they can alter that is by altering the actual transaction into a lease contract, with terms and limits and so on. Thing is, leases typically require written contracts and pen on paper (on both sides) since such contracts can and sometimes do get challenged in court, and the judge will want the contract itself for study.

Re: What about eBooks and music?

The ruling could perhaps be extended to cover all digital products, including ebooks and music. But since no one's brought a case concerning them before the court, there's no hard-and-fast rule.

So, two words: Stay Tuned.