Posts by Steve Knox
874 posts • joined Saturday 16th July 2011 20:38 GMT
Re: Cost per Gigabyte? Yes.
Actually, having used both SSD and HDD in both power-user and regular user scenarios, I can tell you this much:
For the average user, the performance difference between SSD and HDD is close to nil: slightly faster startup, almost unnoticeable program load improvement.
The average user would get much more benefit at a lower cost by increasing the RAM to have more caching.
And since when is a 500%-900% price difference not much?
SSDs are still very much a power-user proposition. Even in the enterprise space, the price differencei is still enough to relegate SSDs to caching and high-demand scenarios.
Right now, end-user HDD sellers have more to fear from the death of the PC than from the rise of the SSD.
Re: Windows 8 computers are safe
What is wrong with the downvoting turds lately?
Windows 8 sucks. #dealwithit
Windows 8 is entirely irrelevant to this article. If you want to bitch about an OS, do so in a relevant forum.
If you want to use hashtags, do so on another site.
Testing
The retail chain refunded the disputed payments - even those that went unnoticed until the customer's bank statement turned up weeks later - while pointing out that its NFC system was well tested prior to deployment.
No, it wasn't well tested. It may have been tested a lot but if the tests failed to predict these now-known real-world issues, then it certainly was not tested well.
Re: Creepy is as creepy does.
Well, to be fair, he never said from which direction they're approaching the line...
Politicospeke
Hodge said the point was not illegality, but immorality.
translates roughly as "I know you're not doing anything not done by any other international company, and I know years of legal tax advice are on your side, but you're a big company whose name is very well-known, and there's this election coming up*, and I/my party need to be seen as a 'crusader'..."
* (There's always an election coming up.)
Re: So
This thing discovers planets so far away we will never be able to get there
This is simply untrue. Even with current technology, we could reach those planets if we had the will.
This thing discovers planets that might be habitable.
More precisely, this "thing" looks for planets (period) and tries to measure them in as many ways as possible. More on this in a bit.
By the time the human race gets the technology to go there we will have been destroyed by a zombie virus/death virus/bird flu/nuclear Armageddon/the sun going super nova/old age etc etc etc etc.
At this point you are clearly presuming that the sole benefit to consider is migration. However, that is simply not the case.
Before 1988, our entire dataset for the study of planetary formation, interaction, ecosystems, etc. consisted of somewhere between 8 and 100 entities (depending on exactly what you count) all of which had little in common apart from the system to which they belonged. As far as studying earth-like planets, we had exactly one data point.
We had no idea if the rules and models we had developed for all sorts of planetary properties were simply conveniently correlative to our own situation or consistently accurate on a more universal scale.
Now, Kepler has not given us the resolution necessary to test all of that, but it has exceeded its design goals in advancing us along that path. We have learned a great deal about what is special about our planet and what is more common than we had thought.
Pointless exercise.
Yes, I am afraid that my attempt to explain to you why learning about our existence can in itself be a very fruitful exercise will fall on deaf ears, given your attitude, but if we don't try, the only guarantee is failure.
Re: So
Whilst I agree with your sentiment, and find your "B" Ark analogy rather apt, be careful how you use it...
Remember what happened to the Golgafrinchans.
Re: PC shipments ffailing for ONE reason
Actually, it's more likely due to MS's - and PC manufacturers' success.
Windows 7 is still quite good, and most people don't need to refresh their home systems because they've still got enough power to do what they need. Microsoft and the PC manufacturers have succeeded in developing products which are good enough to not need refreshing every 3-5 years.
So what we're seeing is that regular refresh money going into tablets, not because they're better, but because they're something new. Once the tablet market is saturated, like the PC market already is, then the numbers will start telling us what people actually like.
Posted in On the hunt for a new ampere
SEP?
Sounds like Somebody Else's Problem*.
* Also thanks to Douglas Adams
Re: http://www.reynholm.co.uk/intranet/resources.php
"Update: Roy, here's the files you wanted."
Re: Not the original liberator.
"Nobody serious has used single-shot firearms in combat for well over a century."
The French Resistance used them.
I see no contradiction here.
RE: longest unprotected borders in the world
Mexico!? The longest unprotected US border is with Canada. Those are the guys we need to worry about!
Safety Gear!?
Rui's also carrying a mobile phone, an emergency Personal Locator Beacon, plus a GPS tracker...
The radiation from them things'll kill 'im!
The right thing being
The opposite of whatever Icahn wants.
Re: Chris O'Dowd...is now a bona fide Hollywood star?
Chris O'Dowd...is now a bona fide Hollywood star? But has he actually done anything good?
Of course not. He wouldn't be a bona fide Hollywood star if that were the case.
Re: That line.
Why is it funny? If you've ever had to support typical users you'll have said it a bajillion times.
I was going to post a short quip ridiculing you for posting this question, but I've done that type of thing a bajillion times.Instead, I'm going to assume you're not a troll, and just completely uninformed on the topic on the humor of the banal.
The entire point of the joke is that support has said it a bajillion times, and than users have heard it a bajillion times. So everyone, upon hearing it, can immediately relate to the situation. Meanwhile, Chris's excellent delivery of the line manages to convey that:
- he has done this a bajillion times,
- he uses this line as a stock "solution" for pretty much every problem a user calls with, and
- he is currently motivated more out of contempt for users than a real desire to help.
This sets up a situation which is so obviously stereotypical as to be comical. That is the humor of the banal in a nutshell.
Bajillion!
Ah, golf is so funny!
What is vs what should be
"We make adjustments as we go. But it's very clear to us that in today's war of ecosystems, we've made a very clear decision to focus on Windows Phone with our Lumia product line," he said. "And it is with that that we will compete with competitors like Samsung and Android."
Interesting language there: he's not claiming that he's doing the right thing, only that he's committed to doing what he's doing. Although you could argue that he leaves the door slightly open by limiting Windows Phone to "our Lumia product line", it's very telling that he considers "Samsing and Android" to be competitors.
'Quantum network? We've had one for years,' says Los Alamos
'Unfortunately, one of our engineers figured out exactly how fast it was, so we lost track of where it was for a while.'
"True Believer"
"Like hundreds of millions of people, I am a true believer – someone who can’t get enough of the story [of how George Lucas managed to amass a huge fortune marketing crap kids toys from b-grade movies], the culture [that encourages parents to buy everything their children ask for and adults to collect and never use kids' toys], and the ethos [of suing the pants off of anyone who tries to use something remotely resembling one's IP] of Star Wars," EA Labels president Frank Gibeau gushed.
Re: Same thing
Same thing happened here in the UK, and that ca[me] to a sticky end.....
Wait... are you talking about the lawsuits, or the torrenting of porn?
Re: Recycling isn't necessary for minimal impact on the environment
When it comes to long life devices, who gives a toss about recyclable?
Long life is quite an assumption here. Even assuming that the device will function for over 5 years, will the technology in it be relevant by then?
What matters is that every part can be replaced easily and cheaply...
This does nothing to help the environment. Imagine for a moment that such a modular phone does exist. Say the screen breaks, so you replace that. Now instead of just having a phone to recycle, you have a phone and a broken screen to recycle. Even if you want to keep using the phone for some time, the recyclability of the broken parts is an issue.
... and that replacement parts will be available as long as the owners want to go on using the phone.
Here's the crux of the issue. Every mobile phone I've had to date has been replaced while it's still functional. Three of them were replaced not because I wanted to replace them, but because my network would no longer support them. Two of them were replaced because my employer decided I needed a newer, more capable device.
As long as it's usable and useful recycling is an irrelevance.
No, as long as it's in use recycling is irrelevant. But so is throwing it in a landfill.
Long-life is great and all (however unlikely for a mobile phone) but everything comes to an end. And if we can design things which can be put to other use once their current use has ended, why wouldn't we?
Re: And who in their right mind puts a BMS on the Internet?
A facilities manager who doesn't want to drive in at 3AM to fix a simple settings issue?
Putting x on the internet isn't the problem, failing to ensure that x is secure and to have procedures for keeping it secure before doing so is.
Oversimplified Elitist BS
"Well, what did you think would happen when everyone has the means of production? ..."
Economic theory would go out the window. Or did you mean to use the classical definition of "everyone" as only those people who have enough resources to "matter"?
Or a pizza...?
else it's free.
Re: Another Balmer ballsup!
Umm.. they CAN and DO... otherwise they wouldn't be in the results...
Re: Quick answer
More to the point, this paper is about generating a mathematical checksum function which maximizes the probability of recovering from multiple failures while minimizing the space needed to store the checksum.
Beyond that, it's matrix algebra, which I knew for about two weeks in college, and even then gave me headaches.
GROVER, eh?
So, they'll set him down somewhere NEAR...
and then they'll send him somewhere FAR...
and then he'll come back -- but before he gets too NEAR...
they'll turn him back around and send him FAR away again?
INB4 "What a Muppett!"
"Everything there is online about W3 is linked directly or indirectly to this document..."
That about sums up the web, right there.
Re: Powerglove
Besides, what name would you see? The one they registered with <bing> "JimmyBigCock is now in front of you".
No, the one they registered with <google>.
Monty Program's Sky'ing Purchase?
See title.
Also, many, many apologies.
Time Travel - if it were possible, they'd already have visited.
We have -- you just haven't been paying attention.
Re: Do they realize what they just said?
There is no possible way to implement DRM in open source software.
This is a common fallacy. DRM can be implemented in open source software. However, the nature of open source means that any such DRM system can be cracked much more easily than a similarly strong proprietary DRM system. That doesn't prevent said implementation, however; it only deters it.
Hence, EME will either prevent OSS browsers from competing on the Web...
Really? Because DRM already exists in such sites as Amazon, NetFlix, LoveFilm, the BBC, Hulu, Vudu, et al. And yet the most popular browsers are primarily open-source.
Nothing in the EME spec prevents open source implementations of EME. The only potentially proprietary part of the spec is the Content Decryption Modules. Those can be either open- or closed- source.
..or will force them using a non-free plugin for EME content.
Which they already must do (and do do) for any DRM content.
EME is not going to change the code of the web overnight, or even over decades. Even the specification itself notes how complicated setting up proprietary DRM is.
What EME does do is allow a basic encryption management system to be implemented in a standard way, and which can be implemented in open source. This allows content producers to better protect their content without resorting to proprietary components, and reduces the footprint of the proprietary component used by those who wish stronger protection.
Those who want super-strong DRM will never use open source for their content delivery for the very reason you state. So closing off proprietary components completely is no more an option than eliminating free components.
EME represents a practical compromise between two childish fundamentalist dogmas. That's why y'all are bitching about it so much.
If you're a bishop, are you still Catholic?
if you're a registered developer do you still qualify as a fanboi?
Yes.
Re: Shocker!
It's Microsoft who is always complaining about a "shortage of skilled workers".
And their products back that up!
Do they realize what they just said?
Furthermore, the FSF contends, because DRM schemes for the web are invariably implemented via proprietary browser plugins – such as the Silverlight plugin currently employed by Netflix – ratifying EME would pressure more users to accept non-free software in order to play media.
The entire point of EME is to minimize use of those proprietary plugins.
Currently, DRM schemes for the web are invariably implemented via proprietary plugins because there are no open systems for it.
With EME, some content providers may use the non-proprietary components for content rights management. Without it or something like it, none will.
Virgin's Next Apology
"We sincerely apologize for our spokesman's statement about automated bank responses, as information about our company's actual motivations should not appear in public statements."
Posted in Review: Nokia Lumia 720
Re: Crippled by the DORKY Windows 8 HORROR
I DEAL IN FACTS.
Okay, then let's look at your facts:
I have more style than to be seen with a gaudy gimcrack with such a ghastly UI to it.
This is not a fact. Style is subjective.
Nokia Lumias are a total disaster in the market place.
This is an evaluation of what may be facts. "Total disaster" is a subjective term. What are the factual numbers?
MS have produced a dud Mobile OS and they lost their market share because of it.
This is an unproven assertion ("...dud Mobile OS...") and an inference of causation where correlation exists. ("...lost their market share because of it...")
In fact, in the quarter of the launch, Microsoft's number of subscribers dived 25%.
This is the closest you've come to a fact so far. However, it is vague (quarter of which launch? Windows Phone 8? Nokia's latest Lumia?) and does not include necessary citations (where did you source the 25% figure from?)
I think it's safer to say that you deal in opinions supported by questionable logic and cherry-picked facts. Most humans do, you know. It's just that some of us are honest enough to admit it.
Re: Game the system
No, "gaming the system" is decidedly not abusing the system. It lies exactly on the line between using and abusing the system.
"Gaming the system" refers to using a system's rules as written to generate an individual advantage that was apparently not the rulemakers' intent. In other words, it's following the letter of the law rather than the spirit.
In this case, the spirit of the free trial is that Netflix lets you use their system for a period of time and you perform an honest evaluation with the possibility of opting to pay for future use of the system. The strict rules of the trial, however, do not require you to actually consider continuing the contract for pay.
Re: @Steve Knox - This is not rocket science...!
...z/OS is immune to all known virus technologies...
Agreed, but note the highlight.
All we can ever do is ensure that the baddies have to be cleverer than we are.
Re: @Steve Knox
No, eulampios, I heard the question "How can a Software company release an OS that is VULNERABLE TO VIRUSES in the first place?" The implication is clearly that any vulnerability is unacceptable.
So I stated that invulnerability is impossible.
AC then provided examples of some very secure operating systems, specifically to refute the statement that invulnerability was impossible.
So a better parallel to the preceding conversation would be:
Eadon: "How can a sports program produce an athlete WHO CANNOT FLY in the first place?"
Me: "Because it's physically impossible for humans to fly?"
AC: "No, it's not impossible. Look at how high Javier Sotomayor and Stefka Kostadinova can jump!"
Me: "Sure they can jump very high, but that's not flying."
I don't believe that invulnerability should be the standard, because it's an absurd standard. That was my point.
Re: @Steve Knox - This is not rocket science...!
@AC -- Neither z/OS nor Linux are invulnerable. There may be no know viruses targeting them now, but that is by no means the same thing.
As for my age, I've written assembler code for the Z80 processor. That should give you some idea.
Re: This is not rocket science...!
Ah, Eadon, you never fail to disappoint.
How can a Software company release an OS that is VULNERABLE TO VIRUSES in the first place?
Because it's impossible to release an OS that is invulnerable to viruses?
Posted in Kepler continues exoplanet bonanza
Re: Moore's Law and the Fermi Paradox.
From the slashdot post:
When plotting genetic complexity against time, the researchers found that genetic complexity increases exponentially, just as with Moore's law, but with a doubling rate of about once every 376 million years. Extrapolating backwards, the researchers estimate that life began about 4 billion years after the universe formed and evolved the first bacteria just before the Earth was formed.
Setting aside the Moore's law reference, the most obvious flaw is exemplified by the phrase "extrapolating backwards." It asserts the assumption that underlies the entire original piece: that the rate of genetic change is constant and has remained constant. This is not consistent with observations on how environmental changes can affect (and even effect) evolution.
Posted in Kepler continues exoplanet bonanza
Re: Eh, be glad that we can't hear what they may be saying!!
Bypass.
Re: a massive operations fuck-up caused by a shortage of components
Anyone in the industry knows that's a smokescreen to cover bad news.
Agreed -- it's only made more obvious by the next line:
...which meant it was unable to capitalise on the interest generated by Windows 8 ...
It'd have been more accurately written as:
...which meant it was unable to counter the collective sigh of non-interest generated by Windows 8 ...
Re: "Can we all stop pretending.........it's Microsoft and their industry pals........"
@Arctic fox
On the other side of the coin, the fact that those entities have been called "national", "consumer", or for that matter "bodies" does not in any way diminish the possibility that they are stooges for MS or their industry pals.
Quite frankly, I wouldn't trust any of the organizations mentioned or even alluded to in this piece to come up with a solution to this issue which is in any way motivated by concern for consumers.
Re: They haven't caught up to real books
I was rather surprised to see the Android reader doesn't even support footnotes when I was re-reading one of my Terry Pratchett favorites.
In other words, it doesn't support Terry Pratchett novels.
I can't underline/circle interesting things, which I do with a lot of my technical books, nor can I mark important things that I want to refer to later.
This is the worst. My favorite games magazine publisher was absolutely gushing about the fact that their puzzle magazines are now in electronic format, so I tried them out -- the system they used also did not allow any form of marking -- on a puzzle magazine.
Re: Oranges and pips
With the too-often seen current situation, where a $20 book is a $17.95 ebook, then they unfortunately approach equivalence.
Except all too often (at least in the fiction market), that $20 book is a hardcover, and the $17.95 ebook should really be compared to the $7.95 paperback, which is what most people end up buying...
Re: They bought a stolen laptop.
What! You say the poor have no PCs!? Then let them use Macs!
