Posts by starbaby

US watchdog opens probe into Tesla's Autopilot driver assist system after spate of crashes

Re: A solution looking for a problem

Maybe more relevant, it solves the problem of paying drivers for e-hailing services.

MAYHEM in ORBIT: Russian cargo pod spins OUT OF CONTROL

Re: "rotational spin"...

As opposed to a rotational "hokey-pokey" I suppose.

Google says it can predict movie box office with 94% accuracy

Methinks this only measures the total efforts of all marketing activity. While we hope that's in line with box office take, it isn't always.

Make cool shows, make money: Netflix's SHOCKING TV strategy

Re: Cancelled shows

Firefly and Futurama are both already there.

China's Beidou satnav will open to mobe-makers

Re: Four systems

Unfortunately, adding another network doesn't really make for a significant improvement. In open sky, any one network is sufficient for decent accuracy. Where we hope is makes a difference is when the sky is occluded, especially in downtown environments. Unfortunately the error sources in that environment are reflected signals (multipath) and poor geometry of available satellites (DOP). Except in flukes, adding more satellites into a narrow view of the sky doesn't really help the geometry problem and really only adds to the reflected signals problem.

This is all about sovereignty and boosting a tech sector (China still imports a LOT of GPS receivers from the US but that's going to change drastically in very short order).

Coca Cola in the dock over illegal China GPS map claims

progress

Since the early days, the chinese government has been paranoid about anyone collecting coordinates on government and especially military installations for fear of nuclear ICBM attacks by foreign devils. Remember also, there are no civilian or private airports, all are run by the air-force no matter how back-water. The fact that technology has progressed to where every car and every cell phone tracks position and mapping is as easy as hitting "remember my location" on a GUI hasn't percolated up through the consciousness of the lawmakers. It may be a deliberate attempt to put pressure on multi-nationals but it's more likely a bureaucratic pissing contest.

Asteroid mining and a post-scarcity economy

Re: another apocalypse in making

I've been to a parallel universe, I've seen time running backwards, I've played pool with planets, and I've given birth to twins, but I never thought in my entire life I'd taste an edible Pot Noodle.

Facebook to debut auto-play video ads in 2013

First one I see will be the last one I see. Already annoyed with all the sponsored crap in my news feed but at least that's easy to scroll past. The last thing FB needs is another reason not to use FB.

Mission to Pluto faces DEEP SPACE DEBRIS PERIL

Re: One tenth of a kilometre

100 meters implies a far greater level of precision than a "tenth of a km".

FOI request turns up Carrier IQ surprise

You think the FBI isn't monitoring that link, watching for people trying to subvert the national security mandate!?

Endeavour crawls to Kennedy launch pad

all those usb sticks

I think the plan is to fill soyuz capsules with 1 GB USB sticks, why else would they use that metric?

I wonder what kind of bandwidth the s-band antennas going up in the same shipment get?

4 in 5 surfers open to browser exploits from fixed flaws

Post anonymously?

Really curious if the stats are based on suckers who install the extension. My reaction was the same as any sane websmurfer, "install random extension from site I just heard about, no thanks".

Elon Musk looking to get into 'black' spy sat market

Post anonymously?

Yup, more business might bring down overall costs, benefiting all of us. Might even save a taxpayer dollar or two. Nobody pretends that paypal is philanthropic.

Blackadder style chemists transform gold into purest ... purple

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Simply vanished? Like an old oak table...