Posts by Steven Knox

Kinect blesses rescue robot with 3D sight

Irony much?

So you're position is that real-world applications are nothing more than distractions from the serious business of games?

Sony? Embracing? Hacker community?

"Is Microsoft learning from Sony, that after all these years, embracing the hacker community is a good thing..."

Wot, you mean by selling your product as having a hacker-friendly feature (e.g, OtherOS), then removing that feature in an update, then suing the pants off of any hacker attempting to regain that feature?

That's one embrace I'd prefer not to get. At least Microsoft's path in this case went from closed childishness to openness rather than the other way round.

Godson: China shuns US silicon with faux x86 superchip

All that....

to play Boggle?

Mozilla confirms Firefox 4 beta 12 is FINAL test build

Good links

I would also include https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=636690

I'd recommend that all commenters be forced to read those threads before commenting on this article (I know it would have improved my comment) but I know how likely that is, so:

In summary:

MS Hotmail stopped working in FF4b. FF developers investigated and found that it was an issue with UA sniffing in Hotmail. They contacted MS developers, who confirmed the issue and have written a fix.

The Hotmail fix has been promised by the release of the FireFox release candidate. In the meantime, a workaround has been added to keep the (apparently many) FF beta users who also use Hotmail happy. That workaround will be removed once the Hotmail fix is released.

So nothing really left to see here. Move along.

No.

"...the team needs to rely on Redmond's help to fix the glitch. "

No they don't. If the Hotmail site is delivering standards-compliant HTML/CSS, then they need to fix FF to be standards-compliant. If it's not, then they need to LEAVE it looking crappy.

Just write to the standards and let the shit web developers look like shit.

MobileMe packages disappear from Apple's shelves

Psychology

"It seemed impossible that Apple customers would pay for such things.."

Said someone apparently unfamiliar with the psychology of the average Apple customer.

Man found guilty of battery after ejaculating in co-worker's drink

Shurley....

He should have been charged with adulterating a water supply?

Flaw in MS anti-malware engine poses command override risk

Nitpicking

No. Since at the time the article was written the patch had not been applied to all systems, the risk still existed. Therefore the correct tense to use was the present.

As long as it cannot be verified that the patch has been applied to all systems, the risk will still exist, so "poses" will be the correct term for the foreseeable future.

Apple brings multi-touch, full-disk crypto to latest OS X

"multi-touch, full-disk crypto"?

But I thought you weren't supposed to touch the actual disks...

WikiLeaks boss labels UK extradition order a 'rubber stamping process'

Sorry 'bout that

"The only reason he is not in the US is because of appeals and the judicial process, nothing to do with the government."

...but I come from a place where appeals and the judicial process ARE part of the government.

No warranties, express or implied.

"What does the United States have to do with a Swedish Extradition process?

It has been falsely stated that I said the CIA or Pentagon was involved in the initial allegation. I have never said that. I have never said who was behind those allegations, simply that they were untrue."

So you separate your leading question about US involvement and your disclaimer that you've never claimed the US was involved with nothing more a paragraph marker. Good show that.

No, you've taken great pains to never explicitly state who was behind the allegations, but you've also taken great pains to craft leading questions and statements, whether from your own mouth or through your legal team, to imply that the US was behind them.

Gary McKinnon's Case

How long ago was that extradition case started? And where is Gary McKinnon now? He's managed to avoid being extradited for over five years, and the case is far from over.

But let's not let facts get in the way of our conspiracy theories.

Oracle: 'Eight Android files are decompiled Oracle code'

@LINE FOR LINE?

Well, they match line for line partly because the person doing the comparison removed all the comments and adjusted the spacing. Since all that's left is the functionality (and has been mentioned, a very small amount of functionality), the odds that two good programmers (or the same one working for two different companies) would produce the same code are not actually that low.

Did not comply?

How did they not comply? by not including the GPL copyright? Remember, the shot we're shown here has had COMMENTS REMOVED -- so it's quite possible that the GPL copyright was there and was removed by the person comparing the code (if not, there was a GPL violation, if so, there was a good faith violation by the person removing the comment.)

Windows 8 squeezed to fit 2012 Dell fondleslab?

Why?

"If Micrsoft is in the 'advanced stage of engineering' Windows 8 so soon after 7 then expect another Vista."

Win2000 took 4 years. WinXP took 1.5. Vista took 6 years. Win7 took 3. It's currently a year and a half from release of Win7. Mid-2012 would be three years. (Of course, some watchers expect MS to release in late 2012, probably around the 21st of December ; )

Of course, WinME took 3 years to develop as well.

So I don't think the timeframe is really a good predictor here.

Missed editions

What about 98SE and 2000? They'd actually fit your model:

Win 98 (good)

Win 98SE (pretty bad)

Win 2000 (quite good -- XP without the Fisher-Price interface)

WinME (awful)

Win XP (really quite good)

Vista (terrible)

Win7 (pretty good)

Win8 ????

Except, of course, Win9x were based on a completely different kernel, so it's actually two lines:

Win 98 (good)

Win 98SE (pretty bad)

WinME (awful)

Win 2000 (quite good -- XP without the Fisher-Price interface)

Win XP (really quite good)

Vista (terrible)

Win7 (pretty good)

Win8 ????

and that breaks the trend up.

Microsoft won't pursue keyword trade mark users in US

Analogue

Our supermarket has a coupon printer tied to the barcode reader, so if you buy a particular product, it will produce a coupon. A while ago, I bought some almond milk from brand A, and a coupon for brand B came out. This week I used the coupon and bought some brand B almond milk. A coupon for brand A came out.

None of this makes me think that brand A is brand B. It makes me think that A and B are aware of their competition and their target market. They win because they get people to try their products and I win because I have choice and save money.

Applied to the the ad-serving model, if I do a search on A, and I get search results for A accompanied by a responsible* ad for B, I now know I have two choices, A still gets their search placement, and B gets a plug as well. Everybody still wins.

*Responsibility is the key. If B deliberately produces an ad which implies that B is A, or the search engine formats the ad such that it appears as a search result, that's fraudulent and should not be allowed.

So, surprisingly, it looks like the US model is actually sensible on this one.

4 in 5 surfers open to browser exploits from fixed flaws

Doubt It

"The figures are especially troubling when you consider that consumers who have chosen to scan their system with BrowserCheck in the first place are likely to be more security-aware than the majority of internet users."

That's a pretty bold assumption there. Most of the security-aware people I know avoid "free" downloadable security scam^Hns like the plague. I'd be more apt to bet that most of the people who have chosen to scan their systems with BrowserCheck are those with low to moderate tech skills who are overwhelmed with the constant stream of updates and still looking for an easy way to get them, hence the desperate download -- and the high unpatched rate.

20-tonne space truck heads for ISS

Environmentally Correct Terminology

"To say nothing of the weight of it all."

I believe you mean mass.

Boffin breakthrough doubles Wi-Fi speed

Obviously

One person saying "well that's obvious" doesn't mean it's actually obvious. It's akin to saying "I could have told you that" after being told the answer. No you couldn't, cause you didn't.

AdBlock Plus: Open source for fun (not funds)

Programmers and Mathematicians

@AndrueC "But the world has/needs fewer mathematicians than programmers."

No. The world _has_ fewer mathematicians than programmers. It _needs_ at least as many mathematicians as programmers.

Why? Because everyone in the set of programmers should also belong to the set of mathematicians.

If you don't understand and follow the rigorous rules of mathematics (logic especially but not exclusively) you're going to be a very, very bad programmer -- and we have plenty of those already.

Gadget makes bombs, mines go off 'on average' 20m away

mean, median, mode, meh

Even if the median distance was 20m, that wouldn't mean that half of the devices detonated closer than that. Consider this sample set:

(1, 18, 19, 20, 20, 20, 20, 23, 29, 30)

The mean, median, and mode are all 20, yet only 30% are less than 20. Did you mean less than or equal to? Well, 70% are less than or equal to 20 -- that doesn't really help either.

Mean, median, and mode are very poor predictors by themselves. Standard deviation and a model of the distribution curve are pretty much required for any serious analysis.

Airport face-scanning robots switched off

Huh?

"Vine found gates broken at the airport five times in a week – four out of five times the damage was technical and one had broken down due to a lack of staff responsible for repairing the device. UKBA told Vine that maintenance of the machines was the responsibility of a company based in Portugal and machines were meant to be fixed within four working days."

So their response was basically "Yes, we know they're crap machines, but we've accounted for that by off-shoring the maintenance duties and setting really low standards for repair times"?

NASA's Stardust braves cometary flak

Before and After pictures

So the effect of spacecraft impact on a comet is that the comet becomes more blurry?

Steve Jobs unveils 30% subs model for ... everything

Sooo...

"...when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 per cent share...."

So Apple is promising content producers how much advertising for this 30 percent share?

Providing a purchasing mechanism is as much "bringing a new subscriber" in as providing a bicycle is "transporting you across the country."

BlackBerry OS 6 – Red Star Rising

Huh?

My Torch stops ringing as soon as I touch the screen or a button, or pull it out of the holster. There's also a mute button on the top right corner of the phone.

As I recall, my previous Blackberry (Bold; OS 5.x) did the same (minus the touchscreen bit of course). I don't have an iPhone, but I don't really see how it could be easier.

Wooden spaceship descends into Moscow sandpit

Useless

As long as the subjects know it's a simulation, their response is not predictive.

If they don't know it's a simulation, the experiment is not ethical.

Therefore the only way to really know is to do it for real.

Binatone HomeSurf 7 Android tablet

Name game

similar here -- I initially read the company name as Bin at once -- not a promising first impression.

Anonymous hacktivists: We've got Stuxnet code

Symptoms

Does Stuxnet cause keyboard stutter...?

Iranian web developer faces death over porn site charges

*SIGH*

Pot, kettle.

It's not "religion" that's the problem; it's the human preference for foisting one's own opinion on others -- much like you're doing here.

Many posters on this site have advocated atheism, most for similar reasons, some in a similarly militant fashion but all in a much more succinct and logically valid format.

I despise internet memes, but this one is far too appropriate to your post to avoid: tl;dr

Assange assault accusers sought 'revenge,' attorneys say

"Prosecutors there have said they want him available for questioning"

I was speaking specifically of the purpose of the extradition as expressed by those requesting it, not the defined purpose of an EAW.

As the Swedes still have yet to charge Assange with a crime, the defined purpose of an EAW does not appear, IMHO, to apply. This is one of the few points of the defense case with which I agree.

Ironic that you would FAIL me for not applying a definition which, by definition, should not be applicable.

Ah, Irony

'“In my opinion [Ny] should then have made sure Assange was given the opportunity to give his version of the events in detail,” Alhem said'

Ironic, given that, ostensibly, the purpose of the extradition is to make sure he does exactly that.

'Tree Octopus' proves journos no smarter than 13-year-old Americans

Go Back...

and read Asimov's "Foundation" -- specifically Hari Seldon's criticism of what passed for research in the Empire. Personally I think it should be required reading for anyone entering into any science.

Asimov saw this coming decades ago -- it's just happening sooner than he predicted..

Jackson's Hobbit movies back on track

...and will hit the big screen in December 2012.

[insert obligatory long-count calendar reference here.]

HP intros 'lay it flat' all-in-one touchscreen PC

Totally different from the patent

The hinge is in a completely different location.

(In fact, if you look at the designs, it's readily apparent that the design in Apple's patent would take up more space than HP's -- especially in transition -- and would be more likely to become imbalanced.)

Disabled dude demands EA improves gaming access

Because...

medical devices are concentrated on utility and communication and not on entertainment. Due to proprietary technology, the costs involved for customizing said devices could easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and it'd have to be done for each one individually.

In contrast, customized control mapping in PC games has been around for decades, developers already have to do it in a hardcoded manner for any game released for multiple platforms, so adding a config file/section and developing a customization screen would solve the problem for all gamers, and should be no more than an hour or two of work for a competent games development team.

Oh wait, we're talking about EA here. Never mind.

Superphones: A security nightmare waiting to happen

Proof.

"I haven't run antivirus software on any of my home computers ever with exactly no virus infections during that time."

And you know this exactly how?

While there is a great deal of malware out there that noticeably affects the performance of a system, there is also some out there that does not. Safe surfing, firewalls, etc, are all well and good, but even the most respected website can get hacked, and even the most secure browser can be pwned. If you're networked, you may have gotten something, and if you're not scanning for it, you may not even know it's there.

So if you don't run any antivirus or antimalware on your computer at all, at least to do a scan, you don't really know whether you've been infected or not.

Super-thin materials could POWER our WORLD

Not necessarily

If the molecular arrangement is planar, then the materials will be both one molecule thick and one atom thick. I believe this is true of graphene, and may be true of the others.

Hawaii boffins: Aerosols add to Amazon rainfall

Why hire a PI?

Just call in the 5-0!

Flickr flap illuminates cloud concerns

Strangely indeed

"Strangely - less often than not being able to connect to Exchange or devices on our internal network because of shonky software, badly configured (or administered) hardware or even someone forgot to turn the server back on after a power cut (we're in a rural location, it happens)."

Then I'd say you're not a serious business -- or at least not a business with a serious IT department. All of the issues you described would have been fixed by an IT professional with a respectable budget in their first month on the job.

Mexican woman gets litigious on Top Gear's ass

Except...

They didn't just compare a Mexican car to a Mexican oaf. They were expounding on their purported* belief that automobiles reflect the characteristics of their national origin. In other words, they weren't saying it was oafish because it was like an oaf, but that it was oafish because it was from Mexico.

* as in jokingly -- as in stupid jokingly. The correct way to deal with the type of idiots who think this kind of boorishness passes for actual humor is to ignore them -- especially when they're on an eminently ignorable show like Top Gear.

Documents in Assange rape probe leak onto the net

Except

"7) after much head scratching, said super power got cheesed off that they couldn't prosecute the scamp themselves, and invited some swedes to re-open/re-examine the facts surrounding the sexual assault charges, thus permitting them to request extradition."

Except that a) Sweden denies the US was involved in the rape prosecutions, b) the US has not charged Assange with anything (a prerequisite for extradition), and c) as has been mentioned before, the UK has easier conditions and a more conciliatory record w/r/t extraditions than Sweden. It's all well and good to presume based on your personal bias that the US is pulling strings behind the scenes, but there is no actual evidence of such as yet.

"8) these charges have absolutely nothing to do with wikileaks, nor any of the generally perceived (on here i think) good stuff arising from it."

Except that, again, anyone paying attention to the news already knew everything "leaked" by wikileaks -- both the war documents and the (un)diplomatic cables. Wikileaks simply brought this information in front of people who are not observant enough to recognize it to begin with, or to deal with it responsibly.

"9) both sides gain from this - assange gets increased profile, albeit as an entry on a register, and possible incarceration - though he'll be warmly received on release (ironically, as he wasn't when said incidents happened - allegedly). The yanks are seen to be doing something, when really they can't do anything at all."

Nobody gains from this. Everything from the leaks to the still not moving forward prosecutions are the result of selfish, irresponsible behavior from most if not all of the individuals involved. Some may benefit in the short term as you described, but the long-term cost is too high for anyone to rightly claim a victory.

Complementary

I'd guess they probably go rather well together. Now as to whether they're complimentary...

Bradley Manning 'is British' – campaigners urge UK.gov to act

Specifics, please

"Bradley Manning's Welsh parentage means that the UK government should be demanding that the conditions of his detention are in line with international standards and that his 'maximum custody' status does not impair his ability to defend himself".

This implies that they believe that the conditions of his detention are not in line with international standards. Can someone please provide specific details of Mr. Manning's imprisonment and how it diverges from international standards?

Republican reps push for mandatory gun ownership

@Some data

Methinks this data set is too small, but I put it in a spreadsheet and created a chart and regression lines anyway.

The lines showed a decrease in overall crime for an increase in gun access, and a flat line for violent crime.

However, the coefficients of determination were 0.04 and 0 respectively, meaning that there is no significant correlation within this small dataset.

Make Sense

1. "Constitutional" and "legal" are not the same thing. "Legal" means something is consistent with all statutory law. "Constitutional" means only that something is consistent with the Constitution and its Amendments.

2. Since the heath care package is a federal bill and this is a state bill, the constitutionality is completely different. Besides, some individual mandates have already been upheld at both the state level (state-specific auto insurance requirements, for example) and the federal level (e.g, income tax filing and payment.) So this bill parallels the health care bill in much the same way that a walrus parallels a dimetrodon.

3. The individual mandate in the health care bill has NOTHING to do with forcing you to do what's good for you. Health insurance doesn't improve your health one bit. The mandate is in the bill to ensure the largest possible pool of insured individuals. This would, in theory, keep the insurance cost per individual as low as possible because it's spread among more people.

4. The slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope#The_slippery_slope_as_fallacy). In particular in this case, you argue that allowing Congress to pass one individual mandate will lead to them passing more and more intrusive individual mandates. Yet as I mentioned in point 2, the former has already happened, and the latter has not happened as a result. Instead we continue to have strong debates in this country every time an individual mandate of any form is proposed -- and even those few that do get passed are almost invariably challenged in the courts.

Canada? The computer vendor says no

Comic Sans...

Did you mean http://xkcd.com/548/ ?

There's no reference to a tablet or DNA in #207 that I could see.

Mexico demands apology for Top Gear outrage

American Cuisine

"You'll be saying America has cuisine next."

Well, since French is an official language of Canada, they must have cuisine as well. And since Canada is part of the North American continent...

Furthermore, even if we accept your vulgar abbreviation for the United States of America (proper abbreviation USA), you should know that there are regions of the USA where French is the first language of many if not most of the residents (some parts of Loiusiana, nothern Maine, et al.) So based on the language argument, we do indeed have cuisine here.

Sales show WinPho 7 off to a flying start

The article was not precise....

but I believe you'll find that NPD's data is on the smartphone in particular, not PDAs and embedded systems. Until the second half ot the quarter, the MS OS for shipping smartphones was WinMo 6.5 -- and I'll bet there are still a few in channel. On that basis, I'd say the article's analysis was sound.

Flash versus HTML 5

I've done something similar

with AJAX and CSS positioning. You don't even need a canvas element for that kind of thing -- unless you're looking to add dynamic graphics.