cstross

57 ms·

511.
by cstross 11y ago
It looks from where I'm standing as if Apple has a methodology for getting rid of legacy cruft while keeping the important bits, viz: 1. Pick a product. (Pages, for example, or Logic Pro. Or the entire platform -- OSX.) 2. Create a new
512.
The Bielefeld Conspiracy(en.wikipedia.org)
1 points by cstross 11y ago|0 comments
513.
by cstross 11y ago
> I'm mostly okay with laws (whether they exist or not yet) that say that if your negligence or stupidity was the root cause, as a manufacturer of these goods, you are on the hook for a multiplier of damages. Such laws won't wo
514.
by cstross 11y ago
If SpaceX get their launch cost per Falcon 9 down to the close order of $1M, and succeed in re-using Dragon 2 for multiple flights, then that's a price on the order of $100-200K per seat to orbit . If Bigelow then have an inflatastat
515.
The paranoid style in 2016(antipope.org)
11 points by cstross 11y ago|0 comments
516.
by cstross 11y ago
Those landlords are breaking the law (and the terms of your tenancy) and I believe you can file a report with the police that will get them into very hot water with their local council -- potentially fined and booted off the register of lan
517.
by cstross 11y ago
Note from the NYTimes: Contrary to several reports in the French news media, the drug was not a cannabis-based painkiller, Ms. Touraine said. Early reports in The Guardian, the BBC, and elsewhere called it a cannabinoid-based painkiller.
518.
Against School (Aaron Swartz)(newrepublic.com)
6 points by cstross 11y ago|0 comments
519.
Elephant toothpaste(en.wikipedia.org)
2 points by cstross 11y ago|0 comments
520.
by cstross 11y ago
Livescribe's developers pivoted. The original model was positioned as an app platform -- the OLED screen, the downloadable extras. It was a bit clumsy and annoying (and had a steep learning curve). I recently bought the Livescribe+. It
521.
by cstross 11y ago
Has a Messagepad 100 back in the day; hated it, sold it and bought a Psion 3MX. (Alas, Psion shrieked and ran away when Microsoft announced a competitor to their micro-laptop-esque palmtops, which eventuated as vapourware.) Some of us just
522.
by cstross 11y ago
Ironically, if this was available on the Google Pixel C it'd be a compelling option. (The Pixel C runs Android 6 with no multi-window/multi-app on-screen capability, which somewhat defeats the object of having such a device -- one
523.
by cstross 11y ago
Yes. (At fma Ltd, who had Demon Internet's web support business until early 1997.)
524.
by cstross 11y ago
I'm about your age, then. (Born 1964, was 25 when the Berlin Wall came down: where I grew up, lived, went to school, and attended university was never more than 10km from a WarPac strategic nuclear target.)
525.
by cstross 11y ago
* Waves
526.
by cstross 11y ago
Easier said than done if it happens to you while you're about to board your return flight home!
527.
by cstross 11y ago
It's much cheaper, and definitely a better UX, to buy a whiteboard and hang it on or beside the fridge. (BTDT. Why waste $50-250 on a tablet? If I really want to tote the whiteboard with me when I go to the shops I just snap a ph
528.
by cstross 11y ago
Key point: a chunk of the evidence against the thieves was collected via wireless bugging devices. Reading between the lines they'd also racked up an impressive stretch of prison time, individually and collectively. So perhaps were beh
529.
How a buggy machine learning algorithm nearly caused World War Three in 1983(harrowell.org.uk)
2 points by cstross 11y ago|0 comments
530.
by cstross 11y ago
One huge problem with Venus, even if we could "fix" the atmosphere, is that there's no working plate tectonic system. It's hypothesized that the build-up of stresses actually leads to the crust liquefying every couple of
531.
by cstross 11y ago
Yup: the Russian Tu-95 fleet (over 60 flying airframes) is currently undergoing modernization (upgraded navigation and weapons systems, including newer nuclear-warheaded cruise missiles) and is expected to stay in service until 2025 or late
532.
by cstross 11y ago
This puts me in mind of one of my favourite cringe-worthy medical paper abstracts: "Fulminant acute colitis following a self-administered hydrofluoric acid enema" (Am J Gastroenterol. 1993 Jan;88(1):122-6): http://www.n
533.
by cstross 11y ago
Actually, resource forks go all the way back to the origins of classic MacOS circa 1984-85! And they were a lot more than just extended attributes -- they were a b-tree storage abstraction full of stuff like icons, chunks of 68K machine c
534.
by cstross 11y ago
Later on, they did exactly that: from about February onwards, Curtis LeMay had the guns and turrets stripped out of the force bombing Japan -- except for the tail position -- to save weight/increase range, speed, and bomb load. Operati
535.
by cstross 11y ago
I'd vote for "within 3 hours". 1 hour for travel time to airport, 1 hour for boarding (hand luggage only), 1 hour for flight. Meaning: up to 500 miles. Or: 1 hour to get to railway station, 15 minutes for boarding, 1h45m on a
536.
by cstross 11y ago
Please can somebody build a case for the Pi Zero in the form factor of the Psion 5? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5 (The patents on the folding keyboard will probably have expired by now -- the design date
537.
by cstross 11y ago
Article focuses too much on Cthulhu, not enough on Lovecraft's other interests -- his early and enduring fascination with poetics (he seems to have been a bit of a 19th century hipster, permanently disgruntled about being born a centur
538.
by cstross 11y ago
The success of ARM's strategy is based on them being an impartial supplier of designs that facilitate low power consumption and some degree of interoperability at the assembler level. If anyone buys it, they kill the goose that lays th
539.
by cstross 11y ago
My wife is vegan (and a Japanophile) and uses konnyaku as a meat substitute -- the issue is flavouring, and with various seafood flavours (often seaweed-derived) it makes an excellent fish/shellfish substitute. One thing to note is tha
540.
by cstross 11y ago
I'm kind of startled that this type of crime isn't prosecuted as attempted murder. (If I go out and try to hire a hit-man to kill someone, that's how the prosecuting authorities would deal with me. If I try and trick someone

More ›