Comment I for one welcome our AI overlords (Score 1) 69
My body is available as a host
Comment Re:Omar Saddiqui Mateen? (Score 1) 1718
You make a great point. Exactly. Gun owners kill people.
So could you americans please the fuck stop selling so many guns? It would automatically lead to fewer gun owners. My sister lives in your country and this shit scares me.
Comment Bookstores - are you trying to change hard enough? (Score 3, Interesting) 83
I'm a voracious reader and used to buy from bookstores on a weekly basis. Over the last few years I switched almost entirely to getting books online, and of late, more and more, that means buying them on amazon.
The reason for the shift has primarily been availability of the books I want to read in stores.
Now I understand that there are millions of books out there with thousands more getting added everyday, so decentralized bookstores are inherently at a huge disadvantage to centralized means like amazon. The amount of unproductive working capital tied up in store inventory will ensure this, leave alone rent, staff and utilities of a brick and mortar establishment.
But, assuming many other people have a similar story, what continues to surprise me is how little or how poorly bookstores seem to have adapted to this. If I were a bookstore owner I would try one of these things, none of which I have seen evidence of any bookstores here trying in a meaningful or impactful way:
1. Aggressively analyze traffic and tweak the assortment continuously
2. Track what I read, suggest books, inform me when they get related stuff in-store
3. If they don't have a book I want, promise to send it home the next day or later the same day
4. Reward my loyalty and value to them meaningfully. By that I mean that if I'm the kind of guy who buys regularly and from a predictable set then invest a significant portion of their margins on my purchases back into growing their relationship with me
5. Start 'membership programs' that help me get control over my spend on books
6. Make bookstores a really pleasant place for me and my family to spend time in
8. Support the physical book ecosystem.. start a program to take back books and free up precious shelf space in my home
9. Specialize.. trying to keep all the books relevant to everyone is a recipe for disaster imho, will end up keeping a bare minimum in any area and leave everyone dissatisfied
To folks in the bookstore business and slashdotters in other countries (I'm in India) - Do you feel nearly enough is being done?
But, assuming many other people have a similar story, what continues to surprise me is how little or how poorly bookstores seem to have adapted to this. If I were a bookstore owner I would try one of these things, none of which I have seen evidence of any bookstores here trying in a meaningful or impactful way:
1. Aggressively analyze traffic and tweak the assortment continuously
2. Track what I read, suggest books, inform me when they get related stuff in-store
3. If they don't have a book I want, promise to send it home the next day or later the same day
4. Reward my loyalty and value to them meaningfully. By that I mean that if I'm the kind of guy who buys regularly and from a predictable set then invest a significant portion of their margins on my purchases back into growing their relationship with me
5. Start 'membership programs' that help me get control over my spend on books
6. Make bookstores a really pleasant place for me and my family to spend time in
8. Support the physical book ecosystem.. start a program to take back books and free up precious shelf space in my home
9. Specialize.. trying to keep all the books relevant to everyone is a recipe for disaster imho, will end up keeping a bare minimum in any area and leave everyone dissatisfied
To folks in the bookstore business and slashdotters in other countries (I'm in India) - Do you feel nearly enough is being done?
Comment Barb wire (Score 1) 221
Anyone seen this pathetic scifi movie starring Pamela Anderson? The whole movie revolves around a pair of contacfts than can help to fool iris scans at an emigration checkpoint. Interesting that the same situation has happened, wonder when the contacts will follow.
Comment first reply! (Score 1) 75
scale!
Indian Census To Collect Fingerprints, Photos 141
adityamalik writes "The Indian census kicks off on Thursday, with approximately 2.5 million people charged with conducting it across the billion-plus strong country. 'Officials will collect fingerprints and photograph every resident for the first time for the register — a process described by Home Minister P. Chidambaram as 'the biggest exercise... since humankind came into existence.' Sensitivity towards collection of biometrics and personal details is quite low in India currently. I wonder how effective — and how powerful — the exercise will turn out to be for the country. I'm also struggling to imagine how the photo and fingerprint collection is going to happen, technology-wise."
Submission + - Indian census to collect fingerprints, photos (indiatimes.com)
adityamalik writes: The Indian census kicks off on thursday, with approximately 2.5 million charged with conducting it across the billion plus strong country.
"Officials will collect fingerprints and photograph every resident for the first time for the register — a process described by Home Minister P. Chidambaram as 'the biggest exercise... since humankind came into existence.'"
Sensitivity towards collection of biometrics and personal details is quite low in India currently. Wonder how effective — and how powerful — the exercise will turn out to be for the country. Was also struggling to imagine how the photo & fingerprint collection is going to happen, technology-wise.
"Officials will collect fingerprints and photograph every resident for the first time for the register — a process described by Home Minister P. Chidambaram as 'the biggest exercise... since humankind came into existence.'"
Sensitivity towards collection of biometrics and personal details is quite low in India currently. Wonder how effective — and how powerful — the exercise will turn out to be for the country. Was also struggling to imagine how the photo & fingerprint collection is going to happen, technology-wise.
Comment Day of the triffids (Score 1) 418
In an unrelated development, mysterious walking trees were found wandering the norwegian woods.
Experts predict they are an evolutionary response by the earth to substitute petroleum, just in time for copenhagen.
Experts predict they are an evolutionary response by the earth to substitute petroleum, just in time for copenhagen.
Gigantic Spiral of Light Observed Over Norway; Rocket To Blame? 418
Ch_Omega writes "A mysterious light display appearing over Norway last night (more pictures) has left thousands of residents in the north of the country baffled. Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing display to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor to a shock wave — although no one appears to have mentioned UFOs yet. The phenomenon began when what appeared to be a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain. It stopped mid-air, then began to circulate. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky. Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its center — lasting for ten to twelve minutes before disappearing completely. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm — which astronomers have said did not appear to have been connected to the aurora, or Northern Lights, so common in that area of the world." The Bad Astronomer makes the case that a malfunctioning rocket spewing fuel is a parsimonious explanation, backed up by witnesses to similar events and a cool simulation (on video). An anonymous reader suggests that this Proton-M Carrier Rocket might be responsible for the display.
Submission + - FBI hit by virus
Norsefire writes: "The FBI and US Marshals were forced to shutdown part of their computer network after being hit by a "mystery virus". FBI spokesman, Mike Kortan, said "We are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that's affecting several government agencies". Nikki Credic, spokeswoman for the US Marshals, said that no data has been compromised but the type of virus and its origin is unknown."
Submission + - SPAM: Could 'Terminator' happen? Vernor Vinge answers 1
destinyland writes: "A science magazine asks an MIT professor, roboticists, artificial intelligence workers, and science fiction authors about the possibility of an uprising of machines. Answers range from "of course it's possible" to "why would an intelligent network waste resources on personal combat?" An engineering professor points out that bipedal robots "are largely impractical," and Vernor Vinge says a greater threat to humanity is good old-fashioned nuclear annihilation. But one roboticist says it's inevitable robots will eventually be used in warfare, while another warns of robots in the hands of criminals, cults, and other 'non-state actors'. "What we should fear in the foreseeable future is not unethical robots, but unethical roboticists.""
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - Safari 4's Messy Trail (thrica.com)
Signum Ignitum writes: Safari 4 came with a slew of cool new features, but extensive data generation combined with poor cleanup make for a data trail that's a privacy nightmare. Hidden files with screenshots of your history, files that point back to webpages you've visited and cleared from your history, and thousands of XML files that track the changes in the pages in your Top Sites can add up to gigabytes of information you didn't know was kept about you.
Submission + - Do cells use light to communicate? (bytesizebio.net)
SilverLobe writes: The hypothesis that living cells may use photons for communications has been on the fringes of cell biology for a while. No proof positive exists, but there is some strong circumstantial evidence. Byte Size Biology reports of a simple experiment that shows how the unicellular protozoan Paramecium may use so called "biophotons" to signal for growth and feeding. The original article in PLoS ONE concludes: "...not all cellular processes are necessarily based on a molecule-receptor recognition. The non-molecular signals are most probably photons. If so, cells use more than one frequency for information transfer and mutual influence."
Submission + - Is Linux's 'overall marketshare' stat meaningful? (ostatic.com) 1
ruphus13 writes: Linux recently achieved 1% marketshare of the overall Operating System market. But, does that statistic really mean anything useful? The article thinks not. It states, "Framed in the "overall marketshare" terminology, the information (or how it was gathered and calculated) isn't necessarily questionable, it's more that it's meaningless. It's nebulous, even when one looks at several months worth of data. [How] Linux is used in various business settings answers an actual question — and the answer can be used to ask further questions, form opinions — and maybe one day even explain to some degree what 1% of the market share really means...Operating systems aren't immortal beings, and by rights, there can't be (there shouldn't be) only one...No one system can be everything to everyone, and no one system (however powerful, or stable) can do everything perfectly that just one person might require of it in the course of a day. While observing trends and measuring market share are important, the results (good or bad) shouldn't be any platform's measure of self-worth or validation. It's a data point to build on (we're weak in this area, strong in this area, our platform is being used a lot more this quarter, where did all of our uses go?) in order to improve and stay relevant."
Comment Re:Counter-intuitive! (Score 1) 160
'The more atoms you have to push your information through the more amperage it takes to overcome the resistance'.
Interesting??? Patently false!!
Consider:
1. Thicker wire means less resistance, not more
2. EM radiation does not experience resistance at all!! Only reflection or refraction or absorption
3. You seem to imply that all atoms are alike. not true.
4. Amperage to overcome resistance??? please...
5. why are you comparing the 'resistance' or whatever of a PCB to the (patently dissimilar, but to give you a head) path from cellphone to cell tower?
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