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Comment RDP - Win8 client to a Win2012 backend - very fast (Score 3, Interesting) 164

by deviator (#45347501) Attached to: Gate One Will Support X11: Fast Enough To Run VLC In Your Browser

Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) connected to a Windows 2012 server back-end is very capable of streaming video. It's kind of shocking how fast it is.

I've used some hosted remote desktop services over the past few years that are nearly indistinguishable from launching and using local applications - over a garden variety 10Mb/sec cable internet connection.

I used to also think that "they'll never overcome latency to the point where it's running at sufficient speed to feel like it's a local app" but at this point feel like that is a wrong assumption.
Education

The College-Loan Scandal 827

Posted by Soulskill from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.
Matt Taibbi writes in Rolling Stone about the economics behind college tuition. Interest rates get the headlines and the attention of politicians, but Taibbi says the real culprit is "appallingly high tuition costs that have been soaring at two to three times the rate of inflation, an irrational upward trajectory eerily reminiscent of skyrocketing housing prices in the years before 2008." He writes, "For this story, I interviewed people who developed crippling mental and physical conditions, who considered suicide, who had to give up hope of having children, who were forced to leave the country, or who even entered a life of crime because of their student debts. ... Because the underlying cause of all that later-life distress and heartache – the reason they carry such crushing, life-alteringly huge college debt – is that our university-tuition system really is exploitative and unfair, designed primarily to benefit two major actors. First in line are the colleges and universities, and the contractors who build their extravagant athletic complexes, hotel-like dormitories and God knows what other campus embellishments. For these little regional economic empires, the federal student-loan system is essentially a massive and ongoing government subsidy, once funded mostly by emotionally vulnerable parents, but now increasingly paid for in the form of federally backed loans to a political constituency – low- and middle-income students – that has virtually no lobby in Washington. Next up is the government itself. While it's not commonly discussed on the Hill, the government actually stands to make an enormous profit on the president's new federal student-loan system, an estimated $184 billion over 10 years, a boondoggle paid for by hyperinflated tuition costs and fueled by a government-sponsored predatory-lending program that makes even the most ruthless private credit-card company seem like a "Save the Panda" charity. Why is this happening? The answer lies in a sociopathic marriage of private-sector greed and government force that will make you shake your head in wonder at the way modern America sucks blood out of its young."

Comment is this necessary? (Score 1) 185

by deviator (#34654386) Attached to: BYTE Is Coming Back

"focused on the use of consumer tech products in a business environment"

do we really need more of this? and will they be performing in-depth analysis of how much lost time & productivity comes with misappropriating consumer tech in a workplace?

Comment Re:YES! It's actually insane and insulting... (Score 1) 335

by deviator (#34051222) Attached to: British Airways Chief Slams US Security Requests

I was screened in Shanghai, then screened two more times in Seoul. Shanghai also has a gleaming, state-of-the-art airport with proper screening procedures and secured areas (including hand wandings for nearly every passenger.) Nothing is going to get through.

So the US is saying, basically, "we don't trust anyone to properly screen their passengers" when domestic US flights don't seem to approach this maniacal level of "security."

Comment YES! It's actually insane and insulting... (Score 3, Insightful) 335

by deviator (#34045490) Attached to: British Airways Chief Slams US Security Requests

It's an insult to perfectly secure modern foreign airports that the US requires these ridiculous redundant security checks. Just last week I flew from Shanghai (China) to Seoul (Korea) and then to Seattle. When we got to Seoul we disembarked the plane in a secure area, went to the transfer area (still secure) and had to go through screening all over again. This seems silly; any transfer from any flight inside of the US doesn't require this step as long as you are still in a secured area. Does this mean the TSA doesn't think Korea can secure their airport? That seems like an insult.

But to make matters worse, there was a *separate* security check after we got our ticket checked but before we entered the Jetway to the plane to Seattle. But it wasn't so much a security check as it was a line of checkers making people open bags (where they dug around a bit, but not a lot) and each checker asked if we had any lighters. When asked about the two extra levels of security checks, the answer was always "US Flight."

a) Why is there a security check in a secured area?
b) What is the point of the *second* security check before you get on the plane that doesn't really accomplish anything anyways?

I don't get it; it's insulting to other countries and costs way too much money. And I'm convinced we are paying for it with US tax dollars.

  A single proper security check is be sufficient. Then, you're either in a secured area or you aren't. Maybe there are a handful of airports in the world that can't guarantee security of their "secured area," but the shiny modern airport in Seoul (Incheon) is not one of them (especially considering it also serves as a military airport!)

Comment Re:I guess soon we'll see about Flash (Score 4, Interesting) 154

by LauraW (#32311862) Attached to: Installing Android 2.2 "Froyo" On the Nexus One

I think the better test will really be for when Froyo gets ported to the G1 and seeing how Flash performs then

Have you heard definitively that Froyo will be ported to the G1? I was under the impression that Froyo and even Eclair are too big to fit on the G1. I'd love to be proven wrong -- I have two old G1s sitting in a drawer and would love to put Froyo on them. Froyo arrived on my N1 last night, and I'm very happy with it so far; there are lots of nice incremental improvements. But as far as I know, nobody is working on shrinking Froyo down enough to fit the G1.

-- Laura

Disclaimer: I'm an engineer at Google, but I have no inside knowledge of what the Android folks are doing. I didn't even know Froyo had been released until I saw the giant styrofoam frozen yogurt in front of building 44.

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