normm

About

Username
normm
Joined
Visits
64
Last Active
Roles
member
Points
599
Badges
1
Posts
653

Reactions

317Like0Dislike38Informative

  • Germany changes stance on Apple-Google contact tracing project

    normmnormm
    AppleInsider said:
    Germany was previously looking to create a centralized contact tracing system that relies on a central server, an approach that would allow health officials to be able to directly observe and potentially contact people suspected of carrying COVID-19. A central system approach is viewed as both a security and privacy risk by critics due to the handing over of potentially sensitive medical data to a single source, and paving the way to future state surveillance.
    Just to be clear, in the Apple/Google system people who report having COVID-19 are verified in some manner by a health authority to actually have it; that information is known to the authority.  

    What the authority does not know is who spent time near an infected individual;  that information is only on people's devices, and is not reported to any authority.
    bageljoeyPetrolDaveCarnageStrangeDayscaladanian

  • Foxconn's Wisconsin innovation centers remain unused one year later

    normmnormm
    apple ][ said:
    I remember Trump shutting down travel from China pretty early on, and some batshit insane dems and the garbage leftist media started attacking him claiming it was racist, while he was taking the appropriate actions. His ban on travel from Europe was also criticized. Trump has handled the current situation just fine, much better than the previous guy who came before him, who never bothered to replenish the nationwide stockpile of N95 masks, even though he was made aware of the shortage.
    Funny, I remember him doing nothing in December while ignoring his intelligence people's dire warnings, and then finally banning some travelers from China in late January, but it was too late, and there wasn't a complete ban or any testing of travelers.  And for weeks afterwards, entirely a PR effort with no one at the top making sure that any testing was going on.  It was almost zero.  And finally, with the worst outbreak in the world here, we're now spending trillions of dollars and expecting one or two hundred thousand deaths.  Meanwhile, South Korea, which had its first case the same day as us, did tens of thousands of tests a day right from the start and got the virus under control without shutting down their economy and have had only 217 deaths so far (3 yesterday, 3 today).  Trump as usual gives himself a 10 out of 10.

    Oh, and I'm surprised that it's still Obama's fault, four years later, that essentially none of the recommendations of the pandemic simulations and studies his people and Trump's did jointly during the transition, and that the new administration did subsequently, were ever implemented.
    bageljoeybaconstangGeorgeBMachammeroftruththtroundaboutnowdaven

  • Jury rules Apple must pay WiLAN $85M for patent infringement

    normmnormm
    The main problem with software patents is that they're mostly obvious; it provides no societal benefit for someone to publish an obvious method and get a monopoly on it (a patent).  In almost all cases, an "infringer" just wrote the software in the obvious way, and found out later that someone patented that.

    h2pwatto_cobrajbdragonllama

  • Mac Pro demonstrates 'masterclass in repairability' in teardown

    normmnormm
    avon b7 said:
    This is definitely a step in the right direction. Now they need to give the same thinking to other Macs. It can be done.
    Not everything that can be done should be done.

    Engineering is about tradeoffs.  For example, putting all chips in sockets makes them replaceable and perhaps upgradeable, but dramatically reduces reliability, because connectors are so much less reliable than soldered joints.  Adding connectors also increases size and weight, which is not the right tradeoff if the goal is lightness and compactness.  Most of the decisions made in mobile devices that make them hard to fix are not made out of perversity, but to make them better at being mobile. Eventually you put everything into one super-small and super-light chip, and iFixit has nothing to repair.

    macpluspluspscooter63tmaywatto_cobra

  • Western Digital updates My Passport for Mac with up to 5TB of USB-C storage

    normmnormm
    The Seagate 5TB external disk at this size has been available for three years.  Not sure why WD is so late to the party.  The only place I can find the WD at the moment is at B&H for $160.  The Seagate is currently under $100 at Amazon.   I have two of the Seagate 5TB with no issues (I reformatted for Mac).

    BTW, I'm a fan of the WD 20TB My Book Duo, which I've used as mirrored 10TB with my iMac Pro for the past two years with no problems.  $700 at B&H or Amazon.


    forgot username