longfang

davidw said:

slow n easy said:

mretondo said:

kurtvdpoel said:

It is physically impossible to insert a plug in a socket and touch the life metal parts, not even with a penny. Plug and socket are constructed that way.  Both have to follow strict standards. If both are constructed as imposed by those standards, nothing could happen to the girl. 

That’s not to say Alexa should have such a challenge.  That’s not acceptable behaviour for a smart speaker. But the little girl was never in danger. Not even when she had done what Alex instructed her to do. 

You can absolutely do this in the US. Our plugs are a terrible design.

I haven’t tried it but I also don’t see why it would be impossible. And the way kurtvdpoel is describing it is not what the article is saying. The article is saying to insert the plug halfway and then touch a penny to the prongs that are still sticking out. I haven’t tried it so I don’t know what the result would be but you absolutely can insert a plug halfway and touch a penny to the prongs.

It not that it's impossible to touch either of the live prongs  (UK uses 230V os both prong are live) with a penny, but that it's nearly impossible to get a shock when doing so.

That's because since the mid eighties, UK plugs live prongs were required to be insulated half way from the plug to the tip. When the tip of the prongs make contact with the live contacts in the socket, only the insulated part of the prong is exposed outside of the socket. Unless the insulation on the prong is compromised, there's no way that any foreign object can come in contact with the bare metal of a live prong. Very clever design.

Even more clever is the design of the socket. The socket has a "shutter" that prevents anyone from sticking a paper clip or small screwdriver into one of the hole for the live prong and touch the live contacts. This "shutter" opens to allow the plug prongs to make contact with the live contacts when the ground prong is inserted part way into the socket. 

I knew this about 15 years ago when my sister in-law was married to an Englishman that travel back home frequently and I inquired why the UK plug in his electrical adapter travel kit was so big, compared to that of the US plug.

Plus there's a fuse built into the UK plug.  

the1maximus said:

This is probably just ignorance on my part, or maybe it’s because I’m use to the way we do things here in The States. 

Why would Apple or Foxconn have to deal with the living conditions of the workers in their factories?  Are living arrangements part of the agreement for employment? I feel this article should have at least explained this, just so we have some more context.

KJH86 said:

pmh said:

bluefire1 said:

Champion of privacy no more.

I don't take advice from from the chicken little residing in Hotel Putin.

He’s literally there because he exposed the US government committed criminal constitutional violations against the American public. In fact, he’s there because our government has been proven capable of doing the exact type of illegal surveillance that people concerned about this new Apple program are talking about. You go ahead and keep cheering on totalitarianism wrapped in “save the children” and “stop terrorism” though.

jcc said:

The problem with this is that with a physical Id, it’s not recorded by the TSA. They merely do a quick eyeball to see that it matches the ticket. If you use this digital ID. They will be able to record exactly who you are. Every info on that driver’s license will be logged. Do you really want that? I don’t.