Eric Rost

Turn your search results (Under Privacy Settings->Search->Facebook Search) to whatever level of privacy you'd like and "strangers" won't be able to see ANYTHING about you. - Eric Rost

Hmm, lower UID, long comment history, and excellent karma... think that over again, huh?Seems you're right on the stuff that shows up in search listings and profile views to everyone. However don't play the stupid games on facebook and use it like you're actually concerned about your private data and you'll be fine. I guess I don't care so much about the info that's in bold above. Its enough for someone I know to id me, but nothing particularly sensitive (especially if you know what's being shared). I'm Eric Rost from Peoria, IL, in the Caterpillar, Inc. network, have some friends scattered across the country, and I'm a fan of Weeds and some other shows. What exactly is the concern there? I don't play the stupid scammy games (and block the updates in my "live news feed" from them) and I use facebook to share pics and videos with my friends and family as well as keep up with some political causes...It's a change that makes the actual search a bit more useful since you'd come across... - Eric Rost

And that's not just search results its all the public info, I just logged out, searched for myself and went to a result (on a public page I'd commented on) and my pic isn't there nor can my profile be accessed by someone not logged in. Others can be. - Eric Rost

Read carefully apps can ONLY see what you leave available to everyone. - Eric Rost

Read your own words: "it may access any information you have made visible to Everyone (Edit Profile Privacy)"This is still controllable via your privacy settings. Also, don't use apps that request additional permissions. - Eric Rost

Click the little Change Settings button on the top of the page. Nothing is "irrevocably public" I have all my info other than send friend request set to "Friends Only". Users aren't so stupid, the submitter and editor seem to be though. This hyperbole crap is spreading across the web today/yesterday and those spreading it don't care to investigate the issue far enough to get anything resembling the truth.Jeez I'm glad I look at things for myself... - Eric Rost

Except you can set your privacy settings to not let the apps share anything, and you can not use any apps that require those additional permissions. This change actually ADDED control to what you let apps do. I use some specific apps (twitter, flickr, facebook for blackberry, and facebook mobile) to do stuff from my phone and from other accounts. Other than that, nothing gets my info, because I'm intelligent enough to set it up right. - Eric Rost

Nope, from my PC at the office. I have DSL @ home and no cable package. It is possible to unplug from the BS. I use hulu for the little bit of cable programming I'm interested in and Netflix streaming for some other diversions as well as over the air HD DVR'd to my MythTV box. I also watch a lot of content through boxee. I DON'T pay for cable, and I actually enjoy what I watch a lot more now and have more choices than I did (now that I've put the effort in to search them out and build my own gear) when I was limited to the two or three things a day that I was remotely interested in on the 100+ channels of crap that was streaming into my house. - Eric Rost

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook launched new privacy settings this week. Cosmetically, this means that the settings are explained more clearly and are marginally easier to manage. Unfortunately, some of the most significant changes actually make preserving privacy harder for its users: profile elements that could previously be restricted to "Only Friends" are now designated as irrevocably publicly available: "Publicly available information includes your name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, friend list, and Pages" Where you could previously preserve the privacy of this information and remain publicly searchable only by name, Facebook now forces you to either give up this information (including your current city!) to anyone with a Facebook account, or to restrict your search visibility — which of course limits the usefulness of the site far beyond how not publicly sharing your profile picture would. That Facebook made this change while simultaneously rolling out... - Eric Rost

How is "in the basic cable package" "free-of-charge"? Basic cable costs money (and, hint, its not worth it). Unplug while you still can, there's a real world out there, and its more HD than HD and has surround sound. - Eric Rost

The biggest draw for boxee for me is the auto recognition and metadata download (MythVideo completely lacks this) I also use a lot of the third party plugins for random web video sources plugged into my htpc fairly nicely. Having a properly functioning hulu app will be nice, though, even if it has to be a standalone. - Eric Rost

eldavojohn writes "Benoit Felten, an analyst in Paris, has heard enough of the elusive creature known as the bandwidth hog. Like its cousin the Boogie Man, the 'bandwidth hog' is a tale that ISPs tell their frightened users to keep them in check or to cut off whoever they want to cut off from service. And Felten's calling them out because he's certain that bandwidth hogs don't exist. What's actually happening is the ISPs are selecting the top 5% of users, by volume of bits that move on their wire, and revoking their service, even if they aren't negatively impacting other users. Which means that they are targeting 'heavy users' simply for being 'heavy users.' Felten has thrown down the gauntlet asking for a standardized data set from any telco that he can do statistical analysis on that will allow him to find any evidence of a single outlier ruining the experience for everyone else. Unlikely any telco will take him up on that offer but his point still stands." Felten's challenge is... - Eric Rost

Really? Ok, now time to install that and get it in the menu. I still like other features on boxee (way better local media support oustide of dvd isos) but I share your pain on the clunkiness of hulu on boxee. - Eric Rost

Bullshit buddy, I live in Illinois. Chicago may have a city test, but its not statewide. - Eric Rost

I said one return not one form. I deduct my house, my student loans, etc. Its still one federal RETURN. - Eric Rost

I run mythbuntu with a boxee launch item in the main menu. Mythbuntu works flawlessly for capturing media and playing it back, boxee does everything else flawlessly. FTW! - Eric Rost

buswolley writes "The slicing the brain of the famous amnesic patient H.M. into giant histological sections is now in full swing, and is being streamed live. The brain specimen is frozen and sectioned whole during one continuous session that is expected to last approximately 30 hours." - Eric Rost

dasButcher notes that the Supreme Court will hear arguments next week brought by a Nevada accounting firm that asserts the oversight board for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is unconstitutional. If the plaintiffs are successful, it could force Congress to rewrite or abandon the law used by many companies to validate tech investments for security and compliance. "Many auditing firms have used [Sarbanes-Oxley Section] 404 as a lever for imposing stringent security technology requirements on publicly traded companies regulated by SOX and their business partners. SOX security compliance has proven effective for vendors and solution providers, as it forces regulated enterprises to spend billions of dollars on technology that, many times, doesn’t prevent security incidents but does make them compliant with the law." - Eric Rost

blackbearnh writes "The work of making high-volume web sites perform well is an ongoing challenge, and one that continues to evolve as the nature of web content changes. According to Google Performance Guru Steve Souders, fat JavaScript libraries and rich content are creating new problems for web site tuning, but one of the biggest problems lies outside the control of web site administrators, ad servers. In an interviewpreviewing the upcoming Velocity Online conference run by O'Reilly, Souders talks at length about the real causes of poor web performance today, and in particular, the effect that poorly performing ad servers are creating. "We adopted a framework of inserting ads, of creating ads, that's pretty simple. And because it's pretty simple, it's not highly tuned. That's one reason why we shouldn't be too surprised that we see performance issues in third party ads. The other reason is that ad services are not focused on technology. Certainly companies like Yahoo and Google and... - Eric Rost

I know I shouldn't, but:The condo stuff you mention is because you didn't read the contract you were signing. I own my home and the ground its on so I can do what I damn well please. Pet regulations aren't just for rabies, they are humanitarian so we don't have streets teeming with unvaccinated starving wild dogs and feral cats like Calcutta. Car insurance is so you don't get hit by a deadbeat who won't pay to fix your car, and is a common protection. Emissions tests are really only in California so you give yourself away as being against liberalism simply to be contrary since you have the choice to live where you will, but then you wouldn't have anything to bitch about, no? Your tax info is just wrong. You have to file one return for State (that includes your whole family), one for Federal, and possibly a local/COUNTY (not country you stupid non-english speaking copypasta) return. Airline security is theater to make sure people don't stop (as I have) using the air transit system... - Eric Rost

No, he'd never be done compiling before the convention folds (ducks) - Eric Rost

Oh just go buy your own island you fuckwit, you're too antisocial to have most of us even want your redneck mountain man ass around. - Eric Rost

Let me repeat this since conservative douchebags never seem to grasp it:Unemployment INSURANCE is in NO WAY welfare. You pay every penny of that insurance out of your paycheck and it is administered through the state. Its as much welfare as your comprehensive auto insurance. Grow a clue. - Eric Rost

And you don't get ANYTHING in return for it, right? Oh, what, you want your trash picked up? You want sewers built to your property? You want roads to drive on? You want fire protection? You want the police to arrest those naughty black people who keep making you scared and nervous? You want an army to protect your property claims against foreign and domestic threats? You want clean water running out of the tap?Tell you what, you keep your extra $35 one year, but stop using ALL of the above services and see how you feel at the end of the year? Or pay someone to perform all of those services out of your own pocket and see how much you have left. - Eric Rost