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Comment: Re:Good luck with that. (Score 1) 558

by tenverras (#48235119) Attached to: Rite Aid and CVS Block Apple Pay and Google Wallet

The partnership to be supported by Google Wallet and Apple Pay has nothing to do with payments at the store. Stores sign contracts with processing companies; the store seldom owns the payment terminal. The store is free to negotiate or decide what type of machine they will use, which types of cards to accept, and if they will accept conveniences like MC Paypass, Interac Flash, or NFC methods. The retailer is well within their rights to say they won't accept NFC.

The only thing they are not allowed to do is to decline to accept legal tender. I.e. they legally aren't allowed to reject a $100 if it is a genuine bill, regardless of what store policy is.

Comment: I don't blame the retailers (Score 2) 558

by tenverras (#48235073) Attached to: Rite Aid and CVS Block Apple Pay and Google Wallet

There are a lot of hidden costs associated with using cards and other technologies with payment terminals. When you pay $6.00 for your purchase, the retailer doesn't get all that money.The processing company that processes all the transactions paid for with cards at a retailer gets a cut of every transaction. If it is a credit card, like Visa or MC, then the credit card company also takes a small percentage.

While Google Wallet and Apply Pay may be free to the end-user, I highly doubt that it is free for the retailer. Google and Apple are likely taking another slice of the pie. So... percentage for the processing company, percentage for the credit card company and a percentage for Google or Apple. It's not beyond belief that this could easily exceed 5% of the purchase price, which could be about 10% of the profit margin. That's a huge number, even if it only amounts to $0.30 on a $6.00 purchase.

It's an annoying hassle for CVS customers to have to wait and deal with another mobile payment system, but it easily means millions in savings each year, nationwide.

Comment: Neuro-Interfacing Patent API (Score 1) 262

by tenverras (#43946235) Attached to: What Features Does iOS 7 Need?

It should be able to read your thoughts and transmit them to Apple every time you have a new idea, so that Apple can instantly create a new patent application and claim that they invented the idea. This would solve the problem of people being able to steal Apple's inventions before they have a chance to secure a patent on it. The API should be called something like 6. (Not sure if those will show properly, but there should be a superscript th and the c used for cents. Obvious play on 6th sense)

Comment: For all (Score 2) 382

by tenverras (#39684741) Attached to: Banned From Kickstarter For Being Cyberstalked

I know kickstarter is going to get a lot of negative feelings about this, but I can't blame them for their decision. Look at all the crazy lawsuits that happen and succeed... such as a person suing the owner of the house they are robbing, after they injure themselves during the crime... there is a chance that if they allowed a project to go forward, knowing that it could provide a new forum for cyberstalking against someone with a long history or it, then kickstarter risks a liability lawsuit.

This isn't discrimination, it's just declining to serve a customer (which a businesses has every right to do) for a reason that has some merit to it. They don't want to be part of a bad situation and don't want to risk involvement or any form of responsibility for it. It sucks, but it's not unreasonable

Comment: While we're at it... (Score 2) 315

by tenverras (#38546416) Attached to: Is Twitter Aiding and Abetting Terrorism?

Let's also sue...

1) The postal service, because they help letter bombs and the like reach their destinations
2) Banks, since they store money and are responsible for the creation of new money, which might be used by a terrorist
3) Cellphone makes and service providers, because they help terrorists communicate
4) TV makes and news companies, since they report on terrorist attacks, which other terrorist can get ideas from
5) The TSA, FBI, CIA, and so forth, because they are aiding terrorists by not catching all of them before they attack
6) The parents of terrorists, for giving birth to them

Need I continue...?

Comment: From my experience (Score 1) 426

by tenverras (#30505824) Attached to: When Developers Work Late, Should the Manager Stay?
Now, this is not my line of work and it never will be, but I don't think whether it be developers or another type of job, it is always beneficial to have someone a rank above you present. It doesn't matter if the manager has no ability for what his workers are doing, if he has a friendly relationship with his workers, understands that positive reinforcement(such as ordering pizza) is better than just making sure people are focused, and allows some extra freedoms since these hours are beyond the norm, then having a manager present will result in better output. I've spent many years as a supervisor and assistant manager at the restaurants I have worked at - yes, I realize these work environments are a little more casual than what is suggested in this article - and these principles have always served me well for when I and others have to work past when we would normally close up and go home.

South Korea's First Rocket Fails To Reach Set Orbit 101

Posted by kdawson
Matt_dk writes "The first satellite launched by South Korea failed to reach its designated orbit pattern on Tuesday, the NY Times is reporting. The two-staged KSLV-1 rocket, built in cooperation with Russia, failed to deliver the 100-kilogram oceanic and atmospheric research satellite into its target orbit. The rocket was launched from the Naro Space Center, 300 miles south of the capital Seoul. 'The failure to push the satellite into its intended orbit was announced by Ahn Myong-man, the minister of education, science and technology, at a news conference. Mr. Ahn gave no further details. But South Korean news outlets, citing unidentified sources, said the satellite broke away from the rocket about 22 miles farther from the Earth than had been intended.'"

Comment: Must have? (Score 2, Insightful) 283

by tenverras (#28516783) Attached to: Google Claims They "Just Aren't That Big"
a must have? Then why is it that every one of my Korean friends say that Google isn't as popular in Korea, which has been confirmed by friends that have gone there to teach and returned, and that the primary search engine used is Naver? It is a little difficult to see what all Naver offers without understanding Korean, but if Naver was to offer an english variant of all the services it offers, it would be a strong competitor to Google.
GNU is Not Unix

Why Linux Is Not Yet Ready For the Desktop 1365

Posted by timothy
from the choose-your-own-misadventure dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Every now and then a new- or old-media journalist tries to explain to everyone why Linux is not yet ready for the desktop. However all those men who graduated from their engineering universities years ago have only superficial knowledge about operating systems and their inner works. An unknown author from Russia has decided to draw up a list of technical reasons and limitations hampering Linux domination on the desktop." Some of the gripes listed here really resonate with me, having just moved to an early version of Ubuntu 9.10 on my main testing-stuff laptop; it's frustrating especially that while many seemingly more esoteric things work perfectly, sound now works only in part, and even that partial success took some fiddling.

Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 mph 119

Posted by timothy
from the australians-still-on-about-transportation dept.
Jason Sahler writes with this excerpt from Inhabit: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicle is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

iPod Shuffle Finds Its Voice 379

Posted by Soulskill

C for yourself.