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agapos

174 karma · joined February 12, 2014

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agapos··on Firefox Tweaks – An attempt to make Firefox suck less
Reader mode was present in the Mobile version for a long time, it's port to the desktop Firefox happened recently AFAIK.
agapos··on Chrome is blocking torrentz.eu
Kinda makes sense, as all ads are suspicious at the bare minimum.
agapos··on L0pht’s warnings about the Internet drew notice but little action
I believe I saw more IE6 users in the last year than drivers with 50+ year old cars.
agapos··on Zimbabwe offers new exchange rate: $1 for 35,000,000,000,000,000 old dollars
"Defaulting on all Euro debts, exiting Europe, bankrupting the banks, issuing a new currency is a viable solution. Yes it's a horrible hang over to live through but it means removing the horrendous debt burden for the next 50 years."

If they do not tend the root of the problems, they might as well do this every 50 years. Things like 14th month payments (while it was a thing) or tax evasions that could reach industrial levels on their own will make things hard, even without the IMF or EU interfering.

agapos··on AMD says Nvidia’s GameWorks “completely sabotaged” Witcher 3 performance
"Why do game makers put up with it?"

Money. See the 'Money? What Money? Oh, that money' part of this writing: http://www.tgdaily.com/games/37326-ubisoft-caught-in-a-littl...

agapos··on AMD says Nvidia’s GameWorks “completely sabotaged” Witcher 3 performance
Also note the dates: Tomb Raider's TressFX happened in 2013 while Crysis 2 and the 'flat-surface tessellation' happened in 2011 (with Patch 1.8 I believe).

Not something one can call a start.

agapos··on AMD says Nvidia’s GameWorks “completely sabotaged” Witcher 3 performance
"Solution: AMD optimizes HairWorks."

How do you optimize code you have no access to?

"It's just an extension of the systemic AMD problem: they [very likely] have the best hardware but their Windows drivers are horrific and not only do they not have developer support; they actually play the victim because others take the initiative."

Like how a Project Cars developer or spokesman claimed that AMD did not help for months only to be completely disputed later on? Also, ask Kepler owners about their current driver support in recent titles. They are not happy.

"NVIDIA set out to optimize the game as best as they could for their hardware."

AMD helped optimise several titles that worked just as well on NVidia (excep that one Tomb Raider fiasco, what was solvable doe to the openly available TressFX code. Can we say the same about hairworks?). But somehow many NVidia titles are optimised in a fancy way that always hits hard on AMD cards (Crisis 2 and Batman AA come in as uncovered examples).

"AMD didn't set out to do anything: once again they sabotaged themselves by not getting involved."

I guess you can back up that statement.

Edit: wording, grammar

agapos··on Visual Rust 0.1 is out
That is true, but I like to believe that if a group can solve a whole class of problems with a new language, that means they can spend more time and effort on other types of security problems.
agapos··on The last male northern white rhino
I wonder what would happen if a certain "Poachers' testicles are the best aphrodisiacs." rumour were to spread...
agapos··on Magnetic field applied to brain increases acceptance of false statements (2008)
Those must be some strong magnets, effecting people even before getting under it's effects!
agapos··on AMD Exits Dense Microserver Business, Ends SeaMicro Brand
As I know, it went something like this:

-Both wanted x86 for better usability (PS3 Cell was a hard-to-tame beast for many devs, ARM not strong enough)

-Intel was not interested in manufacturing semi-custom chips

-Nvidia simply did not have x86 licenses

-AMD was left as the only option

Of course other things also factored in the big picture, profit margins for example, but those are more known.

agapos··on VP9: Faster, better, buffer-free YouTube videos
Well, this was not the first time they adopted something early and left most of the world behind: widespread adaptation of the ogm then the mkv containers, followed by the complete swap to h264 over XviD, and I believe the abandoning of "must fit either onto a CD or DVD exactly" ripping and encoding rule was also a first.
agapos··on VP9: Faster, better, buffer-free YouTube videos
I believe most, if not all Radeon cards can do 10bit regardless of output type (OpenGL, DX, etc) with a registry hack.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/do-10-bit-monitor...

agapos··on I Quit: What really goes on at Apple
One of the few reasons why I prefer GOG.com over Steam.
agapos··on AMD drops Mantle
This sounds more like "Mantle 1.0 will have a lot in common with DX12 and glNext, but expect even more from the later 1.X versions."
agapos··on The Siberian crater phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought
Methane is indeed a stronger greenhouse gas, but it also has a much shorter 'lifespan' of 8-10 years.
agapos··on The Siberian crater phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought
The colder oceans are notable natural CO2 absorbents, plus we have to mention the effects of life itself: photo-synthesizing plants and unicellular creatures. Like the historical ones that fixated enough carbon to create today's wast coal, oil and methane fields.

As I recall, there is a group of creatures that may did the first big wave of carbon fixation at the beginning of life, binding CO2 and releasing the important O2 that enabled the appearance of complex life forms, but I can't remember it's name.

agapos··on The Siberian crater phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought
The currently mined gas deposits in Siberia are at least 600 meters below the ground level, normally deeper (generally at 1-2 km). The thickness of permafrost in most areas is a few ten meters, with the more cold areas reaching 300-450 meters, so there little to no overlap between the two.

This PDF contains a few numbers for those interested: http://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/ICOP/40770716/CD-ROM/Proceedi...

agapos··on The Siberian crater phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought
"So is it old, buried organic (flora, fauna) matter thats causing the methane ?" Yes, I believe so, though it could be still younger than the normal gas and oil fields (personal speculation).

1.) I think it may be possible, using a mix of infra and normal optical observations with a good algorithm to identify it on the images. Another but even smaller possibility would be the inspection of differences in the gravitational field * (though there may not be enough gas to be measurable this way).

But for either of these to be even remotely possible, we would need a good idea of what to seek, namely a not-yet-popped methane lens under the permafrost.

2.) Unlikely. Suppose if we manage to find some intact ones, tapping into those would be dangerous to a currently unknown extent, maybe even compared to the normal hazards of working with explosive and flammable hydrocarbons. Secondly, the amount of gas may not be enough to clear the costs.

Edit.: * Gravity gradiometry

agapos··on Firefox 36.0 released
"Having to restart after installing an extension is another. Every time I see the request, I can't help lose a bit of respect for it."

Restart-less add-ons have been around for long years, so if you see one that wants you to restart Fx, you can blame it on the addon's creator (I know there may be some edge cases where it is a must, but those are pretty rare).

agapos··on Lea Verou: “AdBlock is morally equivalent to theft IMO”
I am curious, is he willing to compensate me in case I am infected through ads on my PC/mobile, can he protect my online life from advertisers monitoring and tracking my movements, or any other similar direct or indirect malicious case?

Edit: Also, I believe I have not been informed by a single site ever, saying that "This site uses ads as a revenue source, in case you disagree with the method please move on." Usually it just shaves those ads down my browser and if I don't like it, apparently 'I am the thief'.

agapos··on Go to Prison for File Sharing? That's What Hollywood Wants in the TPP Deal
I for one, am waiting for the Music And Film Industry Act to appear.

Maybe that would finally have the same kickback as the Verizon vs Net Neutrality fight.

agapos··on Browser Vulnerability to Superfish: A Fact-Finding Trip to Best Buy [pdf]
Here is a bit of article on Foxes and Fishes: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/how-to-remove-the-su...
agapos··on To the audiophile, this $10,000 Ethernet cable apparently makes sense
Errr.... No. It "makes sense" for people with no common sense or basic knowledge about computers, electronics and digital data transmitting; it has nothing to do with being an audiophile or not. And since all this it was stated in the article too, I would appreciate if they would stop directly misusing it in the title...
agapos··on DirectX 11 vs. DirectX 12 oversimplified
Aren't you mixing forward shading and deferred shading? http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_chapter09...
agapos··on DirectX 11 vs. DirectX 12 oversimplified
"There is no doubt in my mind that support for Mantle/DirectX12/xxxx will be rapid because the benefits are both obvious and easy to explain, even to non-technical people."

Except that this won't only depend on the programmers, but on the management too, and seeing what those guys do at EA, UbiSoft, Activison, etc, I am not sure it will be properly utilized for the first wave of Dx12 games.

agapos··on Dart is Dead
So I started reading this small article (as a piece of opinion, not sure what to call it), and suddenly Touhou. Not something I expect in a rant about a programming language.

But back on topic: I believe Dart was doomed to die as a JS replacement for the sole reason it was not the joint work of all mayor browser vendors, but an attempt of dominance of a single one.

agapos··on Firefox vs. Chrome?
I mostly use Firefox with two profiles, it has better memory footprint, more robust add-ons, the UI is customizable, tabs load on demand, and for me the mission is important too. Also, it doesn't spreads itself like a malware. My secondary browser is Opera 12, but seeing how it does not get any kind of update, it is high time I ditch it for something else.
agapos··on Three States and a Plan: The A.I. of F.E.A.R. (2006) [pdf]
F.E.A.R.'s AI is often cited as an example to follow for FPS/TPS games, so this PDF is going to be an interesting read for many players and enthusiasts.

Also, I cannot but think of the A-Life of the Stalker series, as a similarly exceptional thing. I wonder if that one also has a PDF about it.

agapos··on Mozilla and KDDI Launch First Firefox OS Smartphone in Japan
FxOS2.0 was mentioned in several articles.
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