BigTigger's comments

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Australian Bank Anonymizes and Releases Billions of Records

I work for an Australian Bank. We had an internal competition where they didn't sanitise the data for this competition well enough. After a week of analysing the data one of the people in competing in the competition knew who's data we were looking at. It was a friend of theirs.

All identifying information had been removed/sanitised, they could tell from looking at the spending habits.

I disagree with your statement.

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Finding Unity in the Math Wars

Sorry, I'm not usually a pain with comparisons but comparing "Super Bass: 268M views in a year; Khan Academy: 175M views in 5 years" is illogical as Super Bass, from my quick Googling is around a song lasting 2m30s to Khan Academy which probably on average has around 10-20minute videos.

This doesn't even go into the fact that people could easily passively listen to Super Bass in a non-active window while Khan Academy requires much more active watching from the user.

(i.e. I could have super bass on my iPad in my car while I drive somewhere as background noise but Khan Academy requires me to be sitting in front of my PC focused on it).

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

The economies of scale are crazy as well.

the US government spends $100 million on sensors yet the catels stand to make (if you can believe the figures) "$16 million wholesale" for one shipment of cocaine via this method.

The drug cartels stand to make more selling drugs than the US government spent trying to stop them in merely 7 trips with an ultralight

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Sent From My iPad

I had a similar user experience with iOS (I admit I bailed out of the ecosystem at the 3GS but it hasn't changed substantially since then).

You're correct with everything you say, however, I feel that while you should always cater for the lowest common denominator (which Apple does, very well with iOS). You should also cater for the power user and the ultimate reason I switched out of the iOS ecosystem the only way I could get all the functionality I wanted was by jailbreaking my iPhone, whereas with an Android it's all native (and am glad to say I haven't had to root my Android).

Further to the above paragraph from what I observe in iOS is that it appears that they do not want to progress towards power users, unless I've missed some key developments recently.

In saying this, I've recently purchased a MacBook and I feel that they've done an incredible job with OSX in the regards, it's very easy to use for the novice but allows for a lot of power user functionality (e.g. multiple finger swipes, access to terminal, keyboard shortcuts for things like spotlight).

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Getting to know Android 4.1, Part 1 - The Basics

Not sure if I agree with your "beautiful and usable" comment, there's a very good reason for design iteration.

Check out some geocities sites from a while ago for some 'usable' websites.

Personally I feel like the UI of iOS is very aged, requiring you to click on a icon to see information about that app whereas a widget allows a wealth of information at a glance. Often even access to an application's controls without having to open the app.

BigTigger | 13 years ago | on: Google Now

Sorry, is it out, or is it part of another App?

I attempted to look for it on the Play Store this morning but I could not see it.

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: Gimme Bar: Don't bookmark the web. Save it. Forever.

Seems like a cool idea,

I watched the video but it hasn't convinced me why gimme bar is better than my current bookmark system in Chrome with folders etc. to be honest, I quite like my bookmark bar at the top

All the video did was told me that gimme bar is better, but not why it is.

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: Evolution has given humans a huge advantage over most other animals: middle age

But while things like technologies change quite quickly I would argue that the methodologies that sit around these technologies develop a lot slower.

Also while I understand that this is technology site there are many skills today that don't require passing on knowledge of specific computational technical knowledge, and I would argue in the future this would also be true.

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: U.S. busts Tor drug market, arrests eight

I believe they were using bitcoins to anonymize some transactions.

The hardest thing for a regular consumer I would think would be finding a drop point. Drugs and things sent through the mail would be fairly easy to track to a consumer who could then be charged for possession.

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: MIT awards pirate certificates to undergraduates

This is all speculation.

Possibly because they treat it as an extra curriculum activity

And as such:

a) Perhaps the lecturers teach in their spare time because they enjoy the activity.

b) It's a fairly specific skill set that would mean hiring new resources for an extra curricular activity that means diverting resources from your primary operation (teaching) which you don't want to do.

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: TSA: Fail

Great post, I do however much prefer the quote,

"If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, order more tunnel"

BigTigger | 14 years ago | on: How to nap

I'm not a regular napper, but whenever I've napped in a busy office, the best approach I've found is to head out to a park, find a shady spot and lie down. Take a towel so you don't get dirty or itchy

Options here are obviously, book a meeting, pretend you're going for a run, out to lunch or a coffee.

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