12th August 2006 Archive

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• Google vows: We'll keep hoarding your porn queries

  Thanks, Eric

  "With so many people searching for keywords like murder, kill, suicide, etc., are we a mentally/emotionally sick nation?" writes a concerned AOLer at AOLSearchLogs.com, a forum that accompanies a searchable database of AOL user's queries. Another AOLer moves swiftly to quell his concerns. "As a whole, no," responds 'Matthew', …

  Media 12 Aug 2006, 00:45

• Public debate on electronic snooping

  Monday 14 August

  Privacy campaigners have called a public meeting to discuss laws drafted to give police access to peoples' encrypted data and communications records. The Home Office consultations on as yet unimplemented portions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000) conclude on 30 August. Members of the public have till then to …

  Media 12 Aug 2006, 08:02

• Supporting the helpdesk heroes

  Reg Reader Studies Reg Reader views on optimising IT support

  Many an executive can quote the cost of downtime associated with the failure of a central system that is critical to the business. In fact, service levels around availability at this level are often used as a key indicator of the IT department’s performance. Something that executives have probably not considered, however, is …

  Tech Panel 12 Aug 2006, 08:02

• The Bastard and the Mouse

  Episode 27 BOFH's guide to procurement

  "... and so I'd like to get one of those new five button mice," The Boss finishes, after what seems like an eternity of blather. "Sorry, I think I slipped into a coma - why did you want one again?" I ask. "Because they can do so much!" "Yeah, that's where I'm a bit in the grey. I mean a one button mouse - I can see the …

  BOFH 12 Aug 2006, 08:02

• The trouble with rounding floating point numbers

  So, Prudence, computers do make mistakes…

  We all know of floating point numbers, so much so that we reach for them each time we write code that does math. But do we ever stop to think what goes on inside that floating point unit and whether we can really trust it? I hate to cast aspersions on its good name but when I hear stories of space craft crashing, inconsistent …

  Developer 12 Aug 2006, 09:55