Computer

World Poker Tour Bets on AI Dubbing of Tournaments for Latin America

Slashdot - Wed, 2024-03-27 00:20
Georg Szalai reports via the Hollywood Reporter: The World Poker Tour (WPT) is betting on AI-powered dubbing tools under a partnership with Papercup, a London-based AI dubbing company, that will replace WPT's traditional localization methods in Latin America. Papercup will work with the World Poker Tour to translate 184 of the franchise's 44-minute-long episodes into Brazilian Portuguese, the companies said. "This will amount to nearly 140 hours of content and enable viewers across South America to access WPT's latest shows and tournaments in their native language quicker than ever before," they explained. "Forced to deal with lead times of up to six months, the company experienced ongoing challenges with timely content delivery and adaptation." The Papercup deal will cut those lead times in half, the partners said. "Now the premier poker content produced by WPT will be able to reach international fans watching on OTT platforms, as well as its own FAST channel, faster than ever before," they touted. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Papercup uses a combination of machine-learning tools and expert human translators to "deliver maximal linguistic and tonal accuracy." Its AI voices are built using data from real voice actors to ensure they "have all the warmth and expressivity of human speech," it says. "The quality of Papercup dubbing has been second to none. A big part of that is down to their AI voices and expert translators who go through every sentence to make sure the moment is truly captured in the new AI dubs," said Marc Dion, director of distribution & ad sales at WPT. "The major streaming platforms have very stringent criteria when it comes to dubbed content and if it's going to connect with our shared viewers."

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Xbox Cloud Gaming Now Has Mouse and Keyboard Support In Select Games

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 23:40
Tom Warren reports via The Verge: Microsoft is starting to preview mouse and keyboard support for Xbox Cloud Gaming today. Xbox Insiders will be able to start playing with their mouse and keyboard in Edge, Chrome, or the Xbox app on Windows PCs, nearly two years after Microsoft announced it was preparing to add mouse and keyboard support to its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service. Not every game will be supported during the preview, but there's a large selection, including Fortnite, Sea of Thieves, and Halo Infinite. Microsoft warns that some games will display controller UI elements briefly before adapting to mouse and keyboard input after you start interacting with the game. If you're interested in trying games with mouse and keyboard in the browser version of Xbox Cloud Gaming, then you'll need to be in full-screen mode, according to Microsoft. This is so the game can correctly capture your pointer as input. If you want to exit out of mouse and keyboard mode and use an Xbox controller instead, there's an ALT+F9 shortcut to do so. The full list of supported games include: Fortnite (browser only), ARK Survival Evolved, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Halo Infinite, Atomic Heart, Sniper Elite 5, Deep Rock Galactic, High on Life, Zombie Army 4 Dead War, Gears Tactics, Pentiment, Doom 64, and Age of Empires 2.

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US Sanctions Spree Continues With 15 More For Russian Entities

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 23:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: It's sanctions central at the US Treasury this week as a further 15 are slapped on organizations and individuals in Russia. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 13 organizations and two individuals -- all concerning financial services organizations, including cryptocurrency exchanges that offered services to already-sanctioned dark web marketplaces in Russia, and those who helped run them. Five of the 13 freshly designated entities were also controlled by individuals who were already sanctioned. The latest round of trade restrictions were placed on those who are believed to have helped evade existing US sanctions. "Many of the individuals and entities designated today facilitated transactions or offered other services that helped OFAC-designated entities evade sanctions," an OFAC statement read. "These designations build upon OFAC's February 23, 2024 action to target companies servicing Russia's core financial infrastructure and curtail Russia's use of the international financial system to further its war against Ukraine." They follow the initial seven sanctions announced on Monday, all relating to Chinese nationals and members of Beijing's APT31 offensive cyber outfit.

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Canva Acquires Affinity To Fill the Adobe-Sized Holes In Its Design Suite

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 22:20
Web-based design platform Canva has acquired the Affinity creative software suite for an undisclosed sum, though Bloomberg reports that it's valued at "several hundred million [British] pounds." The Verge reports that the acquisition helps the company "[position] itself as a challenger to Adobe's grip over the digital design industry." From the report: Canva announced the deal on Tuesday, which gives the company ownership over Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher -- three popular creative applications for Windows, Mac, and iPad that provide similar features to Adobe's Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign software, respectively. [T]he acquisition makes sense as the Australian-based company tries to attract more creative professionals. As of January this year, Canva's design platform attracted around 170 million monthly global users. That's a lot of people who probably aren't using equivalent Adobe software like Express, but unlike Adobe, Canva doesn't have its own design applications that target creative professionals like illustrators, photographers, and video editors. Affinity apps are used by over three million global users according to Canva -- that's a fraction of Adobe's user base, but Affinity shouldn't be underestimated here. The decision to make its Affinity applications a one-time-purchase with no ongoing subscription fees has earned it a loyal fanbase, especially with creatives who are actively looking for alternatives to Adobe's subscription-based design ecosystem. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Canva co-founder Cameron Adams said that Affinity applications will remain separate from Canva's platform, but that some small integrations should be expected over time. "Our product teams have already started chatting and we have some immediate plans for lightweight integration, but we think the products themselves will always be separate," said Adams.

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Adam Neumann Makes a $500 Million Bid For WeWork

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 21:40
Adam Neumann has submitted a $500 million bid to acquire WeWork out of bankruptcy. According to CNBC, it "could go up to $900 million pending due diligence." From the report: Neumann's financing was not immediately clear, although people familiar with the matter told CNBC that Dan Loeb's Third Point was not involved in the offer. Neumann's counsel had previously said that Loeb's investment firm was backing the WeWork founder's offer, but Third Point disputed that assertion in a prior statement. The uncertainty over Neumann's financing, coupled with his track record at the company, could dampen WeWork's receptiveness to his offer. Neumann, his family office Nazare, and his Andreessen Horowitz-backed real estate venture Flow filed a notice of appearance in WeWork's bankruptcy docket on Monday. "Two weeks ago, a coalition of half a dozen financing partners -- whose identities are known to WeWork and its advisors -- submitted a potential bid for substantially more" than the initially reported $500 million, a Flow spokesperson said in a statement. The offer comes weeks after it emerged Neumann had renewed interest in taking back the company he was ousted from five years ago. WeWork filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after years of struggles, and has been working with bankruptcy advisors to restructure and streamline the business. "As we've said previously, WeWork is an extraordinary company and it's no surprise we receive expressions of interest from third parties on a regular basis. Our Board and our advisors review those approaches in the ordinary course, to ensure we always act in the best long-term interests of the company," a WeWork spokesperson said Monday in a statement.

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Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event For June 10

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 21:24
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is set to take place June 10 through 14, 2024. It'll be an online event open to all developers at no cost. MacRumors reports: Apple will hold a WWDC 2024 keynote event on Monday, June 10 to show off iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2. The keynote event will be available on the Apple Developer app, the Apple website, and YouTube, with Apple also planning to share videos and information all week long. Though WWDC 2024 is an online event, Apple is once again planning a special event for select developers and students, which is set to take place on June 10 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. Attendees will be able to watch the keynote and State of the Union presentations at Apple Park, as well as meet Apple employees and attend the Apple Design Awards. Apple will provide developers with additional information about WWDC 2024 through email, the Apple Developer app, and the Apple Developer website.

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Florida Braces For Lawsuits Over Law Banning Kids From Social Media

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 21:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, Florida became the first state to ban kids under 14 from social media without parental permission. It appears likely that the law -- considered one of the most restrictive in the US -- will face significant legal challenges, however, before taking effect on January 1. Under HB 3, apps like Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok would need to verify the ages of users, then delete any accounts for users under 14 when parental consent is not granted. Companies that "knowingly or recklessly" fail to block underage users risk fines of up to $10,000 in damages to anyone suing on behalf of child users. They could also be liable for up to $50,000 per violation in civil penalties. [...] DeSantis' statement noted that "in addition to protecting children from the dangers of social media, HB 3 requires pornographic or sexually explicit websites to use age verification to prevent minors from accessing sites that are inappropriate for children." This suggests that Florida could face a legal challenge from adult sites like Pornhub, which have been suing to block states from requiring an ID to access adult content. Most recently, Pornhub blocked access to its platform in Texas, arguing that such laws "impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech" and fail "strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas's stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors." According to the Guardian, [Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, who spearheaded the law] expected that social media companies would "sue the second after" HB 3 was signed. So far, no legal challenges have been raised, but Renner seemingly expects that the law's focus on "addictive features such as notification alerts and autoplay videos, rather than on their content" would ensure that the law defeats any constitutional concerns potentially raised by social media companies. "We're going to beat them, and we're never, ever going to stop," Renner vowed.

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Vinyl Records Outsell CDs For the Second Year Running

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 20:20
People bought 43 million vinyl records last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). From a report: That's 6 million more than the number of CDs sold in 2023, marking the second time since 1987 that's happened and reflecting the steady 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales. Vinyl, which tends to be pricier than the newer format, also far outstripped CDs in actual money made, raking in $1.4 billion compared to $537 million from CDs. The RIAA's report shows that CD revenue was up, too, but in terms of physical products sold, people actually bought about 700,000 fewer CDs in 2023 than the year before. (If you're curious, nearly half a million cassettes sold last year, too, according to Billboard.)

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Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Releases Early In France

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 19:44
AmiMoJo writes: In a major surprise, all twenty episodes of the second season of the animated series 'Star Trek: Prodigy' have suddenly been made available in France thanks to broadcaster France Televisions. According to TrekCentral it seems France.TV, the online streaming service for the national public broadcaster, has released the entirety of the second season all at once and without any prior warning or announcement. This has led to questions online as to how this happened. Paramount+ unexpectedly canceled the series in June last year -- even as a second season had almost finished production and was completed shortly after. It took numerous fan campaigns and social media protests but ultimately Netflix picked up both completed seasons in October 2023. The streamer has confirmed the twenty episode second season will arrive this year but hasn't set a specific date as yet. Today's unexpected release in France has many wondering if this a mistake, or is this the result of a specific licensing deal with that country and distributor. Either way, spoilers for the new season are already flooding online along with a lot of people calling for fans to wait for the official release and support the creators. Whether intentional or not, it's not clear if Netflix will shift its release strategy for the new season in the wake of this.

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Facebook Accused of Using Your Phone To Wiretap Snapchat

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 19:07
Court filings unsealed last week allege Meta created an internal effort to spy on Snapchat in a secret initiative called "Project Ghostbusters." Gizmodo: Meta did so through Onavo, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service the company offered between 2016 and 2019 that, ultimately, wasn't private at all. "Whenever someone asks a question about Snapchat, the answer is usually that because their traffic is encrypted we have no analytics about them," said Mark Zuckerberg in an email to three Facebook executives in 2016, unsealed in Meta's antitrust case on Saturday. "It seems important to figure out a new way to get reliable analytics about them... You should figure out how to do this." Thus, Project Ghostbusters was born. It's Meta's in-house wiretapping tool to spy on data analytics from Snapchat starting in 2016, later used on YouTube and Amazon. This involved creating "kits" that can be installed on iOS and Android devices, to intercept traffic for certain apps, according to the filings. This was described as a "man-in-the-middle" approach to get data on Facebook's rivals, but users of Onavo were the "men in the middle." Meta's Onavo unit has a history of using invasive techniques to collect data on Facebook's users. Meta acquired Onavo from an Israeli firm over 10 years ago, promising users private networking, as most VPNs do. However, the service was reportedly used to spy on rival social media apps through tens of millions of people who downloaded Onavo. It gave Facebook valuable intel about competitors, and this week's court filings seem to confirm that. A team of senior executives and roughly 41 lawyers worked on Project Ghostbusters, according to court filings. The group was heavily concerned with whether to continue the program in the face of press scrutiny. Facebook ultimately shut down Onavo in 2019 after Apple booted the VPN from its app store.

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A Native Version of Chrome Arrives for Arm-based Windows PC

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 18:39
Google is releasing an optimized version of its Chrome browser for Windows on Arm this week, the search giant has announced alongside chipmaker Qualcomm. From a report: The official release comes two months after an early version of the browser was spotted in Chrome's Canary channel. Qualcomm says the release "will roll out starting today." The release will be a big deal for any Chrome users with Windows machines powered by Arm-based processors, who'll now have access to a much faster native browser. That's in contrast to the x64 version of Chrome they've previously had to run in an emulated state with slow performance. Arm-based users have previously been able to turn to Microsoft's Edge, which is already available for Windows on Arm devices.

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Dell Reduces Workforce as Part of Broader Cost Cuts

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 17:54
Dell reduced its workforcereduced its workforce as part of a broader initiative to cut costs that included limiting external hiring and employee reorganizations, it said in a filing on Monday. From a report: As of Feb. 2, 2024, it had nearly 120,000 employees, down from about 126,000 a year earlier. The layoffs come after sluggish demand for its personal computers for nearly two years partly contributed to a 11% drop in revenue in fourth-quarter earnings posted last month. Dell expects net revenue in its client solutions group (CSG) - home to PCs - to grow for the entire year, it said on Monday. The segment's revenue had fallen 12% in the fourth quarter.

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Portugal Orders Altman's Worldcoin To Halt Data Collection

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 17:01
Portugal's data regulator has ordered Sam Altman's iris-scanning project Worldcoin to stop collecting biometric data for 90 days, it said on Tuesday, in the latest regulatory blow to a venture that has raised privacy concerns in multiple countries. From a report: Worldcoin encourages people to have their faces scanned by its "orb" devices, in exchange for a digital ID and free cryptocurrency. More than 4.5 million people in 120 countries have signed up, according to Worldcoin's website. Portugal's data regulator, the CNPD, said there was a high risk to citizens' data protection rights, which justified urgent intervention to prevent serious harm. More than 300,000 people in Portugal have provided Worldcoin with their biometric data, the CNPD said.

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Cloudflare Says It's Automated Empathy To Avoid Fixing Flaky Hardware Too Often

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 16:21
The Register: Cloudflare has revealed a little about how it maintains the millions of boxes it operates around the world -- including the concept of an "error budget" that enacts "empathy embedded in automation." In a Tuesday post titled "Autonomous hardware diagnostics and recovery at scale," the internet-taming biz explains that it built fault-tolerant infrastructure that can continue operating with "little to no impact" on its services. But as explained by infrastructure engineering tech lead Jet Marsical and systems engineers Aakash Shah and Yilin Xiong, when servers did break the Data Center Operations team relied on manual processes to identify dead boxes. And those processes could take "hours for a single server alone, and [could] easily consume an engineer's entire day." Which does not work at hyperscale. Worse, dead servers would sometimes remain powered on, costing Cloudflare money without producing anything of value. Enter Phoenix -- a tool Cloudflare created to detect broken servers and automatically initiate workflows to get them fixed. Phoenix makes a "discovery run" every thirty minutes, during which it probes up to two datacenters known to house broken boxen. That pace of discovery means Phoenix can find dead machines across Cloudflare's network in no more than three days. If it spots machines already listed for repairs, it "takes care of ensuring that the Recovery phase is executed immediately."

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Telegram's Peer-to-Peer Login System is a Risky Way To Save $5 a Month

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 15:40
Telegram is offering a new way to earn a premium subscription free of charge: all you have to do is volunteer your phone number to relay one-time passwords (OTP) to other users. This, in fact, sounds like an awful idea -- particularly for a messaging service based around privacy. From a report: X user @AssembleDebug spotted details about the new program on the English-language version of a popular Russian-language Telegram information channel. Sure enough, there's a section in Telegram's terms of service outlining the new "Peer-to-Peer Login" or P2PL program, which is currently only offered on Android and in certain (unspecified) locations. By opting in to the program, you agree to let Telegram use your phone number to send up to 150 texts with OTPs to other users logging in to their accounts. Every month your number is used to send a minimum number of OTPs, you'll get a gift code for a one-month premium subscription. Boy does this sound like a bad idea, starting with the main issue: your phone number is seen by the recipient every time it's used to send an OTP.

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AI Will Suck Up 500% More Power in UK in 10 Years, Grid CEO Says

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 15:00
Electricity demand from UK data centers will jump sixfold over the next 10 years as a boom in AI requires increased computing power, according to the head of National Grid. From a report: That will ramp up pressure on the country's electricity network, which must move vast quantities of renewable energy from as far away as Scottish wind farms to data centers around London. And it's a grid already under strain from the accelerating electrification of home heating, transportation and industries. "Future growth in foundational technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will mean larger-scale, energy-intensive computing infrastructure," National Grid Chief Executive Officer John Pettigrew said Tuesday at a conference in Oxford. It's an outlook replicated in many other countries, which are grappling with how to fund the massive spending required to expand capacity. Global electricity demand from data centers, AI and cryptocurrencies may more than double over the next three years, according to International Energy Agency forecasts.

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Reddit May Need To Ramp Up Spending On Content Moderation, Analysts Say

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 14:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Reddit will need to spend heavily on content moderation as it may face greater scrutiny as a public company, analysts said, threatening its longstanding policy of relying on an army of volunteers to maintain order on its platform. The newly listed company warned in its initial public offering (IPO) paperwork that its unique approach to content moderation can sometimes subject it to disruptions like in 2023, when several moderators protested against its decision to charge third-party app developers for access to its data. Depending on volunteers is not sustainable, given the regulatory scrutiny that the company will now face, said Julian Klymochko, CEO of alternative investment solutions firm Accelerate Financial Technologies. "It's like relying on unpaid labor when the company has nearly a billion dollars in revenue," he added. Reddit reported revenue of $804 million in 2023, according to an earlier filing. Reddit will need to make substantial investments in trust and safety, which could lead to a "dramatic" rise in expenses, Klymochko said. Josh White, former economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission and assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University, also said that banking on free volunteers is Reddit's biggest risk. The company would need to ramp up spending on anti-misinformation efforts especially as the U.S. prepares for the presidential election later this year, White said. "We believe our approach is the most sustainable and scalable moderation model that exists online today. We are continually investing in and iterating on new tools and policies to improve our internal capabilities," the Reddit spokesperson said.

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Microsoft Has a New Windows and Surface Chief

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 11:00
Tom Warren reports via The Verge: Microsoft is naming Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief today. After Panos Panay's surprise departure to Amazon last year, Microsoft split up the Windows and Surface groups under two different leaders. Davuluri took over the Surface silicon and devices work, with Mikhail Parakhin leading a new team focused on Windows and web experiences. Now both Windows and Surface will be Davuluri's responsibility, as Parakhin has "decided to explore new roles." The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's head of experiences and devices, outlining the new Windows organization. Microsoft is now bringing together its Windows and devices teams once more. "This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era," explains Jha. Pavan Davuluri is now the leader of Microsoft's Windows and Surface team, reporting directly to Rajesh Jha. Davuluri has worked at Microsoft for more than 23 years and was deeply involved in the company's work with Qualcomm and AMD to create custom Surface processors. Mikhail Parakhin will now report to Kevin Scott during a transition phase, but his future at Microsoft looks uncertain, and it's likely those "new roles" will be outside the company. Parakhin had been working closely on Bing Chat before taking on the broader Windows engineering responsibilities and changes to Microsoft Edge. The Windows shake-up comes just days after Google DeepMind co-founder and former Inflection AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as the CEO of a new AI team. Microsoft also hired a bunch of Inflection AI employees, including co-founder Karen Simonyan who is now the chief scientist of Microsoft AI.

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BBC Will Stop Using AI For 'Doctor Who' Promotion After Receiving Complaints

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 08:00
The BBC says it has stopped using AI to promote Doctor Who after receiving complaints from viewers. Deadline reports: The BBC's marketing teams used the tech "as part of a small trial" to help draft some text for two promotional emails and mobile notifications, according to its complaints website, which was intended to highlight Doctor Who programming on the BBC. But the corporation received complaints over the reports that it was using generative AI, it added. "We followed all BBC editorial compliance processes and the final text was verified and signed-off by a member of the marketing team before it was sent," the BBC said. "We have no plans to do this again to promote Doctor Who." The decision to stop promoting via generative AI represents a u-turn from the BBC, who said at the time of announcement that "generative AI offers a great opportunity to speed up making the extra assets to get more experiments live for more content that we are trying to promote." At the time, the BBC didn't mention that this would be the only time it uses the technology for Doctor Who promotion. Doctor Who will launch in May on the BBC and, for the first time, Disney+. A new trailer was unveiled last week.

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CodeSOD: Exceptional String Comparisons

The Daily WTF - Tue, 2024-03-26 07:30

As a general rule, I will actually prefer code that is verbose and clear over code that is concise but makes me think. I really don't like to think if I don't have to.

Of course, there's the class of WTF code that is verbose, unclear and also really bad, which Thomas sends us today:

Private Shared Function Mailid_compare(ByVal queryEmail As String, ByVal FnsEmail As String) As Boolean Try Dim str1 As String = queryEmail Dim str2 As String = FnsEmail If String.Compare(str1, str2) = 0 Then Return True Else Return False End If Catch ex As Exception End Try End Function

This VB .Net function could easily be replaced with String.Compare(queryEmail, FnsEmail) = 0. Of course, that'd be a little unclear, and since we only care about equality, we could just use String.Equals(queryEmail, FnsEmail)- which is honestly clearer than having a method called Mailid_compare, which doesn't actually tell me anything useful about what it does.

Speaking of not doing anything useful, there are a few other pieces of bloat in this function.

First, we plop our input parameters into the variables str1 and str2, which does a great job of making what's happening here less clear. Then we have the traditional "use an if statement to return either true or false".

But the real special magic in this one is the Try/Catch. This is a pretty bog standard useless exception handler. No operation in this function throws an exception- String.Compare will even happily accept null references. Even if somehow an exception was thrown, we wouldn't do anything about it. As a bonus, we'd return a null in that case, throwing downstream code into a bad state.

What's notable in this case, is that every function was implemented this way. Every function had a Try/Catch that frequently did nothing, or rarely (usually when they copy/pasted from StackOverflow) printed out the error message, but otherwise just let the program continue.

And that's the real WTF: a codebase polluted with so many do-nothing exception handlers that exceptions become absolutely worthless. Errors in the program let it continue, and the users experience bizarre, inconsistent states as the application fails silently.

Or, to put it another way: this is the .NET equivalent of classic VB's On Error Resume Next, which is exactly the kind of terrible idea it sounds like.

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