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Except Microsoft has already installed the windows 10 update without user input at least once. It could happen again any time.

http://arstechnica.com/informa...

"over the last couple of days, the situation seems to have become a little more aggressive. We've received a number of reports that people's systems are not merely downloading the installer but actually starting it up. Our own testing shows that, yes, the optional update is getting chosen by default, and that's not supposed to happen to optional updates."

Will Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella go to prison? Other spyware makers have been convicted.

Will there be an anti-trust case against Microsoft's virtual monopoly?

Articles about Microsoft abusing customers:

Microsoft's Software is Malware. Malware means software designed to function in ways that mistreat or harm the user.

How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again?

NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered

Microsoft Gave the NSA Direct Backdoor Access to Outlook, Skype

Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way.

Leaks show that Microsoft writes release notes, so why can't it publish them? The lack of documentation of Windows' updates is a baffling move on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft [lack of] Privacy Statement

Here's how to Block Windows 10 "Spying"

Will Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella go to prison? Other spyware makers have been convicted.

Will there be an anti-trust case against Microsoft's virtual monopoly?

Articles about Microsoft abusing customers:

Microsoft's Software is Malware. Malware means software designed to function in ways that mistreat or harm the user.

How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again?

NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered

Microsoft Gave the NSA Direct Backdoor Access to Outlook, Skype

Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way.

Leaks show that Microsoft writes release notes, so why can't it publish them? The lack of documentation of Windows' updates is a baffling move on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft [lack of] Privacy Statement

Here's how to Block Windows 10 "Spying"

everyone has a phone these days.

A user-programmable one? Flip phones aren't user-programmable, and iPhones aren't very much so either. Even a brand-new iPad Pro can't run Xcode.

It's about preserving the economies of scale of programming as a hobby. As mobile devices continue to encroach on the PC's turf for more and more applications, students are more likely to end up with access only to locked-down devices, such as game consoles, iPhones, and iPads. A cheap computer such as the Raspberry Pi is commonly touted as a workaround in comments like this and this.

Here's the problem right now. Storage. We don't need spinning drives to store stuff, but we continue to use them because they are still cheaper than the alternative. The limitations of spinning drives is now starting to really impact access to data on those drives. There is too much data on these slow devices and that is the problem.

My prediction is, that in less than 3 years, you'll see the final death blow to Spinning disks (though they will remain like Floppies forever for legacy reasons) as they are finally replaced by SSDs that are on new buses that offer larger storage, longer lifespans and faster access.When you see your first 16 TB SSD drive (next year**) you will see why Spinning drives are already at the end of their era.

Pretty soon, Netcraft is going to confirm it.

** http://arstechnica.com/gadgets...

I mean, let's face it, barring something cataclysmic this just ain't going to happen.

Arguably there are trade secrets contained within the firmware, which could be exploited by competitors. Motorola wouldn't want Xoom to find out that a commonly used algorithm for dealing with DOCSIS comms is in fact less efficient than another one they dug up, nullifying their competitive edge. And likewise D-Link wouldn't want you to find out that there's a critical problem with their router that can't be fixed in firmware. So they're going to fight this.

Auditable firmware would also expose management controls used by telecoms and ISPs. This would expose their capabilities, and how they work. People wouldn't just know how far reaching these controls are, but also how limited they are. It could raise the specter or nefarious people reverse engineering access to those controls, and doing things they aren't supposed to do. So they're going to fight it too.

Then there are legislative bodies. Auditable firmware could not only expose any backdoors that are currently in use, but expose any they try to implement in the future. So they're going to do what politicians do best and try to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

This leaves us, thankfully, with at least one ally: The FCC, who have said they will not be blocking the use of third party firmware on wireless devices, so at least we can still retreat to open sourced firmware wherever possible, instead of relying on others to open up code for us.

The list of wikipedia astroturfing and politics turfing is beyond annoying. One of my favorite wiki feebles is when they told Philip Roth he’s not “credible source” on book he wrote

I wish I would of bookmarked the editors page, but there was this historian who specialized in mis understood beliefs in wikpedia, but he would have his updates removed because the standard "group think" belief was he was incorrect. He even posted the references required but was still reverted. He finally just edited his personal page, so it would be searchable, no idea if it is. His popular one was that no Canadian military was in vietnam, but Canada did have military medical there with hospitals and mash type units. He even linked to the CA GOV MIL page that had the medals given out during the vietnam war.

Don't get me started on the whole left slanted views given. Even the gamergate page is dripping in political correctness and not very subtle slanted views. Read the comments section on there, you can see how Jimbo had to ban anti-gg editors for awhile due to the bias.

I remember when MGTOW was coming about, some editors on wikipedia wouldn't allow a mens right page or mgtow to be referenced or mentioned. Finally they they came up with a plan, create a MGTOW page and redirect it to MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight) to make sure MGTOW couldn't get a page.

Also the page for "Cultural Marxism" was deleted, and then a redirect to the "Frankfort School". The irony is dripping. Now according to wikipedia is a "Conspiracy Theory"...

Check out the differences on some differences in definitions for Cultural Marxism.

Urban Dictionary
The gradual process of destroying all traditions, languages, religions, individuality, government, family, law and order in order to re-assemble society in the future as a communist utopia. This utopia will have no notion of gender, traditions, morality, god or even family or the state. The Philosophy was proven not to Work already by Vladimir Lenin as he tried in vein to control and subjugate the people. He admitted before he died that capitalism was the only true system in which people understand how to live with each other.... Lenin knew that there were a few western Idiots who kept spreading the communist ideas long after Lenin gave up.... he called these people useful idiots as they had more emotion than brains and could be used to subvert the western states for a military takeover in the future as the citizens would already be perverted and sick and weak from poisonous ideas, decadent lusts and mindless entertainment.

Metapedia
Cultural Marxism is an ideology which emphasizes culture as a main cause of inequalities. Critics have seen cultural Marxism and its influence as an important cause of political correctness and as an important cause of a perceived decline of humanities, social sciences, culture, and civilization in the Western world.

Rational Wiki
The term "cultural Marxism" is most commonly encountered as a snarl word decrying everything right-wingers don't like, alluding to a conspiracy theory involving sinister left-wingers in the cultural and artistic spheres, including the media and academia, supposedly being engaged in a decades-long plot to undermine Western culture. With bonus anti-Semitism.

Wikipedia
DELETED.

This controversy was all from outside the company.

When I read articles like Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down” and Gay Firefox developers boycott Mozilla to protest CEO hire , it becomes clear that you are full of shit.

He was forced out by people within the organization.

This controversy was all from outside the company.

When I read articles like Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down” and Gay Firefox developers boycott Mozilla to protest CEO hire , it becomes clear that you are full of shit.

He was forced out by people within the organization.

APK says, "Hello, Ars!".

As you can see, neither he nor his modus operandi has changed a bit since then.

The only thing he's learnt in the 15 years since then is not to attack via email, because that can be traced back to him too easily.

Even though we already know his home address and phone number.

[They've] "unlock" the seventh core on the Xbox One's processor ...
Previously only 6 cores for both systems were available to game developers. ...
Next the secret 8th CPU core will be DLC, or a game easter egg, the way things are going.

Not happening -- the 8th core is dedicated exclusively for NSA use. I'd love to tell you more about it but I've just been served a National Security Le

You know, you figure after at least 15 years; it would become apparent who the real troll is...
http://arstechnica.com/civis/v...
http://www.thorschrock.com/200...

May I suggest some meditation? (I doubt the meds are working).

You got BANNED from Ars numerous times for spamming, trolling, sockpuppetry, and generally being a complete asshole.

You are stupid enough to bring up Jeremy Reimer and Jay Little? (Tip for those of you playing along at home: Actually, neither of them got banned or kicked off their hosting providers. They changed domains/providers after APK stalked them, and then repeatedly crapflooded them and their hosting companies.)

Proof of your activities is all over the Internet, yet you persist in lying about them. Just like you've been doing for at least 15 years. Just like you lied about Coren22. Just like you're lying now about Mark Russinovich--you were NEVER a co-worker of his (Sunbelt Software is in Tampa, and you're in Syracuse, for starters), and what he was complaining about was the fact that you kept spamming his downloads pages at MajorGeeks.com in an effort to drown him out because he said your "wares" sucked ass. And then it turned out that about 90% of your MajorGeek downloads were all from the same block of IP addresses.

Here's another gem from the Ars forums, in which you got called out for offering incredibly fucking stupid "advice", and your response was "I wrote all of that prior to 1997... you fucking loser fuck!" This was then shown to be a lie--you actually wrote it in 1998, and REPOSTED IT TO ARS IN 2000.

Here ya go, Mr Cybordeath "95 posts and you've been registered for one whole day?"

Oh, and here's another tidbit--the "Lord of HOSTS" bullcrap stems from the fact that you got chewed up and spat out by an Ars user named "GOD". Numerous times--he was particularly adept at spotting your many, many sockpuppet accounts.

Every time you come back here, I'll dredge up more happy memories for you. Here's another sample--remember Thor Schrock? How are you going to spin that one, O Lord of FAIL?

15 years of APK sockpuppetry.

APK is a proven troll, spammer, and liar.

APK is such an attention whore that he hasn't been able to resist doxxing himself numerous times.

In addition, he's been outed at least twice here on Slashdot.

Oh! Almost forgot to add that he can't code his way out of a soggy paper poke.

Looks like they changed their mind. It was too late for POP though, and they closed down anyway. Mind you, in the spirit of kickstarter-bashing, it did seem to be a pretty stupid product.

OS X, Solaris, IRIX, AIX, have turned a profit for a long time without [product activation] in place.

That's because these proprietary UNIX systems are meant to run on computers sold by the operating system publisher. Authentic hardware activates the operating system. "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext" anyone?

a LTS release.

This already exists, provided that by "LTS" you mean something like Canonical providing security updates for each LTS release of Ubuntu for five years or Red Hat supporting RHEL for ten years. Microsoft has been providing extended support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1 for ten years after release or seven years after the successor release, whichever is longer.

SSH.

Coming.

And people flipped shit when they thought there was a big difference in CPU quality. It turned out that this was completely overblown after people did more testing, but it didn't stop it from devolving into a complete shit show for a few days. Imagine if they used different manufacturers for their OLEDs and one had slightly better color accuracy. The baboon screeching and shit flinging would never cease.

Re 'The greatest facilitators in the most intrusive and pervasive surveillance programme in history are the IT giants themselves."
Yes its like the UK too, collect all for the UK gov but want the media to stop reporting that collection for the gov 24/7 is policy and routine.
"UK ISP boss points out massive technical flaws in Investigatory Powers Bill" (Nov 27, 2015)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...
"....which forbid ISPs from revealing what snooping is being carried out on their systems."
"The Home Office revealed that it was the larger telecom companies that asked for gag orders to be imposed."
All Snowden did was expose the vast US domestic unconstitutional surveillance networks to the public via the US constitutionally protected press.
Junk encryption been sold as a standard, low quality education endorsing and creating weak crypto standards over decades, useless standards, poor quality code, data connections within telcos own systems for gov (splitters), "collect it all" domestically without warrants.
The "Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act" and the standards it set should have been understood for what big telcos would do to all US and global (peering) telco systems and standards.
The "Silicon Valley's privacy policies" never existed, every connection and system set up by big US telcos was always and will always be gov intercept ready as deigned and by default.

Just wait until they get into "like & follow AMD and watch this ad to download the newest drivers!!!1". Welcome to the future, where everything from hardware accessories to peripherals and basic OS software has a facebook button and flashy blinky lights to entice you to click on them.

Yep. Nvidia's already started down that path

Are you equally pleased with Vizio's deep and intrusive interest in fingerprinting everything you display on your TV?

ISPs aren't common carriers and have never been common carriers. The FCC doesn't classify them as common carriers either. Really that's of no relevance though.

Actually, ISPs are classified by the FCC as common carriers and are actively fighting to not be classified as such.

Other than that, I am in agreement with you.

Not only is the private key supplied with the certificate, unlike with SuperFish the certificate can also be used to sign executables. Which means that the bad guys can now sign their malware with eDellRoot and gain unwarranted trust. It figures that slashdot doesn't provide a good link. Try http://arstechnica.com/securit...

1) In general, criticizing a citation is only valid if you can provide a better citation. In this case, a newer article would qualify.
2) People still use 7-year-old electronics.
3) Newer articles seem to indicate this is still a problem. Ex:
PS4: 10 watts
XBOX One: 13 watts
(Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/...)
"Is standby growing or shrinking? It's probably growing."
(Source: http://standby.lbl.gov/faq.htm...)
Displays: 12 watts
(Source: http://www.energysavingsecrets...)

"... I'd rather trust the last official version of Truecrypt [7.1a] (with correct checksums) than any binary downloaded from the Veracrypt website."

When I go to the VeraCrypt web site, NoScript tells me that site uses Javascript from 3 different Microsoft web sites: aspnetcdn.com, msecnd.net, and s-msft.com.

The many connections to Microsoft web sites makes Windows 10 the world's most common spyware. Should you trust VeraCrypt when it is so closely monitored by the world's biggest spyware company?

Mozilla Foundation and Firefox are now controlled by Microsoft. Google stopped giving Mozilla Foundation $300,000,000 per year. Now Mozilla Foundation gets money from Microsoft through Yahoo. Microsoft pays Yahoo to use Microsoft's Bing Search. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to use "Yahoo" search as the default in new installations of Firefox.

One of the effects of the control of the Mozilla Foundation by Microsoft is apparently that the Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs have been damaged, apparently deliberately. Every time you do a file save, the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed.

A few of the many, many articles:

Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way.

Leaks show that Microsoft writes release notes, so why can't it publish them? The lack of documentation of Windows' updates is a baffling move on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft's Software is Malware. Malware means software designed to function in ways that mistreat or harm the user.

How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again?

NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered

Microsoft Gave the NSA Direct Backdoor Access to Outlook, Skype

Microsoft [lack of] Privacy Statement

Here's how to Block Windows 10 "Spying"

"... I'd rather trust the last official version of Truecrypt [7.1a] (with correct checksums) than any binary downloaded from the Veracrypt website."

When I go to the VeraCrypt web site, NoScript tells me that site uses Javascript from 3 different Microsoft web sites: aspnetcdn.com, msecnd.net, and s-msft.com.

The many connections to Microsoft web sites makes Windows 10 the world's most common spyware. Should you trust VeraCrypt when it is so closely monitored by the world's biggest spyware company?

Mozilla Foundation and Firefox are now controlled by Microsoft. Google stopped giving Mozilla Foundation $300,000,000 per year. Now Mozilla Foundation gets money from Microsoft through Yahoo. Microsoft pays Yahoo to use Microsoft's Bing Search. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to use "Yahoo" search as the default in new installations of Firefox.

One of the effects of the control of the Mozilla Foundation by Microsoft is apparently that the Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs have been damaged, apparently deliberately. Every time you do a file save, the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed.

A few of the many, many articles:

Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way.

Leaks show that Microsoft writes release notes, so why can't it publish them? The lack of documentation of Windows' updates is a baffling move on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft's Software is Malware. Malware means software designed to function in ways that mistreat or harm the user.

How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again?

NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered

Microsoft Gave the NSA Direct Backdoor Access to Outlook, Skype

Microsoft [lack of] Privacy Statement

Here's how to Block Windows 10 "Spying"

And then there's Mozilla's Firefox OS. I'll never forget how poorly Firefox OS fared in the most scathing software review I've ever read.

If Jolla is having such a hard time making a go of it, and they have a better product than Firefox OS, how the heck does Mozilla think that they have a hope in hell of accomplishing anything but complete failure with Firefox OS?!

Mozilla should put an immediate end to Firefox OS, throw it away, and redirect the resources to Firefox. Instead of taking inspiration from Chrome, take inspiration from Firefox 3.6 instead. That was the last release of Firefox that users actually liked. Mozilla should work toward restoring Firefox to that UI and user experience. When the UI and UX have been fixed, then they can focus completely on resolving the lingering performance problems that Firefox is notorious for. At least doing that will give them some chance of salvaging Firefox, while no longer wasting time, effort and money on Firefox OS.

Reuters doesnt want to have to dig so deep to discover manipulated photos. They dont want it to be quite so easy to manipulate those photos without it being easily discoverable. Its an entirely separate issue from having punishment for misdeeds. Ars has no issue with it.

http://arstechnica.com/busines...

Don't forget that Redflex's CEO was bribing Chicago officials to help get her cameras in there.

Also - not everyone that drives fast is an ahole. And not everyone who drives the speed limit is NOT an ahole.

Agressive and inattentive drivers are the problem - slow or fast. Speed cameras and other forms of photo enforcement, however, are just safety theater that happen to make a buck or two for the camera companies.

On Arizona's ugly history with speed and red light cameras (short, short version):

Former governor Janet Napalitano signed a contract for Redflex to put up cameras (fixed and mobile) everywhere in 2008. Janet actually labeled her statewide speed camera system as a revenue source in one of her AZ budgets - but still claimed it was all about safety. Peace didn't ensue, however, and accidents didn't suddenly drop way off (they dropped, but that was ultimately proven to be because of the recession dropping the number of drivers). While some drivers noted that it was "a nicer drive" and not as crazy on the roads, other drivers just accelerated and slowed down between cameras. Angry pro-camera people started driving like self-righteous assholes - refusing to "bow" to speeders. Some of them set their cruise control to just over the speed limit to avoid tickets, while blocking all lanes ("Move over for faster drivers? WHY? JUST SLOW DOWN!"). Anti-camera and/or aggressive drivers got really pissed off and were madder and more aggressive than ever. The rest of AZ just ignored the whole thing - unless they suddenly got flashed in the "high revenue" locations where they weren't "speeding" in their minds. (Cameras were being placed in locations to maximize revenue (where 65 dropped to 55 on interstates, at the bottom of declines/hills, etc.) Soccer moms and grandparents who loved the cameras early on would suddenly turn on the system when they got a ticket they felt like was nothing more than a speed trap. The public debate on and offline turned ugly, with vandalized cameras (including an axe wielder on an interstate), monkey mask rebels ignoring cameras, freeway and local/city protests, court backlogs (years behind), dodged process servers, etc. There was even a fatal freeway shooting of a camera van operator by a really angry "patriot" (he's still in prison, AFAIK). When the CEO of Redflex wasn't bribing city councils, she was weaving tales of blood and gore on the highways if the cameras were ever turned off.

After Janet bailed on AZ in late 2008 to cash in her chips in DC, any attempts by certain GOP state legislators to get a bill on the Gov. Brewer's desk to ban photo enforcement were blocked by camera company lobbyists and a GOP state house speaker that loved photo radar. The tech was seemingly here to stay.

Then Gov. Jan Brewer - yes, the Obama finger wagger and racist-sounding SB1070, "unshackle the police to catch illegals" signer - did the right thing and refused to renew the statewide contract with Redflex - effectively pulling the plug, and turning the heat down. One group (Camerafraud) was coming close to getting a ban on the ballot as a proposition for statewide vote, but after Brewer's contract cancellation they came up about 40K signatures short (120,000 were gathered) because removing the state speed cameras seem to calm enough people down as a compromise. It never ONCE came to a full vote.

Now the state is seemingly in a ceasefire state on the issue. Most people don't care about it anymore - at least as long as the state speed cameras don't come back. At the city level, certain municipalities have stubbornly held onto them for revenue, but most AZ cities got tired of getting screwed over by Redflex and ATS contracts where they actually lost money while the camera companies made serious coin.

Amazingly, after all of that occurred, there are STILL plenty of Arizonans who believe their short-sighted, 90IQ beliefs about photo enforcement, like: "if you don't do anything wrong, you won't get a ticket," "I don't speed - so who cares?",

but the terrorists in Paris seems to have used plain old unencrypted SMS, in French no less.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...

Which is a mistake the probably won't make twice.

but the terrorists in Paris seems to have used plain old unencrypted SMS, in French no less.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...

Irrelevent. Terrorism is the boogyman the government has forever linked to their justification for unlimited access to our private communications. It doesn't matter whether they use it or not, the government wants everyone to be scared into giving up more of their freedoms. Facts just get in the way of that.

but the terrorists in Paris seems to have used plain old unencrypted SMS, in French no less. http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...

New default replies for APK

Sue happy APK
Message board blow hard since 2000!

/. sucks enough as it is now. You don't need to make it suck more. Leave

Or just abandon the thread here and go read the Arstechnica bit on this from last year:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/20...

Excerpts from the NASCAR section at the very end:

This section, like the [indycar section] that precedes it, is going to be short. That's because NASCAR, while immensely popular in the US, is about the least technology-driven form of motorsport around.

It might be easier to talk about the technology that NASCAR doesn't allow; the series is stubbornly resistant to the onward march of technology, only switching to unleaded gas in 2007 (12 years after leaded gas was banned in the US) and finally moving to electronic fuel injection in 2012, decades after carburetors vanished from our showrooms. There are no driver aids like traction control or semi-automatic paddle-shift gearboxes, and even car-to-pit telemetry is highly restricted.

And yet, you shouldn't get the impression that there aren't a lot of clever people doing a lot of clever things with those machines. To start, they've been designed to protect their drivers from the kinds of crashes that happen when dozens of cars race in packs two-, three-, or even four-wide at up to 200 mph. (That is no small feat.) It's also a highly aerodynamics-dependent racing series, which means plenty of computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel research.

>"NASCAR is probably the most science/engineering oriented sport out there."

No, you are thinking of real racing, like Formula One :)

Exactly. Speaking of which, one of those other news for nerds sites has good coverage thereof:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/20...

Day one patches are a thing, even on consoles. Should they be? No. But they are.

There does seem to be a reliance on day one patches, but I think you're making the problem out to be worse than it is. Plenty of games were shipped with game crippling bugs before the last few generations of consoles: from ET to Superman 64. And the complexity of games has only increased dramatically.

Additionally, just because a game company can update their game doesn't mean they can do it cheaply. Up until 2013, Microsoft charged thousands of dollars to certify a patch for a 360 game.

Hardware is hard. Really really hard.

The list goes on, and on.

Even hardware projects with experienced teams can fail. If you see a hardware crowdfunding project, be fully willing to accept that your 'investment' (which is what it really is) is more likely to disappear than result in a finished product.

I suspect the confusion arises because TFA (last link in TFS) says that

The free and cross-platform Chromium-based code editor Visual Studio Code is being open sourced today.

(Emphasis added)

"Chromium-based" means it's based on a web browser engine, but that doesn't make it web-based. Its backside could easily be file- or Git-based, as you say.

Very interesting, and maybe confusing, move by Microsoft.

Facebook and Twitter also use BitTorrent. http://arstechnica.com/busines...

Just about every Linux distribution distributes their distribution by torrent.

Yes with ARC welder from Google, I can run Android apps on my Linux machine and possibly others.

Facebook and Twitter also use BitTorrent. http://arstechnica.com/busines...

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2... - whatever

Read this.

  http://arstechnica.com/securit...

It is possible that they are using the same technique.

Maybe this video will help you, some schmuck lighting up a news chopper, caught on film. It doesn't take much, particularly at night. In the video, when the laser hits just right, the entire canopy lights up green. Even through the video camera, the light shows as very, very bright, bright enough to burn the eyelid and cornea leading to blindness (which is not cool when you need to be piloting an aircraft).

It should be common knowledge by now that this is stupid stupid shit. It's only sheer luck that this idiocy hasn't incapacitated a pilot to the point that the aircraft went down.

Unless Microsoft decided to regress their spyware policy last night, your findings contradict Ars Technica's: http://arstechnica.com/informa...

Ask and ye shall receive.

Anyone else remember when Qualcomm used to make lawnmowers?

I certainly do. Their 810 processor runs so hot that it's clear to me it runs on gasoline.

Why wouldn't you just switch to recording on DVD/flash drive?

Because not all reviews of DVD/flash drive recorders specify compatibility with video sources, and I don't have the money to buy one of each just to review it the way one Google engineer is doing with USB C cables.

Consumer recorders can record an NTSC signal with standard timing (227.5 color burst cycles per line by 262.5 lines per field) fine. But a lot of classic video game consoles output a nonstandard 240p video signal for memory cost reasons. The last flash recorder I tried (an Aiptek) recorded 480i TV and 480i GameCube video but puked on the 240p sources I fed into it. I have a Philips DVD recorder that records NES (227.333x262) and Sega Genesis (228x262) well, such that I can recover the original 240p from the recorded 480i signal with either AviSynth or FFmpeg. But for some reason, it records my Super NES (also 227.333x262) in black and white, sometimes with colored bars flickering in and out. My conjecture is that it confuses the nonstandard video signal of a 1/1/1 Super NES with certain analog copy protection schemes that the DMCA requires consumer recording equipment to respond to.

Furthermore, I was lucky to find a DVD recorder that had an NTSC/ATSC tuner when I could. Most current DVD recorders that I've seen in stores are line-in only, which doesn't work for RF-only sources such as OTA TV, low-end "Digital Transport Adapter" cable boxes, Atari 2600, original Famicom, or revised NES. So one would need to buy an external tuner as well.

Making APK lose his mind one post at a time.

It's a little late for that. He has had NPD or worse since about 2000.