Slashdot Mirror

Google provided the link I was looking for: the ultimate guide to APK

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=19122373#p19122373

If he has value, I’d say that value is mostly comedic.

And this coming from poor wittle APK, also know as "the idiot HOPES file guy"? As in you HOPES that one of the 300,000+ constantly changing array of websites that are infected doesn't happen to be the one you visit today? Or that you HOPES that nobody notices after repeatedly being asked you have FAILED to show even the tiniest shred of mathematical proof that your magical woobie can scale? That you HOPES nobody notices your only "prrof" is anecdotes, often by your own sock puppets like Kingsjester?

If there is ANYONE that should be LOLing it is me, for pointing out there are still morons that believe 16Mb HOPES files can do anything but block ads since ad servers are...what do you call it...oh yeah STATIC, just like your HOPES file, but really you are just kinda pathetic. You're like the idiot that just keeps hanging onto that three years out of date copy of Norton, because he is just so damned sure it still works, only the Norton guy is actually better protected than you are, since it did used to work in the past 5 years.

So please, keep posting APK, I do so enjoy pointing out the total uber fail of your magical woobie so. I also personally consider it a public service to point people to solutions that actually work instead of relying on magical woobies and anecdotes. And of course bitch slapping your around is also quite fun!

Parent is known troll APK, also known as KingsJester or the HOSTS file troll, which spams several sites trying to show off his supposed programming skillz by writing badly designed VB6 "apps" and loves to spam threads with his rantings on 16MB HOSTS files, which after repeated requests to show how a 16Mb static HOSTS file can scale against a threat of over 1.3 MILLION infected sites with more than 200,000 being added or removed PER DAY has refused to show proof and instead throws insults.

So anyone who listens to APK, Kingsjerker, or whatever he wishes to call himself this week, and thinks a HOSTS file will do anything but stop static ad servers, really needs to do the math. Not to mention on any machine before Vista it will seriously slow down the machine as it is read line by line per access, and frankly isn't much better on Vista/Win 7. About the most inefficient way to block a static site as one can get IMHO, and anyone actually pushing it as an effective solution to the ever revolving malware out there frankly needs their head examined. But then again we know trolls aren't the brightest creatures, now don't we?

For examples of his trolling simply watch this thread or any I post to, as he has been following me for weeks spamming since I pointed out he doesn't have basic math on his side.

Parent is known troll APK, also known as KingsJester or the HOSTS file troll, which spams several sites trying to show off his supposed programming skillz by writing badly designed VB6 "apps" and loves to spam threads with his rantings on 16MB HOSTS files, which after repeated requests to show how a 16Mb static HOSTS file can scale against a threat of over 1.3 MILLION infected sites with more than 200,000 being added or removed PER DAY has refused to show proof and instead throws insults.

So anyone who listens to APK, Kingsjerker, or whatever he wishes to call himself this week, and thinks a HOSTS file will do anything but stop static ad servers, really needs to do the math. Not to mention on any machine before Vista it will seriously slow down the machine as it is read line by line per access, and frankly isn't much better on Vista/Win 7. About the most inefficient way to block a static site as one can get IMHO, and anyone actually pushing it as an effective solution to the ever revolving malware out there frankly needs their head examined. But then again we know trolls aren't the brightest creatures, now don't we?

For examples of his trolling simply watch this thread or any I post to, as he has been following me for weeks spamming since I pointed out he doesn't have basic math on his side.

And this coming from poor wittle APK, also know as "the idiot HOPES file guy"? As in you HOPES that one of the 300,000+ constantly changing array of websites that are infected doesn't happen to be the one you visit today? Or that you HOPES that nobody notices after repeatedly being asked you have repeatedly FAILED to show even the tiniest shred of mathematical proof that your magical woobie can scale? That you HOPES nobody notices your only "proof" is anecdotes, often by your own sock puppets like Kingsjester?

If there is ANYONE that should be LOLing it is me, for pointing out there are still morons that believe 16Mb HOPES files can do anything but block ads since ad servers are...what do you call it...oh yeah STATIC, just like your HOPES file, but really you are just kinda pathetic. You're like the idiot that just keeps hanging onto that three years out of date copy of Norton, because he is just so damned sure it still works, only the Norton guy is actually better protected than you are, since it did used to work in the past 5 years.

So please, keep posting APK, I do so enjoy pointing out the total uber fail of your magical woobie so. I also personally consider it a public service to point people to solutions that actually work instead of relying on magical woobies and anecdotes. And of course bitch slapping your around is also quite fun! Oh and taking a page from your book from now on ALL responses will be THIS post, with only additions being more links to your various trolls and the people making fun of them, so everyone knows who they are dealing with. Have a nice day and be sure you hug your magical woobie...err I mean HOPES file!

Except for the part where said backdoors failed to materialize, see link

No ISP has ever done that. Mostly because if they did so they would cease to be a common carrier and be liable for every torrent. Do you see how the system is self-regulating to prevent this issue?

Broadband ISPs are not common carriers. In fact, for the reason you point out, if they were common carriers then I believe we would effectively have net neutrality enforced (just as with phone service), and some have suggested this as a solution.

"Still afraid trollie? Can't say as I blame you, as even other websites [arstechnica.com] laugh at you and make fun of your HOPES file. Afraid to put it to the test? Can't hide behind anecdotes with a REAL test" by hairyfeet (841228) on Friday December 24, @08:00PM (#34663138)

Nope, and as far as arstechnica & a real test? Ok: Arstechnica made fun of themselves blocking their users who used adblock (but they cannot block or detect for hosts files usage):

PERTINENT QUOTE/EXCERPT FROM ARSTECHNICA THEMSELVES:

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2010/03/why-ad-blocking-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love.ars

----

An experiment gone wrong - By Ken Fisher | Last updated March 6, 2010 11:11 AM

"Starting late Friday afternoon we conducted a 12 hour experiment to see if it would be possible to simply make content disappear for visitors who were using a very popular ad blocking tool. Technologically, it was a success in that it worked. Ad blockers, and only ad blockers, couldn't see our content."

and

"Our experiment is over, and we're glad we did it because it led to us learning that we needed to communicate our point of view every once in a while. Sure, some people told us we deserved to die in a fire. But that's the Internet!"

---

So much for your usual bullshit and the b.s. from arstechnica too. They could detect for and block adblock, but not hosts files.

Still afraid trollie? Can't say as I blame you, as even other websites laugh at you and make fun of your HOPES file. Afraid to put it to the test? Can't hide behind anecdotes with a REAL test, after all I have a great anecdote about your mom and the sound she makes when I give her the beefstick, doesn't make it scientific.

Like I said you now have TWO ways to prove your magical woobie works. 1.-Post your little HOPES file rant on the first post of ANY /. article along with your IP address, if your magical woobie works that shouldn't be any problem. 2.-Post you magical HOPES file rant on any first post along with the mathematical proof that it can scale.

So don't be such a coward trollie, step up! Quit hiding in terror in the back of /. like you mom hiding from an ass pounding, here is your chance! Prove it to the world! Otherwise you are nothing but a pathetic little coward who isn't worthy of licking the sweat from my balls. I've provided the links, I've backed MY position up with more than ranting bullshit. What's a matter trollie? Can't find anything but anecdotes? Afraid to accept a challenge? Poor little chickenshit trollie. Must be sad to be punked so easily.

Nah, just get a fast GPU and use this.

This was on Ars Technica awhile back:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/12/how-a-rc-airplane-buzzed-the-statue-of-liberty-with-no-arrests.ars

Not to mention that he’s been banned on multiple sites & forums for sock-puppeting to sing his praises, including writing fake reviews for himself. He also has a few /. sock-puppets – MEK LoveBug, the kings jokwers, and kingsjokers – with whose presence he might grace us if we get him especially pissed off. (Though it looks like the old ones haven’t spoken up for a while now – maybe they were banned, or he forgot the passwords for them.)

He also doesn’t like it when you link to this (Ugh. APK again!), this (How to Respond When People Threaten to Sue You on the Web), and especially to this.

(APK, are you mad yet?)

For some reason, all I could think of as I read the summary was the following Simpsons quote:

Milhouse: Bart! Alf is back! In pog form!

While the old Byte is worth remembering, is this new website going to be anything like it? To me, Ars Technica is the Byte of today.

IANAL but i think the summary, like lately on /. stories, says things that are not enterely true. I quote from Ars what really happens "Spanish prosecutors have also suggested that, while P2P remains illegal, it is essentially decriminalized" Ars article PS: I don't agree with the analisys made in Ars article.

Actually, you sir, are incorrect. If you watch the video, you can note he specifically says he walked through the body scanner and he found the blades on his person.

If you were right, I'd agree with you. He does discuss a body scanner (probably millimeter wave, not backscatter) but he specifically says that the blades were in his LAPTOP BAG, which would have gone through a normal X-ray scanner. He does not express it very clearly, he mentions going through the scanner and then brings out the blades that TSA "Missed" - but keep listening and it's clear from the context (e.g. "Also missed nuts & bolts that were IN THERE") that the blades were in his bag, not on his person. Link to video

"there have been many big extinctions, and each allowed some hardier form of live to make it to the next expansion."

That is an inaccurate way of describing the process. Each event changed the environment in which organisms competed and allowed a better-suited form of life to make it to the next expansion. That is, if the environment is one in which hardiness is not advantageous, the _less_ hardy forms of life will flourish.

Evolution is not a process of perfection. It is a process of conforming, as a gas fills a volume.

Imagine mapping every possible genome to a point in space. If a genome could not produce a viable organism, that point in space is solid. If there are no organisms possessing a particular genome, that point is empty. All other points contain a virtual "gas". That gas will expand to fill any empty points adjacent to it. That expansion is half of evolution. It's not seeking complexity or simplicity. It is seeking viability. The way that refinement (the second half of evolution) happens is that the gas interacts with itself through the environment. The existence of certain organisms shapes the "solid" portion of this made-up space. The openness of the "carnivore" portions of the genome space is contingent on an ample supply of "prey". In an environment where "hard" organisms have no advantage over "soft" organisms, the gas will fill the spaces of those competing volumes evenly.

This Ars technica article references an experiment in which "E. coli can end up resistant to ciprofloxacin in about ten hours." This happened because the environment in the experiment was setup so that the survival cost of having that resistance was paid for by an abundance of food. The extra food in the poisoned side of the experimental apparatus reduced the solidness of the resistant-strain portion of the genome-space.

Extinction events don't just test the hardiness of all current organisms. They change the viability of various genetic strategies. The events don't just wipe out the weaker organisms. They create an ecosystem in which a new strategy is favored.

To put it another way: if it were possible to kill 90% of organisms in a stable system without changing the genetic pressures the survivors live under, the system would return to its previous state.

I wonder how close Ed Whitacre will be to laughing his ass off by the end of tomorrow. Granted, he's not in charge at the non-existent SBC anymore, but it's almost like the FCC gave a belated Christmas present to him and his cronies.

I should have left a link explaining the policy.

They don't care if a developer has a "pay me" button or "donate" button where the money is intended for the developer. They don't want a button where the money goes to someone other than the developer. The gist is that they don't have the accounting set up so they'd have to trust the developer, which would naturally lead to fraud.

It's a cheesy cop-out, because they should be able to set up an official way to donate - but there it is.

First, there are such things as quantum-computer resistant encryption algorithms. They are not in current usage but it is possible to do.
Second, there are more and more people who suspect that quantum computers may be a pipe dream : http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/06/magic-quantum-wand-does-not-vanish-hard-maths.ars
It has been a good way to make people invest in fundamental research though ;-)

is this article somehow derived from this one: http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/12/t-mobile-keeps-pushing-3g-into-4g-territory-up-to-650mbps.ars

Sci-fi fans are likely to not be counted in the all important C3 rating from Neilsen. I can't imagine sci-fi fans even agreeing to be tracked by Neilsen though. DVR ratings also dont matter as much to networks because they cant use those stats to sell ad time, and online ads bring in significantly less revenue than cable/broadcast. Frankly I'm a bit surprised they are so far behind with regards to accurate rating systems, but it's no surprise as to why we have shows that cater to those whom are technologically behind the curve...

Ars has a fantastic article on all of this: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/future-of-tv/2010/12/who-watches-the-watchers-tv-ratings-in-the-age-of-digital-tv.ars

I didn't get it either so I had to RTFA. They meant that other lawyers were putting up ads such as these: http://static.arstechnica.com/12-17-2010/google_ad.png

You assume rational decisions on both sides. MAD falls apart if one side isn't fully rational. Iran's leadership is subject to change, and tends towards extremally devout Muslims. What happens if their leader, present or future, decides that he can't lose because Allah will protect him? Besides, there is more than one way to use a nuke. Nuke + Shipping container comes to mind... it'd be enough to blow up any costal city in the world, and be very hard to definitively trace as the nuke destroys all evidence indicating exactly which ship in that harbor might have concealed it.

A nuke's origin can be traced

If I buy a car from another person (quite standard), and the company that made the car had to do a recall for something (maybe the brakes would fail), the company must provide support and fix the problem for free. ...

There is a reason for proof of purchase / receipt requirements for many maintenance calls, which is to solve the issue that you are discussing. I don't know of anyone that would buy a used car and automatically assume that it comes with the manufacturer warranty, unless it was "Certified" and sold by them directly.

I don't see the issue. If a $Year $Car.Manufacturer $Car.Model has a defect that existed from the time of manufacture, why does it matter who it belongs to at the point in time that this is discovered? What difference does it make whether it's still in the showroom, in the garage of the first owner, or being sold in the newspaper by the 6th owner? The original product is recalled, the original manufacturer should fix it, regardless of who it "belongs" to.

More to the point, when I hear about a manufacturer denying in-warranty repair service on their legally-acquired products, I subsequently refuse to have any dealings with that company.
Apple, I'm looking at you.

Now, to get back on topic:
Copyright being involved in a situation lacking any copying? Ridiculous.
As to a company suing anyone for "abusing" pricing differences, regardless of whether they're suing a company or an individual... Please allow me to quote (ok, paraphrase) Dennis Leary:

"Life is rough. Get a helmet."

Contrary to what people may say in analogies for the past years,

the internet is not an information superhighway.

Analogies are good to help convey understanding, but should not be used as a basis for an argument.

I am not trying to be a total tool here bagboy, though, and to be honest I just refuse to see there is no solution. I would like to highlight an AC's comment I found insightful below me:

Not quite. Technology improves daily, old gear can be replaced as regular maintenance. You can't simply replace old roads like switches and routing circuits. You jump from 4 to 6 lanes, technology increases exponentially. Try going from 4 lanes to 18 in 5 years for comparisons, and then to 36 18 months later, 72 18 months after that.

Sure it isn't all that perfect on scaling, but his point is still valid.

Another AC comment worth pointing out:

But you don't market the freeway as if its a guaranteed 65 mph, sometimes up to 90...
Also, most major freeways were designed in an era when most households only had one car, and people didn't have 50 mile commutes.

Rush hour is one thing, normal commute another. Personally I just blame all the damn minivans blocking the left hand lane...

Bandwidth and content delivery is the future. Getting the world truly connected is the one of the next great technical goals of humankind.

And I for one welcome the challenge.

...
 

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Bandwidth.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?
-The Graduate

Uhhh....your Ameriphobia is showing. When all you do all day is think about how America is bad, then it's not surprising when you invent scenarios in which you are correct

U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet

FBI drive for encryption backdoors is déjà vu for security experts

Yeah .. you're right .. its Ameriphobia when US companies are complying the gubmint

What's interesting is that this angle of cloud computing has already been covered a couple years ago when RMS first raised these concerns. The answer is still the same: "cloud" does not necessarily mean "non-free."

If by proactive you mean re-branding "managed services" as net neutrality and patting themselves on the back -- meanwhile blessing ISP throttling, and mobile throttling, thus protecting corporate profit in an industry with already insanely high profit margins, at the expensive of the consumer and innovative companies like netflix... then, uh, yeah.

The FCC needs to wake the hell up and realize they aren't protecting competition in a nascent market but rather protecting the government granted monopolies which stifle innovation and are the very reason the market is still "nascent." This is why the US is so far behind in broadband.

Personally I suspect a lot of the news coming out now is orchestrated PR for the policy vote coming on the 21st. I think the FCC is putting out a lot of "we're fighting for the little guy" stories to soften the blow of toothless net neutrality policy that relies on the goodwill of ISPs to act "reasonably" and "transparently"

If by proactive you mean re-branding "managed services" as net neutrality and patting themselves on the back -- meanwhile blessing ISP throttling, and mobile throttling, thus protecting corporate profit in an industry with already insanely high profit margins, at the expensive of the consumer and innovative companies like netflix... then, uh, yeah.

The FCC needs to wake the hell up and realize they aren't protecting competition in a nascent market but rather protecting the government granted monopolies which stifle innovation and are the very reason the market is still "nascent." This is why the US is so far behind in broadband.

Personally I suspect a lot of the news coming out now is orchestrated PR for the policy vote coming on the 21st. I think the FCC is putting out a lot of "we're fighting for the little guy" stories to soften the blow of toothless net neutrality policy that relies on the goodwill of ISPs to act "reasonably" and "transparently"

ctrl+f "DMCA" in that article doesn't find anything.

You must have been looking at the wrong article, then:

“This lawsuit, though, is a rarity insofar as copyright infringement being connected to linking. Righthaven takes issue with the fact that the Drudge Report has no DMCA takedown regime to respond to those who alleged violations of copyright.”

Has this Righthaven organization heard of the DMCA, and the provisions it provides for relief from copyright infringement?

It would seem not:

Righthaven sends no cease-and-desist letters before suing.

I imagine a judge will take one look at this and say "did you even TRY to work something out with the infringing party before litigating?"

You’d certainly hope so, but apparently not.

That’s their MO.

Another recent case by them asked for the same thing:

Nelson put eight sentences of a 30-sentence Review Journal article in one of his posts, along with a link back to the paper; for this he was sued in federal court.

Righthaven demanded that his domain name should be locked and transferred to Righthaven. In addition, the company demanded "willful" statutory damages for copyright infringement, which can be as high as $150,000.

Also, what I don’t understand is this:

Righthaven sends no cease-and-desist letters before suing.

The DMCA is clear-cut about how to handle infringement. A company that side-steps the normal DMCA takedown process (which might have to be snail-mailed – that’s not quick enough for them though!) should have no right to straight away sue the infringing party. None whatsoever. But apparently they can, legally, get away with it.

This is why I block all ads and all your moral arguments and begging be damned. Ad blocking is sensible risk management.

Comcast and Level 3 communications (who happens to host Netflix) had a peering agreement, which Level 3 violated.

That description of the Comcast and Level 3 dispute is too simplified. You might find two articles informative.

Comcast and Level 3 communications (who happens to host Netflix) had a peering agreement, which Level 3 violated.

That description of the Comcast and Level 3 dispute is too simplified. You might find two articles informative.

Then you didn't read the article nor do you really understand how it works

Anyone who hasn't forgotten their teenager years knows how it works. It's groupthink.

The ones who propose targets, build cases, and participate in debates, those are the ones who essentially "Run Anonymous"

More bored teenagers that learn to control the group. Nothing new, even when I was still in highschool and that was ages ago. The alpha of the group just became faceless and uses HTTP more often instead of a louder voice.

For a majority of Anonymous, it's not about principles or values, but they're activities are promoting someone elses (or even multiple people's) values.

You're overthinking this. Back when I was a teenager we had a protest march against the incompetence of the justice department. A few people handed out fliers, and the rest said "Oh hey, I was bored anyway. Let's go there." Many weren't even interested in promoting someone's values, nor even aware of the issues the march was about. Needless to say that it ended in vandalism.

No agent provocateurs, no people with a cause, just plain old "Look at the crowd here, let's go trash something. Fuck yeah!" groupthink. Try getting these numbers for something non-disruptive. Go on. Go to /b/ and become the fabled mastermind that herds the flock into doing something productive. Bonus points if they get out of their chair.

Are you actually trying to argue that Anonymous has made the net a worse place?

Are you actually trying to argue that Anonymous hasn't? Really now come on. That was Ebaums, right? It's bored kids pulling silly tasteless pranks, sometimes funny, sometimes not so much. Sure, they're not a "threat" to the Internet other than being obnoxious.

For every "cause" they've supported they've gone and harassed at least a dozen people who did nothing wrong but be at the wrong place at the wrong time (on the Internet).

Ironic ain't it that you can buy Sun Ray Thin Clients for less than $20 now with free shipping. But I'll probably get hate for saying it but Sun deserved to die. Lets be honest folks they have been flailing around with no real business plan or clue for longer than most would like to admit. One day they were "yay Linux!" the next "Linux boo!" one day "yay SPARC" the next "X86 roxorz!". At least with oracle buying them Solaris and SPARC will continue, and will actually probably gain some share.

My prediction is that Oracle setting a new DB record is a sign of what is to come: Oracle will offer a customized SPARC running a highly tweaked Solaris with both made from the ground up to maximize Oracle DB TPM. For smaller companies they will offer an "Oracle Cloud" solution where you can have Oracle host the DB and get crazy TPM without having to have the crazy hardware, and for the larger enterprises they will have a combo cloud/offline solution where you can host it all with them, all on site, or any combo you desire.

As much as the FLOSS guys want to cuss at Oracle, even they should be willing to admit old Larry knows how to make a ROI, and honestly they should be thanking their lucky stars as it could have been MUCH worse. Imagine if some patent troll would have bought out Sun. It would have made the SCO mess look like a Sunday tea party with all the patents they had. And the GPL still says you can have the code, just not the patents and copyrights. So I really don't get all the Oracle hate around here. Sure they're not throwing their weight behind FLOSS but you know what? why should they, Oracle isn't Red hat. And frankly I don't see the FLOSS community being big Oracle customers anyway.

Well what I think you are gonna see is for the "smallish installs" as you put it is an "Oracle cloud" where for a set price per month you have Oracle run the DB for you and end up with even small companies having an Amazon.com TPM throughput without the hardware hassles. And then for those that need on site or have the larger needs they will go the traditional route and set up on site Oracle/SPARC DBs.

In case you didn't hear Oracle just set a new DB performance record using their custom set up, and I think this is the first advert of their future plans: An Oracle hosted DB cloud with totally insane TPM and six sigma uptime that you will just rent time on. as I have said here before old Larry didn't get rich as sin from not knowing how to get serious ROI from his purchases, and I think Sun will be the same and make Larry another mountain of money, despite what FLOSSies say.

Operation Payback hit ACS Law a second time, knocking out the site. In the process of bringing it back up, someone exposed the server's directory structure through the Web instead of showing the website itself. Those conducting Operation Payback immediately moved in and grabbed a 350MB archive of ACS Law e-mails, then threw the entire mass up on sites like The Pirate Bay. This is more than a matter of mere embarrassment. The UK has tougher data protection laws than the US, and the country's Information Commissioner has already made it clear that ACS Law could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of pounds. That's because, in addition to his iTunes receipts ("Hooray for iPads. I love mine," Crossley says at one point) and Amazon purchase orders, the e-mails include numerous attachments filled with all manner of private information: names, addresses, payment details, passwords, revenue splits, business deals.

Apple's marketshare is more than that. It's several months old but AppleInsider has the article Apple sells estimated 1.4M Macs in US to capture 8% market share. That 8% puts Apple's marketshare in 5th place, behind HP, Dell, Acer, and Toshiba. More recently, October, Gartner and IDC say Apple marketshare broke 10%. That puts Apple's marketshare in 3rd, ahead of Acer and Toshiba and behind "Others". The only named companies with higher shares are HP and Dell.

the rest of us can go back to ignoring them, except for occasionally making fun of their bad software engineering and pompous commercials.

HAHA!!! I switched from Windows PCs more than 3 years ago after using PC for more than 10 years. My one regret is that I didn't switch sooner. Of 3 new Windows and one new Linux PC, only one did not need to be repaired in less than 1 year. In the more than 3 years I've had the Mac I'm typing this on I've only had to have it repaired once, about a year and a half after I got it.

Not only did I have my PC hardware fail a number of tymes, I also had to reinstall Windows a number of tymes which each PC.

are you sure? Things aren't as tethered to the PC as you might think, even games like WoW. Considering services like OnLive aren't too bad. You can see the $10 a month incentive for games developers writ large for the future.

And no, not that smart to continually upgrade your smartphone... but who (in the world of people selling you stuff) cares about that. If they can make better margin on a smartphone + contract sale instead of a replacement card, then you can bet which way they're going to be pushing. Besides, the vast majority of people buy fully configured PCs, and replace them when they get old.

Or even someone not so determined.

This kind of makes me wish I hadn't bought the wifi nook already, it is much better for the cost.

Take heart, your regular Nook gets 10 days sans Wifi while the color gets 8 hours . So I wouldn't go kicking yourself if you have ever gone extended periods without recharging.

And I should have specified color E-ink as it will give comparable periods of use with black and white. It might not be as great with colors like the color Nook's VividView technology but it will last many days. And it will probably be twice as expensive, that's why I'm waiting and watching. For reading, I'm guessing it's going to best Apple's LCD based iPad. We shall see though.

While I agree there are many DB options, I take it you missed Oracle SPARC blowing away the competition with a new DB performance record? 30 million DB transactions in a minute isn't shabby by anyone's definition, and is just what I have been saying here for awhile: That old Larry would take SPARC running a custom Solaris stack optimized for Oracle DB and make a bad ass "top to bottom" approach that would make Oracle the IBM of DBs. If you are a megacorp that needs serious DB throughput that Oracle setup has got to be pretty drool worthy right about now.

As for TFA, if MSFT can tie everything together, to where you can seamlessly go from say the X360 to WinPhone 7 to Windows 7 via Silverlight? Then they could take some serious marketshare. Folks like easy peasy and iTunes on windows just sucks. It has always been the red headed stepchild compared to iTunes on OSX, and Windows 7 already plays nice with the X360. The trick will be tying everything together in a way that "just works" with minimal interaction from the user, but MSFT seems to be getting better about that. Add in how powerful silverlight is (look at my other comment for a Link to SilveOS, which is a pretty impressive OS done in Silverlight running in your browser) and Steve Ballmer's "developer developers developers" mantra pushing for easy and powerful tools that make RAD apps crazy quick to develop? Counting anyone out of the mobile space at this point in the game would be unwise. Hell look at how Android didn't even exist five years ago, and if anyone said Android would explode and overtake RIM they would have been laughed at just 2 short years ago. Who would have thought we would end up in a three way race, with two of the biggest players, RIM and Symbian, practically DOA? Interesting times are ahead and with this much competition it should equal some really cool gadgets for consumers.

Unless the government is going to open mail and remove checks (I suppose that COULD happen) wikileaks will get support.

Recently a congressman pushed in a bill that would officially/legally classify wikileaks as a terrorist organization.
If this bill passes, it would be a federal crime to donate money to them in the US, one that carries a jail sentence.

The government would then not only be allowed to block mail to them (including checks), but arrest those that sent the checks in the first place, to discourage others from doing the same.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/congressman-calls-for-anti-wikileaks-offensive.ars

Many old pics of other http://cryptome.org/eyeball/nytel/nytel-eyeball.htm NY telco hubs ect.
As for Project Express and High Frequency Trading http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/first-nyclondon-cable-in-a-decade-promises-sub-60ms-latency.ars the map shows a 111 8th avenue hibernia network connection.
Somone can do a lot in the 5ms before the closest competitor gets to see the same data :)
Add in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A like splitters and you have a wonderful place to set up in with old friends.

..is that they never do proper critique of products that are shit. instead they hype up something that's safe to hype up.

This boils down to one, major problem: most game reviewers review games like they're critics, rather than gamers. That's one big reason why I love Ben Kuchera's reviews on Ars Technica. He's had some public confrontations before in the comments and on his twitter, but his reviews almost always read like they were written by a gamer, not a journalist.

And this is why the jailbreaking provision is not relevant. Unlocking is a different exercise, and it is addressed in the very next point of the same ruling:

(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

The article on Ars Technica has a few extra details as well as links to further material.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/12/judge-in-xbox-modding-trial-berates-prosecution-halts-trial.ars

- Jesper

Read the ARSTechnica perspective. It's less hyperbole and more reason. As I suggested and Nate Anderson at least agrees, there's plenty of shakedown to go around in this particular peering dispute.

wouldn't it be fair to ask them before being pretty sure they wouldn't mind?

Why for? Is not like they can change anything. We're powerless so we're just exchanging pointless opinions.

Anyway, the whole point with prefixing my opinion with "I'm not a contributor" is so you don't come up with incredibly unoriginal replies such as "but you aren't a contributor" it's like me complaining that your "IANAL" rant wasn't written by a lawyer.

I'm like |this| to scratch you of as a troll but this statement looks sincere:

is one thing to say Let's find something else[...]

So you want a nuanced answer? Deep analysis? Numbers? Here:
Researcher: Optimal copyright term is 14 years

I picked that from Slashdot, 3 years ago. Has this changed anything? No, because research doesn't write policies, money writes policies.